Too much

Magnet #1008 - ELVIS-a-rama Museum

Black Friday.

I bought way too much. I didn't even need anything really, since about 80% of my Christmas shopping was done, but my cousins and I left at 3 in the morning, and didn't come home til 3 in the afternoon.

We started out with Best Buy, Target, a craft store, a fabric store, and all of Concord Mills ("the number one attraction of North Carolina, my mom always tells me). Whew.

One of the great deals was this Elv1s CD of his #1 hits for only $6.50 at Target. I mean, hello! When was the last time you picked up a CD with 30 tracks for under $10? Yay!

I've mentioned before how much I love Elvis, so of course, I couldn't miss going to the ELVIS-a-rama Museum and Gift Shop, a roadside attraction in Vegas.

I've a confession to make, though. I didn't do the museum part, I just did a quick trip to the gift shop (because I had to also squeeze in the Liberace Museum before my flight).

Although, I'm really glad I dropped by, because the poor museum closed back about four years ago. It's yet another museum that I regret just paying to go through really quick. I was about to say, just like the Pez Museum in PA, and I just found out that it closed down, too!

Sadface.

eta:
Son of a gun! I just looked up the Liberace Museum, and it looks like it just closed, too!! Three weeks ago!

Good grief.

eta2:
I'm starting to wonder if I go to sad little museums who are too obscure to stay alive, or if I'm bad luck!

In the sky with Lucy

Magnet #874 - Lucy the Elephant

Or not, as the case may be.

My friend brought back this Lucy the Elephant magnet for me from Margate, NJ, just a few miles down the road from Atlantic City.

Just so happens I already magnetblogged on this very same roadside attraction! Tell me you're surprised.

A couple of years ago, the AGE10 and I went down the shore (can I say that if it's AC? That's still Jersey Shore, right?), and we totally dropped by after I spied Lucy's thingamabob (there has to be a proper name for that thing) poking into the air.

It's actually one of my big Jersey regrets (don't we all have those?) - that we went only to the gift shop and not up into the belly of the elephant. It must be supercool up in there.

Actually, now that I think about it, it'd be superawesome to like, live, up in there. How cool would that be!

What's your address?

Nah, you don't need an address. I live in the elephant over on Atlantic Avenue!

A dairy great adventure

Magnet #557 - Fair Oaks Farms, Indiana

During that Chicago roadtrip earlier this summer, my sister and I pulled night-driving duty through Indiana.

No offense to Indiana but our impressions? Dark. Flat. Never-ending. Frankly, boring.

And where are all the people? Don't they have to live near highways?

So, then on our way back in the daylight, we were shocked. Shocked!, I tell you. Light. Flat. Never-ending. Frankly, boring.

That is, until we started seeing these superpunny cow billboards convincing us we needed to stop at Fair Oaks Farms. Not one, not two, but at least a few superpunny cow billboards. So, of course we had to stop.

After all, how could we resist cows double dairy'ing us to have a dairy great adventure?

Plus, ya'll don't know DC Sister. That girl is a sucker for a good pun - has been ever since the Juneau? Juneau? Juneau? Alaska! joke she (thinks) she made up when she was like five. (Or, in regular people's terms: "D'ya know? D'ya know? D'ya know? I'll ask 'er!" Yeah, that was never going to be funny written out loud.)

Anyway, we all piled into the little red barn, as opposed to the big red barn, and lined up for ice cream. They also had a locavore-ish bistro with cheese and cheese and cheese. And did I mention they had cheese? They even had a cheese-factory tour, but no one there - fairly well-produced videos had to suffice, as it was like 9:30 on a Sunday morning, and us having ice cream was kinda pushing it. (Though not really, if you eat as much ice cream as I do.)

I've now confirmed on their supercute and pretty darn robust site that what little we visited of Fair Oaks Farms was just the tip of the udder, because apparently, there's a thing called Mooville Adventure Center, plus the dairy barn tours, playareas and a birthing barn (ewwwwe) and a 4D theatre, some sort of cowculator, and it goes on and on.

And it's all supercutely branded by a dairy extraordinary marketing team. We were really glad we stopped in at Fair Oaks. These folks know how a create a branded experience - for that, I can forgive your extremely overpriced magnets.

Moo done, you!

Sparkly Tampa

Magnet #282 - Disney Princesses Sparkle

Yeah, I know this isn't Orlando, but, it's as close as I can get to glitter right now.

Yesterday was a great day, despite having started out with me not only wandering into the men's restrooms, but also running into a reallllly cute dad of a young kid...who also happened to be on my flight.

I swear, I did a full 360 in the restrooms, wondering when they installed urinals in the ladies' room, or when La Guardia had gone unisex. What can I say, it was like 6:30 in the morning!

But after a sucky morning, I landed in this wondrous world, this place called Tampa [metro area].

First, I had lunch with some old friends, and you can't beat company like that.

Second, my lunch was the most scrumptious potato-chip encrusted turkey burger I've ever had. Ok, it's the only potato-chip encrusted turkey burger I've ever had. But seriously, it was like one of those food epiphanies I mentioned a few weeks ago, and I just know I'll end up in NYC trying to find someone to recreate the darn thing.

Third, while I saw a few superawesome and completely unexpected roadside attractions (that I didn't get to take any pictures of, darnit). Off of US 4, someone recreated Cadillac Ranch, but used airstreams instead - how awesome is Airstream Ranch! But even more awesome, because down the road a couple exits later were some giant dinosaurs! Dinosaur World! (I'm so sad I didn't have time to stop!)

Fourth (and technically not Tampa), I went to Florida Southern's campus and wandered around for a couple of hours. I'll probably blog more on that side trip for the next FLW magnet, but for now, here are the superawesome pics without any captions.

But, finally, the piece de resistance. Yay for multiple Targets!

Really. How can you go wrong with a Target that sells me this magnet!

Ancient Spanish secrets

Magnet #168 - Fountain of Youth, St. Augustine, FL

I don't remember the Fountain of Youth being quite so roadside attractiony when I was little and visited. But, I went a few years ago on a roadtrip with my parents, and man, this place got cheesy.

It's still an archeological park, and it sits on like 15 acres of different outlying buildings and little demonstrations and shows. They have a pretty big little shop, which had everything from the requisite cheesy kitsch to scabbards and stuff, if I remember correctly. The piece de resistance is the Spring House - a whole little cavern-ish diorama where you all stand around while a little lecture's given...and you're allowed to drink water from the Fountain. In little clear Dixie cups.

They claim that St. Augustine is the "oldest continuously occupied European settlement within our continental United States," and if you visit the Discovery Globe and the Navigators' Planetarium, it shows you how the Spaniards settled Florida and beyond. I completely learned a helluva lot watching the shows...with as much land the Spaniards conquered, it's amazing that Spanish isn't our first language instead.

For example, did ya'll know that they say the first Thanksgiving happened in St. Augustine, FL, in September 1565? Really, though, if they did have the first Thanksgiving there, is it possible that all the Pilgrimy stuff that we all wore growing up should have actually been palmetto-leaf outfits and lots of oranges?

Round and round

Magnet #167 - Binghamton, NY

Yep, another roadtrip, but this stop was semiplanned. The goal: to try and ride the carousels of Greater Binghamton.

Two reasons why:

1. I used to be the editor of a trade newsletter/magazine called Carousel, which covered carnival news around the United States. (Stop laughing. I can hear you. And yes, that's another magnet.)
2. Apparently, there are only 170 antique carousels left in North America. And this town has six of them...and all of them are listed in the National Historic Register.

C'mon. That right there is reason enough. I'm not even a big fan of carousels, but how can you pass up the chance to ride them!

Ummmm....well, we sorta did. We got there and managed to ride only two of the six. Yes, yes, I know, magically I ended up with a button-turned-magnet that states otherwise. (We made friends at the visitors center.)

Funnily enough, the price to ride the carousels was one piece of litter. But, it's like the honor system...plus? There wasn't any litter at the carousel at the park. I promise!

Looks like that Keep America Beautiful campaign's workin' out well for them.

There's always room for Jell-O!

Magnet #166 - Jell-O Museum

I'm not gonna lie. This museum's been on my to-do list forever, and I still haven't made it there. Kinda like the American Airlines museum down in Texas, or the SPAM museum up in Minnesota, or the Winchester house out in California.

But, a friend of mine went to the Jell-O Museum up in LeRoy, New York. By all accounts, a fun museum.

Though...really? They don't sell Jell-O?

Little America

Magnet #165 - Roadside America

During an unplanned roadtrip across Pennsylvania (the trip itself was planned, the stops along the way were...not), we stopped at this odd little building called Roadside America, in Shartlesville (no, I'd never heard of it, either), PA.

Once you get out of your car, you feel like you've stepped right into the 1950s. From the little old ladies running the register and the little shop, to the aged facilities, and the hand-penned signage and the cool, somewhat retro tchotchkes.

But this magnet does no justice to the largest miniature village in the world. I dunno if that's truly what it is, but take a gander at this and this and this and finally, this. C'mon. How freakin' awesome is this village.

The entire room is a diorama of the history of America. This guy basically carved and built all the buildings over a period of like 60 years - and there's about 300 buildings! And I'm not counting all the cars and people and animals and trees and grass and railways that he and his family maintained throughout the years, as well. It's massive.

But here's the absolute best part. So at the far end of the diorama, there's a small seating area, where everyone sits when the lights go down and night falls across the land. And then. And THEN! On the far wall, right where the Statue of Liberty is, a bright light is projected on to the wall.

And remember in grade school, when they used to have filmstrips for us? Dudes. A filmstrip starts playing, and a full moon comes up. And images of Jesus sitting and little children at his knee pops up. And a Verse comes up. And in a rousing fit of patriotism, the American Flag pops up as the you hear the strains of "God Bless America" begin to swell.

It's just fantastic - and just what you'd expect from what's arguably one of the last, great Roadside Attractions in America.

Turn left! Turn left!

Magnet #164 - Lucy the Elephant

It's summer, and the best time of year for roadtrips and sidetrips, so I thought I'd do a little miniseries on Roadside Attractions.

For those of you who don't know, there are a TON of roadside attractions here in the States, so much so that there's an entire web site (and indeed, culture) devoted to these weird places of interest. These are the forgotten, or little-known, attractions that you find along the way to your real destinations. The serendipitous pieces of history that time and major highways forgot. The unplanned (or sometimes, planned, if you're me) detours that add on a couple hours to your trip. The wacky pitstops that, when you woke up that morning, you never imagined you'd be standing in the shadow a 65-foot elephant with a funny french manicure.

So, on Saturday, as we were headed down the Jersey shore, I was sitting in the backseat, minding my own business, when suddenly I saw a roadsign for Lucy the Elephant, with an arrow pointing left. As we moved through the traffic light, I was a little puzzled, and more than a little intrigued, when toward my left I saw one of those seats (a giant one, floating in the air) that you put on top of an elephant, peeping above the buildings.

I yelled out, "Turn left! We have to turn left!" I'm quite sure that my sister and her fiance thought I was joking, because of the Turn Left episode of Doctor Who, where Donna Noble changed the entire course of history by turning right, instead of left. When they realized I was serious, the fiance hurriedly turned left two blocks down, and we began to instinctively navigate back to where I saw the giant, disembodied elephant seat...with me bouncing in the backseat like a kid going to a candy store.

And what we found was Lucy the Elephant, of Margate, NJ!!!!

OMG. She was fanTASTic! How often do you accidentally run across a giant elephant on the way to wherever you're going? So we stopped. I'm sad to report that I did not do the tour of the inside of Lucy, but we did go into the little shop - hence the little magnet, which I freakin' love.

So why is there a 65-foot elephant in the middle of the Jersey Shore? Well, the real history's is here at her official site. But, basically, a real estate developer back in the 1880s wanted to attract attention to his properties in the area. And so he built a giant freakin' elephant to get people from far and wide to come.

And, 127 years later, it's registered as a National Historic Landmark, and people are still coming from far and wide to see Lucy.