As I mentioned in the previous post, my wife and I went on a road trip which included three days in Las Vegas (I can hardly believe it myself) and several days devoted to wandering the deserts north of Las Vegas and finished up crossing the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Yosemite National Park. From the uber artificiality of Vegas, to the stark emptiness of desert wilderness, our trip was a study in contrasts. Despite the schizophrenia of our trip, we had a great time and we came out $13 ahead. I recorded the bipolarity of our trip in the photographs shown below.
And before I forget, I did have an unfortunate relapse of my occasional narcolepsy which my wife thankfully caught on camera. If you are unfamiliar with this problem of mine then check out this post from earlier this year for a little backstory.
Yin - Las Vegas, Nevada 2009
Yang - Amargosa Desert, Nevada 2009
Yin - Las Vegas, Nevada 2009
Yang - Red Rock Canyon, Nevada 2009
Yin - Tonopah, Nevada 2009
Yang - Tioga Lake, Yosemite National Park, California 2009
Dang - Highway 6, Nevada 2009
And here I thought this post was going to be about bschooled and me, although we call ourselves Ying and Yang. ( See how much we know) She’s Ying, so your photos do a great job portraying the real bschooled. And, I love that the Yang photos are totally me, a breath of fresh air, and especially the Yosemite one depicting YnB’s mirror images of fact and fiction.
Amazing shots as always FJ! That’s what I love about Vegas; a short car ride and you’re in the desert. Then you look around and wonder where the all bodies are buried from the good old mob days! At least I always think that.
I thought the same thing Scott.
Excellent! Reminds me a road trip I once took.
Me too Timm!!!
Is there any flat surface that has not felt the warm embrace of your ass cheeks due to your “condition”?
Not really.
I thought I’d stayed in some bad hotels, but I cannot imagine the desperation required to stay in a “Clown Motel.” *shudder*
These are so vibrant, FJ. I like how the gold and blue are carried throughout, despite the vastly different subjects. I’ll have to go to Vegas once, just to say I did, but I think I’ll pitch my tent in the desert rather than risk the clowns.
Thanks BK.
These photos are fantastic, FJ! (not that I expected anything less from my creative muse, mind you)
Funny how one person’s “narcolepsy”, is another person’s (aka. me) regular Sunday morning…
Thanks B, great to hear from you as always.
Thank God there was visiblity out there.. please assure us that if you’re squished flat as a pancake after an attack on another highway that the wife will NOT post the picture. Too scary.
As for the Clown Motel! Were there rides in the rooms?
It was a close call DF. Thanks for stopping by.
I LOVE the photo in your header. Just returned from 5 days in Vegas, too! Was that taken at the Bellagio?
It was indeed Sweats.
The Clown Motel is beautiful. I want to stay there. When they say, “some Bozo in the room next door…” it may actually be Bozo!
I saw Chucko, Poppy, and Giggles fighting in the parking lot after a long night of clowning around…not a pretty sight.
Excellent photos.
The last one was a great exclamation point.
Let’s hope that the next time it happens a trip to Spatula City won’t be needed.
Thanks G
Nice. But the clown hotel gave me the willies!
Its all willies all the time with anything clown related…haha
I never thought I’d have artistic suggestions for you, as I really love your work, but if you had a can of yellow paint, I could see you using it in the bottom picture.
Great stuff, man. I wish I’d known you were heading through the desert, I have a herp. friend who works down there, and I think you two would get along really well. He also knows where the gila monsters are down there. No joke.
Nice to hear from you Josh. Thanks.
I worked at the Clown Motel for awhile back in my younger, more broke days. Most rooms slept between 80-100 clowns depending on the number of beds. If they arrived in a VW bus, they were required to pay for a double room (cap. 160).
Nice shots, FJ. Great to see you back among the living, especially considering the last photo.
That’s funny CLT…these were minimalist clowns…one per car or room. Thanks, great to hear from you as always.
The pictures are fabulous. The Yins and Yangs and the Dangs! You may soon be known as Flatamental Jelly if you have more episodes in the middle of the road like that.
Fundamental Flatty?
Fundaflatal Jelly?
Hey Claire!! That’s funny…thanks.
Hey FJ, have you seen the French film Narco? It’s good.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381442/
And your current header looks remarkably like some blown glass umbrellas I photographed in Singapore…
I have heard, but have not seen it…yet. The header was a giant blown glass art piece in the Bellagio Hotel. Made by an artist from Seattle…its awesome.
Shit! Two typos in one comment. Too much vodka in my orange juice tonight
Fixed.
thanks
You probably won’t believe this, I know I don’t, but I lost my virginity at the ‘Clown Motel’ to a monkey handler. To this day, the smell of bananas makes me sick. Las Vegas looks just like Paris! Awesome desert shots.
LOL. The smell of monkey handlers make me sick. Thanks RR.
Road kill
Pretty much.
To my shame, I have not ventured into this murky corner of blogoland before, my loss. Great photos BTW.
Great to see you Dave, thanks for the kind words.