A trip favorite
I think we always stayed at Super 8 Motels. My travel tip to you? Don't stay at Super 8 Motels.
I think we always stayed at Super 8 Motels. My travel tip to you? Don't stay at Super 8 Motels.
She was actually quite nice and didn't mind Malcolm's groping manner at all. Until she saw the tip we left her.
I'm not sure what makes a bunch of novelty food items whose entire appeal lies in the word "ass" count as a gift basket, but then again I don't live in Arizona.
As we were wrapping up breakfast, John came in. Our waitress pointed him over to an unbussed table with "Hey, John, sit there and I'll clean it up in just a sec." John proceeded to sit as told and crack open the morning news. Now that's a regular. I don't even think that's his cup of joe.
I'm not sure which is funnier, that there actually is a Meteor Crater Enterprises, or the idea that at some time they might actually refuse you service.
I'll save you the trip. This is what the desert looks like. Just what you'd think-rocks and dirt for miles.
A "Rock Shop". A place to buy rocks. In the desert. Going straight really would be the wisest option...
This was taken just before Malcolm climbed to the top of the capsule, naked and frothing at the mouth, to declare, "You can keep your 'landing capsule', you moon landing fakers!!!"
Ah, we finally get to see the fabled crater! This is thought to be the largest naturally occuring crater caused by a sudden impact of Gruyere cheese or something. I don't know. If you want facts, read what the Meteor Crater Enterprise people want you to know.
Apparently they trained Apollo astronauts here so they'd get a feel for what the moon surface might be like. And then they faked it. According to my dearly departed grandma.
And you're the only meteorite in town! Oh, man, I've been waiting to make that joke since the ass-kicking peanuts.
They've fenced off a hole in the ground so they can run their Enterprise. How do you fence off the desert? Like that, it appears.
There's something poetic to this picture, don't you think? I don't know what it is, but I'm sure Faulkner would make some sort of non-sequitor that would sound poetic about it.
I thought the shifting of confectioners sugar thing that was going on in these clouds was pretty cool. Oh, and yes - driving through the desert is boring.
This is the only time I've seen the McDonald's logo treated differently. Maybe I just don't go to McDonald's enough. Anyway, you can probably guess we've made it to New Mexico by now.
Early day three we got up and went down to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. It's a pretty sobering sight. The reflecting pool is where the street was that ran in front of the building. There's an arch on either side of the pool, one says "9:01" and the other says "9:03", the times around when the bomb went off.
Some other folks were just hanging out when we were there. I wonder if they knew somebody that had died that day. All the stonework in the memorial is from the remains of the original building. Also, the tree just behind them actually survived the blast and lived through the burning wreckage of the parking lot.
There are nine rows of chairs, one for each floor of the building and one chair for every person that died in the blast. There's a section on the far side of this picture that had five chairs for people who had died in the parking lot. There's a good page about all the symbolic concepts over here.
The walls outside one of the entrances were covered with, well, everything you see here.
Next stop - St. Louis! You always see pictures of the arch, but I don't think you realize how massive it is until you see it in person. The first time I saw it, I was flying out of St. Louis after a layover. That was when I finally got a glimpse of its scale and realized it was as tall as the skyscrapers next to it. More amazing is that it is apaprently constructed entirely from used Coke cans. True story.
Right next to the Arch Park is historic downtown St. Louis. This whole area has undergone a massive revitalization and is pretty cool to walk around. There's not clunky elevator rides to the top of other arches that look over the Mississippi, but it's still cool.
This building is old. You can tell because the corporate endorsement painted on the side isn't from a massive multinational conglomerate.
I imagine this is hard to see driving by in your car, thereby impeding your ability to navigate this historically rich area. Maybe they had flying cars back when this was built.
In case you were thinking of moving your business to St. Louis, there is office space available for lease downtown. Just in case.
Just thought this stained glass basement window was cool. Who knows what fanatical religious cults lurk underneath the seedy streets of St. Louis.
He had to bend over to get under the elevated train tressel. Seriously.
Okay, not really.
This was the diner we ate at after leaving St. Louis. We were going to eat downtown, but there was, I kid you not, a MOPS convention in town and every place was packed. Even the bars. Especially the bars. So we drove until we found something "local" that had massive pies.
I know this picture isn't the best, but look at the meringue on those pies! They were a foot tall. Literally. I felt like asking for chips to eat the meringue with there was so much.
