Category ArchiveEverywhere Once |

Ocean to Ocean Bridge

by Brian on February 1, 2013 in Arizona, Photo of the Day, Travel, United States

It’s a strange name for a bridge that doesn’t come within 170 miles of the nearest ocean. But once upon a time this little span that physically links Arizona with California over the Colorado River was the only automobile crossing that connected East and West for 1,200 miles. If you wanted to drive from coast to coast in 1915, the Ocean to Ocean bridge was one of the few ways to do it.

Legend has it that during the Great Depression California officials exploited this bottleneck by creating a makeshift immigration checkpoint at the northern end of the bridge. Folks trying to migrate west in search of work found the bridge guarded by California policemen who frequently turned people back. To this day a section of Yuma is called “Okie Town” for the population of Oklahomans who settled there after being turned away at the California border.

Clean Coal

by Brian on January 30, 2013 in Arizona, Photo of the Day, Travel, United States

On a cold and cloudy day, billowing steam from the giant 2,250 megawatt coal-fired Navajo Generating Station gives the impression that this otherwise pristine desert landscape just outside Arizona’s Glen Canyon Recreation Area is really an industrial wasteland. On a clear day, though, the steam and fog dissipate to reveal majestic red rock buttes and a yellowish band of smog drifting downwind from the plant as far as the eye can see.

A Chaotic Kaleidoscope of Color

by Brian on January 28, 2013 in Arizona, Travel, United States

Regional festivals are something we never think to include in our trip planning. It’s an ongoing blind spot of ours. Mostly we roll into town and discover that we missed an annual extravaganza by a couple of days or weeks. Unless, of course, the event happens to be the big Harley Davidson Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. Apparently if it’s the kind of gathering that inspires news segments contrasting this year’s criminal violations with those of past rallies we show up just in time.

Our luck in these things isn’t always bad, though. In Yuma, Arizona, an equally colorful event of a completely different variety awaited us. Every November for the past 22 years hot air balloonists from around the region descend on Yuma for a weekend of floating and plumage flaunting. Without planning it, we somehow arrived in Yuma the Friday before liftoff.

Of Donkeys and Asses

by Brian on January 25, 2013 in Arizona, Travel, United States

I think I’d prefer “ghost towns” if they had more, you know, actual ghosts. I’d be happier still if they simply had fewer living people. It’s not that I generally prefer ghosts to people it’s just that the folks we’ve encountered in such places have been particularly unfriendly. Unfriendly enough to make us long for poltergeists in comparison.

It’s a strange thing, really, because you’d think they’d be happy to see tourists roll into town, almost like carnies eyeing fresh marks. It’s not as if some other industry supports the community. Whatever reason people had for originally settling there is long since gone. Now they survive solely by hawking bad meals and memorabilia to people like us.

Horseshoe Bend from Behind the Lens

by Brian on January 18, 2013 in Arizona, Travel, United States

The iconic turn of the Colorado River known as Horseshoe Bend is easy enough to get to. From Page, AZ, it’s a short five mile drive from town followed by a half mile hike over a small sand dune. Actually seeing Horseshoe Bend is another matter.