Massachusetts is well-known for its gothic reputation, including the notorious Salem Witch Trials. If you want to experience some cool, creepy attractions, check out Count Orlok’s Nightmare Gallery in Salem. This museum is full of monster movie replicas and fascinating relics.
Michigan
While our previous entry was Halloween all year round, Frankenmuth, Michigan sports an attraction where it’s Christmas all the time! Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland features more ornaments and decorations than you could possibly imagine. Drop in any time of year for some Christmas magic!
Minnesota
The Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota is as strange as it sounds. It’s a museum commemorating the polarizing canned meat. If you happen to take a road trip that passes Austin, drop in and learn more about this emulsified mystery meat. It’ll at least give you a break from the highway!
Mississippi
Did you know that there’s a museum specifically dedicated to aprons? That’s right, Iuka, Mississippi is home to the Apron Museum, where famous aprons from across history and pop culture can be found. There are more types of aprons here than you ever realized existed.
Missouri
Take a trip through Independence, Missouri and discover the utterly odd Leila’s Hair Museum. This eerie destination is crammed full of pieces of artwork created from, you guessed it, human hair. This sprawling art exhibit is simultaneously gorgeous and genuinely upsetting.
Montana
One of the most interesting destinations in Montana is a fascinating underground shopping district in Havre. The town burned down in 1904 and enterprising business owners decided to rebuild their shops underground. You can still check out this historic and fascinating destination!
Nebraska
Alliance, Nebraska is home to a strange roadside attraction that is also a downright unforgivable pun. This is Carhenge, a silly joke given horrible life in the High Plains region. It’s just Stonehenge but remade with cars. Check it out if you like bad puns.
Nevada
Nevada is home to a high density of particularly weird places. One example is the horrendous and awful Clown Motel in Tonopah. Most people are afraid of clowns for understandable reasons, so it’s strange that such a motel even exists.
New Hampshire
Cat Alley in Manchester, New Hampshire is exactly what the name implies. It’s an alley full of street art depicting adorable cats! If you’re a fan of felines or just a connoisseur of public art, this is one catwalk you won’t want to miss.
New Jersey
New Jersey’s strangest tourist destination is the otherworldly Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton Township. It’s a museum that depicts numerous famous pieces of artwork as life-sized displays. Rather than observe the work from afar, you enter the art physically and experience it from a new angle!
Today’s Weird Wednesday’s building is The Dog Chapel in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.
This isn’t your ordinary chapel — it’s a doghouse of worship.
In St. Johnsbury, Vt., stands Dog Mountain — a 150-acre mountaintop expanse with ponds, fields and trails — the grounds of which are always open for leash-free enjoyment by dogs and their owners. And on these grounds, there’s a white structure with a steeple, where an arched black sign proclaims “CHAPEL” in gold lettering. It may seem like your run-of-the-mill New England church, but step inside and it’s anything but.
Stained-glass windows show images of dogs being petted by human hands, licking scoops of ice cream off cones and facing forward with their tongues hanging out. The edges of wooden pews are carved into the shapes of sitting dogs, and there’s even a doorknob molded in the form of a dog’s head, with “All creatures welcome” etched into its supporting plate. Yes, there’s a doggy door.
Welcome to Dog Chapel, the dog-matic centerpiece of Dog Mountain, built by the late Stephen Huneck, an artist and children’s author, and his late wife, Gwen, meant to celebrate the bond between canine and human, according to Curbed.
Huneck, who has referred to Dog Mountain as “the largest artwork of my life and my most personal,” is known for his 10 books that focus on a Labrador pooch named Sally. Inside the chapel, a carved wood statue of a winged Sally rests on a pedestal. On walls around it, the objective of Dog Chapel is immediately evident.
A number of Post-it notes and photos line the walls — they’re images of deceased dogs, with birth and death dates as well as notes from owners on what they meant to them.
“Dukie, we miss you sneezing on us when we rub your belly,” reads one.
The tributes have come from people all over the globe.
“When you visit the Dog Chapel, you are totally enveloped with messages of love,” Huneck once said. “It is a very moving experience — sad, certainly, but also uplifting — to see how much everyone cherishes his or her dog.”
Goodness! There seems to be a “National Day” for everything, LOL.
From BOOKSTR.COM:
Today is National Bad Poetry Day, and since August is also Romance Awareness Month, we thought: why not share some of the worst love poems ever with you guys? Two birds, one stone, right? Let’s go!
The Perfect Love Poem
Every time
I see your face
it reminds me
of you
(Source: poemsearcher.com)
Cheesy Reality
It was nothing like the movies
No cheesy pick up line
No accidental touch of hands
Not even and intense gazing.
Yet no movie or book can describe it
The moment when you notice things;
First, the tone of his voice
Second, the nonsensical gestures he makes.
These may be stupid and odd
But in that moment when “two” friends seriously talk
Trip Advisor says don’t miss these sites when you visit!
Fenway Park
Hallowed ground to baseball fans, this century-old ballpark is the home field of the Boston Red Sox. Fans often flock to Fenway Park to catch a game over beer and hot dogs—the game season typically runs from April through October. You might want to stay till at least the eighth inning to sing “Sweet Caroline” with the crowd. The stadium is also home to the iconic Green Monster wall, a 37-foot-tall left-field wall. Apart from games, you can join a year-round guided tour of the stadium to learn about the history of the sport and the team, as well as get a behind-the-scenes peek into the locker room.
Freedom Trail
Learn about early Boston and U.S. history on this 2.5-mile-long trail that passes through 16 historic locations. Look out for the brick markers—starting in downtown Boston, crossing through the North End, and finishing at the famous Bunker Hill Monument in neighboring Charlestown. You’ll pass by notable stops like Faneuil Hall, the Paul Revere House, and the USS Constitution frigate. You can embark on the Freedom Trail for free and at your own pace, but audio guides and guided tours are also available. The trail is lined with lots of cool cafes and restaurants for you to fuel up along the way.
Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum
The Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum is a history lesson you won’t forget. Relive the event that started the American Revolution with historical interpreters, interactive exhibits, and full-scale replicas of 18th-century sailing vessels. Join a town meeting, hang out with talking portraits, and take part in the tradition of tossing tea into the harbor. Then, enjoy a spot of afternoon tea in Abigail’s Tea Room or visit the gift shop for some souvenirs. Entry to the museum is on a first come, first-served basis, so join the line early.
Museum of Fine Arts
Boston’s oldest, largest and best-known art institution, the MFA houses one of the world’s most comprehensive art collections and is renowned for its Impressionist paintings, Asian and Egyptian collections and early American art.
The House of the Seven Gables
In 1668, merchant and ship-owner John Turner built a house on Salem Harbor destined to become one of America’s most beloved historic homes. Designated a National Historic Landmark District in 2007, The House of the Seven Gables is best known today as the inspiration for world-renowned American author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1851 novel. In 1910, Salem activist and philanthropist Caroline Emmerton restored the house and opened it as a museum and Settlement House to support the local immigrant community. Over a century later, The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association carries on Emmerton’s mission and vision by offering free English as a Second Language and Citizenship classes and providing a platform for immigrant voices on the North Shore. Enjoy public programs and events, embark on tours of our historic mansion, and relax on our seaside lawn and gardens today!
If you get a chance to visit Hawaii, you could take a detour to Wahiawa and visit the world’s largest maze. The sprawling outdoor hedge maze is shaped like a pineapple, but you can only really tell that from above.
Idaho
A towering, metal bed and breakfast called Dog Bark Park Inn stands high over the flat landscape of Cottonwood, Idaho. It’s in the shape of a dog, and it’s exceptionally weird. It’s also the world’s tallest statue of a beagle, in case it wasn’t strange enough yet.
Illinois
Casey, a small town in Eastern Illinois, is home to a number of hilariously oversized tourist attractions. These include the world’s largest rocking chair, the world’s largest mailbox, the world’s largest birdcage… you get the idea.
Indiana
Not all tourist attractions are as flashy as “The World’s Largest Rocking Chair”. Some are as pedestrian as the world’s largest ball of paint, found in Alexandria, Indiana. It was originally a baseball dipped in paint, but it’s now a huge mound of acrylic and oil suspended from the ground by a metal hook. Cool!
Iowa
The High Trestle Trail Bridge is as much art installation as infrastructure, functioning as a foot bridge that passes through five cities in Iowa. It’s particularly breathtaking at night, when the lights on the bridge are activated, creating a trippy and otherworldly atmosphere.
Kansas
Kansas’s strangest tourist attraction is also its most embarrassing. Head to Bowl Station in Lucas, Kansas to find a public bathroom with an exterior shaped like a toilet bowl. The interior is decked out with beautiful mosaic art, at least!
Kentucky
Are you a fan of dinosaurs? If so, check out Dinosaur World in Cave City, Kentucky. This fun amusement park is full of large statues of dinosaurs in a fun nod to Jurassic Park. Thankfully, none of these reproductions are going to run around and eat people!
Louisiana
Did you know you can visit the factory where they make the floats for Mardi Gras in New Orleans? It’s true! You can check out the delightful and weird parade centerpieces at the Mardi Gras World attraction in New Orleans!
Maine
Maine’s state fruit is the blueberry. That’s some important context to know before you learn about Wild Blueberry Land in Columbia Falls, Maine. It’s still weird, you just have that context now. They offer some yummy blueberries at the attraction, at least!
Maryland
Maryland’s got one creepy, otherworldly attraction you can visit in Silver Spring. The Wheaton Station Escalator is the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere. It’s almost weirder that there’s a longer escalator out there, but it is what it is.
The state motto of Kansas is “Ad astra per aspera,” which is Latin for “Through hardships to the stars.” Adopted in 1861, this motto reflects the state’s historical struggles and its determination to overcome challenges. It encapsulates the pioneering spirit and resilience of the people of Kansas, emphasizing their pursuit of lofty goals despite facing adversities. The phrase is a testament to the optimism and perseverance that have been integral to the state’s identity throughout its history.
Finally, a day about people like me…LOL. Middle Child Syndrome is real and this article from webmd.com explains why birth order can be difficult for some children.
From webmd.com:
If a couple has two children and a third on the way, will the birth of their third child affect the personality of the second-born? Some psychologists think so. Here’s what to know about “middle-child syndrome.”
What Is Middle-Child Syndrome?
Many experts who study personality believe that your family’s birth order plays a role in your development. They see “middle-child syndrome” as the idea that if you’re neither the oldest child nor the youngest, you get less attention from your parents and feel “caught in the middle”. As a result, you may take on certain personality traits that are different from those of your older and younger siblings.
Can Birth Order Affect Personality?
Middle-child syndrome is part of the psychology behind birth order. Birth order ranges from firstborn, or oldest; to second-born, third-born, and so forth; to youngest, sometimes called the last born. Though many experts think birth order is important to personality and family structure, not everyone is on board.
A psychology pioneer named Alfred Adler introduced the idea that birth order affects the development of a child. He believed that how many siblings a child has can affect the child’s potential. Adler thought that even though children grew up in the same household, their personalities wouldn’t be the same. He said that each child should be looked at as an individual and that each child would differ based on their order of succession.
Still, middle-child syndrome isn’t recognized as an official condition. Many researchers have disagreed with Adler’s theories. Even researchers who believe in that middle-child syndrome have trouble applying it to all middle children. For example, they find that there may be a relationship between birth order and being outgoing. But it is more likely to be true for males than for females.
Characteristics of a Middle Child
Do you, or does someone you know, have middle-child syndrome? Think about whether you know any middle children with these personality traits:
Rebellious. They’re also less religious than their siblings and parents. Still, they’re less likely to act out against their parents.
Sociable. They’re good at being mediators and want fairness in situations. They’re also trustworthy friends and work well as team members.
Not as family-oriented as their siblings. They may have a stronger sense of not belonging than their siblings do. So, even though many can be great when working in groups, some middle children can struggle when working with others.
Feeling overshadowed. They come to believe that their parents don’t care about them. Looking back as adults, they express a negative view of childhood.
Mobile. They’re often the first sibling to move out of the house. They’re also more likely to move the farthest away. This stems from their feeling misunderstood by their families.
Not perfectionists. Still, they tend to take up something that an older sibling isn’t so great at. For example, if the older sibling is a scholar, the second-born may focus on athletics.
Outstanding Qualities of Middle Children
Despite how you may see yourself as the middle child, you will learn how to act, make friends, and come into your own by watching your siblings or peers. But it seems that your status also can drive you to excel. This may come from feeling second-best compared with your older or younger siblings.
Some well-known middle children have been or continue to be great negotiators, trailblazers, and fighters for justice. Among them are Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Charles Darwin, Madonna, Bill Gates, and Nabisco CEO Michael Gerstner. These middle children used their personality traits to help them gain success.
As a middle child, you may not be a perfectionist, but you may be more open to taking risks and to new ideas. In studies, 85% of middle children showed such openness, compared with 50% of firstborns.
You may be more skilled at persuasiveness and debate. You probably can see more than one side of an argument, which makes you empathetic. Some middle children claim that their success is due in part to their ability to compromise.
If middle-child syndrome is real, it might be the middle child’s sense of their own uniqueness that has led to many discoveries, important theories, and social movements.
These special dogs are being trained to “herd” grizzlies and black bears away from trouble!
From Cowboy State Daily:
With the help of Karelian bear dogs, Carrie Hunt has been training grizzlies to stay out of trouble for nearly 30 years. “We’re trying to teach the bear, ‘This is ours, you can’t be here,’” she told Cowboy State Daily during a telephone interview from her home in Florence, Montana, south of Missoula. Hunt does what she does not because she resents bears, but because as a bear biologist, she has a profound respect for them. She doesn’t want to see them come to bad ends. “I’ve been in the bear business since I was 23 years old, and I’m 69 years old now,” she said. During the earlier years of her biology career, she got fed up with seeing grizzlies and black bears get into trouble and end up being killed for it.
And that’s where the Karelian bear dogs come in.
Dances With Bears
Hunt lives in Montana’s Bitterroot Valley, the heart of bear country. Previously, she lived in Cody and Dubois, and still has a deep fondness for Wyoming. “I love Montana, but Wyoming has my heart,” she said. In Wyoming, she noticed that some outfitters “had great little cow dogs that would keep bears away from camp,” she said. So, she started looking around for a dog breed with similar characteristics, that could specialize in bears. She settled on Karelian bear dogs. The breed traces back to 1936, when it was officially recognized by Finnish and Scandinavian kennel clubs. It’s primarily a hunting breed. But perhaps contrary to the name, not all Karelian bear dogs are good for working with bears, Hunt said. They’re all intelligent, strong-headed dogs. Some of them decide they’d rather not push bears, she said – and there’s no forcing them to do something they don’t want to. In fact, on their home turf in Finland, it’s estimated that only about 20 percent of Karelian Bear Dog puppies end up having an aptitude and desire for working with bears, she said. Hunt started breeding, raising and training Karelian bear dogs in 1992. She and her business partners went on to form Wind River Karelian Bear Dog Partners and the Wind River Karelian Bear Dog Institute, based in Florence.
They’ve selectively bred dogs keen on working bears for numerous canine generations, to the point where she estimates that 80 percent of their puppies are born raring to go at grizzlies and black bears.
“The dogs we pick to work with are telling the bear, ‘We’re not afraid of you,’ and the bears know that,” Hunt said. Karelian bear dogs don’t actually fight bears. Instead, they’re bred to intimidate and push bears away. That’s usually done from dozens of yards away, Hunt said. But in close quarters, the dogs can use their exceptional agility to avoid bear swipes and bites. Like a mongoose to a cobra. “They are bred to ‘dance on the ground’ with a bear or a moose the way that a cow dog dances with cows,” Hunt said.
Off To Canada And Japan
Over the years Wind River Karelian bear dogs’ reputation grew, and the business started working with government agencies and private clients in the Western U.S. and Canada. The company used dogs to push grizzlies, black bears, brown bears and even polar bears out of potential trouble spots. And it’s done some work in Japan. That’s right, Japan has bear problems too. The Pacific Nation’s northernmost island has a species of brown bear similar to grizzlies, while the rural parts of the main island have abundant black bears, Hunt said.
Trouble with black bears in one Japanese resort town started the way it usually does – irresponsible human behavior, she said. “It’s the garbage,” she said. “I worked in the richest vacation village in Japan,” and bears were getting into trouble there because people were leaving their garbage easily accessible to bears – just like what happens in some American and Canadian towns. Hunt and her fellow dog handlers started working in that village in the early 2000s. They also taught some locals how to properly train and handle Karelian bear dogs.
It’s been a huge success, Hunt said.
“They’ve gone down to almost zero conflicts with bears in that resort town,” she said. The company has been busy, averaging 400-800 bear “pushes” per year, she said. “In all this time we’ve had zero dogs hurt, zero humans hurt and zero bears hurt,” Hunt said.
‘Spanking’ Grizzlies
The way bear pushing, or as Hunt calls it, “bear shepherding” works is straightforward. It’s based in the bears’ basic instincts. “Bears have a natural fear of canines. Wolves and coyotes can kill their cubs, or steal big game carcasses from bears,” she said. Capitalizing on that, it’s often enough to let the dogs, which are usually kept on seven-foot leashes, use their natural intimidation factor from a safe distance. Teams usually consist of two handlers, each with a dog. “Bears understand numerical superiority. That’s four of us against one bear,” she said. If intimidation isn’t enough, handlers can use firearms to shoot rubber bullets, bean bags or “cracker shells” she said. Cracker shells fire a small explosive charge that explodes in mid-air, like a firecracker. “We use rubber bullets, bean bag rounds or cracker shells to ‘spank’ bears. It’s tough love,” Hunt said.
Hazing’ Doesn’t Work
Hunt isn’t a fan of “hazing” bears. By that, she means using non-lethal ammunition or other means to chase a bear away just once or twice. “Hazing just makes them sneakier” if they’re after a food reward or some other temptation in human-occupied territory, she said. Instead, it’s important to realize that bears, like dogs, learn through repetition. With grizzlies, the object is to stop the pursuit once the bear enters cover, such as thick brush. “Going for cover is what wild bears do. We’re teaching grizzlies to be wild again,” Hunt said.
If a grizzly that has been hanging out by a roadside or a campground is repeatedly pushed into cover by a team of handlers and dogs, that bear learns that the sight of humans is their cue to go for cover. “We’re conditioning them to move away from people and seek cover, instead of moving toward people,” Hunt said. Mother grizzlies will hand that lesson down to their cubs, she added. When it’s necessary to shoot non-lethal projectiles at grizzlies, the handlers say “hey bear” before they fire, Hunt said. That’s because bears, again, like dogs, can learn to recognize short word combinations or commands. “Hikers are taught to say, ‘Hey bear, hey bear’ when they’re approaching thick brush or a bend in the trail in grizzly country,” Hunt said. So, bears that have encountered her team know that “hey bear” means “get away.” With black bears, the dogs are sometimes let off leash to pursue and tree the bear, Hunt said. Again, repeated unpleasant lessons teach the bears to move away from people and settled areas, rather than toward them.
Cody Connection
Hunt said her bear dog program has gotten support and some funding from the Cody-based American Bear Foundation, headed by avid bear hunter and conservationist Joe Kondelis of Cody. “We look at what she’s doing with the Karelians as a style of bear conflict mitigation that’s valuable in many areas. I definitely see more and more people using dogs to handle bear conflicts,” he told Cowboy State Daily. Dogs can be part of a wholistic approach to cutting down on the number of run-ins with grizzly bears, particularly around hunting camps in the fall – when grizzlies are looking for all the calories that they can gorge on in order to fatten up for winter hibernation, he said. Portable electric fences set up around hunting camps can also help, Kondelis added.
Conflicts with black bears are common across Wyoming and the region, he said. Those are probably driven by a combination of an increasing bear population, along with more people building homes in remote areas adjacent to bear habitat. Karelian bear dogs come in handy keeping people and black bears safely separated, Kondelis said. “The biggest issue right now is just not having enough of the Karelians, we need more of those dogs out there,” he said.
Humans Need Lessons Too
Hunt stressed that no matter how well she and her team condition a bear, if people in that area continue to be sloppy, the bear might not be able to resist the wafting odor of fresh garbage, pet food or other temptations. “People have to learn to put away attractants,” she said. That means keeping garbage in bear-resistant containers, keeping pet food stored inside and taking similar precautions in bear country, Hunt said.
Not A Dog Breed For Everybody
Hunt realizes it might be tempting for folks who live or recreate in bear country to run out and buy a Karelian Bear Dog – thinking that’s an easy solution for bear protection. They should think again, she said. The breed is intelligent, sensitive, extremely energetic and almost impossible for a novice to train, she said. And again, there’s the unknown factor of whether any particular pup will have an aptitude for pushing bears to begin with. “I very strongly recommend that people be aware that these are working dogs. They need a job, and not all of them want to work bears. So, if somebody thinks that they are getting one of these dogs for bear protection during just weekend hiking, they are sadly mistaken,” she said. It’s best to leave training up to the pros, she said. And for those Karelian bear dogs that, seemingly ironically, just don’t care much for bears, there are other jobs available, she said. “They can make excellent search and rescue dogs,” Hunt said.
Working With The Park Service
Hunt works closely with clients by “matching” a particular pup with its future handlers, and the job that they want it for. She said she recently matched two Karelian bear dogs with outfitters in Wyoming, for protecting hunting camps in grizzly country. Her company has also worked with the National Park Service. The company has placed dogs in Yosemite Park and “are in initial talks” to perhaps match some pups with rangers in Wyoming’s Teton Park. “Eventually, I’d like to see two Karelian bear dogs in every national park,” Hunt said.
