devils tower

 

Devils Tower is not only a Wyoming landmark but also a destination for climbers.  The first ascent was July 4, 1893 by a couple of cowboys using wooden ladders, remnants which can still be viewed.  The first technical climbing ascent was in 1937 and today thousands explore the 150 climbing trails among the hexagonal or six-sided columns which comprise the laccolith.  The last large column fell about 10,000 years ago with the next one to go probably the Leaning Column; however, a park analysis in 2006 decided that the column continues to be safe for climbing.  I only hiked the 1.3 trail around the perimeter of Devils Tower.

 

Devils Tower, Wyoming

6.12.2014

poppies

 

With temperatures nearing 100 degrees, a girl needs some shade while shopping at the Farmers Market.

 

Lubbock Downtown Farmers Market

19th and Buddy Holly Avenue

Lubbock, Texas

6.28.2014

street performer

 

The Downtown Farmers Market is a one-block street festival with vendors selling fresh produce, baked good and various arts and crafts.  People visit the booths while pushing strollers, walking dogs and eating goodies.  Accompanying this cacophony is this guy with his guitar.  Come out every Saturday to see what's happening.  Get there early for the best vegetables and hot cinnamon rolls.

 

Downtown Farmers Market

19th and Buddy Holly Avenue

Lubbock, Texas

sanctuary ring

 

The sanctuary ring on a church door ensured any laying hold of it safety. In early times fugitives from the law could seek sanctuary in a church. If they could reach a metal ring on the church door they could claim sanctuary & under law they would remain free from prosecution for a period of time, usually 40 days. Another interesting feature of medieval churches was the lepers' window, a small opening in the chancel wall were lepers could attend mass and receive communion without entering.  The Stavkirche or Chapel in the Hills in Rapid City has both features. It is an exact replica of the  Borgund stavkirke of Laerdal, Norway, built around 1150.

 

Stavkirche

Rapid City, South Dakota

6.11.2014

  

shoeshine man

 

Johnny, the shoeshine man, takes a catnap between customers (or else the morning newspaper has little of interest).  The barber chair in the Cast Iron Grill's entry is not just for decoration.  During the $5 shoeshine after your lunch of chicken-fried steak and pecan pie, I bet you too can have a brief snooze while Johnny puts a high gloss on your boots.

I'm a shoeshine man
Number one in the land
Shoeshine man- Make you shine where you stand
Leave me a tip if you can
I'm a shoeshine man.

        ----Tom T. Hall

 

Cast Iron Grill

620 19th Street

Lubbock, Texas

 

 

 

boots...pie...and chicken fry

 

Every morning Cindy bakes delicious pies to be served by sassy girls in jean shorts and cowboy boots to customers who still have room after their chicken-fried steaks.  The Cast Iron Grill is a down-home place with character and good food.  Need a dessert to go?  Cindy filled orders for 300 pies last Thanksgiving.  And the banana pudding, after a lunch of meatloaf, is nothing to sneeze at.  Have a hankering for blueberry banana split pie?  That was Cindy's special today.

 

Cast Iron Grill

620 19th Street

Lubbock, Texas

texas auto parts

 

The sign maker for Texas Auto Parts did not excel in geography -- his Texas outline is off.  Of course, this was before the age of computer graphics.  The place is long out of business but probably not because of the misshaped sign.  Wonder if customers ended up at Chihuahua Auto Parts on 42nd Street?

 

Somewhere on the wrong side of downtown

Odessa, Texas

6.16.2014

 

 

 

 



through the window

 

Travel really does open a window to the world -- or, in this case, South Dakota.  From inside the log cabin one could image what the grassland looked like to the settlers in the mid-19th century.  Early summer this year was especially lush and green.

 

Custer State Park

South Dakota

6.10.2014

the pit stop

 

By definition, a pit stop is a brief stop during a journey to refuel or rest.  This building is at its final pit stop.  Often built by major oil companies, gas stations marked highway routes.  As traffic patterns changed and businesses changed hands, the classic stations of the 50s and 60s, with attendants who filled tanks and washed windshields, were abandoned.  Often they were repurposed - as this building became Your Pit Stop Auto Service.  Now it appears to be "in the pits" awaiting a new life.

 

511 North 4th Street

Lamesa, Texas

6-16-2014

 

 

 

the boys

 

No account of travels to South Dakota would be complete without reference to Mount Rushmore.  It is truly an awesome sight, from the first glimpse spotted from the road and along the trail at the base.

 

 

 I also like the glimpse of both Georges-- the one carved on the mountain and the model inside the sculptor's workshop.  Gutzon Borglum had worked on the monument at Stone Mountain, Georgia but left on bad terms.  During the 14 years it took for completion, Borglum was away and working on other projects. His son finished most of the work at Mount Rushmore.

And just to prove that I was there!

Mount Rushmore
South Dakota
6.9.2014

sylvan lake

Sylvan Lake is surrounded by rounded rock formations and ponderosa pine trees.  It is called "the crown jewel" of Custer State Park.  Imagine if you will, a dozen photographers on the lake shore, waiting for the sun to set, wondering whether the clouds would catch the evening's color.  Hiking to the lake helped work out the excellent dinner of buffalo sirloin that we had earlier at the Sylvan Lake Lodge.

 

 

Sylvan Lake

Custer State Park

South Dakota

6.9.2014







devil's tower

 

Devil's Tower rises from Black Hills pine forest of Wyoming.  Long held sacred by the Native Americans, it was "discovered" and named Devil's Tower by Col. Richard Dodge in 1875 while leading a military expedition to confirm reports of gold in the Black Hills.  Rising 865 feet high, the formation was earlier thought to be the core of an ancient volcano: Devil's Tower is now considered an "igneous intrusion" -- molten magma which crystallized before reaching the earth's surface which cooled into vertical symmetrical columns of 4-, 5-, or 6-sides.  President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devil's Tower the first national monument on September 24, 1906 under the Antiquities Act.

 

Devil's Tower National Monument

Wyoming

6.12.2014

cry for help

 

In yellow letters "I need a carpenter" is posted on the window and it's evident that the building needs help.  The Texas flag might be the white flag of surrender.  This grocery has certainly seen better days.  Guess the big new Stripes across town has more allure than the corner store.

 

Corner of South First and Bryan

Lamesa, Texas

6.16.2014

doorway to the stars

 

I wish I'd seen the Ector Theatre in its prime with the Art Moderne style highlighted with geometric designs outlined in neon.  The Ector opened in 1951 but closed in 1985.  The City of Odessa purchased the building, did renovations and opened as a tribute theater; however, I found no listings since 2013.   The box office is located on the right side of the entrance doors and has a pattern of aluminum around the base.  The lines in the box office repeat the lines of the fluorescent bulbs.  The stars on the floor bore names of box office stars - even if Doris Day and the others were written with markers.

Ector Theater
500 N. Texas
Odessa, Texas

(image from Google - no credit available)

"My lands are where my dead lie buried."

The Crazy Horse Monument , as shown in the model, is a sculpture of the Lakota warrior Chief Crazy Horse astride a stallion with his arm and pointed hand stretched out over the horse's mane. It's been 64 years in the making, begun by Korczak Ziolkowski in 1948.  When finished, it will be taller than the Washington Monument and well over two football fields wide — the extended left finger is 28 feet long. Crazy Horse, a tribute to Native Americans, is the largest mountain carving in progress and will dwarf Mount Rushmore.  Crazy Horse, revered as a spiritual leader of the Lakota said "My lands are where my dead lie buried." His extended hand on the monument is to symbolize that statement.

 



Crazy Horse Monument
Black Hills, South Dakota
6.9.2014

back to nature

 

While the rest of the family was enjoying home-made ice cream in the backyard, five-year old Clara ventured out to play in the mud.  Recent rains have created puddles to play in.

 

Hamilton Farms

Lubbock County, Texas





Majestic, and stoic of stature;
master of the open ground.

(Ode to the American Buffalo -- Geiger)


There is a bill in Congress "to adopt the bison as the national mammal of the United States." The bison, or American buffalo, is already the state animal of Wyoming, Oklahoma and Kansas. South Dakota has 33,000 bison one-sixth the national total (although the state animal is the coyote). Sen. Tim Johnson says "The bison has played an important role in our nation's history, holds spiritual significance to Native American cultures and remains one of our most iconic and enduring symbols."  What a sight to see a vast herd of bison with calves frolicking alongside their mothers while the bison bull surveyed his kingdom from atop the hill.

 

Custer State Park

South Dakota

6.10.2014

little spearfish falls

 

The origins of the name of Spearfish Canyon can be debated. Many believe the Sioux Indians speared fish from Spearfish River, while others think that white men simply coined the name because it looked like it would be a good area to spear fish from. The limestone palisades of this creek-carved gorge are more ancient than the Grand Canyon. Accessible only by horseback until 1893, Spearfish Canyon’s narrow, 1000-foot walls are among the most spectacular scenery in the Black Hills. Spearfish Canyon is known for its beauty and its waterfalls.

Little Spearfish Falls
Spearfish Canyon
South Dakota

the badlands

 

This broken landscape earned the name "the Badlands."  Difficult terrain, bad water and sometimes bad guys were encountered in early days.  With each passing cloud, the lighting changes the color of the strata.

 

The Badlands

South Dakota

6.11.2014

lakota dancer

 

Down the road from the monuments honoring the Presidents is a work in progress.  The Crazy Horse mountain sculpture will honor Native Americans.  Tour of the site includes the sculptor's log cabin, a model of the finished monument and native dancers.

 

Crazy Horse Memorial

South Dakota

the buffalo nursery

 

We were fortunate today to see hundreds of buffalo with their cinnamon-colored calves, many newly-born.  It was a perfect day with blue skies, green grass and yellow sweet clover in bloom.  Nearly 1,300 bison, commonly called buffalo, roam the prairies and hills of Custer State Park, which they share with swift pronghorn, shy elk and curious burros.

 

Custer State Park

South Dakota

Sunset at Sylvan Lake

Black Hills

South Dakota

seattle's best in south dakota

 

Seattle's Best Coffee Shop in the Alex Johnson Hotel is a cozy place to get out of the rain while sight-seeing.  This historic hotel, which is listed on the Historic Hotels of America, a National Trust for Historic Preservation  was built in 1928 and features Native American motifs, including carved Indian heads like on the famed nickel.  Unlike the six Presidents who have stayed here, I am at the Howard Johnson up the hill.

Alex Johnson Hotel
Rapid City, South Dakota

dumpsters as art

 

A designated alley in downtown Rapid City is full of graffiti, framed art and other creative works. Even the dumpsters are part of the art. Art Alley has been described as a "totally post-modern art gallery, wherein one can view artworks that range from the total abstract, to pop art, to photo montage, installation art and skilled works that obviously found their origins in the passions of urban graffiti."  Despite the prose and some interesting pieces, it still looked like spray paint gone wild to me.

 

Art Alley

Rapid City, South Dakota

Rapid City


cold beer

 

Years ago I did a photographic series on musicians, including Waylon Jennings.  Selling beer legally had just become an option for Littlefield and Waylon's brother turned his gas station into a liquor store/museum.  This mural of "no ordinary dude" is painted on the back wall of the station and I photographed it in 2007.  A recent trip through Littlefield found the mural faded with stuff piled up against it.  But you can still buy cold beer there.

 

Waymore's Museum and Drive-thru Liquor Store

Hall Avenue and Waylon Jennings Boulevard

Littlefield, Texas

1.27.2007

fix it today

fix it to stay

 

The Welch Plumbing sign still bedecks, although not brightly, the brick building at 14th and Avenue J.  Apparently Welch's Plumbing has been in business since 1942, but I don't know whether they started at this location.  The building was built in 1934.  About 2000 it was purchased and turned into urban lofts with masonry walls, exposed steel beams and storefront windows.  In the background is some of the downtown skyline.  The Pioneer Hotel was built in 1925, sat vacant for years and then was renovated into up-scale condos -- and still sits vacant.  The buffalo is the emblem for Plains Bank which has its operating center in the former Hemphill-Wells building -- a premiere department store long out of business.  Downtown is not quite on life support but it certainly isn't bustling.  However it does seem that urban lofts do better than upscale condos.

 

View from 15th and Avenue J 

Lubbock, Texas

 

Bonus:  This building was also at one time home to the Jackson Motor Company.  I deduced that from the ghost sign in the alley.  I know Jackson Motor Company was in business pre-1960s because the phone number is 4644 -- long before the prefixes of PO, SH and SW!

 

 

 

window bars

 

Most people zipping along the Marsha Sharp Freeway probably don't notice the alleyside of buildings like I do.  This morning I finally exited and got a closer look at this barred window which keeps getting my eye. The front side of the building is much less interesting--all boarded and painted a solid color.  Businesses on that stretch of road have had a rocky path.  In Lubbock's early days this passage was the main route north to Plainview and Amarillo as well as towns in between.  Immortalized by the Maines Brothers in a song written by Terry Allen, "Amarillo Highway" was how the road was known for years.  State Highway 9 was one of the original 26 Texas highways and in 1919, its routing followed the Amarillo Highway, which became US 87 in 1957  and later I-27 (completed in 1992).  If those name changes weren't enough, Lubbock had designated this road as a city street naming it Avenue H.  Everybody living north of Lubbock used Avenue H  to get to "town", and knew they had arrived downtown after emerging from the railroad underpass just south of this building.  In 1957, Spur 326 forked off US 87 along North Avenue Q and busy drivers bypassed Avenue H. The city fathers decided to rename the street in honor of Lubbock native Buddy Holly and in 1996 another name was applied to the street.  Whatever the reasons, this building has lost its identity and is vacant -- barred windows and heavy mesh screens protecting its empty interior.

 

337 Buddy Holly Avenue (previously known as Avenue H, US 87 and SH 9)

on the corner of 4th Street (obliterated by the Marsha Sharp Freeway service road)

Lubbock, Texas

fresh produce

 

Although the window advertises "fresh produce" there hasn't been anything fresh in this building in decades.  In fact, there hasn't been much business in the village since the Folsom man wandered here 10,000 years ago.  In the late 1800s, Folsom boasted two mercantiles, one of which is now the museum.  Today the 57 inhabitants have to drive 37 miles to Raton to shop Dollar General or another 20 miles on to Trinidad, Colorado for "fresh produce" at Wal-Mart.

 

Highway 25

Folsom, New Mexico

8.19.2013

the back of the building

 

Often, the rear of a structure has more character than the streetside.  This is the case of the former ice house in Raton.  The building has been around since 1903 when the Raton Crystal Ice and Cold Storage Company was started.  Over the years it has been a feed store, an oil distribution hub and in 2000, it opened as the Icehouse Restaurant -- currently it is a BBQ place.  Since the ice house was near the railroad tracks, its early business was probably the rails cars transporting foods.  Regardless of its occupants, the barred windows and bricked-up openings, the rear of the building retains the ghost sign of the original business.  Don't just journey down the main drag, explore the alleys and by-ways as well--the backside may be more interesting.

 

Raton, New Mexico

8.18.2013

brothers

 

The Bell Boys

Hale Center, Texas