My dad sent me this great article: 10 pieces of Americana you must see this summer. Check it out!

They mention this really awesome looking world’s largest bison buffalo in Jamestown, North Dakota. Y’all may remember North Dakota is on our 5 as-yet-unvisited states list (with Nebraska, Iowa, Alaska, and Hawaii) — so I know what we’re doing next time we take a vacation. The whale in Catoosa, Oklahoma, sounds pretty cool, too. We’ve only visited a couple of places on this list: Paul Bunyan in Bangor, Maine, and the World’s Largest Ball of Twine Rolled by a Single Person in Darwin, Minnesota.

As always, we have a backlog of photos and other fun things to post. Turns out that moving halfway across the country, traveling constantly for business, grieving a loved one, and working full-time isn’t as conducive to pleasure blogging as being on a 6-month vacation. Who knew?! But we figure eventually things will stabilize a bit and we’ll be able to share more. Thanks for staying tuned!

We’re all settled in in Austin — well, sort of (we still have a lot of chaos at home). We arrived a couple of weeks ago and have been working hard on fixing up our apartment and all that stuff. But this past week, we got the very sad news that my grandmother LePoint passed away on Thursday. Anyone who knew her would tell you she was an absolutely incredible woman, lightyears ahead of her time, full of wisdom and humor and wit. Please take a few minutes to read this wonderful article about her life and work from the local paper in her town yesterday.

She was a career woman when most women didn’t have careers, a fierce advocate for the many causes dear to her heart, and an amazing and inspirational cook. She requested a jazz funeral, and Brian and I are looking forward to celebrating her life this weekend in Cleveland, Mississippi. When we come back, we do have a few adventures to share from the past few weeks… so please stay tuned.

Hey everybody. We’re on our way to Austin, and so are our hundreds (not kidding) of boxes of stuff. Our boxes and furniture are on a truck that I believe is currently in North Carolina or something; Brian, Pearl, and I are all at a Super 8 in Morristown, Tennessee. We’re hoping the three of us will be at our new apartment on Sunday, and our stuff is probably going to arrive on Wednesday. Phase 1 (packing) and Phase 2 (loading) were both so completely insane — and I am so, so exhausted from going through both of them plus lots and lots of tearful goodbyes — that I can’t even begin to describe this past week. Just trust me: it was crazy.

We’ll report back soon!

This is our friend Kenton.

Kenton is a zookeeper at the National Zoo here in D.C. Normally he works at the small mammal house, but one day last week he was working at the kids’ farm at the end of the zoo, and he invited us to come by to feed the animals. Yay!

Did you know that when you hand-feed a donkey, this happens?

NEITHER DID I, but it was pretty awesome. And by the way, our VIP status made all the other zoo visitors jealous, especially when we were feeding the animals. Sorry, children!

Also, one of the donkeys totally pulled a Yellowstone bison-style dirt roll!

I love farm animals.

Also, the farm has this:

It’s actually a very educational giant pizza because it’s part of the Pizza Garden where there’s an exhibit on how various pizza components are grown. Good job, National Zoo. (Also, it turns out you’re supposed to be A CHILD to climb on the giant pizza, but I didn’t see the sign until after the damage was done. Whoops!)

In conclusion, the farm was awesome.

We also visited Mr. Beazley:

He used to live on the national mall in front of the natural history museum, and my dad used to take me there all the time when I was a little girl and I would climb all over Mr. Beazley (Brian did this too when he was a child). I’m glad we got one last visit!

Okay, so then, the next day, Kenton was back at small mammals, so we came back for another behind-the-scenes tour. Yay! We thought we better get used to some of the animals we might see in Texas, so we spent a lot of time with Baby the armadillo:

Isn’t she cute?!

We visited some of the other small mammals and concluded with Wicket the red panda:

Thanks, Kenton! We had an amazing time!!!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in updating the blog. Hope none of you thought we were still stuck in Vicksburg! We’ve been home just over a week, and of course I have a backlog of photos to post from the journey.

First of all, we went through Louisiana, and I owe you this:

Also, remember how I mentioned that it was snowing in Vicksburg? Well, here you can see some snow falling on the Super 8 pool (which was open, of course, since the day before had been 80 degrees or something!):

We did eventually get to Jackson and had to continue recovering from being sick. I had a little relapse, etc. I won’t bore you (or gross you out) with the details… but it did, unfortunately, prevent us from attending most of the events we had come to Jackson to enjoy. Alas! We still had a really nice visit with my aunt and uncle, and they took us to a very cool art event hosted by the Mississippi Museum of Art’s New Collector’s Club. It was a talk and studio tour at NunoErin studio in Jackson. They make very cool swamp-inspired, interactive artwork with thermoactive materials — basically, furniture, pillows, and wall panels that change color when warmed by body heat. Here is one of the artists demonstrating how to use a hair dryer to get the color change effect on some wall panels:

It was fascinating and really fun. Thanks, NunoErin!

Eventually we got back on the road to DC… and I have a few more state signs for you, including the elusive Virginia sign!

(By the way, we went through a little corner of Georgia, but they don’t bother to put up a welcome sign there. What gives, Georgia??)

In Virginia, we stopped at the Natural Bridge Exxon and saw this tiger:

It’s a far cry from the Itasca Wampus Cat, eh?

This tiger was made by Mark Cline, a fiberglass artist whose work we always see everywhere. In fact, we have several stories about Professor Cline… but they’re stories for another time.

Anyway, we’re moving to Austin. Wait, what? No, seriously. We are. I got a job. We got an apartment. Movers are coming a week from Tuesday. Soooo things are pretty busy and crazy. But we’ll keep you all posted as much as we can. Keep checking back!!

Well! We’re going to have to tell you more about Austin later. We had a bit of a development. We were supposed to leave Austin on Friday morning and head to Jackson, Mississippi. Instead, on Thursday night, we were both up all night with a horrific stomach virus. I’ll spare you the details, but trust me, it was not pretty. We had to stay an extra night in Austin, and then we tried to make it to Jackson yesterday — and we almost made it, thanks in no small part to a refueling stop at my aunt Catherine’s in Shreveport, Louisiana. But when we got just outside Vicksburg, we became concerned that the place we were headed in Jackson might contain some new and terrifying strain of the virus we had just endured. Plus, IT WAS SNOWING (!!), so we decided to stay put. So, this morning I’m writing this from the Vicksburg Super 8… and we will be going to Jackson (for real this time) later this morning. We’re both feeling significantly better, but still far from fabulous. Being sick is as awful as littering!

We left Oklahoma this morning and were in Texas before we knew it!

I’m pretty into these roadside picnic tables shaped like longhorns:

We were just innocently driving along and decided to stop for a bio break at an Exxon off I-35. When we first saw this giant cat statue, we thought it must be the Exxon tiger, but we were dead wrong.

Turns out it’s an Itasca Wampus Cat. Whoever built this fine monument to the mighty Wampus Cat helpfully printed out the legend of said cat on a dot matrix printer and posted it beside the statue. We think it’s been there for a while because it was pretty faded (it stands in direct sun), but we eventually figured out how to read it. And we’ve transcribed it for you!

THE LEGEND OF THE ITASCA WAMPUS CAT
(Authors: Diane Barnes, Brian Knox, Nancy Bowman)

What is a Wampus Cat?

Maybe the best definition was given in the San Antonio Express-News a few years ago in an article about legendary nicknames. “Wampus Cat n., a fierce animal that does not exist other than in the hearts and minds of the people in the town of Itasca.” The legend of the Wampus Cat, however, began with the Cherokee Indians, who settled in the eastern hills of Tennessee. Cherokee folklore is filled with tales of evil spirits lurking in the deep, dark forests that surround their villages.

Accounts of Wampus Cat sightings also come from Georgia. For years, outdoorsmen and residents of the swamplands in southeast Georgia have reported hearing strange, high-pitched screams late at night. A few claim to have seen a shaggy, man-like “cat creature” loping though the woods. The Wampus Cats sighted there are half-man and half-wildcat. Other accounts of Wampus Cats say that they have cat eyes, only they are bigger than any you have ever seen! They also leave enormous paw tracks. One report from Johnson City, Tennessee, in the 1950s reports that “the cat was about the size of a large spaniel. In fact, my daddy did mistake him for a dog at first. Then he noticed that the animal has stripes, just like a big tabby. No dog was ever marked like that! It reached Jones-Vance Pharmacy, raised up on its hind feet, put its paws on the windowsill, and peered into the window. After the cat had seen all that it had wanted to see inside Jones-Vance, it turned and, still standing on its hind legs, continued walking down the street and disappeared around the corner. Daddy said that his blood ran cold.”

What is a Wampus (sometimes spelled Wampas) Cat and where did it come from? Surely it’s no natural creature. Some people believe that the Wampus Cat is a human who turns into a cat at night – something like the old-World legend of the werewolf. No Wampus Cat has ever been seen in the daytime. Itasca chose Wampus Cat as its nickname sometime in the early 1920s, probably 1922 or 1923. The most common account of how it came about suggests that the student body was given the task of choosing a mascot. Everyone was thinking “what would make us proud”. Then one night, after a hard-fought victory, the team was celebrating in the locker room when one of the captains, Trav Burks, shouted “Wow! We really played like Wampus Cats tonight!” Silence fell over the room, and everyone knew the mascot was born. In a tragic twist of fate, Burks died in an automobile accident a few years after graduating.

Where did Trav Burks get the idea? Had he heard the legends? Or had he seen the elusive animal in the woods in the hills outside of town? We’ll never know for sure. But, we are sure of these things: The Wampus Cat is fierce. The Wampus Cat is the symbol of athletic and academic pride that lives in the hearts of the students, faculty, and citizens of Itasca. We may all have different ideas of what the Wampus Cat looks like, but we all know how it feels to be a Wampus Cat from old Itasca High!

Way to be, Itasca High Wampus Cats!!!

After that, we ventured on to Waco, Texas. Our destination was…

The Dr Pepper Museum!

Now, some of you may not be aware of this, but Brian is kind of a soda fanatic. In fact, Dr Pepper is his favorite. So we definitely had to make a stop at the birthplace of Dr Pepper and check out this museum. They have an interesting collection of Dr Pepper memorabilia and old bottles/cans as well as vintage bottling equipment and the like. One of my favorite parts of the museum was the very large collection of vintage vending machines, including some of the oldest vending machines (and even THE oldest Dr Pepper bottle container, the washbasin). This is just a sampling; they had dozens in there!

They also have an old-fashioned soda fountain in the museum where they use syrup made in the traditional way (with cane sugar rather than high-fructose corn syrup) and have an actual soda water fountain for adding the carbonated water for each drink individually. You can even sometimes get a hot Dr Pepper (the drink was originally intended to be served hot), but alas, today was not our lucky day on that front. We did try some traditionally made cold soda, though:

I have to say, I really enjoyed the experience with the soda jerk and everything, but something is wrong with the water in Waco. It kind of tastes like… corn? We’re not sure. But it was definitely a factor at the Dr Pepper Museum and also the place we stopped afterwards for lunch. And by the way, that restaurant had flyers and posters up everywhere advertising a concealed handgun class that they are teaching in the restaurant in a couple of weeks. Texas!!!

Okay, so after our very pleasant afternoon in Waco, we headed south!

Did I mention how awesome the weather was today? It was at least 75 or 80 in the afternoon and sunny and beautiful. When we rolled into Austin around 7ish, the temp had dropped down to just 70 degrees. Yay!! (It was in the 20s in DC, so we couldn’t be happier to be here instead!)

One of the many wacky, quirky elements of Austin is its large population of grackles. They are everywhere. If you’ve seen the Hitchcock classic The Birds, you can imagine what they are like. My only hope is that they don’t turn evil and decide to rebel against the humans at some point. If the grackles organize, we are done for.

Now we’re settled in Austin for the next week. The plan is to get back on the road next Friday, so hopefully we can post an update then! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Our day began in Okawville, Ill., with a lovely breakfast at the Hen House Restaurant:

We got on the road and before we knew it, we met up with an old friend.

Brian and I both have enormous fondness for the Gateway Arch. Our first trip together (in September 2005) was to St. Louis (for a conference for Brian), and we actually went inside the Arch. It was terrifying but really fun! You guys may also remember that we passed through St. Louis on our way home in the fall. Good times!

An hour or so outside of St. Louis, we saw a sign for the World’s Largest Rocking Chair (in Fanning, Missouri), so obviously we had to go see that for ourselves. And now you can see it for yourself too:

It’s 42 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 27,500 pounds… and was just erected in April 2008! I’m sure it has a great future as a roadside attraction ahead of it. Congratulations, World’s Largest Rocking Chair! And sorry you got displaced, World’s Now Second Largest Rocking Chair, where ever you are.

Another interesting thing we saw on the road today was this:

(We think this is a Google Street View camera car. Can anyone confirm or deny?)

Then, we had our big moment:

HOORAY!

Our first stop in Oklahoma was here:

We came here because we needed to fill the gas tank, but it turned out to be a very special place. Not only does this highway-bridging rest area include the Will Rogers Mini-Museum (the “museum” consists of some posters and one small display case of paraphernalia — seriously), but you’re allegedly looking at the World’s Former Largest McDonald’s. (Brian and I went inside to use the restroom and we both find that claim hard to believe. This McD’s must have held the title a long time ago!)

We continued on to Tulsa, where we went here:

This is Hank’s Hamburgers, which is a Tulsa landmark that’s been operating since 1949. We had a really great time here. Everyone was so nice to us, the place had a wonderful authentic small-town air (despite being in a relatively large city), and they have these homemade chocolate-covered peanut butter candies that are amazing. And also they have tater tots. And they hilariously say “Hank’s” instead of “thanks” on their signage:

After that, we drove for a long time. We made it through Oklahoma City all the way to Ardmore where we are now all set up in our Super 8. Tomorrow we’ll keep heading south. Yay!

We were pretty psyched to leave that gnarly Days Inn in Ohio from last night. We got on the road fairly early (for us) and within a couple of hours (and some weaving in and out of Indiana), we were in Kentucky!

Woo hoo! Six states to go…

Anyway, before we knew it, we had arrived at our first destination… the Creation Museum! I don’t think I can really articulate our experience there, so I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves (mostly) and you can draw your own conclusions. Okay?

First of all, there’s an outdoor garden/nature trail that leads to a petting zoo that includes a zebra-donkey hybrid. You can see here that he or she is obviously planning a grand (albeit very slow) escape…

We didn’t spend too much time outside since it was pretty cold and windy and cloudy and blah, and anyway, the main part of the museum is inside. There’s a large walk-through exhibit that depicts the early events in Genesis in 3D, often animatronic detail. Here’s our first protaganist, Adam:

Way to be strategically placed, sheep. Anyway, as with most situations, the Garden of Eden exhibit is all fun and innocent games until you add in a vegetarian raptor:

And then here are some dinosaurs boarding Noah’s Ark:

Unlike the Eden photos above, that particular ark photo is actually from a diorama-style smaller exhibit, and I reluctantly admit that those particular dinosaurs are not animatronic. In fact, I think they are action figures that are available for sale in the Creation Museum gift shop.

Aaaaaanyway, after we left the museum, we thought another Great Flood was coming because there was crazy heavy rain combined with some serious wind gusts. We made it through though and continued on our way through Louisville, Kentucky! We made a random (and very brief) stop to see this:

It’s the world’s oldest ornamental water tower; it hasn’t pumped any water in a century, but it’s now an art museum! We actually didn’t plan that stop — we just stumbled upon it, which is of course the most rewarding way to enjoy the road! But we didn’t just stumble upon this:

Yep. That’s exactly what you think it is. And if you ever visit the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky, and wish to pay your respects to Colonel Sanders, enter the cemetery on the Grinstead side and simply follow the yellow line.

But… if this all seems morbid to you, don’t worry. Much like Elvis, the Colonel lives on:

We spied the Colonel alive and well, waiting for the bus in downtown Louisville. No, we did not accost him and demand the secret recipe for fried chicken eternal life.

We made it to our Super 8 in Okawville, Illinois, just barely in time to catch LOST. Tomorrow the plan involves conquering Oklahoma!

Hey guys. Guess what? We’re taking another trip! And I tell you what, I may not be all that diligent about blogging about day-to-day life, but I can flat blog on a road trip, so here we go. Brian and I are headed to Austin, Texas, via Kentucky and Oklahoma, two of the mere seven states we have yet to visit (the others are Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Nebraska, and North Dakota). So, let’s do this!

Now, this may come as a surprise to you (as it did to me), but Kentucky is actually kind of hard to reach from Washington, D.C. There just aren’t enough roads in the right places. We had to head north and west for a bit, and now we’re near Columbus, Ohio. The cool part about this, though, is that we got to visit FIVE states today! We headed NW from DC (1) into Maryland (2), then up slightly to Pennsylvania (3), then west through that tiny part of West Virginia (4), then continued into Ohio (5). That’s a pretty good total, even for us.

Our route through Maryland took us right through Sideling Hill. We actually passed through there before, but we didn’t have the time or inclination at that point to stop… but today was a whole different story. The visitor’s center was still open, so we decided to check it out. And guess what? IT WAS AWESOME!!!

In case you forgot:

The Sideling Hill road cut is a 340-foot deep road cut where Interstate 68 cuts through Sideling Hill, about 6 miles west of Hancock in Washington County, Maryland. It is notable as an impressive man-made mountain pass, visible from miles away and is considered one of the best rock exposures in Maryland and the entire northeastern United States. Almost 810 feet of strata in a tightly folded syncline are exposed in this road cut. Although other exposures may surpass Sideling Hill in either thickness of exposed strata or in quality of geologic structure, few can equal its combination of both.

Thanks again, Wikipedia!

If you go into the visitor’s center, you can walk across this little pedestrian bridge over the highway to look at Sideling Hill. The bridge has a tall chain link fence around it (I guess to prevent people from jumping off and landing on the highway below), but the fence has “camera ports” in it so you and your camera can both get a nice view of the mountain pass:

Then there’s a little walkway on the side so you can get a closer look:

You can see some white stripes running down the sides of the cut. We thought they were just part of the rocks at first, but they turned out to be ice! Today was one of those weird temperature days that’s very chilly in the shade but quite warm in the sun, so the shaded sides of Sideling Hill had frozen “seep.” Want a closer look? So did we!

Thanks, Sideling Hill!

We also saw some interesting/weird little rainbow patches in an otherwise very clear sky in Pennsylvania this afternoon:

So, that’s it for today. We’re tucked in for the night at the Days Inn in Grove City, Ohio (which is clean but, I have to admit, pretty busted. The last person who stayed here apparently had a fight with the bathroom wall!). Check back tomorrow for another update!