On Route 66 in Amarillo, we stopped by a place where 10 Caddys are half-buried (front-end down) in a row, and visitors are invited to add their own graffiti.
When we pulled into Amarillo for the night, it was already dark, so we didn’t really get a chance to look around much. When we woke up the next morning, it was bright and early. And, honestly, it looked like a bit of a ghost town. It was a cool, crisp, September morning, and there was very little traffic. For a town we’d heard of, it was a lot quieter than we expected.
Still, it was a peaceful quiet, and it was a nice day. Packing up the car, we headed out, and took our time making our way to Cadillac Ranch, the much hyped art installation. And, along a desolate part of the road, our GPS told us we arrived – even though all we could see was the bare-bones entrance above, with specks in the distance. Feeling like this was going to be a letdown, we forged ahead. But, would our first impressions be correct, or would Cadillac Ranch turn out to be worth our time?
Turns out, yes, it was definitely worth our time. While the entrance isn’t much to look at, the walkway there starts to hint at the uniqueness contained within. With graffiti sprayed along the whole pathway – including a “The End is Near” proclamation (see pictures below) – there was a hint that something was different about this attraction.
The cars themselves are rather nondescript and falling apart, but the graffiti (which visitors are welcome to add to) is a sight to see. Because of the ever-changing nature of the attraction, no two visits will ever produce the same visuals, and therefore, the cars will always evoke a different emotion from the visitor. If there were crass visitors before you, there is the possibility of swear words marked in prominence. If the previous visitors were very artistic, there could be some very good artwork plastered on the cars.
Even if the graffiti is just different words (like most of what we saw), there is an unique beauty about the varying graffiti blended into each other. It may just seem like scribbles at first, but the overall effect is surprisingly beautiful.
If you get a chance, definitely go and check out Cadillac Ranch. It’s a surprisingly interesting place, and a definite must-see on any journey traveling along Route 66.
