moving on up
this wordpress.com blog has moved to www.heythatsmycab.com – we had a make over!
dinosaurs, margaritas and more
there’s a quietness that hangs in certain places where you can’t really figure out if it is truly peaceful or flat out frightening. these places for me often include old churches, empty playgrounds, public libraries, public bathrooms, english phone booths, empty movie theaters and dinosaur parks. yes dinosaur parks! I went to my first one, dinosaur valley state park in glenrose, tx. i went during off-season time so there was absolutely no one there, which greatly added to the eeriness of it all, but nevertheless – made for an incredible surreal experience. there’s nothing like seeing an actual dinosaur footprint, and tons of them. and what’s great is you don’t have to be ten years old to enjoy it, the excitement is still that grandiose in your mid thirties! this month’s issue of texas monthly celebrates 175 years of texas independence by describing “the greatest texas road trip of all time” – a journey to 175 places that made texas what is today. i went and photograph three of the places.
first up – dinosaur valley state park:
those circles are sauropod dinosaur (brontosaur-like) tracks.
this is a three toed carnivorous (theropod) track.
next up: the zapruder pedestal. talk about another eerie place – the grassy knoll would also fall into that category of pretty but…
the kid sits on the actual spot where abraham zapruder filmed 26.6 seconds of the kennedy assasination.
and lastly: where mariano martinez invents the frozen margarita machine (1971). his restaurant is now a petsmart.
the machine stood roughly where the fire extinguisher is.
all images © van ditthavong
jimi 1963 ::::> my touch with greatness
i remember going through the botanical gardens in atlanta ages ago looking at all these incredible species of plants and their ridiculously hard saying scientific names… and thinking wow, wouldn’t it be cool to be a plant expert, a botanist?! getting to know about the origins, the medical benefits, the ins and outs of plant life, and the correct pronunciation of aulacomnium palustre… (oh that’s ribbed bog moss for those who care). scratch that. wouldn’t it be cool to be just any expert?! wouldn’t it be awesome to love something so much that you know absolutely everything about it? the way spielberg knows films, the way mark twain knows writing, the way bobby flay knows cooking, or better yet… the way jimi hendrix knows the guitar. well, the sad truth is we all can’t be that great, so being around something or someone who is – is still pretty cool. so that’s why when the photo department of guitar aficionado sent me to shoot jimi hendrix’s 1963 white fender stratocaster (one of his first strats!) – i was pumped.
here’s me with the guitar:
here’s the shot of the guitar:
© van ditthavong
i was also fortunate to spend the day with the current owner of the guitar. he not only had a hendrix guitar but clapton, lennon, dylan, springsteen, bb king, keith richards, paul mccartney… you name it! unreal:
oh, speaking of spielberg – see those shark jaws there in the photo above – it’s signed by cast and crew. shishhh!
check out this months issue:
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