A book titled "Moving the Millers' Minnie Moore Mine Mansion" is displayed with figurines of a horse, pig, piglet, and a painted house rock.

If You Give a Widow a House – The True Story of the Millers’ Minnie Moore Mine Mansion

If you give a widow a house, she’ll roll it off into the country… History is full of odd little stories like this one. Most of them will remain hidden in the past but every now and then, one of them is discovered, dusted off, and brought into the light of the present day to…

Bob Ross filming studio with easel, paintings, cameras, and black curtain backdrop

Behind the Canvas: Visit the Studio Where Bob Ross Painted Happy Little Trees

When I researched for my first post about Bob Ross, I discovered that you can visit the studio where he filmed The Joy of Painting. The Bob Ross Experience is part of the Minnetrista Museum and Gardens in Muncie, Indiana. Minnetrista sits on the property where the Ball family – founders of the famous Ball…

Statue of farmer with pigs outside entrance to Spam Museum and varieties of canned spam in the background

Exploring the Fascinating History of SPAM at the SPAM Museum

There’s a SPAM museum? That’s usually the first question I get when mentioning our visit there (Big Trip 15!) And yes, it’s true. There’s a SPAM museum. They even give out SPAMples! ☺️ Regardless about how you feel about SPAM itself (in my experience, you either love it or hate it – and I definitely…

collage of mail delivery animals including dog, cat, pigeon, reindeer, and camel

Postal Cats?!

I recently attended an (online) event at the Smithsonian Postal Museum about Rural Mail Carriers where I learned that the mail was once delivered on horseback. This should not have been a surprise to me and yet it was. The speaker, Emily Hilliard, was specifically interviewing Appalachian mail carriers and the horseback mail delivery immediately…

Two books about crossword puzzles and word games with a New York Times newspaper and crossword puzzles

Crossword Crazy

“A good puzzle makes the solver feel smart.” David Kwong A Brief History of the Crossword Puzzle The first crossword puzzle was created by journalist Arthur Wynne and published in the New York World on Sunday, December 21, 1913. Other publications also began to publish similar puzzles and it had become a popular fad in…