YouTube 2022 Edition: Travel 3

Well, this post is a *little* late but released on the correct day! So we are gonna count that as acceptable! For how much happened this week and how much we did/accomplished, we still will take the points.

For those new to this, every year we curate a list of our FAVORITE YouTube videos of the year. Then in the following year, curate them by theme and share them monthly! We don't pay for any streaming services so since a lot of YouTube is free, we heavily rely on that for our visual & audio entertainment. This is our...3rd year doing this? So feel free to scroll back to our older posts to find more great recommendations!

So as you can see, we are on part three of the Travel List! There are still a lot of Carpetbagger videos but a few that aren't his. He tends to travel (and specifically go to roadside attractions, amusement parks etc) a lot so more likely than not his videos will be most of the list. We've created road trip plans/stops based on his videos. Well, enough of that...let's get started!

Circus World Ft. Trevor Whittow

https://youtu.be/nGO8HUmKXTg

Before modern theme parks, the entertainment industry was dominated by traveling circuses and fairs. Take a look into the history of the Circus industry with this impressive museum. Showcasing props, posters, wagons, live elephants and more, this video is well worth the watch. Learn about the first Giraffe in the West, as well as the difficulties associated with transporting an entire festival across the country. This video had SO MUCH information and the guide, Trevor, knew his stuff. You could tell how much he loved it all and how much passion he had for its history. We learned far more than we thought we even wanted to know! Made us want to go walk around and see for ourselves since they couldn't cover everything there in this video. Go and at least skim through to see if you are interested in watching the whole thing.

Amazing Animatronic Dragons! at the Milwaukee Zoo

https://youtu.be/QVgOjtz-TEI

Animatronic dinosaurs at a zoo? Explore the Milwaukee Zoo, complete with fish and animals, but also animatronics and amusement park theming. Quite a unique experience combining a traditional zoo with a collection of unique and fantastical animatronic attractions. Another fun place we would love to go to. We really enjoyed the artwork and creativity of this place and already have it on our list! Would you go here?

Gatlinburg Update November 2020 - New Hot Sauce Museum, Closed Attractions

https://youtu.be/JfVrjmFFZAk

Gatlinburg Tennessee, is a wonderful town full of attractions and shops. With roller coasters, a Biblical attraction, Pumpkin Scarecrows, a chair lift, and a glass bridge, what else would you need? Oh, that's right, there's a museum dedicated entirely to hot sauce. Definitely, a lot packed into a small town. We remember his previous video talking about when he stopped by and was disappointed that it was closed. Honestly, didn't think we would care. But this stop ended up being a surprise and we'd love to go see more!

Pod Cars of the Past and Future: The Morgantown PRT

https://youtu.be/iaSaWfw07Sw

Imagine if instead of busses and trains, there were little personal pod cars you could take from place to place that ran on a track system? That was the dream of West Virginia University. In 1975 they developed a prototype of what was at the time considered the "Public transportation of the future" Why did this design not take off, and what does it look like in the present day? Learn more about it in this short but informative video! (We want to ride! Can we bring this to Colorado Springs please?)

The world's only float-through McDonalds

https://youtu.be/A6F96xSoLPg

Mcdonald's has locations across the world, but did you know that there's a Mcdonald's in Germany where you can order from your very own McBoat? Yes that's right, it's a boat dock that you can dock at to order a fast bite as you travel along the canal. At one point they even had a speaker to order at, but due to changes in how people order it has now essentially switched to a mobile ordering pickup dock. It's quite fascinating how Mcdonald's (and other large corporations) have spread across the globe fitting into unique niches that wouldn't appear as being industry standard based on our perceptions.

How fun is THIS? We are just stunned by the....difference and innovation of this idea. Just that it IS adaptive to the area is fun with thought and care. What can we take from this and try to apply it to our current businesses? We are excited about what new changes and discoveries will be made next around the world!

The Toilet Seat Art Museum

https://youtu.be/yBANA-554hQ

I've often said that everything is collected by someone, and any type of trash can be someone's treasure. This museum is a great example of this. A man named Barney Smith collected toilet seats and toilet seat art, amassing a large collection over the years. Prior to his death, he sold his collection to create a museum of his life's work. This is that museum. Featuring just about every type of toilet seat art imaginable, this is a great perspective-changing experience. What trash do you have that you treasure, and what would it look like if it was a curated collection of tons of the same type of trash? I firmly believe that a collection of curated trash can change its value from simple trash to an artistic exhibit that anyone could look at and see some sort of value in it

The sheer number of how many he has made is impressive indeed. Each held a message that took time and care in the design and creation. It's funny that if we had (or could) stick to one medium and idea...we would definitely have a house like that. The sheer number of art there are there and the difficulties of showing everything through a video, we are hoping that some day we will be able to stop by and see them all for ourselves!

Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum

https://youtu.be/l4bUKKbmJLk

Another example of collections of mundane items curated into an artistic exhibit. Salt is the oldest seasoning known to man, as well as being essential to our survival so it's no wonder that people have been designing custom containers and dispensers for it. This museum houses the world's largest collection of salt and pepper shakers, holding over 20,000 pairs of salt and pepper shakers! Marvel with us at the variety and the creativity that was put into the designs. In our modern world, much of what we use is now mass-produced and looks very standard, making it easy to forget a time when the majority of what was used had its own unique character and charm to it, adding life and personality to the area.

So. Many. Shakers. Like a mind-numbing amount. We KNEW that there were collectors. But after watching this video and realizing how many DESIGNS were out there (that at least managed to survive and make it here). It's just a bit difficult to wrap our heads around. We did see quite a few designs that were just BRILLIANT! Either the design of how to dispense/hold the salt and pepper or the artwork of the vessel.

Can we just step back a minute and stop to take a look at the items around you RIGHT NOW as you are reading this? How many of those have been around for years? That you know are factory made? THOSE items have people who dedicate their lives to the enjoyment and love of their existence. There is probably a museum or a huge personal collection of those types of items. Or clubs and organizations are obsessed with it. We all have our interests and this is a collection that shows just how much people LOVE salt and pepper shakers!

Erick Erickson's House of Masks - Living in a Private Funhouse

https://youtu.be/3WPEa-Ef8qQ

Erick Erickson is an eccentric prop and game creator who has worked on props for many of the older films as well as designing and building arcade games. Watch him take The Carpetbagger on a personal tour of his custom-built home that houses thousands of his own creations as well as a lot of other retro arcade games and props that are in his personal collection. This home is put together with such care. We are so glad that Carpetbagger documented this experience! Take a watch and see how exciting this house is~

Death Valley is WRECKED

https://youtu.be/Vn4IJFERCRM

Death Valley gets rain? Apparently last year they not only got rain, but they got a lot of it. Watch along as Matt travels along the ruined and washed-out highway, rescuing stuck tourists along the way. Always a good reminder to watch out and prepare for the worst. Nature is very unpredictable and can have nasty surprises if we don't plan ahead, even in the driest desert there can be flooding, so bring some water bottles and popcorn for this ride!

Just a video that took us by surprise. Sometimes you don't realize how much nature does its thing without you even knowing! Fun nature documentation video you'll want to check out!

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And that concludes this month's last Travel List! Which of these videos interested you the most? Out of all the Travel videos released this month, which one would you want to go see for yourself?

What an exciting world to go see!

So now that we are done with the Travel List...I guess it's time to tell you what's next month's topic right?

You'll just have to wait and find out! ;P

See you in the next post!