David: Hi there, Virtual Historians. I’m David Allen Lambert and I’m here with Terri O’Connell. We’re back. It’s season two for Virtual Historians and we’re glad you tuned in. We have some exciting plans for 2024 and we’ll be giving you content each month and also probably a little extra here and there, so don’t be surprised if you see us more than once each month.
So Terri , the last time we were traveling was on that great cruise to Alaska and you know, sometimes history isn’t what we surf and find. Sometimes you got to cruise and find it. And we found that up in Alaska. You want to tell them about the Red Onion?
Terri: I loved the Red Onion. I wanted to go to the Red Onion just because it’s tawdry backgrounds, right?
Who doesn’t want to go visit the brothel?
David: Now keep in mind it isn’t an active brothel.
Terri: Correct. It’s now like a saloon so you can have lunch and then do a tour of upstairs brothel and they tell you basically how [00:01:00] things worked. What I really loved is that when they were renovating it to become the pub, they found all this great history that the women hid under the floorboards for safekeeping.
For those of you who will find us through our website, I’ll have pictures in there of some of the dresses and things that they showed us. It was absolutely amazing, and it was well worth, The tour, I’ve actually, I’ve sent my neighbors on it this last summer.
David: Well, you know, the thing I find interesting about it is, I mean, you always think of archaeology dug in the ground. This was like the floorboards. And because it was still inside the building, it was so well preserved. It was like it was dropped there just a year or so ago.
Terri: Exactly. And it was. Amazing. Amazing. So everybody I know that I’ve sent through have come back and said that was really cool to do. So I just think it’s definitely something if [00:02:00] you’re up in Alaska, go do the Red Onion Tour.
The Red Onion in Skagway!
David: Skagway. Yes.
Terri: Yeah. I couldn’t remember which one it was at.
David: Yeah, we had a lot of destinations on that trip. But you know, we also experienced some other history and, obviously while we were on the cruise, we got word that Queen Elizabeth II passed away.
Terri: Yes.
David: We actually got to have a little bit of history while we’re there. So, you know, we’re on the vessel, so there was a memorial book that was going to be sent to the Royal Family there for the cruise ship as we exited, but our last port of call was Victoria of British Columbia.
Terri: Which happens to be the day that she died.
David: Exactly. And so we visited the famous Canadian hotel at the Fairmont in Victoria, and right in the lobby, they had pictures of her when her and Phillip ‘, Duke of Edinburgh had visited many years ago, and they had another memorial book. So we signed it twice. [00:03:00]
Terri: That, I thought, was very cool to be a part of history.
I mean, you know, we remember these things. You remember, like, Di and Charles getting married. But, like, you know, we’re American. So, we girls, we got up in the middle of the night and watched the wedding. But, to be in the Canadian province.
David: Right.
Me being a Canadian, technically as a dual citizen, and she’s, she was my monarch, too.
Yeah. As well as I having a president, I have a monarch, I suppose it’s a little confusing for some people to swallow. I very much was very sad because she was a gracious lady and, you know , she lived a very long life and just, as we’ve learned recently died peacefully in her sleep.
Terri: Yeah, so I thought that was really cool just to kind of be a part of that history and think about when we were growing up. Everybody remembers where they were when Elvis died.
David: Oh, yeah. I can remember the cousin calling me on the phone in august of 77 and saying that Elvis died and I had a poster [00:04:00] of him in my room. I had via Satellite Hawaii LP. Those are those round plastic things, kids.
Terri: They’re coming back though.
David: Exactly. In fact, well, you know, speaking of technology we early on, we’re talking about how VR headsets and we both have the the Microsoft. However, Terri has some exciting news for you and your wallet real soon.
Terri: Apple’s VR headset is coming out. They’re calling it the Apple Vision Pro. Apple Vision Pro. It’s on pre order right now through the Apple website. It is only over 3, 000 per unit.
David: Well, you know,
I think this is great and I’m reaching out to Apple. You don’t have to be a multi million dollar sponsor for us, but if you want to send Terri and I one of the headsets a piece, we will be more than happy to spend at least two or three episodes wearing them, telling how [00:05:00] wonderful the experience is.
Just remember it’s Virtual Historians and the contact information is there. Anybody who knows anybody in Apple.
Terri: I mean, for real, I am an Apple girl. I’m recording on my Apple computer, sitting with my Apple phone.
David: Eating a red Macintosh Apple? Yeah, no, it’s it sounds exciting. I mean, I mean, we’re really at the tip of the iceberg in all sorts of technology.
Terri: I mean, may it be AI, may it be VR. It really, it’s an exciting time to live. I almost wish I was like 14 now instead of in my life was like before it. And I think today’s kids are definitely missing out.
David: But you know, I mean, think about it though. If we, if we look, turn back the pages of history and we look at somebody born a hundred years before us, all the things that they saw, and if they lived a hundred years, they could have seen everything from the first airplane to the moon landing.
And then maybe a [00:06:00] little bit more, I saw two world wars. I mean, we’ve seen a lot of history that’s occurred in the past half century. I don’t know Terri, your age will not be revealed on Virtual Historians. But I have no problem with saying that I was three weeks old when Man Landed on the Moon, and I don’t remember any part of it.
Yeah, you’d think they could have taken a picture of me sitting there or something like that watching, but no, nothing for posterity other than my memories, but now with technology, we can watch things like this happen, or we can watch the Japanese land a lunar module upside down on the moon. But hey, everybody has to start someplace.
So, history is something that we enjoy. We like to uncover it on Virtual Historians. If you didn’t check out Season 1, we have archaeologists, we have historians, we have software people that are going to tell us about technology that they’re developing, that will aid you in your own [00:07:00] research, may it be archaeology or local history, and you know, it’s a fun topic, and I think that’s why we created Virtual Historians.
Terri: Mm hmm.
David: Anything else coming in the news that you saw, Terri, that you want to share with our viewers?
Terri: Well, I just want to say it’s definitely, I think, an equal love of history, and All of it coming together, no matter what realm we’re discussing, history always is coming into play, right?
David: Absolutely.
Terri: So, no matter what we do. Which brings me to a point of, when you travel with your family, I know you do historical things, but do you think that the rest of the general public does that, or is that something that people like minded like us just do?
David: Well, I mean, I like to say I drag my family on vacations to historical places, but they’re the ones that like to take me to Williamsburg every year.
In fact, I have a surprise few day trip that’s coming up later this year. I only found out about today. Lately it’s been a lot of Disney trips. But, I love Williamsburg. But there’s local [00:08:00] historical places all around the country. May it be U. S., Canada, or even, of course, even older history if you go to places like Europe, or in other parts of the world.
So I think that bringing history to the younger generation. May it be to show where your ancestor’s home was, a cellar hole, or take them to a gravestone. Explain who that hero in the Civil War was in your family, or someone in the Revolutionary War that marched to Lexington and conquered. Make me take them on the route and visit.
There’s great ways of touching on history without even having to sit in front of a computer. But then we live in a technology where we can use that and embrace that as well. So you can use technology in person. Because history is not just done in the field, it’s done in the virtual field as well.
Terri: And I do love that they’re bringing it virtually to us.
Well, the reason I ask this is yesterday I was watching videos on [00:09:00] On travel and it was archaeological historically based through National Geographic and Adventures by Disney, and I thought, I just love how they’re bringing the Disney storytelling with the history and the archaeology for these young kids to see.
So I just thought it was something, you know?
David: Well, you know, I, I love the way technology is embracing not just kids, but our seniors. I watched back in September a big World War II history buff, and the USS Yorktown was an aircraft carrier that was lost at the Battle of Midway and is now over two and a half miles down in the Pacific.
In 1998, Dr. Robert Ballard and the team were the first to see it after over 50 years. But this past year, they actually did another expedition, not Ballard, but another team, but they had live streaming video. on then on the camera, kind of like where Terri and I are talking in two different places, was one of the survivors, Reverend Julian [00:10:00] Hodges, who was 100 years old, got to see his ship for the first time since the time it sank.
And he was like, emotional, to the point that he was like, his words were like, what happened to my poor ship? What a great way of connecting the past with the present, with having somebody who was actually there. We’re losing that World War II generation. And if you have a veteran in your hometown, by all means, Meet them, shake their hand, may it be he or she, because they are a link to something that we have less than 160, 000 out of 16 million veterans that enlisted in the United States, men and women.
We’re really in the last years, if you will. So, go visit them, hear their stories, record their stories, because we’re more than just names and dates, and they should be more than just names and dates on a gravestone someday. So, do your part as a local historian, find your veterans, may it be anywhere from World [00:11:00] War II, right down to Korea, Vietnam.
Or even later wars and conflicts. It’s so important to remember and respect our veterans. But one thing I want to toss out as we kind of wrap up for this first inaugural season two episode, I want to welcome all the genies and I don’t know if you know what a genie is, but if you listen to Extreme Genes Family History Radio and Podcast, you know that I was a co host with Scott Fisher for nearly nine years.
Well, after hundreds of episodes, Scott has decided to hang the microphone up, at least for the most part. He might come back with a surprise episode or two for ExtremeGenes. com, but we’re now off the air. That means the radio show and the podcast is no longer as of December 31st, 2023. So I invite all of my genies from Extreme Genes to join my other partner in historical crime, Terri [00:12:00] O’Connell, as we bring you Virtual Historians and exciting news that will entice you, engage you, and make you want to go out and spend 3, 000 on a new …
So, welcome, and for all of those who have never been with us before, thank you for joining us for the first time, and you can check out our back history of other episodes right on the website itself. You’ll get more information about the show in the closing credits where it’s provided for you. Do us a favor, if you like it, tell somebody that you’ve enjoyed it and share a link.
We always appreciate the press and if you have any comments, criticisms, let us know. We’re always willing to change things. And also, something very important. Guests. Terri, you want to invite them?
Terri: We would love to have you on the show. If you have a personal history, story within your [00:13:00] research background. We would love to hear it.
If you are an archaeologist and you’ve worked on some big digs in the past, we would love to hear it.
If you are an archaeologist who is working with the new technology, whether it’s VR 3D printing, any of that kind of stuff, we would love to hear how you’re using it to engage the younger generation and get them interested.
David: So that means if you’re listening to us, you probably have an interest in history. So share with us what yours is. and have you come on as a guest. We have a couple things lined up for you in the next couple of months. I’m not going to tell you exactly yet because we haven’t flipped the coin to see who’s on first, but you’ll be excited and indeed you’ll be really curious about our proposed next guest.
So stay tuned on Virtual Historians, and thank you so much, and signing off, we are virtually yours, Dave and Terri.
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