October 28, 2014 by Rae

Pipe Spring National Monument, Arizona

I left Hurricane just shy of 11:00 this morning, with no destination in mind. I pointed the truck towards Colorado City and from there pushed on towards Page. In less than an hour, I saw a sign announcing the Pipe Spring National Monument. I pulled off the highway and drove the 1/4 mile to the site to see what it was all about and found a museum, outdoor exhibits, and a guided tour of a fortified house that took up almost two hours! I was able to use my interagency pass to gain access.

Pipe Spring is essentially an oasis in the desert, a source of reliable water, but in insufficient quantity to build a settlement upon it. Paiute natives farmed, harvested, and hunted in this region for centuries. Mormon settlers grazed herds of tithing cattle and established an administrative post and telegraph station here. It was a busy, popular stop on the ‘honeymoon’ trail to St. George where Mormons would marry.

It was a very informational stop and I’m glad I pulled in!

: A Paiute ‘kahn’, or living area, with a hut for sleeping and a covered shelter for cooking.

: Pioneer cookstove.

: Covered wagon.

: Home dugout of the hillside.

: Winsor Castle, named after the builder. It’s fortified but never had to be defended.

: Took half an hour to do this trail and it was quite a bit of work!

: Pipe Spring was connected to the 19th century information super highway.

: This panel shows how the west was divided according to a precise grid pattern that ignored natural obstacles.

: This was one of the easier sections!

: Another wagon.

: Closeup of the stone detail.

: This guy was very friendly! He actually called me over with a gentle neigh and made it clear that he wanted to be rubbed under the chin and behind the ear. I was happy to oblige!

: Mama duck.

: Buggy,

: Front of Winsor Castle.

: Drill hole in a sandstone block.

: Roof of the little cabin. There was grass on it!

: I haven’t seen horns like these on cattle since Scotland!

: I like the gate lock on the pumpkin patch!

: Big pumpkin.

: I was told to help myself. Pity I wasn’t in Miranda with a kitchen; I love winter squash!

: These two were HILARIOUS. I have video of them chasing each other and squawking at the other.

: Inside Winsor Castle’s sitting room.

: Part of the kitchen.

: The upstairs bedrooms had stoves.

: The house is actually in two sections with a courtyard in between.

: Cute lizard.

: Another bedroom. I have a sewing machine like this one.

: The telegraph office

: The spring ran under the house to this cold room where butter was churned and cheese made, all in big quantities, and then shipped to St. George.

: Cold food storage.

: Cheese press.

: Herbs hanging from the rafters.

November 9, 2010 by Rae

Pointe-à-Callière (and random shots)

My grand-mother wanted to do something special with me this week and suggested we go to a museum. I hadn’t been to Pointe-à-Callière in at least fifteen years, so that’s what I suggested. This museum is built over the foundation of some of the oldest buildings in Montreal and the highlight is to go under ground and walk through the old stone foundations.

It’s been easy to see my grand-mother this week since she moved to Chambly and is now living a kilometre away from my mother’s house. I walked over this afternoon and she greeted me with a light lunch, then we headed to Montreal.

Pointe-à-Callière is located in the most scenic part of the island, the Old Port. Walking through the cobblestone streets is just like being in Europe. The whole area is slowly being gentrified and more new structures are springing up, but I don’t think we will ever lose the look and atmosphere of the Old Port.

Our tour of the museum started with an excellent multi-media presentation about highlights in Montreal history, from pre-history to today. I found it to be a little too upbeat and it glossed over the more negative issues like the French/English disputes, but I’m being a tad picky. For a twenty minute overview, it painted a pretty accurate portrait.

The special exhibit this fall is one about Rapa Nui, Easter Island, and I enjoyed it very much. I discovered that I knew almost nothing about Easter Island, such as the important fact that it is still inhabited today!

We then headed downstairs and and took a quick jaunt through the foundations, the highlight of which are the sewer systems that were way ahead of their times. This archaeological site takes you through more than 360 years of history, from a 17th century Catholic cemetery to an 18th century marketplace to the 19th century sewer systems. The whole thing is rather labyrinthine and we had to get directions back to the surface!

Merci pour la belle journée, grand-maman!

lunch was pretty enough for a picture!

my grand-mother’s balcony overlooks my childhood… only back then, in the ’80’s, there were only fields and trees instead of all those houses

my mother worked in that building for much of my childhood and we lived right across from it

Montreal skyline from the Champlain bridge

Old Port–contrast of the old and the new

more of the Old Port

Pointe-à-Callière

old foundations

more old foundations

in 1900, Montreal was Canada’s metropolis

the old sewer system

the old sewer system with a photograph showing what the exit would have looked like

more old sewage systems

walking out is like entering Europe

we walked out onto a movie set!

crossing the Victoria bridge, the first to connect the island of Montreal to the South Shore

Champlain Bridge seen from the Victoria Bridge

the ugliest building on the South Shore!!!

I love the street signs in Chambly because all the street names are explained; Lebel was named after a mayor

September 11, 2010 by Rae

Parks Canada’s Bear Creek Compound

Parks Canada’s Bear Creek Compound is somewhat legendary in Dawson as few have stepped foot in it. Today, for the first time in at least seven years, and possibly for the last time, the compound was opened to the public for a few hours. Checking it out seemed like a good use of my afternoon break!

From the Parks Canada website:

Bear Creek is an industrial complex of some 65 buildings and related structures located in the Klondike River Valley, 10 kilometres east of Dawson City. From 1905 to 1966, Bear Creek was the Klondike headquarters for corporate mining interests, acting as the administrative and repair centre for the goldfield’s dredging operations. These huge dredges worked the goldfields, replacing the small individual miner of the gold rush and ensuring the viability of gold mining as a profitable business up until 1966.

(For a refresher course on dredges, go back to my post about Dredge No. 4.)

Parks Canada acquired the complex in 1975 but because of environmental concerns could not do too much with it. One of the biggest hazards is the mercury that was used in the gold extraction process. The cost of rehabilitating the site to make it safe for the public would be prohibitive. Today, Parks Canada mostly uses the buildings for storage, but there is one garage left for repairing big machinery.

Visiting the compound was an extraordinary experience. The majority of the buildings are in some stage of decay, mostly advanced, and many have artifacts left in situ, as though time has stood still. It reminded me a lot of touring Alcatraz, actually, and the weight of history was incredibly present.

the mess hall

the floors in the messhall undulate like fields of prairie wheat

Parks Canada lumber storage

the most impressive building–you open a very heavy and thick door into a dark and earthy-smelling tunnel. My camera’s flash did too good a job here!

exterior of the root cellar

tailing

that yellow never fails to take my breath away!

this machine was cast in Ohio!

decay

this cavernous building once held all manner of giant machinery

a giant transformer

permafrost wreaking havoc in the tin shop

55 cents a gallon!

this building is obviously in modern use. 🙂

incredible!

this tunnel is just about tall enough for me to crouch in!

coming apart at the seams

exterior of the steno office

staff housing (doesn’t look much better from the exterior than any of the other buildings!)

this shed holds ‘props’

the engineer’s house

this house surprised me with the number and size of rooms it contains, as well as the ample storage

toilet room off a massive bathroom

news article about Neil Armstrong!

1962 calendar (I suspect it was planted here; seems in too good shape)

information about Bear Creek

blank forms

wheelbarrow dug out of the permafrost

the staircase inside the welcome building is in surprisingly good shape

the interior of the engineering building is in excellent condition

adding machine

I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to tour the Bear Creek compound. What a way to conclude my stay in the Klondike!

November 30, 2009 by Rae

Travels Without Miranda, #2: Alcatraz Island, California

Alcatraz Island is breathtakingly beautiful in a barren and desolate sort of way, architecturally graceful ruins blending in perfectly with scrub grasses, trees, and various flowers. Birds abound and, in fact, most of the island is white with guano. It is a stark, foreboding place, but truly beautiful. Some might think me crazy to find that place so pretty, but it is if you like ruins that blend in so thoroughly with their natural surroundings that you could not possibly imagine one without the other, then Alcatraz is the place for you.

I spent a sunny day touring the ill-famed Rock. Even though it houses one of the most notorious US jails and was the site of native protests, today the island is a peaceful bird sanctuary that belies the supposed horrors that went on between the crumbling walls of the prison.

chapel

mint green on the exterior

interior sampling of the mint green and baby pink colour scheme

those marks on the floor are bullet spray from a shooting during a hostage crisis

inmates had a lot of time on their hand (the knitting alone provides an interesting image, but the hot pink yarn is too much)

sample menu

The architectural details of the place are striking, showing an aesthetic that belies the purpose of the building. Add the surprising mint green and baby pink colour scheme and Alcatraz does not even remotely look as you would expect it would.

As it turns out, the prison’s reputation was not entirely warranted. I learned there that inmates actually tried to get transferred to Alcatraz as it was a more comfortable prison with some of the best food in the penal system. This is not to say that some of the stories that have come out of Alcatraz are not true; it was a brutal place housing hardened criminals, but there was a softer side to the Rock.

I had expected that I would return from my day on Alcatraz completed drained rather than refreshed, and instead learned that I should never assume anything, a lesson I applied during a humbling visit of the town of Banff.

July 2, 1998 by Rae

Hiking Around Melrose

6:28 pm

What a delightful day I’ve had.

1) A-two hour ‘stroll’ around a tiny museum about Trimontium, a Roman fort near here. Why two hours ? A most wonderful audio tape packed with wit, humour, and facts.

2) Lunch. I decided to treat myself since I have a bit of extra money. I came in around 11 :50. ‘You serve lunch?’ I asked. ‘At 12’ ‘Oh, then I’ll have a half pint of Guinness while I wait.’

3) The Trimontium walk, which just happens to occur only on Thursdays! A guide led us to the fields and explained where everything was. It cost about £2, but I had met an elderly man named George Giles just before the walk and he insisted on paying for me. We made conversation during lulls in the fascinating lecture/stroll about Trimontium. Our conversation (a lot about religion and belief or lack thereof in God) continued around tea and cookies (part of the tour).

There was a pause while we walked along a wall that was about the width of this open notebook (a ft or two.), with a four-foot drop on one side and an eight-foot drop on the other! Upon reaching town, we parted with a cheek kiss (very comfortable) and a handshake. When he’d gone, I found myself holding a £10 note in my hand. So, I’ve met a wonderful man, sort of the grand-father I never had, and I’m financially ahead and I found some thistles which I’ll go pick (just one) this evening.

The only problem is I didn’t get around to calling the Dumfries tourist information centre (literally no time to do so). I might do so early tomorrow morning. I can afford two nights in a B and B if necessary, although I’d like to remain under a £20/night limit.

8:58 pm

Found a thistle. Damn are they painfully prickly!!! Tomorrow, I’m taking a ‘scenic’ tour to Moffat. From there, I’ll try to get to Dumfries! I figure a night or two there then Ayr.

Everything is so lovely!!! The Abbey is bathed by late evening sunlight which is literally radiating through clouds. I’ll be honest, there’s a hole in the sky which looks like the gateway to heaven. Only heaven is on Earth.

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A Life By Design

"Sometimes in life, we reach to a right place by departing from a wrong port with a wrong ship!" ~ Mehmet Murat Ildan

Settlement Ruins

Pipe Spring National Monument, Arizona

Pointe-à-Callière (and random shots)

Parks Canada’s Bear Creek Compound

Travels Without Miranda, #2: Alcatraz Island, California

Hiking Around Melrose