Paul Theroux

WESTERN TRIP

The "egg" is probably the most perfectly formed natural amethyst geode of its size ever found, formed in Uruguay and formed by a bubble of gas trapped in volcanic lava 130 million years ago.  Fine calcite crystals are also within the amethyst.  Weight:  4.3 tons.  Auctioned off that night.

Another  huge amethyst geode inside at the J.O.G.S. gem show

Other crystal and citrine geodes at the Day's Inn gem show:

A terrific bug suitcase at another show in Tucson:

Picacho Peak, Arizona

GOURD FEST, February 6-8, 2009

PINAL COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS,

At the Wuertz farm where the gourds are grown, we saw a baby burro and couldn't resist petting it before heading down to the show at the Fairgrounds, especially since Glenn used to raise this Sicilian breed and has a special place in his heart for them:

On the border of Arizona & California, in California

RIP, Wyatt Earp, a Legend in his own Time; 

Mute Moe - he was silent but deadly; and 

One-eyed Jake, got his eye poked out with a cue when caught cheating at pool

BLUE WATER RESORT & CASINO

Casino / Indoor Water Park

A spectacular atrium with 4 pools at 4 levels, a spa, and 15 waterfalls as an indoor water park, overlooking the Colorado River and marina and much more.  All 200 rooms overlook the river.  Wonderful place.

And a local species of bird feeding near the edge of the river:

Sempra Generation said the project, called Copper Mountain, will be built adjacent to Sempra's existing 10-megawatt El Dorado solar farm near Boulder City, Nevada

Will run parallel to the Hoover Dam, and no traffic will be allowed over the bridge once it's done.  Views are first of incredibly blue Lake Mead, going from Nevada over to the Arizona side, then back over to Nevada.  A massive operation, we have eagerly watched its development since we left Vegas in 2002 and came back once before this (see other Latest Travels pages for earlier views)

Creeping closer inch by inch 900ft above the mighty Colorado River the two sides of a $160 million bridge at the Hoover Dam in  America slowly take shape.

The bridge will carry a new section of US Route 93 past the bottleneck of the old road which can be seen twisting and winding around and across the dam itself.  When complete, it will provide a new link between the states of Nevada and Arizona . In an incredible feat of engineering, the road will be supported on the two massive concrete arches which jut out of the rock face.

 The arches are made up of 53 individual sections each 24ft long which have been cast on-site and are being lifted into place using an improvised high-wire crane strung between temporary steel pylons.

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This one photo is a June 11, 2009 update, thanks to our friend Doug in Boulder City; 2nd overview photo from the Bridge website:

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Heidi, on the Arizona side

Heading back to the Nevada side, always a different view:

photo credits to our friend Doug in Boulder City

You can see how they graze right next to the tennis courts in Hemingway Park, on the other side is a picturesque view of Lake Mead and the mountains leading to the Hoover Dam

Link below to see the tour of the WHOLE STORE

Virtual Tour Alien Fresh Jerky Store

A wonderfully colorful place, saturated with Greek Pride.  Lists of Famous Greek People, distances of cities from Greece.   A welcome change from the desert scenery.  Just a block from the Alien Fresh Jerky store.  Good strong Greek coffee too!

How hot does it get in Baker, California?  

Hot enough to MELT GLASS.  This is in the Alien Fresh Jerky Store

5 & Dime  Store, and Diner-Saur Park

I-15 Freeway and Ghost Town Road

Yermo, California

www.peggysuesdiner.com

Plenty of huge dinosaurs to enjoy, even a giant tortoise.  The edging of the path are round stones that resemble dinosaur eggs.  A kid's wonderland.

Virtual Tour 

Page Museum La Brea Tar Pit, 

Los Angeles California

February '09

Here we are!

h    

Surfers having fun, the Los Angeles skyline

Look closely above the blue car next to this hotel, there is an oil rig there, the close-up photo is beside it:

A block away from the hotel, note the oil rig in the back yard of the gas station:

with DALE CHIHULY GLASS SCULPTURE EXHIBIT

Phoenix, Arizona

(February 2009)

My favorite Dale Chihuly "Mardi Gras glass" piece

Orange bulbs

Graceful orange stalks of glass

Intricate stone work in a terraced area

Octopus glass

Glass like a giant cluster of grapes

They're getting away!

Balls

Boojum Tree (Fouquieria columnaris), Ocotillo Family, from Baja CA and N. Mexico

These would make good cactus flower jelly!

A milk tank with a Wisconsin flair

and a fun Halloween pumpkin tent

New Albany and Salem Railroad (The Monon).  Fugitive slaves' use of this Railroad in escapes caused controversy in the 1850's.

Natural mountain stone walls, common when driving through the mountains in Tennessee/ Kentucky, always beautiful.  The timing of the trip meant the beautiful autumn colors were rampant, what a treat.  Some photos looks like Impressionist paintings, and still cannot capture what we saw and felt.  We never get tired of it.

We enjoyed seeing this tank humorously painted like an ear of corn, you can see how the Gutwein gourmet popcorn company  www.gpopcorn.com , 13 miles north of Indianapolis (Exit 141, Lafayette IN) processing the corn right from the fields.

KENTUCKY ARTISAN'S Center and town

Birthplace of Handicraft Revival

POSSUM gourd, great folk art piece

Woven and wood basketry & vase

LIZZADRO LAPIDARY  MUSEUM of ART

Elmhurst IL - Link below to Rocks Page 7:

Lizzadro Lapidary Museum, Illinois Virtual Tour

July 26 through August 5, 2008

Heidi with Mary in front of Mary's shop she runs with her husband Jerry

Lenny, the world's only life-size chocolate moose, 1700 pounds of milk chocolate, sculpted in 4 weeks, made in 1997.  A life-size bear in milk chocolate is beside it.

The Wabanaki Arts Center Gallery carries the work of the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Indians using ash & sweetgrasses.

Old Town, ME

OLD TOWN, MAINE

Root Clubs made from root bundles of immature gray birch trees (not war clubs, there was no word for war among this tribal nation) new & old.  Short clubs used to finish off a kill on an injured animal, longer clubs made later to stave off soldiers that had spears as weapons.  They believed they were releasing the spirits of animals & birds from the wood they were carving.  The clubs were also carried in dances and religious ceremonies.

Penobscot Native people in Maine sold off some of their ancestor's clubs, then began making new ones, and re-purchasing the ancient ones, to preserve their Penobscot & Wabanaki cultures.  

Below is Museum Coordinator James Neptune sharing these stories of the Penobscot Nation with us, as we viewed thousands of years of their Native American history.  Our thanks!

A memorable book store in Ellsworth ME.  A wine tasting area will eventually be located in the tower.

Out front is a moose made of mixed media, benches made into alligators, and a view of a llama.  We do not prefer to see caged animals, and do not recommend this..

We viewed numerous Finback Whales that surfaced to blow, breath and dive.  

We relaxed in the comfort of the large cabin when traveling out and back.

The Bar Harbor dock, made with limestone, was quite picturesque

Tide is out, many enjoyed walking to the island and back during high tide, collecting finds along the way

FINBACK WHALE SKULL, 

at the College of the Atlantic Natural History Museum

within the Wonderview Inn complex, overlooks Bar Harbor from high above.  A truly beautiful sight of the harbor, lovely restaurant, superb dining and service, especially since we were alone as we went early

http://www.barharborwhalemuseum.org/

Minke Whale, stranded near South Harpswell ME April of 1987

FORT KNOX Historical Site, Seabreeze Restaurant

The Penobscot Narrows Observatory & Bridge contains a tower on one end that is actually an Observatory.

The mine from which the stones for the Fort were quarried

Verona Island, ME

A cozy place where we laughed when orders were switched, ate beans for breakfast (among other things), a specialty in this area.  Good people and good food!

Janica Danforth & Laurie Ames are the ladies that made the restaurant memorable

Harbor Park

ROCKLAND, MAINE

Huge metal lobster, and a giant red lobster, at the fest

The lobster cookers

We expected to taste lobster in many different dishes.  Instead, there was the lobster dinner, or lobster roll, clam chowder, and a few other seafood places, but not the diversity of foods we expected.  

We listened to the Lou Gramm musical concert sponsored there at the Festival.  We still find ways to enjoy, anywhere we are, however, as this Pirate threatened to cut Glenn's throat, and Glenn is actually laughing.  It was a great moment..

www.lie-nielsen.com

A really large, new CHOCOLATE HOUSE in Freeport, Maine

http://www.boston.com/news/traffic/bigdig/special/galleries/bridge/intro.htm

Henry's geraniums

The Grand Canyon of the East, along the Genesee River, just 35 miles from Rochester NY.  A refreshing visit, though some scenic views were somewhat overgrown with foliage.  The Wolf Creek drops 

Flowers left by a visitor on the rock barrier, on Tea Table Rock

A kayaker far below

A buzzard on the ledge

First of three major waterfalls, this one is on the Wolf Creek that cascades 225 feet

Second

LOUISIANA & MISSISSIPPI

View of Lake Pontchartrain showing the new bridge (left) and the old bridge never fixed (right), and the view through the reeds of the sunset

Going back over the new bridge, note the destroyed road through the slats of the bridge railing, and the railroad bridge further in the distance, it was nice to be able to make an art form of the view:

Plenty of other road and bridge building going on close to New Orleans:

Canal Street, some original buildings, some demolished, some being remodeled.  It looked better than I had expected though I am not kidding myself on the work going on behind closed doors and the frustrating delays.  Here is a grand building on Canal Street, street cars, a horse wearing a hat, pulling a carriage crossing the street

Downtown New Orleans, near Harrah's Casino, the Mardi Gras theme is evident

Downtown New Orleans, still beautiful, music in the air, horse or mule drawn carriages.  Here was an unusual white mule we saw:

We're on Decatur Street in New Orleans in the French Market area.   Here's a Joan of Arc statue at the beginning of the Market

We spotted a wonderfully strange van embellished with glass dinner plates, saucers, stained glass, glass nuggets, etc. what a sight!  The Motto:  "It's better to go somewhere slow, than nowhere fast".  Note the top of the van that has a glass chess set glued to it, and many drinking glasses.

This man painted silver uses a special powder that breathes so it is not harmful to skin, he shows us the jar.  He is part of the "Silver Alliance", a group that paint themselves silver and walk or ride through New Orleans.  Others paint themselves gold.  This is a growing group that do this 

A restaurant was boiling crawfish by the handful from this cooler, the hostess showed us how to break them apart and suck out the meat. 

Many original buildings showed evidences of humidity (grass growing from the bricks) as well as permanent damage from Katrina, though the charm was surprisingly  intact.  We were saddened and proud at the same time, very conflicted feelings.  Those who live here and remember the Way it Was will never be fully reconciled with this New Normal, as many historical buildings & homes are gone forever.

Note the interesting piano keyboard railing, and armored knights:

One store (Auntie Sally's) making chocolate pralines, we couldn't resist buying a box after seeing so many throughout the French Market.  They were delicious. 

Music evident everywhere, here is a musician pulling his specialized guitar in a rolling cart

  Colorful tile mural and sculptures

A donut with no hole, covered in powdered sugar called a "Beignet" is popular everywhere in New Orleans.  This is a typical "post-Beignet table".  They taste much like Spanish Sopapillas but with powdered sugar instead of honey:

We heard jazz music and followed it to an art center with a terrific band, Glen Andrews and the Lazy Six, music to heal the soul and bring laughter back:

A sampling of the beautiful flowers in the French Market

Oops - a SPIDER on the window outside, looks like the Monster Spider that Ate New Orleans:

In a Mardi Gras store, an appropriate T-shirt statement we could agree with..."Make Levees Not War".  There's Heidi, masking for the camera

Here we are in Irish Bayou, a tiny town virtually untouched since Katrina.  Here a unique castle home is leaning into the bayou, damaged from Katrina.  Note the steps to nowhere beside the castle

Mississippi

This beautiful new marker is on Lake Pontchartrain on Highway 10 at the beginning of the bridge

GULFPORT

Evidence of many piers that used to dot the Crescent coastline, now just the supports remain, though one or two of the piers have been rebuilt, along with a marina.  The beaches were scraped clean.  We saw hardly any tourists walking the beach, as the infrastructure is still scanty though you can drive to hotels and casinos not far away.  The one beach where we saw umbrellas and flying American flags was like an oasis

A historic beachfront property with Spanish style buildings that comprised the VETERAN'S HOME in Gulfport was uninhabitable.  It was more than sad to see the empty buildings.  A whole lot of work to rebuild.

This "Gator's Souvenir City" structure is being re-created as it was before, a welcome sight along the coast:

Post Katrina

Another destroyed structure, very typical of almost endless work yet to be done.  I could not possibly document more than a tiny bit, but I hope this gives you an idea.

by the Mississippi Master Gardener Association, 

Operation Rejuvenation Project

One of the most heartening sights we documented were the dead trees along Highway 90 (in the median and on the north side of the road) on the coast between Bay St. Louis, Gulfport and Biloxi that have been transformed into animal carvings of dolphins, pelicans, sailfish, shark, sea turtles, cranes, eagles, parrots and seahorses.  The sight of these lifted our spirits as I am sure they do to thousands of others every single day.  Making lemonade from lemons.  Bravo.

On Highway 90 in Biloxi, we found the Camille Memorial, a beautiful hurricane shaped mosaic, surrounded by black marble tablets with the names of the victims.  The bent flagpole is the intentional message of the impact of Camille.

Unfortunately, we did not learn about the Katrina Memorial built by the Extreme Makeover folks in Biloxi (and the same mosaic artist that did the Camille hurricane swirl did the Katrina wave) until we returned home and did some research:

http://www.gulf-coast.com/Attractions/KatrinaMemorialBiloxi.html

One of the beautiful live oaks, many did survive the onslaught of Katrina, a welcome sight:

A link to view some of the significant damage documented by the Gulf Coast News and some of the progress.  A lot of these landmarks and certain areas mean a lot more to us after being there:

http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/KatrinaPhotos1.htm

This was under construction at the time Katrina hit, there has not been a lot of progress to rebuild this as yet, but it looks like there are plans in the making.  They are operating out of another transitional building elsewhere in the meantime.  Great simple art hanging on the fencing too, bright and cheerful

Across from the Creek Poarch Casino right off the freeway near Atmore, Alabama was a little gas station with R. J's Hickory House, Barbecue & Grill inside, the best barbecue we'd had in quite awhile, strange but true

We couldn't resist a stop in downtown Atlanta, right off the freeway, to our favorite hot dog joint. "What'll ya have?" is their favorite phrase to keep the lines moving with placing their orders.  It is ALWAYS busy but seldom a long wait.  Three levels - the main level where the food is made & served, another level with tables, a third area of parking with roller-skate servers to your cars.  Generations of customers continue to come for all the obvious reasons, the food and the atmosphere.

 We looked for long-time employee Erby Walker to serve us, it turned out he had passed away the week before.  A wonderful tribute was displayed in appreciation.  

We added plenty of great photos of the Festival, Museum and the Fossil Club's displays, posted to Fossils page 9, link below:

Fossils Page 9