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Things that go better with coke.

April 15, 2012

things go better with coke; General Merchandise, Coffins, & Caskets – Maynardville, Tennessee

General Merchandise, Coffins, & Caskets – Maynardville, Tennessee

This picture was taken in Maynardville, Tennessee by Ben Shahn in October 1935.

Part of Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

More information about this item (Library of Congress)

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Great Depression Images and Pinterest

April 4, 2012

I’ve created a Pinterest pin board called Great Depression and have pinned all of the large images from my “Eyes of the Great Depression” series, as well as a few other Great Depression images I’ve posted. At some point, I plan to return to the Eyes series and do some other posts related to the Great Depression. There are many thousands of images from the period that are in the public domain.

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Island in the Sky

April 2, 2012

Our final visit in the Moab area was to Canyonlands’ “Island in the Sky.”

The Island in the Sky in Canyonlands National Park is a mesa with sandstone cliffs that drop over 1,000 feet to the terrain below. It is the easiest part of the park to visit, having many spectacular viewpoints at pullouts along the paved scenic roads. At an average elevation of 6100 feet, it is the highest part of the park. It includes about a dozen trails of varying lengths, some across the plateau as well as a few descending toward the rivers.

Selected Information Resources:Canyonlands National Park

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Friday Faire–Six Miscellaneous Travel Photos.

March 30, 2012

The six photographs below are from two different trips – one in 2007 and the other in 2011 – from five different states.

Fence at Cliff Edge, Devils Tower National Monument, South Dakota

Fence at Cliff Edge

Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming, 2007

Dead Horse Point.

March 26, 2012

Dead Horse Point, near Moab, Utah, is a high plateau peninsula connected to the main plateau by a narrow neck of land. It is part of Dead Horse Point State Park and has spectacular views of the Colorado River, Canyonlands National Park, La Sal Mountains, and other scenic features.

According to legend, the point, with it’s 30 yard wide neck, was used as a natural corral by 19th century cowboys. Apparently, at one time, the corral was abandoned, gate left open, with unwanted cull horses still inside. Not all of the horses left the point, dying of thirst in view of the Colorado River 2000 feet below.

2011 09 28 063-dead horse A more prosaic explanation is that Dead Horse Point was named by early Mormon Pioneers for a rock formation at the base of the plateau that looks like a dead white horse laying on its side (photo on right). In this explanation, the legend of the dead horses in the corral was created by a Moab elementary school student in the early 20th century for a “chamber-of-commerce” type contest for a story to lure tourists.

Selected Information Resources:

Dead Horse Point State Park

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Windows Arches, Arches national Park, Utah

Windows and Turret.

March 20, 2012

Our final hike in Arches National Park was a loop trail – 1 mile (1.6 km) – that includes three large arches.

The Windows – also known as the Spectacles – are two very large arches eroded from the same sandstone fin. Individually, the two arches are named North Window and South Window. Bearing left on the loop trail, North Window is the first arch that is reached. Visitors can easily climb up and stand or sit under this massive arch. Continuing on the trail around a large sandstone extension from the fin, the South Window can be viewed from the trail. A short spur leads to the base of the sandstone fin. South Window is higher than North Window and not easily accessed.

The third large arch, Turret Arch, lies in a castle-like sandstone formation. A moderately strenuous climb though its span yields a view of the Windows framed by Turret Arch.