Wednesday, January 9, 2013

TP Thursday: Did You See That?!

We tell you about the destinations, but don’t always mention those entertaining sights (and sites) along the way. Those brief snapshots in time . . . so fleeting. . .so unexpected. . .but oh, so memorable, like in:

Tuscany, Italy
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We had been, for some time, the only ones traveling this two-lane road through Tuscany last fall.  Yet, we stopped and waited at the red light. . .and waited. . .and waited, to the point we started thinking it might be some sort of joke. When, finally, it turned green, we found major road construction just around the corner had narrowed the road to a single lane.

Eastern Washington State

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We’d passed through a number of picturesque small towns as we drove from Spokane, Washington to Joseph, Oregon but none had as clever a welcome sign as did the town of Anatone, a tiny spot  in the southeastern part of the state.

Nothing, Arizona

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Nothing, Arizona is just that these days. The sign on US 93 between mile markers 148 and 149 is six miles north of the junction of Hwy 97.  It once was the site of an operating rock shop, and a gas station and even a pizza joint.

Sfakia, Crete

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That is a roadside guard rail at the top of the photo, framing this beast of beauty we spotted sunning itself one fine day on the southwestern coast of Crete.  This laid-back sunbather could have been posed there for the attention he gave to my phototaking.

Nevada’s Extraterrestrial Highway

State Route 375 is a long, lonesome 98-mile stretch of highway in remote southern Nevada. Like other similar roadways  in Nevada and Arizona, it provides immense stretches of vast, barren high desert-scapes. 
What sets it apart from those other roadways – besides the fact it’s near ‘Area 51’ which was for sometime a top-secret government research and test facility within the Nellis Air Force Base’s Bombing and Gunnery Range -- is that in 1996 it was officially named the Extraterrestrial Highway because of the UFO and other paranormal activities recorded here.

We’d chuckled about not seeing anything extraterrestrial or otherwise as we drove between Crystal Springs and Warms Springs, on that particular morning. About then, this is what we saw in the distance:

                                 Alien Research Center- Jackie Smith photo

We drove past, but I insisted I had to take a photo, so we returned to the parking lot so I could take the above shot. It was then we saw the sign "Alien Research Center."   Hmmm, not a person in sight, although the sign read, ‘museum and gift shop now open’. 

That was two years ago. I Googled it then and again this week and found no more information on either of my investigations than I have told you of this place located at:  100 Extraterrestrial Highway, Hiko, Nevada: It is simply there.

That’s it for this week’s Travel Photo Thursday. Hope you visit Nancy’s Budget Travelers Sandbox today for more fun photos. And if you’ve not yet checked out TravelnWrite’s Facebook page hope you’ll drop by there as well.

How about you? What have you seen on your travels  made you exclaim, “Did you see that?!”

18 comments:

  1. The funny signs really tell us something about the country we are visiting. New Zealand has some beauties. Your sheep reminds me of the goats in N.Z. that are housed in little sentry boxes on the road verges, where they stand to attention surveying their kingdoms.

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  2. Fun photos. Anatone sounds like a place I could live for a while.

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  3. You've got some pretty funny signs. Wonder how many of those 38 residents own all three animals and what they have in the gift shop at the Alien Research Center.
    This just popped into my head: immigrants are given Alien ID cards. We're all aliens -- hahahaha!!

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  4. What a fun post. It's so true..there are so many funny little moments that happen on our travels. I did laugh at the red lights...we've been in the same situation and you wonder why you are waiting there!

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    1. You are right as there are so many funny little moments that get overshadowed by the destinations, but it is fun to think back on them~

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  5. Terrific post. Fun photos. I usually take strange pictures of my kids and miss the funny stuff outside the window. I'll be more observant in the future! Thanks.

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    1. Karen, thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment. Hope you'll comment regularly!

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  6. I love your Alien Research Center fellow and that sign in Anatone is hilarious. A great fun post and it's a reminder to me to do something similar some day soon.

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  7. These pictures are great! Oh, the things you see on a road trip. I love the alien Research Center and Nothing, AZ. Fun post and one idea I may need to "borrow" :)

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  8. I used to live in Nevada close to the test site while growing - it was always top secret when my friend's parents worked out there. Now I know they were building a fake alien to put on a roadside area!!

    I started Friday Daydreamin back up again and am hoping for lots of participants! - asking everyone to link up their favorite post of the week - hope you can link up this week! Thanks!

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    1. Hi Rebecca, what a fun comment. You certainly lived in some wide open spaces growing up! We are on the road so I didn't make it to Daydreamin' this week but will do so next!

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  9. Jackie, these are priceless! Hard to choose a favorite, but the second one did make ma laugh out loud!

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    1. Glad they did what they were supposed to: bring a smile or a laugh!

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  10. I love the story about the red light in Italy!

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    1. Margaret, thanks for taking the time to comment. I visited your blog and it is great. . .I'll be back to yours and hope you return here again soon.

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