Leaving The Grand Canyon

We left the South Rim of the Grand Canyon from the east gate and took Rt 180 to Flagstaff.  We caught some heavy rain on the way down or I should say up as the road climbs to over 8000 feet.  Their was on break in the rain so I stopped to take these few images as the light was just incredible.  I had decided to go thru Sedona on our way back to Tucson.  We made it to Oak Creek just north of Sedona and camped along the creek.  The next day it was still raining so Shadow thought it would be a good idea to make it down to Tucson where it might be a little dryer.  I was a great trip and met many interesting people.  Just doing what I love.

Grand Canyon 2nd & 3rd Days

I really enjoyed meeting people from all over the world and what they had to say about the US.  One family I met from Queensland, Australia flew into Los Angles last March and bought an RV to do a walk-about.  He met his wife when he was a teacher in Vietnam and they now have a 5 year old boy.  It was very interesting to learn about life there so many years after the war.  One of the things he wanted to talk about was he didn't understand why the US government spends some much money on defense.  He questions why his country follows the US lead in these wars for the last several years.  Being a teacher he thinks the US would be way a head in the world if we would have spent that money on education.  I couldn't disagree with him so we moved on to other subjects.  That little family will head back to Los Angles in December, sell their RV and fly back to Queensland for Christmas.

I talked to another guy and his wife from Belgium.  They bought an RV a couple of years ago and come over here a couple of times a year.  He has his own business so he can afford it.  He said Europe is so crowed everywhere you go and here in the US it is so vast with wide open spaces.  They love it as do I.

Grand Canyon Trip

Shadow & I spent several rainy days at the Grand Canyon and had a great time.  The fee for getting into the National Park is $25 bucks but with an old guys pass we got in for $0, zip, nada - just got to love that.  We were at the South Rim and all the camp sites were full so we headed to the east end of the park and found lots of sites.  It rained the whole time we were there and the canyon was in heavy cloud cover so you couldn't see a thing.  We waited for breaks in the rain and cloud cover to get several great images.  99% of the people never got to see the canyon during those days as they were way to impatient to wait it out.  It seem to me that 85% of the visitors were from other countries with the vast majority from Germany and France, the economy must be good there.  Bus load after bus load of tourist would come to the different overlooks we were at and sometimes they would see parts of the canyon and most of the time not.

Shadow was a big hit with the tourist as everyone wanted to pet her and talk to her.  A lot of people had pets at home somewhere in the world.  People took pictures of her constantly and one lady from France did a video of her.  She spent more time with Shadow rather than looking at the canyon.  I guess people have priorities of their own.  Being the center of attraction wore Shadow out by the end of the day and all she wanted was her dinner and her bed, lights out for her.

We met some great people and enjoyed talking to them.  Met three different groups that flew to the US to go to Burning Man which had just ended a few days before.  One group from Australia rented an RV and were continuing to tour the western US.  The two other groups from France and Germany rented cars and bought camping gear when they arrived.  Really nice people and they said they were having a wonderful time.  They said Burning Man had 61,000 people this year.  We also met a group of 30 to 35 bikers from mostly Germany and the surrounding countries riding Harlies.  Seems some outfit in Las Vegas rents them bikes and takes them on tours with a chase van no less, what a country.

I'll post some photos with this blog and will try to get some more up on Friday.  Hope you enjoy the images half as much as we enjoyed taking the trip.  Shadow is home with the rest of the pack and catching up with her sleep.

Tucson Barrio Project Beginning

The Barrios in Tucson started around the El Presidio Historic District.  Tucson has several barrios which include Barrio Historico, Barrio Hollywood and several others.  If you want more information on these Barrios you can Google for information and you will find several sites.

All of the old buildings were made of adobe and had very thick walls with high ceilings to survive the summer heat.  Most of the old adobes were built in the 1870's and 1880's.  Several survive to this day as homes, businesses and some close to downtown are now used as law offices.  Different business grew up as services that were required at the time.  The Chinese had small grocery stores in the area.  Credit for families was a way of life in doing business.

I am going to make this a continuing project over the next couple of years.  The barrios a very colorful and the building styles are quite varied.  I have a personal history in the barrios which will come out as the project moves along.