Echoes of the Southwest

A wonderful place to visit all year long is Slide Rock State Park. I have visited this place many times throughout my years as a child and an adult. Slide Rock got its name from the natural water slide formed by the slippery bed of Oak Creek.  It is located in Oak Creek Canyon and only 7 miles from Sedona.  

The Phoenix Trotting Park was constructed in the 1960’s by the Dunnigan family.  James J. Dunnigan moved to Arizona from New York and acquired 640 acres of land near Perryville for his “harness racing track”, the Phoenix Trotting Park.  In the 1960’s, there was no highway or paved roads leading to the outskirts of Phoenix, so getting to the race track was difficult.  This did not deter Dunnigan, he collected money from his trotting friends to build an enormous grandstand.  This seating area would hold an audience of 5,400 people.  They began erecting this vast edifice in 1964 at a final cost of over $9.5 million. The doors for the park opened on January 12, 1965 and over 12,000 people were present at the event.  Things started out well for the park, but soon afterwards things began to go downhill.  It stayed open until December 7, 1966 when it closed its doors for good.  What went wrong?  There were a few factors that caused the demise of the park.  They say that the dwindl

It has a very southwestern look and feel to it. http://bindlegrim.blogspot.com/2013/08/talavera-halloween-in-nuevo-mexico.html http://www.directfrommexico.com/ http://www.directfrommexico.com / http://picclick.ca/Talavera-Jack-O-Lantern-Pumpkin-Ceramic-Pottery-Home-201664429233.html

If you are driving along Interstate 40 in Arizona, you will come across Exit 157 which is about 40 miles west of Flagstaff.  The sign on the exit displays the name “Devil Dog Road”.   The story of the name centers on Dr. Olive Goddard who was a preacher in the early 1900’s.  Goddard was a “self-proclaimed prophet and theologian” and known as “Dr. God” and “The Prophetess of Devil Dog Road”.   Her unconventional theology caused lots of debate among the followers of her parish.  In the 1920’s, Goddard grew an unsavory reputation throughout American culture. For more of Olive Goddard's story and information about Devil Dog Road, click the link to Michel Wolfe's post: https://phenomenalexplorers. wordpress.com/tag/olive- goddard/

Fear Farm ( http://fearfarm.com ) has five spooky houses with different themes and the largest corn maze in Phoenix.  Along with the houses, they added a haunted hayride this year.  Fear Farm sits on 30 acres and is the "largest outdoor haunted attraction in the valley" .  This fun frightening horror allure has many running and screaming to get away from the creepy creatures inside each building. Sharon and I saw this place in the daytime a couple of years ago while participating in FearCon. ( Fear Farm Daytime Tour ).  We decided to check it out at night to be a part of the scary excitement.  We decided to forgo the Slaughterhouse and the Undead house.  We just were not in the mood to be chased by zombies or a mad butcher. The first house we checked out was Mouth of Madness.  The large clown at the front of the building was intriguing.  Besides, who isn't scared of clowns?  The walls were painted with florescent paint where clowns were jumping out at you