[getparkd]

The best places to visit that AREN’T National Parks

These first two picture were taken at one of my favorite places I have ever been, which is a huge claim as I have been to the Grand Tetons. Had we not glanced at our National Parks service map we would have never found this place. This is Lincoln Boyhood National Historic Site. In Lincoln City, Indiana, this site can only be found with the help of Lola (our GPS) and those little brown signs on the side of the road. 

Lincoln Boyhood NHS takes you back in time to the not-so-presidential homestead of one of the great American heroes. Hearing about that little log cabin in history class does not do it justice. Although it is not there anymore, the site has been replicated with stone works and is an amazing site to see. Also on the site is his mother’s grave. There are stacks of pennies lying at the headstone and it will give you chills to witness such an amazing part of history. 

What can I possibly say about Harry Truman? Not much that’s for sure. When I pictured his boyhood home I pictured a cute, humble home that was well preserved from it’s original state. I did not picture a indiscrete home marked by a simple historic sign. Needless to say I was disappointed, but still glad that I got to see yet another Presidential home.  

I’d imagine that Minuteman Missile National Historic Site would have been much cooler if we actually got to see the missile. Unfortunately, we were late and the building had closed. Our disappointment was short lived, as we were very excited to get to the Badlands. I’d imagine that it’d be a more eventful stop if the building was open, but if you are right there you might as well. 

Mount Rushmore! The only worthwhile part is the lighting show in the evenings. It is kind of surreal to see this after learning about it your whole life. All I could think about was that Phineas and Ferb episode where Dr. Doof takes a lava pipe through Washington’s nose. It was also really cool to see because Teddy Roosevelt is my favorite historical figure and I got some cool socks with his face on it from the gift shop. 

This was by far my favorite stop of our whole trip. Little Bighorn National Battlefield is truly sacred ground. I am a huge history buff and learning about Westward Expansion has always been fascinating to me. To learn about the atrocities that the United States government committed and got away with never fails to amaze me, in a bad way that is. Naturally, Custer’s Last Stand is a historical moment that has been of interest to me. To be able to stand where the doomed Custer stood was amazing. The empty field of rolling grass further take you back in time and remind you of what happened on that battlefield. The American Indian artwork is also beautiful in contrast to the bright blue sky. I would recommend visiting this site to anyone and everyone. 

Another site that is absolutely magical. Hearing the stories about the giant bear climbing up the tower make perfect sense. It is much bigger than I imagined it to be as well, as you can see it for miles in the distance. It is a bit secluded from anything else, but well worth the drive. Make sure you get a picture of the tower through the puff of smoke pictured above. 

Growing up driving the Blue Ridge Parkway, I am accustomed to winding roads of the sides of mountains, overlooking beautiful blue and green valleys. This parkway is something entirely different. I will say that it is amazing in a different way than my beloved Blue Ridge is (although the Blue Ridge will always be my favorite). Seeing the Teton Range looming in the distance puts to scale how vast those mountains really are. 

Independence Rock! This hunk of stone is a long ways from civilization. We drove for 2 hours without seeing another car. But don’t worry, you will have plenty of pronghorn to keep you company! In the picture, you can see me and my little brother are both climbing it, but what you don’t see is that I eventually made it to the top. While up there I saw initials carved from the original settlers. I felt like a real pioneer that’s for sure. Luckily, none of us died of dysentery! Also, fair warning, make sure if you are making the drive to this site that you load up on gas before you leave, it’ll be awhile until you see another station. 

[angels-twice-descending]

sorry not sorry (credits to @arianwen44 for the artwork)

[monstermemories]

WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT

[a-fandom-trashdump]

Ow

[sandersstudies]

I love genuinely innocent “boys will be boys.” Just saw a guy come out of a frat house to poke a pair of jeans they’d left outside - they were frozen solid, and as soon as he confirmed that, like twenty more boys came rushing out of the house going “YOOOOOOOOOO”

[rebelminds]

I heard grunting outside my window the other night and there were four boys struggling to push this giant snowball (like 7 foot diameter) down the sidewalk.

[snarling-through-our-smiles]

I once lost my keys at a frat house.

My drunk ass had actually walked home without them, pounded on my apartment door, gotten let in by my rightfully-disgruntled roommate, and proceeded to pass out on the couch.  Apparently I puked in the toilet before passing out.  I do not remember this part.

The next morning, I schlepped back to the frat house.  I stood there, right in front of the front door.  This was a novel experience for me.  I’d never been at a frat house in broad daylight before.

A boy, presumably, of the house, asked me what I was doing. 

“I lost my keys in here last night,” I called back.  “I was seeing if I could go in and look for them?”

He opened the door and gestured for me to come in.

“Go wherever you want.”

I’d never seen a frat house post-party before.  Wandering up the stairs and through the halls, I was surrounded by hungover and still-drunk frat boys stumbling around in their socks and sandals and gym shorts, seeking out food and showers like moths to a porch light.  A few of them threw puzzled glances my way.  I’m sure they thought I was some post-bacchanalia hallucination.

I entered one room where a boy was drunkenly watching some Old Yeller-esque movie on a tiny TV in the corner of his room from his bed.

“Do you like dog movies?” he asked, voice all mumbly from grogginess and also from the fact that his face was squished against his pillow and half-buried by his blanket.

I told him I did.

He mumbled again, pleased, and asked what I was doing.  I told him I was looking for my keys.

“Sorry, I haven’t seen any keys around here.”

I didn’t doubt him.

Twenty minutes had passed.  I’d searched just about every bedroom and nuclear-waste-dump-site of a bathroom in that house.  I’d given up on ever finding my keys and was prepared to beg my roommates’ forgiveness and get a new set copied.

As I stood there in the hallway, silently bewailing my predicament, a particularly-burly frat boy approached me.

“You need help with something?”

“I lost my keys here last night and I can’t find them, I’ve looked everywhere.”

“What do they look like?  I’ll put it into the group chat.”  He was already pulling out his phone.

No one ever checks a group chat, I thought, but what the hell.  It was worth a shot.  “Um, it’s just a ring of keys.  The keychain is a pink plastic cat, though, like yea big.  Like bright pink, you can’t miss it.”

He nodded, presumably typing this description faithfully into the group chat.

“Alright, I sent the message out.  Good luck.”

And with that, he turned and left.

A few moments later, I heard a distant thundering.  It was coming from upstairs, and it was getting louder and louder.  One assumes that how I felt in that moment was how Simba felt seeing the wildebeest stampede through the ravine as a horde of large young men all thundered down the stairs, making a beeling for me.

“Someone tell the girl!” One of them shouted, faceless in the mob.  “Girl!  Hey, GIRL!!!  We found your keys, girl!!!”

They circled around me.  I hadn’t felt that small since I was maybe eleven years old.  One of them split himself off from the crowd.

“Are these -” he pulled out a ring of keys from his pocket, “your keys?”

And lo, there was the distinctive bright millennial pink cat keychain dangling off the ring.

“Yes,” I whispered.  “Oh my god, yes.”

“EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!”

The cheer went up.

Turns out he found them in the bathroom upstairs.  I thanked them again profusely.  There was a scattered round of “no problems” and then, just as suddenly as they descended, they all dispersed, like ships in the night.

[nyctosaurid]

are those two dudes from supernatural ok? it’s been like 14 years. there’s high schoolers younger than their contract. i don’t think i’ve ever seen them in any other shows. are they allowed to leave? do they feed them?

[aweirdintrovert-deactivated2018]

i had to take matters into my own hands

[meanplastic]

This iconic “makeover” on 10 Years Younger.

[encriptado]

[i-peed-so-hard-i-laughed-deacti]

[callmehass]

white people are so crazy

[canadianslut]

[realnuisancealligator]

bitch are u aware ur child is evil

[jamescantlift]

Why brain-wash your children like that? They can’t even vote? What’s the point .. It’s kinder scary to think that is the next generation of people in the world .. Get a brain kid!

[great-tweets]

PLEASE UNMUTE THIS. PLEASE. 

[rustybuckett]

[nickaroooo]

[damienstarry0w0]

You guys missed the best part

[ladybugsandchats]

Y'all missed the best part: HER REACTION AFTER ALL THIS

[novafuzzcheeks]

They’re in CHURCH WITH THIS LMAO

[brittany-murphy]

[gemini]

My phone: *incoming call* Me: 🔫👀

[vsingers-archive]

me: opens a package and sets the box aside

my cat:

[scoobycore]

this is another perfect example of how memes are just hieroglyphic. no one is gonna know what the fuck this means one day.

[osointricate]

OR this will be the base of a new hieroglyphic written language that our decendents will have to learn in school in order to properly communicate in their day to day lives.

[eggpuffs]

[kadywicker]

“kids these days are so cringey w their fortnite dances-” are none of yall going to acknowledge the shit we did. are we not going to acknowledge gangnam style. what does the fox say. if we go older hamster dance. crazy frog. the fucking duck song. the llama song. charlie the unicorn.

let he who is without sin throw the first stone

[thisusedtoberum-deactivated2017]

[mayreuhdith]

is this a renaissance painting?

[magistrate-of-mediocrity]

“Interrogation of the Zodiac Killer” -The Ghost of Sandro Botticelli ca 2015

[onesideisgreatness]

So I slapped some mathematics on this picture and…

The red lines divide the picture into thirds. They also mostly coincide with the doorway (and Cruz’s right hand), framing him nicely as the Main Character of this picture.

The green line was placed using the golden ratio (the ratio between parts of the picture above it and below it is close enough to 1:1.618). It also goes right under his chin (and through some reporters’ hands or tools).

The purple lines are diagonals that are framing the reporters really nicely.

I’m pretty sure you could also do something clever with a circle and the yellow doorway behind him, but I don’t have the patience to fiddle with that.

Basically, this picture has the same “maths are beautiful” aesthetic as (some well-known) Renaissance paintings.

[everydaylouie]

happy halloween! here is a ghost duet

[trappedblackrose-deactivated201]

I love this so much. I always play it when it comes on

[c0litasxo]

how cute

[ravenclawhasthetardis]

I

[mockwa]

Russian roads, only 30 sec

[vonisv]

What’s with Russia and dashcams?

[thathomestar]

to have car insurance in russia, dashcams are required because russians are terrible drivers

[intel-i386-deactivated20160703]

did you really need to ask what’s up with dashcams in Russia after watching this video

[bob-belcher]

[littleredbard]