Souvenir shops from today just plain suck. Cheap sculptures, fluorescent over-sized graphics on flimsy shirts, shit bumper sticker graphics and little signs for Kaylee, Riley and Haley, and whatever other stupid kid you have in the back of that SUV. Anyhoo, I’ll still hit these places, hopeful to find some “old stock” on its last leg, or maybe, a relic from a bygone era.
Today, on the eastern edge of Yellowstone, I found just that. Amongst the fish tale, ghost story and “You Know You Are A Redneck When…” titles on the book rack was a stack of over-saturated photo books featuring Yellowstone, the Tetons and the prairie. Big and beautiful, with bad type (good type) and a little logo in the corner that stopped me dead in my tracks. Deader than Buffalo Bill himself…the majestic National Parkways logo. And shit, how could it be? Amongst the sea of contemporary souvenir trash?
This was old stock. And what I love about these stores is the common practice of, “Until it sells, it stays.” Thank the lord for a nerd like me. Otherwise everything would be “Life Is Good” drone bullshit for McKayla and the rest of her pastel, predictable family. Awesome, old, syrupy photos and color from…the long, lost time of…1989. 1989? What the hell happened with us?
And whoever the fuck is making the “replica” guns with the shitwhizz, one-pry-away-from-getting-a-real-gun-pulled-on-you orange cap at the end should be VERY ashamed. Bad call. Things look like the real things. Little too real. We need to rethink that shit. More Legos.
Just some notes from the American road! Having a shitload of fun out here!
