It’s a visit to the Cadillac Ranch which, according to Wikipedia is “a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, U.S. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm, and it consists of what were (when originally installed during 1974) either older running used or junk Cadillac automobiles, representing a number of evolutions of the car line (most notably the birth and death of the defining feature of mid twentieth century Cadillacs; the tailfins) from 1949 to 1963, half-buried nose-first in the ground, at an angle corresponding to that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.” 
I’m not sure I would mention the Ranch in the same article as the Great Pyramid of Giza, let alone in the same sentence. Cadillac Ranch tends to be a place where people go to empty a few cans of spray paint. You might think by looking at the picture above that the cars are out in the middle of nowhere. In fact they can be seen from I-40 and were at one time a lot closer to the center of Amarillo. Today, they are on the outskirts of town. The Ranch is something of a hold-over from the old days of the counter-culture coming out of the 1960′s. Just like me.
Tag Archives: Texas
Happy Banking in Texas
I don’t really get it. Why would anyone name a bank “Happy State Bank” or any derivative thereof? I just don’t see the name inspiring confidence. But I guess that owning a bank has its’ privileges. One of them is naming the bank anything you want. But, this bank is in Texas. If I think of all the adjectives I night use to describe Texas, the people in Texas, and, in particular the institutions of Texas, happy would not be one of them. So what should they have named it? I don’t know. Bill or George or John – anything but happy.
Downtown Amarillo Bike Ride
I don’t know what most people do when they come to Amarillo, TX, but I was going to park my car downtown and ride my bike around town. Here we have a picture of a building I thought had something of a classic look to it. It was currently abandoned. But, if I were looking for a large building in Amarillo, TX I would certainly look at this one. Primarily because I liked the way it looked. But the whole point wasn’t to scope out architecture, it was to take a ride around town on my bicycle, which seems to travel at close to the perfect speed for a tourist like me – not too fast and not too slow. I call it the “just right” tourism speed. I got to see the downtown section of Amarillo really well and I got to get a little exercise in the process.
Amarillo, Texas Tourist Information
How many times have I been through Amarillo? Too many. Dozens, actually. How many times have I stopped to take in some of the attractions? Never. How many times have I said that I’m going to stop at the Cadillac Ranch this time through the town? Almost every time. Why don’t I stop? Because it’s a four hour drive from Oklahoma City to Amarillo and another four hours to Albuquerque. Stop in Amarillo? It’s on the Big Road that stretches for hours and hours and I just haven’t taken the time. What looks good in Amarillo? One thing I plan on doing is to stop downtown, get my bicycle out of the car and go for a ride. It’ll be a good break for my posterior. I need an hour ow two of riding. What else might I do? How about Palo Duro Canyon? Continue reading