Going for a Ride... Part 2

This is the first thing we saw when we got up

the next day at about 6:15... Yippee

This is why we came to the high country.

And we took a different route home and did

some geocaching along the way.  

 These trees are similar to Jeffery Pines, but are a variety

of Ponderosa Pine here in AZ.  They grow in the high elevation and

if you happen to see one (which you will recognize by

the color of the bark) and if you put your nose close 

to the bark it smells like Vanilla... go figure!!!

So sit back and enjoy the ride...

 

Your guess is as good as mine.

I prefer it when they tell us where we are going 

and what we're going to see.

This is what the road looked like as we headed

down into the Salt River Canyon one more time!

 

Fortunately I was on the bank side and not 

the cliff side.

Once you cross the bridge there is a great rest

stop that gives you a good

look back at the new bridge from the old bridge

which allows the pedestrians a great view of

the new bridge

and an opportunity to look

up river and marvel at the road along the 

edge of the distant mountain that you just came down.

Ahhh  now we know where we're headed as we 

climb out of the canyon.

 

Some old buildings caught my eye so Don had

to make a quick u-turn so we could check out Seneca AZ

In  the early 1970s the San Carlos Apache tribe, 

opened a large restaurant, trading post and 

campground on this site, with electrical hookups.  

 In the future, there were plans for

 an 80-unit motel, golf course, riding stables

 and other amenities.

It all cost about $534,000 and unfortunately didn’t 

last long.  Later in the ‘70s, the tribe defaulted 

on the loan and the dream died. Lenders quickly took

 back the restaurant etc.

Vandals and nature took over and went right to 

work. Today there is nothing left to see except for a 

few ruined, vandalized buildings.

Google Seneca Lake AZ for more info.

As we continued west it was time to geocache.  A series 

of 5 or 6 on the right hand side of the road.  There was also

another part of the series on the other side of the

road (if you were heading north).  

Don will get those next time.

The geocaching app on the cell phone tells us

we're pretty close, about 24 feet. 

I spotted it under a bush... see that blue thing?

It's Don job to do the dirty work... getting

down on his knees and retrieving the cache

and signing the log.  Looked for 5 found 4.

Remember yesterday I was looking for Elk,

well this is the best wildlife shot I got.

That 1" frog lived in here but Don didn't find the cache. 

THE END

BORING...Let's Go for a Ride.

Day 1 - Headed for Show Low AZ, elevation 6345'.

The map below shows our route for this 2 day "ride".

We headed north to Payson and then east along the 

Mogollon (pronounced mogy uhn) Rim. 

with a number of stops along the way.   Enjoy the ride...

Since we left home about 7:30 a.m., the early morning

light was great for taking pictures & video.

You could see forever.  Incidentally, all photos

and video taken with my iPhone X-S. "flying" by

at 65 mph...

We were surprised to see that there was still road construction

as we passed over the summit and down into Payson.

You may recall from a prior post (July 26)  that this 

area was  part of a massive wild fire and 

miles of the roads guard rail had to be repaired.

Well, they were still working on it.  Hopefully they will get

 it finished before the snows come!!!

There's always a solution to every problem and if you

don't have a flag pole handy, get creative!!!

Time for my green tree fix accompanied by cooler temperatures.

 

Time for our first stop.  Kohl's Ranch Lodge is at the base of the 

Mogollon Rim at an elevation of about 5340'.    This great resort

has a beautiful lodge, plus a variety of private cabins on the

grounds.  We're always looking for a summer relief location

that's not too far from Gold Canyon and this was very impressive!!!

They have an on-site restaurant & bar which serves a nice

variety of meals and pizza!!

Author Zane Grey made the local area famous with his popular

 adventures of the Old West, which just might have been 

the subject matter for this mural.

As we travelled farther up the rim highway, the weather

was getting darker and the wind had picked up.

Our AZ hiking group has hiked several trails along the "Rim".

What a spectacular hiking area.

This is what it sounded like today.

And, this is what it looks like on a clear day

and today, a not so clear day.

Promises, promises.  Guess it was to windy for Elk.

I'm not complaining though because we had beautiful

tall Fir and Ponderosa Pines all the way to Show Low, 

 elevation 6345'.

Interesting story about how Show Low got it's name.

Two early day settlers became concerned about one encroaching on 

the other's privacy.   Corydon Cooley and Marion Clark, 

often passed the time playing a card game called Seven-up, where

the low card wins.  One day as Clark dealt the last hand, he said

"if you can show low, you win".  Cooley turned up the deuce of

spades and declared "Show Low it is".    So Clark had to move

down the road a piece and Cooley named the settlement that grew

up near his ranch "Show Low" in honor of their famous card game.

 

We continued 45 miles past Show Low to check out Springerville.

Where did all the trees go?  All we saw was a lot of nothing

except dust storms.  Elevation 6967'

Madonna of the Trail is a series of 12 identical monuments

 dedicated to the spirit of pioneer women in the United States.

The monuments were commissioned by the

National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution(NSDAR). 

They were installed in each of the 12 states along 

the National Old Trails Road, which extended from

 Cumberland, Maryland, to Upland, California.

Of course, this was the perfect place to find

yet another geocache.

The 45 mile journey back from Springerville

 was about the same as getting there.  A whole

lot of nothing.

Since we traveled over 350 miles today

and it had started to rain outside, we were

happy to dine in at the Best Western Paint Pony

Lodge in Show Low.  After dinner, I downloaded

the 171 video/photos I had taken.  

Stay tuned for Day 2 of our ride.

 

Inspiration is Everywhere

The inspiration for my most recent art project got started 

when Don and I stopped by in Las Vegas so I could play 

in a PB tournament with a gal I met the year before.

Dee & myself with our husbands... Dee's husband 

standing next to me, Don next to Dee!!!

Dee Eaddie and I won the 50+ Gold in the Nevada

 Senior games.   We were actually in the 75+ category, 

but the medals for that group never arrived so 

they gave us ones that said 50+…

Then we headed to the Huntsman World Senior Games in 

St George Utah where we played our real age group...  75+.

 

 

We didn’t medal, but it was an honor to play with 

and watch some of the best pickleball players from 

all over the world in all age groups. 

Now, that inspiration for my most recent project came from

 that Oct 8, 2014 trip to UT, when Don and I stopped 

at Red Rock Canyon Nat’l Conservation Area in NV.  

One of my favorite “visitor centers” ever.  

It was (and is) an amazing artistic creation!!!

The theme for the visitor center presented 

stunning separate information centers for  

Fire, Water, Earth and Air.   

This is "Air" up close and personal.

Later as we wandered around the visitor center, 

I saw this unique and unusual piece of artwork

 and took several photos 

which ended up in my “projects to do”. folder in 2014!!! 

I loved the random arrangement, some photos

 occupying 1 square and others 2 3, 4, or whatever…

 

A drive thru the area offered it's own

special features

and additional inspiration.

So 10 days ago the mental process began:  

How will I hang the piece without

 making 55 individual 4 x 4” squares to create the asymmetrical

 piece I wanted.  I didn’t want to have to hang them as 

individual pieces, so I decided to make the entire 40 x 28 inch

 project as one unit.   That size was determined by the size

 of black matte board commercially available.  I 

didn’t want to see a pieced background, but I wanted it 

to look like they were individual pieces placed 

next to each other.

Then I selected some photos I’d taken over the years,

 from my “favorite photos” folder and got to

 work on my computer.

 The computer layout features allowed me to arrange, play

 with and move various subject matters (photos) around,

so I could achieve a pleasing movement of 

color throughout the piece, while taking into 

consideration the “visual weight” of the subject matter 

of individual photographs.

The end result hanging in the guest bedroom, 

 which was already a colorful space.  

When the wall bed is pulled down for our 

guests, a hidden surprise appears...