Dead Critters EVERYWHERE!!

YAY!!  I got to make RoadsideAmerica #26 with my folks and nephews!!  That's pretty cool, since I make a lot of these by myself.  This one was Bud Jones' Taxidermy in Tallapoosa, GA.  Just like many of my other RoadsideAmerica stops, this one was off the beaten path, attached to a private home, and had owners that loved to talk.  Bud and his wife have been in the taxidermy business for 60 years.  He joked that he started when he was 5, and she said she did the things that nobody else wanted to do, so I guess she does help with the stuffing!  They had one room set up as display/museum, one with heads for sale (there was a bison I wanted SO BAD), and then his work shop.  It was pretty cool.  As we left, they gave my dad CASSETTE TAPES of them playing and singing folk music!

There were several big animals, and at a closer look, there were smaller animals in the fake trees and on the fake forest floor.

Most of the animals could be found in the U.S., but he did have some that were from safaris.

Me and Mommer.

This elephant was shot in 1929 by Asa Candler, the guy behind COKE!  How cool is that?!?  (I realize this is not a great pic of the elephant, but trust me - it was HUGE!!)

Ok, me and one of my nephews pretending that we're terrified.  (This actually turned into a 'thing' for the rest of the day - we'd take one picture nice and smiling, and we'd take a second pretend one, depending on the surroundings.  For instance, there was an old slot machine in the museum, so we took one nice and smiling, and one all depressed like we'd lost our life savings.)

After this we went to the museum in Tallapoosa, where all of the stuffed animals on exhibit had been donated by Mr. Jones, and a point was made to mention that they had not been killed for the display, but were mostly roadkill.