We said goodbye to Colorado and headed south to take a walk down memory lane to visit the town where I lived. We moved from Ohio (where I was born) when I was 3 years old and moved to Wisconsin after I completed 6th grade. But first we got to check another state off the list as the GPS routed us through New Mexico on our way to Amarillo. We decided that, in order to fully take advantage of this trip we needed two separate routes. We took the northern route to get to CO and the southern route to get back home.
We were schooled in New Mexico's Volcanos because we had no idea!
And then the much-anticipated entry into TEXAS!
Once a Texan always a Texan.
Right before the city limits of Amarillo is a now-famous site called Cadillac Ranch.
Another eccentric creation, but this one has some personal history. I have pictures of me as a kid standing under one of these cars before graffiti was a money-maker, and before the movie CARS (along with other nods to this epic site) put it on the map. I don't remember how old I was but I was invited to go to the home of the sponsor/owner of Cadillac Ranch to play music for an event he was hosting there. It was such an interesting home. When you drove through the gate onto his property he had exotic animals walking around and peacocks everywhere. Inside he had multiple wall maps that you could pull down, animal fur rugs in every room and stools made from actual elephant legs. It was bizarre! Anyway, I've told the kids about this Cadillac Ranch place for years and I was excited to watch them experience it for the first time. Now, it looks NOTHING like it used to when I was a kid (the spray paint acts as glue holding pieces of the old cars together in some places and looks like stalactites dripping off of other pieces), but it was nostalgic none-the-less.
Over the years I guess they said, "if you can't beat 'em, make money off of 'em". They now have a truck that sells spray paint and merchandise. Luckily I knew that so I bought paint before we went so we didn't have to buy the over-priced stuff for the amateurs, ha!
Then we got in the car and I showed my kids the home where I grew up.
Again, nothing like my memory tells me it was, but I kept getting these glimmers of memories when we'd turn down a street or drive past a familiar place.
After we got all unpacked and situated at the Airbnb Josh and I took a walk around the neighborhood as we watched the sun set.
Sites, smells and weather are such strange reminders of the past.
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