Pickering House, Salem, Mass 1907

Pickering House, Broad Street, Salem Mass. Erected 1660.  Birth Place of Timothy Pickering, The Friend of Washington.

This card was sent in 1907!

Random Thoughts On Friday

Well, baseball season is about to start up!  Make sure you try to get out and catch a game!  Lexington, Louisville and Bowling Green all have minor league teams starting their seasons within the next few days!  FINALLY!

I do have some fun posts relating to the state about to go up.  Also, I am on a big Lake Michigan kick right now- so for the month of April, I will have Wisconsin and Michigan as my out of state focus on this blog.

Bancroft Tower- Worcester, Massachusetts

"The Bancroft Tower was erected to the memory of the Bancroft family of Worcester, Massachusetts.  Aaron Bancroft was a revolutionary soldier, clergyman and author.  His son, George (1800-1891), was born in Worcester.  A distinguished historian and statesman, he established the Naval Academy at Annapolis when Secretary of the Navy under President Polk.  He founded the Round Hill School at Northampton, the first serious effort in the U.S. to elevate secondary education to its rightful place."

Surf and Rocks on Maine Coast

Sunset in Maine

Maysville, Kentucky

Franks Donuts Paris KY

We stopped by Frank's Donuts in Paris almost by accident the other day.

For $3.45, we bought 2 donuts and 2 coffees!

The place was clean, the donuts were perfect, AND they open at 4:30!!!!

Entrance to Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Mass

Greenville Kentucky- one of America's coolest small towns!

http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/america-s-coolest-small-towns--2013-213138510.html

Check out this article from Yahoo about America's coolest small towns!  One of my favorites, Greenville, made the top 10!

Lexington Fountain on St. Patrick's Day

Lexington Comic Con

http://www.lexingtoncomiccon.com/

I stopped by the Lexington Comic Con this weekend!  This was a very fun event with a GREAT crowd!

I REALLY enjoyed the costumes at this event!  Check out Cobra Commander!  PERFECT!

I am glad to see Lexington getting some events like this, and I am glad to see the crowds showing up!

I did notice, as I walked around downtown, that some restaurants weren't open!  Downtown was absolutely hoppin' with this convention, and the St. Patrick's Day Parade!  There is no excuse for not having a place staffed while this was going on!

Still, I was glad to see a lot of local businesses benefiting from the foot traffic the convention brought in.

I hope they have more floor space next year, as it was tough to get around at times once inside.  The convention cetner was crowded with dealers, comic fans, etc.

There were a lot of celebrities doing autograph signings and lots of cool comic artists selling sketches, signing comics, etc.

Anyway, I will make sure this event is on my calender for next year!

Ripley Ohio

Random Thoughts on Friday

There are a couple of very cool things coming up this weekend on my radar......

Lexington is having a BIG comic book convention!  Check it out!

http://www.lexingtoncomiccon.com/

Also, I have become a big fan of the Continental Indoor Football League with THREE Kentucky teams playing in it this year.  Two of the teams will be playing in Louisville tonight!

http://www.kentuckyxtreme.com/

Plymouth Rock

West Boston Bridge, MA.

Sent in 1940, this postcard comments-

Esplanade along Charles River, showing West Boston Bridge.

The driveway is one of the beauty spots of Boston and extends for several miles along the Charles River.

The Creme Coffee Shop in Owensboro

The Creme in Owensboro is simply my all time favorite coffee shop.  I know I have mentioned it here numerous times, but I really love this place.

I did stop by briefly this past weekend while I was in town.  They were having a small music festival there which was VERY cool!

I was only there for a couple of hours (the event pretty much went on all day) but music was everywhere.  A band was playing in front of the shop when I went in, and one was playing in their cozy back yard/patio area too.  A guy doing some classical guitar was in their main room playing before we left.

PLUS, the Creme had a good crowd and a festive atmosphere in general!  I am glad to see so much going on there!

I can't think of a more cozy cool place to sip coffee and check out some live music.  I think they are going to try to keep live local music acts coming in as much as they can, which is great!

This place has great coffee and other items, cool staff, and it is attractive.  The Creme almost seems out of place in Owensboro.  I would expect to see a cool coffee shop like this in a historic area of Asheville, or a trendy shopping area in Nashville.  Then again, I think Owensboro is trying!  THE CREME in Owensboro IS trying AND succeeding!

I hope my friends in town continue to drive past some of the chain businesses and patronize the local guys like The Creme!



Today in Owensboro!

TODAY would be a great day to hang out in Owensboro!  The Creme, in downtown, is having live local music all day!

ALSO, the pro football team, the Owensboro Rage, are playing the pro team from Louisville, the Kentucky Xtreme at the Next Level!

Random Thoughts on Friday

I have been trying to cut back on TV lately.  I do indulge in the documentary here and there.  Also, I must admit, I like the Sunday night cartoons.

I have been going back and watching some of the older TV shows on DVD.  There are a fist full of shows where a place is a character.  I like these shows. 

You probably know the show I am thinking of when I say a bar in Boston, a diner in Arizona, a doctor's office in Alaska, or a gift shop at Niagara Falls.  I will probably get around to mentioning those shows again later.

One show that I have gone back and watched again lately involves a little house in Walnut Grove in the late 1800s.

Holy cow was that a great show!

After our trip out west last year, I became pretty fascinated with the whole pioneer life thing, and the journey of Americans out to the West.

Little House on the Prairie was such a well done show.  Great stories and the writers could really get you involved emotionally.  We watched the episode the other night where Pa thought the family dog had rabies and almost shot him!  We were yelling "No!" at the TV, even though we remembered the episode and how it would end.  Spoiler Alert!  The dog (and Laura) both survive.

The shows always made me feel lucky to be alive in our plentiful, easy living modern times.  The pilot episode, where the girls each get their own cup and a penny for Christmas was great (the girls get their presents and explain that it is the best Christmas ever).

We watched the Typhoid Fever one from the first season the other night!  The exact same script could have easily been an episode of the Twilight Zone!  Death, darkness, and rats everywhere!

We are almost done with the first season.  If you don't mind, I might bring up Little House on the Prairie as we watch more episodes.

The New England Grimpendium by JW Ocker

I picked this one up right after Halloween, otherwise I would have mentioned this book in October.  AND, I am on a New England kick right now.

I wanted to read this book because, outside of Kentucky, New England is one of my favorite areas.  My love of Salem in general is well documented on this site, along with several other areas up north.

Also, I love "macabre and ghastly sites".

Maybe "love" is too strong of a word.  "Enjoy a whole heck of a lot" might be more accurate.  At the end of the day, I must admit that I have an appreciation of weirdness in general, especially when I travel.

JW Ocker's "The New England Grimpendium" is a great travel guide noting some of the darker sites one might visit in New England.

I have actually visited a couple of sites listed, but there were MANY more listed that I had no knowledge of before. 

In fact, as far as odd travel type books go, this is one of the more original volumes out there.  I also feel comfortable saying that this is the best dark tourism book I have read in some time.

Ocker's writing style is detailed but fun.  He gives you the facts, some history, and most importantly, details about how to get to the places he mentions.  BUT, he keeps a humorous style going throughout the Grimpendium.  Concerning his entries on Nathaniel Hawthorne he mentions, "it's not stalking if you trace a man's life after he's dead." 

Comments like that are common.

Something else I like about this book is that Ocker generally avoids the dime-a-dozen "haunted" locations that fill the pages of many other travel books with skulls on the cover.  In fact, he only really brings such sites up if there is something else a bit more substantial going on at the location.

JW Ocker's attention to sites with something truly interesting to offer was one of the main reasons that I enjoyed this book so much.  There is a reason he mentions each memorial, museum or other site of interest in his book and thankfully those reasons do not involve the siting of orbs.  JW has done actual legitimate research on this book and the sites mentioned.

Also, there is a great section on filming locations (involving mostly horror films) in New England.

Check out JW Ocker's blog and pick this book up before your next New England road trip!

http://www.oddthingsiveseen.com/

Maysville Murals

Kentucky Explorer Magazine

http://kentuckyexplorer.com/

Have you picked up this month's Kentucky Explorer Magazine?

These guys have put out another great issue!  They have again reprinted a lot of great old articles (one involving some trappers getting in to a confrontation with local Indians). 

Another article I enjoyed a lot in this issue involves travelers staying in taverns.  The article coveres what to expect if you stayed at a tavern, and how the prices were set for over night stays.

For fans of Lincoln, there is a nice article on Sinking Springs!

Fort Knox Kentucky

Random Thoughts On Friday

Hey, for the month of March, I do have some interesting New England related entries to get up, along with some Kentucky pictures.  I will have a focus on Maysville and the surrounding area as a theme for March too.

Baseball season is about to start up!  Don't forget that the Florence Freedom, Bowling Green Hot Rods, and Louisville Bats start their seasons in early April.  The Florence Freedom will start play later in the summer too!

ALSO, there are THREE professional indoor football teams up and running in Kentucky this year!  In fact, they are all playing RIGHT NOW!  Louisville, Pikeville and Owensboro all have teams, and all are linked to this blog.