A scavenger in my own home

Over the weekend I visited my mother, who announced that she had some boxes she wanted me to go through. Now, she has boxes for me to go through almost every time I drop by--I'm not sure where they keep coming from, but there is a never-ending supply, and other than the occasional pot or pan there usually isn't much contained within that I want. Surprisingly though, I actually found some good stuff this time.


For instance, this View-Master that was undoubtedly enjoyed by my brother and me at one time or another (the reel it contained when I found it featured the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).


A little while later, while rummaging through another box, I fortuitously came across this vintage set of View-Master reels from the Luray Caverns.


I love this packaging.


I wish I could somehow include the actual images featured within the reels (I tried scanning them but they didn't show up), but picture dramatically lit caverns, complete with stalagmites, stalactites...and people wearing fashionable 1950s-style suits and dresses (and in one case, a cape). Not exactly what I'd picture to be the ideal outfits for exploring caverns.

And to perfectly complete the theme, I later found this in a basket of more old family photos. My mother doesn't look too happy (funny, because she would grow up to drag her own children to just about every cavern-related tourist spot on the East Coast), but maybe her parents cheered her up by buying her that View-Master reel she was eyeing in the gift shop.


Among other things, I also snagged this sweet phone that I used to play with at my grandparents' house as a child (forgive the crappy photo). The cradle is broken due to an unfortunate accident when my brother borrowed it as a prop in a school play, but I think I should be able to find a way to fix it.


Either way it probably doesn't work (especially since the prongs on the plug don't look like any I've ever seen) but it will look awesome on some shelf somewhere.