New Category Ideas

Lately I've been itching to start a few new categories. I went through a phase when I first started waymarking when I had tons of ideas and really enjoyed creating categories, but then I burned out on it. I guess everyone probably does that - you start waymarking and have all these cool ideas that you want to turn into categories. Then, I realized it was a lot easier talking other people into creating the group and just joining as an officer. You still get the fun but only have to do half the work. :) Did anyone else go through that category creating phase, or is it just me?

Now I'm getting the itch again. I keep getting ideas and then forget to write them down. I remember two of them, though: "Unintentionally humorous signs" (read the last post) and then "Old theatre marquees/signs". I've wanted to see a theater sign category on the grid for a long time but didn't want to work through all the logistics as to what the requirements would need to be. I'd still be glad to pass the theatre sign idea off to someone else and join as an officer, though. Any takers?

The sign pictured here is from the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theater - a historic theater built in 1921 that can be found in the Chicago Loop. I'll be waymarking it soon in the U.S. National Registered Historic Places, the American Guide, and the Official Tourist Attraction categories.

Do Not Hump Under Any Circumtances

So as I was wandering around a very cool old railroad complex and roundhouse in Evanston, Wyoming I came upon an old dining car that had these words on the side of it. "DO NOT HUMP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES." I had a good laugh since I have a 5th grader's sense of humor and then had my husband explain the railroad lingo behind this funny sign. It seems that to "hump" a railroad car is to use a small hump in the tracks to get it to roll to where you want it. The car goes over the hump and then the hill causes it to roll further without having to push it or tow it there. I'm sure that's a simplistic and possibly not-quite-correct explanation of the term, but it will do.

When we got home from our trip I posted the photo on flickr with the tag "sign" and it has become my most popular photo by far. None of my cool neon sign photos or funky art shots or architecture shots come close. I guess everyone appreciates a good chuckle.

The waymarker Team TGF saw it and said there should be a category for unintentionally funny signs. I know that someone brought up the idea a long time ago, but it never went anywhere. It would be a great category though, and if I don't remember to bring it up in the forums and get it going, someone else do it. It would be a great companion to the "odd business combos" group. I found one of those in Evanston too - a combo fireworks store and liquor store originally called "Porter's Fireworks and Firewater."

The Rainy Days of Summer

Most people know that Western Washington is known for its damp weather. I was born and raised here, and although I don't have the proverbial webbed feet I am well equipped for handling the rain - at least for 9 months of the year. However, I am not able to comprehend how to deal with a week of rain in July, especially after returning from a vacation in the blazing summer sun. It is absolutely ridiculous! Yesterday I had to dig out my rain suit to take my dog to the dog park. I couldn't even remember where it was. Usually I don't have to start looking for it until mid to late September.

Anyhow, Washington's rainy weather is prime waymark posting weather. It sucks to waymark in, but ahhhhh, a steaming hot cup of coffee, a nice warm laptop on your lap, and a backlog of waymarks to post is a great way to avoid the rainy day blues. Of course I feel a bit guilty because Troy is out working on the deck while I'm nice and dry and cozy inside. I'll just try to shut my ears to the hammering sounds and occasional exclamations of @#$% and work on my monster backlog of waymarks.

The above photo is of gorgeous Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park, South Dakota, where we camped while in the Black Hills. It happily reminded me of how summer SHOULD look. The park is waymarked in the American Guide category, and eventually I'll waymark the lake in the category by itself. It's on the aforementioned backlog.

Proud Waymarking Moments

Have you ever posted a waymark that you're especially proud of? Maybe one in a category that's really difficult to find, like shot towers? Or, best of all, a waymark that is an incredible find for a specific category? For me, these are the moments that get me addicted to waymarking.

It's never been about the numbers or the bingos for me, but instead about these WOW moments during the hunt. Of course, don't get me wrong, I love watching my waymark total grow and it would be great to have a bingo, however, what I love most is finding a great waymark. Sometimes I happen on them by surprise while I'm out looking for another waymark, or sometimes I stumble upon info on the internet, but either way it's pretty cool.

Over the last few weeks I've been having these moments fairly regularly. Vacation can do that for a waymarker because so many of the waymarks are happy surprises in areas that are unknown to us. I was over-the-top excited to be able to waymark not just a Miro and a Chagall, but also a Picasso in my pet category, Abstract Public Sculptures. I love posting any cool art that I stumble upon in this category, but to get to post several famous pieces was pretty exciting. They're just such great editions to the category.

Penny Smashers is a category that is fun, but I hate standing in a gift shop and photographing a machine. It makes me feel like the weird tourist who photographs everything. We smashed over 20 pennies on this trip but only waymarked a few smashers. My favorite was one at Fort Hays, the movie set to "Dances with Wolves" because of how unique it was. They had an old Black Hills Gold gold press and when you paid the guy your money, he would use tweezers and at just the right time guide the penny into the press. It was really cool and I loved posting such a unique waymark to the category.

We also posted a waymark in one of the more difficult categories, Literary Sites. Of course with Sandburg, Dreiser and Sinclair writing in Chicago, there are plenty of sites to be found. Our waymark is of the historic Stockyard Gates in south Chicago for the book "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. I found an amazing passage about the workers waiting for jobs at the gates and used that as the inspiration for the post. For some reason I am always excited to post in categories like this one, the Immortalized in Lyrics category, or the Ansel Adams Photo Hunt. It's so cool to find the spots that inspired these artists. Hey that gives me an idea! We have a category for locations inspiring literature, music and photography. What about one for visual arts? Locations that can be seen in famous works of art. It could be linked to an art database. Okay, now I'm rambling.

So, I'd love to hear your comments on this and learn about some of the waymarks that you're most proud of and why. Happy waymarking!

Oh - the photo above is of the sculpture "Flamingo" by Alexander Calder and was another famous sculpture I was excited to waymark. I've also waymarked his "Eagle" which is located in Seattle.

Reviewers: Waymarking Ambassadors

I know that I've talked before about how it irks me when reviewers are rude or they don't explain why something is denied. This post is about the opposite: the positive reviewer and the difference they can make.

Now, as many of you know, I've been posting up a storm following our road trip across the midwest. I've noticed how much I look forward to reading the reviewer's comments. Some of them are pretty funny, others express what they think about the waymark, most are very positive. It still gives a warm-fuzzy to a diehard waymarker like myself to hear someone likes my waymark. I'm not fishing for compliments here, but I'm just trying to point out how much more those comments would mean to a brand new waymarker.

People put a lot into their waymarks, at least most people do, and its nice to know that at least the reviewer took the time to read through and learn about the spot. It feels good to hear, "Wow, what a cool spot. Thanks for posting the waymark." And as a beginner, it helps bring the person into the waymarking community. And not just when a waymark is accepted. I had one denied this week and the reviewer said something like, "This is a really cool waymark, but the category requires a photo of a sign or a picture on a map with the name of the place showing. If you can find something like that please resubmit the waymark." As a reviewer, if someone posts something in the wrong category, I try to point them in the right direction. For example, "This is a great piece, but it isn't really an abstract sculpture. We'd love it if you'd post it in the figurative sculpture category instead." Being postive and helpful is the key.

Think about it. Most likely the first contact a brand new waymarker will have with the waymarking community will be with a reviewer. That makes you reviewers out there ambassadors for the hobby of waymarking. Think of that when you have that list of some 20 new waymarks to review. It's easier to just breeze through and not type any comments, but what a difference your comments can make.

The above picture is of Devil's Slide, in Utah near echo canyon. It was the waymark that I spoke of above (denied, but I resubmitted it.)

Post-Vacation Backlog

Okay, many of you already know that I'm a slave to the icon. The cool grid and all of the Website's awesome icons really get my compulsive side going. I'm not really excited about the bingo - I just like seeing the grid fill up and this trip has definitely added a bunch of icons to my grid. My guess is that when all is said and done, I'll have icons for close to 50 new categories. Weird how a 1/4" picture can get a grown woman all excited. It's like back in elementary school and getting gold stars on your homework (only much more stylish :)

The quest for categories has caused me some hemming and hawing as to which waymarks to post first. I'm torn between the waymarks that will get me a new icon and the waymarks that are just really cool or are in my favorite categories. I opted to post the new category waymarks that are hard to find and that might be posted out from under me (take note Bruce, Farkle and NevaP.) So rare or regional waymarks like Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple, my Mies van der Rohe IBM Building for the "Master Architects: International Style" category, my state historic marker waymarks, and Historic Survey Stone have been waymarked. Next, I've been trying to post the waymarks that I think are really cool (or weird) - Frank Gehry's Pritzker Pavilion, the Jolly Green Giant, the Spam Museum (an oddball museum - you can't get much odder than Spam), famous sculptures by Picasso, Calder, Miro and Chagall, and oh so much more.

It's gotten to the point where I have to limit myself on computer time. I get so excited about posting the waymarks for some of these places that I'm not getting any work done. I swear I must have spent about 6 hours total on the computer the other day. I took most of today off from the computer to catch up, but watch out - tomorrow I'm back, baby!

The above photo is a detail shot of the coffered stained glass ceiling of Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois. It is one of my favorite buildings and it was an awesome experience to get to wander around the building and soak it all up. He was truly a genius. I went overboard taking pictures of the church so be sure to check out the gallery.

The After-Vacation Mess

We returned from our trip on Monday and I've been busy unpacking, shopping for groceries, and all the other chores that need to get done after a vacation. In fact, I could you a vacation from the chores of vacation. This mess is worth it, though. We had an incredible time and saw a lot of the country that we'd never seen before. Already we're talking about where we'll go next year and it will likely be a road trip from Washington, D.C. down to Atlanta, Georgia. For now I need to concentrate on catching up and logging all of the waymarks from this trip.

Yesterday I posted about nearly 50 waymarks, half of them in the neon category. I'll post some more today but I really need to concentrate on updating the Wayward site features and tools. My biggest heartache was finding out that the Overland Stagecoach station that I waymarked won't fit in the Butterfield Overland Stage Markers location. It's a cool restored station and barn in Wyoming, and I can waymark it in a couple other categories, however, I really wanted that Butterfield Stage icon. Oh well, maybe on the next trip to the in-laws I'll find one.


The photo in this post is taken from my Rapid City Laundry waymark in South Dakota. It was one of the first neon signs that we came across and got all of us so hooked on the neon category that we stopped in a ton of little towns we never would have pulled off the interstate for, just to check their downtowns for neon. This is an action sign and the laundress moves up and down, scrubbing her laundry in the tub.

Road Trip: Iowa and Nebraska

Well, we're finished with the driving portion of this vacation and are back in Wyoming for a few days before flying back to Seattle. It was an exhausting couple of weeks but so much fun that we're already talking about next year's trip. The last 2 days on the road were spent in Iowa and Nebraska. We had both fun and frustration during this part of the trip.

Iowa: In Iowa we met up with 8Nuts and MotherGoose in Davenport for some waymarking fun and great Iowa grub. I don't think that Hunter will ever stop talking about his barbecue dinner. They found us some great waymarks for categories that we still needed marks in, and even took us to a travel bug hotel so we could exchange some bugs that we had brought along on the trip with us. Unfortunately, after we said good night and went back to our tent a storm rolled in dumping 4 inches of rainfall in 6 hours. In the morning we were dry, but the bottom of our tent was like a water bed because the tent was resting in a 4 inch poll of water. While wading through the site and taking the tent down chiggers feasted on my ankles and I am still itching the 35 bites they took out of me. We had time for a couple more marks and breakfast with 8Nuts and MotherGoose before we hit the road, which made up for the rough night.

Nebraska: Hmm... The last time I was through Nebraska I was 6 years old and all I remember was that it took what seemed liked years to get to the other side. 32 years later it was pretty much the same experience. A gripe I have is that they don't sign their rest areas well at all and I missed all but one of NevaP's great waymarks and caches along the way. They don't even sign the restaurants/services at each exit. It really was a pain.

So, we'll be back in Seattle on Sunday and I'll get Wayward Waymarking updated, my emails caught up, and start in on the enormous task of posting the several hundred waymarks that I've taken and all the caches and travelbugs that we've visited. I look forward to sharing these great spots with the waymarking community. If you've emailed me and haven't received a response, know that I'm not ignoring you. Things will be crazy for the next couple of weeks, but I'll be returning emails soon.

Happy waymarking!