Wednesday, April 10, 2013

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.


Miniature horses Portland Oregon

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).

Miniature Horses Portland Oregon

Miniature Horses Portland oregon

Miniature horses Portland Oregon
(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:

Hidden Mickeys
(photo by Terry Hodges)
Some not so much (these are tiny rivets on the iron guards around the front entrance trees):

Hidden Mickeys

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.

NYC bathroom in Lego's
(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?

4 comments:

  1. Hello! We joined the blog hop group on The Wondering Brain's blog, and it has been so fun to visit blog after blog after blog! You have an adorable blog and a great layout. We're your new fans! We live in Portland, Oregon, but have never seen the miniature plastic horses. Hm, something to look for!!! Feel free to check out our blog if you have time.

    Cayla and Ashley
    caylaandashley.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for visiting. I'm glad you enjoy my blog and go searching for them horses in your hometown! I will check out your blog as well!

      Delete
  2. Looks like you have quite a trip ahead. I love the idea of little toy horses tied all around Portland. Very cool. I used to live in a town in California called Norco. It kind of reminds me of that. When I was a kid you could ride your horse everywhere and they even had water troughs at some of the restaurants. It was nice growing up where you could be pet happy. Have fun.

    I'm dropping by and a new follower from the Aloha Friday blog hop. Hope you can drop by and say hello: http://heresmytakeonit.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by and following. You know I'm a California girl and I don't think I heard of a town called Norco, but it sounds like a comforting place. I'll be popping by your blog.

      Delete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...