Bypassing Sinclair Lewis

Sunday 7/15: Sinclair Lewis and  The Big Buffalo

Any road trip has its highs and lows. Our last cross-country road trip bottomed out somewhere in Nebraska. Actually, it bottomed out in Nowhere, NE. By lows, I don’t mean anything catastrophic. You just have those days where the scenery never changes and you drive for six hours and it still seems like you’re in the same spot.

Sunday is a low. We set our course for Minnesota, North Dakota and, finally, South Dakota. In our never-ending quest to hunt down local haunts and legends, we make a pit stop in Sauk Centre, MN. Yes, the birthplace of Sinclair Lewis. Oh, you didn’t know that’s where Mr. Lewis hailed from? Me either. And, if you can’t name one of his works, you’re not alone there either. He won a Nobel Prize, was an alcoholic, spent 10 days in a psychiatric institution and died in Rome. I learned that from Wikipedia, not Sauk Centre.

In Sauk Centre we stop to grab a few photos of the allegedly haunted Palmer House Hotel.  The hotel looks like any other allegedly haunted hotel on the outside. It also looks like your average non-allegedly haunted hotel. Either way, I grab a few quick shots. We think ,”This would be a great place to leave a few ScareFest passes for a giveaway”. After all, there are paranormal groups here all the time. This hits a primary demographic for ScareFest fans.

Lee goes inside. The inside apparently doesn’t live up to his standards. I think the phrase was “smelled like someone’s attic.” He can’t find anyone around to discuss the giveaway. The only person that appears to work there was an older gentleman who had no interest in talking with him. He steps out from around a corner, looks at Lee and walks up the stairs without a word. Sorry, Palmer House visitors, there’s no free ScareFest passes waiting for you there. That’s the extent of our dealings with the haunted Palmer House. On a side note, we bypassed Sinclair Lewis.

From Minnesota it’s a straight shot across North Dakota. Remember way back when I said you can’t see one Dakota without the other? I was terribly wrong. I’m sure the North Dakotans are great people. However, their roadside attractions leave much to be desired. That is with the exception of the World’s Largest Buffalo. Road Trip Rule #3A states that “One can not, under any circumstance, drive past the World’s Largest anything without stopping for a photograph.” I choose my rule-breaking carefully, so this is one rule that I always abide by. I can proudly say that my family was photographed with the World’s Largest Buffalo. I’m sure it’s something they will remember all their lives. Or, something they will be embarrassed to tell their friends about. Either way, I win. Two important notes about the World’s Largest Buffalo: 1) His name is Dakota Thunder. 2) He’s anatomically correct.

Thankful for this little diversion, we hop back on the devil’s path through North Dakota, but something tells me there’s not much more than this to see off the interstate, either. After a few more hours, we cross the line and leave the monotony of North Dakota in our rear-view mirror. We can now check ND off the list of  “States To See” and Sharpie it in under Nebraska on the list of “States To Never See Again”.

Quick Rundown DOTD: Day 1

Just wanted to share a few pics from Days of the Dead in Indianapolis. There are some great artists up here. The same artist created the Captain America and Star Wars figures in the photos below. These are custom-made dolls, about 12″ tall. They are freaking amazing! He has tons of different characters and all are recreated as zombies. Definitely going to hit him up to come to ScareFest in 2013!

Very cool custom action figures by an artist at Days of the Dead. Captain America was one of MANY themed dolls he has created, all in full zombie regalia.

More art/custom toys. Here’s a whole slew of Star Wars Zombies!

Another great artist at DOTD!

But First…A Pre-trip Trip

Part of our time The majority of our time revolves around ScareFest. Lee is the Programming Director and head of Security and I am the Administrator and (self-titled) Social Media Maven. We’ve helped to grow the event since it began in 2008. But, we haven’t helped grow it enough that we can get paid by ScareFest, YET. We’re getting there. To GET THERE we must market our fluffy asses off (i.e at other conventions).  That’s just what we plan to do this weekend.

We’re taking our ScareFest goods and propaganda to Days of the Dead in Indianapolis. If you’re in Indianapolis this weekend and find yourself looking for something to do, stop by our booth and say Hey! We’ll also have ScareFest Tickets to give away!

We’ll be posting pics and updates all weekend long on our blog as well as all the ScareFest sites.

Oh, and I promise there will be Road Trip updates in the coming days. After all, we’re leaving in 1 week.