Category: Travel

Step By Step To Sunrise

I was up at 5:45am Sunday morning. It was still dark outside, and I tried to go back to sleep, but to no avail. It was the first morning at our Hot Springs, Arkansas VRBO rental, and I wanted to see the sunrise. I pulled a jacket over my pajamas and headed down the back steps to catch the first rays of sun peek out through the tall pine trees.

The rest of the family was still snug in their beds, but I got to enjoy the majesty of the dawn.

The sunlight lit up the mist on the lake, and I watched the ducks glide by.

We were still in the shade, but the sun hit just beyond the neighbor’s dock.

Then it lit up the shore like a fire.

And the whole neighborhood turned golden.

The Price Of A Tall Starbucks Iced Coffee

Only at Starbucks does “tall” actually mean “small” these days. But that’s beside the point. What we have here is a local money trader on the Brazil side of the Venezuela-Brazil border (Brazil has borders with TEN countries). He’s counting out five million Venezuelan bolivares, which is the equivalent of just under $2.50–or enough to grab this mostly -ice overpriced drink at Starbucks.

Nat Geo 11/18

Can you imagine handing over that stack of cash just for a drink that’s not even refillable? Good Lord. Crafty artists have decided to use the currency as a medium, making dogs out of the money and selling them on etsy for $65.

etsy

Gas Envy

1935 Texaco ad

In 1932, Texaco introduced Fire Chief gasoline to the nation, a “super-octane” motor fuel touted, as you can see above, as “surpassing specifications” for  emergency vehicles. Ed Wynn promoted it on his NBC radio program called the Texaco Fire Chief.

Amazon

New North

Nat Geo Aug ’47

Back when this photo was taken in the summer of 1947, Penasse, Minnesota was the most northerly post office in the US. Nowadays, it’s Barrow, Alaska. I’m pretty sure we’re done acquiring new states, so Barrow will probably retain the title.

The man  who looks like The Skipper from “Gilligan’s Island” is actually Captain Young, a veteran skipper of the mailboat Resolute (not the S.S. Minnow), which had just arrived on the 50-acre island from Warroad, just shy of Canada. The poor-postured woman with her pelvis tucked beneath her is postmistress Mrs. Fran Cole. The two men beside her, one of which appears to be leering menacingly, are Chippewa Indian fishing guides for summer visitors.

Only Interesting People

1935

Ooh-la-la! Très exclusive. Only for the interesting people! Why, you’ll find novelists, actresses, professors, and big-game hunters on French Line! Only the best and brightest are allowed aboard, where they serve table wine complimentary. Much fancy! The servers even speak the English because that’s civilized.

One wonders how the French ever got pegged with a rep for snobbery.

S Is For Bridge

May 1932 by Jacob Gayer for Nat Geo

Ever seen the likes of this before? Not me. Not around these parts. Maybe it’s a Northern thing. This S bridge in Hendrysburg, Ohio was built with “manholes,” or safety niches where a pedestrian could get out of the way of a runaway team of horses. While many S bridges were generally used for crossing curving streams with uneven banks, this one served a more unique purpose. Motorcars eventually made the bridges obsolete.

New Englanders Live Four Years Longer

Back in the summer of 1932, everyone who was anyone was planning to travel up to New England on account of the boss eclipse that would “never again” happen until the year 2000.

And my favorite part of the ad?

This. They live four years longer. Longer than whom? All the other states?

Well, some New England states still make the top 10 in terms of longevity, but the latest 2018 rankings show folks in Minnesota live the longest: 78.7 years old on average. Mississippi ranked 51st (the study includes Washington, D.C.), where it’s 71.8 years. For results on your state, click here.

In the meantime, if you live in Mississippi, make sure to watch these crucial factors: tobacco use, alcohol abuse, and bad diets. Or get yourself up to New England pronto!