Susan's Page

Carhenge. Real cars. Really planted in the ground in the middle of the prairie. Much more spiritually moving than the Cadillac Ranch ever could be.

And, it's free.

Carhenge has spawned a number of other 'installations' at the same location, each made of cars or parts thereof. Such as this T. rex.

Perhaps the most thought-provoking sight at Carhenge was this strapping young family of hearty midwesterners, admiring the awesome spectacle, each with their very own ice cream cone.

Yes, we made it to world-famous Wall Drug Store. Wall, SD, is a teeny little town in the middle of nowhere which only exists these days because of the giganteous Wall Drug tourist trap. It's one of those places where the billboards accost you at regular intervals for many, many miles until you finally get there and decide that you really have to see the durn place.

Wall Drug used to be proud of the fact that they had billboads in every one of the 50 states saying "You're only XX miles from WALL DRUG". Even Alaska and Hawaii. Apparently they don't do that any more -- probably too expensive to maintain all those billboards!

We had lunch. We didn't go see the plaster T. rex that they apparently have in the 'backyard'. We also didn't go see their jackalope, having already seen one in South of the Border.

As we were driving across the open range in western North Dakota, we passed by the Home On The Range. It did not appear to be any kind of tourist stop, just an exit sign and a hillside. No explanation.

For what it's worth, in this part of the country we did see many buffalo roaming and deer and antelope playing. (We were actually thrilled to see so many wild antelope in the Dakotas.) And on many days the skies really were not cloudy all day.

In Klamath, CA there is a roadside "attraction" known as Trees of Mystery. For a nominal fee, you can go inside and see amazing feats of optical illusion purporting to be mysterious violations of the basic laws of physics -- things like water flowing uphill, etc.

But, for free, you can see Paul Bunyan and Babe his Blue Ox in the parking lot. Jacque is there leaning against Babe's right front leg.

The sign under Paul's foot describes the size and weight of the figures, and who built them. It does not, however, explain why they were built here in California, since the legend of Paul Bunyan is firmly rooted in the folklore of the great northern forests east of the Rockies.

...And on the subject of mysterious trees...

Along the side of Highway 101 in northern Mendocino county, one finds the

It's one rather large redwood tree that has a doorway and a window, and presumably a room, carved into its base. It's unclear if anyone ever actually lived in this "house", and we weren't willing to pay the admission to find out. The tree is still alive, although they were in the process of removing some dead limbs while we were there.

Notice that the parking lot is empty...

Notice also that there are chainsaw carvings available next door for those who would like to take home their own maimed piece of tree trunk.

Many years ago, in the mountain gap visible in the background in this photo, a forest ranger found a bear cub who'd lost its mother in a forest fire. He called the bear "Smokey", and Smokey became the spokes-bear for the government's anti-wildfire campaign.

The current Forest Service has commemorated the event with a small roadside pullout and a large Smokey cutout. Jacque has commemorated the event by allowing herself to be photographed with her arm around a large Smokey cutout.

Remember, "Only YOU can prevent forest fires!"

We took a side trip through Historic Eutaw because Susan's Chesapeake Bay Retriever is named Eutaw.

Eutaw is one of our third-favorite dogs in the whole world.

This place, which is nowhere near Mexico, is south of the North Carolina border. But, that doesn't stop them from trying to create something that would have kept Walt Disney up awake at night.

Just about anything a traveler could want is here. If you don't mind it being very heavy on the Kitsch. We stopped long enough to buy gas (20¢ more per gallon than in the surrounding countryside) and buy a little food (a taco and a burrito).

And we posed on the big plaster animals. Yes, Steph, we found the Jackalope!

This thermometer measures 134 feet in height, exactly the same as the highest temperature (134°F) ever recorded in nearby Death Valley (in 1913). There's only one higher temperature ever recorded anywhere in the world -- 136°F at Al 'Azïzïyah, Libya. Luckily, we're not visiting in the summer, so the temperature in Baker is a balmy 59°F, as clearly seen on the World's Tallest Thermometer.