I have never wanted to follow the yellow brick road.

Munchkins, ruby red slippers, the great and all powerful Oz...the whole thing has always creeped me out. I don't know what it is exactly but it just has. This made it all the more surprising when at my baby shower my father handed me his gift. It was one of those framed memorabilia pieces you'd buy at a collector's store -a framed signed photo of the munchkins. He looked at me - so happy, while my inner voice screamed in terror. 

There was no way this was going on the nursery wall. There was no way this was coming in my house at all. The worst part was that this probably wasn't cheap. Despite the fact that it was the last thing I would ever hang on my wall this could very well be someone else's prize possession. I couldn't stick it in the back of the closet and ignore it. So I did what someone who was never taught how to accept a gift graciously does - I told my dad he needed to take it back. Oh, and in the process broke his heart.

What I didn't know was that one of my dad's dreams was to introduce his grandchildren to Wizard of Oz. How was I to know this? I don't ever actually remember watching Wizard of Oz with my father. Or with anyone actually. Maybe I was so traumatized I blocked it out of my mind. But this insight into my dad's vision of being a grandfather, well...it made me feel like a pretty shitty daughter. That said, I still made him take it back. I can't be haunted every day just out of guilt.  

So now that you know about my one of my greatest fears let me share you something I recently discovered on the internet. 

 

Seriously, how creepy is that? Like something straight out of my nightmares. This eerie broken down yellow brick road actually exists and leads to a now abandoned amusement park in North Carolina called Land of Oz. The park has been closed since the 1980s, but it opens once a year for an Autumn for Oz party that anyone can go to. You can also stay overnight at Dorothy's house if you dare. Personally that's right up there with the Cabin from Evil Dead for me so I probably wouldn't do it. 

That said, there is something so creepy about it that I kind of want to go. Roadtrippers has some more creepy photos and a video someone took on a visit. 

You can learn more about Land of Oz here.

And yes, I will let my father watch Wizard of Oz with my daughter if he really wants to. I don't need to pass my baggage on to her. I'm sure she will have plenty of her own.

Grab a Bag - Let's Go

Do you ever find yourself sitting at your desk wondering what it would be like to pick up and leave and never come back? Maybe pack your things and head off to another country for a year. I find myself thinking about that a lot lately. It doesn't help when I log on Facebook and see amazing photos of friends who decided to head to Costa Rica for a month or move to Mexico just because.

I've always enjoyed reading books like The Sex Lives of Cannibals. And now that I am a mom - books like Bringing Up Bébé bring up romantic ideas of heading to France with my French husband and half French baby and eating lots of carbs. 

But there is always this other side of it - just outside the square frame of those Instagram photos - the fights and the fears that you don't see. It's easy to think everyone else is living this perfect existence. 

I just read this great article about a woman who just like me thought France sounded like a great idea and then reality hit. A refreshing take on the whole idea of picking up and leaving. 

My sister picked up and left. She lives on the other side of the world with her husband and their son. This - after traveling the world for nine months. I have no idea what that would be like. I feel very rooted here. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.