Today we decided to head over to Canyon Road. It’s a street that is completely dedicated to art galleries and shops. There are a couple of antique dealers, but most are galleries – traditional oils, water colors, sculptures. There is every style you can imagine, Impressionist, modern, traditional, Western, Oriental, Cubist.

There were lots and lots of huge bronzes – life size horses, pigs, buffalo, dogs of every breed imaginable, cowboys sitting on their horses, Native Indians in full regalia. There were life size statues of children, adults, and fantasy characters. A life size Mark Twain, clutching a copy of Huckleberry Finn,  made an appearance, sitting on a bench.

There were these fascinating wind devices – a whirligig for lack of a better word. They ranged in size from three feet high to twenty feet at least. Some ran with water, some ran pumps to move the water, some needed as little as two miles an hour of wind speed to get them to move, some were brightly colored, while others were in a patina-ed copper color. One seller had a whole field of them – literally hundreds in one location. Completely fascinating to sit there and watch them turn. This movie should give you a good idea of how they looked.

There was Oriental art – Buddha lounged on the grass, sat cross legged or towered above us. Hand knotted rugs and complex Thai textiles were featured in another gallery. This picture of Bhudda’s face was on a statue at least 20 feet high. You might be able to see it briefly in the movie above.

Pam was most fascinated with the animal bronzes I think. She loved the ones of dogs and cats and turtles and bears and bison and coyotes and… well you name it, and it was done in bronze. But this bronze of a couple of Native Indians was probably her favorite. The details on the bead work on the moccasins and jacket were exquisite – all done in bronze mind you!

We had a light lunch at Cafe Grecco’s, right on Canyon road. It was an Italian sub, which was really a paninni with lots of pastrami, beef, and cheese. Very tasty, with a locally brewed root beer.