Vulture Mine

Another outing with my photo group- this time close to home!

We visited the Vulture Mine outside Wickenberg and enjoyed wandering around the old ghost town taking photos. Gold was discovered there in 1863 by Henry Wickenberg, who started the mining operation. Eventually a town of 5,000 grew up around the mine, which became the most productive gold mine in Arizona history. It was shut down in 1942 by the government, but is now owned by a private corporation and is open for tours.

 

Desert Dust

Castle Dome Road seems longer than it is, especially for us city slickers in our shiny cars! Every time a car drove by as we were pulled over taking photos, a dust cloud lingered long after the car disappeared. On the way back out to the main highway, I decided it was a photo op and shot this through the windshield.

In the Desert

Probably the highlight for me of our trip to Tucson (beyond lying by the pool and having guacamole with every meal) was seeing the Sonoran Desert.  I now get why people love the desert.  The landscape there is different from what we’ve seen around Phoenix and definitely not like the high desert climate we live in- it is BEAUTIFUL and full of life.  I would love to go back and see more.

This view is from when we stopped the car on the way to the museum.

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This is the view next to the museum.

20150709-MMA_0154_melinda_anderson-EditI can only imagine what this looks like at sunrise or sunset (these were around noon. . . and it was SO HOT! ).  Beautiful country!

Tucson Morning

I’ve just returned from a wonderful, quick midweek getaway to Tucson, where we celebrated our 44th anniversary at a beautiful resort. We did a couple excursions in the mornings and then spent the afternoons relaxing by the pool- my kind of vacation! I always say (correctly so) that I am not a landscape photographer- I don’t have all the best gear, I hate to use my tripod out in public, and I don’t like getting up early to get the best light!  But recently it dawned on me that, when I travel, I always take landscape photographs anyway- usually without a tripod and never in good light- even though I KNOW BETTER.  I decided that on this trip I would take my tripod and perhaps even use it in public if appropriate. Since we had a view from our hotel room of the mountains, I decided to get up early one morning and do it right. The night before, I put the camera on the tripod, attached the cable release, and adjusted the settings. I set my alarm and got up well before the sun came up; I haven’t counted the photos but I clicked that cable release many, MANY times over the course of an hour.  I really like how the rays of the early morning sun peek up over the horizon in this image.20150710-MMA_0555_melinda_anderson-Edit-Edit-2 I also took my tripod along when visiting the Mission San Xavier del Bac- but you’ll have to wait for those photos!