MMDT12 – Alphabet Journey

Another challenge, another book! I’ve wanted to do an Alphabet Book for the past two years, but never got past Aunt and Baby. About two weeks ago, I decided that I should start one of those life lists – things you want to do/places to go while you can. I knew I wanted to add “all states in the U.S.” but I haven’t quite gotten around to doing the list of the states I’ve been in . . . and does it count if you’re in a room and don’t manage to do any site seeing? Probably not.

That said, I want to be clear on one thing – I misread this assignment totally and somehow thought I would do a board game (I picked Monopoly) and use tiles to create a message, like “Don’t Quit” with the perimeter being photos of life goals/projects, etc. Problem is, I don’t have tiles. Then I reread the assignment and experienced a totally “Duh” moment. I knew I had the perfect road signs that were faith journey oriented. Problem is, I don’t have enough pictures for this project! Then I remembered my journey to North Dakota with my husband in 2010. It was a bus trip and I took so many pictures that my camera battery lost its charge repeatedly.  I was enraptured by the Wall Drug story and became almost giddy when I started seeing their signs along the way. Here’s their story:

“The small town drugstore made its first step towards fame when it was purchased by Ted Hustead in 1931. Hustead, a Nebraska native and pharmacist, was looking for a small town with a Catholic church in which to establish his business. He bought Wall Drug, located in a 231-person town in what he referred to as "the middle of nowhere," and strove to make a living. Business was very slow until his wife, Dorothy, got the idea to advertise free ice water to parched travelers heading to the newly-opened Mount Rushmore monument 60 miles to the west. From that time on business was brisk. Wall Drug grew into a cowboy-themed shopping mall/department store. Wall Drug has over 500 miles (of billboards on Interstate 90, stretching Minnesota to Billings Montana. Wall Drug spends an estimated $400,000 on billboards every year. In addition, many visitors of Wall Drug have erected signs throughout the world announcing the miles to Wall Drug from famous locations, treating it as a geodesic Datum. By 1981 Wall Drug claimed to give away 20,000 cups of water per day during the peak tourist season, lasting from Memorial Day until Labor Day, and during the hottest days of the summer.”

 I shot these pictures were taken with my pocket camera through the window of a moving bus – except the one of my husband with the stuffed Bison and the actual Wall Drug structure itself. My “unusual letter element” is the 1” kraft paper tiles on the page – the letter “W” I added my photo elements around that. I created the page using “Husk” paper and edged everything in Colorbox Chestnut Road Fluid Chalk. The journaling gives the background of Wall Drug (which is located in Nebraska) and is the first completed page of my new A-Z Book of places I’ve been. We’re planning for a Zoo trip (Z for Zoo) or a Children’s Museum (C or M) trip this summer with the grandchildren in Washington DC. I have Niagara Falls pictures (N) and Buffalo New York (B) that would work and I want to take an Erie (E) Canal cruise sometime soon. So, it will be interesting to see how many pages I need to do as I visit every state . . .