Victorian Glamping

Stereoscope card of an 1877 trip into the Colorado Rockies by a team of botanists, their wives and friends, guides and a cook.

 Recreational camping began in America during the Victorian Era, so I had wondered why camping, as far as I could tell, had not been embraced by the steampunk community. That is about to change. The Cowford Steampunk Society out of Jacksonville, Florida is organizing a Victorian Glamping event in October (which is when Florida weather becomes tolerable without AC).

https://www.facebook.com/events/219775821547894/

  In case the concept of "glamping" is new to you, it means "glamorous camping". Modern glamping looks something like this:

  Glamping seems to be particularly popular in the UK, which is where this picture came from (http://www.glampingholiday.co.uk/).

 The idea is to enjoy an adventure in the great outdoors without really roughing it.

 This is my favorite photograph of a real Victorian Era luxury tent setup:
Annie Oakley

It's never too early to plan for something like this, so a few days ago, when I found an interesting little folding table at a thrift store, I bought it to go in our tent.



I sanded it down and refinished it to match the wooden folding chairs we already have.



The tag on it said it was a coffee table, but it folds flat and can be adjusted to different heights.




If you would like to see more of the glamping ideas I've collect, I have a Pinterest board labeled "Steampunk Camping": http://www.pinterest.com/lisarooney/steampunk-camping/

Open House at the Mag Lab

I have been doing a poor job of keeping this blog up-to-date, but a very good job of keeping busy.

This past Saturday we took Blaze and the 3 year old I babysit for to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory for an open house. It was a great science field trip because there were so many fun, hands-on demonstrations for the children.





The whirly gigs were a lot of fun, even though sometimes they headed towards the heads of parents, instead of through the hoops they were supposed to go through.















She didn't understand the magnetic part, but she sure liked the shaking out the metal filings part.

Springtime Has Arrived in Florida

We had a good week here, even though the rest of the country is under record-breaking snow and ice.

Facebook was full of pictures like these this morning:





Blaze and I spent Tuesday afternoon at Maclay Gardens, looking at the camellias, azaleas, and magnolias that are now in bloom.













The house/museum at Maclay Gardens is only open January through April, so this was our first time being able to tour the house.















Thursday was the Tallahassee Homeschool Valentine party at Optimist Park.



The children made some very creative boxes to hold their valentines.







There were lots of goodies, as well.

Transportation History Around Tallahassee

The sunny weather returned yesterday, so Blaze and I went to check out a train that we had seen from a distance, as we turned from the park the day before.





Then, today, we visited the Tallahassee Automobile Museum for the fist time.





The tour starts with Abraham Lincoln's hearse,



then the automotive history begins.











I have decided that this is my dream car:







There is a collection of batmobiles:







The museum has some other collections, as well.

Motorcycles:



golfing memorabilia, Case knives, cash registers, boats,





outboard motors, native american artifacts, toys,







and a large collection of children's peddle cars.



This was the car I had as a child: