Monday, June 20, 2016

We couldn't leave Amarillo without seeing the Cadillac Ranch.  It's right off the interstate.  There are 10 Cadillacs that have been buried in the ground hood down.  They are all in one row and have been spray painted constantly for years.  It's a graffiti person's dream.  It's free, and is in a field where you have to go through an iron turnstile gate and then walk about as far as two blocks are long.  The path is wide and packed down from all the sightseers.

There was a photo shoot if some sort just finishing up when we got there.  We met a number of young women dressed to the nines with fancy shoes going out as we went in.  It was quite windy so we made sure to walk around it up wind since there were 15-20 people spray painting and we didn't want paint on our clothes.  A man who was probably late 40's said to us "you don't have spray paint?" In a shocked voice.  When we said no, he said "we have plenty so take some".  It was nice of him to offer but we declined.

As we left, there was a man parked about three feet from the gate in a nice pickup that had its tailgate down and a bunch of stuff spread across it.  It was keychains made out of paint chips from the cars.  I don't know how much he wanted for them but I heard him telling a guy that the cars have so much paint on them that it just chunks off.  He also had one of those ginormous coolers in the back that I think had cans of spray paint for sale in it.  Something for everyone, I guess.

We continued on to New Mexico.  As Santa Fe is only about 50 miles off the interstate, we detoured through it.  Several people said we should not miss it.  It's nice, we liked it.  We had lunch there and saw the oldest church in the Ubited States dating to 1610.  We also saw the state Capitol which doesn't look like any others we saw.  It's built in the Adobe style befitting the heritage here.  Pretty much every building here is in that style, even the local grocery store.  But it fits the terrain and heritage and is nice that the area does that.

We drove back to Albuquerque and on to Gallup, New Mexico.  We had dinner at the restaurant in the historic El Rancho Hotel.  This hotel has seen a lot in its years and is still authentic in its furnishings and fixtures.  A number of western movies were filmed here in the 40's and the stars all stayed at the El Rancho.  The items on the menu are all named after them.  The Robert Taylor club sandwich, the John Wayne steak, etc, and they have framed autographed pictures and letters hanging in the hallways.  Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman, Humphrey Bogart, Rita Moreno, Desi Arnez, and many others.  The food was good.

After dinner, we went in the bar to see all the historic stuff there.  It has wonderful stained glass windows depicting western scenes.  And every pillar, beam, wall, light fixture, and all other flat surfaces have one dollar bills signed by whoever and taped up.  Of course, we had to add one to the collection.  The bartender just reached under the bar and came out with a tape dispenser and sharpie for our use.  It's an amazing place and still functions as a hotel.