Month: September 2017

[By Kelly Kazek] When Sweetums and I were driving around North Carolina awaiting our time to visit the Land of Oz (click here to see our photos from the long-abandoned theme park), I noticed our local map marked the site of a Mast General Store. I’d visited the one in downtown Hendersonville a few years before… Continue reading N.C.’s original Mast General Store was well worth the detour

[by Kelly Kazek] On our early first anniversary trip to North Carolina last weekend, Sweetums and I went for the purpose of visiting the Land of Oz on one of only two weekends it is open each year. Click here to see the amazing photos of Oz, a long-abandoned theme park. On the last day of… Continue reading Our trip to Blowing Rock, ‘where snow falls upside down’

[Kelly Kazek] It was the twisted and spooky beech trees that inspired a theme park in the North Carolina mountains. From 1970 to 1980, the Land of Oz was a family attraction located at the top of Beech Mountain, the highest point in the state. Be sure to view both galleries, Vintage Postcards and Autumn at… Continue reading Photos from special weekend at long-abandoned Land of Oz

UPDATE: The cats and home are safe. [Kelly Kazek] All 54 Hemingway cats are safe, and the house is intact, according to Hemingway House General Manager Jacque Sands #HurricaneIrma — Orlando Sentinel (@orlandosentinel) September 10, 2017 My original story: As Hurricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys this morning, I was reading a story about… Continue reading Thinking of six-toed cats at Hemingway Home as Irma hits Key West

[Kelly Kazek] Sweetums has done it again: He surprised me with the perfect gift. He got us tickets to visit the Land of Oz in Beech Mountain, North Carolina. It even had a road paved with, you guessed it, yellow bricks. I'll have a full story when we return, but for now, here's the scoop: The… Continue reading Guess what, y’all?? This Wizard of Odds is going to Emerald City