Little Treasures

As you may have read on a previous post, I will be traveling to the Pacific Northwest in a few weeks. Besides seeing the Chihuly exhibits or even visiting the original Starbucks in Seattle, I'm actually looking forward to finding the miniature horses on the sidewalks of Portland, Oregon. I think my kids would enjoy going on a little scavenger hunt while we are there.

An artist named Scott Wayne Indiana noticed the abandoned horse rings along the Portland sidewalks (apparently back in the early 1900s, people used to tie their horses and carts to the rings) and decided to tie miniature plastic horses to them. His little art project continues to this day with the Portland people starting The Horse Project which encourages the public to tie their own horses (or other animals to them).

(above photos via)

Which got me thinking about other more local scavenger hunts that may be fun to know about. 

I'm sure you've heard about the hidden Mickeys at Disneyland. There are over 100 hidden Mickeys throughout the Anaheim Disneyland Park. A hidden Mickey is a partial or complete image of Mickey Mouse purposely hidden or blended into its surroundings. Some are pretty obvious:

(photo by Terry Hodges)

Some not so much (these are tiny rivets on the iron guards around the front entrance trees):

Go check out this website to find the most up to date list of hidden Mickeys for the Disneyland Park in Anaheim. Have fun finding them all. 

At Legoland in Carlsbad, California, Miniland USA is the attraction to visit. It's a small scale replica of major cities in America. Apparently in Miniland USA there is only one bathroom built into this attraction. I believe it is located in the New York City section. Find it and be amused.

(via Flickr)

Can there be such a thing as a hidden bridge in my own hometown of San Diego? I was born and raised in San Diego and only recently heard about the two "hidden" bridges. Both the Quince Street Bridge (located between third and fourth avenue over Maple Canyon) and the Spruce Street Bridge (located between fourth and fifth avenue over Kate Sessions Canyon) were built in the early 1900s. Both are hidden neighborhood bridges that are used mostly by pedestrians. The Quince is an old trestle bridge and the Spruce is an old suspension bridge (or as the locals call it "the wiggly bridge"). These bridges are not exactly little treasures, but they are certainly hidden treasures that I can appreciate for the fact they've been around over 100 years and I only now knew about them.  

Have any hidden or secret treasures in your neck of the woods?

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