Miscellaneous Places and Events

Avery Island in South Louisiana has a large salt dome underneath it, and the entire island is known for just about one thing, the McIlhenny Company, the maker of Tabasco Sauce.

It's not the greatest factory tour, but it probably is one of the best hot sauces...

We came across the Bantam Chef Restaurant quite by accident. We were heading for the Blue Ridge Parkway, and got hungry, and this diner was on the way... The food was good, and the place has a wide variety of eclectic signage and memorabilia. But an Isetta? Really? Couldn't be that local BMW plant, could it?

This link will take you to the South Carolina State Page.

The Black Hills, long a sacred area for the local tribes, is now more a tourist destination. You can easily plan a weeklong vacation in the area, with attractions like Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave, Custer State Park, and the Western Towns such as Deadwood.

Just don't go there during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, unless you're specifically going for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally...

The Eastern Gulf Coast beaches in Florida is an ancient shark area, where literally millions of fossilized shark teeth exist for the taking. We were right across the street from Venice Beach, but it was suggested we go to Caspersen Beach, which is an ungraded beach with no sand replenishment, so it would be easier to mine the shark's teeth. I didn't really think we'd find any, but within minutes, we found one. Huh.

This link will take you to the Florida Gulf Coast Cities page.

The 1979 Yes Concert was held at the Chicago Amphitheater. (The Ol' Cow Palace.) These are pics from the Drama Tour. Back when Yes was... well... Yes. Back when there was only three versions of Roundabout.

When I was but a child, I was at gaming conferences like Gencon and Origins, and even more modern day events like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, but nothing prepared me for the level of cosplay at Dragon*Con. I was there in 2011, and stayed at the W, which is also reviewed.

Dragon*Con is an event, but it does take place in Atlanta, Georgia. And I had to put it somewhere, lol...

I affectionately describe places like Frontier Village as one of those "Western Interstate Tourist Attractions", something I see less of in the East, probably due to infrastructure and environmental demands.

Frontier Village's claim to fame is The World's Largest Buffalo. Well, that's not exactly true, it's a bison, and it's an anatomically correct male, which means it also has the world's largest... uh... And the National Buffalo Museum is here, too.

The 1992 Chicago Air and Water Show (minus the water part) was being staged out of Glenview Naval Air Station, and the public was invited to come and take a look...

I took one of the Honey Island Swamp Tours in 2002, a few years before Katrina and Ida worked the place over, and it's close enough to the Gulf to have seen the storm surge.

I'm sure the swamp tours still exist, just perhaps a little different.

Experimental Breeder Reactor 1 (EBR-1) is the first successful breeder reactor turned into a seasonal museum. On display is the original reactor and light bulbs it lit, and information on the Idaho National Environmental Research Park, the 900 square mile facility that's seen over 50 nuclear reactors.

Here's some trivia. A city near here, Arco, was the first city in America to be powered by a nuclear energy.

Jack Daniels Distillery has one of the best factory tours around. You just have to find your way to Lynchburg, Tennessee.

Do try to visit on a weekday when the town (Historic Lynchburg) is open. Avoid Sunday's, because the distillery doesn't distill on Sunday. Ironically, Lynchburg is in a dry county, so you can't even sample the product, except for "souvenir bottles" of Jack in the White Rabbit Saloon.

We came across the Loveless Cafe quite by accident. I was driving part of the Natchez Trace Parkway from the Meriwether Lewis Burial Site to the terminus near Nashville, and the Loveless Cafe is just outside the end of the Parkway.

I have to admit, the country music history angle was lost on me, but the food was the best. I would stop there again.

I used to go to the Minnesota Arrowhead (or more accurately The Gunflint Trail from Grand Marais) almost on a yearly basis for a fishing trip in one of the most peaceful areas I've been to.

Mono Lake is one of the oldest, continuously existing lakes in North America. It is also a basin, which means there is no water outlet, so the salts leeched out of the surrounding mountains make the lake 2.5 times as salty, and 80 times more alkaline than the oceans.

An interesting indigenous insect, the Alkali Fly lives here. They're so thick that the ground looks dark ahead of you, but the darkness moves out of the way as you approach. Ugh.

The National Museum of the US Air Force is on the Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton, Ohio. It is a must see for any aviation fan. They have static displays of most of the USAF aircraft from the Wright Flyer (okay, not a USAF aircraft) to the X-planes to the F-22. They even have a Trabant. (Also not a USAF aircraft.) What more could you ask for?

This link used to take you to the "Other Stuff" pages.

North Head Lighthouse replaced the Cape Disappointment lighthouse, which was said to be too far inland to be seen from areas further North. (As a matter of fact, the North Head Lighthouse is in Cape Disappointment State Park.)

Great views, even if I couldn't climb the stairs...

Peaceful Pastures is a farm in Tennessee that a friend of mine owns. It's not a traditional farm that raises crops, unless you consider sheep, goats and cattle to be crops. Well, okay, you might... It's a tale of city boy meets rural life for a week. And sometimes, it's not very pretty. Also included is a side trip to the Natchez Trace Parkway, and Edgar Evins State Park.

This link *was* in the "Other Stuff" section of this website.

Red Canyon is pretty much at the Western end of Utah-12 (mile marker 3), and is a USFS site. I understand there's even a visitors center there now.

I've only seen the parts from Utah-12, but there are images from Jo's horseback ride through the canyons.

If you travel I-94 through North Dakota from the East, you first run across the World's Largest Buffalo on one side of the state, and Salem Sue, the World's Largest Holstein Cow on the other.

After seeing this creature a couple of times on my way out West, I finally stopped to see her.

I was at the US Air Force Armament Museum at Eglin AFB, but I was actually there before they opened. Bummer. I do have some images of the outdoor displays, though.

The Wisconsin Dells is an area on the Wisconsin River. Named after that part of the River is the city Wisconsin Dells, a tourist town on the order of Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN or Branson, MO. Since it is in the snow belt, they have a very high number of indoor water parks and seasonal attractions.

I also took a trip up to House on the Rock near Spring Green, a unique house that had interiors too dark to photograph. :)