Joyous Images!

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A bridge in Oak Creek Canyon (Arizona) highlights the size of the rock formations in that part of the west.   The various layers in the rock represent different geological periods, and help add visual appeal to the photo.

Here are two more photos of Slide Rock State Park. Isn’t it beautiful?

This is a photo I took in Slide Rock State Park in Arizona.  I didn’t quite get why they named this slide rock.  However, if you touch the rocks, you would see that they are very smooth in texture.  Not your everyday rock!  And the color of the rocks are so pretty.  This is great place to spend a hot summer day.

Slide Rock State Park, originally the Pendley Homestead, is a 43-acre historical apple farm located in Oak Creek Canyon. Frank L. Pendley, having arrived in the canyon in 1907, formally acquired the land under the Homestead Act in 1910. Due to his pioneering innovation, he succeeded where others failed by establishing a unique irrigation system still in use by the park today. This allowed Pendley to plant his first apple orchard in 1912, beginning the pattern of agricultural development that has dominated the site since that time. Pendley also grew garden produce and kept some livestock.
As one of the few homesteads left intact in the canyon today, Slide Rock State Park is a fine example of early agricultural development in Central Arizona. The site was also instrumental to the development of the tourism industry in Oak Creek Canyon.

The park is named after the famous Slide Rock, a stretch of slippery creek bottom adjacent to the homestead. Visitors may slide down a slick natural water chute or wade and sun along the creek. The swim area is located on National Forest land which is jointly managed by Arizona State Parks and the U.S. Forest Service. Together these areas have seen the making of many Hollywood movies such as “Broken Arrow” (1950) with James Stewart, “Drum Beat” (1954) with Alan Ladd and Charles Bronson, “Gun Fury” (1953) with Rock Hudson and Donna Reed, and a scene from “Angel and the Badman” (1946) with John Wayne.

In our travels to Arizona, we stopped at Slide Rock.  This shack was between the parking lot and the park.  As I walked past it, I thought it was an interesting piece of architecture.  I never realized just how interesting architecture could be in photographs.

I was walking along the beach and spotted this pretty shell.  Of course, I had to get my camera out for a photo.  I used my 50mm micro lens, so I could get in close - I wanted to capture the  lines throughout the shell.  I really enjoy using my 50mm micro lens, although it works best when used on a tripod.

Did you know there are flowering cactus? I always thought cactus were interesting and a bit painful to the touch, but I never knew just how pretty they are when they flower. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Can you see him? He’s all the way in the distance on this wooden bridge. You can find this bridge at Red Rock State Park, Arizona. I love to take photos of everything so going hiking and sightseeing is one of my favorite things to do. Of course, Arizona can be very warm and I’m the type of photographer that would prefer to ride than hike but sometimes the only way to get a good shot……….. is to hike.

Here is the Grand Canyon Railroad. This train was recently renovated and runs from Williams, Arizona (at Interstate 40) to the Grand Canyon Depot. This trip takes about 2 1/2 hours and was started in 1901. Very cool!

This was one of the last photos I took during my hike. I thought the sky was so pretty in the background behind the lone cactus.