Dependable Erection

HoJo's

Maybe you've noticed that the old Howard Johnson's Inn at Hillandale Road and I-85 has been closed and abandoned for the past few months. Most likely it wasn't able to recover from the extended shutdown during the highway widening, or maybe it was just the recession taking its toll on travelers, or maybe it's that those good things that are happening in Durham are happening in other parts of Durham.

Either way, it's been turned into quite the art gallery recently. Been meaning to get there myself and document it, but my friend Libby beat me to it.

See her photos here and here.

Labels: photography

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Road trip 10

Heaven Hill distillery.

One of my favorite photos from the whole trip:

I'm rather partial to the 18 year old Elijah Craig, and Old Fitzgerald was on my sampling list in Lexington. It's kind of smoky, and reminded me of Laphroig scotch whiskey. The state ABC website is a mess, but i don't think it's available in NC.

Maker's Mark pics tomorrow.

Labels: photography, traveling, whisky

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Road trip 9

Why i don't live in Minneapolis:

Milwaukee is a city without irony.

Click to embiggen

And i haven't figured out its historic preservation policies yet.

It's got a nice, if sporadic, River Walk.

And a Bronze Fonz.

And some other appealing traits.

They made a big mistake putting the ballpark a few miles out of downtown, though. The lakefront area, near the children's and art museums, would have been just perfect.

Labels: photography, traveling

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Road trip 8

Humpback Bridge, Covington VA:

From the Wikipedia article:

Covered bridges were sometimes referred to as "kissing bridges" during the more modest era of the late 19th Century, as the privacy from passing through a covered bridge would allow passengers in horse and buggy an opportunity to kiss each other unobserved.

Graffiti dating back to 1966 was still visible inside the bridge. This was a lovely, and totally unexpected, find on the journey home.

Labels: photography, traveling

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Road trip 7 - Beaver, WV

Sadly, the good people of Beaver, West Virginia seem to given up on embracing their inner beaver. We were unable to find a single Beaver souvenir in the entire town. Not a t-shirt, coffee cup, ball cap or shot glass to be had.

I'm thinking in the future the Beaver Queen Pageant might consider adopting this town.

Labels: beavers, photography, traveling

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Road trip 6 - Target Field

I've been a Twins fan as long as i can remember. The only explanation i can think of is that my father must have taken me to a ballgame during those dead years when the National League abandoned New York (1958 - 1961), and the Twins were playing the hated Yankees, which would date it to 1961, the year the old Senators moved to Minnesota. So it's beena nearly 50 year dream of mine to catch a Twins home game.

Some sights from the new Target Field, Wednesday, May 12. Twins 3 - White Sox 2.

The Killer: