Our last day in Phoenix

we visited Old Town Scottsdale.

As in most old town areas there are shops galore. We went into a woman’s wear resale shop

Where many of the dresses had designer labels and all of the price tags were 3 digit numbers.

We also visited a Museum that discussed the history of Scottsdale including a couple of dioramas.

When we left old town Scottsdale we visited a museum of old warplanes. Their prize is a late B-17.

They don’t have a lot of planes but they are all in beautiful shape including this late WWI German fighter.

Today we’re on our way home. We will arrive home Saturday afternoon.

Tom

Art

Yesterday we viewed an astonishing collection of contemporary Western Art. This was assembled by Eddie Basha of the Basha foods company in Phoenix and is exhibited at their corporate headquarters. There are over 3000 pieces in the collection which includes paintings, sculpture, Indian art of many types and cowboy art. As photography is allowed I came away with some images. These few images hopefully will give a sense of the breadth of the collection.

No violence here. The indians and cowboys largely aren’t shooting at each other but going about their day to day lives.

Hopi and Navaho Kasina dolls.

Hopi and Navaho Kasina dolls

Tom

Dolls

Carol and I collect dolls. Carol has a large and varied collection. I have a few Asian Ball Jointed dolls that feature in some of my photography. While visiting here, we went to the doll and toy museum.

Antique Dolls

The Toy and Doll Museum has this early Sasha in their collection. We couldn’t tell if it’s a Trendon or a Goetz Carol has several Sashas so we always like to see if there is one in a museum we visit.

This is a kitchen in one of the dollhouses in the museum.

Finally here is one of my boys I brought along as a travel doll. Here he is out by the pool.

Tom

Cave Creek

is a Western themed collection of shops a bit North of Phoenix/Scottsdale. This sign alerted us that it was time to stop.

and another sign to tell us just where “here” is.

It’s an interesting shopping district with several old buildings and other vendors under canvas. They offered everything from cheesy cowboy hats

to high end art.

Carol looked at some Navaho jewelry but we didn’t find anything we needed badly enough to purchase.

We ate at a restaurant there and were on our way home at sunset.

Tom

Cruise on Canyon Lake

Last year when Carol and I were out here we drove Apache Trail. We saw this “steamboat” cruise but it is always fully booked so we couldn’t get tickets. This year we got them in advance so were able to go.

This is one of the cliffs along the lake. The fisherman and his boat give a  sense of scale.

Whenever you take one of these trips the narrator points out “pictures” in the rock walls. This mastodon was fairly obvious but I took the liberty to outline it anyway

The Mastodon.

As this lake is in the Sonoran Desert wherever there is vegetation it is typical of the region.

Lakeside Saguaro cactus

Tom

On the Road

We’re on our way down to Arizona and we’ll be there a week or so.

Yesterday and today we were just driving down I-5. On our driving days we don’t spend much time stopping for photo ops though there are a couple of scenic overlooks we routinely stop at. The first is near Mt Shasta.

Shasta, like Mt Hood has much less snow than we expect to see this time of year.

California Central Valley.

Last year a this time these hillsides were all sere brown. These hills and valleys are beautiful when green as they are now.

Tom & Carol

Raquette Lake

Raquette Lake is the largest lake in the Adirondacks.

It has a surface area of nearly 10 sq miles and a shoreline of 99 miles. Only 12 miles of shoreline are accessible by automobile. Until 1933 transportation in this area was provided by railway and steamship but  when the highway was built in 1931 it killed off the older modes of transport.

We took a scenic cruise on the lake on a boat patterned after the older vessels.

This church is on the original townsite. It has been restored and regular services are held here again.

There are a boys camp and a girls camp on the lake. They have been in operation for nearly 100 years and attract campers age 7-16. Tuition is $12,000 FOR THE 7 week season but as uniforms are required the average cost for the summer stay is $15,000.

This is the boys camp.

At the other extreme of the camping experience are those who take a canoe into the wild and sleep under the stars…

Tomorrow we’ll be starting home. We’re taking the I routes and pretty much driving through so I don’t plan many photo stops. Thank you all for coming along with us.

Tom