PSST!!! Check out my photos...they are definitely worth more than the typed tripe down below...
So driving along Interstate 40 going East starting at Barstow and then studded by Needles, Flagstaff, Gallup, and finally Albuquerque, you don't really see much except for desert, rock formations, and some random fake-me-out tepees and shanties selling so-called Native American souvenirs. Oh...and you see the occasional shops that literally sell rocks as well. BUT, as the sun always rises, you can rely on an institution of Americana, the Dairy Queen. How is it that I've never been to a DQ my 8 years in LA, but have been to 3 so far on my short trip? Well, that's because there is a DQ about every 90 (at least) miles or so. And thank the good lord, because where else are you gonna pee and treat your fat ass to a Blizzard?
Well, this DQ at the Bluewater Outpost is even more special. It is so outrageous that I had to surreptitiously take photos and keep from laughing out loud. First off, the clever ad-men (I'm guessing these aren't the guys from Saatchi and Saatchi) start you salivating for a Blizzard about 10 miles before you hit the place with billboard after numbing bright, yellow billboard (in the Las Vegas style of trying to get you to go to whichever $5.99 breakfast buffet or steak and eggs deals). But guess what? It worked on me!
You get off the 40 and you turn left on to a dusty road leading to a dusty parking lot. Across the way is a dusty parking lot for RVs and semi's....how considerate. There is literally NOTHING else there. That's it. Now it looks like a rather large red-roofed DQ from the outside, but step inside, children and behold the spectacle that awaits you. Try not to cry when you see some of the more creepy souvenirs: there was an amazingly life-like bunny (you know, I have a thing for bunnies) in the stuffed animals section so I reached out to touch it...and it was HARD. I think it was a taxidermy-ed bunny....ewwww!!!!
Over to the left is a section that is not partitioned off with fake wood-paneled booths and the DQ counter. I will admit that I did get a Reese's peanut butter cup Blizzard (my favorite) and the girl who made my Blizzard actually turned the cup upside down and shook it to show me how thick it was. That alone right there makes this a 5-star institution!
I walked around the store savoring every last bit of my supremely thick Blizzard while perusing the paraphernalia. The Outpost offered up everything from $9.99 leather vests to those Southwestern-motif-ed scratchy blankets/ponchos to .925 Sterling Silver (don't know what .925 means) jewelry to wood carved seals and other creatures (that are clearly NOT endemic to the Southwest) to FIREWORKS!!!! Tchotchkes galore! A Midwestern mom's delight! Chili pepper souvenirs! In the immortal words of Depeche Mode, I just can't get enough.
After living in seemingly cosmopolitan big cities, one can tend to get jaded; we're always looking for the next hip thing and it can get a little contrived and suck the lifeblood out of you. And then it's all about conformity in it's own little ironic way, isn't it? It's the little places like this that bring you back down to earth. I LOVE that places like this still exist...a return to shameless good old fashioned capitalism that isn't shrouded in uber-chic packaging and trying to trick all of us who only THINK that we're clever. read more