what about the plastic animals?

The Mothman Festival

If you're a long-time reader you might remember me writing about the Silver Bridge disaster and the Mothman.  I ended one of my comments with "I am seriously considering going to the Mothman festival in September."  Serious consideration turned into action and I found myself in downtown Point Pleasant a couple of weeks ago at the Mothman Festival.  Even better, the charming Ms. Dane crossed the state line and met me there.

The Mothman Festival is small but packed with goodness.  The center of attention is the shiny brushed stainless steel mothman at the center of town.  There's a Mothman Museum (the world's only, by the way), mothman pancakes, mothman folk art, mothman books, mothman beauty queens, guest speakers at the movie theater, mothman witnesses, weightlifting, live music, ghostbusters, men-in-black, and a turtle man (not a half-man, half-turtle beast but a guy who handles giant snapping turtles).

Dane and I took in all the sights and had lunch at the Harris Steakhouse (aka the Mothman Diner), which serves delicious mothman burgers.  If you've never been to the Mothman Festival you owe it to yourself to visit at least once.

Modernization

31 March 2005

16 September 2009

While in Philadelphia I had to check on the Boystown|Girlstown store to see if the old sign was still there.  Alas, no more huskys or chubbies.  The "King of Jeans" wall is still going strong, however.

Trip Route

Here's the route I took on the trip.  The green dots are where I stayed each night.  Google Maps lets you draw lines via roads but it was much easier, if not as accurate, to draw the trip freehand.

Two-thousand miles in twelve days.  It was a lot of driving, and lots of it on winding mountain roads, but I managed to see all the people, sites and events that I hoped to see and I had fun in doing so.  Along the way there was death, destruction, mayhem, mythical beasts, roads, rail trails, baseball, pop art, a stinky house, a celebration of a gluten-free nut, many winding mountain roads, listening to outer space, brownies, roadkill and a very small version of America.

All the above were enjoyed.  What was not enjoyed were the bad continental breakfasts served at hotels and motels along the way (Hint for said hotels, motels and especially Hampton Inn:  It's not an enticement to return if the OJ is rancid, the bread stale and the muffins and pastries the cheapest available crap from Big Lots).  Also not enjoyed:  more than one listen to that dopey palinesque "Small Town USA" song.

I'll skip the bad parts and get on to the good stuff next.

Holland Tunnel

And thus ends another vacation.

Vacation Time

I'm vacating the premises for a couple of weeks.

Bike Helmet Hair

I may not have much hair on top but it shapes up nicely under a bike helmet.  Also, I'm trying to smile there while concentrating on the picture but it's not quite working.

Watts Towers

I've been wanting to see Simon Rodia's Watts Towers since forever.  I had enough free time before my return flight this time that I finally made it there.  The towers were closed for repair!  Much of the structure was visible from outside the fence, and there was a series of signs describing the history of the towers, so I wasn't disappointed.

Simon Rodia was an immigrant from Naples who lived in several places across the US before moving to Watts in 1921.  When he moved to Watts he "wanted to do something big" so he started with walls around his yard before heading upward with the towers.  The tallest tower is 99.5 feet high.  Everything was built by Rodia by hand.  He did not use scaffolding.  The towers are held together with mortar, steel rods, and wire mesh.  The steel was bent by trains on the nearby railroad tracks.  Buttressing was added to make the structures withstand earthquakes.

Rodia finally finished the towers in 1954 when he was 75.  Having completed the job he gave the property to his neighbor and moved away.  It is believed he never returned.  Rodia's house burned down soon after he moved away.

The towers survived a couple of indifferent owners and the Watts Riots.  They were damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake and underwent extensive restoration.  Now they are the smallest California state park and on the National Register of Historic Places.  Because so many different materials were used the structures need constant maintenance, which is why the towers were closed when I was there.

All in all a most wonderful and impressive sight!

Galco's Soda Pop Stop

A few days before I left for Pasadena I happened to see a video about John Nese, a man obsessed with soda pop, and his store in Los Angeles.  I checked out the address of the store and saw that it was just a little bump from what was already a meandering route from LAX to Pasadena.

Galco's is amazing!  Over 400 different types of sodas and 500 different beers.  Since I was only going to be in town for three days I limited myself to four sodas:  Mr. Q Cumber, Jamaica's Finest Ginger Beer; Cheerwine and Double Cola.

The Mr. Q Cumber was delightful!  You might not think cucumber and soda are meant to be said together but the soda was very refreshing on a hot day.  Not pictured, the ginger beer was also excellent.  Not quite as spicy as Blenheim (which, by the way, I can no longer find in the city) but it still had a good kick to it.  Cheerwine is a tasty cherry cola.  Double Cola is not imaginatively named, it has twice the cola flavor as other sodas.

To make Galco's all that much cooler, while I was there a tractor trailer pulled into the parking lot with a delivery.  To get the forklift needed to unload the delivery, Mr. Nese had to pull his car out of the storage shed.  He drives a DeLorean!

If you clicked on the Cheerwine link you'll notice that it is a little nutty.  It is sane compared to the Pop Shoppe.  Beware of flatulent clouds and harp playing bunnies!

Music Box Steps

Glad I didn't have to deliver a piano up the steps in Silver Lake like these guys.

Animal Style

On the way back to the airport in Los Angeles I was becoming hungry and wondering where to eat.  At a stoplight near the Hollywood Park horse track I spied an In-N-Out Burger, the legendary California burger chain that uses fresh beef and potatoes for their burgers and fries and has a secret menu.

The only secret item I knew to order was "Double-Double, Animal Style".  I didn't know what that meant but I figured I should order it.  I almost was thrown for a loop when asked if I wanted the fries animal style as well, but I just said yes.  Double-double means two patties.  Animal style means the burgers are grilled after having mustard spread on them and you get pickles, grilled onions, and extra cheese and Thousand Island dressing.

The burger and fries were great for fast food.  I ate most of the burger but only got through about half the fries.  Believe it or not, and I need to state this for the record, the meals I had in the three days between the spuderito and the double-double animal style were much healthier.