Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
worthwhilethingsaboutthelittle-knownAmericanwarwithEcuadorof1802anditwon't
cost me a penny.”
So I went through the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum and I savored every artifact and
tasteless oddity. It was outstanding. I mean honestly, where else are you going to see a rep-
lica of Columbus's flagship, the Santa Maria, made entirely of chicken bones? And how
canyoupossiblyputapriceonseeinganeightfoot-longmodeloftheCircusMaximuscon-
structed of sugar cubes, or the death mask of John Dillinger, or a room made entirely of
matchsticks by one Reg Polland of Manchester, England (well done, Reg; Britain is proud
of you)? We are talking lasting memories here. I was pleased to note that England was
further represented by, of all things, a chimney pot, circa 1940. Believe it or not. It was
all wonderful-clean, nicely presented, sometimes even believable-and I spent a happy hour
there.
Afterwards, feeling highly content, Ipurchased an ice cream cone the size ofa baby'shead
and wandered with it through the crowds of people in the afternoon sunshine. I went in-
to a series of gift shops and tried on baseball caps with plastic turds on the brim, but the
cheapest one I saw was $7.99 and I decided, out of deference to my father, that that would
be just too much extravagance for one afternoon. If it came to it, I could always make my
own, I thought as I returned to the car and headed for the dangerous hills of Appalachia.
