Last month I took a road trip from Arkansas to California and back, which is a trip I have taken many times in the past.  In order to add a little more interest this time around, I decided to travel over as much of the original Route 66 as was reasonably possible, given the overall time I had alloted for this particular trip. Along the way, I sampled some of delightful places that this route took me near.

Since my camera is once again off traveling without me, I thought I would share some of the sights that I saw along Route 66 over the next few days.  In case you haven’t noticed, I have already posted about several of these sights already.  There was the post about the Nation Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  And then the post about the Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and of course the Burma Shave signs  I ran across while driving on Route 66 in western Arizona.

Today’s post is about the Elk City Old Town Museum Complex, located along Route 66 in western Oklahoma.  The museum complex was quite impressive, particularly considering the small size of Elk City (population – approximately 11,000).

The complex is comprised of a replica old western town, with all the types of buildings you would expect to see in such a town, along with several museums, some of which I’ll show you in a moment.  Above is the Opera House replica (which can be rented for weddings and other occasions).

Here is a bank and mercantile building that is located along one side of the park, which is home to the museum complex.

Inside the buildings are authentic antiques from days of yore, such as the surgical facility shown in the photograph above.

There is a replica train depot which you can visit, along with an authentic railroad caboose that you can walk through.

This is an actual old school house that was originally located in a nearby town.  It was dismantled and rebuilt at this sight, and contains the  furnishings and accoutrements you might expect to see in an old school house on the prairie.

One of the museums contained in the complex is the National Route 66 Museum.  Visiting the Route 66 museum is the reason I sought out the Elk City Museum Complex in the first place.

Within this museum are displays of the scenes you would be likely to see while traveling along Route 66, such as the Navajo peddler depicted above, or the old-time service station recreated in the photograph below.

This sailor, hitching a ride along Route 66 in the southeast corner of Kansas, is a very long way from any ocean.  I wonder if his destination is the Atlantic, or Pacific ocean?

Considering that the National Route 66 Museum was the reason for my visit, I felt a little let down with it’s contents and displays.  I found nothing on display that was particularly unique or compelling, and if it were the only draw to the Elk City Museum Complex, I would have been disappointed.

The portion of the complex that I found most appealing was the Farm and Ranch Museum, which is comprised of an outdoor display area, along with a large indoor facility (seen in the background in the photograph above).

The museum owns a collection of windmills, each one with some special pedigree or unique feature.  The style shown above, with it’s unusual blade structure, is designed to operate in, and withstand very high winds.

There are old and varied farm implements on display outside at the Farm and Ranch Museum, many of which have functions that are not immediately recognizable to the average person.  All are well signed and documented, however, so that the visitor can learn about these pieces of farm machinery during the course of their visit.

Here is an example of the kind of old farm equipment you will find inside the Farm and Ranch Museum building.  The building is quite large and hosts a great number of items – from large tractors and implements, to collections of tiny agricultural U.S. postage stamps, and everything in between.

The Farm and Ranch Museum offers exhibits of items that you may never have seen or heard about, such as the display of hog oilers seen in the photograph above.  Hogs would rub up against the oily wheels of the hog oiler, and the coat of oil on the skin of the hogs would help to protect the hogs against flies and ticks.

Here is a very colorful display of old, cast-iron tractor and farm implement seats.  There are many more on display at the museum, but these are the only ones that are painted so colorfully.

This wagon is just one of many on display at the Farm and Ranch Museum.  In fact, there are several that I saw that would make perfect “yard art” somewhere on our property :)

In conclusion, I would highly recommend a visit to the Elk City Old Town Museum complex.  Perhaps not for the National Route 66 Museum, which I found disappointing, but for the excellent re-creation of an old town within the complex, and for the outstanding Farm and Ranch Museum, which (to me) was well worth the time and (modest) cost of admission.

The Sandia Peak Tramway, just outside Albuquerque, New Mexico, claims the distinction of being the world’s longest aerial tramway.  Situated on the valley floor at an elevation of 6559′ above sea level,  the tram base station (seen in the photograph above) is the starting point for a tram ride which will take you to the top of the Sandia Mountains.  The journey entails a 2.7 mile long ride, which crosses two support towers on it’s way to the mountaintop station, where the elevation sign tells you that you have reached an elevation of 10,378′.

In the photograph above, while you can see both of the support towers, the mountaintop station remains out of sight.  The second tower, which you can see is perched atop a ridge, sits about halfway between the base and mountaintop stations.  So the stretch of cable that you see in the picture is actually only about half of the total length over which the tramway travels on it’s way to the top.

I don’t know about you, but when I contemplate stepping aboard a tram car which will be suspended up to 1000′ above the ground below, I think about the robustness of the machinery in which I will be entrusting my fragile body.  So it is with a keen eye that I survey the general condition of the tramway equipment.

The two photographs above show some of the visible machinery that powers the tramway.  While a cursory visual inspection of the equipment (by an untrained and unqualified inspector such as myself) really provides no actual useful information, it still serves to quell my jitters about the impending ride I am about to embark upon ;)

The tram gondola is suspended from a tri-cable system.  The two outer cables, which are stationary, actually provide the support for the car, while the third cable (in the center) serves to haul the gondola up the mountain.  The cables are designed in such a way that any one of them is capable of supporting the gondola if the need arose (or so I was assured by the gondola operator).

If you look closely at the photograph above, you will see a ladder that is affixed to the gondola support.  Every morning, before the public may board the tram, maintenance employees make an inspection run up and down the mountain.  One employee rides on the roof of the gondola, while another one stands at the top of the ladder pictured above, inspecting the cables along the entire length of the tramway.

Now that I have reassured myself that the round-trip journey on the tramway will not jeopardize life or limb, I am prepared to board the tram for the ride to the top of the mountain.  The tram car can be seen departing the base station above, beginning the approximately 15 minute trek to the mountaintop station.

As the tram car rises in elevation, the city of Albuquerque appears smaller and smaller as each minute ticks by.

As spectacular as the view is looking down toward Albuquerque, you will find the scenery provided by the canyons along the steep mountainsides to be equally dramatic.

The tram will traverse four ecological life zones along the way from bottom to top: the Upper Sonoran Zone (6500′), the Transition Zone (7200′), the Canadian Zone (8500′), and the Hudsonian Zone (10,000′).  An information sign indicates that this is the equivalent to traveling from Mexico to Alaska, although I do not quite understand how zone changes as a result of elevation gain equate to a northward progression of latitude  (readers – please feel free to educate me on this point).

After a wonderfully scenic 15 minute ride, the tram car arrives at the mountaintop station, where passengers disembark to enjoy the activities available at the top of the mountain. 

As you may imagine, the views available from the mountaintop station, situated at 10,378′ are grand.

On a clear day, approximately 11,000 square miles of New Mexico landscape are visible from the top of the mountain.  There are several viewing platforms available, and each one has a clever viewing aid, as shown above.  Each of the steel sighting tubes are aimed at a particular landmark.  By keying each tube to a legend on the chart, it is easy to identify the prominent features that are visible to the viewer.

There are many activities available to those who arrive at the mountaintop.  There are 24 miles of mountain trails available to hikers and bike riders, which meander along the rugged terrain of the Sandia Mountains.

In the winter, skiers can utilize the services of 4 chair lifts and 2 surface lifts.  In the summer, chairlift rides (along the back side of the mountain) are available on weekends, and mountain bikes can be rented for trail exploration.  The Four Seasons Visitor Center is located atop the peak, and is staffed May through November with Forest Service Rangers and volunteer interpreters.  Besides the Double Eagle II cafe, the High Finance restaurant, specializing in steaks, prime rib and seafood, is located at the top of the mountain.

When you have had your fill of activities, you will board a tram car for the 2.7 mile journey back down to the base station.  As your tram car descends, it will eventually cross paths with the ascending tram car, which serves to mark the halfway point of the trip.  Each car travels at 13.5 MPH, so the closing speed between the two gondolas is 27 MPH.  When viewed from the perspective inside a tram car, 27 MPH is pretty speedy, especially if you are trying to take a photograph of the passing tram car.

Reaching the base station, your trip has ended in a mere 15 minutes, but the memories will probably last a lifetime.  If you are traveling in the vicinity of Albuquerque, it is well worth the $17.50 (adult) fare to experience a ride on the longest aerial tramway in the world.  I highly recommend it, and don’t forget your camera and hiking boots.

It is often said that anything relating to Texas is big, but be aware that the neighboring state of Oklahoma has something that even Texans would probably have to admit is grand, even by Texas standards.  I’m referring to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The first thing you will notice upon arriving at the Museum are the exquisitely designed buildings which house the exhibits and collections.

No matter which way you look, you will see beautiful buildings and extremely well landscaped and manicured grounds.  The buildings are modern and airy, and contain well over 200,000 square feet of exhibition, office and auditorium space.

It soon becomes apparent that the Museum collection contains many exhibits of truly grand stature, as you can see from the wing in the photograph above, which contains only one item, a massive sculpture called “The End of the Trail,”  a well known piece of art created by James Earle Fraser for the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exhibition held in San Francisco, California.

The photograph above, taken from inside the building,  gives a good indication of the size of this sculpture.  The children do not come close to reaching even the top of the pedestal on which the sculpture stands.

The grounds of the National Cowboy Museum are gorgeous, with man-made streams, waterfalls, and Koi ponds artfully placed throughout the beautifully landscaped gardens. 

As you stroll through the gardens, you will see many varied sculptures, such as this piece depicting a mare and her foal.

When you reach the spot where this giant (I mean HUGE) sculpture of Wild Bill Hickock Buffalo Bill Cody is located, you start to realize that many of the exhibits at the Museum were created without constraints on size.  I don’t know whether the buildings were designed to be large in order to house the massive exhibits, or whether the exhibits were selected to fill the massive buildings.  Whatever the case, it all seems to work together well.

Inside the Museum are many different wings, each housing a varied collection of themed exhibits, such as this diorama of buffalo hunters contained in the Joe Grandee Museum of the Frontier West.

The U.S. Army Cavalry is well represented in the displays, and again, the exhibits are massive and full scale.

Even the American Rodeo Gallery contains many life sized sculptures and displays, such as this bronc rider seen in the photograph above. 

This finely detailed coat is just one of the hundreds of pieces of cowboy and western apparel on display at the museum.  Each piece on display is of similarly high quality as the coat seen here.

Because westerns, or “oaters” were such a large part of the American culture for those of us who pre-date Generation X’ers, the Museum contains a separate Western Performers Gallery.  Within this gallery is the theater shown above, where you can enter and watch an old western while you rest up for more exploration of the Museum’s many exhibits.

In addition to the galleries pictured in this post,  the Museum has a number of galleries which house a large and valuable collection of fine art relating to cowboys and western heritage.  Because of copyright concerns, the Museum (understandably) forbids photography in these galleries, so I have no photographs to include here.  Rest assured, however, that the quality of the art on display is on a par with the quality of the other exhibits that I have included in this post.

Also there are galleries and wings that are not conducive to casual photography, due to lighting and display considerations.  For instance, the Weitzenhoffer Gallery of Fine Arms contains a collection of artistic, historic and rare firearms, housed in glass display cases which cast reflections making photography challenging, at best.  So too for the Native American Gallery.  There is also a wing of the Museum called Prosperity Junction, which is an indoor re-creation of a typical frontier town.  It is well worth seeing, however the dim lighting makes casual photography difficult or impossible.  Additionally, the Museum includes the Children’s Cowboy Corral, where the little ones can wear western clothing,  build a fire and fix some “grub” at the chuck wagon for their parents.  It is a hands-on environment, and the kids can touch to their hearts content.

All in all, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is a wonderful place to visit when traveling to or through Oklahoma City.  Be sure to allocate enough time to see the Museum in it’s entirety, which could easily take several hours if you like to study all of the displays and enjoy all of the artwork.

Well done, Oklahomans.  This museum is a great asset to your state, and a real treasure for all of us.