Route 66: Wigwam Village, Holbrook AZ

One of the places I wanted to stay on our road trip was the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook AZ .  For info on the Wigwam Motel  check out the link.  Highly recommended for the "fun" factor of being able to say "I slept in a wigwam".   By the way, they are made of cement (well insulated) and have a heater, so they do stay plenty warm for the cool Arizona nights.

Check in here.  Wifi in the office, comfy lounge area with a
wood-burning stove for heat.  

Route 66: Twin Arrows

One of our stops along Route 66 was at the Twin Arrows Trading Post ruins.  It took a few U-turns to find the parking spot, but we persisted & found it!   There is a cement barrier (shown in the right hand side of the first photo), and a narrow opening that took us back in the ruins.      The first photo shows the area from our parking spot.

View of the Twin Arrows from our parking spot (you can barely see the
tops of the arrows behind the buildings).    

Getting closer!  

Twin Arrows

Twin Arrows with moon 

 I couldn't help playing around with the Twin Arrows and the moon (moon photos were taken in my backyard at the last full moon.  I do love playing around with Photoshop!

Route 66, Barstow train station

The train station in Barstow has a rich history.

The original Harvey House burned in 1908, and the current one was built in 1910, designed by architect Mary E. J. Coulter and built by Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway.  Fred Harvey Company considered it to be their "premiere stop".   It was completed in 1910 and opened fully staffed on February 22, 1911.   According to many it is "the best surviving example of California's depot-hotels of the turn of the century."

I'm rereading a wonderful book "The Harvey Girls" that tells the story of Fred Harvey and the young woman he hired & trained to be his staff, not just at this station, but all of them he built.  We recently  learned that on 3/28/15 a few of the original Harvey Girls will be at the station to share their stories.

The day we were there was a rare sunny day for Terry & I and I seemed to be quite taken with the contrast of the intense blue sky with the different colors on the train cars.  It was an abstract day for me.

Route 66 California/Arizona Road Trip

We picked up Route 66 in Victorville CA and had a delightful stop at the Route 66 Museum.  A team of very enthusiastic volunteers shared their knowledge about the museum and Route 66 history.   They highly recommended Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch on the National Trails Hwy on our way to Barstow.   Elmer Long began his welding on these "trees" in 1980s.  You can't miss it if you are on the highway and it is a fun stop.

What I liked about these "trees" are the toppers -- each one has a different top.  Tricycles, guns, mailboxes, anything he could find, goes on top.

Route 66 California/Arizona Road Trip

The first of many posts!   My friend Terry and I just returned from a road trip.   We spent 10 days driving through part of Route 66 (Victorville CA to Holbrook AZ), then south to visit a friend in Wickenburg AZ and finally, our last stop in Phoenix and the Botanic Garden.   Terry logged 1600+ miles on her odometer.  
I'm not starting with photos from the beginning of our trip, but decided to just post what catches my eye as I'm looking through all of them.  Hope you'll enjoy these, more to come.

These three were taken at the Petrified Forest National Park (between Flagstaff & Holbrook).   I was happy with the way they turned out, because we were there on a very overcast day.   It's beautiful no matter what the weather, and a place I'd like to return to one day.  

  

Salton Sea, the Disappearing Sea

In the mid-1960s I camped on a beautiful beach in the Salton Sea.   I have wonderful memories of this camping trip where I learned how to water ski.  These memories include the bright sunlight, clear blue sparkling water, clean sandy beaches, bonfires, good company and good times.  

Fast forward to 2010 and another trip to the Salton Sea.  This time it was a trip to participate in a walk in different areas of the Sea with an environmentalist to learn about the history, changes and (hopefully) future of the Sea.  This was my first visit after 40+ years and I have a hard time describing the sadness I felt that day.  The contrast was just too much.  I found myself thinking of my visit years ago, memories of  clear blue sparkling water, and had a hard time comparing that with the dull color of the water today, no boats, no sandy beaches, left me with a feeling of sadness.

I've since had a few photography workshops and visits on my own to explore.  As I pulled up to a beach at the last workshop, I was again stunned by the bleakness of what I was seeing.  My first thoughts were "it's disappearing."    And it is.

When I was working on my photographs at home, it seemed appropriate to look at them with a sepia treatment.  Here are three of my photos from my last trip to the Disappearing Sea.

Out on the water again ...

This past Saturday I was out on a Race Committee boat photographing the Lasers Masters Regatta run by Mission Bay Yacht Club.  The races were held out in the ocean (vs in the bay).  We had quite a cold  morning anchored  (second & third photos show the ominous clouds).  The sun finally came out as you can see by the first photo.

The Lasers are a 13' boat, Olympic class dinghy and raced  in local clubs and internationally.  You can follow the link here if you are curious about these boats:  Lasers    This regatta had about 25 boats participate.  The first day was overcast, gray day, just a bit of rain, windy (good!) & swells.   In the morning the bad news was the shifty wind, not good for the race committee because it meant they  had to reset the marks, and not just once!   The swells made for some unusual photographs as you'll see.

View from the Race Committee boat, starting the second race.

The swells made for interesting photography.

Spotted the brown pelican while in the channel heading home.