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I had previously attended a similar toy expo event at the Maryland State Fairgrounds way back in 2017. I remember enjoying myself as I saw all kinds of toys and other related vintage stuff (such as a vintage jukebox). I even managed to buy two cheap items—The Simpsons Season 2 DVD set for $6 and the Monster High Abbey Bominable doll for $5—that I still own as of this writing.
Until recently I hadn’t attended another such event due either to not being able to afford to go, conflicting schedules, or the COVID-19 pandemic. When I saw on Facebook that this event was being held, I decided to buy my $10 ticket in advance and check it out.
This event was billed as being even bigger and better than before complete with holding it in two buildings instead of the one building that I went to at the 2017 event. I also decided to drive the entire way to Timonium instead of just driving to North Linthicum and taking the light rail the rest of the way because I still have memories of what happened when I tried to do this at last year’s German-American Festival and the train never arrived because of track maintenance issues.
It turned out that I would’ve been better off taking a chance on the sometimes unreliable Baltimore light rail because the Maryland Toy Expo was one of three events that were being held at the fairgrounds at the same time. (One was a coin show that was held at a nearby building. I used to collect coins as a child and I still have my collection from way back then but I didn’t bother with stopping by. The other event was an outdoor festival of some kind and I could hear live music from a distance but I didn’t bother with investigating it because it would’ve been a long walk in hot weather.) Fortunately I parked at a spot that was relatively close to the toy expo.
I went in the building that was the closest to the space where I parked my car, got my paper bracelet (which proved that I purchased a ticket), and walked around briefly until I felt hungry. There was a food stall outside of the building along with two picnic benches to sit on. (The other building also had a food stall with two picnic benches but it served the same food.) After lunch I decided to plot my visit where I would make the five-minute walk, visit the further building, see all of the vending tables in that building, then make the five-minute walk back to the other building that’s closest to where I parked my car, tour the vending tables in that building until I grew tired, then make the short walk to my car and leave.
I made a video slideshow of my photos from the Maryland Toy Expo along with some music. You can view it on TikTok, Clapper, Instagram, and YouTube. If you prefer still photos, keep on reading this post.
There were a few cool things about the bigger toy expo that I didn’t see at the 2017 event. Each building had two huge movie-themed displays complete with themed vehicles and other large props. One was based on Ghostbusters.
The other was based on Jurassic Park.
There were also a few cosplayers at this year’s event.
One of the buildings even had an Artist’s Alley, which is what one usually see at anime and science fiction conventions. It’s the first time I ever saw something like this at a vintage toy event. It was neat seeing all kinds of fan art based on toys, science fiction, anime, etc.
The one thing I learned is that bigger isn’t necessarily better. The two buildings were about a five-minute walk from each other, which was a pain. Plus it was totally hot. There were times when my feet gave out but there were literally no places for the general public to sit. (There were chairs but they were for the vendors.) I ended up having to use the restrooms just so I could sit on the toilet, even if I didn’t need to perform any other kind of bodily function, because my feet were that tired.
There was even less variety than at the 2017 event. At that previous event some vendors sold other types of pop nostalgia, such as vintage posters and an 8-track player. There were a wide variety of toys, including some that went as far back as over 100 years earlier. For this year’s event, I found only two tables that had a few toys that were manufactured prior to 1930.
At this event I saw so many vendor tables that sold either Matchbox Cars, Funko Pops, and/or Squishmallows that it all became mind-numbing after a while.
Whenever I came across anything other than those three I would take a picture of it, which is why I have far fewer photos of those three toys than other types of toys. If I was a major fanatical collector of Matchbox Cars, Funko Pops, or Squishmallows, I would’ve felt like I had gone to heaven with that toy expo.
Unlike 2017 I didn’t find anything cheaply priced that interested me enough to take home, with one major exception. There was a woman who sold homemade fudge in a variety of flavors along with other types of sweets.
I purchased two packs of fudge. They were both incredibly good. I highly recommend The Chocolate Art Gallery, who you can contact on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or their website.
As for attending another Maryland Toy Expo in the future, I think I’m going to pass because going to such a large event without any place to sit down (other than the toilets) is way too physically taxing for me. If there’s ever a vintage toy that I decide that I absolutely positively must have in the future, I’ll just search on eBay because it’ll be less physically exhausting for me.
Yesterday I wrote about driving on my one-day trip to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and I first stopped in the town of White Post. There are only two things of note in the center of town: a directional post that was erected by George Washington and a restored 1920s Sinclair gas station.
White Post’s most famous attraction is located just two miles from the center of town: Dinosaur Land. I had long wanted to see this attraction for myself ever since I heard from friends who had previously visited it. It sounded like something to behold. Just seeing dinosaur statues with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background is something else.
When I first arrived I sat in my car eating a lunch that I had brought with me from home while contemplating the scenery of dinosaur statues with the Blue Ridge Mountains in the background.. (The night before my trip I had gone to Giant where I purchased a pre-made sandwich, a bag of chips, and a couple bottles of Diet Pepsi. The total price was $6, which is still cheaper than eating in a restaurant.) Seeing those impressive statues outside of the park was enough to entice me to pay the $8 admission to check out this park. I have to say that this park did not disappoint in terms of the giant beasts on display. While none of them were capable of moving or making sounds, Dinosaur Land probably comes as close to a real-life Jurassic Park as you can get.
The park itself isn’t really that big compared to—let’s say—Clark’s Elioak Farm. I followed the walking path where I saw the giant beasts (which not only included dinosaurs but also a giant octopus, a mammoth, a giant praying mantis, and King Kong) and I found that I was able to complete it in a half an hour. People with small kids and/or dinosaur fanatics who want to take their time to savor the place could possibly stretch the visit to an hour. But the statues themselves are definitely impressive, especially if you’re seeing them in person.
Dinosaur Land does have mask and social distancing requirements, which is to be expected since there’s a pandemic going on. The park wasn’t too crowded when I first entered but there were soon people with their children coming in and the park became more crowded when I left.
Dinosaur Land also has a gift shop that is definitely kitschy. Naturally there were dinosaur-related books and toys along with souvenir Dinosaur Land t-shirts and sweatshirts. But there were some doozies that I didn’t expect to see, such as these coffee mugs and drinking glasses featuring the Gadsden flag and the ones that had the word “Dixie” next to a display of U.S. and Confederate flags.
And then there was a section devoted to Elvis.
I shot some video footage of the place, which I used as the basis for the latest episode in my ongoing web series The Baltimore and Washington, DC Area That Tourists Rarely See. I uploaded it on to TikTok, Clapper, and YouTube.
These are the highest resolution photos ever taken of snowflakes.
The real Lord of the Flies: What happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months.
Former neo-Nazi and Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter start new friendship.
A father builds an incredible 14 meter dinosaur jungle gym for his kids.
This GoPro camera got swallowed by lava. It survived and recorded everything.
Animals that look like they’re about to drop the hottest albums ever.
Why does “yellow filter” keep popping up in American movies?
Chicago artist repairs four big potholes with amazing quarantine mosaics.
People are recreating paintings in this Dutch Instagram account.
LEGO has just launched a new collection for adults to encourage mindfulness.
I went on a trip to the IKEA store in College Park, Maryland because I wanted to get some ideas on how to reorganize my home. I found these cute dinosaur plushes. I shot photos of them and sent them to a dinosaur-mad friend of mine. I also shot a photo of a shark because the same friend is into sharks just as much as dinosaurs.
Last month I was at Walmart when I saw this new doll line that really intrigued me. It’s called Cave Club and they consist of dolls who are dressed in caveman-era clothes and they have dinosaur and other prehistoric animal companions. They reminded me of The Flintstones.
I ended not buying any of them because I was purchasing other things at Walmart at the time and I had recently purchased a bunch of dolls for only $5 each from Five Below. At that time I was too overwhelmed with the other Walmart purchases and the doll buying spree to even consider adding the Cave Club dolls to my doll collection. I might buy one or two at some other time because they definitely look like they could pass as extras on The Flintstones.
A few weeks ago I wrote about how I made a video for both TikTok and YouTube about some 65th anniversary Disneyland stuff that had arrived at the Target that’s located near my home. I took a few still photos of them.
There were some non-Disneyland stuff that I also noticed in that store but I didn’t include in that video since they weren’t even Disney related. There were a couple of Funko Pop commemorative Bugs Bunny figurines because this year is the 80th anniversary of that rabbit.
I also saw a Bob Ross action figure, which I thought was pretty cute.
I also took this shot of these Zuru Smashers Dino Ice Age surprise eggs. They are yet another line of toys inside of blind boxes that have become all the rage over the last few years. (Basically you don’t know what you get until after you’ve purchased the blind box and take it home.) I thought these blind box packages were pretty cute because they show a dinosaur claw emerging from out of each egg. I shot this photo and uploaded it on to Facebook for a friend of mine who is really into dinosaurs.
I barely celebrated Halloween this year. Even in previous years my home is modestly decorated where I hang the ghost from the Scream movies on the front door and hang a rubber bat from the outdoor light fixture. I would place the candle holder shaped like a black cat’s head on the doorstep, place a candle inside, then light it. To top it all off I would go to a store, purchase a couple of pumpkins, carve jack o’lantern faces into them, place either candles or battery-operated lights inside of each of them and I would consider my decorating to be done.
This year I couldn’t be bothered with any kind of decorations. I also didn’t purchase any pumpkins either. It felt pointless because the local officials were discouraging trick or treating this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic. What’s more the Halloween parties, festivals, haunted houses, and similar events were canceled.
October is also the month where the German Oktoberfest events take place throughout the Baltimore-DC area where people feast on German food, dance to German music, and drink lots of German beer. Oktoberfest didn’t happen anywhere in my area this year.
In my neighborhood there were a few families who decided to give out treats but in a different way. Some households had put treats out on outside tables so kids could pick up something without having to knock on a door. I heard chatter on the neighborhood Facebook group that I belong to but there were parents who were still leery about letting their kids trick or treat. I decided not to participate in giving out anything this year.
I feel like it has been non-stop Halloween/Day of the Dead/All Saints Day/All Souls Day since February. My mother died from multiple sclerosis in early February. The minister who officiated at my wedding died a few days after my mom. The following month a friend who lived in my neighborhood and whom I knew through various local art shows and events that she and I had participated in over the years had died a month after she suffered a massive stroke. (She had moved to New Mexico five years earlier but I still kept track of her on Facebook.) Then three longtime friends from my church congregation died over the next three months. (One from pancreatic cancer, one from diabetes complication, and one had been in ill health over the past few years that his body had simply given out.) So a total of six people who were in my life are now gone. None of them had caught the Coronavirus but they are still dead so it all sucks the same.
But then the pandemic started just a few weeks after my mother was buried. I haven’t done much mourning for my mom or any of the other recently deceased people in my life because I’m more focused on avoiding this deadly virus as much as possible. As of this writing 231,000 Americans are now dead from the Coronavirus.
I’m starting to know of people who have that horrible virus. One is a longtime member of my church who is 104 years old. She was tested as having the virus but she has been miraculously been largely asymptomatic so she hasn’t felt any worse than usual. Last Monday I went to a virtual Zoom meeting of my support group for people who are separated or divorced and one participant who was dressed in a bathrobe admitted that she has COVID-19 and she is dealing with it. I think she ended up leaving that meeting early because she grew very tired. There is a woman in that virtual job training program that I’m currently involved with who has the symptoms of COVID-19 and she’s waiting for test results to confirm if she has that virus. There are times when she can’t even talk because her throat is so sore.
I’ve been wearing masks whenever I go outside so the idea of wearing a mask on Halloween is not really much of a novelty these days.
I didn’t feel in the mood for Halloween until the day before. I went to Walmart to pick something up when I saw this cheap mask shaped like Joe Biden.
I didn’t buy that one but I made an impulse buy while I was there. Remember Bop It! the electronic game? I saw a version of Bop It! that was based on The Child from Star Wars The Mandalorian (who is also known as Baby Yoda). It only cost $15. I took it home and took a couple of shots of the outside box.
I also made a short video where I get to engage in a little child abuse for fun. (LOL!) I uploaded it on to TikTok and YouTube.
Afterwards I went to Total Wine & More so I could buy a couple bottles of wine because, with the way this country has been split in half over the past few years, I anticipate tons of drama next week with Election Day and whatever aftermath happens. While I was there I noticed some raptor wine stoppers. (I have a friend who is so totally dinosaur-mad that she would go crazy if she ever sees them.)
There was a temporary Spirit of Halloween store that had opened in the same area. I stopped by briefly but I didn’t buy anything mainly because there was this huge line of people who were waiting to make their last-minute Halloween purchases. I also didn’t bother with taking pictures this time.
I stopped by the new Royal Farms store that had recently opened so I could buy a fried chicken box meal to take home. There was this statue of a chicken outside of the store.
The following day I was getting a little bit more into the Halloween swing of things (especially since it was the actual holiday itself). I cobbled together a costume for myself by putting on a Stitch face mask and a Japanese imported Stitch hat that I purchased at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in DC years ago (back when I was still married and I could afford the occasional expensive indulgence). I also put on a black cloak that my then-husband purchased for me at the Maryland Renaissance Festival years ago. Here’s the resulting picture.
The local shopping mall was giving away treat bags full of candy and they allowed cars to pull up during a two-hour period while people were encouraged to wear costumes. I ended up parking the car and walking over because I wanted to take photos of the Halloween decorations.
I was given a free bag full of candy, which was nice. A couple of people were walking a dog that was dressed in a hot dog costume. A dog dressed as a hot dog. How cute is that?
A few more people were admiring the dressed dog and that dog immediately rolled over on her back and was encouraging people to rub her belly.
Afterwards I drove to Third Eye Comics in Annapolis. I saw a pick up truck parked outside that was all decked out for Halloween.
They were having a special event where they were giving away free sample comic books and they encouraged people to wear costumes. I haven’t been in that store in a long time so I drove down and looked around at the merchandise, such as this dinosaur-themed board game.
There was also a board game version of the classic video game that I used to play a lot during my college days, Joust.
There was a large statue of The Child (a.k.a. Baby Yoda) from the hit Disney+ series Star Wars The Mandalorian.
There were Funko Pops versions of Bo Peep from the Toy Story movies that were available in regular and a blank DIY version where one can do his/her own design on Bo Peep.
This Dumpster Fire toy is a perfect metaphor for the way that the year 2020 turned out.
In short there were a whole variety of cool stuff that were on sale yesterday, including a graphic novel about The Rolling Stones, a giant Funko Pop Batman statue, action figures based on Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix, vintage plastic Halloween masks (which were the ones that I used to wear as a child when I went trick or treating),giant figurines from the Gremlins movies, and tiny Mickey Mouse figurines.
They had a 20% off sale on graphic novels and I was going to limit my purchases to just those. But then I saw that they had what is considered to be the most anticipated toy of the year. It’s an animatronic version of The Child (or Baby Yoda) from Star Wars The Mandalorian series. Amazon was taking pre-orders for $99 a few months back but Third Eye Comics was selling this for only $60. I played around with the robochild and I was smitten. I ended up buying him. I made a quick video of The Child while he was still in the original box that I uploaded on to TikTok and YouTube.
I’ve since freed The Child from his box but I’m going to make another video of The Child at a later date because I have other things to do at the moment.
As I was leaving Third Eye Comics from the back entrance I saw this painted mural next to the door that said “NEVER GROW UP.”
I took another selfie in the back parking lot because of this really ominous looking cloud formation in the background.
Here’s the cloud formation by itself.
On the night before Halloween someone had posted in my neighborhood Facebook group a map of all of the houses who were participating in this more detached form of trick or treating. I found that a couple of friends of mine were participating so I decided to head over to their place in full costume while carrying the animatronic Child with me.
They had enlisted a couple of other friends who played ghosts but it was a far cry from previous years when they had more people to help out with turning their home into a haunted hollow. Everyone was socially distanced from each other. I showed off The Child to the people who were there for a few minutes but I ended up leaving soon afterwards because another family of trick or treaters were arriving and my friends wanted to keep everything as clear as possible so social distancing can be observed.
I didn’t see too many costumed trick or treaters out wandering the streets this year. I think too many parents were leery about giving their kids free range in the middle of a raging pandemic.
Today is the Day of the Dead. I thought about traveling to Baltimore so I could see my parents finally buried together in the cemetery since it is traditionally the time of the year when many people believe that the veil separating the living from the dead becomes thinner so living and dead people could interact. I had to cancel that plan due to heavy pouring rain today.
So I managed to snag some free candy and I now own two different Baby Yodas—one is an electronic game and the other is a lifelike animatronic. The irony is that I still haven’t seen Star Wars The Mandalorian because I don’t have a subscription to Disney+ and I really can’t think about subscribing to any streaming services until I find a way of getting more reliable Internet that’s affordable. (At least I’m familiar with the original movies. I have a friend who confessed to me that he is one of the few people on this planet who have never seen any of the Star Wars movies. He also hasn’t seen Star Trek or Doctor Who for that matter. This is despite the fact that he is a super computer geek and usually such people are into science fiction.) Everything I know about Baby Yoda is based on the various Internet memes and tribute videos that have been uploaded online, such as this one called Baby Yoda Song – A Star Wars Rap by ChewieCat.
I was doing some much-needed shopping at Target on that day when I found a few interesting things to photograph.
I found a display of these blind boxes featuring the weapon-toting dinosaurs that make up a line known as Dino Strike. (I don’t know anything about them other than what I saw on display.) I took these shots to share on social media with a friend of mine who’s really into dinosaurs.
I’m old enough to remember when Bob Ross was still alive and he hosted his Joy of Painting TV show. (That show is still in reruns on a number of PBS stations and many episodes can be found on YouTube as well.) On this trip to Target I saw that they now have Bob Ross dolls on sale.
But that’s not all, folks! He is also the subject of a book for very young children called Bob Ross: My First Book of Colors.
When the governor of Maryland had announced the closing of all enclosed shopping malls along with nonessential businesses (with the exception of businesses like grocery stores and pharmacies), I had no idea how the Giant at Beltway Plaza Mall in Greenbelt, Maryland was going to handle its entrance. That’s because the entrance to Giant is located inside of the mall itself. When I went to Giant for the first time since that new executive order went into effect, I found how this issue was handled.
Only the front mall entrance that’s closest to the Giant entrance was open. However there was a yellow tape that prevented shoppers from going into the rest of the mall.
The only people I saw beyond the yellow tape were the cleaning crew with their mops and other equipment.
There was a sign posted outside of the Giant in English and Spanish reminding shoppers to practice social distancing.
After I picked up a few things at Giant I went to Target (located at the other end of Beltway Plaza) because I needed to pick up a few other items I didn’t find at Giant. I saw a couple of dinosaur lamps that I shot pictures of then tagged a dinosaur-mad friend on Facebook.
I have a friend who’s crazy about dinosaurs so I shot this photo of some dinosaur planters that are available for sale for only $5 each.
I also saw this DVD that was all about dinosaurs so I shot that photo and tagged my dinosaur-mad friend on social media.
I saw this new Fingerlings penguin on sale. I currently have a monkey and unicorn Fingerlings even though I haven’t touched either of them in a while. This penguin comes with a surfboard and it looks like (based on the package) that penguin can do more than just perch on someone’s finger where it can move, make sounds, and respond to its sensors being touched.
The penguin’s name is Tux, which reminds me of something. There is a penguin named Tux who is the mascot of Linux and he has also become the mascot of the open source movement. In fact, I did this animated music video of Phil Shapiro’s song “Open Source is Yours and Mine” which features an appearance by a penguin (who’s unnamed in the video but one could infer that he is Tux).
Sagittarius Dolly 
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