What to do with a penguin, a historical marker, and a couple of spare hours

Many thanks to the Blog Fairy for helping me get set up here for the first time. :)

So, that's a long title, but it pretty much sums up how I spend a lot of time between January and November each year. A long time ago, when I was doing a treasure hunt to find historical markers I discovered that seldom were the markers where the guidebook said they should be. Eventually I figured I'd just go ahead and find the California ones and put their locations in a web page--until I discovered that every state in the USA, every province in Canada and even every country in the world had plaques snap-shotting a moment in history.

The website, meant to help you find such items in the USA, Canada, British Isles and Australia (for now) is called Markeroni. It's quite deliberately set up to be tongue-in-cheek...but there's still something to be gained from the hunt for historical markers.

There's something quite quirky about tracking down markers to their lair. You are taken to remote places, or the heart of towns full of wonderful old buildings. You might just be reading a few lines, but after a while you find other markers that expand on the story and before you know it you're getting an education in local history, all without picking up a book. Of course, many Markeroni members do eventually pick up a book, or visit museums to find out more.

Each year I run a challenge to find 25, 50 or 100 markers before November. Because many of the members are a) camera shy and b) have a sense of humor I suggested that they either photograph themselves with the marker or b) photograph a mascot. My mascot is Mr. Penguin, a $1 bean bag toy that I picked up from Walgreen's. He's traveled thousands of miles with me and visited many of my 1300+ finds. It's a light-hearted kind of thing, and a fun way to pass a couple of hours. Either research what's in the area and go hunting, or go to an area and see what leaps out at you. Markeroni gives you a place to log those finds, a bit like a diary.

If this sounds like fun, come on down! Markeroni can be found at http://www.markeroni.com and we'd be delighted to have you. :)

-- Linda The Chief Markeroon ;)