The Other Las Vegas

Above: 10' wood carving of a Campesino, historic Plaza Hotel in background.

Several scenes from the TV series Longmire were shot in this area.

Below: a typical tourist in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel.

Las Vegas, NM population is 13K, much smaller than it's infamous sister city.  We spent a couple nights there, a breather after 3 days on the road and overnight stops in Flagstaff and Sky City, NM.

Las Vegas is a Spanish word (duh!) meaning 'the meadows' - which is appropriate for the NM city.  It was once appropriate for the NV city, too.  It had many artesian wells and green areas when it was named in 1821 by Spanish explorers.

The highlight of our stop was our neighbor, Dot, pictured below.  Baaaaaaaaa!  We've seen lots of odd stuff on our travels but Dot takes the cake.  Owner has a sheep farm, said Dot was a twin, had to be bottle fed, was too young to leave behind when they started their trip in March. 

March?  Holy crap!  Crap being the key word.  Three months of living in a small RV with a sheep!  Don't even want to think about what that rig smells like inside.

One-Trick Ponies

Focused.  That's the one and only positive thing I can say about one-trick ponies.  Aside from that, they're b-o-r-i-n-g.

Say, the ponies, "That's my thing, that's what I do."  Well, good on ya!  But - did you ever consider that maybe, just possibly, virtually no one else gives a rat's ass?  Politics, religion, kids, food, dogs, clothing, whatever.  SOS.  Day after day.

The ponies publish their tricks on Facebook.  When I see a pony's name, I don't need to read the post to know the subject matter.  When I see a pony's picture, I instantly know the pony's name.  And, in both cases, I quickly scroll past the pony-post in search of something new and interesting.

I've FB-friended numerous people, college friends for instance, that I've not seen in 50+ years.  I was excited about reconnecting with them, getting updated on their lives, hobbies, travels, family, and so on.  In surprisingly many cases, as I eagerly scrolled down through their recent posts I quickly discovered that they were one-trickers.  I unfriended them soon after.  Sad.

So, here's a challenge to readers that happen to be ponies: learn a new trick for cripes sake!

  

Fun Metal Work

We recently returned from Aitkin, Minnesota where we attended a family funeral.  We had some spare time the day after the service and visited the historical museum and art gallery.  The gallery featured some creative metal work.  I love the stuff, took some pictures.

By the way, if you are ever tempted to stay at the Ripple River Motel in Aitkin, resist the temptation.  It comes highly unrecommended.  Upon arrival, the room lacked toilet paper, soap, coffee, glasses.  The towels were old and thin, Goodwill rejects.  The crowning touch was the floor, which hadn't seen a vacuum in recent history - nor did it see one during our 3-day stay.  The sheets?  Don't even want to think about it.  But the continental breakfast, holy crap!  A fantastic assortment of granola bars - and tepid coffee to wash them down. 

The place is old but does have an appealing rustic log cabin look.  And, it's in a nice setting, beside the river, lots of grass and trees.  It could be a pleasant place to stay - if and when the current management is fired and sent back to West Virginia, where they would surely be cast in the remake of Deliverance.

Tortilla Flat, AZ

While camping at Lost Dutchman State Park, we drove to Torilla Flat Ghost Town for lunch.

Above, our gang reading the story behind the saloon.  Below, metal art.

The saloon bar stools are saddles.

One size fits all.  Barely.

Above and below, pix inside the men's room.

Unique ceiling fans that rotate around the light.

An estimated $200K in $1 bills are tacked to every vertical surface.

And they serve a darned good lunch.

Light and Bright

Four different acrylic pour techniques with white negative space.

Balloon Smash

Paint is poured or dribbled in small areas on canvas, 2-3 colors each, 

then squished and spread with a inflated balloon. 

Dip

Paint is poured and dribbled onto plastic sheet, canvas is laid face down on sheet, 

pressed into the paint, then lifted very slowly, top first.

Swipe

Paint is poured onto canvas randomly or in stripes, then swiped with wet paper towel.

I used alcohol with this one to create cells. 

String Pull

Cotton string is soaked in 2 or more mixed paints, then laid on canvas in zigzag pattern 

and pulled slowly towards the bottom of the canvas.

Pour Techniques

Tree ring over puddle.

Wet paper towel swipe.

Notched trowel swipe.

Tree ring.

Double puddle.

You may ask, 'How many different techniques are there?'  The answer would be, 'As many as one's imagination and creativity can come up with.'  So far, I've been using the ones I've found online, and there are several I haven't tried yet.

Got Rocks?

Blues

Greens

Warms

Mixed Bag

Having lots of fun with the acrylic paint pour rocks but running out of places to display them.  I've given some away to friends.  Although they seem grateful, I wonder if they toss them out the car window on the way home.