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?

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Uniontown, PA - I’m really beginning to dig the muffler men. They’re an easy attraction to spot, which is just fantastic. All you have to do is turn a bend that there they are, larger than life and with a steely grin. This time the muffler man I sought stood guard at a tire store. Seems kinka apropos…too bad they weren’t a muffler shop.

The Paul Bunyan style giant hangs out in front of Import Export Tire and is dressed in a burly red and blue. It doesn’t appear to phase the tire guys that there’s somebody outside snapping pictures, they just continue on with their work. I don’t think they’re rude, just used to it. I imagine they get that everyday.

The best part of the tire shop is the sign above the office door:

The Men Who Know Tires Best

I’m fairly certain that the muffler man knows tires best of all.

FRANKLIN, PA - DQ1 is just your regular ol’ Dairy Queen. It’s not one of those drive thru types, but where you park your car and go inside, order yourself a Dilly Bar and sit down at a table to enjoy. Just like any other Dairy Queen. Except for the space capsule out front. Yep, you heard me. A genuine Apollo space capsule. You gotta love it. Franchises these days don’t get the opportunity to make their store individual. When was the last time you scheduled a trip to a Starbucks, not for the coffee, but to check out the quirky things that make it individual and less of a corporate sycophant.