Turns out that Yosemite is pretty nice at this time of year … although I wish I had been granted the gift of more interesting skies.
Who says there aren’t any wide open spaces left in the U.S.?
The sciencegeek in me couldn’t resist a trip to the Plains of San Augustin in New Mexico. When I found out that to get there, we’d have to take a left turn at Albuquerque, I was sold. These things out there in the middle of nowhere, they inspire awe. It was one of the highlights of the trip for me.
I wish we had been able to spend more time along the ruined parts of Route 66. But it’s not all desolation in its ruin. There are some fun and quirky elements to be found along the way, and although the cars at the Cadillac Ranch have been battered and beaten and graffitied almost beyond recognition, they’ve become a landmark along the Mother Road that has to be seen.
We stopped to do a little bit of souvenir shopping in Missouri along I-44 at the SR-71 junction. We’d missed the first Ozarkland store, and were determined to visit the next. The first store was dazzling and large — bright, clean, and very attractive. We had expected the place at which we stopped to be more of the same, but instead it looked very much to be on its last legs, located in a building adjoining a deteriorating doll shop and across the parking lot from an old and abandoned gas station. Carthage, Missouri was located along the Mother Road — old Route 66 — and this small group of buildings was clearly a relic of the era. Somehow, despite the clear signs that its best days are behind, this Ozarkland shop is still struggling on, and got a fair number of visitors while we were there. The abandoned gas station nearby was of more interest to me, though.
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