The Domes: urban decay in the middle of nowhere

there is a place near Casa Grande in Arizona that holds a great deal of stories and embellishments. of course because of its current state of decay and off beat location it has also developed a bit of an odd reputation. this place is the Domes, and not a whole ton of information is known, but wild mass guessing is quite prevalent.

i first heard of this place two ways, one was by a bike friend of mine who just love riding any and every road he can. his current goal is to ride every paved road in arizona. more power to you man, good luck and be safe because im a bit jealous of your quest.

the second way i heard about the Domes was through a website called Atlas Obscura (www.atlasobscura.com) that i enjoy haunting because it has helped me plan some interesting trips. i highly recommend going to the site and looking up your home area because it might blow you away to see whats hiding near by.

 

now the atlas says the Domes are haunted, used for satan worships, teenage beer drinking and graffiti- i would say yes to 90% of that. i find the satan worship a little hard to believe but thats mostly because im from new england and when i think satan worshippers i think stepford smilers which makes me think WASP families hiding their evil ways behind perfectly maintained colonial styles homes build on the edge of the national seashore under the veneer of protestant christianity and old world blood/trust fund life styles.

 

what i did note while there was that the was certainly a lot of garbage abandoned there, there was a ton of graffiti, what looked like the camp of some squatters and probably the most awesome acoustics ever. i was also surprised by the lack of structural supports of rebar to reinforce the concrete buildings- so the collapsed holes in the wall and ceilings were quite unsurprising. i would also was the site is fabulous for a backdrop for a shoot.

after digging on the net i found an article that said the site was originally built to be a computer technology and manufacturing site owned by Patricia Zebb back in the early 1980s. searching for more information involving her does pop up, even the business she owned back then and planned on moving to the Domes- InnerConn Technology Inc.. so having found that she is in fact real i have more interest in why the idea and site was abandoned. apparently a loan was defaulted on, as well as contaminated ground water was found.

i will say it is private property. so trespassers understand that you can be persecuted for exploring. i will also stress that there is a lot or sharp broken glass and rusted debris all over the place as well as a tunnel system- so be very careful.

p.s. i will be going back to take better photos. sadly that involves me buying a better camera.

seeing Ghost(s...(b.c.)

a friend of mine introduced me to one of my all time favorite bands and i will be forever thankful. i am even more thankful for the time he bought a ticket for me to go see that band with him and his girlfriend.

we drove about two hours south of phoenixopolis to tucson- a town whos name apparently i cannot wrap my east coast mouth around and always pronounce it wrong when speaking to locals, and we spent the day exploring the Biosphere 2 (you should see it), the domes and downtown tucson.

ill do a post later about the Biosphere because i love that place and manage to visit it like once every three or four months and i think its a treasure. but right now im going to talk about Ghost. or well, Ghost b.c. when they tour here in the states due to some bullshit band than had the name before them and that no one ever heard of from back in the 70s or something.

Ghost was founded my what is probably a bunch of swedish guys, but no one is really sure since they place in full robes and masks without revealing their identities. the whole theme of the band is Papa Emeritus and the Nameless Ghouls are i guess a satanic cardinal and his faceless priests or servants. the showmanship and theatrical nature of how they performs is amazing. for people who are reading this that arent fans of metal music, dont worry. im sure Ghost isnt actually a bunch of satanists. its just music.

 

their sound is very blues, old rock, 70s showmanship and melodic. think Blue Oyster Cult, early Black Sabbath, ABBA, and a touch of Mercyful Fate. for the casual listener, remember- showmanship and concept. i personally love most of the music lyrically. i think its well written, poetic and flows amazingly with a clean, crisp sound. the guitarists are very talented, the drummer is spot on and the music flows. i especially love the covers they choose to do. who would have ever guessed ABBA or the Beatles could sound terrifying?

So i would highly recommend giving either album a listen. Opus Eponymous is their first and was what got me hooked, and Infestissumam is a well paced and executed sophmore album. ill leave you with a link to youtube for their Beatles cover.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLFFUIZfX9Q

a little town called rhyolite, nevada

so i enjoy road trips and driving, which i think is a very American thing. kind of like how people associate biscuts and tea with England, safaris with Africa, surfing with Australia and wild, cold wilderness with Canada (or people wearing flannel). but vehicles and roads have a very spiritual place in American hearts.

recently i got a chance to stay in vegas and drive around southern nevada and i had a blast. one of the places i went to was rhyolite, an abandoned mining town that is part art museum and part ghost town.

in 1906 rhyolite was booming, had tons of people, electricity, schools, hotels and a lively night scene. by 1916 the town was dead. since then its been slowly crumbling away until people who cared showed up and decided to fix some of the structures and turn it into an open air art park or sorts.

now known as the goldwell open air museum it features scultpures from a few different artists, maybe most prominently a dutch guy named Albert Szukalski who did the last supper and ghostrider out of fibreglass, using locals as the models.

the place is pretty wicked, and quick the drive to get to. but most certainly worth the trip. i loved it.

 

Now this place is nestled between two... Im from a coastal town so they look like mountains to me, but they might just be hills. And since this was a mining town there are open mines. At this point most of them are blocked off to protect visitors, but there are some that arent. So if you go to explore this place just be careful if you leave the paths.

I will also mention that if you choose to visit here you shouldnt take the route i did. Just stick to the highway. Theres a paved road that leads right to it... theres also an unpaved road. This road is an ass and will be dusty and make your compact car cry tears.



Miss Lys

who is this awesome, funny, super intelligent genius of questionable ethical standings with a taste for design as well as running around half naked in a desert covered in body paint?

that would be me, Miss Lys.

what is all that shit behind me you ask? well that would be my poor Yaris, positively pregnant with everything i went to Burning Man* with.
now, i found a funny bumper sticker once and feel it probably does the best to sum me up. are you ready for this? its down right modern Shakespearean here.

"I don't have 'hobbies' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set"

so how do i go about introducing myself? im not sure. i am not fond of labeling people, but most often thats how we identify people. so i guess in no particular order....

-i am an accomplished welder.
-i am ex-military and proud of it (lets not get politicy**)
-i love to draw and am entirely self taught and desperately want to go to school for art
-i am a motorcycle mechanic, i can work on anything but im certified for Harley Davidson and Suzuki
-i love to sew. my grandmum taught me how to use a machine... i was even stopped one on the streets of St. Pete beach by a woman who wanted to know what designer i was wearing (something I MADE!!! YAY!)
-i graduated high school with honors, got a very impressive score on my ASVAB and always score in the top 5-10%
-i am disabled. true story. ill go into it sometime maybe.
-i am a super nerd and think quantum physics is neato... Popular Mechanics and Architectural Digest are my super naughty guilty pleasure reads- they give me goosebumps.
-i am the oldest of three girls and all my cousins and i am frighteningly protective of all of them to include but not limit assaulting someone with a 2x4.... sorry Mr. Bean.
-i love to cook, especially for people because i really enjoy an excuse to eat fabulous food in large amounts

i have been called many things over the years. some of them good, some of them bad. like my favorite. i dont mind being called a cunt. i think it has something to do with the fact that in my head that word conjures images of a flaky french pastry with a raspberry or peach filling and a lightly whipped cream dollop with a light coating of jimmies (which apparently are sprinkles...i guess we new englanders are weird). so every time i hear cunt i just get hungry for dessert.

ive been called a dyke. also funny to me. i am not called one because i enjoy the company of fabulous women, which i do, and i absolutely love them- but because i have short hair. so just in case you havent heard, the length or lack there of determines your sexuality.

which is also something i feel i may have to clarify. i am not a lesbian. i am not straight. i am not bisexual. bisexual just conjures images of college aged women making out with each other drunkenly for attention in my mind. i love personality. i dont give a flying fuck what you look like, what sex you are or what race you are. let me repeat that. I DONT FUCKING CARE WHAT SEX YOU ARE, WHAT RACE YOU ARE, OR WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE. i think you are beautiful. you are you. and nothing and no one should change that.

i love personality, and that is what gets me all hot an bothered. so if you can make me laugh or smile- you just got an admit one ticket. but that being said. yes i do have preferences. if you have short, kind of spiky blond hair and a dirty mouth and you are a mechanic. hot damn, dont mind if i threaten to rape you.... or at least let me bite your butt cheek. do you have smouldering eyes and reek of bad decisions? count me in.

some things i really like?

earth tones, music, art, cats, listening to moving water, burning man, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, tattoos, piercings, body modification, gaming, dungeons and dragons, writing, painting, sculpting, learning, motorcycles, metal, building stuff, walking, sunsets, sun rises, stars, lions, leo stuff, bonfires, being a designated driver, road trips, sewing, curling up in my bed under all my super high thread count sheets, shooting the shit for hours with my best friend, watching movies, traveling, making people laugh, hanging out with old people, mentoring young people, dreaming, being politically active, cooking, eating, giving people things, comic books and graphic novels, monkeys with wings

what dont i like?
ass hats, badly behaved pets, children under the age of 23, rude people, road rage, distracted drivers, fascists, people who insult the uniform they wear, most political leaders, our current government system, monkeys, popular fashion that makes no sense like ugg boots and mini skirts paired together, cookie cutter people, ignorance, harmful drugs be they legal or otherwise, pork products (sorry), teen moms (children shouldnt raise children), celebrities that are famous for absolutely nothing worthwhile (yah, im looking at you tila, jersey shore, paris), judgemental pricks, really drunk guys, cinnamon

bored? these are my babies. i love them more that anything in the world and if someone hurts them i will seriously shove my fist down their throat and watch them die from a lack of oxygen- or that i would be crushing their heart in my hand with a smile on my face.

the first one is mr beast. dont worry, he isnt dead. he sleeps like that. i think its because someone tried to drown him when he was a very young kitten. he also makes fatty grunt noises and drools.

the second cat is mrs. foo foos. she is my big, beautiful girl. also another cat i rescued. her previous owners decided to abort the littler she was carrying by stomping on her. so when i found her all stuck in a cast and terrified of anything that moved, i spent seven months nursing her back to health. she is now a princess and demands you acknowledge her as such.

i am currently in my mid twenties. i guess i am a student, or disabled, or retired. it depends how you want to look at it.

im something of a philosopher. i like to help people and talk about all sorts of stuff. ive been told i am a spirit animal to people. and that just makes me think of this

...'nuff said.

want to more? ask. i would love to talk.

*Burning Man is fucking amazing. do it. go. buy a ticket and bring gifts and enjoy every eye opening moment. be good to one another.

**i love a good political debate, so be careful if you get me going.

***i got really hurt in a magical place referred to as 'the sandbox', or 'the desert' and should not be confused with any location in America, and that led to some pretty shitty brain trauma.

 i leave you with this.