Whine AND Cheez

The Great Dinosaur Hunter (and his Daddy)

When people think of vacations, many folks think of exotic locales. Bicycle through Tuscany and visit vineyards? Explore the ruins of ancient Greece while partaking in the flavors of the Mediterranean? Rent a well appointed cottage on the Outer Banks or Cape Cod, only steps away from a white sandy beach, sea kayaking and crab cakes? Perhaps a safari in Africa, or a tour of the wine regions of France? Mayhaps you prefer an adventure in Alaska climbing over tundra and mountains to be treated each night with a gourmet dinner cooked on an open fire by your tour company?

Me, I lean towards the dusty, the musty and at best the kitschy. If there is a two lane highway leading to the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine, I am sooo there. The last real vacation Andy and I took was to the UK; we rented a car and drove around the southern part of England, on our way to Cardiff Wales to spend four days at the world’s Interhash. Yes. A hash. Lots of immature adults from all over the world, heading to Cardiff to run and drink beer (Educational note: the trail we signed up to run, was a 13-14 mile run that started at ONE castle somewhere in the Welsh country side; with a beer stop in the ruins of another castle, to end in Cardiff Castle- which is also a museum, open to tourists. So, there we were, about 50 or so hashers, all sweaty, and sort of stinky, singing obnoxious hash songs in the middle of the courtyard of historic Cardiff Castle, in the largest city in Wales; we were, to put it mildly, a sight to see. Oh, yea and drinking beer. On the Castle grounds. This is something one would never in a million years be able to do on say, the grounds of the National Mall; well at least not legally. Or without a permit and lots of red tape, but alas, no beer.)

Anyway, on our way to Cardiff I spied a brochure to this place: http://www.gnomereserve.co.uk/ . THIS was the place I truly wanted to visit. GNOMES! Forget the Roman baths, in Bath; forget Tintagel Castle the alleged home of King Arthur. I want CHEESE! Some wine with that would be nice to. Alas, and to my ever deep regret, we did not stop at the Gnome Reserve. We barreled on through to get to our hotel in Cardiff, so we could snag one of the limited parking spaces available to registered guests (nice hotel, in the middle of the city, with like 100 rooms and 10 parking spots.) A spot we scored, but we did not get to see the Gnomes. Sigh. Also apparently we missed something called the “Pixie House” as well. Dang. I’ve already said, should we ever have any money, ever again, we are going back to the UK explicitly to see the Gnome Reserve. Italian vineyards be damned!

So, by now you are saying, as you probably say with all my posts, um, Maria, do you have a point anywhere in any of this? Usually I have a point but tend to forget what it is after I present my introduction (I'd be an awful lawyer in this regard) But of course I have a point! I present to you tum ta dum! DINOSAURLAND! ROOOOOOOOAAAAWR!

Ian lets out a loud Roar!

This place was totally cheesey and had seen better days, but we cared not! There were educational signs along the way,which we ignored, who wants education when you have this?:

My new friend!

If I recall my B-movie history correctly, King Kong was technically NOT a dinosaur, but rather along the lines of Godzilla; a nuclear accident gone awry- or something. However facts should never, EVER get in the way, of good dinosaur display.

Note, King Kong has a small airplane in this paw. Too bad there wasn't a miniature screaming lady too!

"This is a Trisarotops," says Alex, "from the Crusteacean age..."

Speaking of cheese..

It was about 500 million degrees the day we did this. Which is perfect for Dinosaurs, as they like the heat (they did not do so well with that whole ice age thing).

After our prehistoric adventure at Dinosaurland, we continued on to Cumberland, MD, where we rode the scenic railroad. This was very nice, and, well, scenic! The train went to Frostburg; roughly a 45 minute trip at roughly 2 miles perhour.

Ian infront of a Camoose - this is what he calls it. And yes, that is Thomas in his hand.

Ahoy mate!

Thank god the passenger cars were airconditioned. Did I mention it was 500 million degrees outside? We were all big fat balls of sweat and felt pretty much like this at the end of the day:

Washingtonian moment: So this week I started a new job (same company, new contract) with the Air Force. I park my car in the same parking garage that Deep Throat met whathisface Woodward - here is a link, but you have to scroll down to #6 to see it. It looks surprisingly like, well, a parking garage! http://www.arlingtonarts.org/cultural_affairs/uncommonplaces.htm

So there you have it! Cheese! Trains! and a Brush with History. All in one blog. Can you stand the excitement? I sure can't..its almost 10 now and I am up waaay past my bedtime. So, toodles all! Untill we meet again!