The Travel Bug

I've been bit, I think, and it's not going away any time soon.

After having a long conversation about potential places to visit in Europe last night and poking around on Atlas Obscura, I feel restless. Just as I had been feeling like the "weird"-flavored places were starting to dry up in the area, I have a whole new database to poke through.

Anyway, since I'm reading about interesting places and sights anyway, I figured I'd compile a little list with descriptions, for my own reference and for (hopefully) the benefit of my reader. Readers? No, probably the former!

• Northlandz - a collection of model trains that is apparently second-to-none. It features thousands of train cars being carted around by engines, over eight miles of model track, a forty-foot bridge and a thirty-foot-tall model mountain. Last I checked it costs $13.75 per adult to get in, but from the sound of things it's well worth it. Open until 5:30pm on Saturday and Sunday. Located in North Jersey. Driving distance from home: 74 minutes.
• Monument to the War of the Worlds - in 1938, a broadcast of the War of the Worlds by Orson Welles on CBS radio sparked controversy and set a few people into a panic, thinking the Martian invasion to be real. The first landing of the alien crafted was reported that night was in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Erected at this supposed landing spot is a monument to remember the occasion, a rock slab featuring one of the tripod landing craft. Located in North/Central Jersey. Driving distance from home: 50 minutes.
• Fonthill Museum - a castle constructed at the turn of the century for the collections of Henry Mercer. It's filled with artifacts from the everyday lives of those living in the area in the 18th and 19th centuries. Costs $9 per student to get in, and it's open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Located in Northeast Pennsylvania near Doylestown. Driving distance from home: 56 minutes.
• The Land of the Lost - a bunch of dinosaurs built out of car parts created by Jim Gary, who died in 2006. He is the only person to have a solo exhibition displayed in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The dinosaurs are located scattered around a yard in Central Jersey near Asbury Park. Free. Driving distance from home: 71 minutes.
• The Holmdel Horn Antenna - a twenty-foot aluminum antenna that was first used in the 1950s and 1960s to discover the origins of the universe itself: the Big Bang. The antenna is retired and is now mounted in the middle of a field and is open to the public. Driving distance from home: 86 minutes.
• Popcorn Park Zoo - a home for rescued animals in the New Jersey pinelands. Apparently it's fairly unusual and has a lot of exotic animals you wouldn't think to find here. It costs $5 and is very near the town of Double Trouble, New Jersey. It's open until 5pm every day. Driving distance from home: 80 minutes.

If we hit all of them, it'd take about six hours and a little under $40 admission. Sounds like a fun Saturday to me!