Road Tripping

I love road trips!  I love the adventure, sometimes you don't know where you're going, even if you do know, you might get lost.  (My hubby hates GPSs.)  You never know what little gem of a town you're going to find or what interesting roadside wonder you might find.

On our way back from our honeymoon, we took Route 6 for a little while.  It's a great road with lots of small towns and nature.  I did a little research when we got back and it turns out you can travel across the United States on Route 6.

It's probably no surprise that I want to do that...."Do 6."

It's probably also no surprise that I have had a longtime goal to "get my kicks on Route 66", either.

Recently, I had a custom order for the Route 66 pendants, and it has inspired me to add them to my line.

Route 66 Black and White Glass Tile Pendant

Route 66 Color Glass Tile Pendant

Route 6 Color Glass Tile Pendant

Route 6 Black and White Glass Tile Pendant

So, whether you want to "Get your kicks on Route 66" or "Do 6," I have the pendant for you!  Want a different route?  Contact me and I'll make it for you!

My Childhood Inspiration: Outta the Way

This week we scout wednesday on scoutie girl is "what's your childhood inspiration?"

The thing is, I think a culmination of different things and activities from my childhood really shape who I am and what I do and I can't say it's one book or one experience.

I have talked about my mom and her crafty influence on me.  She was always making something and sold her crafts at craft shows.  I've also talked about my dad's handiness and recycling and my grandmother's love of flowers and how that's all shaped how I feel about the planet and why I make upcycled jewelry.

But today, in honor of summer vacations, I would like to talk about Outta the Way.

For those of you who don't know, my boyfriend and I write a travel zine called Outta the Way.  Actually, he writes it, I take the photos and put it together.  We both love traveling to strange "out of the way" places.  When we started going on our trips, I didn't really think about where I might get this urge from.  Recently when taking a little road trip with my parents over a weekend we were visiting them, it all came back to me.  While growing up, we would go on car rides all the time.  My dad would point out interesting things along the way.  I loved this as a kid.  I still love this today.  

Each summer my parents would take us on vacation.  While most of my friends either didn't go on vacation every summer, or they would go on the same beach trip every year, my parents thought that it was important to take my brother and I different locations and expose us to as much as the world as they could afford to show us.  I loved vacation, but I don't think I realized how cool my parents were for taking us on them.  Now, while our funds are very limited for this sort of thing, we try to make sure we show my step-daughter as many different places as we can, even if it's just a road trip on the weekend.  That's really why Jim and I started Outta the Way.  To show people there is so much to do without spending too much money.

If my parents hadn't taken me on different car rides and interesting vacations, I'm not sure that I would think to do them now.  I wouldn't have taken the tens of thousands of photos I have taken of the gorgeous, abandoned, historical or just plain weird places we have been to.  

My New Favorite Spot - Philadelphia's Magic Gardens

For the first few minutes my boyfriend and I were at Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, we were speechless.  We stood, mouths agape, unable to move, speak or take it all in.  We literally stood staring.

  What we found was a massive outdoor labyrinthine of mosaic sculpture that spans a half of a city block.  

The artist is Isaiah Zagar.  His work can be found all over Philadelphia.  If you have visited Philadelphia, you likely have already seen his work even if you didn't realize it.

The walls of the labyrinthine are filled up with mosaic using all kinds of upcyled bottles, bicycle wheels, and other found objects.  It is my dream of upcycling and art plus a magical outdoor area all captured in one place. 
My words and the photos here cannot even begin to capture the magic of the place.

I didn't even mention the inside.  The inside is an art gallery.  Also completely done in mosaic.  

I wanted to move in.  (Actually, we were told that we were just a little too late for that.  There was an apartment for rent, and the artist will mosaic it for you!  But, alas, it was just rented.)

For all my photos of Philadelphia's Magic Gardens, check out my full set of photos on flickr.  My boyfriend (Outta the Way) shot some video, too.  The video is on the Outta the Way YouTube channel.

So, if you find yourself on South Street in Philadelphia and have an extra $4 - I highly recommend you check Philadelphia's Magic Gardens out!  (Heck, if you don't have the $4, look for some change laying around.  It will be worth the effort!)

Traveling for the Memory vs. Traveling for the Photo

 

I was reading this post, Can you travel without a camera, and a follow up post, Hey, Me Get Out of My Travel Photos (Not!).  While I cannot possibly imagine going on a trip without my camera, and I tend to take tons of photos of everywhere I visit, I do not do so to prove I have been somewhere. 

I think it is a combination of wanting to preserve a memory, enjoying photography and making sure that I have a tangible (if I ever actually print out my photos) souvenir of my travels.  Most of the photos I take do not have myself or traveling companions, so I guess we're not really proving we've been anywhere.

Additionally, I like to share where I go with people.  I travel to odd and interesting places and I want to make sure other people know about them, too.  In fact, my boyfriend and I even write a travel zine.  We write the zine because we like to share inexpensive and fun trips with people....not because we are proving we have been anywhere.

Even though I take a lot of photos, I am still in the moment while I am traveling.  I think it's great that I can come home, look at the photos and relive the moment again, too.  It is not more important to me to take a photo or get a souvenir than to enjoy where I am and what I am doing.  However, I am sort of afraid I will forget where I have been or what I have done without documenting it in some way, and I think that memories are important, too.

So while I don't think that I will be traveling without my camera any time soon, I don't travel just for the photograph of where I've been either.

Weekend In Photos

What I did over the weekend....

This weekend we went to a couple of Lancaster County, PA events that I (somewhat surprisingly) loved!

The photo above was taken at the Construction Rodeo at ABC Construction in Mount Joy, PA. The festival featured all kinds of events with construction equipment. It was fascinating and a lot of fun! The proceeds went to Make a Wish foundation. Definitely check this out next year if you can make it!

We also went to the Pig Iron Festival in Marrietta, PA. We toured the ruins of the furnance that was once part of a booming business. I found the ruins fascinating and the tour interesting. There was an actor at the end who was fabulous!

At the festival there was also a car show, someone demonstrating making knives, and lots of great food! The proceeds for this festival went to help the preservation of the area. They have already done a marvelous job at restoring one building.

It was a fun weekend - even if it was rainy!

More photos on my flickr photoshot of both events.

New Blog

(photo is from a trip to New Hope, PA)

My boyfriend Jim and I just started a new blog (and soon to follow zine):

Outta the Way!

There's an introductory post over there and I would love if you would all check it out. Right now it is very basic, but it will soon be filled with lots of photos and content about places to travel and ways to travel on a budget.

Most of our trips and what we will be writing about will be in Pennsylvania and Maryland, basically places you can easily get to from Lancaster, PA; however, we will be throwing in tips about how to take road trips inexpensively and how to find cool places, so it will have value even if you don't plan to come to Pennsylvania.

Thanks for checking it out and we will be posting more to it soon!

Tuesday Thrifty Travel Trip and Mini Road Trip

Thrifty Travel Tip of the Week: Your Own Backyard

Sometimes we read and learn about and get excited about all these great places that are in other states or even other countries and we forget about the great things in our own neighborhood. There is so much history everywhere you look.

I drive by this great big gigantic Shoe House all the time that's not that far from my home. I have never been there. So we stopped and it was really cool. Maybe your local pet store has an interesting feeding show. These are just examples of what I am talking about. Sometimes you should check out the road MORE travelled. Just look at it with new eyes. There is something else really cool in your town. Seriously, there is. Go and find it! And tell me about it! :)

Trip Recap: York County, Pennsylvania

We didn't have our usual abundance of time for our typical trip this weekend, so we stayed close to home. (Actually, I was off last week, so I do have another day trip to tell you about another time that was a little further....another day)

We were really interested in seeing the sting rays get fed at our local pet store. This pet store has a "touch tank" with creatures that you can touch. Among these creatures are sting rays and little tiny sharks. Well, they feed them a few times a week and have a little show. This show is free and quite entertaining! I will try to upload a couple little videos I took during the show on my flickr photostream.

I am actually from Lancaster, PA, but my significant other is from York so it is our backyard, too. And it's just the next county over.

In the Weird Pennsylvania book that I refer to quite often they mention the Shoe House. I also have seen the Shoe House from the highway all the time and have wanted to stop by before, but just never did. Until Saturday, that is.

The Shoe House is exactly what it sounds like. It is a house that is in the shape of a shoe. This shoe maker had this shoe build as an advertisement. He was quite generous, though, too and would have newlyweds and senior citizens stay in the house and provide them with a maid and a driver and even give them free shoes. Everything was on him.

You can take a tour of the house, which is pretty fascinating, really, to see how everything fits into the house. They also serve ice cream and have a little shop.

If you haven't been there and are in the area, it's definitely worth your time to at least stop in for some ice cream and check it out. The tour cost $4 for adults. I am glad I took the tour, but I wouldn't need to do it again. I think it is interesting if you haven't seen the inside previously.

Next we went to this gorgeous park in York County. Apparently it is the highest point and there is this gorgeous view. It is called the Sam - Something-or-Other (I can't remember!!!) park. It's along Route 462. The photo above shows a view of the Susquehanna River and it was all misty at the time.

I would really recommend this spot for a scenic picnic and definitely bring your kites because it is the perfect spot for it. You can put a quarter in one of those machines to get a closer view. It was beautiful.

We then went for a little bit of spookiness and went on our way to find the Rehmeyer Hollow Hex House.

According to the legend, Rehmeyer was killed because his assassins believed that he put a hex on them.

This site shows a picture of the house back when the murder happened and some information. You cannot tour it right now, but I think that the family is trying to make it into a museum of sorts. I hope so because I would love to check it out.

We then did some driving around, otherwise known as a "Goose Hunt," a/k/a wild goose chase, and ran across some other cool things that I didn't know where around.

For example, the railroad station where Lincoln stopped to give a speech - Hanover Junction - is preserved as a museum now. The railroad is actually a walking trail (also extremely cool). The museum was closed when we got there, but we did take a look around.

This cool sculpture was there, too:

Also in our travels we found this old abandoned tower, the remnants of a building and what looked like a barn that was falling down. After we got home Jim did some research and found out it was the Foust Distillery. Very cool looking.

So, as you can see, you can find some very cool sites right near your own home. Sometimes you can plan them, but other times you just happen to come across them and uncover treasures you never knew you would find. For more photos, check out my flickr photostream, I am uploading them now.

Now get out there and discover your own backyard!

Fricks Lock, Pennsylvania and more...

This weekend we traveled to Fricks Lock, PA. There were all kinds of No Trepassing signs and Camera Surveyence signs, so we decided not to chance it by going in. But we got a few shots from the gate.

The abandoned town is near a (I think) PECO power plant. There are lots of farms around. Jim took the top photo, which I really love.

We have found out since that as long as you aren't causing a problem, you probably won't get in trouble or the local police office will allow you to visit if you ask first. So if you would like to visit, just call the police station first.

This town was build and booming back in the Revolutionary area when a set of locks for the Schuylkill Canal were put in. Eventually railroads started to supercede canal traffic. They filled in the canal and the railroad arrived. Then the railroad declined as well.

When PECO finished building the nuclear power plant, they bought the residences in the area. There are conflicting stories about how much notice the residents were given and how forced they were, but the result is that all the buildings were boarded up and abandoned.

We could see just a couple buildings, but there are about 10. Many of the buildings date back to the 1700's.

Of course, vandlism is a problem there, which is a shame. I would love to see it restored. I think that we might go back again, but ask permission to go on the property.

DEVIL'S ROAD:

We went back to Devil's Road as well. (Cossart Road in Chadd's Ford, PA) It was not freaky at all this time....there were no black SUV's and it didn't scare me at all. It just seemed like a cute little road - with some vandalism - with strange trees.

The trees: (you can click on any image to make it bigger)

Devil's Road supposedly has a cult house on it somewhere, which any number of things did or did not happen there... we haven't found the house. There are houses along the road, but we can't figure out which one is the alleged cult house. The terrible things that happened in the house is the supposed reason the trees grow away from the road in spots along the road. Maybe you want to do your own research? By the way, Cossart Road does not have a street sign...which kind of makes it stand out more.

We also were on a sort of "goose hunt" (as my step-daughter says) trying to find the "World's Tiniest Church." We didn't set out to find it, but it was in the Weird Pennsylvania book and all of there was Creek Road, which was the road this church was on. We subsequently found out that in Chester County, basically EVERY road is named Creek Road or some form of it and after driving around a bit with no direction, we gave up.

Actually, I am going to go and do some research to see if I can find out where this church is. Anybody have any idea?

Road Trip! Part II

Read here for Part I of my Memorial Day Weekend Road Trip.(Click on photos to see a larger view. To see ALL of the photos from our road trip, please check out my flickr photostream.)

We left the Wildlife Conservation and since we were both off all day, we decided to keep going. After a while....and frankly, I don't have the slightest idea how we got there, we just kept driving along....we ended up in Minersville, PA.

In Minersville we stopped for a quick bite and gas. We found this crazy statue. The statue itself isn't crazy at all, it's a lovely tribute to people who have lost their lives to coal mines. The crazy part is that it is in the parking lot of a Turkey Hill.

We also saw this awesome display in someone's yard!

We decided, well, we have gone this far, let's go to Centralia! We passed this cool pub along the way!


CENTRALIAI am by no means an expert on the history of Centralia, and I encourage you to do your own research if you decide to venture there. But I can give you a few little details, as I have been reading a book about Centralia and have done some research. I actually also remember driving through Centralia as a child many times on our way elsewhere and my parents telling me about the fire and seeing it go from a "normal" seeming town to one with fewer and fewer homes.Centralia was a booming coal mining town. In fact, Centralia means Center of Commerce. There were lots of houses and businesses during the coal mining times. (lol, I am not a historian, I am not sure when that was!) Anyway in 1962, garbage was taken to a pit, as was the regular status quo, and bured. They thought the fire was out. Unfortunately, however, the fire had caught in an abandoned coal mine.

A variety of things were tried to put out the fire. Eventually, the government pulled funding for trying to put out the fire. Ironically if they had put forth the funds then, a lot of money, not to mention peoples' homes, would have been saved.

The fire still burns underground all these years later. You can actually see smoke coming up from the ground.

This once booming town is now a ghost town.

We have tried to go to Centralia before, but a random blizzard broke out and we couldn't see anything.

Here are some photos....click to make them larger!This was a street we drove down. It just stopped and was overgrown.

View from a hill....you can't really tell where the houses were because everything is all grown over.

Here you can actually see the smoke coming out of the ground. (The smoke didn't photograph well!)

View from a hill....you can see coal in the distance.


In Centralia, there is a problem of sink holes. In 1982 a child fell into one. Thankfully he grabbed a root and his friend pulled him out quickly; however, the gases could kill you very quickly.Another such hole appeared in Route 61. It is blocked off on 2 sides and the road is detoured around now. We walked back to see it. There was all kinds of crazy graffiti and such. I actually think it is considered tresspassing to go back there, but it isn't posted.



While we were on the old Rt. 61, we actually felt a little off kilter and woozy. The road was on a tilt, and it was super creepy, so that may have added to the wooziness.

There was a house on this road. This is the coolest road sign ever!
I must say, I was completely shocked that there were other people visiting. It seemed so strange, but then again, I guess it shouldn't.

One last thing, you can't find Centralia on a map or by mapquest. I am not going to encourage or discourage you to go there, but it is in Northeast Pennsylvania. You can google it and find some info (with bad directions....lol) but if you can get to Ashland, turn at the Mays Drive in. You will go up a hill and there's a hard right turn in the road -- that's where the detour around the damaged part of Rt 61 is, although it is no longer marked. You will see the other side of the closed road and a cemetary. You are then in Centralia. If you don't know what you are looking for, you might miss it because it just looks like you are driving through the mountains and there are a couple of houses.

We then hit the road again.....

The exciting conclusion on the next installment: Road Trip! Part III

Until then, take care!

Road Trip! Part I

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Jim [Boyfriend] actually had the day off, so we decided to go on a road trip!

(This road trip blog will be given in a series because our day was so full of fun activity, it will never fit in one blog post!)

So, where to go.....for some reason we had a difficult time figuring that out this time.

Finally we decided to just get into the car and drive. I was thinking we could just go for a drive through the Amish farmlands, something that I have never specifically set out to do (although impossible not to do when you live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.)

We set out on Rt. 501 North from Lancaster. We wanted to see how far it went and where it led. (By the way, not really that far....)

For those of you who may not have ever been on a road trip where you just hop in your car and let the road take you where it may, I highly encourage you to give it a try. I know gas is expensive right now and shows no signs of getting less expensive, but we filled up our tank and drove all day and our only other expense was lunch and waters, and we had one of the best days ever.

We are driving up Rt. 501 and were having a delightful time. We came to this sweet town, Schaeffersville (maybe spelled wrong, and perhaps it's Schaeffertown? I really need to start a travel journal to keep track of these things)

What is perhaps my favorite thing about off-the-beaten-track road trips (by that I mean off of the express ways) is all of the quaint little towns you go through that you would have never noticed or realized that they were even there had you traveled on the highway.

Somewhere around Schaeffersville, or perhaps in the town itself, we saw a sign for the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. So we decided to check it out!

It was the so beautiful. There was a visitors center with lots of information. They had binoculars so you could look out into the wildlife area, which was a lot of fun. Also, they had a box of things to touch and feel like animal furs and antlers.

There was a beautiful collection of bird eggs, which was kind of amazing. Some of them look like little beads!

So there was a trail. We didn't make it very far. By "we" I mean me. I was wearing flip flops and a skirt, afterall! I wasn't expecting a hike on our road trip.

We did make it far enough to catch the great view, though.

Here are some beautiful flowers we came across there.


After coming back down the hill, we watched a bird and then we noticed a "swamp area." Actually, I think it was just a pond, but we are really not very outdoorsy and have no idea what anything is.At this pond, I saw the cutest thing ever! Baby duckies. I have tons more photos on my flickr of these duckies....I was obseesed.




After visiting the duck pond, we turned around and saw a horse and buggy! As many of you know, I live in Lancaster, PA, so this wasn't such a big shock necessarily, but we actually got a photo of it because it was parked and no one was in it. The Amish religion does not allow their followers to be photographed and I have respect for that. So here it is, a real life Amish horse and buggy:


So then we hit the road again.....



(my handsome driver)
More to come on our road trip! It was 9 hours, so there is a lot to see! There are about 150 photos of it on my flickr photostream, so if you can't wait to see the rest, check 'em out!

In the next installment: Centralia! (We went back!)

P.S. You can click on any of these photos to look at a larger one.