Category: Miscellaneous
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Australian Brewery Coasters
Coasters Collected in the Wild (October 1997) Anyone who knows me understands that I like fine tasting beers. Naturally we had to visit brewpubs and breweries, and try as many different varieties as available. Lord Nelson The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel bills itself as the oldest hotel in Sydney, dating back to the 1840’s (map).…
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Old World Wisconsin
Eagle, Wisconsin, USA (August 10, 2002) The Wisconsin Historical Society operates Old World Wisconsin, south of the town of Eagle, an outdoor living history museum (map). The society collected vintage buildings from throughout the state and carefully transported them to the site. Experts then reassembled the buildings in their historical context. Different locations in Old…
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The House on the Rock
Spring Green, Wisconsin, USA (August 12, 2002) I am not even sure how to describe The House on the Rock near Spring Green, Wisconsin (map). Is it a house? Or is it a museum? Maybe it’s a cluttered attic on steroids? Did some ancient flea market suffer a devastating explosion and leave its detritus in…
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Pacific Northwest Breweriana
Breweriana collected in the Pacific Northwest (May 8-17, 1998) Anyone who knows me understands that I like fine tasting beers. Thus, we compiled a large collection of breweriana on our trip to the Pacific Northwest. The photograph above shows the full set of glasses, growlers, coasters, and stickers. The collection made it home without too…
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Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center; Fairfax County, Virginia, USA (January 2007) The Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center provides extra room for much of their extensive aircraft and spacecraft that cannot fit into their location on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The center sits about 25 miles west of the city on the grounds of Washington-Dulles International Airport…
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Dinosaur Land
Near Winchester, Virginia (December 2007) In the days before Interstate highways, before large corporate theme parks and fast food restaurants, little mom-and-pop attractions provided the traveling public with a few moments of amusement and perhaps a brief rest as they traveled through rural America on rolling, winding two-lane asphalt. Kids hung their heads by the…
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ATK Rocket Park
Near Promontory Summit, Utah, USA (July 2011) A surprise awaits visitors to the desert on the north side of the Great Salt Lake. Most people probably know about the Golden Spike National Historic Site — in fact that’s probably why most people are way out there in the middle of nowhere. Lesser know, but still…
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Wonder World Park
San Marcos, Hays County, Texas, USA (March 2007) Wonder World Park contained several attractions in one compact area, including a cave; an observation tower, an “anti-gravity” house, and a wild animal park. It also included a gift shop and a snack bar. Tickets could be purchased for the entire tour or for individual portions. Wonder…
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Jack Daniel Distillery
Lynchburg, Moore Co., Tennessee, USA (April 2010) The Jack Daniel Distillery offers one of the best tours of any production facility I’ve ever had an opportunity to visit. It’s comprehensive, informative and efficient. They obviously get a lot of visitors and the know how to put on an entertaining session. A visit to the distillery…
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South of the (Carolina) Border
Dillon, South Carolina (July 2006) We rode through hundreds of miles along Interstate 95 with a constant barrage of “Pedro Says” this and “Pedro Says” that signs. Finally, a giant sombrero beckoned us to an offramp (map). Roadside advertising beat us so badly that we felt compelled to stop. Our older son still recites Pedro’s…