It's been a while.  Since our last post (February, I think) we've been in, in order:

Indianapolis, Cleveland, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Huntington Beach, Moss Landing (CA), Houston, New York City, San Antonio, New Orleans, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Houston,  St. Louis, and now Kalamazoo.

Whew, just thinking about the past 3 months makes me tired all over again.

While in St. Louis, we met up with Nick, a guy I met in Kansas City in class.  We hit a couple of breweries, then went to the City Museum.  I gotta say, I have never...NEVER...seen anything like this place.  It's a 10 story building, maybe old warehouses(?), taken over by a mad genius and made into a playground.  In all my travels, this was one of the most interesting places I've ever seen. This pictures will not do it justice, it was very dark.

Part of it is like walking through a deep, old cave.  When walking through, you had to remind yourself that you were inside a building in downtown St. Louis.  Not some subterranian tunnel system.

There are things that look like teeth.

There are things that have teeth:

There are things you can crawl through, if you're very small.

I'm NOT going in there!

Or, there.

And things to climb on, or through.

Nick, climbing through the world's largest slinky.

Out back, there's this huge structure, several airplane fuselages 40 or 50 feet up in the air, interconnected by these huge slinkies to crawl through.  Here's a picture from their website:

There's really no describing this place.  You HAVE to go.  

Here's a link with some good pictures.  It might not work. If not, i found it by googling City Museum St. Louis.

http://crowleyshell.tumblr.com/post/45684362641/mini-slashthegreat-thepreciousthing

here, there be giants...

Our adventure involves A LOT of driving. In fact, over the first five or so weeks of 2013, we drove almost 6,100 miles. And we've seen a lot of stuff that leads us to believe that here, there be giants. See for yourself.

giant legs with graffiti socks

world's largest rocking chair

world's largest wind chime

giant pop bottle and straw

giant fork

giant red arrow - they're shooting at us! run, you fools!

But don't worry. Andy is strong, like bear:

And thirsty, too.

we were living it up at the hotel oklahoma

Our great friends (and former neighbors) offered to let us stay with them in Edmond for a few days on our way from California to Indiana. Miss K, our hostess, thoughtfully provided us with a welcome letter that included the lowdown on Oklahoma, family news, games and an art gallery, their "board of fare" (really, Doug? calf fries?), and a special note from SethOatis:

welcome!

games and gallery

Shopping with Karen!!

We're going shopping with Karen.  Not Karin.

To HEB!!!

(in south austin for 48 hours, then off to houston)

A quickie stop at the Mustang Ranch

Ever since I was in college, I'd heard of the Mustang Ranch, but never had the chance to go.  Now, with all of our travels, I finally had a Chance. It was a little bit of a detour, but I've wAnted to go for so long time, so I figured it was worth it.

Ann, on the other hanD, I wasn't sure how she'd feel about it.  I thought It might just be a guy thing.  Turns out, she's just as into that kind of stuff as I am.  I just sort of timidLy suggested we stop by, and she was ALL OVER THAT!  My kind of woman.  She even made sure the camera was fuLly charged before we went.  She thought it'd be great to get some pictures to document the occAsion.

It's a little bit off the highway.  If you weren't looking, you'd drive right by.  You think there'd be a sign or something.  And the entryway is kind of weird.  Sort of a "one person at a time" kind of door/gate thing.  I guess they need to Control how fast people come in.  There is a sign outside that reminds people that what you're going to do on the inside is not legal on the outside.

Anyway, when we got there, there were 10 different models to check out.  I asked Ann which one she liked best, because I had to pick a different one.  She said there's nothing wrong with us sharing, but that was a little weird.  So, we each decided which one was our favorite, the one we'd each speNd a little bit Of time with.  The one Ann picked was a few years younger Than the one I preferred.  Ann's always said I had a thing for "older Models".  Ann actually looked it up afterwards.  They were all about 1 year apart in age, so they spanned about a decade in age total.

We played aroUnd for a while. As uSual, I was done before her.  I had To be a little patient until she got what she wAnted out of the experience.  Meanwhile, I just hung back and watched.  Even though I was done, it was nice watching her enjoying herself like that.  Again, pretty normal for how these things go for us.

The noise from the other people enjoying themselves was kind of a distraction; everywhere we go it seems to get crowded. One guy was just laughing and yelling as he was doing his thing.  Kind of annoying. Why make all that noise, right?  Then, as we were leaviNg, we walked past a used condom. Kind of Gross.  The whole thing, looking back as we were leaving, was kind of dirty.


But, like Ann said, it's about the journey, not the destination.

things that make you go, "WTF?", part 2

For probably 200 miles we saw at least 100 "teaser" billboards about it. Supraliminal advertising at its best. Of course, we stopped.

Like many roadside attractions, there is a small fee. In this case, $1 (we read somewhere that when asked what "the Thing" was, the cashier replied that it was $1 to go find out for yourself but he'd tell you for $5). We forked over the $2, and were told that "the Thing" would be in the 3rd section.

1st section: a bizarre mix of antique cars, a diorama of ancient torture methods (with mannequins!), and cattle. Allegedly, Hitler used the Rolls Royce. See him peeping out the window?

2nd section: was lined with wooden display cases, each one full of different stuff (some might say, crap), but the diorama of the old western bar was kind of cool. Notice the "nude" over the bar (2nd from right, middle row).

3rd section: Finally. THE THING.

the Thing

Even after seeing it, I still wasn't sure what to make of it (besides the obvious). So I googled it. Wikipedia has some information on the origins. There has been speculation that it came from catacombs within the Grand Canyon, by way of Egypt. Hmmm... Weird US (Arizona) doesn't mention anything about Grand Canyon catacombs or Egypt. Actually, they suggest that "the Thing" was cobbled together in the 1950s or 60s by a man who made just this sort of thing for his own attraction/museum.

You can find lots more pictures of "the Thing" by googling - most of them are better than ours.

My favorite part of the whole thing was, by far, all of these driftwood creatures. Check them out here and in the Flick stream (link above).

the guy in the middle is my favorite. or maybe the 3rd from left on the top row; he looks like he just got caught doing something naughty.

things that make you go, "WTF?", part 1

Since starting on this adventure, we've been mindful that the journey is at least as important as the destination. Accordingly, we've taken lots of little trips off the beaten path and purposefully sought out some of the quirkier things on the road.

Andy recently posted about our last drive from Texas to California, and he mentioned that we saw "the Thing" but would leave it for me to post more about it. But first, I thought I'd share some of the other things we've seen along the way.

spaceship motel

McD-Rex

2-fanged snake, all dressed up for the holidays

propane tank rocket

the singing cowboy, Gene Autry

an epic battle in Gila Bend, AZ

terrible 2s?

this is what happens when a train car of fireworks explodes next to a train car of aluminum cans

Beyoncé's homely desert cousin (see thebloggess.com)

giant gila monster, Gila Bend, AZ

hubcap dromedary

this is just cool

pond whale made of horseshoes, Quartzite, AZ

VW bug spider

carved wooden Indian head, 43' tall, Desert Hot Springs, CA

giant stag made of junk

But what about "the Thing"? Next post.