Echoes of the Southwest

This pass week, my family and I rented a house near Mission Bay in San Diego, CA.  The house was perfect for the 14 of us vacationing there for a week.  The home sits on Milton Street, on a hill with amazing views of the bay.  It is a three story abode with 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, huge living room, kitchen, and dining room with a balcony.  The large master bedroom suite has a walk-in closet, double sinks, big tub, and shower.  Through the double french doors in the master bedroom, you walk into the backyard.  The pool consumes most of the space, and with all the shrubbery surrounding the property, it is very private.  My only complaint is the entrance gate is on an incline which made it sometimes difficult to see on-coming vehicles.  But with the cool 75 degree weather all week, this desert gal loved it. The house was located near many of San Diego's hot spots.  It was 10 minutes from Mission Beach, Sea World and Historic San Diego.  It took us 15-20 minutes to get

I saw this lifeguard tower in Mission Bay Beach in San Diego. I found it fascinating and had to take pictures of it.

We went to San Diego 6 years ago and now we have returned.  Having fun and will be back to posting soon to share the whole adventure.

The murder/suicide house and Rosewell Plantation ruins in Virginia are a couple of places to see while in Gloucester.  I couldn't help but to take tons of pictures especially of Rosewell.  Every inch of that place offered a great picture to photograph.  The murder/suicide house was a creepy place with an interesting story. ROSEWELL PLANTATION This magnificent ruins are all that are left to the Rosewell mansion built in 1725-1738 and gutted by fire in 1916. I take you on a photographic tour of what now remains.  Check out my post from last year on this magnificent place:   http://above-the-norm.blogspot.com/2014/08/haunting-rosewell-plantation-ruins.html MURDER/SUICIDE HOUSE This eerie abandoned house in Virginia has sat empty for over 60 years following a murder-suicide. Many rumors have floated around about witches using the place and of ghost haunting the house.  For more on the history of this place and the experience Sharon and I had, check out my blog post from

I posted this video last year, but this place was so creepy and overgrown with vegetation, I felt it needed to be shown again.  I want to thank our VA friends who knew we would love to explore and photograph this place.  It was an urban explorers dream place.

This summer, my family and I are heading west to San Diego for a well needed vacation.  We are renting a house which is a short walk to the beach.  Of course we plan to visit the usual tourist traps, but we are most excited to hit the beach.  The cool salty waters and beaches sounds great to this desert dweller.  I will be sharing this entire vacation in a few posts on this blog.  But until then, I will get ready for the beach with a look back at last year's vacation in Virginia with Sharon.

Your wedding day is very special, but some people don’t want a church or typical garden wedding.  These people want to get married at a venue that reflects who they are.  Some places are quirky while others are in hard-to-reach but breathtaking locations.  Wherever you chose for that special day, Arizona has many great places to get married.  Here are just some of the ones I found: Elvis Memorial Chapel The Elvis Memorial Chapel is a movie mementos museum for movies filmed at Apacheland, and was donated to the Superstition Mountain Museum.  It was taken down piece by piece, nail by nail, and has been reconstructed on the museum ground.  It is also where weddings have been performed and sometimes with the watchful eye of Elvis lurking from behind. Top of a mountain Many love the gorgeous views from any of the mountains in the state.  Some pick South Mountain with its view of Phoenix or others may choose the red rocks of Sedona.  Still others enjoy the amazing views o

When visiting Arizona, there are many places to see.  Two places that come to mind right away that top people’s lists are the Grand Canyon and Tombstone.  Of course they should be on your list, but there are other places you should check out as well. Sedona and Oak Creek The city of Sedona spans to some degree in the Verde Valley, between Coconino and Yavapai counties. Surrounding the downtown are vivid orange-red sandstone rock creations as vibrant as Sedona’s sunset. There are many places to hike and enjoy the breathtaking scenery this place has to offer.  People come to this serene settlement for the mountainous hiking trails, spiritual healing powers of the vortexes, and even for some UFO hunting. Sedona has it all. One of the main characteristics of this town is its many vortexes which seem to have New Age spiritual healing abilities. Some are certain the organic formations of the red mountains are contributing factors to the energy of these soothing powers.  Sedona’s

When I take photos of any abandoned place, I will use doors, windows and even shrubbery to frame my shot or add a bit on interest to the photo.  These pictures were taken at an abandoned house we found along the Arizona highways.