Free Fallin' from 13,000 Feet

Eloy, Arizona
March 5, 2010

As part of my discovery of new places on my cross country travels in 2010, I have also had an opportunity to set right those things I have aspired to do in the past but have failed to do so. I've challenged myself in the past to skydive—eager to realize the unknown fears and see if I could confront those fears—but I never stepped up to the challenge. So that's how I found myself at 13,000 feet above the ground in southern Arizona, falling free with a new acquaintance strapped to my back. To my surprise and delight, there was no hesitation on my part on what is frequently used as a joke: jumping out of a perfectly fine working airplane.

Take Me Out to the (Spring) Ball Game

Tucson, Arizona
March 4, 2010

It is still the season of winter, an Arizona winter which is like a Lompoc summer. The groundhog Punxsutawney Phil may try to hasten an early spring by not seeing his shadow, but the beginning of Major League Baseball spring training is a sure sign that spring is just around the corner. Looking over my list of things I've wanted to do for a long while, there was #64 - Attend a major league baseball game on the opening day of spring training. Tucson Electric Park was the venue, Section 121 / Row 6 / Seat 15 was my seat, and the Colorado Rockies and the Arizona Diamondbacks of the Cactus League were the teams.

For the opening spring game of the local Diamondbacks, I expected a larger crowd but only around half of the 11,500 seats were filled on this warm and sunny day. Being a school day and not yet Spring Break, there were not many families and children in attendance. There was an older tinge to the crowd with lots of retirees including a flock of RV snowbirds from the northern states and Canada as far away as Nova Scotia.

Eight Days, Five States, and a Wedding

The Southwestern United States
December 26, 2001 - January 2, 2002

A trip with the Lyons ladies (Karen and her mom Joetta) to reach a wedding in Denver and to take in some sights along the way.

December 26th. We started our drive in Lompoc, California and ended up for the night in Kingman City, Arizona. Highlights of the day were following a bit of the historic Route 66 in Barstow and viewing London Bridge in the evening lights of Lake Havasu City.

Meteor Crater

December 27th. We had plenty of highlights this day—the Meteor Crater, Petrified Forest National Park, the Navajo Nation, the Four Corners, a far off view of Monument Valley and Ship Rock, and dinner at La Placita in downtown Albuquerque where they have a tree growing from the inside up through the roof. We spent the night somewhere east of Albuquerque on I-40.

Petrified Wood at Petrified Forest National Park

The Four Corners of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah

A distant view of Ship Rock

Dozens of Pages of a Grand Book

South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
March 2, 2010

In 1862 the Russian author Ivan Turgenev wrote, "A picture shows me at a glance what it takes dozens of pages of a book to expound." The pictures of the Grand Canyon are worthy of dozens and dozens of pages. Depending on what the viewer may be thinking at the time they inhale the immense atmosphere of the Grand Canyon, the subject of these pages can be almost anything and their depth can vary from a simple poem to a treatise on sedimentary geology.

I did not want to over-think the Grand Canyon like a geographer would do. I would rather just take in and enjoy the landscapes as I traveled along the South Rim. I would like you to do the same. Enjoy these landscape visuals from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, west to east.

The Four Corners, a Quadripoint

Teec Nos Pos, Arizona

December 27, 2001

What’s better than a tripoint? A quadripoint. Although there are 62 state tripoints, there is only one quadripoint where the borders of four states converge together. This spot in the United States is in the Four Corners region where the southeast corner of Utah, the southwest corner of Colorado, the northwest corner of New Mexico, and the northeast corner of Arizona come together. Being the only place where four states meet, the Navajo Nation has made the quadripoint a tourist draw worthy of a one-of-a-kind photograph. When my derriere was planted firmly in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, I knew no one else in America was in four states at that same exact moment in time.

The Four Corners

Web Links

Wikipedia - Tripoint  

Rocky Homes

Flagstaff to Marana, Arizona
March 3, 2010

Today, as I traveled from Flagstaff to Marana just north of Tucson, I visited a lot of homes and a lot of rocks. Here in central Arizona you don’t have many choices but to build right on the rocks, in the rocks, or as part of the rocks. Here are three rocky ways I discovered to have a home in Arizona.

Homes Built in a Rock

Montezuma Castle

Around 700 A.D. the Sinagua people were migrating and came upon the waters of Beaver Creek just north of Camp Verde and the Verde River. With plenty of water and fertile ground, the Sinagua put down roots although they decided to put their homes into the sky. Within the high limestone cliffs bordering Beaver Creek, the Sinagua became cliff-dwellers and built their homes into the cliffs for comfort and for protection. An area inhabited by the Sinagua with a spectacular example of one of their cliff-dwellings is protected by Montezuma Castle National Monument.

Also protected by the National Monument but several miles away from the main unit of the park is Montezuma Well. The Sinagua people abandoned central Arizona around 1425, but the Yavapai believe their people were brought into the world at the well which is a limestone sinkhole. The pond in the sinkhole has an outlet to Beaver Creek along with a canal system which delivered water further downstream. The well is coming under the assault of modern man with the spreading of Illinois Pondweed, but it is still a sight with small dwellings squeezed into the limestone walls surrounding the pond.

Montezuma Well