The Best Part of the Thunderbird Hotel, Marfa, Texas

9 feet deep with a shelf on the deep end to sit on and no one in sight the two times Mark, Nancy, and I went swimming in this 97 degree West Texas weather. One of the best parts is rising out of the water seeing the ocotillos that surround the perimeter reaching toward the blue sky. Tomorrow we are shooting for three separate swimming pool jumps- morning, afternoon and evening. Fake doughnuts will be involved.


(What do you know... we've acquired a tan).

Fifth Season Inn & Suites - Amarillo, Texas

This is the REMODELED area!













We arrived in Amarillo without a reservation and decided to stop at the La Quinta to check in for the night but they were booked solid and recommended we go down to the Fifth Seasons. Sounded good.

It was the only hotel in town with the largest sign blinking the lowest rate in a bold glowing font. We waited in line for our $69.99 a night room, got the key and drove over to the second entrance to unload the car. Arriving back at the elevator we were greeted by an eleven year old boy who was going up to play one of the arcade games. I asked him to push the third floor button which immediately closed on Jacinda, who almost lost her camera getting on. Luckily we made it up with all our items and entered our room that was covered in curtains and tassels. Our toilet was a sound installation that we tried to have fixed but there was not a maintenance department and no one to call. They offered to move us (which we appreciated), but stayed because the view was too good to give up.

We had a constant flow of young kids playing the arcade games and older people working out on the equipment, parties of twenty or so splashing around in the pool, and adults hanging out at the bar. The scene was like an active casino, but this was Texas, no slots in sight. The hotel had a lasting impression as we drove away still wondering where “that smell” was coming from – we washed our hair upon arriving at our new place in Marfa (which is AWESOME.)

ONE OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS, SHOWING UP IN A CITY WITHOUT A RESERVATION

MORE IMAGES OF THIS FASCINATING PLACE IN THE DAYS AHEAD
WE EVEN MANAGED TO GET A ROOM WITH A VIEW!!
(SEVERAL VIEWS, THE POOL, HOT TUB, ARCADE, AND WORKOUT AREA)
AND LET ME JUST SAY - CURTAINS WITH TASSELS - YUM!

NOTE: THE WOOD AND ROCK PICTURED ABOVE ARE PROBABLY PLASTIC AND IN NEED OF A GOOD DUSTING
WHICH WORKS OUT JUST FINE FOR US, OUR STUDIO HAS A MAINTENANCE SECTION THAT INCLUDES A DUSTER, LYSOL, AND CHLOROX WIPES

La la la la Fonda (what we were saving for)

As you might note, we've been staying in some dives (minus Las Vegas and Flagstaff) for very reasonable rates. Then along came the big splurge: La Fonda in Santa Fe.



The pool.... now imagine a man with a rope around his waist that was attached to the hand rail, swimming in place for 30 plus minutes, splashing fiercely while hogging the whole pool. We had a very nice view of this activity from our hotel window. One morning we did manage to jump in (before the sun officially warmed it up) and then hopped directly into the hot tub without anyone in sight (except perhaps for the people watching us behind their windows). Here we recreated a group of men we saw walking around in their white hotel robes at the pool in the Venetian, Las Vegas.



Half of room 145 featuring Nancy working on the blog.



The pretty, yellow tiled bathroom with the world's shortest shower head obviously not meant for anyone taller than 5'.

Hotel Origami with Thank You Note, La Fonda - Santa Fe, NM

Origami & Thank You Note at the Aspen Inn Room 121, Flagstaff, AZ

FOUR DAYS AT A HOTEL, OUR LONGEST STAY ANYWHERE THUS FAR AND WE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT INTERNET CONNECTION AND FAST!

Golden Nugget, Las Vegas, NV

Our pool at the Golden Nugget. Psyche!









Room 18108 (and the view outside the window). Needless to say, our most favorite room yet and one of the cheapest!

Overton, Nevada Best Western Room 122

Nancy spotted four bugs on both the wall and the floor during our stay in Overton. Again, thank goodness we only had three hours sleep and forgot to notice. We took over the bedroom and hallway with the tulle and they loaned us their screwdriver (they didn't have a hammer) to puncture our cans.

Western Inn NEVER again! Panguitch, Utah

BURNED PANCAKES
....worst two sides of the street motel we’ve encountered yet, although it did not have bugs like tonight’s Best Western in Overton. We had called in advance to check our reservation and they asked again for my credit card number, which they already had on file, never sending an email confirmation (an issue that would continue to reveal itself throughout our stay). When we arrived we saw two people with their laptops in the lobby and as we walked to our room we saw people holding their laptops up to the windows in an attempt to get better reception.

We thought we had better take showers and start the laundry before tackling the blog. Before placing the dirty clothes into the washer we had noticed the out of order sign taped to the dryer. Nancy called the front desk to ask if they had another dryer on the other side of the street. The guy replied it was "the last room on the building." The question was which “last room” of the three buildings located on that side of the street.

After hauling over the load, Nancy hunted around the property finally finding a pitch black room with an unlocked door. Upon opening the door, a scurrying ruckus took place, quickly flipping the light on with the unfortunate result of FLICKER FLICKER. Suddenly the guy from behind the desk had arrived to help. Nancy flipped the light switch a couple of more times revealing a room with a large industrial dryer. The guy announced that it would be FREE, our patience wearing thin.

At that same moment Jacinda was back in the room attempting to connect to the wireless signal to no avail, reporting to Nancy upon arrival that we would be camped out in the lobby with the other two visiting Germans. (We had hoped this would not reflect poorly upon us as Americans.) Luckily they had returned to their room, freeing up the black leather 80’s love seat. We were finally told they had to lock up at 2 a.m. by the “upper level management.” Jacinda requesting five more minutes as we were in the middle of an upload. Ten minutes later we retrieved our laundry and moved the vehicle directly in front of the office door in order to continue till 3 a.m. the daily blog entry. We should have requested a discount especially after the personal wake-up call by another member of the hotel staff who was not informed of our presence in room 132, granted we were only in there for four hours.

Room 115, Howard Johnson, Brigham City, UT

Traveling Studio (and Library) Part One - With Great Restraint

Canon 5D
Pentax 6x7
(6) Mini DV Tapes
(10) pack of Polaroid film plus 2 in the camera
Polaroid camera
(3) rolls of Ilford 400 120 film
(6) rolls Fujicolor 120 film
(13) rolls T-Max 100 120 film
(4) 90 minute audio cassette tapes plus one in recorder
Cassette recorder
Microphone
(2) MacBook Pros
Olympus digital voice recorder
Tripod
Sony Mini DV camera
Binoculars
Sekonic Light Meter
(2) Howard Johnson motel room keys
Mexican Blanket
3G IPhone
3G S IPhone
Earphones from Frontier Airlines
(2) Phone Card Chargers
(2) Five Year Planners
(4) Mini Notebooks
(2) Journals
(2) Ford Edge with a Wyoming license plate rental car keys
Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind by Suzuki
Core Rhythms Starter Pack with the Buns and Thigh Blaster Combo
2009 Calendar
The Lightning Field by Kenneth Baker
Storming the Gates of Paradise by Rebecca Solnitt
Earthworks: Art and the Landscape of the Sixties by Suzanne Boettger
Land and Environmental Art – Phaidon
(2) 3 ring binders
Mammoth art journal
(2) Computer Chargers
Finger Light
(2) Collections of Jewelry
Lens Cleaner
(2) Card Readers
Pocket Knife
Screwdriver

16 Days to Go: Hotel Reservations Made!

It looks like all our motel reservations are made for the places where we know we need them (holding out on Flagstaff, Gallop, Amarillo, and El Paso until a couple days before when we know our exact dates).

Highlights include:


The Golden Nugget's "Tank" that I can't stop being impressed with.


La Fonda, Santa Fe, NM

and the best view of all (unfortunately no pool here)...







Walter De Maria's Lightning Field in Quemado, New Mexico. Keep singing the rain dance!!