Second Sunday

(Spoiler Alert; this is a semi repeat blog post)

It was is the second Sunday of the month and here in Baltimore, that means the trains were running in Leakin Park.

Every city has it's little known gems and here in Baltimore,the trains of Leakin Park are one of them. Most people in Baltimore know Leakin Park as the place bodies are dumped by the drug gangs and mobsters. The place where the city folks try and grow weed every summer with little success. Run by the Chesapeake& Allegheny Live Steamers, the trains are free to the public. The club rents this portion of the park for $1 a year and the second Sundays arraignment. We try and go often. We always slide a nice donation into the box to show our gratitude for what the boys(mostly) and their trains give us.

This is locomotive is built on a 1 1/2" scale. So 1 1/2" of train= 1 foot of the real thing.

Every single detail is correct right down to the light on this steam locomotive.

I spoke with it's owner and he said it took him 13 years to put the 9,000 hours into building it. He also dropped $65,000 between the kit and tooling to put it together.

Today there was only one steam locomotive running. Usually there are a few.

This one runs on gasoline even though it is an electric locomotive.

A few diesel electrics were running the 3 1/2 mile loop too. They run on diesel and convert it to electric just like the real thing. I don't know why I said that, they are the real thing built to scale.

I am sure glad these boys(mostly) share their serious toys with us all. Next run is July 13. Anyone want to make a picnic of it with us?

The New Theme Song for My Life

How We Spent Our Memorial Day Weekend

Months ago we decided to make the most of our three day weekend by first, expanding it into a four day  weekend, and second, by taking Anna to Cedar Point so we could ride the the roller coasters. Cedar Point has been on our list for a while now. No time like the present. 

Our first stop was to do some driveway camping at the Goldberg's in Bethel Parks Pa. We got a primo spot out front with 15 amps of electric. We were offered water, but did not need it since the tank was half full. The hospitality was top notch as always. Thank you so much! Sorry the visit was so so short.

Day two we headed North and West, crossing the Allegheny River in the process. I love this bridge. It is not the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, but it sure is a tall handsome bridge none the less. Anna gave a special twinkle as we crossed.

As many of you know, we love to stop at unique and unusual places. We often search such places out on Road Side America. Unfortunately, Ohio was a strike out for the area we were heading to. We didn't want to see any muffle men or giant cowboys. A stop into a Turnpike rest area turned up a great lead via the tourist brochures. "B. A. Sweetie, Americas Largest Candy Store. 400,000 pounds of candy, 4,000 different types" It was even on the way, resulting in a mere 10 mile diversion.

This place really does have it all. The PEZ collectors would have a field day here. They have everything currently offered. They even have some limited addition items no longer offered. 

So many different lollipops. Beth was drooling over the giant gummy bear lollipop

Ava was amazed by the giant jaw breaker lollipop.

Halle was all smiles for the Tootsie Roll Pop, the size of her head. How many licks to get to the center of that thing?

There were all kinds cool candy items. Peace, love, and a split window Micro Bus.

A flower bouquet for the lady?

As a kid, these were called "candy cigarettes."  Now they are just "candy."

I found a little gold on the shelf.

Pizza is the number one food item eaten in America. Why not eat a gummy pizza?

I heard Necco Wafers is one of the oldest candies in America. Troops on both sides ate them during the Civil War. The two sides were at war over slavery, but they both loved some Necco Wafers. Any idea what flavor the black ones are? How about the purple ones? 

A friend brought some of these from England. They are the sourest candy you will ever try. B. A. Sweeties had it.

There were some good old-fashioned items.

There were some boardwalk classics also.

And then there were the oddities. Meal worms are very high in protein. That is why fish love them so much.

Ants have good protein value too. You have to eat a lot however. There were chocolate covered versions of these insects.

I actually love the lollipops from Hotlix. I have a serious thing for their margarita pops. They have course salt on one side and taste just like the real thing.  I wish there was booze in there. Three ended up in our basket.

There were a number of items we never heard of before. They ended up in the basket also.

The pretty classics were available.

There was an unbelievable selection of bulk items. 

We walked out with a $40 bag of goodies. Everyone got their choices...

Our real destination was Cedar Point. For those of you who do not know, Cedar Point is the roller coaster capital. Every year someone builds a taller one, faster one, more thrilling. The next year, Cedar Point takes back the record by one upping the competition.

If you like coasters, you (TomW) need to come here.

This is Top Fuel Dragster. 0- 120mph in 1.5 seconds. The rapid acceleration delivers 4.5 times the normal gravitational force. The wait(we avoided it by getting in early and going directly to this ride first) is generally 1-2 hours. I heard that the manufacturer built on of these in Dubai that goes faster and creates 5 times the gravitational force. I bet next year the Top Fuel Dragster will be faster than the one in Dubai. 

Beth's sister and kids met us at the park for the weekend. Unfortunately, Halle is only 43 inches tall so the rides were limited for her. Her cousin, Bella was kind enough to ride with her on those she could go on.

There were two coasters for kids. 

Pink's? Yep, but at $9 for a hot dog! It was tasty, check that one off the list.

Call me what you want, but this ride is my favorite. Simple, high flying swings. It must be the made in Germany component.

Bella took us all for a fine drive on the Classic Cars. She drives very cautiously. I think she gets it from her Father.

The campground at Cedar Point is called Campers Village. It bills itself as "in the shadows of the coasters". That is a stretch for all but a few spots in the park. The campground was generally clean, but as with most commercial operations, they pack you in. 

We fortunately made friends with our neighbors, so being 10 feet away was not an issue. Ben is an electrician who just got back from 15 months in Afghanistan. If the American pubic knew the things he was telling me about contractor waste, they would be outraged.  That is a whole different post however. I will skip it.

The loop we were put in was "B." It is the original part of the camping area. With 228 spaces served by one bath house, the "B" loop could use a much bigger bathhouse. Two toilets and three shower stalls on the mens half seemed to always be full. We had our own, so we made due. Our site was directly next to the bath house. I generally like this convenience, however the industrial sized exhaust fan created so much force on the door that every time someone let go, it slammed shut. We heard the slam all night long as many people camping there had no facilities of their own. I wish this pull off next to the Mean Streak had been our site.

Spring Time at the Gold Mine

Spring has finally come to the mid-Atlantic. Spring's timing worked out perfectly for a long anticipated trip my prospecting club had been planning for a number of months now. Anna was more than ready for the task.

About 20 of us headed south to Thermal City Gold Mine in western North Carolina. I was astounded by the great turnout we had. Considering half of our active members made the 1000 mile round trip journey, 20 is a great turn,out. 

Our first full day, Friday, turned out to be a rainy one. Almost all of us went up to the panning troughs to try our luck. It takes a serious amount of luck to pull gold from the dirt they supply. In one pan there would be 4 or 5 nice sized flakes, getting everyone excited to keep panning. The next twenty pans would lead to not even a speck. Personally I found four specks out of 50+ pans. I didn't have the luck to pull out a pan from the pile where the gold had been put. Sorry, I know that sounds like I am saying the pile was salted. I feel it had been. All the gold found in the troughs was the exact same size. It was either a large flat tear drop or a very fine speck. I think the latter was native, but the flake gold was just too consistent in size and shape. When the gold was found, everyone got a new wind and kept on panning even though the inclination was to go drink a beer at the campsite or take a nap.

Ramero was in hog heaven, or maybe rockhound heaven. There are lots of rocks to look at. I was, however, only looking for the ones that glowed yellow.

Ramero was not the only rockhound there. Carrie and Ben took home a number of gems to add to their collection.

Anna made for a great base camp for three of us hearty miners. Breakfast was served from under her awning. Saturday night we had a cookout, too.

Most of us were there to get some gold. William and Ben spent a good deal of their time running screened material through their sluice boxes. Both of them seemed to be grinning a great deal even though it was hard work.

Many of us ran the unscreened dirt through our high bankers. Overall, this material had the greatest yield for the dollar. The mine sells it by the scoop and dumps it for you on their beach where you can process it however you chose to. 

This photo was taken later in the day on Saturday after most people had cleared out already. At 9 am, the beach was elbow to elbow with hopeful miners. Everyone was hoping to find that one giant nugget the miners of the 1800's had left behind. This entire area had been worked heavily back then. Mining started here on a commercial scale before the 1849 California rush occurred. Lured by the stories of immense riches in California, most North Carolina miners dropped everything and headed west. 

Mike was hoping that he had a giant nugget in this high bank. Like everyone else he came very close to breaking even on the cost of dirt versus current gold values.

This is my take for the weekend. I know many of you are thinking it: not all gold in the pan. Much of the gold recovered is coated in mercury. It escaped the amalgamation process back in the day and is now being collected back out. One of the greatest things about finding gold is that no one has ever seen it before. You are the very first one ever. However, in this case, you are the second person to see the gold. The first guy seeing it was only focused on the big stuff and he was sloppy enough to allow some to remain for us today. Gold is where you find it. Gold is also where others have found it before.