I don't know that this one is particularly old, but I like the simplicity.
The skillets and the spatula are great. I didn't notice the horses by the Trading Company sign in the lower left until I looked at the picture. One has a U.S. flag painted on it. But the other one, I just don't know. If anyone can figure out what he's supposed to represent, please let me know.
This is just beautiful vintage style. With the restrictive sign ordinances so many cities favor now, it wouldn't be possible to put up new signs with this much class. What a pity.
This one was once called the Desert Skies Motor Hotel. That's a pretty reasonable price.
The top square on the sign that's damaged now once held the picture of a fully loaded burger. Yummmm.
The Colonial Motel has 2 vintage signs. I'm pretty sure they did this because of the unusual arrangement Route 66 took through town. The 2 eastbound lanes were separated from the 2 westbound lanes by a block. Essentially, Route 66 follows runs through Gallup on two one-way streets. The Colonial wanted to be findable by people traveling in both directions, apparently.
The Lexington Hotel also has two neon signs, but not on different streets. I wonder why?
I thought I'd get in on the two sign act, so here are two signs in the same picture. (Ha ha.) Neither of these signs is old, but they look the part. The Rex Museum is in the building that was once the Rex Hotel, which was basically a bordello. The museum focuses on railroads and mining in the area.
I suspect this sign once looked different.
This one, too. I wonder what it said before "Carl's." These buildings have pretty good style of their own.
This was once Richardson's Trading Company. They've obviously changed with the times. Good for them.
I think this one might be new, too, but it's still pretty good.
The El Rancho Hotel & Motel has a claim to fame. Many movie stars stayed here when filming in the area. The rooms where they stayed were then named after the stars. Fun stuff.
Taken on the fly. Sorry about the blur. This sign once included a neon cowboy and lariat.
Here's another twofer. I absolutely love the Blue Spruce Lodge sign. It's perfect. And Arrowhead Lodge is as different as possible, but just as wonderful. I think of Boy Scouts when I see these names--I wonder why???
No neon, but still vintage style--just a different decade, I think.
How fitting--the Road Runner Motel. It has good prices, too. And, next door,
the Road Runner Cafe. Yeah, I know, it would be funnier if it were the Coyote Cafe, but I think these were here before the cartoon.
There were some great period buildings in Gallup, too.
Look at the marvelous vintage style of this motel. Can't you imagine it bustling with cars and people in its heyday?
This one, too. I'm not sure, because I'm blogging this a couple of weeks after we took the pictures, but I think these two hotel are next door to each other. That's so typical out here. You'd have two motor courts right next to each other. I wonder if they engaged in price wars to get customers.
Remember this decorative style block work from the '40s and '50s?
Dean and I couldn't decide whether this building was old or new, but we liked the glass blocks. What do you think?
Look at the decorative rock facade on this building. That looks like lava rock, but I'm not sure. (More about that further down the page.)
Great deco styling.
This is actually called Pueblo Deco. You see a good bit of out here.
Pretty elaborate building. It's a theater, I think.
There's a good bit of decorative painting on buildings in Gallup.
And just a couple more interesting buildings--
This is an old Lot-A-Burger.
Their sign is fun. We saw quite a few of these signs, but none of the other buildings looked original.
Great angles on this old drive-in.
It carries through to their awnings. It's still in good shape, too.
There was one notable natural feature in Gallup.
This is two blocks of solid rock wall that just sort of pops up from nowhere. They obviously had to cut into a hill to try to keep the road level. But they didn't cut any more than they had to. The road is right beside the wall. Note that this isn't nice and even, with drill marks for dynamite, like you see beside interstates. You gotta wonder how they did this. I'm sure they blasted, but how much of a guessing game was it?
In the second block, there's a house built atop the hill. I don't know if it wasn't as stable, or if it isn't solid rock, or what, but they built this rock retaining wall.
Here's a look at it from across the street. That's great craftsmanship.
The retaining wall transitions back to rock at the end of the block. I could almost have reached out and touched the wall here. Fortunately, the lane is plenty wide.
Leaving Gallup, we started to see mesas again.
They are a lovely red-orange.
Beautiful, aren't they.
Then, out in the fields, we started seeing these very black streaks of rock.
The first few shots were taken traveling at speed, but you can still see what I'm talking about.
It got more prevalent.
We stopped to get a better look. This is lava.
It's called the McCarty's Lava Flow. The locals named it El Malpais, or Evil Country. If you imagine the area with much less vegetation, you can see why that name is apt.
It goes on......
....and on. This lava flowed about 38 miles from its vent. The leading edge of the flow is 15 to 20 feet in height. Geologists estimate that the flow is about 3000 years old, the 'youngest' in the contiguous U.S.
This lava field greatly hindered travel through this valley.
There's an El Malpais National Landmark, if you'd like to visit while you're in the area. Visit the government's site for lots more info.
I thinks that's enough for this post. I'll pick up here next time. Bye for now.
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