The other USA bucket list stuff

So, a blog buddy showed me a link to weird and wonderful things to view in the USA courtesy of Roadside America. It’s bloody ace for stuff that’s a bit less obvious and a bit more off the beaten track, and so my bucket list is getting longer and longer…

So, what’s making the grade?

The big pencil stuck in the wall in Baltimore, Maryland

Yes, it’s a pencil!

America’s Oldest Road Sign To Get Back On A Road, Maryland

In the 1750s a British General, Edward Braddock, marched 2,000 troops through the Allegheny Mountains toward what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Along the way a 2000-pound rock was set up near Frostburg, Maryland, engraved with distances and directions to places such as Captain Smyth’s Inn and Redstone Old Fort. People came to call it “The Braddock Stone.”

Ouija Board Inventor’s Tombstone, Maryland

The Ouija board layout is carved on the back Elijah Jefferson Bond’s gravestone, who invented and then patented it in 1891. “Talking board” expert Robert Murch found Bond’s unmarked grave and commissioned the grave marker in 2007.

Stonehenge Gated Community, California

Built in the 1920s the cottages look as if each were taken straight out of a Disney film, reminiscent of Snow White, Pinocchio, etc. Each home is unique with a different Storybook design with shake roofs, turrets, wrought iron details. Courtyards have original ponds and fountains. Private gated community, but you may ogle through the wrought iron gates looking for Prince Charming!

Cowboy Town and Memorial

An offbeat and semi-rundown cowboy memorial and library owned and created by Paul de Fonville. Fonville is a former cowboy and champion rodeo performer. His dream is to educate and share what life was like as a cowboy and rancher. The site houses books and cowboy and Western memorabilia collected by Fonville over the years.

There is so much offbeat stuff to choose from, I’ve spent hours pouring over the site. It’s good to find some kooky stuff, a little bit less full-on tourist.

Marmite and Bovril

I’m bringing back Bovril from the UK and a lot of my Brit chums say ‘What’s that then?’. Like Marmite, say I, except beefy. Some of them have never heard of it! I thought it was a stalwart in the Second World War and handed down through generations as a warming drink or on your toast, but obviously not!

Bovril in the war!

Anyhow, I’m not bringing back Marmite, no because I don’t like it (I do), but because it is available in the States. Recently though, it’s been getting a bit of a rough deal owing to a new ad campaign released in the UK. Love it or hate it (as the Marmite slogan goes)?

Last day in the UK

So, back to the USA tomorrow and I am looking forward to it. So much to do, so much to see, so much to achieve. The USA does offer so many opportunities.

But the UK has been beautiful – it’s made the trip to have had such good weather (and I hear a heatwave is on its way again!!).

It’s been interesting to compare and contrast the two countries again; it’s really made me think and appreciate things so much more on both sides. I am so fond of the UK and the USA, but for different reasons (and I still maintain I prefer driving in the USA, but the veges ARE cheaper in the UK! 😉 )

Cheap as chips (but more expensive than fries in the USA 😉 )

P.S

Can’t believe that this is blog 200! Wowsers!