Day Three!

Well everyone, today we started Day Three bright and early, and let me just say that it was an action-packed day. I love this entire trip. I know that entire days in a car doesn't sound so appealing to most people, but seriously...what an awesome experience. And stopping at things along the way is definitely the way to go.

myself inside of the Giant Blue Whale!

So we left the uhmm...charming? city of Miami, Oklahoma today with coffee in hand and the ambition to get far today and I would say that we definitely accomplished that! Before we knew it, we were on the original Route 66 and found ourselves in Catoosa, Oklahoma...staring up at a Giant Blue Whale. This man, Hugh Davis, constructed this giant blue whale for his wife as an anniversary gift in 1972. It turned into a major attraction for families to picnic and swim (and I can definitely see why...the heat is insane there) but once Hugh and his wife passed away it was closed down and no one's allowed to swim there. The cool thing is, though, that the children and grandchildren of the Davis's still keep the place in condition and even  serve concessions during the day for visitors. The Giant Blue Whale was beautiful...there was just something about it's age and history that gave it character. It made me sad to see that its no longer open for operation...all I kept doing was picturing tons of little kids running around and swimming! It was so charming :) But anyway, definitely one of my favorite stops thus far.

 picnic area.

 Alex in the Blue Whale!

Oh, and before I forget...we also drove under the World's Largest McDonalds! We didn't stop...but I thought it was a worthwhile picture opp!

After the Whale, we made our way through the rest of Oklahoma (it’s a pretttyyyy big state) and onto Texas! Luckily for us, we just went through the Northern part of Texas so it wasn’t too too far of a trip. This is where we REALLY started to notice the new desert landscape. It was beautiful. Although I have to admit that if I lived down here, I would definitely miss the color green. But it was cool to see alllllll the cows and farms, the scattered houses, and the endless almost reddish/orange ground along the way. There weren’t many trees (I’m STILL waiting to see a cactus and a tumbleweed!) but tons of bushes and we even stopped in a nice little convenient store along the way. I think it’s true about them saying, “everyone knows everyone in a small Southern town.” It was really neat :) 

And then, one of my absolute favorite parts of the entiiiire trip happened…we made it to Cadillac Ranch! We had to get onto the original Route 66 again and make a series of turns but then we arrived at our destination. It.was.beautiful. 10 very very old Cadillaces halfway buried in the ground and covered…abbbbsolutely covered!...in graffiti. The cool part though? Vandalism is encouraged! Back in the day, a bunch of art hippies got together and came up with this idea in order to attract people to the city of Amarillo, Texas.  Ever since then, people have been showing up and tearing parts off of the cars and spray painting and just leaving their mark. You can read all about the history of it here. So of course we had to do the same :)  It was pretty surreal. And so beautiful too. I mean…just look at the pictures! I don’t really know how else to describe such a sight...pretty much just breath taking! I love art…and I love when an artist lets their viewers get involved. It was so cool seeing grown men and women as well as small kids enjoying such a simple thing. I loved it.

 Cadillac Ranch

the gate to Cadillac Ranch

 leaving my mark!

 leaving the Dunn family mark!

 and leaving a mark for Alex and I :)

After Amarillo, Texas, we decided that we should probably try and find a place to settle in for the night since we didn’t want to do any driving through the desert at night. We decided on Tucumcari, New Mexico, since it was right in between Amarillo and Albuquerque (aka: the only sign of civilization for quite some time).  So we made it across the border, experienced one more time change (yes, we’re two hours ahead of home!) and found ourselves a quaint little town with a Denny’s for dinner. (Alex was really excited about this so I had to make sure to put this in here!)  And now, I am EXHAUSTED! Here is where I apologize for the lack of internet connection last night, grumble about how long all of these pictures take to upload, and apologize once more…this time for any spelling mistakes or lack of detail due to my need of sleep!

Biff :) 

So I wish everyone a good night! And I’ll be up bright and early for another day on the road…finishing up New Mexico and heading right through Arizona to see (for the first time in my life) The Grand Canyon! Too excited. Need sleep. Goodnight world. I’ll catch up with you all tomorrow. Enjoy :)