Tat’s Bizarre Travels

WASHINGTON, PA – Today was a quick trip down to the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum. “Trolley’s aren’t strange!” you may say, and I guess you would be right, but I’ve got a strange obsession for public transportation. Busses, trains, trolleys, I love them all. I get really excited when I have the opportunity to take public transit to wherever I’m going. I feel grown up and important. I think it may have something to do with being a kid and my gram taking me to the city on a bus. It was always a big deal.

The Pennsylvania Trolley museum is on the small side, and the basic tour earns you a ride on the trolley and a tour of a couple of the restored trolleys. For an extra fee, however, you can get the once daily tour of the car barn which has a big ol’ bunch of trolley’s in differing states of disrepair. I kinda like the 50’s style trolleys (surprise, surprise) more than the earlier ones. And we only got to board 2 trolleys other than the one that meanders about the grounds. I would have like the opportunity to wander on my own, but since this is pretty much a volunteer only establishment there are no docents to yell at you for climbing on an antique in the process of being restored.

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MIDDLETOWN, OH - So for Mothers Day the fam decided to all pile in the car and drive to good ol’ Berea Ohio. I’ve been to Berea at least 10,000 times in my lifetime and have seen very little beyond the house my mum grew up in and the retirement village my gram has been calling home for the last few years. So, I figured I’d see if there was anything a little odd and interesting around. All the internet could come up with was a colonial cemetery in the parking lot of a Regal theatre. I figured, why not, maybe I’ll find something else weird and wonderful along the way…or not.

Since I was limited to exploring within walking distance of the home where old people grow older there was no chance of seeing the Christmas Story house or the Worlds Largest Rubber Stamp unless I wanted to walk the 13 miles to do so. So instead I walked the mile to the strip mall where the Regal stood. Sure enough there was a little gated “park” with all of 2 tombstones and other tombstone like rubble. The gate was locked, but there wasn’t much to see close up that your couldn’t see far away. I took a few pictures and continued on the long, dull walk back.

The Ohio suburbs are terrible. They are everything you image a suburb to be only always cold and rainy. In fact the walk back was so dull I almost called my mom to pick me up so boredom wouldn’t force me to play in traffic. Don’t get me wrong, my hometown suburb doesn’t even boast a cemetery in a strop mall, but there’s at least some visual interest.

The moral of the story? If the big attraction you’re going to see is located in a strip mall don’t be surprised when the walk there and back almost kills you from boredom. Seriously, boredom is nothing to laugh at.

NEW VRINDABAN, Wv – After an hour and twenty some odd minutes of travel through the West Virginia wilderness I came across a little slice of heaven that defies the definition of this highly misunderstood state. I mean, when one thinks of West Virginia a few things come to mind. Mostly trailers, guns and second cousin marriages. West Virginia, like Jersey, really does get a bad rap…only West Virginia doesn’t require you to pay if you want to leave. And that’s why Jersey gets to keep its reign as the hole of America. But I digress, this entry isn’t about my loathing of the Jersey random payout tax, but one of the true surprises found in the rolling mountains of West Virginia.

The Palace of Gold and City of God is a great example of the diversity that can be found on these rolling country roads. It’s home to a group of Krsna devotees…well, not the palace but the grounds are home to a group Krsna devotees. The palace, built for Srila Prabhupada, is quite a site to behold. The exterior is an assortment of black and gold filigrees and carvings of all sorts of sacred animals including peacocks, elephants and two rockin’ green lions that guard the steps to the front door of the palace. I love those lions and have decided that I need a set for the home I will one day own. There are also some great little gazebos to rest your weary feet and take in the beautiful view of West Virginia wilderness.

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