Ed was asked to appear on Fox Business news again to talk about Ford and future automotive trends this morning. However, once he got to the studio, all Brian Sullivan wanted to talk about were union negotiations with Ford!
It’s a good thing that husband of mine is so smart, maybe he was not as prepared to talk about that, but he did just great! As Ed said this morning after the interview was over, “That’s show biz!”
This year we are being mellow and hanging out with friends and watching a few scary movies. To start things off, we are watching the 1958 “House on Haunted Hill” at home with a very young Vincent Price. It’s so campy and so awesome!
We had a blast on “The Great Southwest Road Trip of 2009” and hope you’ll enjoy our posts below recounting each day! That’s where all the good stuff is … and you get all the lovely details, of course.
For those of you who are curious (and aren’t intimidated by our 421 photos!), feel free to check out the whole album. Click here to see each and every photo!
We left Phoenix and headed southeast for the part of the trip that would prove correct the old mantra, “Save the best for last”. Our final destination was the old copper mining town of Bisbee. This neat little town is notable for its unique Victorian architecture (not what you’d expect near the border with Mexico) and hilly terrain. Quite a few hippies migrated here from San Francisco in the 1970s once being a hippie was no longer in vogue. As such, Bisbee is full of art, music, and neat shops.
We didn’t spend all that much time in the town itself though. Why not? Quite simply, once we checked into The Shady Dell, we didn’t want to leave!
What is the Shady Dell? It’s the most unbelievable recreation of a 1950s-era RV park with a bunch of vintage travel trailers that have been lovingly restored down to every last detail. Ours was the 33-foot 1951 Spartan Mansion. I don’t even know where to start! So I’ll try to let the pictures speak for themselves.
Here’s the living room:
The ancient TV functioned flawlessly – and was wired to a hidden DVD player for watching any of the old movies that were thoughtfully provided.
There was an old record player that worked too! Several old records are in the trailer for your listening pleasure.
All the details were tended to – real vintage records to play and a real coffee percolator in the little kitchen!
This is the dining nook – on which sat a vintage radio that not only worked, but was tuned into the Shady Dell’s own radio frequency, to which an iPod filled with 50s music and commercials played around the clock!
Super cute bedroom….
Check out Carrie’s short video tour of the Mansion!
Truly amazing, isn’t it? But the grounds themselves are equally amazing. Dot’s Diner is on site, and it’s an actual prefab 1950s diner that originally stood at the corner of Ventura Blvd. and Topanga Canyon in LA. The burger patties were handmade and some of the best we’ve had in a long time. Super friendly folks inside, too!
And look at the rest of the Shady Dell! Beautiful trailer after beautiful trailer, each with a little green lawn and chairs and in some case, white picket fences.
How fitting is it that the end of our retro road trip, inspired by the great family road trips of yesteryear, was spent in the exact sort of vintage trailer from that time period? And as people would do in a more relaxed yesteryear, we just kicked back and relaxed in the trailer, really only leaving to eat. And what occupied our time in the trailer? Scrabble!
After the second night, we checked out with a heavy heart. We certainly didn’t want to leave – we truly fell in love with the place. But as we began our nine hour journey back to Long Beach, we knew that this road trip had been one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. We certainly feel inspired to take many more road trips; America is such a huge place with countless things to see and experience.
After Holbrook, our travels took us out of Northern Arizona for good and southward into the Phoenix area for some classic Ed and Carrie city slickin’. Leave it us to fit that into this fairly rustic trip!
Actually, the Phoenix area served as one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s two home bases, so there are definitely some architecturally significant things here. Heading south into Phoenix, we stopped off at Arcosanti, a vision of a future community designed by Paolo Soleri, a onetime student of Wright, and under construction since 1970.
It’s supposed to explore alternatives to urban sprawl and minimize impact on its natural surroundings. We didn’t have time to wait until the next scheduled tour (they don’t let you wander the grounds) so we unfortunately didn’t get to see most of it. Too bad, as its 1970’s vision-of-the-future look is intriguing! Here’s the visitor center building and us enjoying a cup of coffee within its circular windows.
Next, it was off to lunch. We drove straight into downtown Phoenix to eat at Cooperstown, Alice Cooper’s sports bar and restaurant. Sports bars aren’t usually where you’ll find us, but as this was Alice Cooper’s sports bar, we had to see – and eat – it for ourselves.
I’d say it’s like Hard Rock Cafe meets ESPN Zone. But the place doesn’t take itself seriously, and this is what makes Cooperstown pretty funny. I mean, check these out!
Afterward, we headed off to nearby Scottsdale to see Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and studio. One of the most influential architects of the last century, Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and principles continue to influence and inspire architecture today. Construction on Taliesin West began in the 1930s, which shows just how visionary Wright was.
The living room was my favorite part of the house:
Imagine working in that studio!
Definitely encapsulates a lot of Wright’s out-of-the-box way of thinking:
This was definitely one the trip’s highs up to that point – we can’t help it, but we love this stuff! The day ended with a first class dinner at Asia de Cuba, the restaurant at the Mondrian hotel. It was for sure quite a contrast with the prior night in Holbrook, to say the least!
