Name the Prairie Dog

Hello my readers
It's the first Monday in a fresh, brand new year.

In my New Year's Day post I mentioned that I wanted to make the Prairie Dog the site  mascot. After all, the picture is the first thing you see when you open the site so I felt it needed a name.  I have 4 suggestions so far.

Harry....(Harry Prairie?)
Milo.....(Milo the Menace? like Dennis the Menace)
Pete....(Peeking Pete? Prairie Pete?)
Whiskers ....(Speaks for itself)

I like them all and know I wouldn't be able to chose so here's what I'm going to do. I will keep accepting your suggestions until February 1st. Then I will setup a poll so everyone can vote. Whichever name gets the most votes will be the Mascot's name!

So please keep sending in the ideas. You can post them in the comments sections along with any reason you might like your name. I will add updates here so you can all see how we're doing.

Edaville USA~The Visit

When I first started to tell you about going to Edaville Railroad in Carver, Ma I didn’t intend to get carried away with the history of the park or their current woes but I’m glad I took the time to tell everyone about it.

Now I want to tell you what I thought of the actual visit. First of all there was a moment of déjà vu as JR pulled out his camera only to find he had forgotten the battery. Those of you who have been following this blog may remember that when we were in St Augustine, he left the battery on the charger in the car when we boarded the trolley. At least that time we could go back to the car and retrieve the battery but this time he left it on the charger at his parent’s home in NH. He was out of luck this time.

Once we had our tickets and entered the park we walked the path to the General Store. I like this path. There are light displays in the field the path crosses but the path itself has a canopy of lights..

The general store was nearly empty probably because the season was not only winding down for this year but possibly forever.

Back outside there were little cottages with display windows . Each had a different Holiday Scene depicted. They were hard to photograph but made a pretty little street. Also along here were a couple of booths with arcade games and hawker.

As we came to a fork in the path more displays were set up here including a gazebo with lights.

 The right fork led to more children’s rides, a Ferris wheel and the boarding area for the train.

To the left was a gift shop and “Ellis Playhouse”. We decided to go there first.

Inside there were so many interior displays that we could have spent our whole visit there.

Back outside, we picked up Hot Chocolate and headed to the train. There were a number of locomotives around the grounds with open access. This gave us great photo ops.

As we waited to board we checked out some of the other rides. The carousel was temporality out of service because of the recent snow. Crew were busy digging the carousel out. We both thought the NASA ride was pretty cool and it made a great picture with it’s lights in the dark.

 The big red Teddy bear was another fun display.

Then it was time to ride the train. It’s about a 2 mile loop and only takes about 15 minutes. I got some pictures of some of the lights from the platform but once the train begins to move everyone has to get into the passenger cars. Those windows made photography impossible so sadly, I have nothing to show you from the train ride once we got going. I can tell you they were cute. There was everything from Lighted dinosaurs to a little village, an animated & lighted golfer to leaping fish and frogs.

The folks we were sitting near were friendly and many people in our car were lamenting the possible end of an era.
The train pulled back into the station and we hopped off. Since we didn’t have children that might want to ride the kiddie rides, we took a few more pictures and wrapped up our night. It was really enjoyable. The park hadn’t seemed too busy while we were there but as we were leaving long lines of cars were just pulling in. I think a lot of people wait until full dark before they come over. After all, this is a Festival of Lights so one would imagine they are best viewed after dark.

We could see that some of the displays were looking a bit worn and some paint might have brightened the park up but once the light faded and the lighted displays began to take over the landscape any general shabbiness was quickly forgotten.

I know my memories will be of the glittering Holiday lights, not faded paint on the side of a building.
Here’s hoping someone steps up to save this little historical park.

For more pictures of the Edaville USA 2010 check out my Flickr photostream.
　

New Years Day…Time to reflect

This year especially it’s a time to reflect. Not only are we leaving an old year behind but we are leaving an old decade behind. It’s time to check our compass and chart our direction for another year and another decade.

Resolutions can be any time of the year and we can set goals any time of the year but I do like the tradition of making “resolutions” for January 1^st.

A New Year, like an un-used piece of paper, is a time for fresh start. When I look at that blank page I can think of so many things to write. So many essays that aren’t full of “scratch out’s” , eraser smudges or white out. Life doesn’t give us “do-over’s” but in a sense, a new year is a fresh start.

The New Year is like that to me. It’s a time to take stock of where I am, what I did right and what I did wrong in the year that past. How can I do better in this pristine, untouched New Year and what do I want to accomplish?

I see an untouched blanket of snow spread out before me. Where will I put my first step.? When I look back where will my tracks go? Will they wander aimlessly, will there be a spot where I fell down? What about a snow angel on the side of the trail? What kind of pattern can I make as I step off into the uncharted territory of this 2011?

Some of my resolutions are very personal and I will keep those to myself.

Some have to do with my goals for this blog and those I will share, and some are sort of quasi personal but in a public way… I’m not sure about those yet. Should I toss them out for all to see? After all my theme for this blog was travel...”Sights, scenes, travel of an everyday person”. as opposed to a professional travel writer. The kind of experiences anyone could have for good or bad. I think that so far, for the most part, I have stuck to that goal. So I’m not at all sure I want to get too far off that track.

I will tell you that as a “Hobby” traveler it is hard to keep up with daily posts because there are only so many days a year I can travel. Like everyone else these days I have to put in at least my 40 hours each week , and often more than 40, so I will need to learn how to fill in and still keep it interesting.

There, now you have one of my goals for this space in 2011.. and here are the rest.

…Goals for “Sights, Scenes, Travel of an Everyday Person for 2011.

1. Post daily, even if just a brief thought, suggestion or photo.

2. Interview other travelers and post their experiences to add variety.

3. Name the Prairie Dog that is the site’s mascot. Any suggestions?

4. Once named, create a sidebar spot for quick tips and advice from the mascot.

5. Encourage comments and suggestions from you, my readers. What do you want to hear about? What places interest you?

6. Encourage more traffic. I would like to triple the number of hits to the site by
2012. You can help. Share the link, tell your friends!

7. Make a plan for each month so there will be enough material for interesting
Posts. Again comments and suggestions are welcome. I’m told by other bloggers
that some of their best posts come from suggestions and comments they get on
their blogs from their readers.

8. Do you have a travel story to share? Would you like to be a guest blogger?
Send me an email. Let’s see if we can work something out.

The more personal goals are like most people’s…lose weight (those tiny airline seats are much more comfortable when I’m thin), keep working on the financial challenges this economy has presented me, be a better friend that sort of thing.

I wish. everyone a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year filled with the love and warmth of family and friends. I pray for Peace and Understanding among us all so that maybe, someday, all peoples and nations will be able to live in harmony. As the saying goes “why can’t we all just get along?”

Happy New Year!