Cool Places in America~The Only State Highway in the Country that Bans Cars!

 Yep, my parents moved me again.. This month we are on Lake Huron. On one of its island we found this peculiar road. It is the only state highway in the country that bans cars.

M-185 is a state trunkline highway in the U.S. state of Michigan that circles Mackinac Island, a popular tourist destination on the Lake Huron side of the Straits of Mackinac, along the island's shoreline.

The first city ordinances banning all motorized vehicles from the island were passed on July 6, 1898, with similar state park rules coming in 1901. The residents complained after a doctor's car scared their horses and caused carriage accidents, and these complaints prompted the ban. They even have a horse drawn carriage ride the road to pick up all of the liter. I want to know who picks up after the horses?

One of the main attractions on the road is the Devil' Kitchen.  Local stories allege that the Native Americans of the Straits of Mackinac considered the cave to be a numinous location inhabited by bad spirits. Allegedly, the spirits were cannibals who would capture and eat victims who ventured too close to the ill-omened location. The cave is blackened with soot to this day, allegedly from the evil spirits' cooking fires; hence the name, 'Devil's Kitchen.' Me and my parents snuck in at night and roasted marshmallows over a camp fire and made some smores. The governor was vacationing here at his mansion at the time and he even joined us. I will never know why he insisted on burning his marshmallows before he made his smores...

 ~Tyler


To find out more about Tyler visit Salem House Press and buy Tyler's latest book "Tyler Moves to Gibsonton Florida" on Amazon.com. Keep checking back often for great cheap vacation ideas that might end up surprising you and becoming the best vacation you ever had! Red proved to be always full of surprises...

Cool Places in America~Badlands Guardian Eh!

This was our first trip north to the land of the friendly. The people were great there outside Alberta. My father once said that the role of the Canadians is to keep the us American's safe. He believes no one would nuke us because they would be afraid to hurt the Canadians. So on Wikipedia I was looking for the strange and wonderful in the area when I found this cool rock formation.

The Badlands Guardian which is also known as Indian Head is considered to be a geomorphological feature which is situated near Medicine Hat, south east of Alberta, Canada. It is a  rock formation when viewed from the air looks like a Native American wearing a headdress.

Supergranny, Lynn Hickox, found it in 2006 while  surfing Google Earth. She found it while navigating for directions to a dinosaur museum.

It even seems to be wearing earphones where a road and an oil well were recently installed. It is  larger than Mount Rushmore. The image can be traced on 50° 0’38.20”N 110° 6’48.32”W with the use of Google Earth. We typed in the coordinates and I took a helicopter ride with my parents and their boss for that month, Red from Fargo. Red, surprised us though when he jumped out of the helicopter with his phone in his hand. He snapped pictures every 10 seconds to create a study on scale. Red proved throughout the years to be full of surprises...

 ~Tyler


To find out more about Tyler visit Salem House Press and buy Tyler's latest book "Tyler Moves to Gibsonton Florida" on Amazon.com. Keep checking back often for great cheap vacation ideas that might end up surprising you and becoming the best vacation you ever had! Red proved to be always full of surprises...

Cool Places in America~#1 Haunted Toys R Us

Once my parents moved me to Sunnydale California to work on a warehouse program for Toys R Us.  Well of course I went to work with them several times. In fact I went there so much I was on first name basis with the ghost in the aisles.

The story starts decades earlier when much of the area was farmlands, including the area where the store itself was built. On this location the Murphy's had an orchard. One of the farm hands, Johny Johnson, fell in love with the orchard's owner's daughter in vain. To get his mind off his sorrow, he took to chopping wood. While he was doing this he hit himself in the leg and bled to death.

He now roams the aisles of the Toys 'R Us and plays with the toys. He likes bouncing balls down the aisle looking for someone to play with him. I picked up the ball once and threw it back. That is how I met him. After that we used to play air hockey all of the time, sometimes he would cheat though...

He is a practical joker also, he likes running the faucet when customers walk into the bathroom. 

~Tyler


To find out more about Tyler visit Salem House Press and buy Tyler's latest book "Tyler Moves to Gibsonton Florida" on Amazon.com. Keep checking back often for great cheap vacation ideas that might end up surprising you and becoming the best vacation you ever had!