Travel

Petroglyphs of Canyon de Chelly

Petroglyphs in the Canyon de Chelly are primitive works of art that span back for centuries. Various peoples have contributed to the collection, including the ancient Anasazi and, more recently the Navajo (Diné) people.

The name Chelly (or Chelley) is a Spanish borrowing of the Navajo word Tséyi’, which meaning “canyon” (literally “inside the rock” < tsé "rock" + -yi' "inside of, within"). The composite image below is a canyon view and several photos of petroglyph reproductions in the Canyon de Chelly National Parks Service Visitor’s Center.

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Ever-Changing Scenery

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Last Thursday, we took a rather long drive from Show Low AZ to Chula Vista CA, where we attended Sean Hannity’s Freedom Concert. Along the way, we drove from the White Mountains of Northeastern Arizona, through the canyons and deserts to finally wind up near the southwestern corner of the US. A long drive, indeed, but the scenery is great. If you don’t like the view, just wait five minutes and it will change. Continue reading to see the full-sized slide show of these images.

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Desert View Watchtower

tower.jpgIn 1930, Fred Harvey commissioned Mary Colter to design and build a gift shop and rest area at the Grand Canyon’s Desert View scenic overlook. The Watchtower resulted from Colter’s efforts and was opened to the public in 1933.

The Desert View lookout and the Watchtower make for a climactic final stop if you are driving Desert View Drive from Grand Canyon Village, or a dramatic beginning if you enter the park through the East Entrance. From the top of the 70-foot stone-and-mortar Watchtower even the muted hues of the distant Painted Desert to the east and the 3,000-foot-high Vermilion Cliffs rising from a high plateau near the Utah border are visible. In the chasm below, angling to the north toward Marble Canyon, you can see an imposing stretch of the Colorado River. The Watchtower houses a glass-enclosed observatory with powerful telescopes.

I made the image at the left using a panoramic technique; first, I took three images of the tower in portrait mode, one above the other with slight overlap. Then, I ‘stitched’ them together using a software tool. The camera was my little Canon A710 IS and the photo stitch software was part of Canon’s Zoom Browser package which came with the camera. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger view of this unique tower.

San Diego

We’re still in San Diego, and spent quite a day here today and last evening; we’ve seen some interesting things since we blew into town: a concert, museums, art galleries and, of course, San Diego’s great military heritage.

sean-hannity.jpgOur first order of business last night was to attend Sean Hannity’s Freedom Festival concert – what a patriotic rush that was; we saw Sean, Ollie North, Fred Thompson, Lee Greenwood, Michael W. Smith, John Voight, Montgomery Gentry and many others. Lots of military was there including the ‘WOLFPACK” Helicopter Squadron fly-over and the “Leap Frogs” Navy SEALS Parachute Team.

Photo right: Sean Hannity giving opening remarks at the concert.

Today, we drove to Balboa Park and went through the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Natural History Museum. After that, we visited other Balboa Park attractions, like the Arboretum and art galleries.

Next, we went to the Embarcadero where we saw the Star of India and a couple of other tall ships. We finished the waterfront by visiting the USS Midway, which is on permanent exhibition at San Diego Navy Pier. Below is a photo of a huge sculpture of a WWII sailor smooching a nurse from the famous photo taken after VJ-Day, which is across from where the ship is docked. In perspective, the people to the right are only a few meters away from the sculpture, which had to be nearly 30 feet (9 meters) in height. Photo credit – Damsel.

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Sunrise at Show Low

We awoke this morning with a long trip ahead of us – we’re going all the way to San Diego to see the Hannity Freedom Festival concert. More on that tomorrow. Meanwhile, enjoy this wonderful Arizona Sunrise!

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