Anyone can buy a ticket to Greece and view the Parthenon, considered by many to be one of the most beautiful designs made by humans.  But you have to go to Greece.  Or, to look upon the Pyramids, Egypt would be your destination (but who’s going there now with the country in chaos?).  Machu Picchu forces you to trek to Peru where you can see the ruins of the Incan culture that once dominated the Americas.  On your way to your private audience with Francis I, you could pop by and check out the Colosseum.  And, one of my own favorites is found out on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England.  There you could walk among the giant stones of the mystical Stonehenge.  If you’re a crystal-gazing witch type, you’ve probably been there already.

But all these glorious Wonders of the Ancient World require a passport and a small fortune taken from your Roth IRA (or “borrowed from Vince, a guy from Las Vegas).

Sad to say, but for many reasons, beyond the means of most humble people like me.

But all is not lost.  Right here in America is one of the most exquisite treasures of “High Art” found anywhere on earth.  And, you, yes you, can behold this Wonder at little cost, and I’m not talking of the Hooters just outside Tupelo, Mississippi.  No, this is far more sublime (if that’s possible).

Find your Rand McNally 2013 Road Atlas.  Look on page 98.  Look for a little red square the size of a pin-head just west of Amarillo, Texas.  My friends, I bring to your attention Stanley Marsh’s Cadillac Ranch.

But what about those other Wonders?  Well, these so-called “Treasures” mean that you can’t take chunks of the Parthenon home with you.  You can’t chip at Stonehenge with a rock hammer (like a woman tried to do in the late 1970’s).  They will not allow you to scratch graffiti on the walls of Machu Picchu.  How un-American and un-democratic is that?

And that’s the beauty of Cadillac Ranch.  It’s not only free (it’s in a middle of a field of some kind of Texas crop), but you can bring your own spray can and add your own tags to a series of splendid upended Cadillacs that are half buried in the field.

Half buried?  That sounds like Stonehenge.

I wonder if, whoever installed the upended luxury cars, did so to predict the Summer Solstice?

Whatever.  It’s right here in the good old USA.  Our contribution to the Wonders of the World.

See for yourself: