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some of my favorite posts

my first time dump diggin’

by Kaylah Stroup August 27, 2019

Shortly after moving to Cleveland, on one of my found on beach posts, an anonymous commenter said something along the lines of “Is trash all you blog about anymore!?” In that moment, it hurt my feelings. I couldn’t see how someone would look at my colorful photos and not think they were even the tiniest bit interesting. Over time it became something I laughed about nearly every single time I took photos of my beach treasures though.

Truth be told, I really love trash. I truly enjoy picking it up on the beach, not only to help clean up our lovely beaches but because I’m interested in seeing the types of things that wash up. It’s relaxing and exciting! I’m well aware, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but it’s easily one of my favorite things.

Right now the biggest thing on my travel bucket list is visiting London. Not for the normal things folks go there for though, I want to visit the Thames and try my eyes and luck at mudlarking. I follow many mudlarks and beachcombers on instagram. I’m more likely to feel jealous of a tiny old baby doll dug out of the mud than say, a fancy new whatever someone is showing off. I just love the excitement of it all. You never really know what you’re going to get. Best of all, it’s free!

All that to say, this weekend I spent some time digging in an old dump with my nieces and nephew and I had the most fun ever.

bottle dump — *Some of our favorite finds.*

This small dump isn’t too far of a walk from my childhood home but somehow I’ve only been there a handful of times, and this was my first time actually digging around in it. I don’t have much information on it at the moment. I’ll have to ask my dad if he knows whose it was or how old it might be.

Sunday morning, at my dad’s suggestion, after a cozy night spent in hammocks and a campfire cooked breakfast, we took a hike to go check out the dump. Poking out from the leaf litter we could see bottles. It didn’t take much effort at all to move the dirt away and reveal more treasures. With only our hands and sticks as digging tools, we managed to discover a fun little variety of items. Bottles of all sizes, a football, some shoes, teacups, an Etch A Sketch, and even a razor blade dispenser! We each returned to the house with at least one small treasure and an ache for more time at the dump!

glass Pepsi bottle from dump — *My nephew checking the bottom of the bottle for details.*

*One of the three shoes found by my niece.*

digging a bottle dump — *Full bottles we dug up, all less than a foot deep.*

Glass Pepsi bottle from bottle dump — *Glass Pepsi bottle.*

*On a wild goose chase looking for another dump. Hiked through weeds twice as tall as me.*

I am so excited to get back to the dump as soon as possible, this time armed with gloves and some digging tools. I really really have my fingers crossed for a baby doll! BUT no matter what I find, I’ll be totally happy just sitting on a log next to my favorite teenagers digging through the mud.

I seriously cannot express enough how much I love my family and the ways we bond. I would absolutely have fun at the dump alone but sitting there with these guys made my heart feel so big and full.

*One of my new bottles. Cleaned out & holding flowers picked by my husband.*

To Noah, Lola & Lainy: I love you guys so much. Y’all are the absolute coolest kids ever. Can’t wait to look for more treasures with you soon! ❤️

Twin Arrows, AZ

by Kaylah Stroup August 12, 2019

Twin Arrows Trading Post in Arizona. Old Rt 66

20 minutes west of Two Guns lies the ruins of the Twin Arrows Trading Post. Just like Two Guns, we’ve been making annual visits here since 2014. Somehow in all those years, I have yet to dedicate an entire post to this place (although it’s definitely shown up in its fair share of posts, like here, here + here) but here we go today…

Sometime in the 1940’s a business named the Canyon Padre Trading Post was established. It did modest business but was never all that popular. In 1955 a new family took over, added two giant arrows, and renamed the business Twin Arrows Trading Post, the business flourished! Eventually, a Valentine Diner and gas station were added as well. It was a popular spot for travelers to stop, fuel up, stretch their legs and grab a bite to eat.

Just like the case with so many other businesses along old route 66, the construction of interstate 40 was the kiss of death for Twin Arrows. The business switched owners a handful of times before finally being shuttered in 1995.

It’d be nineteen years after it closed until I finally got to visit. I’d seen the spot in various movies including my all-time favorite Forrest Gump* but not with my own eyes until 2014. Our first visit, the trading post and diner were almost completely sealed up. Windows and doors were still boarded. Over the next couple of visits, small sections of the property became more and more accessible. Our most recent visit? Wide open! Every window and door inviting us inside.

Similar to Two Guns, Twin Arrows seems to be experiencing a very quick decline. I don’t have a ton of photos from my first couple visits but enough to be able to see that we managed to get it right before it was completely covered in graffiti. I’m glad I have those photos because it’s honestly hard to imagine it in a state other than the one it’s in now.

These days, the building seems to get a new look quite often. When we visited last year, the morning of our wedding rehearsal, a good portion of the exterior was painted blue. (Fourth photo down in this post!) I appreciate the latest paint job making it look a bit less obnoxious and of course, I can appreciate the no one has completely covered the original paint job’s ‘Twin Arrows Trading Post’.

I’m anxious to see what it’ll look like in another year or two. Hopefully the vandalism slows down, or better yet, that someone restores it to it’s former glory. These days the property is owned by Twin Arrows Casino Resort (where I woke up the morning of my wedding day. Awww!) Maybe, eventually, they’ll decide to do something wonderful with the property. Fingers crossed they don’t demolish it!

Other posts from this trip –

Check out even more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag & more ghost towns here.

Check out Jeff’s video from our visit below. I also recommend checking out Twin Arrow’s facebook page for some really neat historic photos.

*Do you ever wonder about how many of the things you like are because you were unknowingly exposed to them at an early age? I didn’t know Forrest Gump ran by Twin Arrows until after I had already visited there. I’ve seen the movie about five hundred times though, so you know that spot was drilled into my brain at least subconsciously.

ghost town – Two Guns, AZ

by Kaylah Stroup August 7, 2019

Throwing it back to June’s epic road trip again.

No trip to Arizona for us is complete without a stop at Two Guns. I’ve written about how important this place is to me a handful of times so there’s no need to retype that but I do want to share some photos from our latest visit.

Previous posts on Two Guns; that time I got married in a ghost town, our six month anniversary trip back to Two Guns, our wedding ‘rehearsal‘ & my first time in the Apache Death Cave.

It kind of sucks to fall in love with an abandoned place in the middle the desert because… well, it’s almost a guarantee that someday it’ll be destroyed. For as long as this place has been around though, I feel like it’s taken a heck of a beating in the last five years.

I certainly don’t mind graffiti. Generally, I am pro-graffiti but I am anti-people who can’t paint, people who paint dicks, people who paint offensive phrases, people who just make gosh darn messes on cool old buildings, etc. Two Guns is covered in spray paint. Seems like there isn’t a spot of bare building anymore so it’s pretty wild to look back at photos from my older posts and see how ‘untouched’ it looked (despite definitely being painted back then.) I’m most disappointed to see the paint making its way over to the much older ruins.

One of the most striking changes though is the collapse of the ‘Kamp’ building. It had been looking pretty rough for a long time but it was definitely a strange feeling to see it collapsed. Just a year earlier I had taken photos of my brother on the upper floor, waving from the window! Shoot, just a year earlier I had wedding photos taken in there! I’m curious if it’ll continue to fall or sit like it is now, roof on top of the rubble, for a while.

Apache Death Cave. Two Guns, Arizona — Inside the Apache Death Cave. Can’t help but feeling like that coolest cat ever knowing that I was in this cave in a wedding dress.

Hopefully our next visit to Two Guns will be in the school bus with my family. I think I’ve got everyone on board at this point, it’s just a matter of getting the bus done and making plans. I get goosebumps thinking about being there with my family again. And to actually camp there? YES, PLEASE!

Other posts from this trip –

Check out even more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag & more ghost towns here.

Until next time, Two Guns! xoxo

my mother’s plants

by Kaylah Stroup July 29, 2019

Grief for me has been cycling through the polar opposites of ‘save everything!’ and ‘throw it all away!’ Sorting through her storage room in my dad’s garage a few weekends back with my sister-in-law, I found myself when asked what to do with something, more often than not, answering “Goodwill pile!”

Guess it was just the mood I was in because I’ve kept so many random things that had she’d of offered me I’d have said ‘no’ to. Recipes she printed and wrote her own notes on, her flannel shirts, her pajama pants (most of which I recognized from our shopping trips together), her fuzzy socks and so much more stuff I 100% do not need. Buuut my grieving brain insists it’s all special.

*June 25th* – The day I brought it home. I had already trimmed off all the dead leaves.

One Sunday, while the guys worked on the bus, I walked down to the house and did a little housework for my dad. I noticed three dead looking plants on the staircase landing. I figured I should ask before tossing them despite already knowing that my dad wouldn’t be interested in caring for houseplants. After confirming he didn’t want them, I climbed back onto the landing and got a closer look. They were definitely hurting after not being watered for 2 and a half months but two of the three were possibly salvageable…

I tossed the completely dried out one. The largest I pruned the dead leaves off and decided that it was worth trying to save. The third had completely wilted leaves but didn’t seem beyond repair. I chopped off the leaves to try and propagate and gave the root base to my niece to grow.

*June 26th* – One day after water. Already perking up!

*June 26th* – First day in water. I let the ends callous over for a day before placing them in water.

Five days after being placed in water, I already had the start of roots and much healthier leaves!

*July 7th* – The start of two new leaves!

As much as I love growing things in water and watching the roots grow and change, I really wanted to get these leaves in soil ASAP. I planted and replanted these darn things at least four different times before finally deciding on how I wanted them arranged. I thought one super full pot would be neat but I didn’t have the right sized pot and I figured two would give me a better shot at least one surviving. (…Not that I really have any doubts but ya know!) So two pots it was. One larger for all the big cuttings, and a smaller one for the more petite cuttings – who interestingly enough had much larger roots.

*July 20th* – Right after being planted.

*July 29th* – More new leaves coming in!

My mom was never really a house plant type of person but anyone who had ever been over to the house would tell you how much she loved to garden. She kept such beautiful flower beds. My love of plants definitely stemmed (heh!) from her. When I moved to the city and no longer had an outdoor space, I started bringing the outside in. It was then I convinced her to try growing things inside as well.

All of that to say, it feels a little weird to be putting so much importance on these plants that I’m not sure she ever loved, at least not as much as the ones she grew outside. It’s a perfectly me way of dealing with grief though, especially since tending to my many houseplants is already so cathartic to me.

I look forward to continuing to watch these plants grow and hope that they continue to bring me at least a little bit of peace. My mom may be dead but she lives on in so many other ways.

*July 29th –* The start of new leaves on this tiny guy!

found on the beach

by Kaylah Stroup July 24, 2019

plastic pollution found along the shores of Lake Erie

One venti Starbucks cup full of plastic ‘treasures’ found along a short stretch of Lake Erie. Less than half an hour to fill!

Normally I carry a tote bag for all my beach finds. Lately though, the things I tend to gravitate toward picking up are much smaller. On my last visit, shortly after arriving at the beach, I spotted a Starbucks cup. Perfect! I filled it up in no time flat. Seems like it wouldn’t hold very much but after laying out an arrangement I was shocked to see how much was still left in the cup!

*I got* *new Tevas! I have seriously never loved a pair of shoes this much. They’re cozy and match everything!*

A quick found on the beach FAQ

You found all of these in one trip!? Sadly, yes.
What do you do with all after your done? Normally I toss it in the trash or recycle if appropriate. Sometimes I may take certain pieces with me if I think they’ll look cool in a future arrangement or if it’s something I collect. Toy soldiers & all other tiny plastic characters come home with me! I also collect plastic plants, leaves, and flowers.
Do you wear gloves when you pick all this trash up? No, I don’t. These are things that are washed up from the lake, not just left on the shore. They’re no dirtier than the sand or water. That’s not to say I don’t sanitize my hands as soon as I get back in my car though…
Are all of your beaches this gross? No, absolutely not. We have lots of gorgeous, clean and downright picturesque beaches along Lake Erie. This one in particular just seems to collect all the debris from the lake. I have yet to find another this bad in the area.

Below are my favorite finds of the day (& what I actually kept!) I still haven’t figured out what those yellow things with numbers and letters are. I have a pretty decent collection of them. I’ve been finding them for years and years. They’re not as common as toy soldiers or anything else that I find regularly but they still wash up quite often. Last time I asked if anyone had any idea what they were nearly everyone responded “crime scene markers!” but I’m not convinced. More than likely they something to do with shipping.

CHECK OUT MORE ‘FOUND ON THE BEACH” POSTS HERE!

If you like my ‘found on the beach’ collections – prints, phone cases, and more can be found here.

road tripping – abandoned gas station

by Kaylah Stroup July 16, 2019

I’ve definitely talked about this before *ahem* but my goodness, I LOVE exploring abandoned places out west. I mean, I love abandoned places wherever. There is just something really really special about the ones you just happen to stumble upon while cruising down the road far, far away from home. It’s a huge part of what we enjoy so much about driving aimlessly around the western portion of the US and what brings us back year after year.

The first abandoned spot we stumbled upon on our big cross country road trip this summer was this gas station and trailer combo! We spotted the gas station from the highway and immediately got off at the next exit to explore.

old sign at an abandoned gas station — *I mean, how can you resist an old gas station sign like this?!*

Since it seemed like a chill spot (aka the likelihood of someone already being there or coming to bug us seemed low) the three of us went our separate ways to wander. I shot some exterior photos of the gas station first. It looked fairly closed up from the front with both of the windows as well as the door barred but around the back, it was wide open. Papers littered the floors and countertops inside. Invoices, deposit slips, receipts, paper signage meant for the employees and so much more scattered about!

The trailer, on the other hand, was pretty empty. Basically just a shell of a home. Nothing particularly exceptional but still a super fun explore nonetheless.

I will note that I was impressed by the mirrors above the bathtub though.

*SO many more abandoned boats out west compared to Ohio.*

boat outside of an abandoned gas station

Other posts from this trip –

Check out even more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag.

Polaroid Originals OneStep2 of an abandoned gas station

taken with the Polaroid Originals OneStep 2.

our homemade zipline!

by Kaylah Stroup July 10, 2019

I’ve got a new video up on my YouTube channel today talking about our homemade zipline! Woo!

subscribe to The Dainty Squid on YouTube

It’s still incredible to me that we built this bad boy in no time at all. It went from just a silly idea to something tangible reeeeal quick. Honestly, it’s a bit shocking we didn’t have one before this now that I see how easy it was to put together.

our zipline supplies…

lanyard
trolley
carabiner
adult harness
kiddo harness
full body/ superman harness
turnbuckle

(affiliate links)

There have been talks of building a second one but for now, it’s just talk. I’ve got my fingers crossed next summer brings another zipline but perhaps we’ll just be too busy cruising the country in the bus…

Mountainview Cemetery + Wild Horses

by Kaylah Stroup July 9, 2019

Driving through Wyoming on our road trip, our main interest was ghost towns. I knew from some research I did before hitting the road that the state had A LOT of them.

On the way to Superior, which to be fair I wouldn’t consider an actual ghost town at all, my eagle eye-d husband spotted this cemetery. From the road it doesn’t look like too much. Up on a hill and covered in sagebrush, the majority of the grave markers aren’t really visible until you get up close.

…But within minutes of being inside the small gates, I was exclaiming “this is definitely in my top ten!!!” It hits all the marks for me. Full of unique headstones? Check! Landscaping different than you’d see in the midwest? Check! Old? Check! Kinda sorta off the beaten path? Check! There’s just something truly special about cemeteries in the desert.

The majority of burials in this cemetery were done between 1900 and 1923, although a new section was opened for public use in 1994. The Superior, Wyoming website notes that most of the graves are dated during the influenza epidemic that followed World War 1.

Did you know that the flu epidemic that swept the world in 1918 killed an estimated 50 million people?! 25% of the United States population got it and within one year the average life expectancy dropped by 12 years. Ooof! The national archives and records administration has some information on this which you can find here. Quick, interesting read with historical photos + documents. We did not learn about this in school so I definitely just spend a couple hours learning some history!

As well as finding this excellent cemetery, we also spotted wild horses! It started with one. When we pulled over to take a photo of it, I spotted the baby! Then as I got the 70-200mm lens on my camera and set up my shot, I spotted even more of them. There ended up being nine of them in total!

(Little side note here, I LOVE this lens. At this point, it’s a road trip essential! Being able to get gorgeous animal photos without disturbing them is priceless.)

Not to sound dramatic buuuut it was magical. I’ve never been a horse girl but seeing wild horses is honestly one of the coolest things ever. I was over the moon. There’s just something really special about it. In all our road trips, this is only the second time I’ve seen wild horses. I hope it never loses its magic.

Our time in Wyoming was short but it left me wanting more! My feelings on it are similar to my feelings for Utah which are ‘holy cow, why does no one talk about this gorgeous state!?!” Totally underrated! I can’t wait to go back.

Other posts from this trip –

Check out even more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag & more graveyard goodness under the ‘cemetery‘ tag.

Mel Gould’s Buryville

by Kaylah Stroup July 3, 2019

The first stop on our epic road trip, after the World’s Largest Truck Stop, was Mel Gould’s Buryville. We’d been on the road for nineteen hours at this point so it didn’t matter that the rain was pouring down, we were just excited to get out of the car.

When we pulled up I was a little hesitant to get out and poke around though. I could see all the metal sculptures the internet told me about but they were fenced in, in what was very clearly someone’s yard. Within mere minutes of pulling in we were greeted by a friendly face. Mel Gould’s daughter came out and swept us away on a little tour of the cars built by her father. After the short tour, she told us to take our time and feel free to explore as long as we’d like.

*This little baked potato also greeted us.*

So, what the heck is this place? Mel Gould is an engineer, scientist, and inventor. His property is covered in metal sculptures he’s built and unique cars he’s created and collected. One of these giant sculptures titled ‘Wind Thing’ even generates the electricity for the lights of his underground workshop (which is made from a school bus!!!)

I tried searching for more fun tidbits of information to share but surprisingly Google is kind of lacking when it comes to the search “Mel Gould Buryville.” Spaces has a really nice write up on Mel that is definitely worth reading though.

Despite the fact that we didn’t get a chance to meet Mel during our short visit (His daughter mentioned a broken foot) I feel like he’s just gotta be the coolest guy ever. For him to see these random objects and think to create the things he does is just amazing. Every single thing I read about him just emphasized how much he enjoys showing off his creations even after all this time.

I loved every second of our visit. Mel Gould’s Buryville is 100% worth stopping at as you cruise down I-80 or even making a little day trip to! I heard if you’re lucky he’ll even invite you in and show you his underground workshop! xoxo

Check out more road trip posts under the ‘travel‘ tag.

If you love collectors + their fun roadside attractions, check out Bottle Tree Ranch, Salvation Mountain, Don Park’s yard of signs, statues & other junk, and Jerry’s Junk.

*taken with the* *Polaroid Originals OneStep 2*.

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