Thursday, August 9, 2012

Creepy, Wonderful Tourist Traps

Driving from Houston to northern California and back means a whole lot of hours staring at (pretty but unvarying) desert. Luckily, this desert is broken up with some of the most ridiculous, delightful, creepy tourist attractions. So I thought I'd share the places I stopped at:
WARNING: Picture of a mummified body below (real or not, I have no idea). Just in case you don't like that kind of thing.
So at a Shell station in the middle of nowhere, Arizona, you can go see THE THING.
Strange, right? Also, there were a bunch of old cars, including one that might have been used by Hitler (somehow, I doubt that). And it had a wax figurine of Hitler in the car, which is basically the freakiest thing I've ever seen. So I hightailed it out of that place pretty quickly.

On the way back home, I stopped at the meteor crater (again, middle of nowhere, AZ).
It was made about 50,000 years ago, and it is massive.

In Gallup, New Mexico, I got lunch at the El Rancho Hotel, a hotel I'd been to on the last road trip I was on. It's an old Hollywood hotel and has been used as headquarters for many western movies. There are tons of photos in the lobby of all the celebrities who used to stay there.
I recommend the John Wayne burger.

Next up, in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, the grave of Billy the Kid.
Also, the best authentic Western tombstone I have ever seen, belonging to the man he shot:

Basically, New Mexico and Arizona have some of the strangest, most ridiculous tourist stops ever. I can't recommend them enough.

Happy Friday, everyone! Anyone have any fun weekend plans?




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10 comments:

  1. Aha! I was just at a few of these places, though I was heading east from Northern Cal! We stopped at Meteor Crator, but didn't go in because it was so darn expensive! There's a stop called Two Guns just next to the crator that has some ruins left over from the hey day of Route 66, including a crumbling building that says 'Mountain Lions' on it, and has a few broken down cages where they kept them to attract motorists to stop! Haha, it's so bizarre. I'll do a few posts on all that soon!
    I'm sad I missed the grave of Billy the Kid though; that must've been interesting! I really like seeing the graves of old wild west legends--I was able to see Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok & Calamity Jane's though, & and it was so interesting!

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  2. Haha. This is awesome. That's what driving is all about. Seeing these cool things along the way :)

    I'm playing a softball tournament this weekend. Should be fun. Hope yours is awesome!

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  3. Awesome pics! I really need to get out and do something before work eats up my whole summer. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. It's not like I've never seen a picture of one before, but it always amazes me: mummified bodies are so, so creepy! Awesome photos, though.

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  5. I've been to Arizona and know exactly what you mean. It's sort of wild and kooky out there and I must admit I loved it.

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  6. Oh wow. Those are great pictures. The mummy was creepy! Sounds like you had a great trip.

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  7. hahaha sounds like you were able to liven things up on the drive! how nice to have quirky places to visit! THE THING! lol. I feel like I've been to that crater, but I'm not entirely sure... I know we did the White Sands and the Petrified something or other on the way to the Grand Canyon... so very long ago. Fuzzy memories. :)

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  8. I am digging the meteor crater. Oh, accidental bad pun!

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  9. We saw the King Tut exhibit last week and they had a replica of his mummy there. I wished it could've been the real thing! :D

    Yes, these are definitely creepy-weird-awesome stops. I'm sure such a long drive inspired the muse, too! I love driving for that reason. :)

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  10. Okay, now those are bizarre! The mummy one... shudder.

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