Jon, Jon and John

Had the chance to meet up with a couple of Jon's school friends again over the last couple of days (both called Jon/John).

With the first Jon on Monday we went for lunch at Marion's pizza accompanied by giant, sweeter than sweet root beer. Another high school friend, Alanna, joined us briefly too. Afterward we got ice cream (Ritter's "frozen custard" with smashed up Reese's cups and Heath toffee bar, tasted a lot like Daim or Pixie Caramel maybe) and walked through a neighbourhood by the "Land Lab" and came out at Jon's high school which unfortunately was locked up for summer.

In the afternoon Jon (JB) and I checked out the local mall and it's lovely air-conditioning (it was definitely over 30 degrees outside). The mall was nice as malls go - two open stories with lots of natural light and not many people.

Fourth of July had officially passed but the celebrations weren't over yet. That evening we went to the very impressive fireworks display at nearby Centerville (which also has a very cute, somewhat quaint town centre). It went for at least 20 mins and was loud enough to keep setting of nearby car alarms. We kept thinking "this will probably be the finale" no. "this must be the finale" no. still going. "ok this has to be it" wrong again. They just kept coming. Even after what had to be the actual finale there were a few more bangs. The music had stopped and the floodlights had literally come back on before the final few were let off.

Apparently Centerville and Beavercreek have a bit of a rivalry (especially in high school terms i guess). Centerville definitely won the fireworks battle. Also the cute downtown competition.

The following day we went into downtown dayton (Jon had to go to the sheriff's office) and I sat under a tree outside Sinclair Community College. Found out later that they take the temperature from there and at around the time I was sitting there it registered as being 94 F which is close to 35 degrees C. So hot.

Went to the U.S. Air Force museum, probably the biggest attraction of the Dayton area. Watched a great documentary at the IMAX there about the Hubble telescope. Ate some tater tots. That's worth mentioning, right?!

Had a look round the many planes on display, from small to the very big, new to the oldest of the old as far as planes go. The reason plane stuff is big here is because the Wright brothers were from around here. Drove past their original bicycle shop in Dayton in fact. Their original Flyer isn't here but there was a replica that was possibly made with the help of a Wright himself. Most of the museum was war related though (a given since it is an Air Force museum) which I'm not big on.

In the evening we headed back into Dayton again to meet up with the next John and go see a film (Harry Brown - recommend it, though it's pretty full on) at the NEON theatre which shows more festival style films for maybe half the price! I liked it a lot. It's in the Oregon district which is sort of the "trendy" bit of Dayton I think. Went for a drink and nachos after the movie at a place down the street with a courtyard out back, which was less seedy looking than indoors. I got to drive back to Beavercreek afterwards! That was a first, pretty bizarre but we made it home safely.

Today we've had a pretty low key day. Went back to the mall after a late start (which included bagels and donuts) for Jon to do some shoe and jean shopping. Tried to find Beavercreek postcards but as yet have been unsuccessful. It's not exactly a tourist hotspot. Then this evening Kuem and I went swimming at the YMCA. Felt good to be in the water - I don't remember the last time I swum lengths. There was even a spa, sauna and steam room to relax in after.

Tomorrow I think we're going to look at some caverns. Maybe we'll get a thunderstorm soon.