Weekend Excursion

Dan and I took a short trip to points south this past Saturday.

First stop was the Los Angeles Zoo. It was a rather cold and gloomy day so not to many of the animals were out where they could be seen. A number were enticed out by food placed around their exhibits, but others were hiding out by heat lamps or in their sleeping boxes.

Our next stop was Burbank for lunch. We had hoped to have lunch at the Bob's Big Boy (the oldest remaining Bob's Big Boy in America) but the place was packed and we could not find parking nearby. We spotted Papoo's Hot Dog Show across the street and decided to try that instead. Dan tried the Red Dog which was a hot dog covered in barbecue sauce and I tried the Kraut Dog. Both were good but we really liked the sweet potato fries we ordered on the side which were served with barbecue sauce and ranch dressing.

On the way home we stopped at the Somis Nut House for some of their delicious peanut butter and other goodies.

Happy Birthday Barbie!

Today is the 50th Anniversary of the Barbie doll. Barbie Doll debuted on March 9th, 1959 at the American International Toy fair in New York city. She has changed in appearance many times over the past 50 years but will always be my favorite doll.

I got my first Barbie doll in the spring of 1968. She was a second hand doll purchased at a church bazaar. Although the doll was an older model, with straight-legs and a ponytail hair style, she provided many years of fun. In the early 1970s I received a few newer dolls to add to my little family of Barbie dolls. Unfortunately, I no longer have my original dolls due to some strange whim in my late teens that led me to give them all away.

In the mid 1990s Mattel started creating vintage reproductions of the older Barbie dolls. I purchased a few of them as well as newer dolls to add to my collection so the fun continues!

The photo above is of my Solo in the Spotlight vintage reproduction doll. I altered the photo using Adobe Photoshop.