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.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Visited: April 2010

For the Amsterdam trip I was traveling with my good friend Cookie. Now, Cookie is a scrapbooker extraordinaire, who creates gorgeous pages. As such, she understands the need for paper matter and two copies of each (so you have both sides to work with). It got to the point where we just grabbed it all and divvied it up that evening once we got back to the hotel room. This is a somewhat random selection of journal pages from that trip covering restaurants, trains, hotels (we were in two hotels and a hostel over the course of our stay), and assorted miscellaneous stuff. The colorful image of the houses was actually something I cut out of a magazine long after I returned home, but I liked it and it's of Amsterdam, so I used it.

Tokyo, Japan

Location: Ghibli Museum, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan
Visited: March 2010

I cannot say enough good things about the Ghibli Museum. You weren't allowed to take photographs inside, so these pages (and the postcards we purchased) are literally the only images I have of the place. As longtime fans of animation in general and Miyazaki in particular, my husband and I knew we absolutely could not skip this one. And it ended up being quite probably our favorite stop on the entire trip.

Yuma, AZ

Location: Yuma, Arizona, USA
Visited: February 2008

This is where it all started. As I mentioned in the intro post, I started pasting stuff into a journal during a long business trip to southwestern Arizona. I didn't have a whole lot of time off, but one Sunday my coworker and I had a good time visiting the Yuma Territorial Prison, the Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge nearby, and the Castle Dome Mines Museum, and went for a scenic drive through Kofa Wildlife Refuge. The terrain was absolutely gorgeous, though the road wasn't exactly meant for vehicular traffic. We had a blast.

Upper Valley, VT/NH

Location: Vermont and New Hampshire, USA
Visited: January 2009

I was still rather new to the whole glue stick tourism game when I visited my sister up in the wilds of New England in January. This page was made mostly from a single pamphlet, but I tried to include all the various places we visited during that short trip. I hope to go again in the spring.

Fort Marcy, VA

Location: Fort Marcy, McLean, Virginia

I don't remember when I visited Fort Marcy, only that it took me forever to find the friggin' entrance, which is only accessible (and indeed, only even visible) from one direction on the George Washington Parkway. Good thing U-turns are legal in this state.

MDRF

Location: Maryland Renaissance Festival, Crownsville, Maryland, USA
Visited: annually

This particular page is from the 2010 MDRF but we try to put in an appearance at least once a year. Many of our friends are performers, cast members, and Rennies, so there's always someone to gab with. And, most importantly, a large selection of fried foods on sticks. Mustn't forget that.

Tokyo, Japan

Location: Meguro Parasitological Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Date: April 2010

Because he is a deeply disturbed man, my darling husband was quite interested to visit the only parasite museum in the world during our trip to Japan. He was especially keen to see the 28-foot tapeworm (the white thing with the blue background). The place turned out to be quite tiny - the interior photos shown here, including the gift shop, are all in one moderately size room - but completely unforgettable. The stamp in the upper right corner was one of many collectible stamps we came across at assorted attractions and train stations.

Leesburg, VA

Location: Ball's Bluff Battlefield, Leesburg, Virginia, USA
Visited: September 2009

After a long day of snarfing all around Harpers Ferry and northwestern Virginia, I decided to stop by Ball's Bluff Battlefield Regional Park in Leesburg. My original intent was to walk the short Battlefield Interpretive Trail Loop, which was basically out to the cemetery and back. Somehow, upon leaving the cemetery, I ended up on the wrong path. The map said all the paths looped back to the parking lot eventually, so I just kept walking. As you can see from my Sharpie dots, I managed to get on the only path that was not a loop: the Potomac Heritage Trail. By the time I finally emerged from the woods, I was in Edwards Landing Park. The parking lot dumped me out into a generic suburban housing development, where luckily I happened upon a lovely couple out walking their dog who explained how to get back to my car - an additional 2-mile walk. Not an adventure I'm soon to forget!

Utrecht, Netherlands

Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands
Visited: April 2010

I cannot say enough nice things about the beautiful town of Utrecht and the lovely local BookCrossers who showed us around. I actually made multiple spreads of Utrecht but only scanned in this one because it had the most variety to it.