Monthly Archives: May 2014
Lake-loving
A weekend on the lake is complete once the Burger and Ice Cream Boat has arrived!
Slidefire in Oak Creek Canyon
Smoke filling the Flagstaff sky today from the Slide fire. Photo by Amy Dryden
Two weeks ago we camped with our tent trailer at beautiful Cave Springs Campground in Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona. We have lived for decades in the area, but never actually camped in the canyon previously.
Highway 89A through Oak Creek Canyon
View from our campsite
Crossing Oak Creek at the entrance to Cave Springs Campground.
Home sweet tent trailer
Cliffs above Cave Springs Campground
Seep Monkeyflowers at the creek
Take it easy driving through the camping area
Highway 89A
Hillside red rocks
New Oak leaves
Cave Springs ferns
Highway 89A
Ponderosas on the western slope
Cliffs above Cave Springs
Brushy hillside
Yesterday, Tuesday, May 20, a devastating wildfire started in the canyon south of the Cave Springs Campground, and has been whipped along by high winds. Twenty-four hours later it is estimated at 4500 acres and has topped out of the canyon and approaches Flagstaff, Arizona. ABC News 15, reports at this time the fire is zero percent contained. (Air15 fire photos at the link)
Work of Art
Work of art or Art of Work
What does art mean to you?
A beloved statue from Bisbee Arizona’s past is more than just a metal image of a mine worker. To many who grew up in Bisbee it embodies the hard-working father, husband, brother, son or friend who spent his life underground in the local mines. It is a tribute both to those who survived and those who did not.
Bisbee’s Iron Man, now painted copper, for the mineral wealth of the mines.
Blossom
Phacelia in bloom at Phoenix Mountain Preserve, Phoenix
Crazy for classic cars?
Yes, we love our classic cars: Route 66 Days, Barrett-Jackson, Copperstate Mustang Club, Roadkill Customs Cruise-In, Mixteca Friday Nights, Rock & Roll Car Show, Blast from the Past, are just samples of the many, many opportunities to see or drive or buy awesome classic cars in Arizona.
Help Arizona Game & Fish Catch Saffel Canyon Vandals
Courtesy of Arizona Game and Fish Department
Our friends at the Arizona Game and Fish Department need your help to catch vandals at the Saffel Canyon OHV staging area in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. We hope you’ll help spread the word by sharing this post.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) is asking for the public’s help investigating multiple acts of vandalism at the Saffel Canyon OHV staging area. Vandals destroyed at least two sections of wood-pole fencing around the Saffel Canyon “tot-lot,” a training area designated for inexperienced OHV and motorcycle users. Vandals used the broken fence sections to enter the tot-lot on more than one occasion and cause damage to the facility.
“It appears that the person or persons responsible used a large pickup truck to destroy the fencing, and then used their vehicle to carve deep ruts into the tot-lot,” said Game and Fish OHV Officer Nancy Huser. “This…
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Squirrelly
Abert Squirrel
Abert squirrel with summer ears
Abert squirrel with winter ear tufts
Checking out the peanut situation
Ah, lunch
You looking at me?
Off to bury his find
Ready for the next round
Not waiting to hide this nut first
What’s this?
Built of Stone
Moenkopi Formation mudstone and sandstone
About 237 million years ago theMoenkopi Formation rocks were deposited in a coastal plain that covered what is now northern Arizona and surrounding states. The plain ended at the shoreline of a sea in Utah. Seasonal stream beds crossing that plain deposited thick sheets of sand. Over millions of years, “another 10,000 feet of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks accumulated.”
Quote and details from Stone Landmarks,Flagstaff’s Geology and Historic Building Stones
A lava flow and black cinders in the San Francisco volcanic field.
Exposed Moenkopi sandstone with overlaying cinders
All of these sedimentary layers have been warped, twisted and eroded, ending up being uplifted by molten lava between 70 million and 30 million years ago as a huge chunk of thick crust. This was the origin of the Colorado Plateau, a 130000 square-mile block. In time, that molten base began to erupt in the San Francisco volcanic field, creating thousands of cinder cones, long lava flows, the stratovolcano known as San Francisco Mountain, and lava domes like Mount Elden near present day Flagstaff. Volcanic activity continued, with the most recent eruption occurring in AD 1064. At that time, the Sinaguan people found that the loose cinders made a good mulch for growing crops, and they created Wupatki. They used the red Moenkopi sandstone exposed in the area along with Kaibab limestone and black basalt from the volcanic field to build substantial buildings.
Wupatki and the surrounding Moenkopi sandstone building material
Wupatki was built directly on the exposed layers of Moenkopi.
Centuries later, when the railroads necessitated the creation of the town of Flagstaff, the buildings were made of wood. However, over the years the citizens learned the same lesson that many cities of the day learned, as fires consumed the town. When reconstructed, the materials of choice were identical to those of the ancients, Moenkopi sandstone, Kaibab Formation limestone and volcanic basalt.
The Babbitt Brothers Building was constructed in 1888 of Moenkopi sandstone.
The landmark Coconino County Courthouse was constructed in 1895 of “Arizona Red” Moenkopi sandstone.
The Bank Hotel 1886
The Bank Hotel is built of a combination of local sandstones of different colors.
The David Babbitt Building was built in 1907 of split-faced blocks of volcanic rock.
The Raymond Building was built in 1911.
The Raymond building uses carved Moenkopi sandstone.
The ornate 1906 wall that used to surround the grand home of Charles J. Babbitt, which was destroyed by fire. Wall is 265 million year old limestone.
The Nativity Chapel was built in 1929 of basalt chunks collected by parishioners from local lava flows.
New offices occupy Flagstaff’s old Ice House, built in 1946 of limestone filled with impressions or molds of fossilized shells.
Molds and casts of fossilized clams, snails, brachiopods and sea urchins are found in the limestone chunks of which the old Ice House was built.
Used copies of the Stone Landmarks are available for purchase at various booksellers. Photos are my own.
History at Your Fingertips at the Arizona Capitol Museum
What a great idea, and something I didn’t know about, despite a life-time of living in Arizona. Thanks.
Courtesy of the Arizona Capitol Museum
If you haven’t yet made a trip to the Arizona Capitol Museum, you should — and soon. First, it’s free. Second, the museum specializes in teaching Arizona government and civics, using, per their website, “a balance of technology, hands-on activities, historical artifacts and public programs to help visitors learn about and interact with the government of the 48th state.” Third, a new exhibit at the museum, “Arizona Takes Shape,” will show visitors just how Arizona came to be, and it includes a cool interactive component called “History at Your Fingertips.”
Below, Jason Czerwinski, the museum’s on-site experience manager, talks about this exhibit:
Talk to us about “History at Your Fingertips.” What is it exactly, and what can visitors expect?
“History at Your Fingertips” is actually a smaller component (or an exhibit within an exhibit, if you will) of the Arizona Capitol Museum’s newest exhibit, “Arizona…
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Why is Arizona so... 