Echoes of the Southwest

Here are some crazy laws in Arizona that have made it onto the books: 1. Hunting camels is prohibited. (Good, I wouldn’t want to see a dead camel head in a den.) 2. Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony . (Is pink ok?) 3. There is a possible 25 years in prison for cutting down a cactus. (Only 5 years for kicking it.) 4. Donkeys cannot sleep in bathtubs. (What if he falls asleep while taking a bath?) 5. A class 2 misdemeanor occurs if one places a mark upon a flag which is “likely to provoke physical retaliation”. (You can yell like a sailor all you want and not get fined.) 6. It is illegal to manufacture imitation cocaine. (The real stuff is ok?) 7. When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other people possess. (“Excuse me, can I have your gun so I can shoot you, thanks.”) 8. It is unlawful to refuse a person a glass of water. (This makes sense sin

With its many different scenery throughout the state and liberal tax breaks, Arizona is the perfect place to film a movie.  Even in the 2006 movie “Little Miss Sunshine” featured Arizona’s Carefree Highway and mentioned Scottsdale.  The opening runs of the movie Psycho highlighted downtown Phoenix.  Here are just some of the movies that were filmed throughout Arizona: In the 1989 movie, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure , the boys lived in the city of San Dimas, CA, but in reality they were in Arizona.  They filmed in and around Coronado High School in Scottsdale as well as Metrocenter Mall and Golfland Sunsplash in Mesa where Napoleon had a blast riding the slides. When giant spiders attacked the town of Prosperity, AZ, they were really running amuck in Superior in the 2002 movie Eight Legged Freaks .  While David Arquette and others were running for cover, the spiders can be seen crawling all over the historic buildings in this small town.  Also, the Valley West Mal

Like many of the states, Arizona has had its share of Bigfoot sightings.  A couple years ago, Sharon and I went to a taping of the show Finding Bigfoot in Payson, AZ.  It was interesting to see behind the scenes, but the Bigfoot stories were incredible.  Many were seen in the Payson area, but there have been sightings noted all over the state.  Here are some just in case you wanted to look for Bigfoot in Arizona.  The White Tanks Bigfoot A few miles west of Phoenix are the White Tanks where a few Bigfoot sightings have been made. Now, along with the coyotes, snakes, scorpions and other desert critters, we have a Bigfoot too. Here is just one story I found:  “It was back in 1993 or 1994 when three high school boys decided to take a late night drive in the desert. They ended up on the dirt roads of the White Tanks Mountains near the park entrance to take a break. It must have been around 11:00 pm when they began hearing lots of commotion amongst the bushes. They blew it off

While driving around Gila Bend, AZ, Sharon and I found these abandoned shacks.  The look like small abodes for workers or possibly motel rooms.  We were not quite sure, but they did make great subjects for our urban exploration.

This motel has been abandoned for years.  No one stays here anymore except for the occasional hobo or critter.  I have been taking photos of this place for five years and I still see new things to shoot.

It was five years ago that Sharon and I came across this burnt house just by chance.  We were looking for an old cemetery in Mobile, AZ, and this place caught our eyes.  In the past five years, it basically looks the same but a bit more disheveled.  The barn in the back used to have walls five years ago, but most of them have fallen down.  When Sharon took a reading on the barn for our  Abandoned Places: Abandoned Memories (Desert Edition)  book, she picked up that a goat farmer used to live there.  While photographing these structures last month, a young man stopped by and wanted to know if we were the realtors or owners of the property.  We told him we were just urban explorers photographing what was left of the place.  He then said that his father once lived there and he had goats.  She was so happy to be validated for her reading.  Maybe we will drive by there in a couple years to see if someone finally tore down the house and rebuilt on the land.

This house can been seen from Interstate 17, near Washington Street in Phoenix, AZ.  I have seen the top of it every time I cruised by and wanted to check it out.  I had two reason to see this house.  The first is because it is abandoned and old.  I just love photographing those types of buildings.  The second reason is I feel like I have been in that house before. Years ago, when I was in 7th grade, some friends and I went to a haunted house right before Halloween.  We heard about a scary old two story house they turned into a haunted house for the holiday and wanted to check it out.  A friend's Mother took us and waited for us to go through it.  From what I can remember, it was located near the freeway.  Anyway, we started out going inside through the second story door.  They would only let us go two at a time.  My friend and I were so scared, ran so quickly that we caught up with the girls in front of us.  The four of us clung together and managed to make it out.  We did s