Weird Amarillo, Tx

Amarillo is a great town! There is some weirdness here though. A local millionaire who is now in his late 80's had commissioned some 'folk art' that is still around. Stanley Marsh 3 or just III. I will focus on the folk art today.

First is the most famous which is the Cadillac Ranch. We visited this site 2 years ago while passing through when picking up our new 5th wheel. You have probably heard of this place. It is where the the Cadillacs are sticking in the ground hood first.

Cadillac Ranch

It is encouraged that you graffiti the cars as this is considered a living piece of art. There are always paint cans all over the place. On the road side of the fence is this sign not to graffiti on this side.

No Graffiti

Marsh III used to own the fields around the cars, but I read he has since sold the property. I guess because it is an Amarillo tradition they continue to allow access to it. You can see the paint cans on the ground next to the cars.

Cadillacs

To some people this is art, to us it is just a weird oddity which we enjoy seeing. 

Graffiti Cadillacs

We of course had to join in the fun. Here is Patty tagging 'Hunt' onto one of the cars!

Patty tagging

Here is the evidence of her mischief!

Hunt

After the Cadillacs we found another weird oddity Marsh created called "Ozymandias".

There appears to be a 'historical marker near Ozymnadis. The plaque near the gigantic legs reads:

"In 1819, while on their horseback trek over the Great Plains of New Spain, Percy Bysshe Shelley and his wife Mary Shelley (author of 'Frankenstein'), came across these ruins. Here Shelley penned his immortal lines, among them:

I met a traveller from an antique land 
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone 
Stand in the desert... 
And on the pedestal these words appear: 
'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings, 
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

The pedestal near the monument also asserts that the visage of the king was destroyed by Lubbock football players after losing a game to Amarillo.

Unfortunately both the marker and Ozymandis has been graffitied over. Unlike the Cadillac Ranch this was not meant to be graffitied! 

Ozymandis marker

Although the 'legs' are fenced in, they have been graffitied. Originally the socks were athletic white socks and now they are an ugly purple. Too bad.

Ozymandis

Finally there is the Marsh Dynamite Museum. This is hundreds of weird 'road signs' planted all over the city. We looked for them and couldn't find any, but yesterday they just started showing up! We drove around and they were everywhere we looked! Here are a few examples.

Men like Snails.. Men like Eels.. Men like Slugs

Men like....

Get Ready and Go

Get Ready

Your turn to curtsy my turn to bow.

Your Turn

Most men think differently.

Most Men

A band of aliens.

A band

Killer Bees.

Killer Bees

And maybe my favorite of what we saw..

Endless Road.

Endless Road

We haven't found one that we have been looking for. On a road that ends with an official Road Ends sign, one of Marsh's signs says Road does not end. We think that is funny!

Well that's it for today. We are going to the livestock auction on Monday. Pretty cool....

Love you all!!

Brian and Patty