A Personal Amateur Photography Blog
As noted in the previous posting our mission for this day was to see the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park. But first we stopped at Old Faithful.
Along the way we enjoyed the sights that are uniquely Yellowstone.
At last we arrived at Midway Geyser Basin, where the spring is located.
At last – The Grand Prismatic Spring. While it was obscured by steam, it was still an impressive sight. Mission accomplished!
Rising over 2000′ above the valley floor along the edge of the Uncompahgre Plateau, the Colorado National Monument provides amazing views along Rim Rock Drive.
This road clings to the edge of the cliff, often without guardrails, with precipitous drop offs all along the 24 mile drive.
It does however have numerous overlooks that provide commanding views.
A petrified forest is created when fallen trees are washed into a space and then buried under layers of mud, ash and other materials, depriving the oxygen required for rot. Over millions of years the wood’s cellular structure form into a stone like material.
Generally considered the world’s best example, the Petrified Forest National Park is in northern Arizona, situated in the Painted Desert (next posting).
The setting and colors of the Petrified Forest is amazing. Most look just like wood, some even appear to have been cut with a saw.
Chiracahua National Monument is an area of amazing hoodoos, a result of a volcanic eruption millions of years ago.
Erosion has taken that original volcanic material (known as Rhyolite) and made amazing pinnacles and shapes.
This is Bella. She loves nothing more than riding in the car and going for walks.
That works out well since Saguaro National Park is a short ride away. Bella was insisting on a ride and a walk late one afternoon – good for her, we got great sunset photos (from the iPhone!)
Thanks Bella!
Our move to Arizona has found us living in a town called Vail, at the far east end of Tucson. It predates the same named town in Colorado by about 100 years, but for most of it’s time was a small, dusty railroad stop. The Colorado town has nothing on the Arizona one, the mountains here have more vertical gain above the town – just without so much snow (thankfully).
In the last 30 years it has grown tremendously but still has that ‘outpost’ feel, being at the edge of town, next to the mountains and desert. This posting has random views of some sights around Vail and beyond.
While Route 66 is the most famous east-west route in the pre interstate days, in reality more people actually took U.S. 80 west to California. This route made it’s way across Southern Arizona, including a portion between Benson and Vail, on it’s way to Tucson.
U.S. 80 crosses Cienega Creek on a 1921 bridge, next to where two Southern Pacific railroad routes also traverse the creek. A cienega is a wetland unique to the Southwestern U.S., resulting in a landscape unlike the surrounding area because of the constant availability of water, with large trees lining the banks.
Just to the east is the ghost town of Pantano, another railroad stop in the late 1800s, early 1900s. Today only the water tower remains.
About 30 miles south of Vail is the town of Sonoita. As you cross the Empire Mountains the landscape changes yet again, with large fields of tall grasses, instead of the Sonoran Desert look of Vail.
A local propane dealer has a cool collection of decorated tanks.
While Saguaro National Park East has a Tucson address, it is in the Vail area. It was a good day to take the dog for a walk, and take a closer look at the cacti.
The Vail area, and all of Southern Arizona, have spectacular sunsets.
Note the full moon peeking through the clouds.
The long weekend provided a great opportunity to explore the many historic dwellings that are scattered around Central Ariona.
We started at Montezuma’s Castle. The Europeans who first visited the remnants in the mid 1800s were mistakenly convinced that Montezuma had lived there, hence the name. This however is inaccurate – it is believed that Hopi, Yavapi and Hohokam lived here.
Nearby is Montezuma’s Well. Much like the Castle, it was the home to numerous local cultures. This natural limestone sinkhole produces 1.5 million gallons of water a day from an underground spring.
Tuzigoot Is a 3 story pueblo ruin at the summit of a ridge near Clarkdale, Arizona. It is very large, with 110 rooms, as a home for Sinagua people.
The final stop of the weekend was at Tonto National Monument. Home to Salado culture more than 800 years ago, it sets high up on a hill above what is now Roosevelt Lake.
The Saguaro Cactus is present throughout much of central and southern Arizona. The Saguaro National Park has two areas around Tucson, one west of town, and one east – we visited the eastern one.
Saguaro cactus can live to 150 years old – the older they are the more arms they have, although they can grow old without growing arms.
In addition to the Saguaros there are numerous other natural Sonoran Desert plants, all of which were at their peak color because of recent monsoon rains – probably the greenest desert you will ever see.
From 1934 until 2020 White Sands was designated a National Monument, but in December 2020 it was upgraded to a National Park.
While being one of the country’s great natural wonders it has for years been used for military activities (White Sands Bombing Range) as well as Hollywood backdrops. Hopefully with National Park status it will remain a natural treasure forever.
We arrived late afternoon after a day of thunderstorms in the area, resulting in a great sky for the backdrop, as well as a mudslide that added 50 additional miles to our trip to Las Cruces.
Time to visit the beautiful state of Washington.
1957Â Â Â 1958Â Â Â 2004Â Â Â Â 2006
State Capital – Olympia. The building is another traditional style set in the small town of Olympia. While it might seem strange that this small city is the capital when Seattle is just 60 miles away, in the early days of the European settlement Olympia was the most important towns, becoming the territorial capital.
State Symbol
State Tall Ship – Lady Washington
Boeing has a long history in the state, having been founded in Seattle in 1916. The factory in Everett is the largest building in the world by volume, but when you are inside it doesn’t feel that way because of separations. ( 2 photos below from Wikipedia)
Harold LeMay, a Tacoma refuse company owner, had one of the largest collections of cars when he died in 2000. His collection is displayed in 2 very different museum.
1975Â Â Â 1978Â Â Â 1982
Seattle is a beautiful city that has been booming over the last couple of decades.
It is the cultural center of the Northwest.
The Chihuly Museum has the best art that he has ever created.
Next door is the Museum of Pop, with an eclectic collection.
Mt Rainier 1959Â Â Â 1965Â Â Â 1967Â Â Â 1998Â Â Â Cascades 1970Â Â Â 2003Â Â Â 2006
Olympic National Park has two major sections, the mountains above Port Angeles, and a rain forest closer to the Pacific Ocean.
The day we chose to go to Hurricane Ridge was a fantastic, sunny day, with views forever.
Mount Rainier is the postcard of the state. (photo from internet)
With the mountains and abundant rain amazing waterfalls are found throughout the Cascades. (photos from internet)
1992- Puget Sound – Lopez Island – Shaw Reef   1994 – Columbia River Gorge   2000 – Sagebrush & Phlox in Columbia River Valley   2002 – Olympic Peninsula   2008 – Skagit Valley Tulips
The Puget Sound is one of the economic and recreation centers of the state.
The Pacific Coast is rugged and fairly unpopulated. (photos from internet, but I wish I was there for the bottom one).
RDZ Photography 