17Jun 2016 by David Kravetz

Northern Ohio: Kirtland, Novelty, Chagrin Falls & Cuyahoga Valley NP

Backroads Discoveries, Bakeries, Bike Trails, Bridges, Bucket List Trips, Eateries, Family Travel, Ghost Signs, Landscapes, LDS Temples, Murals, Museums, National Parks, Ohio, Place Names, Post Offices, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, Town Names, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Houses, Unique Places, Wall Art, Waterfalls
During a trip in May 2016 I visited my birthplace in the Little Italy neighborhood (See Little Italy Post) of Cleveland and then spent a day with family driving around Cleveland and catching a few sites (see post about Cleveland).  On my final day I picked up my wife in Kirtland, OH.  She had been there for a conference with her sister.  While there we visited a few places and I also had the opportunity to drive a few back roads while they were busy on the conference.  Actually, some of the locations I visited on one of the mornings prior to returning to Cleveland, but they are all compiled here. On the Sunday morning I was there we got the special opportunity to ring the Temple bells at 9…
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01Jun 2016 by David Kravetz

Cleveland’s Little Italy – A Trek Back To My Birthplace

Backroads Discoveries, Bakeries, Eateries, Family Travel, Ghost Signs, Murals, Ohio, People Shots, Place Names, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, Street Art, Street People, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Houses, Unique Places, Vintage Neon, Wall Art
My thanks to the following for their assistance in this post: Anthony Gambatese, Nicole Laurienzo, Ray Kristosik, Nancy Phillips, Nancy Starvaggi Schaffer, Dominic Gogol and my great Laurienzo family. Nearly 60 years ago I was born in the neighborhood known as "Little Italy" in Cleveland. I was not there for long as my mother took me and left when I was nearly 9 months old in 1957.  My first trip back there happened around 1993 or 94, and I haven't visited but only four or five times since, and typically for one or two hours at a time as I passed through to another destination. In mid-May 2016 I had the opportunity to visit for an extended time and get to know the neighborhood that I could've grown up in.…
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27Apr 2016 by David Kravetz

A to Z Challenge: The W Towns #atozchallenge

A to Z Challenge, Antsy McClain, Arkansas, Backroads Discoveries, Bison, Bridges, Bucket List Trips, Car Art, Covered Bridges, Cross Country Road Trips, Family Travel, Found Metal Sculptures, Geologic Formations, Ghost Signs, Giant Things, Iowa, Landscapes, Large Statues, Lewis and Clark Sites, Mountains, Murals, Museums, Mythical Creatures, National Monuments, National Parks, Ontario, Place Names, Post Offices, Random Thoughts, Roadside Attractions, Rocky Mountains, Selfies, South Dakota, Texas, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Houses, Unique Places, US Highway 14, US Highway 16, US Highway 169, US Highway 20, US HIghway 59, Vintage Neon, Wall Art, Washington, Water Towers, Wyoming, Yard Art
During the month of April I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge has each blogger select a theme and then do a post thematically from A to Z during each day of April , except Sundays. My blog is number 1337 out of 1670 participating blogs. This year my A to Z posts will take you across the back roads of America to many unique towns. To see what other bloggers will be posting about, check out the link: A to Z Theme Reveal List for 2016 The W Towns Wharton, Texas Lots of fun things to see in the little town of Wharton.  My main reason for visiting Wharton was to visit the Tee Pee Motel, a retro throwback to the 50s and…
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14Apr 2016 by David Kravetz

A to Z Challenge: The L Towns #atozchallenge

A to Z Challenge, Backroads Discoveries, Bucket List Trips, Car Art, Cross Country Road Trips, Eateries, Family Travel, Found Metal Sculptures, Ghost Signs, Giant Things, Giant Twine Balls, Iowa, Museums, Mythical Creatures, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Place Names, Post Offices, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, Television Shows, Texas, Town Names, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Places, US Highway 2, US Highway 20, US Highway 53, Vintage Neon, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yard Art
During the month of April I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge has each blogger select a theme and then do a post thematically from A to Z during each day of April , except Sundays. My blog is number 1337 out of 1670 participating blogs. This year my A to Z posts will take you across the back roads of America to many unique what other bloggers will be posting about, check out the link: A to Z Theme Reveal List for 2016 The L Towns LeClaire, Iowa First stop on the L Town Road Trip is LeClaire, Iowa.  This town literally sits on the shore of the Mississippi River and is definitely a river town.  Today the town is perhaps most well…
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13Apr 2016 by David Kravetz

A to Z Challenge: The K Towns #atozchallenge

A to Z Challenge, Alaska, Backroads Discoveries, Bucket List Trips, Cross Country Road Trips, Dream Highways, Enchanted Highway, Family Travel, Farmland, Found Metal Sculptures, Geologic Formations, Ghost Signs, Graffiti Walls, Landscapes, Missouri, Montana, Murals, National Parks, Ontario, Place Names, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, South Dakota, Town Names, Travel Blogging, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Places, US Highway 2, US Highway 30, Vintage Neon, Wall Art, Water Towers, Wyoming, Yard Art
During the month of April I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge has each blogger select a theme and then do a post thematically from A to Z during each day of April , except Sundays. My blog is number 1337 out of 1670 participating blogs. This year my A to Z posts will take you across the back roads of America to many unique what other bloggers will be posting about, check out the link: A to Z Theme Reveal List for 2016 The K Towns Kemmerer, Wyoming Kemmerer, Wyoming and Diamondville, Wyoming are basically twin cities that reside in what is called “The Fossil Basin” due to the abundant fish fossils in the area.  On the way into Kemmerer I passed Fossil…
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09Apr 2016 by David Kravetz

A to Z Challenge: The H Towns #atozchallenge

A to Z Challenge, Antsy McClain, Backroads Discoveries, Bakeries, BBQ Places, Big John, Bucket List Trips, Cross Country Road Trips, Dream Highways, Eateries, Family Travel, Found Metal Sculptures, Ghost Signs, Giant Things, Iowa, Landscapes, Large Statues, Michigan, Muffler Man, Murals, Museums, National Parks, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Ontario, Place Names, Post Offices, Roadside Attractions, Selfies, Television Shows, Texas, Town Names, Travel Blogging, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Houses, Unique Places, Vintage Neon, Wall Art, Waterfalls, Yard Art
During the month of April I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge. The challenge has each blogger select a theme and then do a post thematically from A to Z during each day of April , except Sundays. My blog is number 1337 out of 1670 participating blogs. This year my A to Z posts will take you across the back roads of America to many unique what other bloggers will be posting about, check out the link: A to Z Theme Reveal List for 2016 The H Towns Hell, Michigan I can't in good conscience include a post about towns that begin with H without starting with Hell, Michigan. Located near Pinckney on a beautiful forest drive, Hell is a great tourist spot.  There are…
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07May 2015 by David Kravetz

#TBT – Visiting Erie Canal, JELL-O Museum, Bethlehem, Nicholson Bridge

#TBT, Antsy McClain, Backroads Discoveries, Bridges, Bucket List Trips, Cross Country Road Trips, Farmland, Found Metal Sculptures, Ghost Signs, Giant Things, New York, Pennsylvania, People Shots, Place Names, Roadside Attractions, Throwback Thursday, Train Bridges, Travel Blogging, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Houses, Unique Places, Wildflowers
(Author's note: This post is another in my Throwback Thursday series.  Taken from August 2008 on a visit to Bethlehem for the Music Festival to join Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours.  I also visited a number of other sites. At the time I was still working in Woodstock, Ontario) August 1, 2008: Instead of heading back to Kentucky for the weekend, I had the opportunity to go to Bethlehem, PA and join Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours for their two performances at the 2008 Bethlehem MusikFest.  I decided to make a weekend of it and visit more places along the way that I had yet to get to.  It would be a fun weekend indeed!! I headed out early and headed southeast towards Buffalo.  My adventures…
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10Feb 2015 by David Kravetz

North Texas/Oklahoma Odyssey and beyond

Antsy McClain, Arkansas, Backroads Discoveries, BBQ Places, City Skylines, Cross Country Road Trips, Eateries, Farmland, Found Metal Sculptures, Ghost Signs, Giant Things, Landscapes, Large Statues, Murals, Museums, Oklahoma, Ontario, Place Names, Roadside Attractions, Street Art, Texas, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Houses, Unique Places, US Highways, Vintage Neon, Wall Art, Water Towers, Yard Art
(Note: This is part 3 of my Texas road trip reports from June 2014, covering the trip from Austin to Ft. Worth and then on to Denton, Paris, Oklahoma, Arkansas and home to Kentucky.) After spending a nice day in Austin, it was time to head north to Ft. Worth and then on to Kentucky.  Along the way I went from weird to spooky to strange to Friendship.  Here is the map of this portion of the trip. On this route I visited friends but also visited some other fun and quirky places.  My first stop was in Georgetown, TX.  Georgetown is home to some lovely Victorian architecture and also has one of the more quirky street statues I have seen. This building was the home of the San Gabriel…
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21Jan 2015 by David Kravetz

Austin Stays Weird – A Pictorial

Bakeries, City Skylines, Cross Country Road Trips, Eateries, Found Metal Sculptures, Ghost Signs, Graffiti Walls, Murals, Roadside Attractions, Street Art, Texas, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Places, Vintage Neon, Yard Art
After a good night's rest at my cousins house in late June, I was able to spend my morning and part of my early afternoon in Austin, Texas. The motto of that town is "keep Austin weird." I must say that they have done that very successfully! There are not many offbeat and quirky towns in this country, but those that are really go to town and Austin is certainly one of the best of these. Portland is another fun and quirky town and I am sure there are a few more bouncing around out there in the country. What makes the town of Austin fun is all of the old neon signs, the unique in kitschy stores and eateries. The main drag through the best part of Austin is…
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20Jan 2015 by David Kravetz

Top Ten Travel Photos for 2014

Alligators, Animals, Backroads Discoveries, Bucket List Trips, Car Art, Cross Country Road Trips, Dream Highways, Eateries, Family Travel, Found Metal Sculptures, Ghost Signs, Giant Things, Graffiti Walls, Illinois, Kentucky, Large Statues, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Murals, National Monuments, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Place Names, Roadside Attractions, Route 66, Street Art, Tennessee, Texas, Unexpected Discoveries, Unique Eatery, Unique Houses, Unique Places, US Highway 2, US Highway 212, US Highway 89, Vintage Neon, Wall Art, Water Towers, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Yard Art
Throughout my travels I drove over 10,000 miles and took over 3000 photos in 2014. I have numerous shots from the road of quirky places, offbeat sites and some nice looking places.  If you missed my "nature photos", some of which are from my travels, please check them out on my Sumoflam's Singlewide Site.  Following are my ten favorite travel shots from 2014 and the stories behind them (and a number of honorable mentions). NUMBER 1 - OLD PRAIRIE SCHOOL HOUSE I once saw a photo of this old school house and knew that I had to get to this relic of the past.  So, on my way to Shelby, MT from Havre, I sought to track it down.  Instructions from most are difficult to find, so I figured if…
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