Spend the night in a vintage trailer!

Summer may be coming to a close but there's still time for one last road trip! If you're anywhere near Bisbee, Arizona you should consider stopping for a night at The Shady Dell where you can stay in one of their fully-restored vintage trailers. So cool! Here's an excerpt from their website:

Our sleek collection of vintage travel trailers are all perfectly restored to combine mid-century Americana kitsch with the comforts of home in a way that only the 1950s were capable of.  Each trailer, such as the 1949 Airstream, or the 1950 Spartan Manor, are available for an overnight stay. For once, experience the 1950s in full Technicolor.

True story: I was about 11 when my dad brought home a vintage silver trailer much like the ones above. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! They parked it at my grandma's house, and while we never took any road trips with it, I did convince my little sister to spend the night in it with me a couple times, even though we never hooked it up to any electricity. Hahaha! My parents sold the trailer to a friend a couple months later, and it's still one of those things that they (and I) regret. I wish I had that trailer today! 

If you're, like me, lamenting the trailers of your past, or just want to try out something fun and different for a weekend away, The Shady Dell is the perfect spot! Peruse their website and choose the trailer (or bus or yacht!) you'd like to stay in. There are great pictures of each of the trailer's interiors, all complete with period-appropriate decor and accessories! So good! And seriously, how cute are the owners?

I was digging around the web and discovered a couple bloggers from my everyday reading list have stayed at the Shady Dell. Read about How About Orange and Oh So Lovely Vintage's experiences staying the night in these cool trailers - it looks like so much fun!

Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend, wether or not you're camping out in your grandma's driveway!

All photos via The Shady Dell.

Vintage maps and Mr. ZIP.

I haven't had much time for thrift shopping lately, but lucky for me, my mom has! She found a vinyl folder (the kind you would keep in your glovebox) full of vintage U.S. road maps. The graphics on these are so cool!

"Roads of the future built with asphalt." Isn't that great? Just look at those pristine roadways and that attractive clover. :)

I love the redwoods and the couple with the cool car.

How about some camping, 60's style?

I know I would have a "pleasanter trip" if I knew where all the clean restrooms were along the way!

Smokin' Conoco ad on the back of one of the maps. The artwork on this one is really nice.

There was also this little booklet of postcards instructing mail users on how to use the new zip code system! After some quick research (thanks, Wikipedia), I discovered that this little cartoon's name is Mr. ZIP and he was the official mascot of the ZIP Code System that was rolled-out in 1963. ZIP stands for Zone Improvement Program if you didn't know (I didn't). You could fill in the cities you need on the postcard, mail it in, and they will send it back to you with the codes filled out for you. Pretty neat!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, everyone! I'm hoping to get a lot of printing done (I'm working on a bunch of new items!) and spend some time with my family, too.

Portland in February.

So this post is a bit late. At the end of February I took a little leisurely vacation to Portland. It was freezing cold, but relaxing and fun just the same. For some reason, though, the night before the flight I decided to turn in my 30 day notice to vacate letter at my apartment building. Did I have a new place to live, you ask? NO. Did I have any good leads on a new place to live? NO. Seriously, what was I thinking?! I justified it because the rental market moves so quickly around here and if you’re not ready to sign on the dotted line (and sign a big check) the place goes to the next highest bidder. Someone with their bags packed and ready to go or someone who can afford to pay rent for two places at once. Since I’ll probably never fit into the second category I figured I could forcefully cram myself into the first one. So the vacation was lovely, but was sprinkled with Craigslist searches and a few phone calls here and there. Nothing frantic, though, since I had all the time in the world (less than a month) to figure it out. Well, 3 weeks, uncountable emails, a few slums, and a mental break-down later I had signed a lease and received the keys to my new abode: a sweet 1950’s duplex. Now, looking back, my vacation feels like a lifetime ago. Oops. Probably could have planned that better. Oh well.

Anyway, here’s a little glimpse of my Portland vacation. 
Don’t forget to put a bird on it!

We got there right at the tail-end of a snow storm. It was beautiful!

Multnomah Falls, partially frozen.

Voodoo Doughnuts and Stumptown Coffee Roasters. So delicious... 

Cool fountain in the Pearl District with lots of horsetails (one of my favorite plants). I didn’t take nearly as many photos as I wanted too, but it was just too cold to take my gloves off. Yeah, I know I’m a wimpy Californian. This fountain thought it was pretty cold:

Ok, enough of this procrastinating. I've got packing to do!