The desert. I promised I would write about the desert.
A couple of months ago I visited my Dad and stepmother at their new winter home in Needles California. Needles is on the border of California and Arizona, located in the Mojave Desert. I mentioned in an earlier blog post that I grew up in Spokane, WA, which is on the edge of a desert, and we drove through it on our way to other places. So my experience with the desert is limited to the High Desert of Eastern Washington.
I was delighted to finally visit this part of the country. I’ve never been to Arizona. I had an interesting reaction to this place. I felt very at-home here. It surprised me, frankly. I am not a hot-weather person. Physically, I don’t do well in anything above 80 degrees. But the heat didn’t bother me on this trip. I was really entranced by the place. It’s stunning in it’s stark beauty. The emptiness calmed me, made me feel at peace.
The history is interesting as well. Needles is on Route 66 and was once a very thriving town. The town has fallen into poverty in the years since Route 66 is no longer used as much. There are lots of vestiges from this time period. It’s both romantic and sad at the same time.
Here are some photos I took while I was there. The color shots were taken with my pinhole camera, and the black and white were made with an Olympus XA.
I was hoping to make it to the Grand Canyon, but unfortunately we couldn’t get out there this time. It is, for sure, on the books for next year.
You can read about Oatman Arizona at Pinhole Obscura, where I recently wrote a blog post about it. Many of the photos above were taken there.
Blatherskite 
Wonderful shots!
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Thank you! 😀
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