Tat’s Bizarre Travels

Ballard, WA - My 1^st and 4^th day stops on my Seattle tour were to the always incredible, always awesome Archie McPhee store. I’ve been shopping their online store for years and and was a ball of nonstop excitement about visiting the real life place. It is the rubber chicken and bacon floss mecca of the world. I was in heaven.

When you first enter the store you’re assaulted by a sheer wall of crazy plastic bits hanging from the celling, tacked to the walls and in bins for your buying pleasure. They have a section of wallets, shelves bobble heads, a wall of Jesus’, wigs, masks, urine specimen kits. The place is a wonderland of junk, and yes it seduces you into buying it. I mean really, who doesn’t need a glow in the dark squid?

At first I wandered around in a bit of a daze picking up some nick-knacks here and another one there. My arms filled with the giant purchase for Thursday including a few souvenirs for my loved ones and mostly stuff for me. Archie McPhee is defiantly one of those stores that never ceases to fill my bookshelves with things I don’t need. The really nice thing about being in the physical store is the sheer number of items that you don’t typically find online, and those were the ones I was keeping a keen eye out for (of course it’s difficult to pass a a glow in the dark squid).

Due to the overall demand for their sheer and total awesomeness they’ve expanded to what used to be the liqure store across the parking lot. The new store is not as chaotic as the one celebrating it’s 25^th anniversary, but it’s filled with some of the larger items you can purchase. Archie McPhee seems like the kind of place where, if the price was right, you could purchase anything in the store (possibly even the quirky employees?). There were giant zombies, giant lizards, regular sized lizards, a traffic light, a walk/don’t walk sign, roman soldier… well you get the picture. Big ‘ol display sized stuffs. Most of it wouldn’t fit into the suitcase that I already knew I had to buy for my return trip.

I filled my basket until it overflowith with anitomical puzzels, bouncing monks, and the typical bacon fare before I left. All in all my purchases rewarded me with a giant green devil duck. Somehow I managed to hold off on the glow in the dark squid.

On Sunday I returned on a mostly picture taking mission. Having gone with my hosts, Robin and Uncle John, on Thursday I didn’t have the heart to make them linger too much longer as I snapped shots of the plastic world around me. I also forgot to get my Secret Santa gift for whoever at work is lucky enough to have me pull them from the hat. I took a few pictures here, I grabbed a rubber rat there and before you knew it I was spending just as much as my first visit, and its tally stands strong as the place that I’ve spent the most money on the trip. I have to say it’s slightly surprising since I didn’t get one of life sized zombies. But I guess monkey balls do add up… the experience was nonstop awesome!

Oh, and I did finally buy a glow in the dark squid.