Echoes of the Southwest

Since snow is a rare thing around here, I thought I would share some of the snowy places I had the pleasure of seeing these past couple of years. Grand Canyon Crazy Mountain Ranch, Montana Prescott, AZ Mayer Cemetery, AZ Sedona, AZ West of Phoenix, AZ

South Mountain, AZ Looking at Phoenix.

It is always great to find places around my town that makes tasty treats.  We found this little gem at a farmer's market near Sharon's house.  The name of the company is "Naked Chocolates".  All their products are made from raw and pure ingredients with no preservatives.  They have no refined products, no dairy, vegan, gluten free, and low glycemic.  They are best when kept frozen until you are ready to eat them.  Thaw them out at room temperature for about 15 minutes and then enjoy. To find out more about Sue's b Naked Chocolates and see the variety of chocolate treats she has available, check out her website at  http://www.bnakedchocolates.com/ .  She also has other fun items for you to purchase. by Sharon Day

Just south of Phoenix, AZ sits South Mountain.  This park is about 1600 acres and has several different trails where petroglyphs can be found.  These etchings were carved by the ancient Hohokam people who used to live on this land many centuries ago.  The Pima Indians believe that each drawing has some type of mystical importance. Sharon and I took the Holbert Trail which is rougher and more challenging than other trails.  We just can't do anything easy, can we?  It actually wasn't as bad as we thought and was worth the hike.  We saw lots of interesting petroglyphs on the boulders at the top of the mountains.  The scenery was breathtaking and the weather was perfect.  All and all, we had a nice trek on South Mountain.

When we first laid eyes on this place in November of 2010, there was a fence around it so we didn't bother stopping.  We didn't think we could get close enough to take great pictures.  It wouldn't be until February of 2012 that we would drive by this place again.  To our amazement, the fence was gone.  We were so happy and pulled in behind the main building. We took tons of pictures of the pool, area surrounding it, the small cabins, a boat sitting by one of the buildings, the outside and inside of the main building.  This place gave us so many wonderful abandoned pictures. Last month when we decided to revisit some of our favorite abandoned places in Casa Grande, the Sunset Court Hotel was on that list.  Sadly and only nine months later, the fence was back around the entire property except the pool.  Sharon and I were not going to let this prevent us from stopping and get updated pictures.  We pulled in behind the main building and pool once again.  We took as many p

This is one of the places where old trailers go to die.   Other trailers just sit on an empty lot and rot away.

Yep, it has happen, the squatter at the slaughterhouse is there to stay.  The first time we visited this house and nearby barn was in July of 2011.  It was around 114 degrees and we were met by a nice family who lived in Casa Grande and followed my   Southwest Abandoned Places  Facebook page.  The place was empty and tagged by graffiti vandals.  We threw rocks in each room hoping not to run into a snake or scorpion.  We were met with many bees who occupied the only room which had a roof.  We took lots of pictures of the house and barn, then jumped in the car and drank lots of water before leaving. The second time we went there was in February 2012.  We thought since the weather was much cooler, we would be able to take lots more pictures.  What we didn't expect was a squatter.  When we drove into the dirt driveway, we noticed a man working on his truck and his dog lying right beside him.  The man never looked up at us but the dog was staring us down.  Sharon just turned he

November 2010 The big tin factory is gone!  We had heard from a friend living in Casa Grande that they demolished the huge tin building.  From what we found inside, we thought it might had once been a factory.  Now, all that is there is the boulder with a pipe inside of it and a large slab of cement where the building once stood. November 2010 November 2010 November 2012 November 2012 November 2012