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Happy Anniversary, Klaus!

by Kaylah Stroup July 20, 2014

One year ago today I met the sweetest little guy ever. This pup is seriously one of the best things to ever happen to me. Even though I don’t think it’s possible to like him any more than I already do, each day I do just that. Can I be dramatic for just a second and say that I don’t even know what I’d do without him? He’s the best company a girl could ask for.

A few of my favorite posts about Klaus:
Newest member of the TDS crew – his very first appearance on the blog.
Just a pupdate – some precious pictures of my puppy in a bow tie.
Klaus + Crum – my two favorite puppies playing together.
Another pupdate – cute pictures, and some silly facts about my boy.
What I wore + a pupdate – a puppy afraid of the beach.
10 things making me smile – Klaus playing in the snow!
A girl and her pup – a post full of pictures of Klaus and I. It’s one of my favorites!

While looking through the posts about Klaus, I found this one with a list of “Klaus facts” which are hilarious to me. To this day he still rolls over to show his belly to anyone who approaches his crate. Sometimes he won’t get up until you give him some belly scratches. He’s still not much of a barker, although in the last few weeks he’s started barking at some strangers on the sidewalk oops but still he’s so quiet in the apartment. He loves being close and will always do his best to squirm his way in between Jeff and I. He LOVES tennis balls more than ever. One of his favorite things to do is bring all of his tennis balls into my bed one by one.

Something that is new to Klaus since that post is that he’s finally starting to get along with the cats. Wait, let me reword that – the cats are finally starting to get along with him. Kind of crazy to me that it’s taken a year but better late than never, right?! Klaus so desperately wants to be friends with them. On more than one occasion I’ve caught Klaus trying to give Professor a ball or bone. The cats have actually gotten to the point where they’ll lay in bed while he’s in there too. Professor is even sometimes tolerant enough to let Klaus groom him. I have to fight the tears when I see that big goofy puppy licking that tiny kitty’s ears.

He’s also taken quite a liking to mud puddles. I still haven’t convinced him that the beach is fun. I’m thinking that will take the help of another dog who actually likes waves. But while he was at my parents my mom sent me this photo. Apparently he likes to play for a while then take a break, and cool off in the mud.

Glad you’re mine, Klaus! Here’s to many more years of petting your belly, and playing the cheese game.
xoxo

abandoned amusement park

by Kaylah Stroup July 17, 2014

Hidden behind some homes in a sleepy little town remains the skeleton of once booming amusement park. The park was open for one hundred years, opening in 1878, and eventually closing in 1978. Since then mother nature has been doing her best to take the park back over. There isn’t much left still standing in the park, and according to a list I found online it seems something else is getting demolished (or burnt down!!?) every few years. I feel pretty lucky to have been able to see what was left at this point even though most of the larger things are now gone forever.

After we left the park I text my mom a photo of the ferris wheel. When I told her where it was she said she recalled going there when as she was younger. I asked if she had any photos to which her response was that she was “14 or 15, and more interested in boys at the park than taking pictures.” I also asked if she rode the ferris wheel, she said she didn’t remember but I could say she did if that made my blog post more interesting. Haha. I suppose there’s a great possibility that she did ride if even if she was too distracted by cute boys to remember. That’s a really neat thought to me, that my mom probably rode that ferris wheel or one of the roller coasters that’s since been demolished. I enjoy this hobby for a multitude of reasons but one of my favorite things is definitely hearing from people who had a personal connection to a place. I’m not quite old enough to have places that I’ve really spent any amount of time in become neglected to the point where they’re just abandoned. But I hope that someday when a building or place I have some connection to is in complete disrepair that someone will take photos to share.
xoxo

May Natural History Museum

by Kaylah Stroup July 16, 2014

One of my favorite stops of our roadtrip last month (how has it been that long already!?!) was actually our very last stop. On the Roadside America app I saw that there was a giant beetle right outside of the town we’d be spending our last night in so obviously I had to go. Then I realized there was also a museum. The one review for the museum that really stuck out in my mind gave me fairly low expectations but hot daaang, the museum was amazing!

The May Natural History Museum is one of the world’s largest private displays of insects. The museum’s founder, John May, spent over 80 years traveling the world collecting specimens. I was expecting something similar to the insect cases any natural history museum has, but wow, his collection blows every other museum I’ve ever been to out of the water. I spent my entire visit with my eyes lit up like it was Christmas, and the biggest, stupidest grin on my face. I saw insects I didn’t even know existed! It was seriously just so awesome.

The museum itself is fairly small in size, takes maybe five minutes to walk through if you’re not interested, but any bug lover could easily spend way over an hour. If you’re anywhere near Colorado Springs, Co, the May Museum is a must! For more information on the museum, including their hours and prices, visit their facebook or website.
xoxo

Don Parks’ Yard of Statues, Signs + other junk

by Kaylah Stroup July 15, 2014

In Phoenix, Arizona we stumbled upon this incredible yard. Similar to Jerry Lotz’s yard in Louisville, KY which I visited back in February, Don Parks has a whoooole lot of junk in his front yard…

Don had a little bit of everything. He’s been collecting statues, signs, and other fun miscellaneous things for over forty years. In 2012 he even purchased the property across the street so he could have more room to collect! There is just SO much to see.

I’m so excited that there is more than one place out there with people that have extravagant collections like this in their front yards. Like I said in the post about Jerry’s junk, even though I could never see myself amassing a collection like this, there’s just something that draws me into collections and their owners. It’s like I just get it, I understand how it feels to be passionate about weird things. If there is Jerry, and now Don, there has to be more! I want to visit them all.
xoxo

All of the photos above were taken with a pentax k1000 and Fujifilm 35mm Superia X-TRA 400.

Victoreen Instrument Company

by Kaylah Stroup July 9, 2014

The same day these photos were taken , and I also explored an abandoned building that was formerly The Victoreen Instrument Company. Victoreen manufactured radiation meters. They provided much of the radiation equipment for the Manhattan Project (think atomic bombs, if you’re not familiar). The building was built in 1926. Victoreen left in 1978 and the factory was bought by another company for $1. The property was transferred a few more times before the final sale in 2009. One would assume the building was probably used but not properly cared for a little while before eventually falling into disrepair. It’s a fairly big building, probably one of the largest I’ve explored to date. I really enjoyed shooting it.

I’m so pleased with these photos. I feel like I’m finally really finding my footing with shooting abandoned spaces. For a little while I was really struggling because of the limitations of my everyday lens, the 40mm, and just being frustrated with editing. Not too long ago I purchased a new lens that finally lets me shoot what I’m picturing in my head when I walk into these places. It’s actually kind of renewed my love of digital photography. In the last few months I’ve definitely been reaching for my pentax over the 60D but that’s changed since buying that lens.

I actually have another post full of photos from this same building, I just couldn’t narrow down my favorites from the day. I’ll be sharing those next week or so.
xoxo

Abandoned in the desert

by Kaylah Stroup July 7, 2014

While on our road trip out West we saw so many abandoned buildings. I mean, just tons of them! It was crazy, and it was so hard not to stop at every single one. We literally could have spent weeks hitting up every one. Here’s a little bit of what we did stop and check out…

We actually started the trip with a ghost town in Utah. We arrived in Denver in the evening, drove into the night, and finally stopped to take a quick snooze in the middle of the night. We started driving again right before sunrise, at that time I checked the Roadside America app and discovered we were only 15 minutes away from a ghost town. It was the absolute perfect way to kick off the week. I sadly didn’t really get too many photos I was super pleased with but the memory is so much more important than photos. Plus who knows, maybe the photos really aren’t that bad but are kind of overshadowed by the photos I am really pleased with from the trip. That kind of thing seems to happen to me a lot which is why I really enjoy shooting film so I can’t just delete the photos. I’m sure I’ll end up eventually loving my ghost town photos.

The bus covered in graffiti was kind of a strange find. Driving to Colorado Springs, alongside the highway, we were spotting incredible building after incredible building that were just left to rot. The bus was the final straw, we hopped off the highway and went down a little side road to get to it. We were both exhausted and ready to get to the hotel room that we had booked for our last night but the bus had to be shot. As we approached I heard the strangest noise, like music was being played. The thing was though this bus is in the middle of nowhere. There is nothing around it, no other buildings, no people, nothing! I suspect it was the wind hitting something, like a jug, to create a whistling/humming noise. It was eerie, to say the least.
xoxo

All of the photos above were taken with a pentax k1000 and Fujifilm 35mm Superia X-TRA 400.

Noah’s Art

by Kaylah Stroup July 2, 2014

While we were on the road, someone on Instagram mentioned that if we were going to go to Joshua Tree, California that we should check out Noah’s Art. We just so happened to be around an hour away, it was in the direction we were already heading, and the few photos I was able to quickly find looked amazing so we decided to stop by.

From 1989 until his death in 2004, Noah Purifoy devoted his time to making sculptures from found objects. His outdoor museum is open to the public, free of charge. It’s absolutely amazing. Quite a sight to see in the middle of the lonely desert! We were the only people there at the time, other than the woman who takes care of the place and her pup who went inside right after we got there, so we had the place to ourselves.

It was SO hot while we were there that I feel like I kind of rushed through it. There is so much to take in. Definitely worth a stop if you’re ever making your way through Joshua Tree!
xoxo

All of the photos above were taken with a pentax k1000 and Fujifilm 35mm Superia X-TRA 400.

Cleveland after dark

by Kaylah Stroup July 1, 2014

One day last week Jeff and I spent the whole day out exploring. I guess that’s not necessarily too out of the ordinary but it was definitely a great day. We started the morning with an abandoned train tunnel where I got my boots super dirty. I seriously had to scrub my toes for so long that night to get them clean, that was not regular old mud. Then we met up with a friend to check out some abandoned buildings. I took a ton of awesome photos that I can’t wait to share later this week. After a break to cool down and let the sun go down we went back out to do a little bit a climbing and capture some of the beauty Cleveland has to offer after dark.

It was certainly a lot of fun. Climbing was an incredible experience. Seriously, so invigorating. Fingers crossed there is more of this in my future.

This is really some of my very first night time photography. I’m not too experienced at all. I have a pretty good idea of how to take photos in the dark but I definitely need a bit more practice. All in all, for my first night time photos, I’m pretty darn stoked with how these turned out.

I also had Five Guys for the first time that day. Wow! But that’s
neither here nor there but probably worth mentioning because once again,
wow. Haha.
xoxo

tipis, arrows + a giant beetle!

by Kaylah Stroup June 30, 2014

I’m a huge fan of the Roadside America app, as you might have been able to tell since I mention it all the time. On this trip, I was constantly on it looking for things nearby. It seemed we were on the right route though because before I could even get directions to some of these places we just stumbled upon them. Most of the things pictured below were seen across Colorado, and Arizona.

Wigwam Village No. 6 – Holbrook, AZ

Giant Arrows – Mancos, CO

Tomahawk Indian Store – Lupton, AZ

Navajo Travel Center – Gallup, NM

Indian Rock Shop – Holbrook, AZ

May Natural History Museum – Colorado Springs, CO

Wigwam Village, the first photos in the this post, is one of the few things on the trip we had actually planned before we left. I’ve been wanting to stay at a Wigwam Village for SO long. There are three remaining Wigwam Motels in the US so when I saw there was one kind of out by where we were going to be, it became a necessity. The room was pretty small, definitely out of date but still clean. Such a fun road trip pit stop!
xoxo

I’ve since visited the other two remaning Wigwam Villages. Read more about my stays – Cave City, KY + San Bernardino, CA
All of the photos above were taken with a Pentax k1000 and Fujifilm 35mm Superia X-TRA 400.

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