Atlanta to the Coast - Day 2

LAT 33.5 LON 84.29
Marietta, GA

A little later than planned as we were out carousing with our niece Maggie (aka walking around a town square then eating tacos).

Today started out at the Museum of Appalachia, a combination old-timey town, petting zoo, and museum of oddities. The latter, involving 250K objects, was collected by one guy.

They had sheep…

…pigs and peacocks (that natural combination).

Some of the oddities were very odd indeed.

Loved these quotes about Cordell Hull.

Here’s a WWI German machine gun.

Some expert basketwork.

An example of “found object” art.

I thought my friend Cat would appreciate this.

This is a perpetual motion machine, built in the 1800’s. The inventor insisted on removing a few parts so others couldn’t steal his idea. Unfortunately, he left it that way, and no one can figure out how to fix it.

Here’s a creepy metal coffin—the plate above goes over the face hole.

Munster, go home!

Here’s a lovely piece of early 20th century racism.

This guy’s history is far more interesting than the mini-mill he built.

If you’ve ever seen those concrete crosses, here’s where they came from.

They moved this cabin from the spot where Mark Twain was apparently conceived (but never lived).

“Cures man and beast…”

This is the cabin used in the old Daniel Boone TV series (Daniel Boone was a maaan…yes, a biiiig maaan…)

Here’s an old moonshine still.

Then, we moved through Knoxville, and the fabulous Sunsphere. This was home to a World’s Fair, and made famous on The Simpsons for storing wigs.

Moving on to lunch at City Cafe Diner—a really good sammich, and a piece of cake that got devoured before we took a pic (so here it is in the dessert case).

I believe the cake is dense enough that light cannot escape it.

We later came upon an atomic-powered mouse that was terrorizing an exterminating company.

Moving on to an impressive rock garden behind a church, with lilliputian buildings made out of pebbles, shells, and cement.

Finally, we made it to Marietta, GA. Home our niece and Big Chicken (she’s not a big chicken, it’s just an attraction at a KFC—forget it).

She also took us to the Marietta Square, and a huge food market. We had some yummy tacos, and they had margaritas (I was the designated driver).

After some playtime with Maggie’s dog Ripley, it was time to return to the hotel and collapse.

Tomorrow, Atlanta, pecans, onions, and St. Nick’s southern HQ.

Atlanta to the Coast - Day 1

LAT 36.9 LON 84.5
Clinton, TN

It’s time for another road trip—down to the Southeast to see relatives, friends, and more wacky attractions. We’re driving a loop to Atlanta, Charleston, Raleigh, Williamsburg, Roanoke, and back home.

Today, we toured the first of several state capitals in Frankfort, KY. It was quite ornate both inside and out. However, it rather overshadowed the small town (population 27,000) it inhabits.

He’s the hip state rep.

Oh, those wacky law librarians!

Then, we stopped at the Parkette Drive-In for lunch, consisting of a “shrimp box”, a pork tenderloin sammich, and chili cheese fries.

Suddenly, there was a monster attack!

Actually, a mascot for a fireworks store (that burned down).

After checking in at the hotel, we drove over to Norris Dam, the first of the Tennessee Valley Authority projects.

Tomorrow, more attractions, Atlanta, and our recently married niece.

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 12 (Finale)

Reporting from home…

The final day of most trips is uneventful, and this one was no exception. We went over familiar roads we’ve traveled dozens of times—so there’s little to report.

We were home for several hours before I remembered I needed to dash off a blog entry. Here’s the final picture…

So, just over 3,000 miles and 62 hours of driving this trip, covering 12 states. It was a lot of fun, but we’re glad we’re back home.

Hopefully, there will be a little less of a delay before my next blog entry.

#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 11

Reporting from Indianapolis, IN. We’re only a few hours from home, but we have found that if we make a final long dash we end up exhausted. So, here we are.

Today was Big Things Day, featuring the world’s largest <fill in the blank>.

Here’s the world’s SECOND largest rocking chair—why second? More in a minute.

Here’s a giant ice cream cone at an elementary school in Affton, MO for some reason.

Here’s the world’s largest chess piece, outside the Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis.

But the main event was Carey, IL—the world’s headquarters for the world’s largest objects.

Here’s a #2 (million).

So here’s the world’s largest rocking chair. It eclipsed the previous #1, so that’s considered the largest chair on Route 66.

Here’s the world’s largest see-saw (under construction).

The world’s largest FUNCTIONING wind chime.

The world’s largest mail box. You can even drop off actual mail inside.

The world’s largest (non-wearable) wooden shoes.

Mindy had some legal problems in town.

We hit a few balls at the links…

…and dropped by the Bunyan farm.

Why is this all in one small Illinois town? Because there’s a workshop that churns out massive working versions of various objects. I assume Batman villains frequent this place.

Meanwhile, at the closed giant objects factory, the Penguin is completing a purchase!

Well, we crashed early at the hotel. It’s been a long trip (but a lot of fun), and the final day is tomorrow.

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 10

Reporting from Rolla, MO.

We’ve been in three states today, starting with Oklahoma, which offered us a cheery good morning.

There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow…

After some driving and possible wrong terms (we couldn’t get two GPS’s to agree), we found ourselves at the border of three states.

We then visited the Joplin Museum Complex, which is a strange assortment of random stuff that adds up to an interesting experience.

Joplin was founded on mining, so there’s a large exhibit on that.

Words to live by.

Dennis Weaver was born here. Chief? (something for the MSTies out there)

There’s a miniature circus exhibit and the…

Plus cats wander around the museum freely. All for $2 a head (yours, not the cats).

By then, it was time to eat. Open faced beef sammich, taco salad, and homemade pie from Granny Shaffer.

We had already planned to stop in Carthage to see Marlin Perkins’ statue (he of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom) when I read 20 minutes earlier that Jim Fowler (the guy who wrestled the wildebeest while Marlin had Mai-Tai’s in his tent) died today at 87. RIP

We then reached a second…well you know. This one was in a parking lot.

There’s a rest stop on I-44 (aka Route 66) that has miniature versions of attractions on the way.

When we saw the “World’s Largest Gift Store”, you know we had to stop. Bonus—Lucy’s old car. Where’s Fred and Ethel?

Yet another attraction is the Uranus Fudge Factory. Let the puns begin!

So we wound up in Rolla, which houses Stonehenge—at least a miniature version.

No one knows who they were, or what they were doing.

OK, that’ll do it. Wi-fi is giving out. More tomorrow.

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 9

Reporting from Claremore, OK.

We started in Pauls Valley, and saw the daily Amtrak come through the rainy station.

But the real reason we were there was the Toy and Action Figure Museum. This guy has an ENORMOUS collection, organized by room and genre.

Major Matt Mason!

The only exception to the organized collection is the massive amount of random figures in the “bedroom”.

Later, we stopped in Norman, OK to add to our collection of TV stars in bronze. This time it was the late James Garner of Maverick and Rockford Files fame.

Then it was off to Oklahoma City for our third capitol building of the tour. We were very impressed with the Louisiana and Texas sites—Oklahoma, not so much. Parking was almost nonexistent, the building is under construction, and someone had the genius idea of inviting the local high school jazz orchestra to perform in a marbled rotunda. We were there for about 10 minutes.

Is this a state capital or a subway station?

Yep—Oklahoma sold NAMING RIGHTS to their state capitol!!!

Mindy did a search for “fried pies in OKC” and found this place. Just a small lunch…

We also tried to visit the OKC memorial, but again, parking not really an option. Oh, well—I didn’t want to be depressed anyway. We did see a giant toothbrush, though.

Moving on to Route 66 (where you can apparently get your kicks) and “Pops”, a convenience store/soda emporium.

Once we made it to Tulsa, we found the “East Meets West” tableau, showing old and new transportation in an impass.

OK, it took quite a while to transfer this all over hotel wifi, so more tomorrow.

#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 8

Reporting from Pauls Valley, OK (where the waving wheat, can sure smell sweet, when the wind comes right behind the rain…)

The day began back in Waco, TX—hence the waffle.

We drove into town, which boasts the the king and queen of cable home decoration, Chip and Joanna Gaines. It’s quite the empire.

Then it was off to the Dr. Pepper museum. There’s quite a history here of the various sodas (or pops, if you prefer).

We had lunch at an Asian food truck. Quite yummy. Our meal was only slightly impacted by a dive-bombing butterfly (don’t ask).

Waco certainly keeps it weird.

I noticed a billboard for “The American Domino Company”, so we stopped in. We left with a Number Domino 15 set.

Then it was off to Ft. Worth and the Water Gardens. They shot scenes for the film Logan’s Run here.

I think I’m late for Carousel.

The next stop involved no photography—the US Mint. My mother will be happy to know I got in without a problem (she’ll know what that means).

A strange spot in suburban Denton, between two normal homes, is “The Chairy Orchard”. Is it an art installation? A neighborhood meeting spot? In any case, there’s a lot of places to sit.

Another un-photograph-able attraction was Magnetic Hill, in the middle of nowhere, Oklahoma. It’s one of those places where gravity supposedly goes haywire. It’s just an optical illusion—it seems like your car rolls uphill—but it’s fun.

Well, that’s plenty for now—I’m worn out. More tomorrow.

#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 7

Reporting from Waco, TX—

We had originally planned to stay two nights in Austin, but our experiences there seemed to run 50/50.

Our breakfast was fantastic. The Magnolia Cafe served us “the Love Miga”, a breakfast taco and a LARGE pancake. Yummy! Mindy is already trying to figure out how to replicate it at home.

However, lunch was a different story. Black's is based in Lockhart, reportedly the Nirvana of Texas 'Que. We were unimpressed. The meat was decent, but the baked beans were a little soupy--kind of like refried beans with liquid smoke added. Pecan cobbler (the review said you could eat a pan of it) was basically pecan pie broken up. Overall, #citybarbeque does a better job.

We found a lot of interesting stuff, from hipster locations to historic ones, outside of downtown.

Hey, it’s Chthulu!

…but Downtown was another matter. There was an event going on which basically took traffic down to a standstill. (I had no idea Austin was so big!) We ended up dropping a couple of places.

We did manage to see our second state capital building of the tour.

After a trip to the top of Mt. Bonnell for a peek…

We made the judgment call to move on.

There were a few sites we wanted to see on the way to Waco, but they all seemed to be on these strange elongated “service roads” next to the highway. If you didn’t catch them, you had to go miles out of your way and backtrack. So we moved on.

Mindy did find an interesting snack—rolled ice cream. It’s quite the performance as they put liquid on a super-chilled surface…

mix it up…

…flatten it out…

…and roll it up.

Excellent!

Time to wrap it up—more tomorrow. #BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 6

We’re back on the road post-wedding and all the accompanying parties. A lot of fun, and the ceremony/reception was great. But now, we’ve made it to Austin, TX.

Since Lake Charles, we have hit no less than three Buc-ee’s. What’s a Buc-ee, you ask? Imagine a convenience store hopped up on steroids and Red Bull. It’s EN-OR-MOUS! They are well spaced to sell you a a large drink and then have another store an hour and a half later when you need the facilities.

There’s a whole beaver theme.

You could spend a week shopping here. The also have infinite gas pumps.

One of the Buc-ee’s even had the “world’s longest car wash”.

In addition to convenience stores, we also stopped in Houston to see an art installation celebrating John Glenn and Yuri Gagarin, the first two men to orbit the earth. It’s near an old NASA site. The display has a huge set of tiny holes that, when seen at a distance, shows Glenn’s photo from the capsule.

Yuri!

In addition, Houston reportedly had the “Big Bubble”—an art installation with a red button next to a bridge, which was supposed to generate a, well, big bubble in the river. It must have been down today—no bubble.

Push the button, Frank.

That stop did let us discover a George Bush (41) monument. <political comment> He’s the dictionary definition of “grading on a curve”—a President who looks a lot better than what we have today.

Another stop was the Igloo cooler plant, which has an interesting security shack.

Brrrr.

In Austin, we tried out Mighty Fine Burgers, and they met that definition.

Onion rings were good too.

OK, I’m getting tired. Touring Austin tomorrow.
#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 4.5

A mini-entry from Lake Charles.

Mindy and her sisters went to the shore to see alligators and stick her toes in the Gulf.

Baby gators.

We later attended the wedding rehearsal dinner at the party house. It’s quite the facility. Since we’re in the Bayou, they had a crawfish boil, so we gave it a shot. If you like lobster, you’ll probably like it—but get ready for some work to get it out.

Oh, the carnage!

The wedding is later today. They had the nerve to hold it on Free Comic Book Day, so we’re sneaking out this morning to go to a local shop.

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 3.5

Writing this entry late—we were out into the wee hours (which for me is about 10:30p).

We headed off to Baton Rouge and the state capitol. It’s a very impressive building, especially considering it was built during the Great Depression. Governor Huey Long didn’t take no for an answer.

Meanwhile, at the Daily Planet…

Google just went ahead and made this panoramic view for me.

We went up the tower and took a look outside.

That would be the mighty Mississippi.

Then it was off to the old Governor’s mansion (Governors’ ? Governors ?). Docent Frank talked our ears off with some great stories about the place.

Gov. Long had it built like the White House so that “he could find the light switches when he got there”.

On the way over to Lake Charles, we drove around Rayne, LA. It’s touted as the “Frog Capitol of the World” because they caught and sold frogs to restaurants throughout the South. It’s teeming with statues.

Rayne also boasts the only “wrong way cemetery”. They are traditional laid out east to west, but when this one was started north to south, they just left it that way. Add to that the above ground crypts standard in the Bayou, and you get a creepy sight.

Finally we made it to Lake Charles, where we’re attending our niece’s wedding.

Entries may be sparse for the next couple of days, but we’ll see. If not, we’ll continue on the second leg of the trip. #BayouWeddingTOur

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 2

Reporting from Slidell, Louisiana.

We made our way through Alabama and Mississippi today, winding up about an hour or so from Baton Rouge. We’re big fans of giant statues, and Birmingham has them all over. Here’s “Miss Electra”, presiding over downtown and the local power company. Per Roadside America, "She appears to be ready to either 1) hurl benevolent electricity into downtown, or 2) fry Birmingham evil-doers with a bolt from the blue."

On top of Red Mountain we find Vulcan, originally created for the 1904 World’s Fair, finally getting his own park after years of neglect. There’s a museum covering local history, an elevator that takes you up to Vulcan and incredible views.

Vulcan’s posterior.

We had lunch in Tuscaloosa, at Avenue Pub. I had their famed Bacon Burger, while Mindy had a HUMONGOUS chicken sammich.

Needless to say, we just had a snack for dinner.

Enough for day 2—tomorrow is Baton Rouge and our main destination, Lake Charles.

#BayouWeddingTour

Bayou Wedding Tour - Day 1

Well, it’s time for another travelogue. This time, it’s a trip to our niece’s wedding in Louisiana. We’re taking a fairly straight shot down from Ohio, and then a leisurely loop through Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri on the way back to Columbus.

We tried out Chaney’s Dairy Barn in Kentucky, which reportedly has great ice cream (it did). Sandwiches, not so much.

Our GPS took us on a long trip through the country on the way back to the interstate. We even ran into…well, you know.

There’s a “car vending machine” in Nashville—you can supposedly get one with a coin. Couldn’t find the slot, though.

We saw a rocket ship at a rest stop going into Alabama, so we had a take a look. It was an actual Saturn 1B launch vehicle.

We wound up in Decatur—the local barbecue place (Big Bob Gibson’s) has a great white sauce and won a lot of awards.

That’s a two meat platter on top(brisket and chopped pork), and a potato with chicken, cheese, bacon, and white sauce below.

That’s plenty for one day. More tomorrow.
#BayouWeddingTour

The Great White North - Day 12 (Finale)

Reporting from SFPPN HQ, Grove City, OH

As you complete a vacation, you pass through familiar territory. This was doubly true today, as we drove from my college town to northeast Ohio where I grew up, and finally to home. So, I just have a few notes to wrap things up.

First off, the hotel was VERY nice. In fact, I was shocked we got such a good deal on it. It was a “business hotel”, and so I guess they don’t get a lot of Sunday night business? I checked the rates for next weekend (College Homecoming), and it’s at least 3X as expensive.

We just make a few stops on the way home—to have lunch with some old friends, and a local orchard we like to visit when we get up that way. We left with apples, pumpkins, cheese, squash, and hedge apples (look it up).

Then a boring trip down I-71 to central Ohio and home.

My top memories of this vacation?

Mindy making her own kazoo

The Star Trek set tour

The abandoned space shuttle replica

Our 25th anniversary dinner on the dock

Glass bottle houses

The friendly B&B on Prince Edward Island

Poutine

High and low tides on the Bay of Fundy

The Starway to Nowhere

Avery Soda

and spending lots of time with my lovely wife.

That does it. We’re wiped out—time to unpack and do laundry.

I promise to do more blog entries soon.

The Great White North - Day 11

Reporting from Grove City, PA (Latitude 41.14, Longitude -80.15)

Today was the cross-Pennsylvania journey.

The hotel at Wilkes-Barre was nice, if a bit strange (the rooms had hardwood floors).

We headed off to Bill’s Old Bike Barn, which started with bikes and became a destination for—stuff. They weren’t open yet, but we got a good idea of the place.

Next, a trip to the food factory where Chef Boy-Ar-Dee was “born”.

Then, we had lunch at Doolittle Station, a melange of cafes, restaurants, trains, and goats.

Finally, we wound up in Grove City…PA. It’s not only the home of my Alma Mater, but roadsideamerica.com listed three sites there. They turned out to be art installations/parking signs.

The final run back home is tomorrow.

The Great White North - Day 10

Reporting from Wilkes-Barre, PA (Latitude 41.22, Longitude -75.88)

This was another day of hopscotching all over the Northeast.

It started at the hotel, where we caught a glimpse of Catwoman driving away.

Our first stop was the Avery Soda Co. There were hundreds of small independent soda pop companies a hundred years ago—this is one of the few remaining still in business. We got to see where they make the soda, and then picked out a selection of their flavors.

We then stopped for a sentimental lunch at Friendly’s. The chain used to be all over the midwest, but it has shrunk to a tiny presence on the coast. Of course, I had to have a Fribble.

An old friend worked at Friendly’s, and met his future wife there.

We then journeyed to the Holy Land—an abandoned “educational” park in a bad section of town.

Then it was two displays—a giant Santa at a storage facility and a statue of P.T. Barnum in his hometown (Bethel, CT).

It took us a while to find thge next oddity—a rock that balances on some smaller rocks, which allegedly happened naturally. I call shenanigans.

Finally, it took a half-mile walk thru a graveyard to find the border of NY, NJ, and PA (actually out in the river near this stone).

Then we found a hotel and a place to eat—an Italian restaurant where we were underdressed. The food was good, though.

More to come.

The Great White North - Day 9

Reporting from Windsor, CT (Latitude 41.87, Longitude -72.66)

We’ve just completed a whirlwind tour of the Northeast, going from Maine to New Hampshire to Vermont to Massachusetts to Connecticut.

We started the morning at a coffee shop (it rhymes with Schmarbucks), so we could post stuff online after the hotel beefed it with the wifi.

We then went to Yarmouth, ME and DeLorme/Garmin’s HQ, home to the largest rotating globe (other than the Earth itself). It’s like 3 stories tall, and situated inside an atrium.

We then started south into New Hamphire and a great sammich with homemade bread at Northwood Diner.

A quick comment regarding Google Maps—people don’t ALWAYS want to get somewhere in the fastest time possible. There should be a way to set a “scenic drive” option. We had to keep either adjusting the app or ignoring it to stay off freeways. Also, it would be nice if I could rearrange stops without getting out the laptop…

We did find a bizarre monument at Keene State College—a guy set up an endowment in order to find a way to CONTROL GRAVITY. Thanks, roadsideamerica.com!

The same site brought us to “The Stairway to Nowhere”—the remains of a mansion in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere (it took us two apps on two phones to track it down). The mansion burned down in the 60’s, leaving only the stones.

One the final leg to the hotel, we checked out the Yankee Candle Superstore (or whatever it was called). I was O.D.’ing on whimsy.

Tonight on Land of the Giants…

Winter is coming (so get your candles now).

OK, that’s enough for now. More tomorrow.

The Great White North - Day 8.5

Reporting from Freeport, ME (Latitude 43.81, Longitude -70.14)

Note: Actually at a nearby Starbucks, since our hotel had a different idea of wi-fi, in that they didn’t have any although they said they did. This is also why this is late.

With better weather than yesterday, we checked out of the Tara Inn and headed over to nearby St. Stephen for the Chocolate Museum. Ganong is a high-end Canadian chocolatier, and they set up a museum in their old factory. It was rather interesting—plus free samples.

We then found a local diner, where I had some great homemade clam chowder.

We followed that up with the day’s main event—seeing the high tide at St. Andrews.

You could barely see these boats at low tide.

Remember the causeway from low tide. Now, not so much.

That wrapped up our time in Canada—we jumped over to Maine (which was just as easy as it was the first time), where we were promptly attacked by a giant lobster.

We tampered in God’s domain.

I took the crustacean by the claws and turned it into a lobster roll.

A late afternoon trip down US Route 1 followed—here’s a cool bridge—

--and here’s a tourist mainstay, as referenced in John Hodgman’s Vacationland (which we were listening to during the drive), Perry’s Nut House.

It’s everyone’s favorite mascot, _utzy.

More to come.

The Great White North - Day 7

Reporting from St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada (Latitude 45.09, Longitude -67.06)

We headed back to the mainland, after a very fun 3 days on PEI. We had a wonderful stay at The Lookout Inn, a great B&B:

We stayed in the “Turret Room”, which you can see on the right.

Unfortunately, our string of great weather ran out, so this was a typical view for much of the day.

We drove down to New Brunswick, and made our was to the Bay of Fundy. Why? Because it’s the biggest difference between high and low tide on the planet (about a 20 foot swing here, with as much as 50 feet elsewhere in the bay).

We stopped at the village of Alma and had our first poutine (a Canadian dish with french fries, cheese curds, and gravy). It’s kind of like mashed potatoes, but different—and very good.

We wound up at St. Andrews and the Tara Manor Inn. An old style motel, but comfortable. It’s just across from Minister’s Island, where an old industrialist has a mansion. It’s only accessible via a causeway which is above water at low tide only. Otherwise, you’re out of luck.

You can see part of the causeway in the background. It’s much larger at low tide.

Mindy is standing on the ocean floor. She would be underwater (and then some) at high tide.

We’re planning to hang out here until high tide in the early afternoon, and then return to the USA and Bar Harbor tomorrow. More tomorrow.

The Great White North - Day 6

Still reporting from New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada (Latitude 46,40, Longitude -63.35)

Another big day started with breakfast—today, it was tasty Eggs Benedict. Then we were off to Le Musée de la Pomme de Terre, aka The Potato Museum. PEI is a major source of tubers, especially “seed potatoes”, grown to grow other spuds.

They grow ‘em big up here.

This is the Oscar for potato growing.

We followed that up with the West Point Light House, where we were able to climb up to the top. Stairs became more like ladders as we ascended.

It’s still an active beacon, except it’s automated. The house is also an inn.

Don’t look at it, Marian!!!

More fun was found at the Glass Bottle House—actually three houses, using old glass bottles and cement for the walls, along with pretty gardens.

We ended the afternoon at the Island Honey Wine Company, where we tried out a few varieties of mead. I particularly enjoyed the Apple Cider, made with their own apples and honey.

We wound up the day at the Blue Mussel Cafe, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. It was a little more casual than expected, but the food was top notch.

We shared the Lobster dip

I had the Seafood Bubbly Bake

Mindy had the Stuffed Chicken (!?!?!)

Well, that’s plenty for one day. We leave PEI and our B&B HQ tomorrow—off to New Brunswick.