Back across the US - Day 10: More Arizona

While in Arizona, we visited the Meteor Crater, the "first proven meteorite crater on earth."

The storm-like weather carried over from the previous day and it was extremely windy, especially at the high elevation, unbuffered lookout points (which were all of them). I could barely take pictures for fear of blowing into the crater! (Ok maybe an exaggeration, but still, it was windy!)



Yes, this is an illusion. The "picture box" on this wall outside the Meteor Crater museum is the sky showing through a hole in the wall. It's one of those things everyone is immediately mesmerized by and then takes a picture of (including me).


Look! It's my dad at the bottom of the Crater!*


*Umm... or not. Perhaps it is not true, per se, to say he was in the Crater. Perhaps it was more like in front of (a photo of) the Crater.

Ok so all I have are these odd pictures of things that were around the Crater but are not the Crater. I didn't realize I hadn't actually taken any still photos. The truth is, I took some lo-res videos, which I may or may not post at some point.

But that's it for now, thanks for reading!

Day 9: New Mexico to Arizona

Though the colors of the Painted Desert were muted by the overcast (and extremely windy) weather, the few times when the sun did peek through the clouds allowed for some dramatic lighting.








Moving through the park, we got to the Petrified Forest, which was less "foresty" than I'd imagined...


"Agate Bridge," a felled petrified tree




An orange safety cone amidst the plethora of logs




There were a ton of logs...


On our way to Flagstaff, we crossed this street in Holbrook, AZ:


I can only imagine what the background of this area is...

Day 8: Amarillo, TX

"Bigger in Texas..."

No we didn't eat here, we just drove by and gawked.
It was so over-the-top, I couldn't believe it was real...



That bull was really cute... and it had wheels... and it was twice the size of a car. I like the expression on its face... Does this really make you want to eat him??



Oh and this is their promotional line you see plastered on billboards all along the highway...


Yes, that's right-- 4.5 lbs of meat!!
(fine print: if you can eat it in 1 hour!?! sick!)

And yes, those are longhorns on the front of those limos.

Day 8 (continued): Cadillac Ranch

In a field in the middle of nowhere, off the highway in Amarillo...

Day 7: Tulsa, OK to Amarillo, TX

As seen in Oklahoma...


Wow. How American is that?


Yukon, Oklahoma... proud hometown of a certain country singer.



...and Oklahoma City, home of the American Racing Pigeon Union!

Day 5 (continued): Meramec Caverns

As we continued driving through Missouri, our next stop was Meramec Caverns in Stanton, Missouri.

After passing the cafe, gift shop, and educational displays with artifacts and rock samples, we arrived at the cavern entrance.







There is an extensive network of tunnels leading past bodies of water and structures millions of years old and still forming.





The tour ended with an oddly Disney-esque light show/national anthem grand finale... And actually afterwards, both my dad and I agreed that the whole caverns experience, while amazing as a living artifact of history, was disappointingly commercialized-- So much so that it was difficult to distinguish it's reality with the artifice of something you'd see at Disneyland.

Day 5: St. Louis

Yesterday we didn't have time to go up into the arch, so today we went back.
The view from the top:





Looking straight down...



A game goes on in Busch Stadium...





After leaving the Arch, as we were driving away, an old factory building in the distance caught my eye. Cliched as it is, I can't help being attracted to them-- these old industrial sites. Maybe it's the layers of history, memories of the past shaped by the present...
Wielding my camera, we drove over, and not surprisingly I nabbed a ton of shots.







There were several other old buildings on the same block...

Day 4: St. Louis

The top of the St. Louis Arch



The bottom*

*Note: These are not to scale. At all.

Day 3: Chicago to St. Louis

Not much happened on the drive over. Before leaving Illinois, we stopped at this reputed corn dog stand in Springfield, IL...

Day 1 + 2: Michigan to Chicago

The first thing we saw on the road to Chicago...


I was imaging the truck filled with Tootsie Pops or maybe just one giant rectangular Tootsie Roll!!



This area around Lake Michigan seems like a really nice place to bike/jog/run/walk.


To get to that side near the Lake, you go through an underground pedestrian tunnel beneath this street.

Back across the US - Intro...

So... all the previous posts in this blog are from my cross-country road trip from my home in South Pasadena (L.A.), CA to my temporary home at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, MI during the summer of 2006. Two years later, I have my MFA in Photography and I am back on the road from MI to L.A. These are my (somewhat feeble) attempts to document it.