A Personal Amateur Photography Blog
An internet search of best sunsets in Phoenix suggested Usery State Park – just east of Mesa. We headed off for the short drive out, but in the end sunset was not to be as storm clouds moved in. While disappointed about the sunset, the clouds provided a great backdrop not often seen in Phoenix.
The drive back into town also provided some great shots
Before you knew it we were back in Mesa.
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.
For five months we had the good fortune of having an apartment on the 16th floor overlooking the Rio De La Plata and the city of Buenos Aires. Little did we realize when we arrived the view would constantly change depending on the weather.
It became routine to leave the camera on the kitchen table to try and catch sunrises as we woke up each day. This long posting features the best of what Argentina weather and a 16th floor apartment overlooking a ‘river’ can provide.
The sun, water, clouds, moon – all shape the changing view.
Finding ourselves in the Chicago suburbs one Saturday afternoon with a few hours to kill, we decided to go to Arlington Park to bet on the ponies.
While they have been racing on this site since 1927, the grandstands and other areas were rebuilt in the mid 1980s after a major fire. I have had the opportunity to visit a number of horse racing venues and Arlington Park is one of the nicer ones, just a step below Keeneland and Santa Anita.
The clubhouse and grandstands have a ‘modern’ look to it, giving it a very different feel than Churchill Downs or Santa Anita.
As with most thoroughbred tracks they have a dirt track and a turf track.
We had an excellent time for the first 4 races….
Until a tornado blew through (although to be fair it didn’t touch down at the track, but there were tornado warnings for the immediate area – with winds approaching 80 MPH with torrential rain).
The synthetic track stood up well, with an interesting look after the rain.
RDZ Photography 