Tuesday, June 30, 2015

KOA Campsite in Natural Bridge

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I wanted to post a little more often than I have this week, but I ended up getting vertigo. It was the weirdest sensation, but I'm feeling a lot better. On to reminiscing about the rest of my road trip, specifically camping. 
                
This part of our road trip can only be explained by me having a mid-life crisis/birthday meltdown. We were looking at different hotel options, and the option of camping in a small cabin came up. I am not a camping girl by ANY means, but it seemed like a really good idea, and it was!




"Camping" ended up being so much more fun than a regular hotel would have been:
  • More room than a usual hotel room, plus a kitchen
  • It was a brand new cabin so everything was perfect and new 
  • We were right by the playground 
  • It was cheaper than going rates at nearby hotels
  • The location was right in the middle of everywhere place we wanted to explore 
  • We could be slightly more loud there than in a typical hotel room without disturbing people
  • There was a game room and lot's of places to walk around




 We even made a fire and cooked dinner outside, so in my mind that totally means we went camping even though we also had cable
 KOA campsites have a lot of unique places to stay around the country. Tree houses, vintage trailers, and even train cabooses are just a few examples. I can't wait to road trip to them all...or just a lot. I'm really glad I decided to try something new!
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Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Caverns, Abandoned Antique Stores, and Amish Romance Books

I'm not joking when I say there is so much to do in Natural Bridge, especially for such a small area. The last day of the road trip we went on a tour of the caverns. Taking pictures in a cave was kind of hard, everything just looked the same. I'm mildly claustrophobic so there were a few times I was regretting my decision to do this, but it was alright in the end. It was one of those experiences where I was glad I did it, but I'm in no hurry to do it again. 

It's a little ironic that we went all the way to Natural Bridge, and never actually went to the Natural Bridge. They were doing tours, but there were too many dangerous icicles on the formation so they weren't going to take people all the way to it. It seemed like a waste of money to not see it up close. On the way back to our cabin we saw a few signs for an antique store. We got close, but we never did find the entrance. That was the second store we stopped by where there wasn't a person in sight. At least there was a cool view and building.

 This was just a random picture of some books in one of the gift shops. I don't actually know what they're about, but the covers were cracking everyone up. There was a really creepy looking wax museum that sadly closed forever about two weeks before our visit. 
Birthdays are rarely a big deal for me, but I'm so glad I tried to plan something "big" this year, and it actually went off without a hitch. I can probably quit birthdays now, because nothing will ever top this trip. I can't recommend Natural Bridge enough if you're looking for quirky, weird, and fun things to do. Everything is so close together you could easily see everything in two or three days.
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Monday, June 22, 2015

The Crimson Field

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This show was put on my radar last night. It premiered on PBS yesterday, but I missed the first one. It seems to be about nurses in WWI. Has anyone seen it, either last night or when it was on the BBC the first time around?  There are so many good period pieces coming out this summer, especially ones focused on women's experiences. Girl Power!


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Saturday, June 20, 2015

Foamhenge: The Ultimate Road Side Attraction

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Foamhenge was built in Natural Bridge about 10 years ago by Mark Cline. It was the highlight of my birthday road trip. If it isn't obvious by the name, it is a life sized reproduction of the real Stonehenge, made of, you guessed it, foam. I'm really glad we went in the evening even though it was after a long day of driving, doing other activities, and very cold weather. The sun was setting, and it just made everything look that much cooler.

Foamhenge is on a hill, surrounded by a field on exit 180, right off Highway 11 South. There is no signage so you have to really be on the lookout. We could see it from the road, but if you go any time other than winter, it might be harder to see through the trees. Foamhenge isn't technically open anymore, and we may or may not have jumped a fence to see it. Take that into consideration and wear comfortable shoes if you try to see it.

This part of the trip was my sister's suggestion, so I personally wasn't sure what to expect, but it was just so much fun. I can't really even explain why running around a foam version of Foamhenge was so exciting. Maybe it was the surprise wizard. There are rumors that the land it is built on has been sold, so it's hard to say how much longer Foamhenge will even exist.



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Monday, June 15, 2015

The Pink Cadillac Diner

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The Pink Cadillac Diner was our second stop after the petting zoo. This place is my dream restaurant. The outside was pink and aqua (which I accidentally matched), and it had a pink vintage car parked outside. There used to be a giant statue of King Kong holding a small plane, but I think we missed it by a couple of months. I'm not sure why it wasn't there anymore.







 The inside had two sections, a room filled with Elvis memorabilia, and the other one filled with vintage posters and decorations as far as the eye could see. I literally would have eaten every meal there, but we settled on once for lunch, and once for breakfast the next morning. The people working there were really nice about us taking pictures of everything, I just wish we had taken more inside. We took a lot of panoramic pictures, but they don't post very well.  



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Friday, June 12, 2015

Kitschy Statues Everywhere

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Natural Bridge is just a fun, kitschy (and tiny) city. I think these were all made by Mark Cline, but I'm not positive. He also made Foamhenge and Enchanted Castle Studios, which is sadly closed and boarded up with some serious "no trespassing" signs. :( Mark Kline seriously just needs to be crowned King of Natural Bridge. 






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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

My Birthday Road Trip to Natural Bridge

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Well I'm already off to a great slow start on my new blog. My birthday happened about six months ago, but I'm posting about it now so I'll remember it forever. Plans for my birthday originally consisted of me visiting a friend for the week and pretending it wasn't my birthday. Then one night I found out about this ridiculously over the top 1950s diner. It was near Foamhenge, and a bunch of other cool places. My sister, friend, and I joked that we should road trip there. Birthday plans quickly went from hiding out to going on an epic road trip with my sister and two of my best friends. 

After a late night slumber party, bundling up for freezing temperatures, and a few hour car trip, our first stop was a petting zoo. I have mixed feelings about zoos, and this one really wasn't the best. It was nice to stretch our legs though, and taking silly pictures and feeding goats/sheep/alpacas was fun. This post is going to get long, so I'm milking it for all its worth and dividing it up between activities. Until next time!
  



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Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Does anyone like writing introduction posts? I do not.

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I had a vintage themed blog in college, but I eventually got bored with it and stopped. I'm not the best writer or photographer, but I started to miss having one place to post pictures and write about things that happen in my life. It's really fun to look back at things like that, so this is my fresh start. 

Of course "vintage" is still one of my favorite hobbies, but this blog won't be exclusively about that. At this point, I'm not even sure what this blog will be about other than a little record of things I like, or places I visit, etc. 

There was a quiz/meme a while ago where you typed in your name, and then it guessed your aesthetic in four words. I typed in my first name and it gave me cheap, glam, sugar, and punk. For just typing in my name, it was fairly accurate for my various tastes in life, so here we are. 

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