Ailsa of “Where’s My Backpack?” is ready to GLOW with the flow this week. If you would like to join in with her challenge then please do. Everyone is welcome.
Just back from a trip to Cornwall where I visited several of the gardens there, many of which are famous for their camellias, rhododendrons, azaleas and magnolias. But there were a lot more plants that caught my attention, including these fresh giant leaved Gunnera plants which glowed in the sunlight, and seemed an obvious choice for the challenge.
Description: Every Tuesday I offer the “A to Z challenge”, walking step by step through the alphabet.
If you would like to join in then please click here
The Powder Tower or Powder Gate is a Gothic tower in Prague, Czech Republic. It is one of the original city gates, dating back to the 11th century. It is one of the symbols of Prague, leading into the Old Town. It is located in náměstí Republiky 5, just around the corner from the Municipal House. It was used to store gunpowder. Wikipedia
Have you been to Prague? Did you climb up the Powder Tower?
Wednesday and our last day. Our flight home was from Las Vegas airport at 17:35 so we had time for a last drive into Zion after a leisurely breakfast (as we also gained an hour crossing into Nevada).
Sunrise in Springdale
Again we drove along the Valley Floor road where you can appreciate the wonderful views of the rock formations towering above you.
Great White Throne – Named by Methodist Minister Frederick Vining Fisher who was noted as saying
“ I have looked for this mountain all my life but never expected to see it in this world. This is the Great White Throne.“
Climbing Angels Landing
After Fisher praised the striking presence of the Great White Throne he turned toward what would become Angels Landing and stated
“The Angels would never land on the throne, but would reverently pause at the foot [of Angels Landing].“
Temple of Sinawava
At the end of the Valley Floor road is the Temple of Sinawava with high sheer cliffs streaked black on the red iron oxide by waterfalls, many of which are dry in the winter months. A riverside walk runs alongside the North Fork of the Virgin River which leads in to the Narrows, named for the narrowest section of the canyon. This 16 mile narrow canyon is where hikers splash up or down the shallow waters. Parallel cliffs soar 2,000 feet overhead, only 30 feet apart in places.
Aspens along the Valley RoadCourt of the Patriarchs
Court of the Patriarchs was named for three towering figures of the Old Testament, these sandstone cliffs hold court over Birch Creek Canyon and this section of the Virgin River. In 1916 Fisher gave the religious names to the peaks; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Leaving Springdale
Finally we left the park and headed west out of Springdale along Highway 9 following the Virgin River to Virgin and Hurricane and on to the Interstate 15 to Las Vegas, Nevada. Our final state of the trip.
Virgin – film set by the side of the raod
In Virgin there is a turn-off to hike down the left fork of North Creek which leads to a geological feature called the Subway. Over time water rushing through a hole in the rock has formed a rounded out tunnel.
Hurricane
Near Hurricane you find the Quail Creek reservoir and the ghost town of Grafton where scenes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were filmed.
Mountain Pass
Nevada – almost at Las Vegas
We had no intention of spending any time in Las Vegas other than reaching the airport and dropping off the hire car. As we neared the city the air above was yellow with pollution and the Interstate became much busier, so much so that we missed our turn-off and had to circle round which was a bit worrying as the fuel gauge was getting close to empty. I always find driving in strange cities quite stressful and even more so after days of being out in the vast open spaces with hardly any vehicles on the road.
Slots at the airport
So “Goodbye Las Vegas”.
It has been the most wonderful road trip and despite the overnight snowfalls, we have experienced lovely weather, cold, but dry. The Canyon Circle is fascinating – so many geological features to gaze at in wonder. We have nothing like it here on such a scale. I only wish we’d made more time and incorporated Monument Valley, Four Corners Monument, Arches National Park and The Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. Who knows whether we will ever come this way again?
When a man is away from Nature
His heart becomes hard
~ a Native American proverb
I have seen many sights on this road-trip to take my breath away, Sedona, the Red Rock Canyon, the Vermilion Cliffs, Balanced Rocks, Grand Canyon’s depths, Bryce’s hoodoos, Lake Powell’s stillness and Zion’s peace. A journey of over 1,000 miles in little over 6 days and every day even more amazing than the last.
Union Station in San Diego, California, much more commonly known as the Santa Fe Depot, is a train station built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway to replace the small Victorian-style structure erected in 1887 for the California Southern Railroad Company. The massive arch of the front entrance is flanked by twin campaniles, each topped by a colourful tile-covered dome and displaying Santa Fe’s blue “cross” emblem on all four sides.
It’s quite difficult to get a good shot of the exterior of this building due to the numerous palm trees surrounding it, except from above.
The Spanish Colonial Revival style station is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its architecture, particularly the signature twin domes, is often echoed in the design of modern buildings in Downtown San Diego. The magnificent complex was designed by San Francisco architects Bakewell and Brown as a “monumental reminder” of California’s Spanish heritage.
The grand interior space of the depot features natural redwood beam ceilings, highlighted by walls covered with a brightly coloured ceramic tile wainscot. Not forgetting the beautifully curved windows.
The glazed faience tile used in the wainscot was manufactured by the California China Products Company of nearby National City. Elaborate Hispano-Moorish designs are executed in green, yellow, blue, white, and black and the bottom and top edges are finished with a frieze of stylised ziggurats
The structure draws much more heavily from the architecturally distinctive Spanish, Moorish, and Mexican lines exhibited by the Mission San Luís Rey de Francia (located in the town of Oceanside in north San Diego County) than it does from the nearby Mission San Diego de Alcalá, some nine miles (14 km) away.
The historic depot is located in Centre City (Downtown San Diego) and is still an active transportation center, providing services to Amtrak, the San Diego Coaster, the San Diego Trolley, and the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System bus system.
And though the station is beautifully designed both inside and out, the warning on the door windows is somewhat frightening.
TRAVEL WORDS 