Day 47 (D-14) Flagstaff / Route 66 / James Turrell

Route 66* went through Flagstaff, Arizona.  We'll be driving through Flagstaff on our way to Phoenix. Flagstaff is a city of about 60,000 people and it is at an elevation of 2121 metres, making it one of the highest cities in the United States. (Do you remember that we saw on Day 9 that Santa Fe at an elevation of 2194m is the highest capital city?)
5 million people visit Flagstaff every year, when visiting the Grand Canyon.
Flagstaff got its name from a very tall flagpole made from a a pine tree to celebrate America's 100th birthday in 1876.  
("Flagstaff" is a compound noun, but we more commonly say "flagpole."  We say the "staff of Moses" and a "shepherd's staff.")

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Flagstaff is a special place at night.  Why?  The city works to preserve its dark skies by keeping light pollution to a minimum.  Their objective is "to preserve and protect the nighttime environment and our heritage of dark skies through quality outdoor lighting."  On October 24, 2001, Flagstaff was recognised by the International Dark-Sky Association as the world's first "International D-Dark-Sky".  In 2019, does the city where you live turn off its lights at night??  Saving electricity.

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* "Get your kicks on Route 66", sung by Nat King Cole (1946). 

"Well if you ever plan to motor west,

Just take my way, that's the highway, that's the best.

Get your kicks on Route sixty-six.

Well it winds from Chicago to LA

More than two-thousand miles all the way.

Get your kicks on Route sixty-six....." 

You can listen at    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbQXalTGu-8  

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Who is James Turrell?  

James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist primarily concerned with Light and Space.  Turrell is best known for his work in progress, Roden Crater, a natural cinder cone crater located outside Flagstaff, that he is turning into a massive naked-eye observatory. 

He acquired an extinct cinder cone volcano in 1979. Since then he has spent decades moving tons of dirt and building tunnels and apertures to transform this crater into a massive naked-eye observatory for experiencing celestial phenomena.  (When did Gaudi begin working on La Sagrada Familia? In 1882! This looks like another very long project, but maybe not 137 years!)  Roden Crater takes its place within the tradition of American landscape art that began in the 1960s, requiring a journey to visit the work in the remote desert with truly dark night skies.

When complete, the project will contain 21 viewing spaces and six tunnels. Roden Crater is a gateway to the contemplation of light, time and landscape.

It's not open yet, and consequently not on our itinerary, but if you're curious, you can look here: http://rodencrater.com

                     “My desire is to set up a situation to which I take you and let you see. It becomes your experience.”

My best,

Jane

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--"Get your kicks on Route 66" = "Amusez-vous bien en prenant l'autoroute 66." "Get your kicks" is an old-fashioned slang expression.
--Here "winds" is a verb = "serpenter"; pronounced like "wines" with a slight "d" sound at the end.
-- cinder cone =  a small, conical volcano built of ash and cinders; "cône de scories"