Weird things that drop on New Year’s Eve

by Jamie Rhein on

Jeffery wrote about weird New Year’s traditions around the world. There are also weird items that drop at midnight New Year’s Eve.

Sure you can watch the ball drop at Time’s Square in New York City on New Year’s Eve, either in person or on television, or you can watch a walleye drop. A walleye is a fish caught in Lake Erie. Every year a 20-foot, 600 pound fiberglass walleye is dropped in Port Clinton, Ohio to ring in the New Year.

Port Clinton isn’t the only town to drop unusual items to mark a new beginning. I’ve known about Walleye Madness for year’s but came across this Reuters article with nine other unusual New Year’s drop items. As you will notice, most items are food related. The links lead to articles and references with information about each of these quirky events.

Mansfield Reformatory: Haunted place with scary stories and a bridal fashion show

by Jamie Rhein on

Happy Halloween! This video clip of Mansfield Reformatory, a former prison in Ohio, is of a documentary that highlights the prison’s paranormal activities. It’s creepy whether you court the idea of the paranormal or not. When I was walking around the grounds a few weeks ago, it was daylight and sunny, but the massive building is an imposing sort that has a definite thrills and chills factor. It’s the perfect setting for the haunted house that continues through tomorrow night.

Although, it is possible to visit the reformatory at night when its not Halloween, even stay there overnight to search out the paranormal for yourself–or tour during the day, there are other events with a more lighthearted touch.

“Glamour in the Slammer Bridal Expo” a bridal fashion show, is held here each year. This year’s is scheduled for November 9, and it’s free. After watching the video clip, and finding out about the bridal show, it seems like a showing of Corpse Bride would be a perfect fit.

Photo of the Day (10-29-08)

by Jamie Rhein on

This time of year in Ohio, it’s hard not to trip over a pumpkin. They march up people’s porch steps. They perch on hay bales in front of grocery stores, and they fill tables at roadside fruit stands. Some folks sell pumpkins as fundraisers. Heading to a farm to pick a pumpkin from a field is a favorite fall activity in this blocky sliver of the world.

When I saw Brian Brook’s photo of this pumpkin field, the eye-popping colors reminded me of two Saturdays ago when my son had an impulse to go bowling with pumpkins when we meandered through a similar field. I did stop him.

And there was the pumpkin patch last Saturday at Young’s Jersey Dairy near Yellow Springs, Ohio where we picked up our fifth pumpkin. We are not planning on getting a sixth. If we do, I know where to find one.

If you have any photos with eye-popping colors, send them our way at Gadling’s Flickr Photo Pool to be considered for the Photo of the Day.

Photo of the Day (10.19.08)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Was your week a blur like mine was? I think this photo, by Flickr user JasonBechtel, is an apt photographic metaphor. Doesn’t it just “feel” fast? I love the sense of movement and the way the background blurs while parts of the cheetah’s body stay in focus. You might also think Jason took his cheetah photo on safari in Africa, right? Wrong. It was actually taken at the Cincinnati Zoo. Just goes to show you needn’t go far from home to get some great photos.

Have any great travel photos you’d like to share with the world? Why not add them to the Gadling photo pool on Flickr? We might just choose it as our Photo of the Day.

There may be a zipline tour near you

by Jamie Rhein on

With fall foliage reaching its peak, I was reminded of a zipline tour canopy tour I took through the trees in Ohio this past June.

There are several zipline tour options. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina also have zipline adventure offerings, although not all are canopy tours.

In an Escapes article in the New York Times, Roger Mummert gives a humorous account of his own experience at Ski Mountain Ski Area in Pennsylvania where he went with his teenage daughter for a bonding outing.

At the end of the article, he summarizes the highlights of each of the following places:

After visiting each Web site, I noticed that several have Halloween activities. Remember, zipline tours are truly for a multiage crowd. I was happy to see that the Hocking Hills Canopy Tours made it to Mummert’s list. I had can still recall the whirring sound the cable made each time I zipped across.