Downtown Phoenix

 

 
 

This is something I have been wanting to do and the other day someone else was driving in downtown Phoenix, so I grabbed the camera and shot some buildings we passed.  There are more I want to take, but this is kind of cool.

One thing I like is catching an old building reflected in the windows of a new building. I guess all the glass and reflections just make an interesting subject - to me at least.

This last one shows the sun reflecting off the building which is reflected in these windows.

Cattails

I don't often write about work, although I often take pictures at work and post those.

We had a project to clear out some cattails in one of our ponds.

Here is the result (sorry no before shots) after 3 guys took hedge trimmers to a fairly thick patch of cattails.

Made a huge dent in the stand, and supposedly once water is put back to normal levels those that were cut will die off.

This is a little closer look at the mud after we went through cutting.

And stomping hundreds of thousands of seeds into the mud.

 A single cattail at just the right time...

Explodes into a thick cloud of seed.

(We looked like fuzzy caterpillars after finishing)

And these were exploding with every cut we made.

So within a year or so we should be seeing a thicker thicket of cattails in the area we cut and, with all the seed that floated across the pond, around the rest of the shoreline.

Now do you see why I don't talk much about work!?

Phoenix 'Clouds'

Can you tell what kind of cloud this is?

Here is a bigger shot

 I like this one - looks like a phoenix

 If I'm not mistaken, all these 'clouds' are comtrails.

Nice Sunset at Phoenix Mountains

Not much for clouds this evening, but they were enough for a decent sunset. 

Dolly Steamboat

The Dolly Steamboat takes people out on Canyon Lake for a little tour. they talk a bit about the the area and I learned there was once a town of maybe 400 people in the canyon before the lake was made.  the Apache Trail also used to go up the canyon and they had to reroute the road.

Anyhow, here's the boat at the dock.

Why does the Gilligan's Island song run through my head when I see this picture?

"A three hour tour..."

 Erik, Karen, Abbey and Jenny on the upper deck.

 Kelly, Dave and Sue below.

Where was Jake? Both decks, of course.

Beautiful scenery:

 A nice place for boating; and even though it is winter, the water was a relatively warm 68 degrees F.

It is not uncommon to see bighorn sheep up in the mountains, but we didn't see any.

The boat at the base of the cliff shows the scale of how big these things really are.

 Below is the same cliff with the boat still at the base (where the sunlight side hits the shadow side and a few trees are lit up).  Much harder to tell the scale because the boat is almost invisible.

Did the ride once before and wasn't crazy about it. Of course it was quite warm the other time I did it.  This time was beautiful weather. 

Happy New Year's!!

We started with a few sparklers

The boys didn't seem to know what to do with them at first.

Then they came around a bit. 

Great job Arizona! These sparking fireworks are just what this dry state needs.  Wait until July 4th... 

On to Bovaird Casino for a night of fun and games.

Vegas-style attractions including:

an aquarium 

 

(Jake holding his breath while swimming with the fishes)

 a volcano,

 flowering atriums,

 beautiful (and delicious) buffets,

And of course the games!!

 Roulette

 Texas Hold 'em

Blackjack

We learned quickly not to call raises from this poker-face.

 Even Jake was learning how to play.

Then there were the professional lounge singers.

Balloons falling at midnight.

(and everyone is watching on TV)

Our gracious hosts Brian & Lina