i just love everything
about this 1955 michigan tourism poster
according to the map
it looks like ann arbor
is the place where you can dance.
—
“you live as long as you dance.”
-rudolf nureyev
—
poster source: michigan heritage and history
Jan10
Tag Archives: tourism
Apr29
badger
Part of castle closed off due to ‘very angry badger’
The guest was found in the cellar tunnel at Craignethan Castle, South Lanarkshire. The cellar tunnel was shut at around midday on Thursday after staff discovered the unexpected guest. It is thought the animal may have become lost and staff have been trying to lure him out with cat food and honey. The rest of the castle, in South Lanarkshire, remains open to visitors.
Historic Scotland told visitors about the unusual resident in a tweet, saying: “If you’re heading to Craignethan Castle over the next few days you might find the cellar tunnel closed due to the presence of a very angry badger.”We’re trying to entice it out with cat food and send it home to chill out.”
Craignethan Castle: Site is a Historic Scotland property
Staff first spotted some dug-out earth on Wednesday evening, and later spotted the badger on closer inspection. The animal is said to have caused some mess, digging up through loose soil into stonework, and staff have been clearing away the rubble.
The Historic Scotland property, managed by Historic Environment Scotland (HES), was built around 1530 and has a tower house, ramparts and caponier – a stone-vaulted shooting gallery.
—
“step aside? i step aside for no beast,
whether it be a hallowed hedgehog,
an officious otter, a seasoned squirrel,
a mutterin’ mole, or a befuddled badger!”
– brian jacques (redwall series)
—
credits: STV News -scotland, british medieval history, historic environment scotland
Jan4
one man’s castle……
mars cheese castle in kenosha, wisconsin
Some people eat cheese. Others make it. Still others sell it. And some, like the Ventura family, honor it with a magnificent roadside castle. Since 1957 the Mars Cheese Castle has proudly dispensed a wide selection of cheese and related products to travelers looking to take home a memento of their journey through Wisconsin. Originally opened as a gas station in 1947, Mars Cheese Castle eventually grew to become the largest, oldest, showiest purveyor at the junction of 1-94 and Wisconsin Highway 142, a spot once dubbed “Wisconsin’s most visible cheese interchange” by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The store was named not after the planet but after the original owner, Mario Ventura Sr., though this detail hasn’t stopped the venue from incorporating a small touch of outer space into its castle motif.
In 2011, plans to widen I-94 forced Mars Cheese Castle to abandon the storefront it had used for over 50 years. Rather than mourn the loss of their beloved fortress, the proprietors used the opportunity to update the store’s image. Whereas the turrets on the former building’s facade merely suggested a castle, the new, larger store, outfitted with a drawbridge and a watchtower, is an abode truly fit for a king (of cheese). In exchange for its willingness to relocate, the state agreed to allow Mars Cheese Castle to keep its iconic sign, which, at 80 feet tall, violates current height restrictions for signs along the interstate.
Though cheese is, of course, the main attraction, Mars Cheese Castle also sells a variety of food items, and cheese-themed knick-knacks, including the state’s most essential souvenir, the famed Wisconsin cheese-head hat.
Mars Cheese Castle’s iconic sign stands 80 feet tall
—
“how can anyone govern a nation that has
two hundred and forty-six different kinds of cheese?”
-charles de gaulle
–
credits: atlas obscura
I have my glasses on.... 