Brandy Station, VA

Location: Graffiti House, Brandy Station, Virginia, USA
Visited: June 2011

Brandy Station is easy to miss while traveling south on VA-28, but the Graffiti House is pretty nifty: lots of signatures and doodles from Civil War troops, both Union and Confederate. Had I not been on my way to Culpeper that day, I probably would have stayed longer.

Centreville, VA

Location: Centreville, Virginia, USA

Despite living here for over four years, 2011 was my very first visit to Centreville Day. The very notion of "historic downtown Centreville" was somewhat amusing to me, since we don't really have a downtown area, but there are a handful of structures still standing in the tiny area that has been known as Centreville since the 1720s. It was really great to tour the historic structures around the area and the fascinating Spindle Sears House - a house bought from the Sears catalog in the 1930s. I also got to talk to some lovely folks from Patch, the Bull Run Civil War Round Table, and the NoVa Chapter of the Archaeological Society of Virginia. I was amused when the lady from Shen Yu was absolutely convinced she'd met me two weeks before at a wine festival I hadn't attended, and the treats I enjoyed from Mindy's Cupcakes and Gotta Have Chocolate were simply fabulous.

I'll definitely be stopping by again next year.

Elkridge, MD

Location: Elkridge, Maryland, USA
Visited: July 2011

I stopped by the Elkridge Furnace Inn because it's on the National Register of Historic Places, and while I was snooping around the grounds, looking for any additional snarfs, the head chef saw me and brought me inside for a tour. Super nice guy, as I noted. I have to go back and eat there sometime.

The "brief history" that takes up the bulk of the page is actually a single fold pamphlet that opens up to reveal - what else? - a brief history of the inn.

Wisconsin

Location: Wisconsin Dells and Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Visited: June 2011

I separated the H.H. Bennett Studio from the rest of the Dells pages because it was by far my favorite stop of the entire trip. The photo in the upper left corner also folds out to reveal another photo of Bennett in a boat, but I like the jumping dude better. It was one of the first pictures created with "high speed" photography, to the point where many people at the time believed it was faked.

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum in Madison was an impulse stop, but very interesting nonetheless. It is made up mostly of life-sized dioramas of every American military conflict, including the most recent.

Osaka, Japan

Location: Osaka, Japan
Visited: March 2010

We spent our one night in Osaka in a capsule hotel. It wasn't nearly as claustrophobic as I'd feared, though the fact that the bathroom (showers), lavatory (sinks), and toilets (commodes) were three separate rooms kind of confused me at first. BookOff is a chain of largish bookstores, and the white page of Japanese writing to the right of that is my fortune I got at one of the shrines. The (American) friend we were with said it was just okay, not great and not bad either - but she didn't actually translate it word for word, unfortunately. That's okay. It's still pretty.

Warrenton, VA

Location: Warrenton, Virginia, USA
Visited: October 2011

Warrenton was another "pick a place and go" sort of day. It's a pretty quiet and not so very interesting town, but I really enjoyed the Old Jail Museum. That was definitely worth visiting.

Washington, D.C.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Okay, this post is a bit of a cop-out, as these pages are from three different spreads in two different journals. The first is from a trip with a couple of good friends to the house where Lincoln died (across the street from Ford's Theatre) and the National Building Museum. The second is from one of my favorite spots, the Old Post Office. The third is a generic catch-all page from my 2011 BookCrossing Convention journal. All the same, I do drop by DC from time to time, and I often pick up pamphlets of the places I visit, even if I've visited them a hundred times before. It's all part of being a tourist everywhere you go.

Japanese Noms

Location: Japan
Visited: March 2010

Foods! One of the best parts of our trip to Japan was the constant availability of interesting snack foods. From amazing ramen to fresh taiyaki to bento boxes to a zillion flavors of Kit Kats, our palettes were never bored. So tasty!

Bethlehem, PA

Location: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
Visited: September 2010

I've attended the Celtic Classic numerous times, but these pages are from 2010, when we went with my in-laws. They had a great time, as did we. All the old stand-bys were there, such as Seamus Kennedy, plus we watched some great new-to-us bands, like Blackwater and McPeake. If you're ever in Bethlehem, be sure to stop by the Moravian Book Shop, because it's awesome.

The final page is a random pamphlet I picked up about the ice house, which was one of the venues at the Celtic Classic. It's a favorite due to the mere fact that it has air conditioning and slightly more comfortable seating, but the history of the place is pretty cool too.

Germany and Switzerland

Location: Landstuhl, Trier, and Freiburg, Germany; and Biel, Switzerland
Visited: April 2010

Due to a certain volcano, we ended up stuck in Europe for an extra week. So we rented a car and drove to Switzerland (as you do). These were some of our stops along the way. The Metropol was kind of ridiculous, what with the motion-sensitive lights in the bathroom and lengthy labyrinth leading to breakfast. My favorite part by far was Nanstein Castle in Landstuhl. I love me some gorgeous ruins, let me tell you.

Wisconsin Dells, WI

Location: Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA
Visited: June 2011

Remember how I said how pleased I am with myself when I make fold-out pages? Well, here's another one. The other side is just a generic photo of the Dells. I had a marvelous time here in the land of kitsch. And let me tell you: the doughnuts at Paul Bunyan's are not to be missed. Yum!

Osaka, Japan

Location: Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan, Osaka, Japan
Visited: March 2010

This is one of several pages devoted to the aquarium in my journal. I kept nearly the entire pamphlet due to the awkwardly translated English, such as "Please enjoy playful sea otters being popular among children." Maybe it makes me a bad person to laugh, since I can speak all of about three words of Japanese, but it still entertains me.

Harpers Ferry, WV

Location: Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, USA
Visited: numerous times

I am totally in love with Harpers Ferry, and return a few times a year. The first page here was completed when I was still quite new to the gluebooking game and hadn't quite decided how to deal with sideways objects. Now I rotate everything to the left no matter what page it's on. For a while I rotated so that the bottom of the image was pointed toward the center of the book, and evidently here I decided that everything needed to be pointing every which way. It's still kind of a neat spread, for all that. The second page is from a later trip when I went hiking with my dear friend Flora. This time around we only hiked the overlook trail, but a few months later we went back out and hiked the entire Maryland Heights/Stone Fort Trail, which on this map goes off the edge of the page. Good times.

Alexandria, VA

Location: Woodlawn and the Pope-Leighey House, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
Visited: March 2010

I didn't go inside the Pope-Leighey House, which is famous for being designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I did, however, stroll inside Woodlawn, where they were having an embroidery/cross-stitch display and contest. I went here on the same day as Mount Vernon, and I see that I'd actually intended to make this page part of that spread. Heh. Shows what happens when you're scanning faster than you can think. ;)

Front Royal, VA

Location: Front Royal, Virginia, USA
Visited: Winter 2010

I hate it when I forget to date these places, because heaven knows I'll never remember months on. Anyway, I just remember it was winter because by about midafternoon I was losing my light - the sun was at such an extreme angle that the mountains started blocking it out very early in the day.

This is mostly from the walking tour pamphlet, and I only included the places I actually visited. Mosby's Rangers were a large part of the history here, as this was where they were executed. I'd never even heard of Mosby before moving to Virginia (back in Illinois we didn't get quite the in-depth Civil War coverage), but now I've developed a sort of fascination with him. One day I might even get around to reading a biography or something similarly more detailed than the dozens of historic markers mentioning him.

Solomons, MD

Location: Solomons, Maryland, USA
Visited: August 2010

The Calvert Marine Museum with its associated lighthouses at Drum Point and Cove Point, respectively, made for a lovely afternoon excursion. The Drum Point stamp is upside-down because the woman at the desk didn't realize I'd already turned my journal to face her. But that's okay. It's all part of the experience.

Herndon, VA

Location: Herndon, Virginia, USA

I work in Herndon, so you might say I visit here every day, but that's not entirely true: I don't work in the historic section of town, and thus don't see the caboose and museum on a regular basis. I don't recall off the top of my head when I collected these particular pamphlets. All the same, it's a charming area.

Tokyo, Japan

Location: Sanrio Puroland, Tama City, Tokyo, Japan
Visited: March 2010

Sanrio Puroland was absolutely hilarious. I felt like I was five years old again. My husband was more than a little bit creeped out, but he enjoyed watching me have fun. As an added bonus, since it was my birth month, I got a birthday card from Hello Kitty. It folds out, and let me tell you, I am always ridiculously pleased with myself when I have a fold-out on a page.

Allentown, PA

Location: Buca di Beppo, Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA
Visited: September 2010

We went out for dinner with my in-laws and my good friend Laura and her husband. This is some seriously delicious pasta, man. And I still snicker every time I read 'hooray for giant meatballs'.

Boyce, VA

Location: Boyce, Virginia, USA
Visited: August 2011

I didn't actually spend much time here at the Arboretum, but I just could not resist that gateway photo.

By the way, once I finish my backlog of pages and start posting about more recent trips, I'll include more information/anecdotes about the places I go.

Alexandria, VA

Location: Mount Vernon, Alexandria, Virginia, USA
Visited: March 2010

I like timelines. And stamps. And ticket stubs. And old photographs. Thus, these spreads of Mount Vernon make me very happy.

The Netherlands

Location: The Netherlands: Amsterdam, Delft, The Hague, Madurodam
Visited: April 2010

Cookie and I had the better part of a day to kill so we decided to take a bus tour to visit Delft, The Hague, and Madurodam. I actually filled multiple pages with Madurodam. The guide includes photos of every single display inside the park, so after a while I ended up just pasting in the sites we actually visited. All in all, a great idea, and one I never would have thought of. Cookie rocks!

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Visited: April 2010

Like any good tourist, I made sure to visit as many touristy spots as I could. The Rijksmuseum filled me with true awe for several of the old masters, most especially Vermeer and Rembrandt. It's amazing how different those paintings are in person as opposed to in a photograph. The Artis Royal Zoo was nice but, well, it was just a zoo. What made it fun was being with a New Zealander who'd never seen many of the beasts on display in person. I also visited the Van Gogh Museum, which was likewise incredible, but didn't scan in all my journal pages because, well, I might have kinda glued in Vincent's entire biography. :)

The Anne Frank House ended up being very sparse, but appropriately so. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, and I didn't want to paste in the postcards I'd purchased, so I ended up with nothing more than the ticket, gift bag, and a lone image of the hidden staircase.