A Good morning it has been

[Sam Blockhan]

I woke up at 5:35 AM this morning at left for St. Edward State Park around 6:30. I accidentally went to the university instead of the park at first, but I found a 2004 Kia Sedona EX to park next to. It has the pretty two-tone red and beige color scheme, and the interior was beige with fake wood. It didn't have the spoiler, unfortunately. The first-generation Sedona is nostalgic for me because our family had a green one from when I was born to when I was nine.

It was pouring when I arrived, but it reduced when I reached the best play structure I've ever experienced. With friends, it is a spectacular place to play hide-and-seek thanks to a myriad of hidden spaces. Because of the rain and time, I was the only one there, so I took some photos.

The other attraction is a former seminary. My Grandpa went to school here, but his grades weren't good enough; that's okay though, because if he became a priest, I wouldn't exist, and he's a wonderful Grandpa. The seminary is now a hotel and restaurant.

There were two classics hanging around, starting with this 1946-1948 Dodge.

The other was this 1938 Pontiac Silver Streak limousine, a custom-built one-off.

Finally, the 1959 Cadillac that I saw on Tuesday was parked outside of the shop!

[WhoIsTheLeader]

@Sam-Blockhan It's no Noguchi Playscape, but I'd totally visit that playground just for the architecture.

The Seminary is cool too. I'm interested by old institutional buildings like that.

[Just Jeepin']

@Sam-Blockhan Thank you for reminding me I need to visit St. Meinrad archabby someday soon. I should pick a rainy day.

[ranwhenparked]

@Sam-Blockhan it's great that they didn't tear that place down and found a new use for it, a lot of quality religious architecture seems to be hitting the wrecking ball lately.

Usually, though, it's because the buildings are too specialized to easily adapt, or, because they're in bad neighborhoods, or by the time the church finally closes them, they're too badly run down after years of neglect

[davesaddiction]

@Sam-Blockhan said in A Good morning it has been:

his grades weren't good enough

Have you ever asked him how close he was to passing, or continuing?

Was it just one bad grade in one class that ended his progress (and was the difference in your life being a thing)?

I'm always fascinated by these "off-ramps" in life that completely change everything afterward.

Good reminder that something things in life don't go right (or the way we'd like), but that can leads to incredible opportunity down the road.

[Sam Blockhan]

@ranwhenparked I think they saw an opportunity to use the classrooms as hotel rooms, and the dining room and kitchen could stay. There's probably a chapel inside, but I think they would preserve it and/or deny access.

[Sam Blockhan]

@davesaddiction He says that he would be ecstatic if he got a C.

[davesaddiction]

@Sam-Blockhan

Haha - what career path did he end up taking?

[Spaceball-Two]

I love St. Edwards. I've spent many a years tromping around in those woods.

[ranwhenparked]

@Sam-Blockhan chapel would make sense as a wedding/special event venue, not a bad room to have in a hotel.

[RamblinRover]

@Sam-Blockhan I like everything in this post.

[ttyymmnn]

@Sam-Blockhan

We had a super awesome wooden playscape like the one you photographed in a nearby town. We used to take our kids there, and they loved it. The city, in its infinite wisdom, demolished the playscape and replaced with a soulless, albeit large, jungle gym. Something about parents not being able to see their kids in the old one, or something. It's a damned shame.

[MidEngine]

I didn't know this place existed, looks great! Jeez I do need to spend some time in civilization every now & then.

[Sam Blockhan]

@davesaddiction He kept an apartment building fully functioning. If the building were a car, he'd be working on the mechanical components. I'm not sure what you'd call one of those people.

[davesaddiction]

@ttyymmnn

If you're ever passing by Tulsa and have an hour or two, swing by The Gathering Place, just to walk around an check it out.

Huge privately-funded public park.

Here's the wooden playground in the middle:

A helicopter parent's nightmare. LOL

[davesaddiction]

@Sam-Blockhan

Nice - I'm sure it gave him a lot of pride to keep his building running well.

I'm guessing he also found opportunities to give counsel to many of its occupants.

[ranwhenparked]

@davesaddiction yeah, so many of those awesome wooden castle playgrounds from the '80s and '90s are getting torn down, either because of high maintenance costs or because they don't fit modern parents' perception of safety (even though modern parents are exactly the ones who should know how awesome those things were, you grew up on the damn things, would have been like if my Boomer parents had suddenly decided candy cigarettes were verboten or something)

[davesaddiction]

@ranwhenparked

I'm guessing if this (new) park was a "normal" public park, this particular feature never would've been included (it was designed, manufactured, and shipped from Germany).