Printable View
And an "action shot" captured by Megan in April 2005.
An early digital camera with not current rez -- but if you look closely you can see a fish "being thrown" at the famous Seattle Pike Market fish stall.
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Pike Market -- 2005
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People who don't really know Tucson tend to think of it as a desert town, surrounded by majestic saguaro cactus like those in this photo (which was taken in Saguaro National Park, right on the edge of the city). They're certainly not wrong. The Sonoran Desert does indeed surround the place, a unique ecosystem that spreads out in every direction, but the desert isn't the only major feature of the terrain. Tucson also has it's very own mountain, 9,100 foot Mount Lemmon, one of southern Arizona's famous "sky islands."
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A paved road takes you all the way to the top:
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offering amazing views along the way. It's been said that the 30 mile drive from the base of Mount Lemmon to the top goes through so many different climate zones, it's the equivalent of a drive from the Mexican border all the way to Canada. Once you get high enough on the mountain, you enter a pine forest, and if you drive up in winter, you might even find snow. In some seasons, they actually have enough of the white stuff to justify the presence of an actual ski lift!
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The San Xavier del Bac Mission, Saguaro National Park, Mount Lemmon, and more are all featured in Scenic Side Trip #7: the Tucson Circuit
Rick
Read more about Rick's book here and see a map for all of the routes he wrote about.
Thank you for the photos of Tucson. Many years ago, I lived on the NW side -- my old haunting grounds are now under the I-10 Twin Peaks interchange. That wasn't far from the western section of Saguaro NP (but it was a monument back then, it deserves Park status).
Donna
Donna:
You're most welcome. I've lived and traveled in a lot of different places, but I'll always have the Arizona desert in my blood. It's the only place that truly feels like home.
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Rick
And I have driven just shy of a million miles throughout much of the USA and Canada and Las Vegas is my adopted (and forever) home. No matter where in the world I travel, I am always at rest once I reach the Mojave Desert.
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Super bloom in April 2019 -- Red Rock Canyon
That is one gorgeous photo! Nicely done.
Rick
Thanks, but a tad over-exposed and slightly out-of-focus, but I agree the subject almost overcomes all of my shortcomings.
Mark
Here is an example from the undisputed champ photographer in our family. My brother Dan.
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November 26th at the Santa Cruz Wharf for a anchovy feeding frenzy (photo by Dan Sedenquist)
A different sort of feeding frenzy, on the slopes of the San Francisco Peaks outside Flagstaff:
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Rick
What is the insect in the middle of the frame? Size is right for a horsefly, but with red wings?
Mark
This is actually a better example:
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That last one had a few bugs in it....
Rick
Taken at Granada Park, near my house in Phoenix.
I honestly have no idea--maybe a horsefly hybrid? Here's another group of aviators in the same meadow:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist
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High shutter speed to catch the bumble bee's wings.
That is quite the collection of winged marauders.
US 95 in Western Idaho -- June 2022
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Canola getting ready for harvest (Megan Edwards, photo)
Another road, I wish I had taken.
check out the winding road in the center of the frame.
Western Idaho, June 2022.
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My book of Southwestern road trips (Arizona and New Mexico: 25 Scenic Side Trips) ties together (nearly) every scenic destination in those two states that you can get to by road. The vast territory is broken down into "Side Trips" that lead you off the area Interstates, and through the best parts of the back country. At the end of the day, each side trip leads you back to your Interstate, providing, in essence, a series of scenic alternatives to travel on the "super slab".
The book starts off with a bang: Scenic Side Trip #1 leaves Interstate 10 in Van Horn, Texas, and in a single day's drive takes you to three National Parks, a UFO museum, the stomping grounds of Billy the Kid, a beautiful mountain forest, the world's largest pistachio, and much, much more before leading you, at last, back to Interstate 10 in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Me and two of my old friends drove the route in my Jeep, sort of a "trial run." We started in Tucson, drove I-10 to El Paso, then headed for Guadalupe Mountain National Park (which is east of El Paso, and north of Van Horn).
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Right here, alongside the Texas Mountain Trail, was my first photo opportunity.
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It was a very auspicious beginning! (And a whole lot of fun!)
Rick
This is from the creative mind of Erich Schlegel shooting underwater on the Frio River in Texas:
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Frio River, Blue Hole. October 2021 -- photo by Erich Schlegel
Guadalupe Peak, the centerpiece of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, rises to a height of more than 8,700 feet, making it the highest point in the state of Texas. If you travel just 30 miles north, you cross the state line into New Mexico, where you enter Carlsbad Caverns National Park. There you'll find the Lechugilla Cave, which reaches depths of more than 1600 feet, which is the second lowest point in the entire United States! Lechugilla and Carlsbad Caverns proper are only three miles apart, but they are entirely seperate systems, and, while Carlsbad has extensive below ground infrastructure for tourists, visitors are NOT allowed in Lechugilla. Both Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks are in the same mountain range, but the experience that they offer couldn't possibly be more different.
While doing that trial run of Scenic Side Trip #1, my friends and I arrived at Carlsbad Caverns quite late in the day, so we checked into a motel in town, then went back to the park to watch the nightly exodus of hundreds of thousands of bats as they left the cave to feed. The next morning, we were first in line to catch the elevator from the Visitor's Center that drops you 750 feet to the Big Room, the signature attraction of this extraordinary cave system.
If you've never experienced that sort of thing? I can highly (or lowly?) recommend it!
More about Rick's book:
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Accessible path through the "Big Room" at Carlsbad Caverns
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Rick
Holiday Cheer from Winslow, Arizona
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Photo by Ron Clements
After you finish touring the first two National Parks (Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns), Scenic Side Trip #1 takes you north along the storied Pecos River (as in, "There's no law west of Dodge, and no God west of the Pecos.")
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Brantley Lake, an impoundment of the Pecos River, north of Carlsbad.
76 miles later, you'll come to the intersection of two highways, US 285 (the road you've been driving on), and US 380/70 (the road you're about to be driving on). The intersection is right smack in the middle of Roswell, the town that enjoys world-wide fame for something that never actually happened: one of the earliest known examples of a conspiracy theory widely promoted by the media. What's known for sure is that SOMETHING crashed in the desert outside Roswell back in 1947, and whatever it was, the military took over the crash site, guarding it with tight security, while insisting that it was nothing but a "weather balloon." Some local folk insisted that the crash involved a flying saucer piloted by alien beings, and that's the version that spread like crazy. Years later, the Air Force finally released the real story, about a super secret high altitude balloon that was spying on the Russians--but there are plenty of folks who still believe in flying saucers. If you're ever driving this route, look to your left when you hit the intersection, and you'll see:
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Inside the museum, they have all sorts of wacky stuff:
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Being honest, I'm not sure I'd go out of my way for it, but if you're passing through Roswell, it's totally worth the stop!
Rick
The photo's meaning could be too subtle for us low-imagination types?
Or maybe, the bird can read and ALSO follows the rules?
Mark
This one obviously can't read. Or perhaps he's just a scofflaw....
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A little further back in this thread, I posted a couple of black and white photos of the San Xavier del Bac Mission near Tucson, and I made the statement that in some cases, taking away the color actually adds to the visual impact of an image. I found a good example of that notion.
This is a photo taken at Chiricahua National Monument in Southeastern Arizona:
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Not bad, actually, but when I filtered out the color:
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Maybe it's just me, but I really do like the black and white version better!
There's a proposal working its way through Congress to upgrade Chiricahua National Monument and its hoodoos into a National Park. If you're interested in seriously unique landscapes, you'll find the place right near the beginning of Scenic Side Trip #5: Willcox to Benson. (A scenic alternative to Interstate 10!)
Rick
Or perhaps this location doesn't have that sign ;)
Ah, but it does: The text is a bit small in this photo, but the sign says (among other things) No Boating, Swimming, WadingQuote:
Originally Posted by BillyGr
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The sign also says you can't harm the wildlife, but it doesn't say a thing about the wildlife getting a free pass on the rest of the rules. All Bird's Dogs must be on a leash! No exceptions! :-)
FYI: This little lake is smack in the middle of Phoenix. The mountain in the background is Piestewa Peak.
Rick
Just not quite as obvious of a sign as when the bird is actually IN the photo of the sign :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Quinn
Megan and I look the "natural" look of these palms. They look so stately.
No one in an urban area would ever let their trees look like this. Those trees have entire colonies of rodents, insects, and etc.
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June 19, 2024. Zzyzx, California
I have shot scores of photos from this overlook in Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. This is one of my favorites. Captured just as raking light began to hit this point.
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2006, Valley of Fire, Fire Canyon
This is located adjacent to the CalTrans service yard at Shoshone, California.
This is the historic settlement known as Dublin Gulch
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Shoshone, California. July 19, 2020
Very true! When Jill and I were first married, we lived in a tiny rented house on a huge irrigated lot in north central Phoenix. We had FOURTEEN fifty-foot tall palm trees in our yard, literally surrounding the property. They had to be trimmed every year, and the trimmings made a pile so large, it took a special run by the trash service to haul it away. (I mean, it FILLED an entire garbage truck!) We had an opportunity to buy the place, but passed on it. One of my better decisions, I think!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist
Rick
They do generate an impressive amount of garden waste each year.
Date Palms, (the photo above look like Washintingtonia Palms to me) also have the additional feature of having intensely painful thorns on them. All Good.
Mark
This is Diamond Creek Road, on the Hualapai Reservation in Arizona.
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It's a bit rugged (potentially impassable in bad weather), so a high clearance vehicle is recommended. You'll need a permit from the Hualapai Tribe, along with a fee of $16 per person to drive on it, but if you do, it will take you all the way down to the banks of the Colorado River, INSIDE the Grand Canyon--the only road of any kind that can make that claim. The total distance from Peach Springs to the river is just over 19 miles each way, and you'll drop about 3500 feet in elevation through some extraordinary landscapes.
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If you're ever driving on the old portion of Route 66 between Kingman and Seligman, it makes a very interesting detour. The required permits are available at the Hualapai Lodge in Peach Springs.
For more information, check out Scenic Side Trip #12: Kingman to Flagstaff (a scenic alternative to Interstate 40).
More about Rick's book
Rick
Artists Palette in Death Valley NP
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July 2020
Peter Thody captured this iconic place in September 2009
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September 2009, photo by Peter Thody
It's a bit more deteriorated now.
Peter and Carole visited this park in September 2011. One of my favorite state parks in the USA.
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Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, September 2011. (Photo by Peter Thody)
Yeah, if that creek were flowing, it could be a bit dicey.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick Quinn
Mark
We ran through there in 2019 in the RV.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist
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Dave
Although I didn't notice any air conditioned restrooms like the one at Cool Springs!
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Dave
This place was in the news on the 30th of November. The local Billy Holcomb chapter of the E Clampus Vitus (Glampers) installed a memorial to Albert Okura who purchased Roy's with the idea of restoring it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Southwest Dave
And a bunch of new photos from the party here.
Mr. Albert Okura~ December 3, 1951 - January 27, 2023.
Here is an article about Mr. Okura in Route Magazine
And for the party in November, 2024 -- they RESTORED the sign -- as you can see if you look at some of the photos from the event. It even works at night!
And it looks like there is a bunch of new artifacts at the site.
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(I snagged this off the Roy's FB page.) If you notice the tent that reads "Juan Pollo" Albert Okura owned the Juan Pollo restaurant chain. (Photo courtesy of Roy's Motel site)
But look the sign!!!
Here is an article about relighting the sign.
Mark