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Osage

Joined Atlas Obscura in 2018

The trip that bit me with the travel bug: I did my first real traveling when I went on my first cross-country road trip in the summer of 1961 at the age of six in a brand-new red Pontiac Catalina convertible with my brother & parents. We began in Columbus Ohio and traveled to see my grandparents in Santa Barbara California, by way of Yosemite, & the Painted Desert, traveling a lot on old Route 66. While passing through Yuma Arizona we were caught in a flash hailstorm that came out of the blue and only lasted 20-30 seconds yet left 1.5 inches of hail just a bit smaller than a golf ball in a layer all over the road. Being in a convertible, my dad had to do some quick thinking and swerved into a gas station that had a 'wing' triangular-shaped roof canopy supported by steel poles over the gasoline pumps. Only my father's quick thinking and the fact that there was an open space at one of the pumps, saved the convertible top, the front and rear windows and our vacation trip. Other cars around us were not so lucky - I saw many that had cracked or broken windshields as Dad pulled back out onto the road. Still today, I clearly hear in my mind, the loud popping sounds of the hailstones breaking under the tires as he pulled out. It was not long before the clouds disappeared entirely, the sun came out in full fury and the hailstones were history; small rivulets of clear water headed for the sides of the road. Within minutes there was no sign of them, including no moisture left on the pavement! While in California we saw the redwoods and visited relatives in Bakersfield and Shell Beach. In New Mexico we stayed one night in an air-conditioned concrete[!] tipi at a small motel. I recall my uncle Raymond who was the sheriff of Santa Barbara County at the time [or at least that's what he told us kids], taking my brother and me on a ride in his police car while on duty and he even pulled over someone with lights & siren! I have a few B&W photos from that CA trip that have survived all these years. Funny, the ride home was not as memorable, maybe because we were all tired and grouchy and I just wanted to be home again sleeping in my own bed! Hey, I was six years old! I've loved to travel, especially to wild and natural places, all of my life.

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Places I've been

Places this traveler has marked as been there.

Old Airport Control Tower

CancĂºn, Mexico

Old Airport Control Tower

One of Mexico's youngest major cities still holds on to this structure representing its short modern history.

A car mid-drive through the tree.

Leggett, California

Chandelier Tree

This massive redwood tree has a hole in the base big enough to drive through.

CN Tower with the Canadian flag

Toronto, Ontario

CN Tower Stairs

One of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World holds the world's tallest metal staircase.

Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum

Ocean City, Maryland

Ocean City Life-Saving Station Museum

This building at the south end of the boardwalk was once home to the U.S. Life-Saving Service and the U.S. Coast Guard before being rescued itself.

Wigwam Village #7

San Bernardino, California

Wigwam Village #7

These structures were inspired by both Native American shelters as well as, strangely, an ice cream shop.

Granite lying on top of the softer, younger sandstone.

Phoenix, Arizona

Camelback Mountain

A geological mystery on Camelback Mountain.

Action mounted taxidermy bobcat and quail.

Apache Junction, Arizona

The Superstition Mountain Museum

This collection of Wild West movie memorabilia also claims to hold some secrets of the Lost Dutchman's mine.

Niagara Falls Floral Clock

Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario

Niagara Falls Floral Clock

This impressive working clock made of 16,000 plants changes its flowers twice a year.

Horsetail Falls.

Yosemite National Park, California

Horsetail Fall's Firefall

Under the right circumstances, this waterfall in Yosemite briefly turns a luminescent fiery orange.

Alternate view from the second floor

Washington, D.C.

Riggs Library

A wondrous old library overlooking the nation's capital.

The Exorcist Stairs

Washington, D.C.

The Exorcist Stairs

The site of the climactic scene from the classic horror film is now a historic landmark.

A few shade trees along Geiger Key Beach
Permanently Closed

Boca Chica, Florida

Geiger Key Abandoned Beach

A nude beach alongside a washed-out road.

Aerial view of Pigeon Key, with the partially decimated Overseas Railroad bridge running parallel to the new Seven Mile Bridge.

Big Pine Key, Florida

Overseas Railroad and Pigeon Key

Island ghost town detailing Flagler's folly in building the Overseas Railroad.

Indian Key

Islamorada, Florida

Indian Key

This lush Florida island is home to the ruins of a crooked ship breaker's tiny empire.

A polished Petoskey Stone.

Harbor Springs, Michigan

Petoskey State Park

A popular place to pick up prehistoric coral fossils from the time when Michigan was an ocean.

Grove Park Inn

Asheville, North Carolina

The Grove Park Inn

The U.S. Supreme Court's secret Cold War relocation facility in the mountains of North Carolina.

The Straits of Mackinac

Mackinac County, Michigan

The Mackinac Bridge

The fifth-longest suspension bridge the world, connecting one Michigan peninsula to another.

A canoe, two water serpents, and the great lynx Mishipeshu.

Agawa Bay, Ontario

Agawa Rock

A sacred Ojibwe site covered in pictographs next to Lake Superior.

Agawa Canyon Wilderness Park

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Agawa Canyon Wilderness Park

Accessible only by train, the beauty of Agawa Canyon Wilderness Park is worth the journey.

Book Corner.

Niagara Falls, New York

Book Corner

Western New York's largest independent bookstore doubles as a historical repository of all things Niagara Falls.

Gilmore Car Museum

Hickory Corners, Michigan

Gilmore Car Museum

Home to over 300 antique cars and motorcycles, including Thomas Edison's Model A.

The front of the store. (Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop)

Evanston, Illinois

Dave's Down to Earth Rock Shop

Shop of curiosities with a dinosaur museum tucked in its basement.

The Carousel at Trimper's Rides

Ocean City, Maryland

1912 Herschell-Spillman Carousel

One of the oldest active carousels in the country—but it might be missed by all but the keenest-eyed boardwalk strollers.

Devil's Lake

Baraboo, Wisconsin

Devil's Lake

A remnant of the last Ice Age, this lake is surrounded by fascinating rock formations.

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