Where Am I -- Volume III

[Rick Quinn]

I'm not sure the bird knows what he's getting into (then again, maybe he does!)



This place is a little more complicated to get to than most of the locations featured on this thread--but it is in North America, and you can drive to it. It's sufficiently famous that at least a few of you have probably been there.

Where am I?

Naming the country or the region won't be good enough. You have to name the place! More pics available if needed!

Rick

[Utahtea]

I'm not sure the bird knows what he's getting into (then again, maybe he does!)



This place is a little more complicated to get to than most of the locations featured on this thread--but it is in North America, and you can drive to it. It's sufficiently famous that at least a few of you have probably been there.

Where am I?

Naming the country or the region won't be good enough. You have to name the place! More pics available if needed!

Rick

I have no idea! Need more pictures and/or clues. LOL...I doubt it's the southwest...it's to lush! ;)

Utahtea

[Rick Quinn]

I have no idea! Need more pictures and/or clues. LOL...I doubt it's the southwest...it's to lush! ;)

Utahtea

You're correct--it's NOT the southwest! ;-)

[Rick Quinn]

Actually the clue here has nothing to do with the birds. It's the fact that the structure they're sitting on is ROUND, which makes it quite unique.



And here's one more. Flowering trees abound in this place, and the petals fall like rain:



C'mon! Somebody should at least take a WAG at it! ;-)

Rick

[Utahtea]

Actually the clue here has nothing to do with the birds. It's the fact that the structure they're sitting on is ROUND, which makes it quite unique.



And here's one more. Flowering trees abound in this place, and the petals fall like rain:



C'mon! Somebody should at least take a WAG at it! ;-)

Rick

The only time we've been to Mexico was on our Panama Canal cruise and all ports were on the west coast so this is from my Google search!

You are at Chicken Itza which is a World Heritage Site on the Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

:)

Utahtea

[Rick Quinn]

The only time we've been to Mexico was on our Panama Canal cruise and all ports were on the west coast so this is from my Google search!

You are at Chicken Itza which is a World Heritage Site on the Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

:)

Utahtea

Good job, Utahtea! This is indeed Chicken Itza, although the folks down in the Yucatan spell it differently (Chichen Itza ;-)

Which clue gave it away? Was it the Group of a thousand Columns?



Or was it that bit of round building, known as the Caracol (the snail, after the spiral staircase in the interior)?



Chichen Itza is one of the largest Mayan cities, and it's undergone major restoration, so it's quite impressive. It's just two hours by air-conditioned bus from Cancun, and a significant percentage of the four million people who visit that beach resort each year sign up for a day tour of the ruins. The most famous building at Chichen Itza is called the Castillo, the Castle, an almost perfect pyramid. Because of the crowds that come in on the buses, it's tough to get a clean shot of the thing. I was there in October, which was very much the off season, so the crowd in this picture is nothing compared to what you'd see in the summer.



We were staying in the small town nearby, not in Cancun, so my solution was to go back early the next morning when the park first opened, two full hours before the first buses arrived. That worked out quite well!



I got a ton of great pictures that morning, all of them without a single tourist in sight!







Driving down to the Yucatan to see the Mayan ruins was high on my post-retirement bucket list, so I did it right after my drive to Alaska to see Denali. A buddy and I took off from Austin in my Jeep, and traveled 8,000 miles over the course of a month. We made a complete circuit of the Yucatan Peninsula, touched the border of both Belize and Guatemala, as well as both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Mexico. We visited a total 14 Mayan sites, and attended wonderful fiestas in five different colonial cities, including the spectacular Day of the Dead celebration in San Miguel de Allende. That’s a lot of very cool stuff, packed into a single month. A lot of great memories, and a ton of great photographs, many of them ranking among my personal all-time favorites.

I'll probably post a few more pictures of ruins and such--put you guys to work guessing which one is what!

Rick

[Utahtea]

Good job, Utahtea! This is indeed Chicken Itza, although the folks down in the Yucatan spell it differently (Chichen Itza ;-)

Which clue gave it away? Was it the Group of a thousand Columns?



Or was it that bit of round building, known as the Caracol (the snail, after the spiral staircase in the interior)?



Chichen Itza is one of the largest Mayan cities, and it's undergone major restoration, so it's quite impressive. It's just two hours by air-conditioned bus from Cancun, and a significant percentage of the four million people who visit that beach resort each year sign up for a day tour of the ruins. The most famous building at Chichen Itza is called the Castillo, the Castle, an almost perfect pyramid. Because of the crowds that come in on the buses, it's tough to get a clean shot of the thing. I was there in October, which was very much the off season, so the crowd in this picture is nothing compared to what you'd see in the summer.



We were staying in the small town nearby, not in Cancun, so my solution was to go back early the next morning when the park first opened, two full hours before the first buses arrived. That worked out quite well!



I got a ton of great pictures that morning, all of them without a single tourist in sight!







Driving down to the Yucatan to see the Mayan ruins was high on my post-retirement bucket list, so I did it right after my drive to Alaska to see Denali. A buddy and I took off from Austin in my Jeep, and traveled 8,000 miles over the course of a month. We made a complete circuit of the Yucatan Peninsula, touched the border of both Belize and Guatemala, as well as both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Mexico. We visited a total 14 Mayan sites, and attended wonderful fiestas in five different colonial cities, including the spectacular Day of the Dead celebration in San Miguel de Allende. That’s a lot of very cool stuff, packed into a single month. A lot of great memories, and a ton of great photographs, many of them ranking among my personal all-time favorites.

I'll probably post a few more pictures of ruins and such--put you guys to work guessing which one is what!

Rick

Amazing photos and what an adventure!

LOL...it was this picture that had me looking in that direction.



Utahtea

[Rick Quinn]

Amazing photos and what an adventure!

LOL...it was this picture that had me looking in that direction.



Utahtea

Aha! That certainly explains how you solved this one so quickly! I'd honestly forgotten that trick (simply dropping a picture into the Image search bar, without saying a word ;-) Even so, I wouldn't have expected THAT particular photo to be such a giveaway! It took Google less than a single second to solve this, and all of the results pointed straight to Chichen Itza! On reflection, I realized my error: that specific carving is unique, the centerpiece of an elaborate cornice surrounding the upper facade of a building they call "Las Monjas," the Nunnery.



There's nothing quite like that carving at any other Mayan site, and there are a gazillion pictures of it all over the web. Note to self: I obviously need to TEST these clues before posting, so I don't make the game too easy!

I have a long post on my blog about my Mexican Road Trip.



Lots of tips about the border crossing (as it was a few years ago--the situation right now is obviously quite different, with severe travel restrictions due to the pandemic). Anyway, there are tons of pictures, as well as a couple of good stories about my run-ins with corrupt Federales near Mexico City, and Machete-wielding Zapatistas (peasant revolutionaries) down in Chiapas (southern Mexico). Was any of what we did dangerous? Probably. Was it fun? Well, I'll tell ya--that was the most fun I've had since I was old enough to know better!

Rick

[Utahtea]

Aha! That certainly explains how you solved this one so quickly! I'd honestly forgotten that trick (simply dropping a picture into the Image search bar, without saying a word ;-) Even so, I wouldn't have expected THAT particular photo to be such a giveaway! It took Google less than a single second to solve this, and all of the results pointed straight to Chichen Itza! On reflection, I realized my error: that specific carving is unique, the centerpiece of an elaborate cornice surrounding the upper facade of a building they call "Las Monjas," the Nunnery.



There's nothing quite like that carving at any other Mayan site, and there are a gazillion pictures of it all over the web. Note to self: I obviously need to TEST these clues before posting, so I don't make the game too easy!

I have a long post on my blog about my Mexican Road Trip.



Lots of tips about the border crossing (as it was a few years ago--the situation right now is obviously quite different, with severe travel restrictions due to the pandemic). Anyway, there are tons of pictures, as well as a couple of good stories about my run-ins with corrupt Federales near Mexico City, and Machete-wielding Zapatistas (peasant revolutionaries) down in Chiapas (southern Mexico). Was any of what we did dangerous? Probably. Was it fun? Well, I'll tell ya--that was the most fun I've had since I was old enough to know better!

Rick

I do try to solve without resorting to picture dropping first! I like to check my pictures of where I think people are first. When I really can't find a clue, I do picture drop ;) I find that doing my own "Where am I" I check first. Sometimes you just can't get away with it unless you don't post "that" picture that is the best clue!

Utahtea

[Rick Quinn]

I do try to solve without resorting to picture dropping first! I like to check my pictures of where I think people are first. When I really can't find a clue, I do picture drop ;) I find that doing my own "Where am I" I check first. Sometimes you just can't get away with it unless you don't post "that" picture that is the best clue!

Utahtea

Yes, indeed! The picture of the Castillo, the big pyramid, is another example of an image that takes you right straight to Chichen Itza. Most of the others come back as generic "ruins," or "walls," or "trees." (Not much help there!) Anyway, now that I've learned my lesson, I'll be more careful with my clues!

Rick

I dropped a picture of myself into the search bar, and it came back "Gentleman." If nothing else, Google has impeccable taste!