Ye Olde Road Trip

Seattle, Washington

Despite high gas prices, 2004 was the summer of TV show "road trips." We connected with the Travel Channel's new Road Trip program for a visit to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, Washington. The show is hosted by Tina Maddigan and Steven Lee, who wander the lower 48 in search of vacation excitement and amusing tourist attractions.

The weekly hour-long show follows the plucky Gen X-Y-ers as they visit mainstream attractions and sample outdoor activities -- making the occasional oddball stop. That's where roadsideamerica.com comes in, having inspired the show's earlier trips to destinations ranging from the Bubble Room, Captiva, Florida, to Mammy's Cupboard, Natchez, Mississippi.

We met up with the Tina, Steve and the crew at the Edgewater Hotel early one Saturday and headed over to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. The shop's owners agreed to filming before opening -- with the typical crowd and the narrow aisles, it would have been otherwise impossible to shoot.

The show is recorded entirely in High Def video, making places such as YOCS look even better than they do in real life.

As supposed "experts," we introduced the road tripsters to the Merman (aka Feejee Mermaid), some shrunken heads, the 2-headed lamb -- "Ewe-2," and the famous American mummy, Sylvester.

Andy James, Vice President and part of the family running YOCS for four generations, agreed to wrestle Sylvester out of his glass chamber.

Syl is rarely let out (he was removed a few years ago for another show that x-rayed and tested him thoroughly). We were able to examine his moustache, loin cloth, and "gut shot" bullet wound up close.

Sylvester is saturated with arsenic, part of some century-old attempt at preservation beyond the "natural mummification" from the Arizona desert where he was discovered.

Aside from being toxic, he has... a "smell." Let's leave it at that. Steve quipped away, while Tina assumed a Vegas showgirl pose with the exquisite dead guy.