Traveling America
We just returned from our Southwest National Parks to New Mexico and Texas, I’m struck by just how magnificent our country truly is. Sometimes when you live in an area with, beautiful landscapes and scenery, it’s human nature and, all too to easy (unfortunately) to take those treasures for granted.
Take the historic scenic Route 66. The road dreams were made of and songs were written about. From all the promises of a bygone era, the road and a lot of the historic artifacts are still, well, intact especially at attractions like the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton.
You’ve seen the signs, have you eaten at the Big Texan Steakhouse in Amarillo? They promise your meal for free under the following condition: you must finish it within one hour. The catch? It’s a 72 oz. steak with all the fixins. At $1/ounce for a 72 oz. steak, our Good to Go Gang opted out. But there is a wall of fame of those that have, and the gender and body size will surprise you!
Have you heard of Cadillac Ranch? Just like anything else of interest, seeing them in photos can’t compare with actually seeing them in person. What is “them”? Ten Cadillac cars buried in the desert, allegedly along the same 51.5º angle as the Pyramids of Giza. Wild paint covers the exposed parts of the vehicles, showing their “artsy/hippie” roots as graffiti is encouraged. I can’t tell you how much fun we had with a few cans of spray paint leaving our mark! A genuine piece of Americana that even found its way to being immortalized in Disney’s Cars movie.
We love our State and National Parks tours. We use the services of a former parks ranger, Mr. Kent Taylor. Kent is a wonderful guide and now a friend to so many of us. You can visit the parks on your own, but there is nothing like the understanding and appreciation you will have when you have your own ranger for the entire visit.
We toured Palo Duro Canyon, a place one can take go back in time to the ranges teeming with bison. You can imagine what it was like living during these rough years of our nation’s early struggles. It is still a great place of a huge variety of wildlife including bobcats, rattlesnakes, turkeys, roadrunners and much, much more. Again, this is Americana. This is our nation’s heritage and seeing it in person makes such a greater impact than reading about it in a book.
OK, so what DID happen that infamous day in July, 1947? Maybe we’ll never know but visiting the International UFO Museum and Research Center, in Roswell, New Mexico certainly gave us an opportunity to see the evidence gathered about, what is called the “1947 Roswell Incident”. Our city councils could get some ideas by taking a look at their UFO Gift Shop because if nothing else about this place is true, this one thing is: They know how to market their town!
Get out and view this great, beautiful country in which we live. Travel America!
