Flying Into Space on Virgin Galactic!

Welcome back to my blog about balloons, rocket ships, airplanes, space travel, Star Wars, sci-fi, and everything about flying! This time we will look at some of my favorite space pilots. After you read the list, won’t you add some of your favorites!

How cool is that! Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Airlines are creating a spaceport and a rocket ship to blast us off to space! Check out their website! It is like Buck Rogers, but for real!

Here are also some of my favorite Buck Rogers rocket ships!

Now my father says he was not old enough to play with these toys as a kid, but he did say he played with this Buck Rogers ship…

I do not believe him. My father is pretty old….

~Max

 

To find out more about me visit Salem House Press and buy my book onAmazon.com! Now available in paperback at your favorite book sellers. Ask for it by name! If they do not have it in stock, ask them to order it for you.

Also come back every Friday at 8:30 pm, before I am sent to bed, to read my posts each week!

Cool Places in America: Nederland CO and the Dead Guy

It’s your favorite child travel adviser, Tyler,  once again bringing you the best in last minute vacations. Your road trip planner for the weekend getaway to the coolest and strangest places in America. How do I know about them all? My parents are contract workers in the software industry and keep moving the family every 6 months….

Today I am going to share with you this really dead town we lived in with this really dead guy. For one weekend at the beginning of March it becomes one of the coolest places in America.

During the Frozen Dead Guy Days coffin races, a slow-motion parade, and “Frozen Dead Guy” look alike contests are held. A documentary on “Grandpa Bredo”, called Grandpa’s in the Tuff Shed, is shown. Other events include a tour of the Tuff Shed where Grandpa is still frozen; a “polar plunge” for those brave enough to go swimming in Colorado in early March (which generally requires breaking through the ice); a dance, called “Grandpa’s Blue Ball”; pancake breakfasts; a market showcasing local artists; snowshoe races, and a snow sculpture contests. Glacier Ice Cream makes a flavor called “Frozen Dead Guy” which is fruit-flavored blue ice cream with Oreo cookies and sour gummy worms. Tours of the Tuff Shed where Grandpa is still frozen were suspended after 2005, after Grandpa’s family “became frustrated with Frozen Dead Guy Days”, but they resumed with the 2010 celebration. So who is the Frozen Dead Guy?

In 1989, a Norwegian citizen named Trygve Bauge brought the corpse of his recently deceased grandfather, Bredo Morstøl, to the US. The body was preserved on dry ice for the trip, and stored in liquid nitrogen at the Trans Time cryonics facility in San Leandro, California from 1990 to 1993. In 1993, Bredo was returned to dry ice and transported to Nederland, where Trygve and his mother Aud planned to create a cryonics facility of their own. When Trygve was deported from the United States for overstaying his visa, his mother, Aud, continued keeping her husband’s body cryogenically frozen in a shack behind her unfinished house. Aud was eventually evicted from her home for living in a house with no electricity or plumbing, in violation of local ordinances. At that time, she told a local reporter about her husband’s body,and those of two other individuals,and the reporter went to the local city hall in order to let them know about Aud’s fears that her eviction would cause her husband’s body to thaw out.

The story caused a sensation. In response, the city created a law outlawing the keeping of “the whole or any part of the person, body or carcass of a human being or animal or other biological species which is not alive upon any property”. But public support made the town create an exception for Bredo, a grandfather clause. Trygve secured the services of Delta Tech, a local environmental company, to keep the cryonic facility running. Bo Shaffer, CEO of Delta Tech, is known locally as “The Iceman” and caretaker responsible for transporting the dry ice necessary for cryopreservation to the IC Institute, something he has done since 1995. In that year, the local Tuff Shed supplier and a Denver radio station built a new shed to keep the body of Bredo in. In the fall of 2012, Jane Curtis Gazit (Owner, Keep Magnolia Clean, LLC) and Mike Wooten became the new caretakers of Bredo.

Well I am glad we did not stay another year, just to have a single weekend be amazing. But then again, if you are traveling through Colorado in March you definitely should join the festivities.

~Tyler

For more information about Tyler visit Salem House Press and buy his latest book “Tyler Moves to Gibsonton Florida” on Amazon.com. Keep checking back often for great cheap vacation ideas that might surprise you and end up becoming the best vacation you ever had!

Eleanor Vere Boyle: Illustrator of the Week

Beauty or Beast?

Boyle was familiar with many of the Pre-Raphaelites; Dante Gabriel Rossetti called her “great in design.”[6] She was a cousin of Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, another woman artist of her era.[7]

In 1893 Boyle published A Book of the Heavenly Birthdays, a small aid to meditation that combined her watercolors with poetry by William Morris, Christina Rossetti, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Walter Savage Landor and others. The book provides an example of “the eschatological thrust of much of her work….”[8]

Boyle was interested in garden design; she re-created the Evelyn garden at Huntercombe Manor in Burnham, Buckinghamshire from 1872 on.[9] She wrote books on gardening, like her Days and Hours in a Garden (1884), A Garden of Pleasure (1895), and Seven Gardens and a Palace (1900). Her The Peacock’s Pleasaunce (1908) is a collection of belle-lettrist essays.

Gallery:

Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_Vere_Boyle

Extended Gallery:

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/illustrations/beautybeast/boylebeauty9.html

Can you Name This Salem Local

Can You Name the Local Who Posed for this Illustration?

His nickname is Dr. P and the Prince of Derby Street. He wore a fashionable derby hat. He was a bartender at the PLAV. He worked at the power plant in Salem and  was brave enough to drink a Greek liquor made out of rattlesnake venom.

Can you guess his name? Place your guesses in the comment section below.

He appears in A Walk Under Salem. Continue your journey by reading this second book in the trilogy which is available at Barnes & Noble, Wicked Good Books, The Witch House, Remember Salem,  and on Amazon.com.

Come back every Tuesday at 3PM for new stories about Salem and images from the Salem Trilogy.

Parker Brother’s Smuggling Monopoly Grandfather

Welcome to the Salem Tunnel Report. Every Monday we will post new and old tunnel finds along with those who built them. In our posts you will learn how Salem has shaped American history from the profits of the smuggling that happened in these tunnels; sometimes for the good, but more often not.

 

William B. Parker House
33 Pleasant Street

William B. Parker built his home kitty corner of Parker Court in 1851. Parker Court has a tunnel running from Winter street to the Isaac Smith House on the corner of Pleasant and Bridge Streets. William Parker also owned large tracts of land on March Street and lots composing of Beacon (East Watson Street then) and Barton Streets. He will own the Hawkes House for a short period too. The E.W. Abbot House which will be described next was once his property as well which is connected to the tunnels.

William B. Parker was the grandfather of the Parker Brothers, George and Charles, who started the toy company in the Franklin Building. It was tales of his cousin mysteriously dying the night before the trial of the Knapp brothers and his belief in the first blackmail letter that spurred his grandson to purchase Cluedo and rename it Clue with the truth buried in the game.

William had owned ships with Joseph “Jr.” White, John Andrews, and Benjamin Felt. He also was brought into a libel case in 1830 accusing Col. Upham as a Federalist smuggler during the Embargo Act (Report of Timothy Upham vs. Hill and Barton of New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette). Hill and Barton also accused Upham of being a corrupt Collector of Customs in Portsmouth. The whole time Upham declared himself as much a Democratic-Republican as Crowninshield was. Remember the tunnels under George Crowninshield Sr. house which became the Customs House in Salem…Benjamin W. Crowninshield when he was Collector of Marblehead had a cavern under his property used to smuggle into on Peach’s Point in Marblehead from the sea. He was also called to testify in the case.

When I first searched this basement in the first version of this book the deceased owner’s son had the basement filled with large furniture after his mother’s death. Then I returned during his estate sale and the basement was cleared out. Then I found the tunnel entrance that had led under the granite stairs in the front of the house. Similar to the Dr. Peabody’s House next to the Old Burying Point. This sealed entrance also had the usual raised cold sill. Not too long before I found the entrance it had a iron door still on it. So it makes you wonder where the fortune started from that set up the Parker Brothers toy company?

Many secrets in Salem!

For more read info Salem Secret Underground: The History of the Tunnels in the City and its sequel Sub Rosa by Chris Dowgin published by Salem House Press. Available at Barnes & Noble, Remember Salem, The Witch House, Jolie Tea, and Amazon.com.

Black Sheep Squadron

Welcome back to my blog about balloons, rocket ships, airplanes, space travel, Star Wars, sci-fi, and everything about flying! This time we will look at some of my favorite space pilots. After you read the list, won’t you add some of your favorites!

Hello again. Here is the real-life story of my favorite squadron, Black Sheep. They got to fly that cool F4U Corsair! They made a great TV show about them, but below I have attached a video going over the true story. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yyZY1aauxk

~Max

To find out more about me visit Salem House Press and buy my book onAmazon.com! Now available in paperback at your favorite booksellers. Ask for it by name! If they do not have it in stock, ask them to order it for you.

Also come back every Friday at 8:30 pm, before I am sent to bed, to read my posts each week!

Cool Places in America: A Day Trip on Rt 127 and Rt 133 North Shore of Boston

It’s your favorite child travel adviser, Tyler,  once again bringing you the best in last-minute vacations. Your road trip planner for the weekend getaway to the coolest and strangest places in America. How do I know about them all? My parents are contract workers in the software industry and keep moving the family every 6 months…

Believe it or not, I have never been on Rt 66. Then again, I have been on Rt 127 a million times and still love every trip. This is definitely one of the coolest places in America. On this road are some of the finest American Castles. My father would sneak us down the private roads off Rt 127 to see some great Jacobean and Tudor Estates. In many of these homes several presidents made their summer residences. The road starts just outside of Salem in Beverly and heads to Gloucester. There are so many things to do on this road. Once you get into Gloucester you have a choice to continue north on 127 or follow 133. Today we are going left. On Rt 133 you will head out of Gloucester and enter Essex before moving on to Ipswich.

Well let’s start at the beginning. Once you cross the Salem-Beverly Bridge you will take a right. Follow that 1/16th of a mile and take a left. To your right will be some cool houses and beaches. On Independence Park, you can see a cannon used to shoot the HMS Nautilus during the Revolutionary War. It kept missing for hours along with the canons on Fort Lee Salem. The two locations did not even hit the ship once. The Nautilus just sailed away unscathed during high tide after getting stuck on a sand bar. At the light you will now take a right onto RT 127. Now just follow the signs.  The road for the most part is a straight shot of some beautiful curves. There are so many cool houses to see on this road!

The first stop you will want to make is to drive through the Endicott College campus and see their square Irish castle. It is not one of my favorite castles on the road, but it is cool to see anyway. Now head back onto Rt 127 and go about a 1/4 mile. To the left will be a stone wall and road heading up a hill. Park on it and see the face on the wall. Two young men were driving on RT 127 when they lost control of the car and hit this wall. In commemoration of them their friends had added simple clay faces to the wall. Now head back onto the road and go slow. You do not want to miss anything.

Then you will go through Beverly Farms downtown area. After leaving Beverly Farms and right before entering Manchester take a right at the Old Corner Inn and go over the train bridge. Take a left and stop for a second and look under the bridge, you might even get to see the train go by. Then drive straight to the water. Take a break and walk out on the pier to the gazebo in the harbor. Its pretty cool too. Now turn around and drive pass the bridge. Follow the road and ignore all the private road signs. There are some real cool homes on the road. At the end take a left back on to Rt 127 and drive past the Old Corner Inn again. Next, you will enter Manchester-by-the-Sea. Just keep going and follow the signs for Rt 127.

About 2 miles out of town you will see a green sign for Magnolia, take that right. You will curve around to the downtown section. Drive straight through the square and up the hill. You will curve up the hill and curve your way down. At the bottom right there will be a dirt parking lot. Park in it. Follow the trail to the cliff on the ocean and you have found Rafe’s Chasm. Longfellow set his poem The Wreck of the Hesperus here. It is a great rock hopping place. You can hop from rock to rock for hours here. Sometimes you will see seals. There is one section of rocks that looks like an ancient boat ramp. To the right is a large chasm you can walk in during low tide. From the top, you can repel down. It looks amazing right after a storm because the ocean turns green and foamy. During hurricane Katrina, the waves were 40 ft tall over the top of the 40 ft cliffs here. That was an awesome storm! The most recent Northeaster was almost as fun.

Once you leave the parking lot continue north on the road. As you curve to the left you will see another castle. Hammond Castle is pretty cool. They have swords and armor inside. There is an indoor pool with a ceiling that opens and closes. They can make it rain and lightning in the room. Around the pool is the front of a Bavarian medieval merchant village. The castle was put together out of several castles from Europe. They say John Hammond who owns the place haunts the castle still. Sometimes he takes a shape of a black cat and sits in his favorite chair. He loved his cats, his dogs, not so much… He also invented radio control and we would sail a ghost ship from his living room in the harbor scaring the neighbors. Well actually a friend of his father, Nikola Tesla, gave him a bunch of inventions he was not going to pursue. Then his father screwed Tesla’s dreams of free electricity after he invested in millions of dollars in copper to be placed on telephone poles to make the electric company a fortune. Hammond’s father was a friend of Cecil Rhodes, who almost got him killed if it was not for Mark Twain. Rhodes created the Rhodes scholarship to indoctrinate past colonies of England at Oxford and take them over again (including America). he also created apartheid…

 

Continue heading north till you come back to Rt 127. Take a right. Go for almost a mile and take a left at the fork and head toward Essex on Rt 133. About 3 miles down the road you will enter downtown Essex. On the right you will see the Flying Dragon Antiques. If you are a treasure hunter like myself, you will love scouring through this place. Also up the road is the White Elephant antique store. This store is pretty cool, but their outlet store down the road on Rt 133 is even better because they have a $5 and $1 section! Unfortunately it closed and is now in a section in the back on one deep and long table of their original shop and upstairs is half price.

Go another 2 miles after where the White Elephant outlet store was and take a right where the white sign says Castle Hill. Castle Hill is the mansion used in several films like Witches of Eastwick and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Come to the T in the road and take a right. Go for a half-mile and take a right into Russell Orchards. Stop here for some great chunky cheese bread, some fudge, and a hot cider in their farm stand. Then go out back and feed the animals. In season you can pick your fruit and vegetables.

When you are done take a left out of the parking lot and head back the way you came. When you get back to that T, just drive straight till the next T in the road. Then take a right. You will pass the Ipswich River on the right with a cool waterfall and keep going and take the next left. On this road is largest amount of 1600 and 1700 houses still occupied in the country. At the end of the road you will meet up with Rt 133 again. This time head south on RT 133 and head back through downtown Ipswich. Follow the signs and stay on Rt 133 till you come to a fork with an old hospital on a hill. Keep going straight on Rt 1A South. Now Rt 1A and Rt 22 is also a really cool road with great gardens, houses, and country drives but you must be tired by now and those rides should be left for another day. So now go home!

~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!

Yoshitaka Amano: Illustrator of the Week

Gatchaman!

Yoshitaka Amano (天野 喜孝 (formerly 天野 嘉孝) Amano Yoshitaka, born March 26, 1952) is a Japanese artist, character designer, illustrator and a theatre and film scenic designer and costume designer. He first came into prominence in the late 1960s working on the anime adaptation of Speed Racer. Amano later became the creator of iconic and influential characters such as Gatchaman, Tekkaman: The Space Knight, Hutch the Honeybee and Casshan. In 1982 he went independent and became a freelance artist, finding success as an illustrator for numerous authors, and worked on best-selling novel series, such as The Guin Saga and Vampire Hunter D. He is also known for his commissioned illustrations for the popular video-game franchise Final Fantasy.[1]

Gallery:

 

Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshitaka_Amano

Extended Gallery:

amano-artwork.tumblr.com/

 

Can You Name the Local from Salem

Can You Name the Local Who Posed for this Illustration?

See the great thing about the Salem Trilogy, is that they are filled with real people you will see walking down the street. Remember when you read the book in Salem as the main character, you are actually in the story and the people on the pages of the book are actually walking past you, if you time things right…

 

Its like that moment when Dorothy returns from OZ and realizes that the farmhands where in OZ as the Tinman, The Cowardly Lion, and Scarecrow.

So can you name him? Here is a link to him playing harmonica with Sweet Pie (adult music).

A Walk Through Salem the fairy tale set in the whimsical magical side of Salem in which you are the main character. Available at Remember Salem, Wicked Good Books, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com Or you can buy it directly from www.salemhousepress.com and give more of the profit to the author. Look for new AR version coming out this Summer.

Come back every Tuesday at 3PM for new stories about Salem and images from the Salem Trilogy.

TECUMSEH’S CURSE

Welcome to tales of Nineteenth-Century Salem. A time in which Salem was the richest city and the most influential in shaping our young country. In our posts you will learn how Salem has shaped American history from the profits she made by the smuggling that happened in her tunnels by the most wealthy and powerful in their day; sometimes for the good, but more often not. So join us every Monday for new tales!

Tecumseh

WHAT IS IT?

I’m Tecumseh. I led the successful defeat of the Americans at the Battle of Detroit for the Natives of the Northwest Territory during the War of 1812. President William Harrison was in charge of the forces that had killed me and he was the first to befall my curse. It is said I had affected all presidents who died in office from my curse. Reagan was the last to suffer it and the only to survive. His attempted assassin was confined to Saint Elizabeth up to this year. The doctor who helped kill President Harrison built St. Elizabeth.

For more info read Sub Rosa to find out how Salem shaped America and your lives! Available at Remember Salem, Jolie Tea, Wicked Good Books, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com.