Daily Archives: July 14, 2015

One More Thing . . .

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Today was a partial goof-off day for us, at least up until we headed out about 2pm. Sonja had to work today, so we weren’t meeting up until 4pm for dinner.

Our first stop was a place in downtown Pauls Valley that we’ve passed a number of times and were curious about, The Toy & Action Figure Museum. Located in a fairly plain storefront, I’m not sure what we were expecting to find inside, but it certainly wasn’t what we found.

Toy & Action Figure Museum 1

Entering the lobby was a pleasant surprise, bright and cheerful, with a nice layout of souvenirs for sale.

Toy & Action Figure Museum 2

But after paying our $8 (for both of us) admission, we walked through the arch and it became one of those OMG moments

Toy & Action Figure Museum 3

It was almost more than we could take in. Everywhere you look there was toys and more toys, lining the walls, hanging from the ceiling, and standing against the walls.

The first diorama details an imaginary adult toy collector’s bedroom.

Toy & Action Figure Museum 4

According to the description, he must live with his parents to be able to afford all this.

Toy & Action Figure Museum 5

Kevin Stark, the museum’s owner says that they tear down this exhibit once a year, rearranging things as they add new items and remove others. It takes about a week.

Two more neat displays detail all the DC and Marvel characters ever published. It’s hard to believe there are so many.

Toy & Action Figure Museum 6

Toy & Action Figure Museum 7

Another neat display is this one of superhero underwear.

Toy & Action Figure Museum 8

My first thought was that Sheldon would be really jealous, but then I figured he probably already has the entire set. They used to be sold at Target, but now they’re collector’s items and worth some money. Don’t know if that’s for used or new ones.

They have displays of pretty much every genre doll and action figure around, even the Simpson’s

Toy & Action Figure Museum 9

And of course where would you find the Batman display, but in the BatCave. The displays are arranged in a timeline starting with the Adam West TV version and progressing through the several movie incarnations.

Toy & Action Figure Museum 11

They also have a number of large dioramas with the action figure’s action figure, G.I. Joe.

Toy & Action Figure Museum 12

But one of the kid’s favorite areas is this playroom with plenty of toys, and even better, superhero costumes of all sizes that they can dress up in and have their picture taken.

Toy & Action Figure Museum 10

Really neat.

We ended up spending more than an hour here, making the circuit through the place three times, and each time I saw stuff I hadn’t seen before. And for everything I’ve shown here, there’s probably 10 times more to see.

But finally tearing myself away, our next stop was the AT&SF (Atchison, Topeka, & Santa Fe depot, and old 1951.

ATSF No 1951

Built in 1907 by Baldwin, this 2-8-0 locomotive made its first run on the Santa Fe less than one month after Oklahoma became a state, traveling over 1.2 million miles, finally being retired in 1954 after 47 years in service, losing out to old age and diesels.

The AT&SF depot, the 2nd one in town, was built in 1905 after the 1st one was outgrown.

Pauls Valley ATSF Depot 1

It was refurbished in the 1990’s and now houses a museum full of both train and Pauls Valley memorabilia.

Pauls Valley ATSF Depot 2

The lady that showed me around the depot said she’d had two buses of young kids this morning and it showed. I think she was just looking for some adult conversation, because when I mentioned that I had left Jan in the truck and needed to go, she kept showing me more stuff, always preceding it with “Just one more thing.”

But I finally got away in time for us to meet Sonja and Lendel at Punkin’s BBQ and Catfish, another local favorite.

While Jan ordered the Catfish,

Punkin's BBQ 2

I figured with a place called Punkin’s BBQ AND Catfish, I had to try some of both, and they had just the Combo for it.

Punkin's BBQ 1

But I didn’t quite expect it to be this extensive. It all really delicious, and big enough so I had plenty to take home. Both really good.

Tomorrow we leave here and move about 250 miles to the Springhill COE park south of Fort Smith, AR where we’ll stay for several days.

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Thought for the Day:

Some mornings it just doesn’t seem worth it to gnaw through the leather straps. – Emo Phillips

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