A Grandom Adventure

 Because it was grand and random. 

On a random Tuesday, the weather was glorious and Mike was away for work. When Hannah told me she found a cheap cart for sale just around the corner from Fair Hill, the temptation was too good to resist. Besides, I love to scare my boss by taking random unexplained PTO during the week. 

Originally, we hoped to bring the horses for a mounted side quest, but after taking some measurements, we realized that horses and cart wouldn't fit in the trailer simultaneously. 

Instead, we went on to have a glorious, fun-filled day of tomfoolery.

#mood

We met at Hannah's in the morning and started the day with a stop at Starbucks for breakfast. I am practically a Starbucks virgin and never know what to order, but I had a breakfast sandwich and a pecan latte, both of which were a lovely start to the day. 

We made a quick stop at a nearby farm to drop Snowflake off at home. Without revealing too much information, the farm and I have a history. It belongs to an endurance rider and I almost lived there in my college days. It is also where I met our late landlord and I've known several horses who came from this farm over the years, including Tookie. Being there was like stepping out of a time capsule. Very trippy.

Donkeys make any day better.

Fall colors were starting to pop.

This girl brought me a lot of joy.

A short while later, we were back on the road and heading south. We stopped at a travel center to use the restrooms. 

In the process, we discovered an info kiosk with brochures about things to do in the area. It turns out "the area" includes the Catskills, central Pennsylvania, and beyond. I picked up several pamphlets of things I'd actually be interested in doing one day.

Then I got derailed by a handout for burial at sea. Of course, I snagged one and we spent the next several minutes of the drive reading up on the options. I joked about leaving it on Mike's desk for his return with zero explanation.

It wasn't long before we arrived at our destination. Long story short, the cart ended up being a bust. The pictures Hannah had been sent were clearly outdated and the cart had spent the interim living out in the elements without protection of any kind. Everything was rusted and dry rotted and I nearly went through the floor while looking at it. Needless to say, we wouldn't be bringing it home with us, and we politely parted ways with the seller.

At first, we were disappointed to not have the horses with us after all, but we are very good at coming up with things to do on short notice. 

I pulled up Google Maps and punched in "things to do near me". The closest attraction that was open was a science center just over the border in Delaware. Iron Hill boasted collections of rocks, bugs, fossils, and local wildlife.

They had me at taxidermy.

We headed through downtown Elkton. Despite driving through the area frequently, I had never been in the borough proper. It was quaint and adorable.

Fun to navigate with horse trailer.

A few minutes later, we arrived outside the museum, which probably would have fit inside my apartment. It was also adorable.

"This is either going to be really good or really bad taxidermy," I prophesied. 
"I'm excited either way," Hannah replied. 

The museum turned out to be a delight. There were two lovely ladies working there when we arrived. They were passionate about the exhibits and I was sad to realize they probably don't get a lot of visitors. We happily paid our $2 admission and set to work admiring the exhibits.

The rock collection in particular was very impressive and I took way too many photos. The taxidermy was delightful as predicted. It was a mixture of really well preserved specimens that were beautifully presented and some comical mounts that would make excellent memes. I loved all of them. 

There were also two horse skulls on display, and we spent some time trying to age them by their teeth. 

I even asked the curators if they knew the history of the horses behind the skulls. I don't think they get that question very often and they may have been slightly concerned. 

After ogling everything in the museum, we visited the souvenir corner. There were lots of delightful goodies, including five-dollar bags of mystery fossils. Hannah promptly purchased two of those while I hoarded a vial of rocks and a complete collection of fossil-themed painted postcards. My inner raccoon was pleased. 

Apparently my boss was concerned about my last minute absence. He ran into Mike and asked if I was ok. I replied with this photo.

The fluorescent rocks were super cool and from a nearby site right here in NJ!

I deeply relate to this little guy.

Walrus skull was not on my bingo card.

There were still some horses in our day.

The turtles impressed me.

Elephant teeth are not what I pictured.

I... want him.

So much cool stuff in such a tiny place.

When the ladies saw our horse trailer, they asked if we had the horses and wanted to bring them in. I replied, "You have no idea how badly we wish we had the horses today..."

After the museum, we were famished. Once again, we picked a random spot on the map. There was a nearby Mexican place and we navigated straight there. The parking lot was tiny so we left the trailer at the funeral parlor next door. 

I took in the rundown buildings around us and whispered, "Hannah, do you think we're in the bad part of town?"
"It looks very plausible. Food should be good..."

Lunch ended up being amazing! The restaurant was beautifully decorated and the staff were all awesome. We ordered horchatas which came out in quart sized containers. We asked our waitress for her recommendations and then ordered what she advised. Everything was delicious.

While waiting for our food to come out, we learned about the tragic love story of the Aztec princess Iztaccíhuatl and the brave warrior Popocatépetl, who were turned into twin volcanoes overlooking the Valley of Mexico.

A bucket of horchata. Don't mind if I do.

Our next stop was my house. Bonnie had been alone all day and we agreed to take her for a walk in the woods. We would essentially pass my house on the way to Hannah's.

This meant taking some back roads that are familiar to me but basically unknown to Hannah. As we passed some local parks, we started to hatch riding plans for the coming weeks. Who says we can't multitask?

Back at my house, I realized that I was home, but my car and house keys were at Hannah's. Whoops.

I'm sure Mike appreciated a phone call that started with, "Hey, babe. Dumb question. Do we have spare house keys around here somewhere?"

Thankfully, the landlord had recently left some nearby and I didn't have to break in by scaling the building. I'm honestly getting too old for that.

Bonnie was very happy to show Hannah the private trail in our woods!

We wrapped up by heading back to the barn, where I fed Max and Chip. Then Hannah and I stayed up way past our bed time chatting and trying to teach Merlin to smile on command. (He got as far as "stare at Dom and do something with my mouth".)

Close enough.
Another flattering photo for the album.

All in all, it was a super fun day. Hannah and I seem to have lots of things in common, and we're slowly discovering them. Apparently a love of taxidermy is one of those things, as well as the ability to pick random roadside attractions at the drop of a hat. I've had many excellent horseback adventures with Hannah in the last few years. Hopefully this will be the first of many non-horse escapades we can enjoy too!