Tag: Texas

Guadalupe Mountains, Texas – September 2022 – The National Park Tour Continues

Nature

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is about 100 miles east of El Paso, near the New Mexico border. It is about 45 miles from Carlsbad Caverns, making it a perfect day to visit two parks in one day.

The visitor center is one of the few structures in the park. It is conveniently located near the campground, as well as the start of the primary trails.

One trail goes all the way to the top of Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas. We chose a different trail, the Devil’s Hall Trail.

After a couple of miles you reach the wash that leads to Devil’s Hall. The wash is full of rocks and boulders, which for me, was too much to overcome to make it to Devil’s Hall. Still it was a scenic workout.

El Paso – September 2022 – Views from Above

Architecture, Nature, Transportation

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.

El Paso – September 2022 – Historic Missions

Architecture, Art, History

The El Paso area is home to 3 historic missions. All of the missions were founded in an effort to convert the native population.

We started with the Presidio Chapel of San Elizaro. The original building was constructed in 1789 as a fort (hence the name Presidio).

The buildings were destroyed in a flood in 1829, and thereafter the use of the fort was rendered unnecessary with Mexico’s independence from Spain. In 1882 the existing chapel was constructed.

In addition to the chapel there are other period buildings in the area.

Socorro Mission is about 5 miles up the road to El Paso. The mission here dates from the late 1600s, which again was destroyed by floods in the 1800s. The current building was completed in 1843, with a major reconstruction occurring in 1995.

During the reconstruction the original ceiling was repurposed and included in the remodel.

The sconces include artistic interpretations of the church itself.

Our final stop is at the oldest of the 3 missions, Yselta. Dating from 1660, this building too is a replacement for one that was destroyed in floods.

Artistic elements in the interior include tributes to the native population that the mission has served.

El Paso – September 2022 – Architecture

Architecture, History

Our tour of El Paso architecture started in the lobby of the Hotel Paso del Norte, with an impressive stained glass ceiling.

A quiet Saturday morning was the perfect time to walk around downtown and check out some of the older buildings, starting with the exterior of the Hotel Paso del Norte.

The O.T. Bassett Tower was completed in the Art Deco style in 1930. Designed by Henry Trost late in his career, the building has recently been repurposed and is now an Aloft Hotel. It is nearly identical to the Luhr Tower in Phoenix.

The Martin Building was for 50 years the headquarters of the El Paso Electric Company, with a distinctive ‘USE ELECTRICITY’ sign on the roof. With the building’s remodel to condo’s, the old energy consuming sign has come down with a much more efficient LED sign proclaiming the new name ‘ ELECTRIC CITY’

The Union Bank Building at 401 East Main Street was completed in 2012, but retains the traditional Southwest look.

This classic building across the street from the San Jacinto Plaza was completed in 1926 as the Hotel Orndorff. It too was designed by Henry Trost.

From 1935 until 1970 it was known as the Hotel Cortez, a name that is retained for the ballroom spaces used for weddings. The rest of the building is now used for offices.

A few miles north of downtown is the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). The entire campus has a consistent architectural look known as Bhutanese. This unusual approach is a result of the wife of the dean of the School of Mines (Kathleen Worrell) reading an article in the National Geographic Magazine in 1914 about this architectural style.

After a large fire that destroyed one of the main buildings, she convinced her husband to adopt this style, and for 100 years it has remained, and expanded – even on the exterior of the football stadium.

One of the dorms in the Bhutanese style.

Our last stop on the brief architectural tour of El Paso took us to the Manhattan Heights Historic District to check out this great little 1919 gas station.

Just across the street is this classic bungalow being protected by a robot.

El Paso – September 2022 – Artistic Morning

Architecture, Art, History

With the 3 day Labor Day weekend coming up it was time to get out of town. At first the thought was to make the 6+ hour drive to San Diego, but they were in a heat wave with forecasted highs hotter than Tucson! So we went east to El Paso.

Saturday morning was the perfect time to walk around and check out the downtown neighborhood.

San Jacinto Plaza has always been the heart of El Paso. Starting in the 1950s there was a pond in the plaza that someone had let live alligators loose in. A series of alligators resided there until the 1960s, when it was decided they would be relocated to the El Paso Zoo to keep them safe from morons who abused them.

Today the alligator legacy is remembered with a sculpture.

The El Paso Art Museum, Convention Center, and baseball stadium are all located next to each other. The architecture and public art make for a picturesque setting.

The nearby Union Station train depot is home to a Saturday morning art and farmers market. While small, it had a nice mix of arts and crafts, and local food specialties like salsa.

It was time for a brief stop back at the historic Paseo Del Norte Hotel before setting out to see the rest of the city….

Signs of Change Across America – August 2021

Architecture, Art, Nature, Transportation, Water Features

After an entire lifetime of living in the east, life has dealt us a curveball, resulting in us relocating from Ohio to Arizona. We took the opportunity to take a bit extra time during the 2000 mile move to stop and see a few sights along the way. Some of the more extended stops will have their own posting.

Let’s start by leaving Columbus

Time to head west.

First state – Kentucky

Our first stretch break was south of Louisville at Bernheim Arboretum. In addition to the natural scenery there were many sculptures.

After a very long drive across much of Kentucky, we reached the Tennessee border in the far northwestern corner of the state.

It was on to Memphis for the night. We saw enough sights in our brief visit to Memphis to warrant it’s own posting.

The next day started with a drive across the Mississippi River into Arkansas

After extended stops in Little Rock and Hot Springs (postings follow this one), we found ourselves near the small town of Murfreesboro at the Crater of Diamonds State Park. This park is known for being an open diamond ‘mine’ where you pay $10 and are welcome to go dig around for diamonds.

The park has a sign detailing recent and records finds – each day someone find small diamonds, and every once in a while a big find is made.

We did not strike it rich so we continued west, passing Texarkana, which as the name suggests is on the Texas/Arkansas border.

Our last brief stop of the day was in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Their very nice courthouse square has a public restroom with one way mirrors, so you can ‘take care of business’ while watching the world go by 🙂

A couple more hours lead to a great sunset while arriving in Dallas.

The next morning started out across West Texas, passing the town of Cisco (must be where they got the name of the company)

Our first extended stop of the day was in Abilene (posting to follow).

Texans are very proud of their home.

The drive across Texas continued, passing wind turbines then oil derricks.

After 575 mile we were through Texas (or so we though…), arriving in Hobbs, New Mexico.

Eastern New Mexico was still oil country but it quickly transitioned to the mountains. The peak of our trip was in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

After dropping more than 4000 feet we arrived in Alamogordo, home to White Sands National Park (individual posting later).

The plan was to drive the 70 miles to Las Cruces for the night but there was a landslide, resulting in a detour adding an addition 50 miles, resulting us ending up back in Texas (briefly) again.

Eventually we made it to Las Cruces, and the next morning started on the literal home stretch.

After 2000 miles we have reached our new home state! With this move we have a fantastic opportunity for new sights and experiences, so stay tuned….

Virtual Travel – Texas

Art, Festival, History, Museum, Nature, Sciences, Sports, Transportation, Water Features

Texas!

2015 09 22 35 Amarillo TX

 

Texas is a big state with a great variety of places for photography, therefore this is a LONG posting.

 

 

 

 

Texas Culture

1952     1958     1991     2007     2009     2011     2012     2016

 

 

Austin – State Capital

2009 08 27 63 Austin

 

The Texas State Capitol dates from 1885. The land it is on was acquired in a barter deal, 3 million acres of Texas Panhandle for this land!

Texas shows it’s Tex-Mex history in the state foods…

State Pastries – two – Strudel & Sopiapilla

Apple strudel     

 

State Small Mammal – Armadillo

 

 

 

The city of Austin is proud of it’s motto – Keep Austin Weird.

With the music scene, including a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the Congress Street bats it is a great place to be.

 

 

 

Prairies

1949     1969     1972     2013     2014

 

Roads & Bridges

1954     1964     1974     1975     1977     1978    1983     1987

 

I have more Texas Official Highway Maps than any other state. So many this section has combined the Prairies with the Highways which is appropriate because it features Amarillo and Route 66

 

Amarillo

You are half way there – IF you are going from Chicago to Los Angeles, or vice versa.

 

 

The legendary Cadillac Ranch. For more than 40 years people have been spray painting these cars. The good folks of Amarillo liked the planted Cadillacs they have expanded (in different parts of town) to VW Beetles and Combines.

 

 

Mountains

1953     1959     1970     1993     2017

 

 

Terlingua  – The ‘ghost town’ of Terlingua is a former mining town, but is not vacant, as it is a destination for tourist from Big Bend National Park.

Once a year they hold the world’s largest chili cook-off.

 

 

Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park. These two parks cover much of the Rio Grande Valley of West Texas. Their natural scenery is stunning.

A plus is being able to take a row boat across the river to Mexico for lunch in Bouillas.

 

 

Marathon – Gage Hotel   We had the good fortune of spending the night in this crossroads town on the way to Big Bend. The Gage Hotel is a historic property that attracts people just for the atmosphere and food.

 

 

Langtry – Made famous by Judge Roy Bean and his Law West of the Pecos, and even more famous when Paul Newman starred in a movie of the same name. The town is pretty much vacant, but the area is scenic.

Nearby is Seminole Canyon State Historic Park. This park holds significant cave art.

 

 

 

Cities & Beaches

1961     1968     2015     2019

 

 

San Antonio. While the city is large, it has a feel very different than Houston or Dallas. The downtown is much more compact, with a significant amount of Art Deco architecture.

 

 

Missions – There are five missions in San Antonio, and four of those are maintained by the National Park Service (the 5th is the Alamo). Mission San Jose is the most impressive architecturally.  Our day in San Antonio included a visit to Mission Concepcion.

 

Alamo – The most famous mission in the state, and likely the country, it is not known for it’s service as the Mission San Antonio de Valero, but more so it’s use as a fort in the Mexican independence effort when a group of Texas soldiers died defending it.

 

 

Houston – The city is the 4th largest city in the country, with 2.3 million people in the city. It is the 5th largest metro area (by some calculations) with 7 million people.

The city has more buildings over 150m (492′) than any city in the United States other than New York, Chicago and Miami.

There are still a few historic buildings downtown, but many have been destroyed over the years as they went taller and newer.

 

 

Houston Art – One of the great finds in our travels was the very cool, quirky art of Houston. From top to bottom. Giant Presidential Heads – Sanctioned Graffiti – Beer Can House – Luck Land – Smithers Park.

 

 

Parks and Rec  Houston also provided some unique ‘park’ experiences – from going under the Buffalo Bayou Park to see the Cistern, to the Botanical Gardens, and finally inside for some baseball.

 

 

Galveston     Another pleasant surprise was Galveston. It seemed like 3 cities in one – the typical seaside resort with amusement rides and motels, a great state park natural area, and finally the historic area on the bay side.

 

 

Dallas – Fort Worth    While Houston gained lots of photos on this posting I have actually been to Dallas far more, just some time ago and without a camera.

Dallas is corporate, Fort Worth is cowboy (I know – stereotypes, but it seems to fit).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Milestone – Posting Number 1000

Architecture, Art, Festival, History, Museum, Nature, Sciences, Sports, Transportation, Water Features

This photography blog started out as a way to share some photos with friends, but after a number of years it has reached a milestone – posting number 1000!

To celebrate I give you my favorite 40 photos of all time. (I tried to make it less but could not)

Scottsbluff, Nebraska




Milwaukee sunrise




Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan





Duluth, Minnesota thunderstorm





Yellowstone National Park – All Hail the Geyser Gods





Pagosa Springs, Colorado





Mendocino County, California





Cambridge, Ohio lumberjack contest






Cincinnati Renaissance Festival






Loudonville, Ohio – Native American Pow Wow





Alaska Peninsula








Columbus – Krampus





Chicago





New York City subway art





Cincinnati – Rosie the Riveter Contest





Lanai, Hawaii – Cat Sanctuary





Haleakala National Park, Hawaii





Waimea Canyon Park, Kauai, Hawaii





Columbus – Krampus V2





Washington DC – Embassy Day





Houston – Lucky Land





Amarillo, Texas – Cadillac Ranch





Cleveland – Parade the Circle





Columbus Zoo









Montreal




Olivos, Argentina





San Antonio De Areco, Argentina





Buenos Aires – Casa Rosada





Bariloche, Argentina





Buenos Aires – Retiro Train Station





Buenos Aires – Recoleta Cemetery





Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina





La Leona, Argentina





El Calafate, Argentina





Buenos Aires – Palacio Barolo





Igauzu Falls, Argentina