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Showing posts from August, 2018

Arizona Trek: Route 66

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In a week from today, Sharon and I will embark on a 5 day, 4 night road trip along some of Arizona's Route 66 path. Our journey will start in Flagstaff where we will visit historic sites and stay the night at a known haunted hotel. We booked a room that has reports of an old lady rocking in the chair by many witnesses. I will definitely have my video camera running that night. We plan to have drinks in the hotel's bar which has its own tales of ghosts roaming around. I hope they are in the mood to let us know they are there. The next day we will head out towards Winslow, you know the city in that song with the line, "standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona". Along the way, there are lots to see. On Google Earth, Sharon found abandoned towns, and historic sites where weird creatures have been seen. We will stop at the meteor crater to take videos and photos. Sharon will be doing FB live along the way. The drive to the meteor crater is very eerie. Th

Arizona's Monsoons

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The monsoon season in Arizona is such a fickle beast. We can experience walls of dust, micro burst that knock down even the largest of trees, thunder and lightning. Your friends in one city are experiencing high winds and rain while at the same time you have lots of sunshine. The forecasters predict rain, and there is none. Or just the opposite, lots of rain causing flooding. I love it when it rains. The weather cools down and all my plants are being watered so I don't have to do it. The bad thing is that after the rain comes high humidity. We are not used to that. We are used to the dry heat and it feeling like an oven. That I can handle. The monsoons usually start at the end of July to September. Some years, it may start earlier and end later. Whenever it is here, I just want it to rain!!

The Bouse Fisherman Intaglio

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The Bouse Fisherman intaglio is located near Bouse, Arizona & features a large geoglyph containing a fisherman w/ a spear pointed at fish in the water.  From the sign, the Native Americans of the lower Colorado River have oral traditions which were handed down through generations.  This geoglyph may tell the mythological story of a God, Kumastamo, who thrust a spear into the ground to make the mighty Colorado River flow. The age of the intaglio is unknown, perhaps anywhere from 500 to 2,000 years old.  Large earth figures are rare & the Mojave Desert region contains around 200 of them, the equivalent of the Nazca Lines of Peru.  This geoglyph is protected by the federal government & it is a violation of federal law to deface. (from this site:  https://www.360cities.net/image/bouse )

Luana's Canyon/Slaughterhouse Canyon

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At one point in the 1800s, a gold miner and his family resided in a tiny wood shed in the middle of a canyon just southeast of Kingman AZ. The miner was hoping that living there would eventually offer his wife Luana and their kids a much improved existence. It wasn’t easy for the family, but they were willing to make it work. The miner would leave his family for at least two weeks at a time looking for gold and food, mostly for gold. The tiny bit of food he brought home never lasted very long. It became a normal situation with the father leaving, and his family anxiously waiting for him to come home. Then one day, like always, he kissed his family goodbye and took off on their mule to acquire goods for his family. Two weeks would pass and no husband or food. Luana was worried not only for her husband, but for her and the kids. The food supply was shrinking until it finally disappeared. The family was famished, pale and weak from hunger. The children pleaded with their moth

Sasquatch Burger

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At the Lodge in Tempe AZ, they serve lots of different items, but the one Sharon and I always get is the Sasquatch Burger. The Lodge is decked out with several wood carvings of Bigfoot, displays of stuffed animals on the walls, and cool antler chandeliers. It makes you feel like you are in a lodge. The Sasquatch burger is huge like the cryptic itself. Sharon and I usually will share it with a side order of sweet potato fries. From the bottom the burger has a grill cheese sandwich with whatever cheese you prefer. Next is the condiments such as red onions, lettuce and tomatoes. On top to them sits the burger which is cooked to however you like. The burger is topped with sauce and fried onions. And last but not least is another grill cheese sandwich on top. It comes with a steak knife stabbed threw the center holding it all together. We usually will each take a sandwich, pry it open, split the burger and add it inside the sandwich along with the condiments. The flavor of the juicy bur

Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing

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Nothing AZ The road to Nothing. Joshua trees surround the landscape right before you enter Nothing. My last post on Nothing:  http://www.echoesofthesouthwest.com/2015/09/nothing-in-nothing.html