The Vulcans, or Vulcanites, are not just throwing the title around. The town is officially recognized by the federation of all things nerdy as the Star Trek Cappie, north of the border.

With a population at around 2000, the Prairie town was actually named after a Roman god and not our fictional, pointy-eared, first-contact, and extra-worldly neighbours of Star Trek fame.

Vulcan was the Roman god of fire, and believe me, when the sun shines hot, Vulcan gets scorching. Our visit coincided with a heat wave; we were pleased to escape inside, into the air-conditioned tourist center that doubles as a spacey nerd club house.

Yes, that's me in captain's chair. Alas the green screen was on the fritz and the Entreprise bridge is missing, but I think I would make a fine helms-woman, perhaps minus the flip flops. Though it seems Minime (above) is having way more fun than Admiral Mommy. For some reason, he refused to put on the uniform.

Entry into the 'Holodeck' was by donation (or free) on account of the broken green screen, but it was still lots of fun to check out the collection of official type costumes they have accumulated over the years.

We purchased a few items in the gift shop and let that suffice. Minime bought himself a crew shirt and I bought a friend a Tribble cup and myself some genuine Vulcan ears ... genuine in that they were made in China, but bought in Vulcan.

The ears ended up being way too big and more Ferengi-like.

Most of Vulcan's memorabilia is on display and for free, and so even if you do not want to risk getting lost in Holodeck glitch, there is still lots to see, from Star Trek Potato Heads, Barbies, beer steins, and boxed cereal. You can see in the reflection the center's famed Spock stain-glass window. It reminds me of the one and only time that I saw Leonard Nimoy in real life. It was in the window of the House of Doors. That sounds made up, but it's true.

Of course, they also have loads of action figures, with many for sale in the gift shop. That hard to find Star Trek item may just be found in Vulcan. That said, the OG series makes up the bulk of the items for sale. I would have liked more Voyager or TNG merchandise.

Minime definitely wants to go back and so maybe on our next trip, there will be more on offer in honour of newer series and characters.

You might think with all the out of world memorabilia and costumes our favourite item might be .. say this Klingon Bat'leth. But no. It is the oddest things that usually lay the deepest memory. So let the following sign be a warning about laissez-faire parenting in space or the Prairies.

I don't know but if you ask me it sounds like an offer of free baby-sitting.

Make sure to visit the blog of @dswigle to check out more #marketfriday posts and send Denise some love. I'll be by shortly.

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