Kanauga Kool's Summer Review
Kanauga Kool's Summer Review!
Summer 2022 is officially over for me, even if the calendar says otherwise. My wife (a teacher) and son are back in school – always way too early! I remember going back AFTER Labor Day, and really wished that were still the case. But even with the shortened summer break, we tried to make the best of it with some trips and visiting some pretty cool places.
My summer started off with two trips to Pittsburgh for work. I always try to find something interesting while on work trips, be it a roadside attraction or discovering neat place to eat. On one of those Pittsburgh trips I was able to acquire a 1954 Hasting’s Piston Ring clock made by Dualite. It was in pretty rough shape, but the art still looked pretty good for its age. After obtaining a new glass lens and some TLC, this vintage clock is now running above my workbench in my basement. The end of May had us traveling to Knoxville to see Paul McCartney near the end of his American tour. We had nosebleed seats (which you can see by the photo) but we still had a great time!
Then at the beginning of June we flew to Los Angeles for our biggest trip of the summer. I finally got to see the oldest McDonald’s in the world in Downey, CA (built in 1953). Then we spent several hours at The LaBrea Tar Pits, which turned out to be more interesting than I had anticipated. From there we walked over to The Petersen Automotive Museum, then had dinner at Mel’s Drive-In Restaurant in Santa Monica. We swung by Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood on our way back to our next location.
The remainder of the week was three wonderful days at Disneyland and one day spent at Universal. This was our second trip to Disneyland, as Walt Disney World is much closer (580 miles instead of the 2000+ to Anaheim), but honestly I like Disneyland better. I like not having to deal with buses, monorails, boats, & gondolas. Just wake up early, hit rope drop and have a great day! It’s so much simpler. And I like walking where Walt once walked. Universal Studios Hollywood was much nicer than we had anticipated compared to the one in Orlando as well. It made for an easy day that wasn’t all that crowded. And I got to see Frankenstein’s Monsters as well!
As summer progressed we took a trip to Nashville to show some out of town guests southern hospitality and visited The Country Music Hall of Fame, RCA Studio B, The Elliston Place Soda Shop, and the Johnny Cash Museum. The next day we went to Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, AL which I’ve been to several times – both before and after the restoration. It’s a hidden gem in Alabama if you are rock and roll and soul lover! But one of the coolest things to happen this summer was my teenage son finally coming to me and saying he is ready to learn to play guitar!
Several trips to Six Flags of Georgia were taken while making the most of our season pass, and we took my oldest nephew to The World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. A week later my wife and I continued the “Coke Tour” and drove to the Cedartown Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia. That place blew me away and is highly recommended if you are into Coke! And finally, not quite as many drive-in speaker sets were built this summer but I did put together a nice set from the Whitesburg Drive-In that used to operate in Huntsville, Alabama.
So now school is back… and you know what that means? HALLOWEEN!