Day 53 - St. George to Barstow: via crazy things

I 15 is our necessary route today. I does however pass through the very gorgeous Virgin River Canyon shortly south of St George.

Cheapest room this trip!

In all it's gold and shiny glory.

Of course in Vegas - entertainment abounds.

Sport entertainment too - here's to the Vegas Raiders - my bro in law Mark's favourite team. Whatever city they happen to be residing in.

Throngs of tourists - mostly from 3 bus loads of Korean tour groups - arrive to pay homage to the Seven Magic Mountains.

About one in 130 people suddenly come to their senses and run away.

The Seven Magic Mountains routinely attract alien spaceships, that arrive and faithfully play the tune recorded in the 1977 documentary "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

What's most important is the pic for instagram.

...... or maybe some are media influencers .....

Yup - this was the ongoing main activity. Did anyone ever stop to consider these pieces and their relationship to the surrounds?

Yup. Even my cynical family is caught up in the photography thing.

That giant group on the left got all dressed up and drove hundreds of km to selfie themselves on this spot. Really.

Just plain terrible.

The alien spacecraft is about to use it's tornado like tractor beam to scoop up all the panels from this solar farm and in one big whoosh, send them flying from this field to be set down in front of some wild wizard who has overtaken a small town in Kansas. Wizard needs power.

Yet another Wildfire Lab Test Site. This one is disguised as "The World's Largest Thermometer". Uh-huh.

Outside of Barstow, nuthin' but ghost towns.

...... and abandoned waterslide parks ......

In the far distance, the remnants of a huge water park. There is a Hound of the Baskervilles sized dog watching over it. Really.

The modern-day entramce to the water park. Sort of safe to visit, but not recommended.

Those two gents were very formally dressed for their visit, and arrived separately in luxury cars. They were not very talkative.

The entrance plaza is very large.

The Trinket Shop.

BMW is the title sponsor of this facility, and so is allowed to show off their latest.

No I didn't venture in. The dooway was plenty spooky.

Not even the palms are surviving here amongst the remnants.

The Main Gate. Your adventure awaits.

Meanwhile, trucks whizz by on the Interstate.

The walls are gone but the spirit remains. Was this place ever wildly successful? Were kids found running back and forth between all these buidings? From ice cream - to arcades - maybe a hotdog before tackling the big event sliding area - we can only wonder now. Sadly, many buildings have now burned.

More trucks whizz by.

Beyond the ticket gate - probably was a massive fountain in the best of water park traditions.

The light starts to fade, and we don't want to hang around long enough for the vampires and werewolves to come out.

Yes - you should go now ......

Vampires. Werewolves.

Fading light near Yurmo CA.

Liberty Sculpture Park in Yermo. There is a sign at the gate - no communists allowed. They are serious.

Who knew that anything like this existed?

It is disturbing.

So much out here - would be worth it to spend more time and examine it all in far more detail.

Next stop the "dinosaur park" out back of Peggy Sue's.

I think Peggy Sue's has been advertising along the interstate ever since we hit the Cali border. How could we not at least have a peek at what she's up to. No - we did not dine - but the little family approaching sure plans to.

Sky is radical as we approach Barstow. Fire breathing clouds and ominous eyes are watching. Maybe someone really didn't like all that poking around we did today.

Return to urban clutter. Talk about confusion corner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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