Crazy Atomic Car

Cabin fever has hit us here in Madison, so Dave and I played the "Where are we going" game today. To play the game I listed the numbers 1-10 on a sheet of paper. Then I had him pick numbers from one to ten in random order but he could only use each number once. Then he had to pick a direction, left, right or straight to go after each number. What we ended up with was a road map and we really don't know where we were going. For example, we had to turn right from our street, drive 3 miles, turn left, drive 6 miles turn right, etc. It was quite fun and we saw some nice sites along the way.

We ended up driving mostly through WI farmland but did drive through a small town called Belleville. We saw a great old Ford Neon sign there.



We passed some very pretty snowy sites on a sunny day.




But best of all we ran across this crazy atomic car. It was just around a bend on the side of an outbuilding. From what we can tell it was drivable at some point. There was one seat in the front and a steering wheel. They painted the tires silver to match the car. I love the antenna on top. It looks like you have to enter it from the top. Could it be based on a Camaro? The steering wheel and the front end might suggest that. Notice the funky lights on it as well. Hopefully some day we can find out more about this crazy atomic car.






Our road map lead us to our final destination which put us in Oregon, WI. We found this great little mod beauty shop. I really love the lines on this building.




We had such a great day and saw such unexpected things. What fun!
Rebecca

Vintage Motel Signs

This past Sunday we took a trip up to the Wisconsin Dells. The Dells is a tourist area about one hour north of Madison. It has some beautiful natural scenery but also some great Mid Century Modern scenery. There are quite a few motels that are still there that were popular in the 50's/60's. I am sure due to development we have lost many great motels but there are still some to look at and celebrate.



This sign is cool but does not do justice to the really cool motel rooms. See picture below.



There are some regular motel rooms on part of this property but near the main road is this set of rooms. The design is SO cool. Each room has a silhouette of an Indian head behind the room number. It looks like they are redoing the rooms here but we could not really tell in what way.



The international motel was on the edge of town. Unfortunately it is up for sale.



I love the little top on the top of the Gables sign. The doors on this hotel are all the same aqua that is in the sign.



The Top Hat motel is down a side street off the main drag. Again the use of aqua.



This was one of our favorite signs. The condition is wonderful. The motel itself was great. It is made of a beautiful lannon stone - see below. There were these great light fixtures as well. I would say the motel was on at least 3-4 acres. It was very spread out with a pool.




I have more motels to share, so stay tuned!
Rebecca

Kodachrome Slide Website

There is a guy in California that collects old Kodachrome Slides from the 50s to the 70s. He has a show he does and has actually written a couple of books. If you are familiar with Kodachrome you know the quality can be quite amazing. His name is Charles Phoenix and I would suggest a visit to his website. He also has a slide of the week e-mail list you can get on.

www.charlesphoenix.com

Happy viewing.

Rebecca