Kentucky Fried Vacation

During the 2017 Thanksgiving week the fam (consisting of Mr. Husband Sir, PB, and myself) decided to get out of town...waaay out of town. Sketchy cell phone service all the better. We had to do this for our holiday sanity, we weren't going on another guilt trip with our families.  

 The primary focus of this trip was going to be stress free relaxation, not filling every moment with squeezing in a billion things to see and do.

As Andy (in the Andy Griffith Show) said in "Andy's Vacation" (S04E22) he was just going to lay around, read the National Geographics, and just take it easy.  That was our family mantra for this trip.

We had taken a short excursion through Cave City, Kentucky back in 2015 and had a great time.  It was less than 24 hours that we were there and wanted to stop in again.  PB and I set to searching the Airbnb site for any place in Kentucky knowing that a stop in Cave City had to be part of the deal.  Our trip, for the most part, turned out great.  Even the not so great moments have made for interesting stories.   The next several posts will be all Kentucky Fried vacation!

On the first day of the trip we did go to the downtown Louisville welcome center because we heard HE was there! 

A life sized waxed Colonel Sanders! 

Around the corner was a telephone with the Colonel giving advice on the other line.

"If you've got time to lean, you've got time to clean!"

On display was one of the original Kentucky Fried Chicken pressure cookers (for Jenn's viewing pleasure!). 

One display shelf of many featuring collectibles and vintage bits of KFC history.  I particularly liked the newsletter header of "Out of the Bucket"!

An authentic suit with an illustrated time line on the wall. 

We took plenty of photos in our own Colonel-wear and even used them for our Kentucky Fried Christmas photo.  The staff at the Welcome Center were all crazy happy about us (they gave us some fancy Louisville water bottles for free even!).  The only advice I have to pass on is there is not a bathroom in the welcome center!  We had brought our outfits separate (I like the Colonel and all but we weren't going to strut around downtown in white suits!).  The boys were able to get their shirts on no problem and had to skip the proper pants.  I wound up ducking behind the pressure cooker, stripped down my top to only my bra and hurriedly got my white button up shirt on.  If they have cameras in there I gave them a bit of a welcome myself.  I have never heard of a welcome center without a bathroom.  That's one of the primary points of them!  I guess you have to make sure to stop off in Tennessee for that kind of business.

Past Kentucky Fried Colonel posts to munch on:
National Fried Chicken Day 2015
Chicken in the Trick or Treat Bucket
Kentucky Fried Wigwam Night
Wishing you a Kentucky Fried Christmas 2017
Will You Be My Chicken-tine?

Wigwam Village Souvenirs

I am completely in love with the Wigwam Village built in 1937, located in Cave City, Kentucky.

I have been able to "Sleep in a Wigwam" twice there, which is so much fun!

Mr. Husband Sir got me two vintage souvenirs from the village for Christmas last year, multiplying my little collection to three pieces!

The small plaster teepee above measures about 4 inches tall.  It was bought from the original owner that had gotten it as a souvenir as a child in the 1950s.

I have two linen postcards, the one on the right being the newest addition.

The one on the left is postmarked 1940, from Cave City

The message on the back says:

"Got here about 7:00 last night.  Getting ready to go to Cemetery.  Levie didn't sleep much Wed morn.  She left about 1:00.  I had a woman stay all night two nights and made $1.00.  Be home about Mon.  Love Vance"

The postcard on the right is postmarked Feb 26, 1947 and reads:

"We are staying in the Wigwam Village tonight.  Hope to get home near noon on 27th.  Was so nice to see peacocks in Fla.  Quite a surprise. Don't forget to write us.  Love Ida"

During the Thanksgiving 2017 holiday we took a trip and spent the week in Kentucky.   On the way back home we spent the day in Cave City and checked on the wigwams.

I love them, love them, love them!

Here are a couple of past wigwam adventures:

Sleep in a wigwam!
Kentucky Fried Wigwam Night

Cat Hair Balls!

🎜Cat Hair Balls, Cat Hair Balls!🎝

All over the place!

Don't look now, here one comes smack right in your face!

🎜Cat Hair Balls, Cat Hair Balls!🎝

Get 'em while their hot!

Today is National Hairball Awareness Day!

Why not celebrate with a batch of yummy edible hairballs!

Simply melt a bag of butterscotch chips in a double boiler.

Dump a bag of crunchy chow main noodles in a big bowl.

Pour melted chips over noodles and toss till all is covered.

Scoop out hairball dollops and place onto waxed cookie sheets.  

Let them set til firm, then enjoy! 

Naughty Nudie Glasses

These Pin Up glasses were one of the first vintage items I ever bought.  I found them at a yard sale for 5 bucks over 20 years ago.  Back then I used to actually drink out of them.  When you put an icy beverage in the glass the artist palette "disappears" revealing a peek-a-boo scene.

 The water slide decals have become extremely brittle and I have ceased using them as drinking glasses for quite some time, hoping to keep them intact.  I display them in a cabinet in the living room now.  During our last move, 7 years ago, one of the gals got broken.

I have been holding on to the pieces, knowing I should toss them, but couldn't bring myself to it.  I decided to get all the gals together for a little photo shot one last time.  I scotch taped the glass somewhat together in the top photo.  I am now thinking that doesn't look so bad!  I had plans of making myself toss her out after I got the photo but maybe there is some kick still left in her!

Here is the rest of the gang for their close ups:

While searching on the nets I happen to find the original order form from my very set of glasses!
"Magical Artist Model Glasses"

Broken gal is featured and along the bottom of the card are all the rest, five in the set.

I can't 'break' up the set!

Elberta Jurassic Park

Mr. Husband and I took a day trip out to Elberta, AL a couple of years ago to see the sites.  We checked out a neat antique store complete with live bluegrass music.  We then went on a hunt to find all of the large as life literally roadside attractions...they are just there, off of a road.  The largest is the life sized replica of Stonehenge, called Bamahenge.  Then there are a sprinkling of random dinosaurs that I have decided to name.  Above is Terrence the T-Rex and then there's...

Trixie the triceratops.

and Jethro...the slackjaw-yokel-asaurus.

We also came across this larger than life metal spider sculpture on the grounds of the nearby marina.

Mr. Husband as the serving suggestion.

At the marina, in the water, is sometimes a huge floating woman head and knees.  But the day we went she must have been off having her knees waxed or something because we couldn't find her.

All of these things are along County road 95 in Elberta, AL.

Bamahenge

On our day trip to Elberta, AL we made our way to find Bamahenge, a fiberglass reproduction of Stonehenge.  I say "find" because it's off of a highway with no signs or explanation.  You're just driving down a 'in-the-middle-of-no-where' road and glance off to see among a group of trees slightly obscured...this.

Mr. Husband used as a ratio comparison.

Stonehedgey! 

There are several other neat odd sculptures around the 'henge.  More up next!

Here are some vague instructions on how to find Bamahenge:

Drive US Hwy 98 either eight miles east of Foley, AL, or 21 miles west of downtown Pensacola, FL. Turn south onto County Rd 95. Drive five miles. Turn right onto Fish Trap Rd. Drive a half-mile. Turn left at the Barber Marina sign. Drive one mile. You'll see Bamahenge on the right, set back among the trees. Park on roadside, path goes 200 yards into woods.

Perdido Beach Trading Company

A couple of years ago Mr. Husband and I took a day trip out to Elberta, Al.  There are loads of neat stuff to see out there.  One place we stopped in at was Perdido Beach Trading Company.  It is housed in an antique gas station/general store looking place.

This is a busy photo but I wanted to show off to the left where the people are.  In that side room a blue grass band gets together on Saturdays to practice/perform!

Here are a few photos of the place, all packed out with neat stuff.

The outside of the building is loaded down with interesting stuff also.  We bought several things, one being this Kroger Peanut Butter Jar.  It's a fun little place.

For the next several posts I am going to put up a few more cool spots to check out in Elberta.

Perdido Beach Trading Company is located
31995 US-98
Elberta, Al 36530

South Of The Border

I use this blog as kind of a memory exercise.   When ever I write a post I recall past posts that relate and I include their links.  But apparently I am heading into dementia.  I could have sworn that I had never posted about going to South of the Border.  I even wrote up this entire post about it.  When I neared the end of the post I recalled having an old post featuring a thrifted SOB souvenir.  I typed in "South of the border" in my blog search and oh my word.  I had wrote a full post already and had even published it during the year it actually happened! 2012!
Well...I am just going to put this one up too.  Some of the photos are different so....enjoy, again.

I can't believe I have never posted about our trip to the mecca of concrete kitsch!

One of the seven wonders of Roadside America:

South of the Border

Dillon, South Carolina

We took a summer trip in 2012 to visit Pedro and all of the over sized critters and confections that take up residency at the South of the Border complex.

This place is simply amazing!

Pun heavy billboards beckon travelers from miles away.

"You never sausage a place!  You're always a wiener at Pedro's!"

  

This 97 foot Pedro sign welcoming travelers is classic gorgeous mid-century roadside! 

So what is South of the Border?  One would think it's a town since it's over 300 acres.  It has gas stations, restaurants, lodging, shops, attractions, and even a bank and fire station... and happens to also be filled with loads of colorful over-sized ''perfect for photo-op'' concrete sculptures.  It is basically a classic tourist trap.

There are so many shops and attractions, we didn't get to see everything.  There is a huge firework shop, perfect to grab some illegal bottle rockets not allowed in North Carolina.  A shop that only sells hats from around the world, which is where PB picked up the fez seen in all the pics.  The place is so big they have a map for guests to navigate the complex!

For a mere 2 bucks you can ride to the top of the 200 foot observation sombrero. Who can pass up a deal like that?

The day we went it was sweltering, so we had to pass on doing some stuff like the train ride and the miniature golf. We had a nice Mexican dinner, did some tacky souvenir shopping, and danced around the brim of the observation sombrero tower.  But the best was taking photos with all the fun concrete horses, gorillas, chickens, flamingos, alligators, ice cream cones, dolphins, dinosaurs, elephants, tortoises, zebras, giraffes, and a jackolope!

I'll let the photos take over.  Here is only a fraction of the ones we took.

Sombrero headed boy.

There isn't a bunch of history out there about South of the Border but here is a bit I picked up:
South of the Border started out as a small beer stand in 1949, conveniently located south of the border of the dry counties of North Carolina in South Carolina, not down Mexico way.  It was a highly visited destination as you can imagine.  It grew from there to include a grill then motel (gotta have some place to sleep it off!).  The owner was one of very few people in the region at the time who employed people of other races and cultures.  He apparently had a stand off involving a rifle when the KKK tried to harm one of his African American employees.  He also invited two immigrants he met during a trip to Mexico to work for him.  They became his right and left hands helping to build up the complex even more.  One of them was named Pedro and the name stuck as the mascot.  Over the decades the complex has grown and at one time was the primary employment of the region of Dillon.

Here a few small souvenirs we picked up while shopping there: a set of ceramic siesta sleeping salt and pepper shakers, postcards, a button, a bumper sticker, and a brochure.  The wooden book stand on the right I picked up from a thrift store several years ago.

One of the best little jokes we now say on a regular basis came out of this trip to South of the Border.  As we were leaving, getting gas, and grabbing a drink from one of the several convenience stores, my mom asks the clerk "Do you only have Pepsi in this town?"  He replied deadpanned with "Well ma'am...it really isn't a town."
From then on if we go to a restaurant that only serves Pepsi we say
"They only have Pepsi in this town." 


Past SOB links, including the one I forgot ever happened:
SOB thrifted stuff and music video
SOB Etch-a-Sketch Frame
SOB 2012

Texas-Ware

Here's another neat estate sale find.  A melamine Texas-Ware mixing bowl.

I really like the smeary confetti pattern in/on it.