Highlights of The Anniversary Trip

The PopCulteer
August 28, 2026

I’ve basically been off all week. Wednesday was the 12th anniversary of the day Mel Larch and I became husband and wife…

…on the stage at Steppenwolf Theatre, in Chicago. You can read about that HERE. To celebrate this year, we decided to go on an epic road trip, which is still in progress, and you’ll see pictures from it below.

Coincidentally, today is the 21st anniversary of the very first post in PopCult, so this blog is now old enough to drink…but won’t.

This week the Grim Reaper seems to have gotten into the sugar-coated crack stash, and we lost iconic figures in pop culture, Dolly Parton, Tim Curry, Yayoi Kusama, Peter Cullen (the voice of Optimus Prime), and Jaye P. Morgan, all of whom deserve more elaborate write-ups than what I’m doing here. That’s on top of the passing two weeks ago of Len Brown, co-creator of Mars Attacks, The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and Wacky Packages, who I interviewed several times for Non Sport Update.

I’ll have to make up for lost time once I’m back at the office.

The rest of this column will bring you teaser images from some of the stops on our trips. Many of these stops will get entire photo essays of their own in the coming weeks.

We began our trip at The Hershey Action Figure and Toy Show in Hershey, PA. Expect photos and a video next week.

The next day, on the way to Akron, we stopped at Pottery City in East Liverpool, Ohio.

They had tons of FiestaWare.

While in Akron (my first visit) I bought DEVO records. I mean, I had to.

The hotel in Akron had fancy-ass toilet paper.

Tuesday’s trip to take the FiestaWare Factory Tour, sadly became a video tour, but we still had a great time, and now have an excuse to go back again.

After the video tour, a quick trip across the river, back to East Liverpool, took us to the Museum of Ceramics. Expect a photo essay. That place was epic.

Anniversary day, and matching zodiac bracelets. Awww.

Also anniversary day, aside from a trip to Ikea (see the feature image), we went to the Vinegar Syndrome store in Pittsburgh.

The next day we made our first trip to the Warhol Museum, thanks to my sister, Debbie, and nephew, Gino.

Here’s Debbie, Gino and Me, leaning into the Warhol. For copyright reasons, we can’t bring you a full photo essay from the Warhol, but I will be writing more about how cool it is.

Our trip is not over yet, but that’s just a taste of the fun we’ve had. It’s also this week’s PopCulteer. Check back for fresh content every day, plus all our regular features, and a couple more days of marathons on The AIR.