Category: Architecture

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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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Michigan Visits

 

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Visitng family and friends – and a class reunion. It is very hot!
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The architects
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The new Frederick Meyer Japanese gardens with fun sculptures
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Beautiful reflections…
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Not a selfie!
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How far did we walk to see this Caulder sculpture? How many times has Mom done the walk? Ha! At least we got to relax for a nice water front lunch. Also we toured the recently renovated Gerald Ford Museum…did not see any mention of Vail.
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Some 1950 Fords – what fun colors!
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More fun reflections…
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Cherries and blueberries and sweet corn. Yum! We are eating well 😉
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High School friend took us around Crystal lake – fun to relax there and hang out!
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A wonderful 101 year old friend of the family and his daughter – how fun it was to visit and give a hug.
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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.
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On the road again

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Colorado National Monument. We brought the MINI here and didn’t want any sibling rivalry. It is truly a favorite
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To have views like this! So glad it was preserved.
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The family car wash…the van also got oil change, tires rotated and balanced as well as the starter switch recall. In Grand Junction, it had a new Auto Transfer Switch installed so we can now use shore power. Nice to make sure the warranty work gets taken care of in a timely manner.
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An evening with friends. It is difficult to make time for everything but we have tried to organize a few quality visits as all of our friends are important to us!
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After a night with my other nephew’s family in Kansas, we came across the geographical center of the contiguous states near Lebanon.
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This is the actual spot but a ranger told us it is really about 200′ from here in the corn field. Close enough for me.
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We homesteaded in Beatrice and then headed to the state capitol of Nebraska – gorgeous building
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Sterling J Morton was the author of Arbor Day and there is the beautiful Steinhart park next to his historic home in Nebraska City.
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We thought we would lunch along the Missouri River and found this replica of the Louis and Clark keel boat (the one made for the IMAX movie)
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Look Meriwether! So interesting to contemplate their journey.
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This makes our Travato look spacious – and definitely not as much work.
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Really nice to visit family along the way. Such gracious hospitality!
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Fraser – Rocky Mountain National Park

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From our friend’s condo, we hiked from the Red Gate down to Hideaway Park in Winter park to ride the bus back home. Still snow on the ski runs as you can see.
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We hiked along a creek, stopping for lunch to enjoy this view.
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Shadow Mountain Lookout Tower in RMNP was a beautiful destination. Notice the chipmunk in the foreground.
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This is classic CCC architecture.
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Tumacacori National Historic Site and Anza Trail

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The Mission is on the Juan Batista de Anza National Historic Trail – we had visited here last year but did not hike any of the trail. This year after our trip to Tubac and hiking some of the trail there, we focused on this part of the history.
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Such a beautiful detail against a pure blue sky.
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The Anza trail is between here and the mountains. It enters the USA just south of here around Nogales and goes all the way to San Francisco as he set up the Mission there. There is an Anza Borrega State Park South of Pam Springs we visited.
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Another view with an interesting sky against the Tumacacori mountains.
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I did not know the origins of the name Arizona! The good oak tree is hard to find.
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Here is the section of the Anza trail behind the Mission’s orchard.
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A large flood plain as the river changes depending on the water flow.
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We chose this spot to have our picnic lunch. The water is moving quite rapidly and we watched the sandy bottom shift its ripples.
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These riparian ways are really known for their birding opportunities. We hear a lot of different songs but they are hard to capture with our camera – however this lovely one kept us company during our rest. A huge flock of raven circled overhead making quite a racket – wonder what all that was about!

Here is the blog posting from our visit last year

http://tealsky.com/2014/12/29/tumacacori-national-historic-site/

and from Anza Borrega State Park http://tealsky.com/2011/01/20/anza-borrego/

 

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Green Valley, Arizona

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We met up with friends, 2 couples we had met last year, for lunch at El Molinito restaurant followed by a hike to Garwood Dam in Saguaro National Park East.

Our hikes to this area last year

http://tealsky.com/2014/12/21/sagauro-national-park-east-in-tucson/

http://tealsky.com/2014/12/26/saguaro-aational-park-east-garwood-dam-trail-again/

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We organized meeting for a docent led tour of this ranch that had once encompassed all the land in Green Valley.
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A view towards Madera Canyon and the Santa Rita mountains.
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A detail of the historic fence and refurbished gate. There is also a blacksmithing shop on site.
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Our picnic lunch at our casita in Green Valley. A great afternoon as all hung around through wine o’clock. We were well sugared with donuts and hand baked goodies but that balanced the salads and chicken.
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A beautiful sunset a short stroll from the casita.