Weirdest Attractions in Every State: Finale

South Dakota

Mitchell, South Dakota is home to the legendary Corn Palace. This absurd palace resembles a traditional Russian palace, except it’s adorned in murals made of corn. Each year wildlife feasts on the murals before they’re replaced the following spring.

Tennessee

Visit Chattanooga, Tennessee to find the International Towing and Recovery Museum. The world’s first-ever tow truck was built in Chattanooga in 2926, and now the Museum commemorates the concept of tow trucks, their drivers, and the help these trucks can offer to stranded motorists.

Texas

If you visit San Antonio, you could check out the interesting Toilet Seat Art Museum. Barney Smith, the Museum’s founder, was born to a family of plumbers. Rather than follow in their footsteps, he decided to create art on toilet seat lids and now owns over 1,350 unique toilet seat lid art pieces.

Utah

There’s a hole in a rock in Moab, Utah. In that hole, you can find a man-made cave that was one the home of Albert and Gladys Christensen. The aptly-named “Hole N”The Rock” [sic] has 14 rooms and sports a gift shop, Gladys’s doll collection, and taxidermy!

Vermont

Ben and Jerry’s is famously headquartered in Waterbury, Vermont. Beyond being the place where the company makes new flavors, its also where they keep a “graveyard” of retired flavors. Here, you can pay respects to flavors that have been pulled from the shelves. Interestingly, the company axes around ten flavors per year!

Virginia

It might sound strange, but there’s a DEA Museum in Arlington, Virginia. This museum has fascinating and sometimes disturbing artifacts that showcase the Drug Enforcement Agency’s ongoing war on crime. The law enforcement attraction probably isn’t the best stop for families with younger kids!

Washington

Take a trip to Olympic Way in Longview, Washington to discover the Nutty Narrows squirrel bridge. This adorable, tiny bridge over Olympic Way allows squirrels to safely cross over the road without falling to the traffic below. The bridge is regularly decorated for holidays and special events!

West Virginia

There’s a holdout Cold War bunker beneath the Greenbrier Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. This somewhat grim attraction was to house high-ranking members of the US government in the event of atomic war! People can now tour the bunker to see a weird relic of a bygone era of atomic anxiety.

Wisconsin

In 1995, a 55-ton boulder rolled down a hill in Fountain City, Wisconsin, straight into Dwight and Maxine Anderson’s home. It ended up in the master bedroom, where it sits to this day. The home was purchased by investors who now allow tourists to visit and see the boulder sitting in the middle of the home.

Wyoming

The Frontier Prison Museum sits where the Frontier Prison itself once operated. This dismal, dark museum showcases the punitive measures Frontier Prison used to keep prisoners in line. It’s weird and more than a bit unsettling. Don’t try to visit at night!

SOURCE: THEQUICKREPORT.COM

Kansas State Tree: The Cottonwood Tree

Kansas designated the cottonwood as the official state tree in 1937.

Cottonwood Tree Facts

The cottonwoods are deciduous trees of the poplar species, distinguished by thick, deeply fissured bark and triangular to diamond-shaped leaves. The Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides) is one of the largest North American hardwood trees (growing 20-45 meters tall), although the wood is rather soft. Cottonwoods are grown for timber production along wet river banks because they are exceptionally tolerant of flooding, erosion and flood deposits filling around the trunk.

Their exceptional growth rate provides a large crop of wood within just 10-30 years. The wood is coarse and of fairly low value, used for pallet boxes, shipping crates and similar items (where a coarse, inexpensive, but strong wood is suitable). Many of the cottonwoods grown commercially are a hybrid between eastern cottonwood and black poplar.

The seeds of cottonwood trees have a cottony structure which enables them to blow long distances in the air before settling on the ground. This cotton-like fiber tends to collect everywhere when the seeds fall – massed in billowy piles on roadsides, insinuated in other plant-life and flower petals, and tickling noses.

Several butterfly and moth species feed on cottonwoods. Cottonwood bark is a favorite medium for artisans because it is soft and easy to carve. Cottonwoods are not good for wood fuel because it splits poorly, does not dry well, and rots quickly.

What Shall We Make Today?

This month’s last recipe is Strawberry Pretzel Bars!

Ingredients

2 cups crushed pretzels

¾ cup butter, melted

3 tablespoons white sugar

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

2 (3 ounce) packages strawberry flavored Jell-O

2 cups boiling water

2 (10 ounce) packages frozen strawberries

Directions

Stir crushed pretzels, melted butter, and 3 tablespoons sugar together until well-combined; mix well and press mixture into the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven until set, about 8 to 10 minutes; set aside to cool.

Place cream cheese and 1 cup sugar in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth; fold in whipped topping. Spread mixture onto cooled crust.

Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in still-frozen strawberries and allow to set for a few minutes, until the mixture “looks like egg whites.” Spoon and spread over cream cheese layer; refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours.

ENJOY!

America’s Youngest Ambassador Dies

In late 1982, Smith, a fifth-grader at Manchester Elementary School in Manchester, Maine, wrote a plaintive letter to Soviet leader Andropov. She said that she was “worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war. Are you going to have a war or not?” A few months later, Smith’s letter was reprinted in Russia and it was announced that Andropov was writing a response. Smith received his letter in April 1983. Andropov assured Smith that he did not want a nuclear war with the United States or any other country. Calling Smith a “courageous and honest” little girl, Andropov closed the letter with an invitation for her to visit the Soviet Union. In July, accompanied by her parents, Smith embarked on a two-week trip. She was a hit in the Soviet Union, and although she did not get to meet with Andropov, she traveled widely and spoke to numerous groups and people.

In the United States, some people branded her as a patsy for the communists and claimed that Soviet propagandists were merely using her for their own purposes, but Samantha’s enthusiasm and contagious optimism charmed most Americans and millions of other people around the world. During the next two years, Smith became an unofficial U.S. goodwill ambassador, speaking to groups throughout the United States and in foreign nations such as Japan. On August 25, 1985, while traveling with her father, their small plane crashed and both were killed.

Smith’s legacy lived on, however. Her mother began the Samantha Smith Foundation, which has as its goal bringing people from different nations and cultures together to share their experiences. In particular, the foundation established a student exchange program with the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union, news of Smith’s death was met with great sadness. The Russian government responded by issuing a stamp in her honor and naming a mountain after the young girl.

SOURCE: HISTORY.COM

Weirdest Attractions in Every State: Part 4

New Mexico

The Musical Highway in Albuquerque, New Mexico will remind you why the state is also called the “Land of Enchantment”. This interesting section of Route 66 plays “America the Beautiful” through your car by using pits carved into the road as acoustics. Notably, the song only sounds right if you go exactly 45 miles per hour!

New York

There are plenty of weird attractions to see in New York. Chief among them is Pumpkin Chuckin’ at Varick Winery and Inn in the city of Romulus. As the name suggests, this attraction consists of firing pumpkins at stationary targets with a catapult while you drink wine. Phenomenal.

North Carolina

The next time you pass through Collettsville, North Carolina, make sure to stop by the House of Mugs. That’s right, North Carolina has an informal mug museum that started as a couple’s interesting choice of exterior decoration. There are now over 25,000 mugs in this ever-growing collection.

North Dakota

North Dakota is already a strange place. It’s made stranger when you see a towering Buffalo Monument rising over the horizon. If you visit Jamestown, you won’t be able to miss this larger-than-life monument to the animal that once dominated the Great Plains.

Ohio

When you’re on a road trip, you’ll see a lot of signs. If you want to double the number of signs you’ll see on your trip, drop by the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio. There, you’ll get to check out signs from across the decades, with some even dating back to the 19th Century!

Oklahoma

You know how they say “pop” instead of “soda” in some parts of the world? If you want to discuss this at length with like-minded enthusiasts, check out Pops in Arcadia, Oklahoma. There, you’ll find a 66-foot tall LED soda bottle and an absurdly large assortment of soda flavors at the “soda ranch”.

Oregon

Bend, Oregon is the home of The Last Blockbuster in existence. Here, you can rent DVDs, Blu-Rays, and video games—just like you’d expect from a rental store! Of course, there are no other Blockbusters left, so this is a great tourist attraction to visit if you pass through Oregon.

Pennsylvania

If you take the time to visit Centralia, Pennsylvania, be aware that the locals resent tourists. However, this semi-abandoned town is home to a mine fire that’s been burning since the 1960s due to natural deposits of coal beneath the ground.

Rhode Island

Roger Williams, the man who founded Rhode Island, was buried in 1683 in a grave with no marker. Nearly 200 years later, the state’s authorities decided to exhume his remains and bury him with more ceremony. They discovered that an apple tree root had “eaten” the corpse, and the state put the root on display at the John Brown House in Providence.

South Carolina

If you find yourself traveling through Dillon, South Carolina, check out the iconic South of the Border complex. You can spot Sombrero Tower from miles away and enjoy Mexican restaurants, themed gift shops, and other fun attractions off Interstate 95.

SOURCE: THEQUICKREPORT.COM

Happy National Sponge Cake Day!

This recipe was given to me almost 50 years ago, by a lovely Portuguese woman I was working with at a factory.  The Portuguese ladies made this cake for every party we had at the mill.  It’s light and fluffy and so easy to make!

Ingredients

12 eggs, separated

2 cups of sugar

1 ½ cups flour

I tsp. baking powder

Directions

Use butter to grease a large tube pan (most angel food cake pans are not big enough.) Then sprinkle sugar inside the pan to cover the butter.  This gives the sponge cake a lovely crust.

In one bowl, cream the yolks with the sugar.  Then add the flour and the baking powder.

In a separate large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Fold this into the yolk mixture.

Bake at 350*for 45 minutes. 

Cool upside down on plate.  Cake slides out after 10 minutes.

ENJOY!

Rhoda!

Today would have been Valerie Harper’s birthday.  She was born August 22, 1939 and passed away August 30, 2019.  Rhoda was a great show and Valerie Harper made me laugh.  TV Guide had the following biography about the talented actress.

From TV GUIDE:

Fast Facts

Co-founded the non-profit L․I․F․E․ in 1983 with Dennis Weaver, a charitable organization aimed at feeding the homeless population of Los Angeles

Announced in early 2013 that she had been diagnosed with an incurable form of brain cancer and that doctors had given her only months to live

Although her family moved frequently throughout her childhood, she eventually chose to stay in New York to study ballet before beginning her career on Broadway

Quote: “I used to get some ego thing out of saying I wasn’t a star, just an actress․ Forget it․ I’m a star․ I wanted it, I worked for it and I got it․”

Worked as a chorus girl on Broadway before landing the role of Rhoda Morgenstern on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in 1970, a character that would eventually land her own spinoff in 1974

Continued her career on television with “Valerie” in 1986, but would eventually be fired by production company Lorimar the following year, thus prompting a wrongful termination lawsuit in which she was awarded $1․4 million

Met Mary Tyler Moore almost a decade prior to being cast on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” after her husband Richard Schaal guest-starred on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” in 1961

Ran for president of the Screens Actors Guild in 2001, but lost to Melissa Gilbert

SOURCE: TVGUIDE.COM

Happy National Hawaii Day!

If you’re fortunate enough to be planning a trip to Hawaii, Trip Advisor recommends these places!

Diamond Head State Monument

This dormant volcano crater is one of Honolulu’s major natural landmarks, known for its history, amazing hikes, and stunning coastal views. The way to the summit is an easy-to-moderate hike up—though there’s a steep flight of steps—and you’ll be treated to some of the best views on the island. There are also many lookouts surrounding the crater. If you have limited mobility, don’t worry, multiple other hikes within the park are accessibility friendly. It can get busy (and hot!) so try to reach early in the morning and bring sunscreen and plenty of water.

Waimea Canyon State Park

Also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, this scenic state park overlooks the colorful Waimea Canyon, which stretches over 14 miles and is more than 3,600 feet deep. The park itself is famous for its scenic drive, panoramic lookouts, and hikes of varying difficulty. Depending on the time you visit, the canyon’s appearance can seem to change throughout the day—it’s best to visit earlier in the morning for fewer crowds and better visibility. You might even spot a rainbow, especially during the summer months. There are many ways you can tour the canyon, including a bike tour, or even from up top on a helicopter ride.

Pearl Harbor National Park

A National Historic Landmark, this site consists of five memorials commemorating the events around WWII and the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Waikiki Beach

This iconic landmark in Waikiki is one of Hawaii’s most famous beaches, located on the south shore of Oahu. Waikiki Beach is the birthplace of modern surfing culture—look out for the statue of renowned waterman Duke Kahanamoku, who popularized the sport internationally. Once the playground of Hawaiian royals, today the beachfront is lined with resorts and some of Hawaii’s most historic hotels. Surfers, swimmers, and sunbathers flock to this beach all day long. Boat tours in Waikiki are a great way for admiring the coast away from the crowds. Neighboring Kalākaua Avenue has plenty of shopping, dining, and entertainment options.

Iolani Palace

Iolani Palace, the official residence of Hawaii’s monarchy, is a marvel of opulence, innovation and political intrigue. Meticulously restored to its former grandeur, this National Historic Landmark in downtown Honolulu tells of a time when their Majesties, King Kalakaua, who built the palace in 1882, and his sister and successor, Queen Liliuokalani, walked its celebrated halls. Today, you can enjoy one of the most spectacular living restorations in all of Polynesia and immerse yourself in Hawaii’s royal heritage.

SOURCE: TRIPADVISOR.COM