Tat’s Bizarre Travels

Seattle, WA - I’ve seen the AWESOMENESS of gum art before. Having lived in Philadelphia I became acquainted with the strange revolution and attraction that comes from seeing gum donnors cover a surface with gum…but never like this. In Philly we have gum trees, but in Seattle they have a gum wall. And WOW what a gum wall it is. Almost every square inch of the brick from the reach of a person’s arm down is covered in gum. And not just globs of gum, but words and symbols written in gum, items stuck to gum, gum icicles, gum phrases, gum memories. One of the chef’s of a nearby restaurant was taking a rare Seattle smoke break staring at the wall and the select groups of tourists the took pictures and added their mark. I asked him how many of the pieces were his, he said none, he tries to stay as far away from the wall as possible…but his mom had left more than a few pieces behind. This gum wall has history.

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.