Category: Architecture

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Alta Vista 2018

The architect and the first wall.
We will wake up to this view in master suite. WOW!
Hot air balloon checks out the new construction.
We spend our evenings and weekends building the interior stair.
We created a landing with a north window – a view of the mountains.
Lower stairs are set at 15% angle as this is transition from main house to garage/second floor on a curved site.  Second step extended for a seat towards coat closet.
We also installed the balcony railing and Trex decking. We ate many of our lunches here during construction!
Friends came for the weekend and helped us paint. Incredible! We were so tired from the priming coat on everything, 2 coats on ceiling and walls.
Another weekend, friends came and helped us assemble and install the IKEA kitchen.
Atlas Shrugged! Power Girl! We sooo appreciated their enthusiasm and experience.
This was all the kitchen packaging – yikes! A few trips to the Transfer Station to recycle it.
Friends helped us move in and it was over in less than 2 hours! There are still doors to be hung but for now, we have a cup of java and enjoy this milestone moment.
IKEA Kallarp gray turquoise kitchen with Kashmir Granite. Front of island has door panels of IKEA Besta Laxviken – also used on built in in dining room.
J & J (link to their photos) came for 2 weeks and stayed for 4. They helped install the garage doors, finish kitchen cabinets, build the stair railings and installed bamboo floor. Much more fun to do together – and so much appreciated their dedication to helping us finish.
The railing is black powdercoated “hog fence”, set in an aluminum channel and supported top and bottom with an oak rail. Our metal fabricator made the posts, then welded top plates in place – very sturdy railings.
We made cardboard templates before cutting the hog fence. Took all four of us to get these made and installed!
We found a very artistic landscaper who created this rock wall for us at the lake shore. Property had receding shore line so we wanted to not lose any more land.
This is south facing for solar and maximum lake views. Brackets are for future photovoltaic panels. We love how rock wall undulates. Native Blue Grama Grass “Alma” is planted between patio and lake with future landscape beds on either side.
Metal roof,trim, and wainscot, stucco walls, Milgard windows: North view from street with Xeriscaping in progress- lots of rock! We thank our contractor, all his subcontractors, and suppliers who made this house a reality!
Our cozy sun filled main room with fabulous view of lake and mountains. Main floor is a polished natural concrete – slab on grade to maximize winter solar heat gain.
The Alta Vista from the sunset balcony!
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Phoenix, AZ with Family

We drove to Phoenix to be with these wonderful people! My aunt and uncle have another seasonal rental in Sun City. We coordinated our visit to also be with Mom.
We met J & J who were camped at White Tanks for an outing.
The ladies all looking good in turquoise or is that teal sky!
And the guys in khaki…not like we coordinated our hiking outfits.
We enjoyed a picnic lunch after the walk to the waterfall. Photos from previous walk http://tealsky.com/2016/01/09/white-tank-mts-phoenix-area/
A joint birthday celebration!
And a very nice dinner out at Firebirds. We each had something different!
We ended our time together with lunch at the Arizona Biltmore, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
The red flowers enhance the composition.
As does the palm tree with the roof line.
An entry canopy.
We did not swim in this lovely pool but we did enjoy the rec centers in Sun City – the tennis, pool and hot tub.
The Sprites….there are some of these in Dow Gardens in Midland. There were 6 here guarding the grounds.
Stained glass window in lobby is classic FLW.
We had lunch on the outdoor patio next to the waterfall, not this private room.
The indoor portion of the restaurant.
Until we meet up again, we will have the memories of this time together in Arizona.
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Chimney Rock National Monument and Navajo Reservoir Area

Chimney Rocks is a new national Monument in San Juan National Forest.
It is on the Ancient road to Chaco Canyon.
The sun shines between the chimney rocks on a neighboring hill at equinox.
We had an excellent guided tour where we learned all bits and pieces of the native American history.
Plus it was an awesome day to just be on the hilltop.
The original wall is closest to the camera with the most texture while the rebuilt wall has less protruding rocks.
Details, details, details.
Mostly sandstone construction.
This is the large kiva at the base of the chimney rocks.
Nice to meet some other travelers – we had a great group.
Storage rooms around the kiva with the orientation to the chimney’s.
This is as close to them as we can venture as the sandstone is a bit fragile for too many visitors.
There are faces looking north – perhaps the clouds have outlined them enough for you to see.
A bit further south at Navajo Reservoir, we learned that the Dominguez – Escalante Expedition crossed the San Juan river here near Arboles, CO.
This was a water tower that serviced the narrow gauge railroad – of which the Durango – Silverton portion is still operating.
You can still see the Rio Grande name on this part of the tank.
An old coal car of the Denver and Rio Grande Rail Road. And I realized we have taken no pictures of the Navajo Reservoir!
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Inter-laken Historic Site on Twin Lakes, CO

We are ready to hike to Historic Inter-laken Resort directly across the lake from our camp site.
Yikes! What an awesomely beautiful day! Enjoying the amazing reflections of  La Plata Peak, Mt Elbert and Mt Massive.
And the aspen grove along the shore.
This is the lodge that was moved 150 feet before the dam enlarged the glacial lake.
Dexter’s Cabin was lived in until 1950 and has been partially restored.
This is a 6 person privy from 1890 – we did not open a door!
We followed the trail to some other buildings in the resort.
The log detail of this stable structure was quite interesting – some very tall trees were felled for this structure.
Back on the trail, we will head to that grassy knoll for lunch.
Nice to share this spot with our full time RV friends, who came over from their camp near Aspen for the day.
We relaxed and looked back on our camp site on the hill across the lake.
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Flagstaff to Grand Canyon National Park – South Rim

Last January we went to Sunset Crater and Wupatki NM and we returned again to enjoy the hikes and views.
The Apache Plume was in bloom adding a bit of color to the landscape.
It is so neat to see these ruins and imagine the lives that were lived here.
In case you don’t look at the link to last’s years, this is another of the ruin on a hillside.
This little lizard came out to enjoy the sunshine.
Those are the sacred San Francisco Peaks near Flagstaff.
As always, Exit through the Gift Shop! Good thing we can not store much in the van.
Grand Canyon! We dispersed south of Tusayan on FR 302 and took the free NPS shuttle into the park – a 15 minute ride to the new visitor center (at least, we had not seen it before).
Some things never seem to change, like the Hopi House – wonderful Parkitecture!
We did not remember ever seeing the canyon this green. Looking down into Indian Gardens.
And this is the Bright Angle path I did oh so many years ago. WOW!
John Wesley Powell and his expedition – a very nice monument to these early explorers.
We took a ranger led history tour that showed us this heart placed in the wall by a CCC worker. One of the Harvey Girls he was sweet on looked at this part of the wall from her lodging window. Or maybe it was just for his love of the canyon.
Either way, I like that it is in front of the Lookout. Another very cool building. Further on is the Kolb Brothers Studio which has a great little museum about their contribution to tourism.
We took the shuttle bus to Yaki Point for sunset – worth the trip!
Incredible! We stayed on for a star program at the Visitor Center before catching the 9:00 bus back to Tusayan.
Early morning drive to Desert View side of the canyon.
Very peaceful morning.
Nice displays telling about the history like this one about Thomas Moran. He created his own interpretations to make the most of nature.
You can see more of the Colorado River from this eastern end of the south rim.
There are some rafters going around the bend.
Can you see them now?
Desert View Watchtower by Mary Ann Colter is another one of her fabulous parkitecture sites.
Just fun to photograph and appreciate.
I thought I would give you a sense of the scale of the detail.
This is a great viewing deck on the roof of the lower round building.
A fellow traveler took our picture.
We stayed at the campground two nights in site #42 and were able to walk over for some great sunsets.
A few of the cool sunset pictures over the canyon.
A storm was moving in so the virga gave an interesting element to the sunset.
Nice the sun went behind the cloud so you can see more of the Grand Canyon.
The north rim is getting the storm. We did have a snow shower in the afternoon but it did not stick.
Looking in the black mirror inside the Desert View Watch Tower for a polarized look of the canyon. This was a technique to sketch the canyon.
Another sunset with a spectacular vista.
Very interesting light to see the canyon in shades of blue.
A perfectly clear quiet morning for our departure and final view of the south rim.
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Southeastern Colorado Grasslands

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A National Historic Site, we had a ranger overview talk before our walk to the overlook of the massacre site.
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It is the last day of October – the massacre was the end of November – it surely wasn’t 87 degrees that day!
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We parked at Nee Noshee SWA for the late afternoon and evening, South of Eads, CO.
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This is the beautiful wildlife area – we saw a few ducks, raptors, and coots.
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Bent’s Old Fort NHS with a resident steer greeting us.
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Beautiful animal. I guess he gets to pull the wagon occasionally.
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This was a big fur trading area – mostly buffalo skins but here is a river boat made out of one as well as some beaver pelts.
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A nice piece of history that is recreated here on the Arkansas River.
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We headed South to Comanche National Grasslands for a few nights
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Panoramic views to enjoy on our ‘back patio”. We are surprised at all the canyons in the grasslands.
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Peaceful sunset with Moon and planets. The Milky Way was awesome!
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Picket Wire Canyonlands hike first had this dust bowl ruin.
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On old chapel ruin and cemetery of another settlement.
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But dinosaurs are why we have chosen this trail – this is a thigh bone a tad larger than mine!
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And footprints a tad larger than ours!
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This is a panorama of Theropod dinosaur tracks. Well worth a 12 mile RT hike.
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Largest Tracksite in North America
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We stopped for lunch at Carrizo canyon.
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And did a short hike to these amazing petroglyphs of elk.
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We camped at Vogel canyon and enjoyed sunset on Balance Rock.
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This was the view from the Travato!
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We hiked to some more petroglyphs. This is a calendar that marks the solstice.
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And some amazing drawings. We were disturbed by recent graffiti and had many discussions of why someone would deface these treasures.
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We enjoyed our picnic lunch by this arch as we were in no hurry to get back to camp.
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Ancient Ones in Colorado Plateau

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Canyonlands NP Needles district house in the cliff was a 10-mile round trip hike.
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This was a short hike near Combs Ridge south of Blanding, UT.
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A nice little tower on the ridge from our hike to Jail House Runis and Perfect Kiva.
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This is the Perfect Kiva which we hiked up to see closer.
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View from the Perfect Kiva looking back across the valley.
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It is a BLM site and had a nice booklet describing so many of the features and artifacts found there. Fascinating!
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Natural Bridges National Monument was the first National Park in Utah. It is quite spectacular.
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We took the trail to the Horsecollar ruins.
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It had a one log ladder to climb up – not so bad but going down I was glad to have a good companion.
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This is a gorgeous bridge on a gorgeous day.
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This is our “Million Dollar View” campsite that we had stayed at before. We were here five nights this time. The dark skies and stars were spectacular.
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House on Fire ruins – if visited when the sun is just right it appears to be in flames. who came up with that?
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Before Hovenweep NM we hiked around this canyon to see other cliff dwellings.
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Beautiful craftsmanship.
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Sunrise over Sleeping Giant from our campsite at Hoovenweep National Monument.
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Morning loop hike at the monument to see these treasures.
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The spirit raven was watching.
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The wood supports in these buildings are original.
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The sites on the rock ledges are such interesting selections of places to build.
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There is a house tucked under that large boulder.
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The cliff partially collapsed but the dwelling stayed attached to its foundation.
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We wore ourselves out with a bunch of shorter hikes and the day kept getting hotter and hotter.
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We sat and enjoyed this for a while – really detailed and intricate brick laying.
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Early morning at Lowry Pueblo in Canyon of the Ancients.
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It felt really special to be able to experience this lighting.
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Mr Fox even had to check out the photographer. That is Sleeping Ute Mountain in the background.
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Historic Sights In Illinois

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In Moline, Rock Island Army Base had an interesting Arsenal Museum and Corp of Engineers Waterway museum at the Mississippi Lock. We were lucky to see this 2-part barge and tugboat going through.

The historic bridge pivots to let the tugboat through after the two barges reconnect. We were thrilled with our timing to see this during the hour we were there.

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Further down the road we stopped at Hennepin Canal State Park to see the locks on this historic canal.
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The bridge had a 4-ton limit so we were good for crossing!
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We parked overnight along the canal with this picturesque view.
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Pullman NHS near Chicago is a new addition to the Park System but the community has been working on conserving it for many years. This factory will be the future visitor center.
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It was a factory town but constructed to entice people to be a part of the community.
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A variety of housing styles.
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They used different bricks on each home to provide individualism.
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There is awesome community spirit. Most of the homes have been restored by their owners.
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Indiana Dunes national Seashore provides a view of the distant Chicago skyline.
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The bog area adjacent to the Dunes has been preserved as well.
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St Joesph Harbor Lighthouse was our chosen spot for our evening stop.