friday finds: albuquerque part 3

Today I am concluding my armchair journey to Albuquerque. It's still in keeping with historical, cultural, and architectural themes, but I am fast-forwarding a few hundred years to the late 1940's.

It's time to "get your kicks on Route 66" and here's a little music video to get you in a nostalgic mood:

I couldn't help but hear the fabulous velvety voice of Nat King Cole

on that hot sunny day five years ago

as I made my way along Central Avenue SW (the old Route 66).

Admittedly, this is a little before my time, but it puts me in mind of the many summer vacations

with my family, when I was a kid in the 60's and 70's. 

We stayed in more than a few motels like this -

many with a quaint name or homey atmosphere

to remember them by.

We ate in many an eatery back in the day.

Some of the old places have been restored and/or are still in business today.

I'm not so sure about "steak fingers" and eggs. Meh.

This old neon sign is wonderfully grungy.

I hope someone rescues this bit of Americana

but it's kinda big...where would you put it?

Do you suppose today's big SUVs would even fit in these carports?

Here's a place with some attractive features.

No WiFi though, and thanks, but I've got my cellphone.

Many sites are now obscured behind chain link fences,

I suppose to keep away vandals and vagrants.

Or nosey tourists with cameras.

I wonder who actually owns these run-down old properties

and what, if anything they plan to do with them.

I can still picture my mother doing a 'recon' before the whole family trouped into the place

(motel or restaurant).

She sure had an eye for a clean bed and bath, but sometimes

we had to settle for somewhat 'less than hygienic' accommodations

(aka a "flea bag")

especially out in the middle of nowhere.

If Mom saw tablecloths on the tables, then chances are it was safe to eat there.

She also checked out the menu, with taste and budget in mind

(Mom + Dad + four kids + two grandparents...that's a lot of tired, hungry people to feed).

***

I know there was probably a more efficient way to 'batch process' these photos, but I wasn't in the mood to spend the time to figure it out. So here's what I did:

In Lightroom 4  I cropped each photo, keeping the original size ratio, then treated them with the following presets:

1. Dave Delnea's CyanSkies Look3
2. His Backlight Vertical Left 
3. His C+V Washed Vintage 001
4. Lightroom's Rounded Corners White (in hindsight, I would have increased the width a bit; as you can see, only the corners show up)

Here's a screenshot of my Photoshop CS6 processing:

***

Linking up with

Friday Finds

Texture Tuesday

Weekend Walk