Henry and I decided to visit the two attractions housed under the same roof; Ripley's Believe It Or Not! and Louis Tussaud's Wax Works, in downtown Newport, Oregon.

We began with Ripley's. 

Ripley's is a totally unique exhibition filled with an arty, bizarre, macabre and downright weird collection of oddities and curiosities. The Ripley museums were founded by Robert Ripley who traveled the world seeking out artifacts to add to his weird and wonderful collection. His passion for the mysteries of the world eventually lead to the creation of a newspaper feature in New York at the turn of the twentieth century called "Believe It Or Not!" Due to the extent of Ripley's collection and the public's growing desire to see it, Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museums sprang up all over the country.

I would buy Henry the annual book of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!" every Christmas as he had been hooked ever since visiting the Ripley's museum in San Francisco when he was 8 or 9 years old. He loved the shocking pictures, questioned the reality of some of the artifacts and poured over the narratives trying to weed out fact from fiction. He was fascinated.

Henry and I are both drawn to the strange and the imaginative, so Ripley's travels, explorations and mysteries delighted us at every turn. Though it was little creepy in places.

We enjoyed some wonderful artwork made of burnt toast, buttons, bottle caps, and trash. We measured ourselves against the world's tallest man and the world's largest boot. At 6' 4" tall, Henry and his Nike dunks were dwarfed by them. We saw a display of shrunken heads, animals with two heads, a footballer with three legs, twisted costumed creatures with violet eyes, historical artifacts, and an array of other unbelievably strange things.

A highlight was The Star Room where we immersed ourselves in the sensations of floating in space surrounded by twinkling stars. We even had the opportunity to complete a space walk. It was all out of this world.

We then moved on to Louis Tussaud's Waxworks that leaned towards superheroes, science fiction, scary movie characters and fantastical beasts. 

I enjoyed Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter duelling in an exhibition of Priori Incantatem from the movie 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.' Voldemort was screaming the green killing curse, 'Avada Kedavra,'  and at the same time Harry was screaming the red disarming spell, 'Expelliarmus.' The two spells collided, the twin cores of the wands became intertwined and the rare effect of Priori Incantatem occurred. It was magical to see it happen! My favorite exhibit of the day!

Henry enjoyed sitting next to Sheldon Cooper, placing himself on the set of Stranger Things (apt!) and kicking his legs up on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office in the White House.

We also enjoyed all the movie references and marveled at the artistic waxwork recreations. Everything looked very real!

An astonishing day out in every way!

In July 2018, this franchise location of Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon, became the last of its kind in the US and in March 2019, it became the last in the world.

Renting VHS videos was a big deal back in the 80's when I was at college. Someone from our Halls of Residence would rent a load of videos on a Friday night, to be returned on Sunday. A weekend rental.  Then in our Common Room, in pajamas, eating pizza or toast, we would collectively watch until deep in to the early hours of the morning, video after video. I was horrified by Freddie and Jason, enthralled by Patrick Swayze's hips in Dirty Dancing, cheered and sobbed for Dead Poets, Lost Boys and the Breakfast Club, awed by Tom Cruise, the jets and the epic soundtrack of Top Gun, inconceivably, happily enchanted by the Princess Bride, watched rom-com Brat Pack movies on endless loops. Fabulous! My favorite movie at that time was the 80's classic, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I think I have watched that movie more than 100 times. At home, I subjected my family to it so much, even my Mum and Dad were aware of Ferris and could practically quote the movie. 

The music, the humor, the wisdom. It reflected the 80's perfectly. I loved Ferris and Cameron and Sloane. Still do. 

So I stepped into the last Blockbuster and it was like stepping back in time. The familiarity of the place was strangely comforting. Even the smell of the place was familiar. I loved the movie posters on the walls and the promotional life-size cardboard cut outs. They mostly had VHS videos in the old hard cases arranged by genre, including a current chart displaying the faves, and new releases. They had some Blu-ray Discs in there too. You could still rent movies if you had an active club card with the store. Everything about the place made me smile and transported me back in time and there was no DeLorean involved.

They had a lounge area cordoned off with an old fashioned comfy couch, fluffy rug, coffee table and an old TV and video on a wooden console. It was magical. I felt I was right back in that Common Room at college. I was ready to snuggle down and watch a movie with friends.

I later learned you could actually rent the space as an Air BnB so you could spend the night in the store! Wow! Macarena cool!

After a good 30 minutes looking at all the videos, and enjoying the ambience and smell of popcorn, I finally left with a Ferris Bueller poster and an old video in its original case of Pete's Dragon. So much fun!

 I ❤️ Taylor Swift.

I'm a total Swiftie.

It has been the summer of the Eras Tour and Taylor Swift has been on my playlist since the tour kicked off in Glendale, Arizona back in March. I was totally bummed that I could not get tickets to the very first concert that was in my home state. Grrr! Ticketmaster! Grrrr!!!!!

After watching endless TikTok's of the tour and getting first hand info from my bestie, Heather, I was chuffed to bits to finally watch the show at the cinema in Crescent City. It was not a packed audience on the opening night of the cinematic release, but I did get my free souvenir popcorn bucket (which I will cherish) and I sang my heart out all the way through.

 Obviously, neither Kim nor Henry chose to accompany me.

It was epic!

Legendary!

We took a day trip up Highway One in California from Santa Cruz all the way to Half Moon Bay, about 50 miles in total, stopping along the route to enjoy the spectacular coastal views and to visit some highly recommended California State Parks.

Our first stop was Wilder Ranch State Park where we were immediately taken under the wing of a lovely Miss-Marple-esque docent named Jean who was dressed in full Victorian garb and eager to share her knowledge of the park. She took us on a tour around the historic buildings.

Originally settled by the Wilder family in 1871, the ranch was transformed into a flourishing dairy farm that played an important role in the developing dairy industry in the region. We visited the Wilder family home, a selection of outbuildings and a barn dating back to 1890 that was built without any nails or glue but instead by using a jigsaw style of woodwork where all the pieces slot together. Incredible. 

In the photographs, see if you can spot Henry pumping iron.

The park offered views over sandy beaches, steep bluffs hanging over the Pacific and across lush forests and idyllic meadows. It was a haven for birds and a variety of deer. Lots of bikers were out exploring the trails.

Further up the coast we stopped at a wonderful hidden gem, Shark Fin Cove, sometimes known as Shark Tooth Beach. 

The huge rock emerging from the water like the dorsal fin of a huge shark is striking. Cue the "Jaws" music!

We were excited to see so many wild birds; pelicans, cormorants, gulls. We glimpsed some seals cavorting in the cove too. The contrasting rugged mud cliffs and the pristine sandy beach was gorgeous and we could have stayed all day.

Next stop was Año Nuevo State Park. Famed for its elephant seal colony and long sandy beaches, this was a fun stop where we just relaxed and basked in the summer sunshine on the beach. Once again we were joined by seals in the surf and so many squawking sea birds. We had the beach to ourselves. I just wandered down the shore line, beach combing, Kim found a Gandalf walking stick and Henry just sat and relaxed for awhile watching the seals.

Our next stop was Pigeon Point Light Station. 

A little museum atop the cliff, stunning coastal walks, clear views of the kelp forests, a playing field of jagged rocks for so many seals enjoying being tossed around in the crashing waves and of course the looming lighthouse. A harsh but beautiful landscape, perfect for rock pools and mini ecosystems offering a close up view of starfish, anemones, crabs, barnacles, mussels and other hidden creatures. It felt good being buffeted by the wind.

Continuing up the coastline we stopped for drinks and a snack in Davenport and took lots of pics on the way up to Half Moon Bay. Finally we stopped at Maverick's Beach, the famed Californian surfing beach as seen in the movie Chasing Mavericks, surprisingly starring Gerard Butler.

Of course, there was not a wave in sight. Flat as a pancake out there!

Here is some fine footage of the HUGE waves that have been filmed at Maverick's. 

Barbie has been a lightning rod all summer for conversations about gender roles in society. These are challenging conversations worth having, right? 

​Anything directed by Greta Gerwig is a big deal. She chooses her projects with passion and intention, featuring fascinating, often quirky, always complex, female lead characters. I find her work to be extraordinary. 

Margot Robbie is simply perfect in the role of Barbie and such a far cry from her performance in "I, Tonya" that you cannot help but admire her range as an actress. Like Greta Gerwig, she is another smart cookie who chooses her projects with intention. 

Barbie is a blockbuster bombshell and I loved it! 

The movie is so much fun!

The scene where Barbie steps out of her high heel shoes and her foot maintains that Barbie Doll shape is so clever and well executed. Barbie watching Colin Firth as Darcy in Pride and Prejudice as a a legitimate way to ease anxiety made me snort, as I too watch that particular version of P&P to self comfort. It's a classic. That fabulous monologue by America Ferrera as Gloria explaining the impossible expectations of society that women not only have to bear,  but smile with gratitude while bearing them, gave me goosebumps. Hearing Barbie and Ken singing along to Closer to Fine was so funny. And we can all relate to Weird Barbie, right? Except for being able to do the splits. Ha!

The role reversal had me cheering to see women in the traditional male roles from Mount Rushmore to the Supreme Court to The White House (or The Pink House in this case!) but then I was terribly sad to see Ken reduced to a decorative object, seen as foolish, useless, unimportant, irrelevant and without his emotional needs being considered or met, and then I thought, hey, Ken represents us women in society! This movie makes you think about gender, roles and society as we have set it up, with men largely taking the power and control and women being deliberately subverted. This is not an opinion about the movie, this is a fact about society. 

There are so many clever scenes that are riotously funny in the moment, but by the end of the movie those moments add up to a stinging satire of society. Barbie has a kick, a bite and will scratch at your eyes.  

Greta Gerwig said about the movie, "It’s a spicy margarita. There’s like a lot packed into it...I always wanted it to surprise people. I wanted it to make people laugh, but then I also wanted it to kind of almost unexpectedly make people think and cry."

It's a movie that makes you think and have those challenging conversations about gender politics.

​After watching the movie, I don't crave a Malibu Dream House, a pink Corvette convertible, an iconic pretty-in-pink wardrobe with to-die-for accessories, or a Mojo Dojo Casa House, or even a Ken, I simply crave equality. 

I may have to watch it a few more times.

💖💖💖