To Endings, and New Beginnings

The Universe (and my heart)

Things don't always go on as long as one sometimes expects or hopes for -- childhoods, lives of loved ones, marriages, friendships, happiness, a good party, a great book, vacation, even sadness. It is part of the human experience to have endings and to also have new beginnings.  

I had about a dozen or more posts queued up, but with the realization in yesterday's post that it had been exactly two months ago that I had started my roadtrip, I decided that was enough. I have found a good exit ramp. So I am officially calling an end to blogging about my amazing trip with today's post of sunrises and sunsets. Because, really, aren't those the penultimate beginnings and endings?

I went out of my way to see as many sunrises and sunsets as I could on this trip. And not just see them, but be with them. To reflect on them. To appreciate them for the beginnings and endings that they are. To savor them like a delicious piece of cherry pie. A la mode, of course. 

When my sister and I were in Crystal Lake, MI we cut our stay there short by one day because the windy weather wouldn't allow us to go out on the lake and enjoy it. Sometimes plans change; you adjust. The last thing we did as we were leaving town headed toward Chicago was eat at The Cherry Hut, a bit of a local institution. As we looked over the menu, we reminisced about something our Aunt Pat used to say. 

Pat was not an actual blood aunt, but she was my mom's best friend since the second grade, and she and her husband Frank always treated us like family. Pat had passed away, after an extended illness, in March of 2020. Just as Covid was becoming a reality to the rest of us, and a year to the month prior to my mom dying. Aunt Pat loved chocolate, and cookies, and cake, and pie, and one of her favorite lines was "Life is uncertain; eat dessert first." So that is what we did, in her honor. We had the pie first.    

I thought a lot about endings and beginnings on this trip, and even more about all of the beauty in between. I hope you have enjoyed the things that I shared about my trip and the personal stories I shared. Don't worry, I will continue sharing things. I like to share. I like to make people think. I like to make people laugh. I like to make people feel like they are not alone in this world. I like to help people accept endings, and look for new beginnings. Peace & Love to you all.

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post 

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Nw6VRUpe4zzSfiGMA 

A Small Town That Shines on the Shores of a Big Lake

 Lorain, OH

The first stop on my roadtrip was Lorain Ohio, a quaint little town on Lake Erie that I chose because of it's two-ish hour proximity to Detroit Michigan, where I needed to be the following morning to pick up my sister at the airport, and the fact that it had an old, fairly-recently renovated, boutique hotel, the Ariel Broadway Hotel. 

Thanks to an early start from Alexandria, and even with the unexpected half hour that I sat on the roadside of the Pennsylvania Turnpike during blinding rain and golf-ball sized hail -- an interesting experience in a rag-top convertible -- I rolled into Lorain early enough to truly enjoy the town. I checked into the hotel and regrouped my camera gear to head out into the town for some shooting. 

As I walked past the front desk, the clerk who had checked me in asked if I was pleased with my room. When I said it was nice (and it was) but not quite the view I was hoping for as it was on the second floor and largely had a view of a parking lot because of a tent blocking the river, and I had hoped to shoot some sunrise or sunset photos, he apologized profusely and immediately snapped into action to move me to a higher floor. He also suggested that he could get me access to the rooftop, even though the bar there was closed on Mondays. I thanked him, traded keycards and headed back upstairs to move myself to higher grounds. 

While I was setting up in my new room with a much improved view, there was a knock on the door and it was the hotel manager who wanted to show me another room, and the event room that she said had spectacular views. The other hotel room that she showed me was a two-bedroom suite with amazing lake and river views, but not really worth the upgrade once she showed me the event room and rooftop that she offered full access to. 

I thanked her and went back to my room and was regathering camera gear to head out again when there was another knock on the door. This time it was the assistant who was with the manager on my tour of other options. She suggested that I should also check out East Beach and the Piers in town as possible good sunset sites. She also said that I should visit the Shipyards area. She even had a sheet of QR codes with directions. This is why I love staying at boutique hotels -- they seriously care about a positive experience, no matter what. 

I drove to East Beach first. It was a truly charming place that I was glad I had not missed, and might have but for the interactions with the hotel staff. There was a giant Longaberger Basket filled with flowers. (Longaberger, a manufacturer of high-end baskets, is an Ohio company in Newark OH with a corporate headquarters building actually shaped like a basket.) There were also Bocce Ball fields with lots of folks playing, a large group of Martin bird gourd houses, a playground on the beach, and a stunning rose garden. So many people were enjoying the park on a sunny weekday evening. It made me think that perhaps small towns have a lot to offer to their residents, even if they often get press only for their problems. 

Next I went to the Shipyards, which looks to be a newly created retirement housing area and events facility with restaurants and shops, across the Black River from the hotel. The Black River empties into Lake Erie and has a large marina area with access from both sides of the river. How ironic that the Shipyards also hosts a regular vintage car event on Monday nights. 

I spent much of my youth at car shows with my dad, and I have even been shopping for a vintage car for myself lately. I have always loved British Racing Green cars, so I guess it was a good thing that the owner of one that I talked to at the event was not interested in selling. That may have changed the trajectory of my trip. Even so, it was fun listening to the old time music being piped in while I checked out the old cars. I certainly felt my dad's presence there. 

After leaving the Shipyards, I headed over to the pier area. Maybe it was the car show I had just attended, but the moment I walked onto the piers, I spotted an image that melted my heart. An older couple were sitting in their lawn chairs just looking out over the marina at the fading light. It depicted exactly how I had always seen my parents spending their golden years. Sadly, that is not how it had turned out. 

I walked to the end of the pier, enjoying sights of water birds and people fishing. The lighthouse in the bay at the end of the pier was beautiful in the evening light. I laughed out loud at one particular fisherman who I could only imagine must be employed as a plumber by day -- the image tells it all. 

I walked back to the restaurant at the head of the pier, Erie Steak and Seafood, where I enjoyed a lovely wall-eye fish dinner and a stunning sunset over Lake Erie. The next morning, I saw a beautiful sunrise from my elevated hotel room, packed up and headed out of a town that I will always have fond memories of, even if my stay was short. Lorain kickstarted my goal on this trip to witness as many sunrises and sunsets as I could. 

Post note: Lorain's historical claim to fame happened in June of 1924 when a tornado developed in Sandusky Ohio killing eight there, and then traveled across Lake Erie, coming ashore in Lorain killing 78 people and leaving thousands homeless and billions of dollars in damage (in current dollars). It's other claim to fame is that in 1931 author Toni Morrison, then known as Chloe Wofford, was born in Lorain and grew up there before leaving for college at Howard University.     

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/V15uMrDpJ1XBkoT9A 

 

Metal Arts Roadside Attraction, the Magnificent Mind of Mel Gould, and a Long Road Ahead

Cheyenne WY

Upon further reflection, August 1st will go down full-on as the most bizarre but heart-warming day of my trip. After the quirkiness of Alliance Nebraska came a very odd experience indeed. Two and a half hours drive away from Alliance, on a service road along I-80, just east of Cheyenne WY, is the wild world of Metal Arts Roadside Attraction. Not an actual attraction, per se, but a lifetime collection of large-scale metal industrial art, many with some sort of kinetic feature, created by self-taught artist and inventor Mel Gould. 

Many of the pieces are visible from the freeway, and it is likely that most travelers breeze right by with nothing more than maybe a comment about all that stuff out in the field. It was a scheduled stop on my trip, and I am so glad I stopped because it was its own trip into a bizarre and fascinating world, especially because Mel's adult daughter, Janet, happened to be on-site and was more than happy to spend time showing me around and telling me some amazing stories.     

I walked around and photographed many pieces without much context or understanding of what I was seeing, but when I headed back toward the car, Janet came up and struck up a conversation. She explained that the art was created by her dad and that she was back "home" from California, having recently divorced, to deal with some of her dad's affairs. He had recently passed away in March. I told her where I was from and that my roadtrip was partially about spreading my mom's ashes. That seemed to spark an instant kinship and she started telling me stories of some of the pieces and of growing up with a dad that built all of these crazy things. When I told her I grew up with a dad who was an old car guy, that pretty much cemented our new-found connection. 

Janet told me that before the "Wild Thing" piece was put on a tall tower, it originally sat ground-level and was attached to a motor that made it whirl around, and as kids, she and her siblings and friends would ride it like a carnival ride. Halfway through another story about another art piece, she stopped and said, "if you've got time, I want to show you something. Just let me go in the house and grab some keys." "Sure!," I replied. While she was gone, I did a time check and some quick math to determine whether I could make it to Boulder before dark if I didn't get on the road soon. 

As we walked toward a sprawling cluster of sheds with multiple doors, she explained that since her dad had passed away and someone wasn't around all the time, there had been some vandalism and theft, so they started locking up some things. She unlocked and opened a garage type door and inside was a purple vehicle that appeared to be a concoction of an old '40 Ford, a tractor, and a moon landing rover. Emblazoned with the words "Purple People Eater" across the back quarter panel, it also had a metal alien-looking being in the driver seat to complete the look. Janet explained that this piece was one her dad had built in the early 1960s and it had appeared on the cover of Mechanix Illustrated and had been in a museum in Denver for a while. On the wall in this room was a bulletin board that had a cover of the magazine and pictures of other projects Mel had created.  

In another area of the shed complex Janet unlocked a room which contained a red, three-wheeled vehicle named "Moonbeam" displayed with a stuffed female driver and a Scooby Doo dog on the front seat. Janet explained that this was an early piece that Mel had dreamed up while serving in the Air Force, stationed in Greenland. She showed me the initial drawings and the model that he had carved out of soap. In this room was another bulletin board with more pictures of his creations and other projects he had been involved with, including some works by the famous artist Christo. Mel had designed and machined the fixtures to secure some of Christo's large-scale landscape art. There was also a framed photo of a piece he designed and made for a friend who was a bicycling enthusiast and and Elvis fan.  

In addition to the massive metalworking shop in a metal airplane hangar that Janet showed me, Mel apparently also had a workshop in the basement of his home that he called Buryville, where he created original musical instruments, which seemed fascinating as she described them. Janet said she would like to show me that as well, but the house was in a bit of an upheaval because she had a lot of her own stuff that she had moved from California, and all of her mom and dad's stuff she was trying to go through. Her mother had passed away three years earlier. 

I myself had recently dealt with all the stuff following the death of a last parent. So. Many. Things. I thought back on all the stuff we got rid of 16 years early when my dad passed away -- the man had 18 carburetors in his garage, to say nothing of three old cars in various stages of restoration, and an endless amount of other car parts and tools. Then there was my mom's talk of everything else she had gotten rid of since, and yet still when she died, cleaning out her house and dealing with all of the financial and legal responsibilities was endless and exhausting. My experience was a mere fraction of what I knew that Janet was up against. 

I told her it was okay that I didn't get to see Buryville, because I needed to get back on the road anyway. She thanked me for stopping by. Thanked. Me. Floored by the generosity with her time and her willingness to share her and her family's life with me, I reached out and hugged a woman I had met a mere hour or so before. We both hung on a little longer than even old friends would. I thanked her and asked if I could take a picture of her and her dog. I got in my car and put the top down even though it looked like a storm was coming. I pulled to the end of the driveway, looked in my rearview mirror, and she was standing there waving. I turned around a waved goodbye. I knew that her road ahead was much longer than mine. 

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook page

For addition information on Mel Gould visit: https://fredscruton.com/folios/melvin-gould/  and http://www.sixmania.fr/en/purple-people-eater-melvin-gould/

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Mot8FLEN2Yru3pcCA 

  

An Alliance of Quirkiness

 Alliance NE

One of the quirkiest places I visited was Alliance Nebraska. And I say that with the deepest appreciation because I do love me some quirk. Located in the middle of nowhere in Western Nebraska, it is off the beaten path for most travelers, but if you ever happen to find yourself in the area, it is so worth your time because it is the home of the infamous Carhenge, Dobby's Frontier Town, and so much more. 

Carhenge, a Car Art Reserve, began with a nearly identical replica in size and layout of the original Stonehenge in England, but was built out of cars and opened to the public in 1987. Since then numerous additional car and car-related art structures have been added to the site, including "Fourd Seasons" inspired by Vivaldi's Four Seasons and made entirely of Ford cars. The Visitor's Center "The Pit Stop," which also uses car parts in various unique ways, was built in 2007.

The creator of Carhenge, Jim Reinders, an Alliance native, passed away in 2021, but his story is as fascinating as his creation. You can read more about him and Carhenge here. 

Dobby's Frontier Town, just down the road from Carhenge, is hard to describe. It is an entire town painstakingly recreated with authentic period details, and contains every aspect of a real frontier town, from a church to a doctor's office, a saloon to a jail, a bank to a bootlegger, a blacksmith to a quilting and dress shop, a candy maker to a cobbler, a post office to a one-room school house, a diner to a printer's shop. It's got it all -- even working public outhouses, which I was not brave enough to actual give a try.

The day I visited, I was literally the only person there. It is all self guided; you just walk around the town and let yourself into each shop. Besides not seeing another soul the entire time I was there (unless you count the occasional mannequin like the doctor and child patient with an oddly twisted leg; my uneducated diagnosis was that it was really, really broken), the fact that the very first establishment I visited was a furniture/coffin maker and funeral parlor -- a strange combination but one that I guess makes sense in pioneer times -- just added to the eerie vibe the place was throwing off for me. But being the only person there did allow me to spend as much time as I wanted in each place, and the sheer details of each setting were fascinating. 

If you can get there (Alliance does have an airport with a couple of daily flights from Denver and is about a four hour drive from Denver airport), there is an annual fall festival this weekend at Dobby's Frontier Town - more info here. It sounds like loads of fun, with vendors, live entertainment, old-time photos, and lots of food. It also sounds a lot less creepy than my solo experience. 

Alliance also has a western history and culture museum, Knight Museum and Sand Hills Center, and Sallows Military Museum and Botanic Garden that I did not get a chance to visit. I had planned on visiting Carnegie Art Center, but sadly it was closed on Mondays. The charming downtown district of Alliance is like something straight out of a movie. I just did a quick drive through, but there seemed to be lots of quaint shops to spend some time. 

And I have to say that I had the best gas station pizza I have ever had in my life from Hot Stuff Pizza inside KC's Short Stop gas station and car wash. I gassed up at KC's and went in to grab a breakfast biscuit or something because I had eaten nothing but "road snacks" all day. The girl behind the counter said she wasn't trained to cook breakfast food because she only did afternoon shifts, but she offered up a "breakfast" personal pizza instead. Her description sort of sounded like a Denver omelet on a deep dish pizza crust, and I was so hungry at that point, I jumped at it. She said to go ahead and sit at a booth and she would bring it out when it was ready. I was thinking, it is a gas station pizza, how long can it take? It actually took about 15-20 minutes, and it turns out it is made from scratch and cooked in an actual pizza oven. It was amazing! So gas station pizza, gets a yes! But I still don't think I can ever go for gas station sushi.  

As I left KC's heading out of town, Alliance had one more piece of quirkiness to serve up. I pulled out behind ... I am not really sure what it was, but I was thrilled when it briefly pulled to the side of the road so I could pull up behind and take a quick shot of it. Yeah, you don't see that every day. Well, except maybe in Alliance Nebraska.  

All in all, Alliance gets a ten on the quirky scale and was a really fun experience. 

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post 

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fe2TYvnHktaj42Zh7

 

Alexandria: Same Name, Different State, Different Story. And a Second One For the Road.

 Alexandria, MN and SD

My neighbors and I love our own Alexandria here in Virginia, but did you know that there are cities named Alexandria in 14 other states in the US -- AL, IN, KY, LA, MO, MN, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, SD, and TN. In my travels I visited two of those other Alexandrias.

The first one I visited, Alexandria MN was a planned stop. When I was researching possible stops on my route from Baraboo WI to Fargo ND, Alexandra seemed like a good enough spot to get out and stretch. Besides having the same name as my hometown, it also has a spectacular kitschy feature that made it worth getting off the highway for -- a giant 28 foot statue of a Viking holding a spear and shield which reads "Alexandria the Birthplace of America." 

Of course it is, I thought. After all, Alexandria VA, established in 1749, celebrated its 273rd birthday this past July, while celebrating the USA's 246th. But why would Alexandria MN be so keen on honoring its namesake city in Virginia? As it turns out, they are not.     

Alexandria MN, began as a pioneer settlement in 1858 and a military stockade was built there in 1863 in response to the Dakota Conflict. So how, you ask, does it possibly claim to be the birthplace of America? Well, apparently in 1898 an artifact, now known as the Kensington Runestone, was discovered there by a Swedish farmer, Olaf Ohman, which suggests that a group of Norse Viking explorers visited the area long before Columbus set foot in the new land. The 200 pound stone has markings telling of an "exploration journey from Vinland to the West in 1362" and a horrible death that meet some of that group.  

There has been great debate by various scholarly geologists, historians, and linguists, as to the veracity of the Rune's authenticity. Most experts believe that the stone is a hoax, but there are those who point to historical context that indicates otherwise. Regardless, the town of Alexandria MN is proud to embrace the story in order to proclaim itself America's Birthplace, and the Runestone itself sits in the town's Runestone Museum. 

The debate still rages on, and has even found popularity in pop culture. The naming of Minnesota's professional football team, the Vikings, was reportedly inspired by the Runestone's story. And in May 2022, Runestone: The Rock Musical (guessing that is pun intended) opened at History Theatre in St. Paul, and tells the Runestone's story through song and dance, but ultimately leaves the decision of truth or hoax up to its audience members. 

The town today, population 14,335, is actually quite adorable with a lakeside park, a thriving historic downtown area with restaurants, shopping, theater, and just about every service a small town needs. There is also a more suburban area with tract housing, big box stores and a drive-thru Starbucks! It is apparently a very popular vacation spot, with a wide array of lodging available and activities for all seasons. The city's motto is "Easy to get to, hard to leave." That sounds a little Hotel California to me, but it does seem like a pleasant enough place to live or visit. 

The second Alexandria that I visited was in SD, and I just stumbled upon it when my travel plans suddenly changed to include Mitchell, SD (see Corn Palace blog) and I found myself driving on backroads, scoping spots for possible sunset/sunrise shots. Alexandria SD is a tiny little town of  615 residents. The town, along with its post office, was established in 1880.  

Today, there is not a whole lot in Alexandria SD besides a post office, a bank, a farm alliance, a furniture store, an insurance office, a bar, and a block of mostly empty storefronts. There is a beautiful old stone Catholic Church just off Main Street, but aside from Main Street and the road you come in on from the highway, the roads of Alexandria SD are mostly dirt and appear to go off into farmland or to small industrial-type buildings. 

That said, the town apparently is a sports powerhouse at its one school, which boasts Championship Teams in Baseball, Track, Basketball, and Football over the years. Go Beavers!

Okay then, three down, a dozen to go. 

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/W6cCfmdYBQmteGbN6 

A Journey to Another World

The Badlands, SD

First, let me say that it is impossible for photographs to do the Badlands justice. As lovely as these images are, one just cannot properly capture the vastness and stunning beauty of this place. It is also impossible to adequately describe it in words. It is unlike any other place on earth. It is timeless. It is ever-changing around every curve and at every moment of the day and night. It is otherworldly, and yet your soul feels that it has always known this place even if your eyes are seeing it for the first time. It truly makes one feel small in this world but also one with this world. And I feel so fortunate to have experienced it.

At the very first overlook just inside the Northeast Entrance, I instantly felt madly in love. From here you look out over what appears like a mini–Grand Canyon to the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. I can’t even imagine what the first pioneers must have thought when they encountered such a rapid and drastic change in terrain. It was a dangerous kind of beautiful. One that takes your breath away and makes you question your own sanity. Can this be real? Am I dreaming?

When I got back into my car and started it, the radio came on. I must have inadvertently turned off the Pandora streaming while using my phone to get some shots. Curious if you could even get a radio signal out there, I ran a scan and it landed on 90.1 FM. The station was playing the most beautiful Native American Chant music. How perfect! I wound up listening to only this station the entire time I was in the Badlands, Hot Springs, and quite a way into Nebraska until the signal was lost.

The station, KILI 90.1 FM, the Voice of the Lakota Nation, was established in 1983 in Porcupine SD, and was "the very first Indian-controlled, Indian-owned and Indian-run radio station in the U.S.” Their offerings added to the strange ambiance of the area with its varied programming from community news and talk shows, to oldies tunes, to classic rock, to even dubstep, along with the Native American Chant music, which seemed to happen at specific points in the day, sunrise, sunset, and other random times which I am sure have some significance. It was like the DJs had their 1-4 hour shifts that they pretty much did whatever they were into. It reminded me of good college radio stations, so much so that I have even listened some since I returned home on a streaming platform on the internet.

With the top down, I drove from one amazing spot to the next, stopping for lots of photographs. Coming down from Cedar Pass you could see the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, Cabins and Campground. I checked in and setup camp, and then headed back out to take in more of the scenery, covering about half of Loop Road before returning to the Visitor’s Center to buy myself Indian Tacos and cold beer for a late dinner.

It just so happened that the Park Rangers were holding a Night Sky program that evening at the outdoor amphitheater, a short walk from the campground. It was the perfect night for it; with the New Moon you could see practically every star in the sky, including the Milky Way. The program was amazing as they pointed out constellations, planets, and even the International Space Station doing a fly by. They also had huge telescopes set up and we took turns at close-ups of nebulas and deep space stars. I was inspired to take the rainfly off my tent when I got back to camp, and it was nice to fall asleep and wake occasionally through the night and see all the stars overhead.

At some point in the night, I woke to the sound of rustling and breathing outside my tent. I had a brief moment of terror, and then decided staring at the stars while some creature dismembered me wouldn’t be the absolute worst way to go out. When I heard some playful yipping sounds, I finally got up the nerve to peek out. It was two adorable coyote pups playing a yard or so from my tent. A few minutes later they moved into the night and were gone. 

I fell asleep again and had the best sleep of the night until my alarm went off about an hour before sunrise. I hopped into the car and made my way back up through Cedar Pass to that overlook close to the entry where I had caught my first glimpse of the Badlands. It turned out to be the perfect place to watch a picture-perfect sunrise.

Afterwards, I went back and broke camp, loaded up, put the top down, and headed toward the Pinnacle Entrance on the west side of the park. I saw and shot lots more amazing scenes throughout the day and when I finally left the Badlands, headed to Hot Springs, I was so satiated and happy. My heart was full. I was at peace like I had not been in a very long time. I waved good-bye, turned up 90.1 FM, and headed back to the world from which I had come, onward to my next adventure.

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post 

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xi3aaiyVbL9ZPfKF8 

Burning Man Without the Dust

Denver CO and Oklahoma City OK

It's that time of year when folks are returning from Burning Man and posting photos of the amazing art that was out on the playa. From what I've seen so far, 2022 seems to have been a little light on the art. Maybe with a two-year hiatus people just need to get back in their groove to make the magic happen again. Maybe lingering worries of Covid meant some art didn't happen; it is expensive and time-consuming to make large scale art and who wants to put in all the effort and have the event yanked last minute. Maybe people who were there just didn't get out as much to see and photograph the art because by all accounts it was crazy dusty this year and brutally hot. Whatever the reason, as the playa saying goes, "next year was better anyway."

I did have tickets for Burning Man this year and actually contemplated going for a while, but when the plans for this trip started to gel, I knew I wasn't going to do both. I think I made the right choice. I got to see and do some amazing things on this month-long trip, including some Burning Man quality, mind-bending art in Denver and Oklahoma City. I am thrilled that Denitta, my Burning Man best gal, was along for both of those adventures. I can't imagine a better wingman. 

Meow Wolf, Convergence Station, in Denver was very otherworldly, much like Burning Man itself but air-conditioned! This permanent installation of 60,000 square feet of immersive, interactive art opened in September 2021. It is the third Meow Wolf art experience, with the original, House of Eternal Return, in Sante Fe, and a second, Omega Mart, in Las Vegas. 

There is a storyline to Convergence Station and viewing it can be done somewhat like a live video game by collecting Easter eggs and solving puzzles with the use of a QPass card and interactions with character-costumed staff members. I imagine that would be pretty fun for gamers, but we opted to just take in the surreal art and participate in the interactive art pieces, which was more than enough simulation. I think our chosen option also allowed for more enjoyment of the art itself. 

We were in the exhibit for over three hours and are pretty sure that we covered at least 90% of it, although with all of the back-entrances and secret passages it is hard to tell what you don't know that you missed. Needless to say, we were both exhilarated and exhausted by the time we finished. 

It is really hard to explain what all we saw and experienced, because it was so surreal but hopefully the photos I took can give you some idea or at least inspire you to go and experience it for yourself someday. We did have a few favorites. I loved the street scene type areas that were like being in some futuristic science fiction movie. One amazing space was this cavernous city which we originally spotted from above on the top floor. By the time we worked our way down to the first floor, it took us a bit of hunting to locate it. The interactive exhibits were super cool, especially the touch screen where you could make graphics and sounds with just your fingertips. We also loved finding the occasional "quiet spaces" which were nice to get away from all the stimulation for a bit. I even loved that in the exit hall -- which does in fact dump you out into the gift shop -- there was a lovely dress made from QPass cards on a mannequin. Someone must have seen my mattress tag dress that first year at Burning Man!  

The second immersive, interactive art exhibit we visited was the Factory Obscura, Mix-Tape, in Oklahoma City, a local artist collaboration. We joked that Mix-Tape was Meow Wolf light, and while it's true that it wasn't as intense as Meow Wolf, it did have its own unique charm and some super fun interactive aspects. 

The concept supposedly pays homage to the 1980s custom of making mixed music tapes for friends and paramours, and the emotions that those tapes elicited. Our favorite room was the teen girl's room, which had a fun karaoke feature where lyrics appeared on the mirror and you sang into an electric hairbrush curler. The room was covered in decoupage, and the desk and nightstand drawers were filled with teen magazines and various other classic teen 80s memorabilia. There was a lip-shaped telephone, and opening the jewelry box revealed a lighted heart that seemed to go on into eternity. We also loved the alleyway with its Trash Pandas band sign and trashcans that had fun things inside; a hallway made of books; a giant spinning spiral that changed colors; and a room filled with clouds and fake fur, and rainbows created with colored lights moving through thousands of clear plastic cups. Even the gift shop gifted art with a hanging pod chair covered on the outside with pieces of nature and a surprise scene when you sat in it and looked up.

All that crazy art and there was no need to detail the car to remove the dust when we were done! 

If you came to this first through the blog, know there are more photos on the related Facebook post   

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hT8Yxu71rWJDwHxp8 

My Kind of Town

Chicago IL

I loved being back in Chicago. That town just fits me like an old pair of … boxing boots.

My sister, who was born after we left Chicago for Tennessee, had visited there with family when she was a kid and again in her early 20s, then mostly in dive suburban bars while on tour with her boyfriend’s band, but she had never really spent much time in the city. We hit a few of the touristy highlights – Navy Pier, Grant Park, Michigan Avenue, the Loop – but my favorite part of being back was checking out some of the old haunts from both my suburban childhood and my law school days downtown.

We walked, a lot. I now realize why I was so much more fit when I lived there; well, that and I was a bit younger then, too. Besides the full photo study of Buckingham Fountain that I already posted, I took a lot of pictures. We went to Oak Street Beach and Montrose Beach. We hit up several vinyl record shops in Wicker Park; so much so that I had two vinyl mailers to send back from Chicago. We stumbled upon my old Elementary School by accident. We paid homage to Wrigley Field. We put the top down and blared "Lake Shore Drive" as we rolled down the real thing. And we ate, a lot. 

The spreadsheet had a disproportionate number of bars and restaurants on it for the length of time we were going to be in town, but we did our damnedest to get through as many as we could. Of course, there was deep dish pizza. We went to Carm’s for Italian Beef and Chicago Dogs. We had hummus and falafel at Old Jerusalem. We enjoyed brunch, including those killer cinnamon rolls, at Ann Sather’s. We went to Goose Island Brewery and Streeter’s. And yes, Streeter’s is still “The Greatest Bar Below Earth” – it says so right there on the sign above the door.

We stayed at the Claridge House in Gold Coast, a quaint little boutique hotel a block and a half from my old apartment. It was nice to hang out again next door at 3rd Coast, for breakfast and drinks. Our hotel room was very spacious, and we laughed that we even had our own stage – an odd, raised large platform where only a small desk and chair sat between the bedroom and the bathroom. I did two shows a day, if you didn’t count the extra dances in the middle of the night tripping (literally and figuratively) to the bathroom. You’ve got to love those old building and their workaround renovations. Our hotel room was also on the alleyway side of the building. 

One morning I was reminded of my old apartment down the street, which is right next door to the Ambassador Hotel and then the famous Pump Room Bar. I remember my first morning in that apartment, a first-floor unit with a spiral staircase down to the “garden level” bedroom. I woke to the most awful clanging and clattering. It was the garbage truck emptying the hotel next door’s trash bins right next to my bedroom window. Hotels create a lot of empty bottles, and they are very loud being tossed around at the crack of dawn. No wonder I had gotten such a deal on the rental. On the 6th floor of the Claridge House, garbage collection was more of a gentle nudge from one’s slumber, like a trash panda’s alarm clock. The bonus was that it got me up in time to walk a few blocks away to Lake Michigan, just past my old apartment, where I saw a spectacular sunrise.

Danke Schoen, Chicago, you never disappoint. Me and my boxing boots, we'll be back soon!

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post 

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2bPXpLZrpwwNRZBe9

Eleven Years, One Image

Various locations, but mostly in my heart and soul


As Facebook reminded me this morning, eleven years ago I went to Burning Man for the first time. That trip changed my life, my thinking, and who I am forever. A single image that I captured while on playa that year remains my all-time favorite photograph.

Many of you are probably familiar with this image. The image was featured in the photo album I posted to Facebook upon my return from that first Burning Man experience. It has graced my Facebook page as the cover photo a couple of times – when I returned from my second BMan trip to Black Rock City, and again in 2018 when I was feeling particularly homesick to return to the playa. I donated a cool floating-frame print of it to the Art That Matters auction to help raise money for Beyond the Page Theatre Company. A canvas print of the image was part of the 2018 one-person art exhibit of my photography and Chinese brushpainting.

A lot has happened with me in eleven years. I finished raising and launching my two kids into adulthood. I dabbled in trapeze and aerial arts. I learned how to weld. I managed a summer-league swim team. I served on a theatre board. I participated in and helped manage the weekly posting of an international photography challenge group. I didn’t do as much writing in those eleven years as I would have liked; I am trying to catch up a bit now, and I thank all of you who are taking the time to read this blog and encourage my writing. I returned twice to Burning Man. I worked on a photography and digitization project for the Smithsonian’s National Herbarium, and volunteered in their production greenhouse. I worked for a local animal shelter. I lost my mother. I survived a pandemic. I took tens of thousands more photographs. I took an amazing roadtrip.

As a thank you gift to those who shared their guestrooms with me on my month-long, cross-country trip, I gave away some of my photos. I hand picked the images I thought each would like or would have some special meaning for them. These photographs, framed and signed, traveled across country with me until they reached their ultimate destination, their new homes.

The large canvas print of my most favorite image went to my dear friends Denitta and Kent because they were there with me eleven years ago on that journey to Black Rock City when the image was created. As it turned out, they had the perfect empty wall space waiting, complete with a light already installed to perfectly illuminate it. I can’t think of a better home for it, apart from forever in my heart and soul.

If you came to this first through the blog, here is the related Facebook post 

Google Album for these photos (includes original, unframed  image): https://photos.app.goo.gl/Guk2d2reETkkZuky9

"It's Just a Bunch of Rocks"

 Mt. Rushmore and Black Hills, SD

During a roadtrip in the movie Nebraska David Grant (Will Forte) asks his dad Woody (Bruce Dern), "How about we go see Mount Rushmore?" Woody's response, "It's just a bunch of rocks." While that is technically true of both Mount Rushmore and the entire Black Hills areas, they are some truly spectacular rocks, both the natural formations and the manmade carvings. 

Thanks to my own personal Park Ranger guide, Peelee, I got to see sites that I would not likely have found on my own because things out there are pretty far apart, often off the beaten path, and I can see how one can completely miss things if you didn't know exactly where to look. Case in point was the amazing vantage point of the side of the Mount Rushmore Monument where you get a clear profile view of only George Washington. Photographically, it turned out to be my favorite angle because the surrounding hills and trees become as much the focus as the carving itself.   

Another way to get a different view of Mount Rushmore is to drive the winding Route 16A road where you can catch glimpses of the monument, including two spectacular views framed in tunnels through the rocks. This road also has amazing almost circular bridges build to get around and through the terrain, and is a blast to drive with the top down on a beautiful sunny day. 

An additional mind-blowing tunnel in the Black Hills is the long, super-skinny rock passage and tunnel in the Needles area, named for a particular rock that has what looks like the hole through which one threads a needle. In the tunnel, you could literally reach out and touch the rock from the car, and it was cool to hear the motorcyles roll through it. The Needles area's other surrounding rock formations were simply otherworldly.  

The Black Hills are also home to the Crazy Horse Monument, whose carving was started in 1948, and almost three-quarters of a century later is still nowhere near completed. If it is ever finished as envisioned by the artist, it would be the largest statue in the world at 563 feet high and 641 feet long, depicting the Native American warrior, complete with long hair and sitting on horseback. The original artist died in 1982, but his work has been carried on by his family. With tens of millions of dollars already spent, there is some controversy - read details here. 

Sylvan Lake is a very special place in the Black Hills area. Driving through the hills and rocks, you come around a corner and suddenly come upon a stunning lake, surrounded by rocks that look as if they have been stacked by a giant being. They reminded me of the stacked rocks of zen gardens and beaches, or cairns marking paths for hikers, except on a gargantuan scale. To get a sense of the scale, note the tiny people on the shores and the little dot of a canoer in the lake in my wide image of the lake. Some of you might recognize the photos of Sylvan Lake from the movie Natural Treasures 2: Book of Secrets, where it was falsely depicted as being directly behind Mount Rushmore. Actually it is part of Custer State Park, and the lake provides all manner of activities, hiking, boating, picnic areas, rock climbing, swimming, and fishing. 

With every amazing thing that we had already seen that day, Sylvan Lake delivered a final heart-warming scene of a young teen boy teaching his little brother the fine artistry of fishing in this gorgeous setting with the light rapidly changing as the sun dropped lower in the sky. It was my absolute favor moment. If Woody had witnessed that magic, he might feel differently about a bunch of rocks.

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the Facebook post

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/B3hrdXoBPpV1GNFu8 

Crop Art to the Rescue

 Mitchell, SD

My trip was pretty well outlined before I ever picked up and packed the rental convertible, but there were still a few holes here and there and some adjustments were made along the way. When I left Fargo ND headed for the Badlands I still had a night to kill somehow before I could show up for my Badlands camping reservation. Those National Park camping reservations are usually booked up a year in advance. The fact that I even had a reservation for the one night was an absolute miracle resulting from a cancellation in mid-June that I happened upon by checking daily. I had continued to check the NPS website hoping to score an additional night from someone else's cancellation, but got nothing. Looked as if lightening was not going to strike twice for me.  

My goal was to wind up as close to Badlands as possible so I could get there fairly early the next day and have two days in the park along with my one night. I considered heading to Bismarck and then maybe down to Standing Rock Reservation. Where to stay for the night was a bit tricky for that route as there didn't seem to be much between Standing Rock and the Badlands except more reservation land and tiny towns with populations of about a hundred. I settled on heading to Sioux Falls.

Some time after crossing into South Dakota, the Minnesota Public Radio station I was listening to played a short six-minute piece about the Minnesota State Fair and a unique thing called crop art, which mentioned the Corn Palace in South Dakota. Here is the link if you want to listen for yourself while reading my blog: Minnesota State Fair Crop Art. 

Oddly enough, when I was chatting with my friend Sarah, who I stayed with North Dakota, she mentioned that on her trip to the Badlands she had stayed in Mitchell SD and seen the Corn Palace. I took that chance radio broadcast on crop art as a sign that I too needed to see the Corn Palace. I got off at the next exit and rerouted myself to Mitchell. Sorry Sioux Falls, next time.

Apparently the Corn Palace is a huge tourist destination as Mitchell has a quaint little downtown area and a ton of hotels, gas stations, and chain restaurants just off the highway. I checked into a Hampton Inn that only had one room left, a "King suite with a hot tub." (Why not!) Then I headed over to the Corn Palace. 

When I pulled up and saw that the theme for this year's Corn Palace was circus "Under the Big Top," I knew that my hearing that NPR piece was some sort of universe intervention. It is like they knew I was coming! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute (kernel?) at the Corn Palace, and yes I even took a selfie with Cornelius, the Corn Palace mascot.  

The murals made of corn and other crop materials were truly amazing! And the history of "The World's Only Corn Palace" is quite entertaining. Apparently it has existed in some form since 1892. But it seems that each time they upgraded it for size, they outgrew it again within a couple of years. It was that big of a draw. The present building was completed in 1921, just in time for the harvest festival, and was used that winter for the boy's state basketball tournament. The building, considered one of the top 10 places in the country for high school basketball tournaments, is still used for that today, as well as concerts and stage performances, industrial exhibitions, and graduation ceremonies for Mitchell High and Dakota Wesleyan University. The corn art is stripped from the building at the end of August each year and designs for the next year begin, with the new installation beginning in late May when the rye and dock are removed from fields to begin planting of corn. 

I set my alarm for about an hour before sunrise, packed up, and headed out to get photos of the Corn Palace at night. Then I drove out into the countryside to shoot some sunrise shots. A pheasant ran out in front of my car just after daybreak, a near miss. When deer started doing the same, I decided it was time to head back to the highway, grab breakfast and my bags at the hotel, and head toward the Badlands. The Corn Palace had been a great way to kill a night on my journey. I'm just glad that I didn't end up killing a pheasant or a deer.   

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1G1MHEg1fybSMNb89

Going to Graceland, My Feet Ten Feet Off of Beale, and a Dream (Documented and Interrupted)

Memphis, TN

Memphis is a bit of a blur. I was there less than 24 hours, rolling in one afternoon from the 6 hour drive from Oklahoma and leaving early the next morning. Having never been to Memphis before, unless you count a train stop on a ride from Chicago to New Orleans where I never left the train, I knew I had to narrow my focus and squeeze in what I could. "So what do you want to do?", my friend Carmen asked. "I want to go to Beale Street."

I love the singer songwriter Marc Cohn. Who doesn't love "Walking in Memphis" - what a classic. I got to see him perform at the Birchmere several years ago and it was moving and memorable. His music has been a part of several of my big life events. My husband and I had our first dance at our wedding to "True Companion." A little over a decade later, "Silver Thunderbird" was on the playlist at my dad's funeral. 

That song pretty much summed up my dad. The lyrics sound like many a conversation about cars that my dad often had with his brothers and old car geek friends. And yes, one of my earliest memories was riding in the passenger side floorboard at my mom's feet, in dad's Thunderbird. His was white, if I recall correctly, but from the first time I heard the Cohn song that car was forever silver in my head. 

Beale Street was much smaller than I expected, just a few blocks. I guess I had imagined it to be more like the French Quarter. But it had the magic I expected, live music streaming from venues, people enjoying life, even if just for a few hours. I was so taken by all the vintage neon signs. At the end of the street we stumbled upon a gem, a museum housing the photography of Dr. Ernest C. Withers, a famous photographer from the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. 

The Withers Museum opened in 2011 shortly after the family discovered hundreds of rolls of film of Dr. Withers work that had never even been developed, so the museum includes images never before seen. His collection is now estimated at over 1.8 million images and covers civil rights (including iconic images of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), Music (classic images of Elvis, Tina Turner, and Aretha Franklin), Sports (photos of Jackie Robinson and other great athletes), and every day life in the south depicting community, strife, and joy of the times. While I was familiar with some of his images, I was blown away by the sheer magnitude of images at the museum. Photography inside was not allowed for obvious reasons, and that was okay with me because I was too busy taking it all in. Some of the collection can be viewed digitally at https://thewitherscollection.com/

Just around the corner from Beale Street is the Civil Rights Museum housed next to the Lorraine Motel, site of the assassination of Dr. King. Although the museum was closed by the time we got there, the Lorraine is accessible and is like walking into a tragic scene frozen in time with vintage cars parked outside the room where he was shot. I was quite moving and made me wonder if that dream will ever be fully realized. We must all keep up the good fight to keep the Dream alive. 

Everyone who goes to Memphis has to visit Graceland, right? I was short on time -- and apparently money as well because now Going to Graceland will cost you a minimum of 44 bucks and that doesn't even get you into the mansion. The cheapest ticket for that is $77 for a audio self tour and if you want a full guided tour you will need to shell out $198. None of the tours get you upstairs so it seems particularly pricy. Yeah, I don't really need to see the Jungle Room for that kind of dough. I lived through the 60s and 70s, so I know what shag carpet looks like! Maybe Paul Simon needs to update that song. 

Here's the scoop though. You can still pay your respects to the King for FREE. Every morning from 7:30 to 8:30 am, before the ticketed tours start, you can just walk right up to the Memorial Garden. It was not crowded at all when I went, maybe a dozen people milling about at the gravesite and surrounding gardens. You walk right past the mansion and pool to get to the memorial. You get to see the gates and brick wall covered in graffiti, love letters from fans. Across the street you can also view the Lisa Marie airplane from the street. 

The trick is knowing where exactly Graceland sits because the lots for ticketed visitors, which are across the street from Graceland itself and next to the museum, airplane, and entertainment complex, are not yet open at that hour. There is very limited parking on an access road in front of the wall at Graceland proper, but if you are willing to walk a short distance, you can park in the surrounding neighborhood or simply drive up to the gated Graceland Hotel about a block away (and on the Mansion side of the street) and act like you belong there, which is what I did. I am pretty sure that if the King were still around today and I wanted to finagle my way backstage, I could figure out how to do it. 

 

If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/R8YrVud2qj1sckqY8 

21c, Mary Eddy’s, and Greetings from Paradise

Oklahoma City, OK

I was fortunate enough to stay with friends for much of my trip. I have the best friends – with the best guest rooms. I am a lucky, lucky girl! But there's nothing wrong with an occasional hotel-stay indulgence, especially on a long roadtrip. I do love a good boutique hotel every now and then, and we got top shelf in Oklahoma City!

I had never heard of 21C Hotels until that 11th hour route change to take Route 66 to make my way back east. (Pro tip: always search for “boutique hotel” in the area you are looking to stay. They are typically not much more expensive than a mid-priced chain hotel, and they are always a better experience.) Googling for a boutique hotel in OKC, I was pleasantly surprised when the perfect option presented itself. You’ve gotta love a place whose motto is “Sleep with art, we won’t tell.”

It turns out that there are 21C Hotels in the downtown areas of nine mostly mid-sized cities in the Midwest and Southeast, with two more coming soon. Chicago and Nashville are the biggest cities with one. I wish I had known there was one in Chicago when I booked that part of my trip. I adore the boutique hotel we stayed in Chicago (its location in Gold Coast can’t be beat), but I might have booked one night in the 21C just to check it out. Well, there is always the next Chicago trip, which might come sooner than it otherwise would have now that I am itching to see their 21C space.

Founded by Laura Lee Brown and Steve Wilson, contemporary art collectors and award-winning preservationists who believe in the power of contemporary art and the preservation of historic buildings, each hotel has curated rotating exhibitions, commissioned site-specific installations, and regular cultural programming. Each hotel’s restaurant is likewise special, led by a dedicated chef with a unique culinary point of view and a commitment to quality, supporting regional farmers and producers, and genuine hospitality. The meal we had at Mary Eddy’s, the restaurant at the Oklahoma City 21c, was our first inkling that this hotel stay was going to be very special indeed.

Denitta and I rolled into town super late after logging around 15 hours total on the road with our Route 66 jaunt. We begged off the explanations of what the hotel offered from the sweet guy checking us in, explaining that we were trying to make the last reservation at the restaurant. He quickly issued our keycards and showed us to the elevator saying he would call the restaurant to let them know we were there, so we could take our time. When the door opened on our floor, we were greeted with a whimsical piece of art, a red metal sculpture of arrows and lights, in the huge open area lobby area. We quickly dumped our luggage in the room, took a few moments to oooh and ahhh over the gorgeous contemporary styling of the room and bathroom, changed clothes, and raced back downstairs.

The building itself was an old Ford Motor Company factory, so when they transformed it into a hotel and museum they retained the high ceilings, pillars, and industrial feel of the original building but added many complimentary contemporary features. The restaurant space, a bit more homey but equally as gorgeous as the hotel and our room, was a mix of dark wood, marble, curved teal booths, brocade chairs and crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings all somehow blending with the beaux art style of the building’s original architecture. There were classic portraits on the wallpapered walls of Mary Eddy herself, apparently a real person and quite the icon of hospitality in Oklahoma City history.

It was late enough that there were not that many diners left in the restaurant and a few people at the bar. As soon as our server, Kat, arrived at the table and welcomed us, we relaxed and settled in. She asked us what our preferences were for drinks and took time to steer us to something she thought we would enjoy. Denitta decided to go with wine and after a litany of questions, the server brought her a bottle and glass to taste. That one wasn’t quite it, so Kat brought a second. Still not quite it, she brought a third. Bingo! On Kat’s recommendations I went for the Japanese House Cocktail, made from Japanese whiskey, calvados, green apple, fennel, lemon oleo, absinthe, and topo chico. She was spot on with my choice – it was refreshing and complex and set the stage for the magnificent meal to come.

We started with the Deviled Eggs, dressed with bacon jam and dill, and the Crispy Pork Belly that swam in chile verde, cilantro and lime, and was topped with crispy corn nuts! I kid you not! Corn Nuts! And they were amazing in this dish. Who woulda have ever thunk it? For the main course I had the Smoked Duck Breast on savory grits with a blackberry-cabernet reduction and tossed chicories. Denitta had the Pork Porterhouse with Dijon sauce and petite greens. We shared a side of Oyster Mushrooms with smoked celery root and pecan gremolata. Every single bite was a spectacular explosion of taste and smell and whatever unnamed sense it is that makes some meals an over-the-top experience. The portions were very generous so when Kat brought us the dessert menu, which cleverly stated at the top “Dessert, Always” and asked if we would like dessert, we sadly had to decline. The timing of the entire meal was excellent -- we did not feel rushed at all, not for a moment and it was closing in on midnight when we were done – and the service was absolutely spectacular! Kudos to the chef (and to Kat) for a wonderful meal, the best I have had in a long time.

So now it is almost midnight, and our bellies are super full. Lucky for us, we didn’t have to go back to our room and wallow in overstuffed misery but could hit the current exhibitions in the museum of the hotel. That was better than dessert in our current state! The exhibits were fantastical, truly so as the theme for the current exhibition was Supernatural. We wandered around and enjoyed the art for quite a while, dissecting and discussing each piece together for a while, and then sort of wandering off and getting lost in the art on our own.

I found Denitta again looking at the huge paintings, photographs, and mixed media art in and around the round ballroom – a super cool space. Even the floor of the ballroom was a work of art, titled Spinning Wheel of Life, and was created as an interactive work with concentric symbols painted onto the floor. The symbols could be interpreted differently depending on whether you started in the center and worked your way out, vice versa, or walked around in an almost labyrinth path. That piece was art was brilliant and somewhat reminiscent of Burning Man.

It was super late and we were getting sleepy after a long day and a big meal, so we decided to see the rest of the exhibits in the morning. Back in the room it seemed that everything about this place was artistic and indeed a bit Supernatural, but in a comfortable and dreamy sort of way. The light coming through the huge steel and glass window created magical shadows on the wall. Even the “Do Not Disturb” hangtag was a hilariously appropriate piece of art. We treated ourselves to a little nightcap of Chattanooga Whiskey, which had been my trusty travel partner for the entire trip and chatted about the day and the art and memories of long ago until we both finally dozed off, happy and content.

The next morning, we took our time easing into the day, me taking a nice long, hot shower with awesome hotel products by Malin + Goetz, and then climbing back into bed to read the Route 66 magazine that was in our room. Denitta drew herself a bath and leisurely soaked for a bit. My measure of a great hotel stay is being a little bit sad to have to leave. We finally packed up and headed downstairs to the hotel Bodega for a quick breakfast before hitting the road. My cortado coffee drink was as artistic as everything else we had encountered here, and my bacon chive scone was delicious.

Before checking out we finished up seeing the museum pieces that we had missed the previous night. That is when we realized we had inadvertently made the right call to cut it short, as some of the taxidermy pieces I posted previously were some of the museum pieces we didn’t see until that morning. That might have made for a very different sleeping experience!

One museum piece we saw that morning turned out to be my absolute favorite, so I am glad we didn’t miss it. The piece by Juan Fontanive, titled Ornithology 1, is essentially a zoetrope that uses 19th century natural history illustrations of various birds. This art form is like the old “flipbooks” we all had as kids that would animate still photos, except this artist takes it to the next level by having the art flip continuously using an electronic motor that also provides a sound reminiscent of birds’ flapping wings. It is truly amazing. I could have stood there forever watching it. (Ironically, my all-time favorite Burning Man art piece was also a zoetrope, so I guess I have a thing.)

Yep, I am going to need to return to Oklahoma City sometime because on that killer hotel, museum, and restaurant, and because we didn’t have time to enjoy the property’s Pool Bar, which was featured on the postcard they gave us at checkout that read “Greetings from Paradise.” And I bet it is just that!


If you came to this first through the blog, know that there are more photos on the related Facebook post

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Guk2d2reETkkZuky9