The Traveling Turtle

2007-10-23T18:39:00.000-07:00

Radars and Peanuts--a visit to Wakefield, VA

A while ago, we headed to southeast Virginia on a random Saturday afternoon drive. We came across the huge billboard that proclaimed that the first peanut was grown on or near this particular spot. We took four pictures of it--but they all turned out blurry. So instead, here's a picture of the peanut museum (that was closed).

Further down the road was the The Virginia Diner, a veritable institution.

Although we did not partake of an entire meal, we did stop for dessert--yummy peach cobbler with ice cream and a slice of warm gooey chocolate chess pie. Very good stop for dessert--and we watched alot of fried chicken dinners go past--and regretted having eaten a late lunch on the road.

Another point of interest in Wakefield is the NOAA Radar. We stopped in for a photo op, and to pick up some information about tornadoes, forest fires, and flooding tips.

Bonus was the NOAA bag and pencils were were able to obtain (for both ourselves--and for JoDee.)

Our visit to NOAA was cut short because of the severe weather conditions forecast for the area on that particular day. Little did we know that extremely dangerous lightening storms were in the making. During a perilous drive home, Thomas was able to make snap this picture:

2007-10-04T17:29:00.000-07:00

Columbus...wasn't a bust! Or was it? You Decide...

Last weekend, Ruth, Thomas, and I road-tripped down to Columbus to Ohio Linuxfest.

Since Craig and Thomas spent most of Saturday going to assorted Linux related courses, and Ruth and JoDee spent the day drinking coffee and talking incessantly about everything that's happened since last Thanksgiving, I didn't spend much time doing anything.

Oh wait--I got my picture taken with the program. On the floor. Pretty nice carpeting they have in that convention center.

And I got felt-up by a giant penguin. Ruth really needs to be more careful about the kind of people she hands me off to for photo-ops. Believe me, that Tux was enjoying it just a little TOO much!

Oh yeah--here I am posing with the Pizza House box. Good food--so I'm told--since I didn't actually get to GO to dinner. But how nice they let me pose with the box. Thomas really liked the Stromboli.

So that was Columbus, in a nut---errr....Turtle-shell. And I hope to make it again next year!

2007-09-18T19:10:00.000-07:00

Letterboxing...

So, I have my own stamp, handcarved by someone specialto represent 'little ole me' on their letterboxing excursions.

Here I am, initiating my stamp in my first find on September 1! The Hot Springs Letterbox was an easy find, but still a monumental occasion!

2007-08-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

The Jamestown Ferry

Although there are a number of ways to cross the James River--my favorite by far is by theJamestown Ferry. It's true that Richmond is the "River City", but alas, they offer no ferry service. Only a multitude of bridges to take you from the north to the 'southside'. And everyone knows about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel down on the coast--but NOTHING beats a ferry ride. The views, the breeze--and the not going under water in a tunnel part. Yeah, that's probably the best reason right there.

The ferry was scheduled to leave at 6pm--and we got there at 6:03 or something ridiculous--so we had to wait for the next one to come along.

Once you get on, and the boat takes off for it's 15 minute or so commute, you're free to get out and wander around. From the second story, you can stand on the balcony and watch the world go by. Here, I do my "king of the world" impression from that movie that Ruth still refuses to see. You know the one...

Once we get back on the car level, Ruth and Thomas ham it up for the camera. It was a CRAZY hot and humid day--the temps sitting right around 100. But down here, the breeze feels pretty good!

Finally, its Land-Ho! And we head back to the car to await our departure from the boat.

Sail on, fine ferry, Sail on!

2007-08-12T20:00:00.001-07:00

Droop Mountain, WV

Yesterday, Ruth, Thomas, and I headed out on a circular tour of West Virginia. For them, the trip was to be a letterboxing frenzy--four boxes in one day. For me, it was all about the trip.

One part of the trip encompassed a visit to Droop Mountain, WV. Located along picturesque Route 219, we found some interesting items to observe there.

Located in a small, rustic cabin, the Droop Mountain museum contains relics and a brief history lesson on the battle that occurred there. And to the side, a small cemetery contains the graves of the soldiers that died there.

There was also a replica of a cannon on display for the public to view. Who'd have thought I'd fit in there?!? Of course, I should have known that there was an ulterior motive, as I suddenly went flying through the air to land, uncerimoniousely on my head. Thanks alot, Thomas!

After the visit to the cannon, we followed the signs to the lookout tower--perhaps the most awesome part of the visit!

And here's the view!

There's more to the travels than just Droop Mountain--but I'll write about those later. I still have a bit of a headache.

2007-08-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day travels

Back over Memorial Day weekend, we headed out for a day trip around the Western part of the state. On the agenda--the Rockingham County welcome turkey statue, Hulls Drive-In, Wright's Dairy-Rite, and of course, whatever other unexpected fun we happened across during the course of 15 hours.

The Turkey--accomplished. This picture was snapped on Route 11, at the Rockingham County line. And believe me--you know your in poultry country by the smell.

Hulls Drive-In--accomplished. We caught a double-feature of Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons. Add to the mix the picnic under the stars (turkey sandwiches, chips, coke, and candy bars), and of course--GREEN SNO CONES!!! :) What's more fun than sitting on a blanket on a beautiful clear night, watching a movie on a giant screen? Nothing--that's what.

Wright's Dairy-Rite--postponed due to classic car gathering and lack of parking in order for us to partake of assorted fried goodness.

Goshen Pass--on the round-about trip, we made a quick stop here to take in the scenic vista.

The Traveling Turtle is on vacation this week--but will be back soon with more interesting travel destinations! Happy Travels!

2007-07-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

Can you tell me how to get..How to get to Sesame Street?

Apparently, it's easy--just follow the signs to your local PBS-Community Ideas station--in this case, WCVE Richmond.

Luckily, it's really close to where I live--so it was easy enough to find. The other day, with little else to do on a hot and steamy Richmond afternoon--we found it.

Don't tell anyone--but we kind of trespassed to get these pictures. And Ruth has been driving me batty for the past week singing, "Can you tell me how to get...how to get to Sesame Street? How to get to Sesame Street? How to get to Sesame Street!".

Unfortunately, she doesn't know any other lines to the song.

2007-07-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

Just west of Petersburg, there is a little tiny town called Ettrick. I think most people know Ettrick as the home of Virginia State University, a historically black university.

The VSU mascot just happens to be a Trojan. However, not knowing that the school mascot was beforehand made these pictures funnier than they are now.

And every April, the Village of Ettrick hosts a Heritage Day festival. Since the Village is Ettrick is so small, and we had a general idea of where it was, none of us thought to google map our way there--since we expected the Heritage festival to encompasse the entire village--making it easy to find our way there.

Boy, were we wrong! After missing the village entirely, we finally stopped at a tiny little store that advertised "ice cream and computer repair" (sorry, didn't think to take a picture of it at the time), we finally got turned around in the right direction. As you can see, with all the advertisement they had up, it was nearly impossible for us to miss it.

Here I pose on top of the OTHER sign in the parking lot. Good thing there weren't any OTHER events going on at the same time, huh?

Rumor had it that the St. Andrews Pipe and Drum Corp would be performing. Even though we missed the performance, I did get one of the kilts to pose with me.

The festival, it turns out, was a real happening event. Held in the yard of the historic Ettrick United Methodist Church, not much seemed to be going on. The Pipe and Drum Corp was packing up. A few individuals had set up displays full of wares. If memory serves me right, one was selling heavily beaded jewelry, another had old bottles, and the third was some American Indian merchandise. A few people were eating Fire and Rescue Chicken dinners.

And you can't have a Heritage day festival without the obligatory army jeeps.

Since the day turned out to be a bust, we headed down towards historic Petersburg. While there, we came across this burned out trolley car, and a restored fire engine? I don't know if we were supposed to be there or not, but we snuck some pictures anyways.

So, I hope you enjoyed a view of Ettrick and Petersburg. Check back for more of my travels to be posted soon.

2007-07-14T20:23:00.000-07:00

In celebration of the release of the long awaited Simpsons' movie this month, 7-11 has taken the opportunity to bring the Kwik-E-Mart to the masses by changing 12 of their stores into the veritable Springfield (state unknown) icon. One of these stores is located in Bladensburg, Maryland--and I went with camera in tow to show all of my readers what a real Kwik-E-Mart looks like.

The transformation begins on the outside, where the sign now trumpets KWIK-E-MART to the world at large.

The store has moved from their traditional red building to a bright yellow facade. As you may see, Marge is walking down the side, Comic book man is loitering to the other, and Milhouse and Bart have somehow made it onto the roof. Go figure. When I was a kid, I never hung out on the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart (er..7-11, I mean). Sure, NOW it seems like I get myself into some daring positions, perched precariously on top of numerous objects, but hey, I'm an adult and can get away with that kind of stuff.

Inside, the change to Kwik-E-Mart to 7-11 is more subtle--the main concession being the boxes and boxes of Krusty-O's and Buzz cola cluttering the aisles.

Here, Ruth and I pose with the veritable Apu. He seems like a jolly nice fellow to know, doesn't he?

Thomas thinks its amusing to give Homer bunny ears.

Somehow, Maggie got herself on top of the ice chest. That girl is ALWAYS scaling some insurmountable obstacle.

And look--the old geezer guy is stuck in the freezer again! And I thought that only happened in the opening credits!

Here, Ruth hams it up with Chief Wiggum--Ralphie was hanging out by the register.

If you get the urge for a Squishee, head on out to the Kwik-E-Mart, located at:

4199 Kenilworth Avenue
Bladensburg, MD 20710

2006-07-31T15:28:00.001-07:00

On July 1, 2006, I traversed up I-95 to visit Washington, DC. I rode the Metro--DC's public transportation system and then took a trolley tour of the city. Since pretty much the entire day was spent moving in some sort of transportation or other, I won't be in alot of the pictures.

This is the Metro System. The metro system was rather intimidating, as I am *was* a public transportation system virgin. Now, after this one trip, I feel I can navigate the mean trains of DC with the best of them.

After catching the Metro at the Dunn-Loring Merrifield station, and one successfull transfer from the ORANGE line to the RED line at Metro station, I disembarked at Union Station, the Center of all that is in the DC public transport system. From this station, you can go anywhere.

Union Station is pretty kewl, and would remind me of that mall in Cleveland that Ruth and JoDee went to that time they went on their Drew Carey Tour of Cleveland...you know the one that's downtown that was deteremined was used as the facade for the Winfred-Lauder store. Yeah, that one...Well, I WOULD remember it IF I had known Ruth and JoDee back then.

Union Station is ALOT like that--there were alot of high-end speciality stores and restaurants, and buried in the basement, a standard mall foodcourt. This is where I partook of my humble chicken and rice luncheon.

After lunch, I went in search of the DC Trolley Tours. After much meandering, it was found. This is Bernie (the Bookworm), one of the two Trolley drivers I met during my visit. Isn't he nice to let me pose with him?

The tour started at Union Station, and alot of history was mentioned. Something about the statue and the avenue and flags, and something else I can't remember right off hand. Anyways, here's the first picture of the tour.

Proceeding along, the tour was boring. Well, maybe not boring, but it went WAY too fast, and I was kind of disappointed by the lack of things to do. Okay, maybe that came out wrong--if you are a new visitor to DC, then I would probably suggest the tour, as it gives you a great way to see all of the monuments (albeit from a quickly moving trolley), and provides a general layout of the city. Here are some pictures of monuments taken from a moving bus. Please enjoy my "monument montage" gallery.

I did make it to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. As you can tell, even in a museum, I can still find where they keep the handbags.
And of course, I HAD to check out the prime shopping in the one of the many gift areas. And just like always, they NEVER have my size!

Read me again soon!

2006-07-18T11:14:00.000-07:00

Pic's from DC coming soon! :-)

2006-04-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

The Road to Cincinnati

Day 1: Friday

Left Virginia on a beautiful day around noon. As you can see, I'm still a little tired, but excited to be starting the trip.

Most of the trip was uneventful, but in Ohio, I saw these beautiful storm clouds, and snapped this picture to share them with you. They were probably part of the huge storm system that spawned some tornadic activity in the greater Cincinnati area.

It was a long day on the road, so when I finally got to the hotel, I decided to unwind with a little bit of TV.

Day 2: Saturday

Slept late today, and headed out to the CinciClassic gaming convention at the Fairfield Convention Center.

There were alot more people there than I thought there would be. This is an arial view of the place, full of all kinds of geek..I mean, gaming enthusiasts. Craig did a stellar job of co-organizing this event.

That afternoon, I went in search of the big Jesus. First thing I did was try to find it in the atlas. Ahh! There it is, just north of Cincinnati, next door to the huge flea market!

Here I am in front of the World's Largest Half-Jesus!

After road-tripping around the area, I was STARVED. My companions and I ended up at the Spinning Fork. Here, I peruse the menu and try to decide between vegetarian and meat entrees.

Even though I'm still technically underage, JoDee gives me a sip of her wine. Just don't tell anyone...

Day 3: Sunday

Before leaving Cincinnati, I convince everyone that we should go to Jungle Jims grocery store. Apparently, we weren't supossed to take pictures inside the store, but I didn't know that until we went to leave. So, enjoy probably some of the ONLY pictures in existence of this sacred haven of grocerydome.
This is the singing Elvis Ape. He puts on a show every 5 minutes. If you can't tell, I'm on the gumball dispenser.

Overhead, a giant Campbells soup can swings from the ceiling. Slightly disturbing...I totally didn't understand the hanging cheese bit--I just hope it wasn't depresed!

Before heading out of town, I stop and fill up the tank. I'm such a good travel partner!

All in all, a great trip for all involved. I look forward to going again next year!

2006-04-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

Leaving for Cincinnati on Friday morning! Pictures to follow.

2006-04-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

This is a work in progress...please be patient!