Owens Dry Lake

Another shot from along US-395, this one of the Owens Valley and Owens Dry Lake. For those of you who are not up on California history, the city of Los Angeles stole the water rights in the Owens Valley ages ago, and the result was the drying of the Owens Lake. Recently, an effort has been made to restore some of the Owens River, but the likelihood of the lake ever being restored is, in my opinion, next to nothing.

Manzanar

Not too far away from Mount Whitney, and with the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the background, is Manzanar. Manzanar was an internment camp during World War II and is now a National Historic Site. As of last time I was there a couple of years ago, the interpretive center was still under construction. Definitely an embarrasing part of American history.

Blue Skies Over Whitney

Another wonderful blue sky, this one near Mount Whitney. Whitney is the tallest mountain in California and the contiguous 48 states and is a part of the vast Sierra Nevada Mountains. It is easily accessible from Bishop along US-395.

Desert Building (Burning Man)

Another buildling out in the middle of nowhere. I can confirm that this one burned down in September 2003. Nothing currently remains of it, except photographs and memories.

Meteor Center (Arizona)

Continuing the desert theme, but moving further east. This is the old lookout tower at Meteor Crater in northeast Arizona. This tower was alongside old US-66. Obviously, there's not a lot left there to look at. But the state of decay combines perfectly with the surrounding beauty to make for a wonderful location.

Sunset in Death Valley

Well, in Death Valley National Park, that is. This was taken on our way back out of Death Valley, out the westward exit toward Lone Pine and Bishop and toward US-395.

Death Valley Sand Dunes

This was taken a few years ago in Death Valley National Park. Still one of my favorite locations of all time, and definitely a place that we want to get back to.

More Desert - Four Peaks (Phoenix area)

More from the desert southwest, this from outside of Phoenix at Four Peaks. (There's a pretty good brewery named Four Peaks Brewing Company, too, by the way, but their own website appears to be down.)

Mojave Desert

More from the Desert Southwest, this from alongside Route 66 in the Mojave Desert, near Goffs.

More Desert Southwest (Sedona, AZ)

Another photo of the red rocks that seem to be prevalent in the Southwest, this one from Sedona, Arizona. I have to admit that this area is one of the more beautiful that I have been to on a mile-for-mile comparison. From the time that you begin to descend into Oak Creek Canyon from the north until well after you leave the Sedona area in the south, beauty abounds. But it is still not my favorite place to visit. I'll leave that for future photographs and posts.

New Mexico 66

From one eastbound-northward curve on 66 to another, this one taken in western New Mexico. It's really hard to see in the upper right, but if you look closely, you can see where the dreaded superslab cut through the mountain as opposed to the path taken by the Mother Road around the obstacle. This is probably one of my favorite locations along 66 in New Mexico, just because of its natural beauty and the way that the highway hugged the landscape rather than destroying it.

More From 66 - Pasadena, CA

This past Saturday, the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts held their annual auction. The auction - held (sort of) on 66 near the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Eagle Rock Boulevard in the Los Angeles community of Eagle Rock - is called their Annual Route 66 Auction. For the first time this year, I donated an item for the auction. This photograph is the print that I donated to them and is a night shot of the Suicide Bridge in Pasadena, a portion of 66 from 1934 until 1940. This particular shot was taken on New Year's Eve (technically New Year's morning, as it was after midnight) this year when the bridge was closed prior to the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Another from 11/11/06 in Victorville

One more from the anniversary celebration in Victorville on 11 November, 2006.

Quarterly Update

In honor of the first edition of the 66 Productions Quarterly E-Update being released this past weekend, I thought I would put up this photo to get back in the Route 66 frame of mind again.

This photo was taken on the 80th Birthday of Route 66, November 11, 2006. It was shot at the car show in Victorville, California, during the 11th Anniversary celebration of the California Route 66 Museum.

More From Burning Man

Thought I'd post another shot from Burning Man today.

On My Mind

I've been sick for several days, and really bad Thursday night and Friday morning. Feeling better today, though. Realized that the nice, warm weather with sunny, blue skies was part of the reason for the improvement in health. And that made me realize that there is something badly missing for me right now: the desert.

And that, of course, can only mean one thing. Well, OK, it can mean a lot more than one thing. But, in this case, with a friend of mine sending several emails lately, it means BURNING MAN! I wish it were just around the corner. It seems like it should be. I can't believe we are still about 175 days away. Oh well. Until then, thoughts of the man burning are enough to keep me warm and cozy! (By the way, lest any of you think I'm that stupid, someone else's flash hit just about the time my shutter opened ... I wasn't stupid enough to use my flash, but theirs certainly helped me!)

More From Pipestem

This takes us back to Pipestem Resort State Park. This was taken at Indian Branch Falls within the park. This waterfall is located below the Nature Center, and I believe that this was the first time that I was on this trail and at this falls. What I was most surprised about by this location is Julie's willingness to walk right to the edge of the falls and look down. Craziness! (I wish she had uploaded those photos for me to link to!)