Amarillo Texas

The Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo Texas
In 1974 a group of artists called The Ant Farm approached a local millionaire about creating an art piece on his ranch. Stanley Marsh 3 (not III- Stanley thinks that's pretentious) was known to be eccentric and willing to try anything "Different"

People have always been encouraged to spray paint the cars.

Some of the statements are kind of profound.

We got here at 3 PM on 8/31/10

Notice that Mike A. got here the same day and his date had already been painted over

There are empty spray cans everywhere, hundreds of them.

The cars range from a 1949 to a 1963. They were purchased for an average of $200 each.

I think this is fantastic. It is constantly changing and has been since the day it was dedicated.

When people criticised the installation as junk, Stanley replied

"Art is a legalized form of insanity and I do it very well."

Written on the trunk lid is

"Our love would be as dumb as a bomb on a boomerang."

You can see some of the empty spray cans.

Stanley Marsh 3 sponsored other art projects but none were as well known as this one.

He once interrupted a live broadcast on the Weather Channel by showing up at their location wearing an Indian headdress and doing a "snow dance" to the theme of Star Wars. He had the music turned up so loud it knocked snow off tree limbs. He thought it was great.

In the 1990's he was involved in 4 lawsuits alleging imprisonment, sexual misconduct and harassment of teens. All were settled.

He and his wife, Wendy, live in an estate named Toad Hall.

Los Alamos

We drove up to Los Alamos today so we could see the birthplace of the atomic bomb.

Although the original buildings involved in the Manhattan Project are gone, the National Laboratory is still here
This is a photo taken just outside of town.

Los Alamos has a population of around 18,000 and the laboratory employs 11,000 so I figure the average IQ in this town is a gazillion.

You can buy T-shirts that say "I.B. Glowing" or get one showing a mushroom cloud with the words THE ATOMIC CITY LOS ALAMOS N.M. at the CB Fox Department Store

(motto: This store's booming)

Santa Fe

We are in Santa Fe, the capitol of New Mexico. This town was never on any of my must-see lists but now I wonder why. This is a beautiful city with most of the buildings built to resemble adobe haciendas. The colors are soft pinks and peaches or faded terra cottas. Even McDonald's is an adobe icon. I can handle the Post Office and IHOP looking like that but a Sushi Rancho is too much.
One of the dozens of art galleries. I love the soft edges and exposed wood.

I doubt the stage lines used Belgian draft horses but, hey, they look good.

The shops here must have 95% of the Indian silver jewelry in the world. Some of the jewelry here is fabulous quality, and priced as such.

Yippie-yi-oh-ky-ya!

This is it, the end of the Santa Fe Trail.

This city was established in 1610, 400 years ago!

The Palace of the Governors still stands on the north side of the Plaza and is the oldest continuously occupied public building in America. It has been held by 5 different nations, one of them the Confederate States of America for a brief time.

On your right a very expensive art gallery and on your left an open air market filled with Mexican imports.

This is Loretto Chapel, one of many many churches in Old Santa Fe -but it is unique. The French architect who designed it died before it was completed. Legend says there was no access to the choir loft and a ladder had to be used. The Sisters made a novena to St Joseph, patron saint of carpenters, and on the ninth day a worker arrived.

This is what he built.

The staircase has two 360 degree turns, no center support and no nails were used in it's construction. It's 22 ft tall and has 33 steps, the age Jesus was at his death. The builder supposedly disappeared immediately upon construction taking no pay for his work. (When the stairs were built there was no banister and the Nuns waited two years to get one.)

Many people believe the worker was St. Joseph himself and the staircase is a miracle. I might not totally buy that theory but I have to admit it's a fantastic piece of construction.

The chapel is now privately owned and operated as a for profit attraction. It's rented out for weddings and attached to a restaurant, galleries, clothing store and souvenir shop. You can purchase rosaries, crosses and shot glasses; but the staircase isn't printed on the shot glass.

West of Winslow ,Arizona is a place called "Meteor Crater". Billboards advertise it for miles. We had driven past it before and wondered what it would be like, assuming it was a cheesy tourist trap.

The above photo shows typical terrain in the area.

The mountain in the background is 40 miles away.

The dark slash is a cloud shadow.

You are facing west and right behind you is........................HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The crater is 3/4 mile across and 550 ft deep. (It was 700 ft deep but erosion has filled the bottom.) A meteorite 150 ft across hit here 50,000 years ago.

There is a small group of people standing on the rim at the right side. I wanted to take the tour but had on open shoes, a no-no.

This is a close-up of the bottom of the crater, showing drilling equipment, plane wreckage, and a cut-out of an astronaut with an American flag.

They drilled looking for fragments of the meteor.

The plane crashed in 1964 when two people flew too low over the rim and were pulled in the crater. They circled inside the bowl, almost made it out but stalled and crashed. Both lived but the wreckage is still in there.

NASA trained their Apollo astronauts here. It was to teach them how to manage the terrain of a crater.


When the crater was first discovered it was thought to be the result of a volcano. Early in the 20th century the meteor theory came about, but it wasn't proven until the 50's.

Williams, Arizona and the Grand Canyon

It had been 40 years since I saw the Grand Canyon, and it's as breathtaking as I remember.

I wonder what the first European thought when he saw this?
There isn't a lot of clues about the canyon until you're there. You drive over wide plains with low trees and scrub brush, then taller pines then-- boom--a mile deep scar in the Earth. There is a walking trail along the rim with spectacular views. The path is very close to the edge, and a frequent question is -"How many people fall into the canyon?" The answer is very few, but nobody survived the first 300 ft drop.

Close to the Grand Canyon is Valle, Arizona. An air museum is there featuring many fighter planes and this Constellation, used by General MacArthur. The man who took us through the "Bataan" was so proud of the plane he insisted we have our picture taken with it. When we pointed out that Kansas City has a Connie he didn't want to discuss it.

The cockpit of the "Connie" held not only the crew but a back-up pilot and co-pilot just in case. This plane was also used 2 times as Air Force One.

This area was for the press corps, office personnel and aides. In the back of the aircraft VIP's and the General or President traveled. This plane was cutting edge when built in 1948.

A store front in Williams Arizona. This is a gift store owned by the Indian tribe. Note the wooden cowgirl, wooden trapper, wooden cowboy, etc but no wooden Indian.

Every night at 7 o'clock there's a gun fight in Williams. This is the hero, Hay Bob.

Main Street, old Route 66, is blocked for the shoot out.

Two bad guys with our heroine, Miss Bobbie, the fiancee of Hay Bob.

Williams claims to have to last section of Route 66 that was shut down. Main Street has old neon and gift shops galore. It's easy to imagine how it once was.

Las Vegas

This was our RV park in Vegas. There is a lot of variance in park facilities and prices. This place is a resort. Look closely and you'll see a canvas wrap around the assist bar used to get in or out of the pool. Without the canvas the bar would get too hot to touch in the sun.

The trees are wrapped with light strings and spotlit at night.
The pools are open from 8AM 'til 11 PM. We would swim around 7 in the evening to avoid the sun. We think a pool would be a necessity if you lived here, much like a furnace in Kansas City.



If you look back toward the rock wall you'll see the sand beach. We skipped that area. We had enough sand from Dockweiler Beach still left in our crevasses.

Having spent time in Los Angeles and Las Vegas I feel I must comment on the use and abuse of silicone in this part of the country. If silicone detectors measured on a scale of one to ten the needle would be pegged on eleven and emitting a sound only bats could hear.
Strangely, John sees nothing wrong here --swearing he wouldn't have noticed
had I not pointed it out

You know how tall the Hoover Dam is? Well---- this photo was taken from the road over the dam looking up, way up, at the new divided highway that will by-pass the curvy road now there. This bridge amazed me as much as the dam.
Las Vegas has been in drought conditions for 10 years, evidenced by the water level in Lake Mead. There hasn't been a measurable water fall in almost 6 months.

Our stay in Vegas was hampered by the high temperatures. The truck thermometer registered 109 the day we drove to see the dam and lake. It was so hot we only drove the strip at night not getting out at all.

Our first night there we were exhausted from the drive out of L A. After setting up the 5th wheel we went to the closest casino for the buffet, and that's when we had our brush with greatness! The Silverton Casino has a Bass Pro location attached to it. (It has live mermaids in the salt-water aquarium.) The car parked right in front of the door was a black Bentley shined to perfection. It certainly drew the eye when we walked in. As we were finishing our meal John looked up to see the father from the reality TV show, Pawn Stars. I wanted to accost him for a photo but John has too much class. When we walked out the front door he and his wife were getting in that Bentley. If only Chumley had been there.

We drove by the pawn shop later, and people were standing in line to get in. Standing in line at 105 *

Los Angeles

This is Dockweiler Beach where we camped on in Los Angeles. It's in Playa del Rey close to El Segundo. L A X was right behind us and planes took off every few minutes. Yes, it was noisy but the view was worth it.

John took his chair out into the ocean so he could relax with his feet in the water, but he didn't really want to get this deep.

See his towel wrapped around his neck?

The towel is still there but not so useful now.

Note the look on Coen's face. He thinks Grandpa has a great idea!

There are several more pictures in this series but all are horribly off center. There are shots of nothing but a foot or hand or elbow. I was laughing so hard I couldn't manage the camera. I have to admit I got drenched too.

Coen loved the water so much we had to drag him away. If you didn't hang on to him he'd try to run back in.

This was taken from the end of the Santa Monica Pier. Looking back toward the city you can see Santa Monica Boulevard going up the hill inland. Behind me one level down people were fishing off the end of the pier.

This was so interesting! If the big roller on the left is pulled over the sand it stamps an aerial view of Los Angeles. On the right is a small piece of the results. What looks like dots running diagonally across the rectangle are "cars."

Taken from the top of the Ferris wheel on the pier.

Chairmen of the Board

One of the many street musicians who play for tips and try to sell their C Ds

The end of the road

This is a part of Santee Alley, the open-air shopping district in downtown Los Angeles.

Amber and I left the men at home and came down for retail therapy the day before she flew home.

The place really filled up after these photos were taken. The district is huge, 3 or 4 blocks long and maybe that wide also. It was easy to get disoriented and confused.
It was overwhelming, too, but Amber and I are real troopers who can spend money in any arena. We persevered and I'm only sorry I didn't buy more sundresses.
As John and I left town the next day we drove past but he couldn't be convinced to stop.