We’re home again after our wonderful spring vacation & NRA 2A Blogbash trip. No time left in the day to write anything extensive, so enjoy these beautiful beaver tail cactus flowers we saw today at Joshua Tree National Park.
May 2009
Arizona and California RR
I like trains.
My Grand Daddy was a railroad engineer and my Dad worked on the rail powerhouses when he was young. I get a gleam in my eye and the wanderlust associated with rail travel every time I see a train headed one way or the other. Today, that sense of wanderlust got renewed when we passed this convoy of tanker cars pulled by two Arizona and California locomotives headed west on US highway 60 near Salome, Arizona.
Verna took this pix (and about 450 others today) as we passed the train. Click image to enlarge.
Going Camping with My Hu-mins
This is my hu-lady walking me. I recognize her name as ‘mama.’ She loves me. My hu-man, ‘daddy,’ took this picture of me walking with mama to the smelly place where I GO when we camp.
A Nice Old Gas Station in Phoenix
As we were leaving the Phoenix Convention Center yesterday, I snapped this picture from the car window. This is now a muffler shop, but judging from the art-deco architecture style, it must have been a 1930’s era service station. Most people don’t remember a time when a service station attendant would pump your gas, check your oil and wash your windshield, all for about nineteen cents a gallon. Buildings like this popped up all along Old Route 66 and elsewhere in thriving southwestern cities and towns.
Click image to enlarge.
Pride of Barbados
We’re now in Phoenix, Arizona. We are staying at an RV park on the outskirts of town. It’s very warm outside, but we’re nice and cool in the air conditioned camper.
When we took a walk around to take Bear to the dog run, I took this picture of one of my favorite flowering shrubs, the “Pride of Barbados,” also called “red bird of paradise.” I would have these in our yard at home, but it gets too cool for this desert tropical variety. Click the image to enlarge.
