Retirement Travel and a Weird Mix of Other Stuff
She kind of reminds me of the shrunken head character in the movie Beetlejuice.
In other news… I am honored to be hosting my friend ScooterBob for the next few weeks.
I met a couple more moto-bloggers today, and also surprised them with a very special guest. You can read about it HERE if you like.
I hope you folks in the US enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Ours was interesting.
As I mentioned the other day, we didn’t have any meal plans for turkey day. A couple of weeks ago, when I was cataloging VA LOVEworks I still needed to capture, I mentioned planning a trip in the car, since Winter is approaching. Hubby said he’d go along, so I suggested doing it on Thanksgiving.
Hubby started a diet recently, and I knew we wouldn’t be preparing a traditional meal for the two of us. So I figured a road trip would be better than sitting around the house.
Not only did Hubby go along, we took the furkids, too. That’s something we rarely do. In fact, we’ve never spent the night in a hotel with these two. K is a good car rider. Belle doesn’t like car rides. Neither of them gets carsick, thank goodness, but Belle does a lot of panting unless we’re on an interstate or other smooth, fast-moving road. I was a bit worried that they’d be a real nuisance, but they actually did good on the ride.
I’d planned on capturing seven of the large LOVEworks and one smaller one, which I knew to be indoors. I also included two roadside oddities, which I knew wouldn’t be enjoyed by all participants. But, since both were in areas we’d be passing through anyway, I included them.
Traveling in a clockwise direction, our first stop was in Lynchburg. Wait, I mean our first planned stop was in Lynchburg, we first had to stop at Wal-Mart to buy a dog leash. We’d forgotten to grab the leashes before leaving home and could only find one in the car.
Mike, being a good sport, tried to get both of the girls to look at me for a pic. I took about ten shots before giving up.
Also in Lynchburg, within sight of the LOVEwork, were “the red high-heeled shoes of a giantess,” as described on RoadsideAmerica.com.
Not knowing when, if ever, I’d get back to Lynchburg, I wanted to see the shoes. There were other oddities, like an enema collection, large metal water pitcher, and Easter Island head, but I didn’t want to push it.
From there, we headed south and west toward Lambsburg. The LOVEwork is actually located at the Virginia Welcome Center along the northbound side of I-77, so we dipped down into North Carolina then headed north on the interstate.
The weather was warm — mid-60s F / about 18 C — dry, and partly cloudy, which made for some interesting skies.
That’s my favorite LOVE image from the trip. The light was perfect and there was a break in the clouds.
From there, we headed west toward Abingdon, where we’d reserved a hotel room for the night. A good bit of the Lambsburg-to-Abingdon leg was along The Crooked Road Trail (a portion of US-58), which goes past Grayson Highlands State Park, a place I’d been wanting to visit. I’d read there was a pretty good view from the park. As it turns out, the Internet was right.
I’d hoped to see downtown Abingdon’s Main Street at night, but Hubby was tired after those 380 miles in the car. The girls needed some people time, too. So, we got a mediocre-to-crappy meal at Cracker Barrel, which was right next to the hotel, then hunkered down for the night. (By sheer coincidence, Abingdon was almost exactly the halfway point of our journey.)
After a yummy breakfast, we were off.
I’d stopped in Abingdon in July, but the sculpture had been damaged during a storm and removed for repair, so I missed it. I’m glad I got the chance to go back. Not capturing the Abingdon piece wouldn’t have been a huge deal, but it’s a pretty town in a very nice area.
We also stopped at Holston Mountain Artisans, a craft co-op which has an indoor LOVEwork I’d hoped to see. They have a barn quilt on the outside of their building, so I actually got a chance to see a full-size barn quilt up close for the first time. (The standard side on a big barn is 8′ by 8′ (about 2.5 x 2.5 meters) square.
Hubby actually discovered a second, smaller barn quilt behind the building, which I’ll share later. Sadly, the shop didn’t open for another hour or so and we had a lot of ground to cover, so off we went.
I forgot to mention earlier that it was a very pretty day for a drive.
The next planned stop was Tazewell, where we’d capture the piece I was most excited about seeing.
I couldn’t resist stopping to see the barn quilts on this not-yet-open arts center. Speaking of barn quilts… wanna know why I was so excited about seeing the Tazewell piece, which was also added very recently?
It is a barn quilt LOVEwork! I’m not doing a barn quilt scavenger hunt, I just really enjoy seeing them.
That piece is in a really, really cool location, too, which I’ll tell you about in a separate post.
Not all LOVEworks have to be standalone art works. The Blacksburg piece is a very nicely done mural.
We also revisited neighboring Christiansburg to capture a pic of the piece we’d ridden past in July because it was rush hour and too dang hot to stop.
Again, not seeing it wouldn’t have been a big deal. There are no hard and fast rules to this self-imposed scavenger hunt, but since we were in the area, we stopped.
We were supposed to see a seventh LOVEwork. Unfortunately, I’d failed to notice that the LOVEwork at the Silver Hearth Lodge, which was one of the more-recent additions to the growing list of sites, is on private property and you’re supposed to make a appointment to see the thing. We took our chances and drove up to the lodge anyway, but didn’t see the LOVEwork.
I don’t think pieces should be included on the official/master list of LOVEworks unless they are publicly accessible around the clock. I can’t be the only person to have driven to see a specific piece only to be thwarted because a piece was behind closed gates and/or doors.
The next-to-last planned stop for the day was a must-see for me. I missed it the first time I visited Roanoke.
I had planned the route, but Hubby was in charge of entering it into the GPS. His label for the next stop should tell you how unexcited he was about that one.
I was excited, but the girls were ambivalent.
I should have made the girls get out of the car, but sunset was fast approaching and I wanted Hubby to see downtown Roanoke. As it turns out, he wasn’t impressed.
That was the end of day two. Not counting the uneventful drive home from Roanoke. I think it was just before 8:00 p.m. when we got back to Warrenton. The girls were especially excited to be back home. We were, too.
Now, if I could just muster up an iota of Christmas spirit, I might get something done today.
Last Friday, I received that kind of package. It totally made my day. And I still smile when I think about the Staples (office supply store) box that so completely masked what was inside.
What was it? Shoes! Not just any shoes…
Genuine leather frog shoes! How cool is that?
They’re very me, right?
Unfortunately, they’re a bit small for my feet. I might be able to find a way to stretch them, we’ll have to see.
They’re actually from a dear lady who worked with Mike (aka Hubby) for many years. I knew there just had to be a story behind those shoes, and I was right. Here’s what she said when I asked…
My dear sister is always going outside the box when searching for presents. This one hit the jackpot, but I could not bring myself to venture out! You kept popping into my head, with your love of frogs. Enjoy them, laugh at them, or start a new story. They really are out there!
I was so touched that she thought of me. Thanks, Bridget! You’re awesome!
You know who else is awesome? You! My loyal followers.
It’s Thanksgiving Eve as I write this. Thanksgiving isn’t just about eating lots of food, it’s about being thankful, too. So I want to let you all know that I’m thankful for each and every one of you. Thanks for showing an interest in the pictures and stories I share. It means a lot to me. Really.
I hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving. And for those of you outside the US, I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Thanks again!
Have you ever been chewing on a kernel of an idea for a post, which needed just the right image then, while searching for said image, gotten completely sidetracked by the search results?
That’s what happened to me this morning. I was all set to tell you about this different sort of plan I have for our Thanksgiving, the US holiday happening this Thursday. It’s a rare four-day weekend for us, so I figured we should make it interesting.
Our parents have other plans. Two of our three kids are on the West Coast. Kid number three works in a restaurant, so I assumed he’d be working, but he’s actually going to spend the day with his wife’s family. We could invite friends over, or go out and share a meal, but most of our friends have families of their own or, I assume, plans with others.
So I decided we should do something we’d never done before. Which I was going to tell you about in that post. So I went to Google Images and searched for something like “turkey car thanksgiving” and got completely sidetracked.
I must say, there’s a lot of weird stuff on the Internet, in case you didn’t know that already. It can be quite entertaining, nostalgic, appalling, perplexing, and more.
The images that I enjoyed most were the vintage postcards. I mean, I like postcards in general, but vintage postcards can be rather unique. They were so entertaining, I figured sharing some of the gems I discovered would entertain you all more than some boring “guess what we’re going to do on Thanksgiving” sort of story.
NOTE: None of these images are mine. I searched the Internet, saved them, and re-posted them here. I usually check image licenses, you know, to see if it’s okay to share them, but I didn’t this time. So share at your own risk. And, if you don’t hear from me for a while, I may be in a jail with no Wifi.
There’s my turkey in a car. But it’s a British car. I think. Did cars in the US ever have steering wheels on the left? Brits only recently started acknowledging Thanksgiving, supposedly because so many Americans are now in the UK, not because the Brits themselves find the need to celebrate.
Honestly, I never knew Thanksgiving was an occasion to send postcards. Or greeting cards, even, which I guess these could also be.
Maybe there was once a tradition to race cars on Thanksgiving? Before the whole American football and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade thing began.
Is there some tradition I don’t know about with corn cars and orange-slice wheels? And why is this image also British? I suppose the steering wheel could be in the middle, but Tom is clearly driving. How can I be so sure? This is a vintage card, remember. They’d never let a female turkey actually drive the corn car back then.
I wonder what message that card is supposed to be sending? Maybe it was created during a time of war and folks were supposed to send this image of a pretty lady, clearly American, accompanied by a turkey couple to a soldier fighting abroad. To remind them of home.
Kids in vintage images like these creep me out. There’s almost always something wrong or at least a bit off about their faces. That face isn’t horrible, though.
Here’s a pretty gal who dressed her young turkey friend up all nice and pretty, with a lovely pink ribbon to pull the pumpkin wagon. Maybe in a parade? But, behind her friend’s back, the gal is prepared to stab and eat said clueless friend. What kind of message is that?
Put all care away? Looks to me like this is more about hiding your true self. You know, so your family thinks you are well and normal.
Or maybe the artist’s kid dressed as a turkey for Halloween. The artist wanted to share the drawing with friends and family, procrastinated, so made it a Thanksgiving card to mask his tardiness.
It probably wasn’t polite to even refer to the turkey actually getting having to get murdered so people can enjoy the traditional meal.
I’m guessing this next one is another war-time greeting.
How odd.
Because it’s tradition to dress kids up like jesters (or small clowns?), sit them on a wheeled pumpkin, and have Tom turkey take the kid for a ride. The flag was added just to make sure folks knew this was an American card. You know, because people is so many other countries would do this sort of thing, too.
That’s a really small image, but I HAD to share it anyway. Maybe it was once part of the holiday tradition for kids to befriend and cavort with Tom Turkey before he was beheaded, plucked, stuffed, and cooked? Rural kids, of course. Stuff like that would never fly in a city.
Maybe that’s why there’s an annual Presidential turkey pardon? As the American population became more and more concentrated in cities, the pre-Thanksgiving turkey-trot deception became less and less popular…
Is that supposed to convey having fun on Thanksgiving? Or perhaps indicate that the sender had enjoyed a well-dressed turkey?
This next one really made me chuckle. The turkey looks well and alive, but the child looks like she’s been stuffed, dressed, then laid-out on a decorative platter.
The last one is my favorite.
No subterfuge there. No making the turkeys look like anything but the murdered, dead turkeys that they are. Surrounded by some vegetables, a big bundle of Popsicle sticks, wine, and a big fish. On a desk by the rocky coast, just like the Pilgrims would have done. How festive.
I hope your Thanksgiving is as interesting, straightforward, adventurous, different, fun, and love-filled as I hope mine will be. Even if you can’t be with family or friends, I hope you are able to find a way to surround yourself with love, good times, and good cheer on this thankful day.
I’ve been a fan of kitschy roadside stuff for as long as I can remember. Perhaps it started with the big Yogi Bear statue at the Jellystone Park campground my family frequented in the mid- to late-1970s. It was about 20 feet tall and, like the one pictured on the right, included a basket into which people could climb for photo ops. (I’ll have to dig to see if I can find one of those pics.)
Even before I saw that Yogi, I remember seeing and being delighted by those trashcans at amusement parks topped with lids that were made to look like the head of a clown, lion, bear, or other animal so that you could “feed” your garbage to whatever critter topped the can. Anyone else remember those? If I am not mistaken, some even were equipped with some sort of device that created suction, like a vacuum cleaner, so that when you held trash close enough to the mouth it got sucked in.
I don’t know why the stuff amuses, intrigues, and delights me, it just does. I’m not just talking about big statues of men and animals, but all of the goofy Americana stuff that was once used to advertise and/or make a business stand out. Like Muffler Men.
You knew I was headed there, didn’t you?
Like I said, I’ve always liked these big guys, along with other roadside oddities, but it wasn’t until I met Fuzzy (aka Rachael) that I learned these big guys have names and, even better, a following. Other people think they’re important, too.
Recently, I learned about American Giants, a very interesting and well-done series of videos featuring Muffler Men in various locations produced by Joel Baker (a Muffler Men hobbyist) and his crew. I learned a lot from those videos, which made me appreciate Muffler Men even more. If you want the back story on these big guys, read this article and/or visit the American Giants — Muffler Men website to learn more. Of course RoadsideAmerica.com has a Muffler Men Map within the section of their site dedicated specifically to Muffler Men.
Anyway… I actually saw two giants on my recent loop through Virginia and Maryland.
I HAD to visit the Big Viking of Chincoteague before leaving the island. Currently, he is on his back in a field beside what appears to be a property owned by a “collector.” RoadsideAmerica has a picture of the Viking taken in 2008.
Apparently, the property where he was stood was purchased by someone who didn’t want The Viking. So he was rescued and is being stored here until a new home can be found.
I don’t often get a chance to see one of these giants up close and personal like this.
He may be down, for now, but hopefully someone will give him a new home soon.
Since I was sort of going to be in the neighborhood, I figured I’d stop in Ocean City, Maryland on the way home to visit this guy, who has been at the Jolly Roger Amusement Park since 1964.
I’d seen him before and have always thought him to be very cool. But I wanted a closer look now that I know he’s an authentic International Fiberglass creation.
To reach Ocean City from Chincoteague, I opted to go through Berlin, Maryland to say hi to this new guy.
RoadsideAmerica.com describes him as…
…a 21st Century Muffler Man, made by Virginia’s Mark Cline. Shorter than the classic model, with too-tight jeans, but muscular arms to heft his impressive vanilla swirl cone.
I’ve seen these mini Muffler Men before. They’re actually called Soda Jerks and Mark Cline, a fiberglass sculptor from Virginia, is the guy behind their resurrection. There’s a great Soda Jerks background piece on the American Giants blog if you’re interested.
I don’t usually get as excited about seeing these guys since they’re sorta new, but I should. I mean, they’re the new generation of Muffler Men. And Mark Cline, who I absolutely MUST visit one day, deserves some credit for keeping the muff alive.
Finally, some miscellaneous fun images I captured while meandering toward home on Sunday.
Also at Frontiertown with the Soda Jerk pictured above is an actual prop from the JAWS movie.
Another reason to stop in Ocean City was to buy some fresh Dolle’s Caramel Popcorn. That stuff is the best!
Menacing shark at Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
This over-the-top mini-golf course caught my eye on the way to Jolly Rogers.
Miniature golf establishments have always been a mecca of oddities. In a place like Ocean City with numerous putt-putt establishments, over-the-top is sort of required.
There was another place with aliens where I should have stopped, but didn’t. I was getting tired. If you’re curious, use Google Images to search for “Lost Galaxy Golf Ocean City Maryland.”
Anyhow, that concludes the re-cap my latest adventure or non-adventure as some folks may see it. 🙂
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the national wildlife refuge (NWR), but I didn’t get many pics worth sharing. It wasn’t for lack of trying. The light just wasn’t right.
The Chincoteague NWR is actually on Assateague Island, a National Seashore. About two-thirds of Assateague Island — the northern end — is actually in Maryland. I’ve been to the northern end many times, and have seen the ponies there, so I wasn’t too terribly disappointed that I only saw a few ponies during this visit. The few I did see were too far away for a picture, so you’ll just have to trust me.
It was a lovely, easy walk to the lighthouse. There’s sound in the video, believe it or not.
I was hoping to see some Snow Geese, but it was too early in the year. I’m really going to try to get over to the Eastern Shore in December or January to see the Snow Geese.
It’s a shame I didn’t get more “keeper” pics, but I enjoyed my morning at the refuge. It was cold, but peaceful. Few people were around, so the only sounds I heard were waves crashing on the shore, the wind blowing through the trees/reeds, seagulls and other birds squawking, and the crunch of leaves under my feet.
After the museum, which I told you about in my last post, I had one final stop before heading off of the island and, eventually, toward home.