Road Trippin'

Mark and I did a little day trippin' a little while back to check out a local tourist trap. There is a place right outside Moab called Hole N'The Rock, which we'd seen on television and had to see for ourselves. While it was every bit as cheesy as you might expect, it was fun and very unusual.

Hole N'The Rock (http://www.moab-utah.com/holeintherock/ and also, http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/UTMOAhole.html), was built by Al and Gladys Christensen, who began working on the cave-style home in 1940 and continued for 12 years before moving into the one completed room. Over the next five years, they added quite a few more rooms before Al died. Gladys lived in the home another 17 years, during which time she made additions and improvements. Both Al and Gladys are buried in a small grotto-like spot at Hole N The Rock. On either of the above websites you can read a more complete history of these two adventurous souls and their unique home. I say we just look at some pictures, yeah?



This is a picture of the entrance. You can see the signs where the souvenier store is located. This was originally smaller and was part of a diner. The first room built was a small dining room and kitchen which was used as a business. Note the little frontage walls to the right of the store; these are some of the rooms added when the building was extended and turned into a residence.



I suppose Al must have been a huge FDR fan. He spent quite some time sculpting his image into the rock wall above his home. Al was a very talented ..if somewhat eccentric...artist and one of the rooms facing the exterior of the rock was his studio.

There are quite a few metal and wooden sculptures on the premises, though I don't think they were done by Al or Gladys.



This one was called Alotabull, and it is! I couldn't begin to identify all the metal pieces that make up this sculpture, but it was pretty cool.



I don't remember seeing a name for this sculpture, but it was a wonderful homage to the importance of jeeps to many of the folks who love Moab. It is constructed entirely from tools and license plates.





And then there was the Cowboy and Indian...what self-respecting tourist stop in this part of the world would be complete without them?



To finish up the tour of Hole N'The Rock there is a petting zoo. Most of the amimals were sleeping so I didn't bother them, but this one guy caught my eye. In fact, he and I paced back and forth giving each other the one-eyed stare for quite some time before I took this photo. With the background and the because the scale of the photo seems all wrong, I think he came out looking kind of jurrasic.