Fences – RDZ Photography

El Paso – September 2022 – Views from Above

The road that runs along a small mountain just north of downtown El Paso provides scenic views has the appropriate name of ‘Scenic Drive’.

From here you can easily see most of El Paso, and across the border to Juarez.

The houses on top of the hill appear to be the most expensive in town.

The overlooks provide a panoramic view of downtown El Paso, as well as the mountains behind Juarez.

The Manhattan Heights neighborhood below is accented by a large collection of cypress trees rising above.

A close up of the neighborhoods on both sides of the border.

This giant red X is a sculpture in Juarez that is (according to most) intended to symbolize the combination of Spanish and Native cultures.

With the glass eye in the center it also is thought to represent the Aztec symbol Nahui Ollen, for balance in the universe.

So much for balance.

Meanwhile back up on the hill is this large home with their own Statue of Liberty, visible from the border. You can’t get close enough to see if it has the famed inscription on it.

Huachuca Mountains, Arizona – May 2022 – Dusty Trails

Nature, Transportation

With the acquisition of a high clearance vehicle it was time to hit one of the ‘off pavement’ routes I have been looking forward to, Montezuma Canyon Road through Coronado Pass.

This route took us past Parker Canyon Lake and up to the pass, with an extensive view of the San Pedro River valley and the multi billion dollar boondoggle fence. This route was 24 miles of dirt and gravel road up over the mountain pass, resulting in the dustiest car I have ever had (which of course I forgot to take a photo of before washing)

One of the more interesting features is the riparian desert features of the San Pedro River. Retaining water year round (a bit), you are instantly in a wooded area with huge trees, literally next to the dry grasslands.

The day ended with a beautiful ‘Blood Moon’ lunar eclipse.

Cleveland – July 2016 – Trump Gets His Wall, or at Least a Fence Around Downtown

Architecture

With the Republican Convention due in town the following week, we made a trip up to Cleveland to check out the scene. Imagine our surprise as we made our way up the freeway on this warm July morning to see ODOT trucks with snowplows attached, something that turned out to be a theme for the day. It turns out that was just a part of the security effort.

We met friends at the West 150th Street Rapid Station, where we took a Red Line train towards downtown, getting off at West 25th Street. As we came up the steps we were stunned to see virtually vacant streets as far as you could see down Lorain Avenue and 25th Street, as well as the entire area around the West Side Market. We could see police cars and a blockade at the west end of the Lorain-Carnegie (aka – Hope) Bridge.

We made our way towards the bridge, stopping to take pictures every once in a while. At one stop I was interviewed by a videographer from the Washington Post on what I thought of the setting. Reaching the police blockade they said that we were welcome to cross the bridge, but they were unsure if we could get through the other side. Good enough for us – onward. We stopped midway across, standing in the middle of the street until we moved over for a black SUV (FBI or Secret Service) to come by. It was all a very Twilight Zone feeling, but one that gave me photo opportunities I would never have otherwise, standing in the middle of the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge on a bright sunny day with nobody around.

We reached the other side and found the first of it – a 12′ fence completely around Progressive Field, the arena and a the surrounding blocks with one of those retractable gates in the ground to allow cars to pass. We finally figured out we could go around the perimeter of the fence to the south, underneath the Innerbelt, back up the other side, and through some shrubs to come out on Carnegie Avenue across the street from the stadium. From there we made it to East 9th Street.

As we continued along the 12′ fence, admiring the ‘NO DRONE’ signs every 5 feet we finally saw some activity, a police escort and a shuttle bus, apparently bringing in some delegates. After making it to Prospect Avenue, we stopped in the surprisingly quiet Winking Lizard for lunch. As we had lunch we had our first ‘celebrity’ encounter, the 80 year old CBS news person Bob Schieffer. But our tour had to continue so we were back on the street – past another ‘Checkpoint Charlie‘.

As we made our way to East 4th Street we found people, lots of people, in what was essentially the news set for all of the networks. As someone who lived in Cleveland in the 1980s I recalled this as ‘Wig Alley‘, so named because of all the wig shops, and the place that the same guy tried to sell me cocaine every day on my way to lunch (I passed on his offer every day). Now it is the hipster restaurant row, but for this week it was home to MSNBC, the Washington Post and others.

After a stop at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, we checked out the refurbished Public Square where we met a nice group of Cleveland Bicycle Police. Public Square itself was closed off with yet more snowplows. After a brief visit to the Mall to find even more 12′ fencing we passed through the Arcade (amusing ourselves with the $50 parking fees) and back to Tower City for the Rapid back out of town.