The Bridge That Moved to Arizona

As part of the Round Robin Challenge: Bridge, a couple of people mentioned the famous bridges of London. This reminded me of a bridge John and I took pictures of on our 25th Anniversary trip to Las Vegas back in 2004. We stopped off on the way in Lake Havasu City, current home of London Bridge - well, a London Bridge, anyway.

From Las Vegas 2004 (and Lake Havasu)

Here it is, London Bridge, as it crosses over a bit of Lake Havasu in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Actually it crosses a canal at the edge of the lake. Actually, the lake isn't really a lake, but a man-made reservoir behind a dam. Lake Havasu City is a planned community, home to retirees, water sports and the relocated 1831 London Bridge. Except that it isn't quite the original 1831 bridge over the Thames (built by John Rennie and his son, John Rennie), much less the older bridge that one replaced. This one is a concrete bridge, covered with stones from the 1831 bridge, which were numbered and transported to the new site for reassembly. In many cases the stones were trimmed to fit the new structure, which was built on dry land and completed in 1971. After that, the canal was dredged underneath it.



Unsurprisingly, the tourist area around the bridge looks no more authentically British than its origins suggest.



It's kind of fun, though.



And you can go houseboating on a warm and sunny day, in the dead of winter!



By May, though, the time of year we visited, the tourist season is pretty much over as the temperature rises into the 90s.

Karen

Round Robin: The Snake and the Lizards (A Tale of Two Bridges)

From My Tucson

Here's my other entry for the Round Robin Challenge: Bridge. If you scroll down for the first one (and I hope you do), you'll see photos of bridges all over Tucson, taken over the past several years. The photos in this entry, on the other hand, were all taken today, and concentrate on two specific, very unusual bridges.

You may remember (or not!) that in January 2008 I had a mini-adventure of a photo shoot, hiking around downtown Tucson for a Round Robin Challenge called Landmarks. I took many pictures that day of the Diamondback Bridge on Broadway just east of downtown, for a blog entry titled Round Robin (Part One): Crossing the Snake. There were some cool shots in that, but I wasn't really satisfied. As you can see, this concrete and steel bridge is in the shape of a Diamondback Rattlesnake, from head to raised rattle tail. Problem is, there is no really good vantage point for photographing the entire bridge. Narrow objects a few hundred feet long aren't the easiest of subjects. Compounding the problem are the trees on both sides of the road, which obscure details.

But I had an idea. There is a skyscraper downtown called the Unisource Energy Tower, formerly the United Bank Building. It's the tallest building in the area, and close enough to provide a good view across the intervening buildings and down onto the bridge from above. Maybe. So this afternoon I drove down to Congress St., parked and fed the meter, and headed over to the distinctive building, intending to take the elevator inside all the way to the top. First problem: even if you take the right elevator, you can't get to then 23rd floor without a keycard and a code. Second problem: even on the 22nd floor, there is no window that is not in someone's private business office. I didn't want to barge in to a high-priced accountant or law office and ask to take pictures out their windows, so I left.

Well, that was fun.

Next I drove over the construction firm whose parking lot is adjacent to the Diamondback Bridge. I might not be able to get better pictures than last time, but at least they would be fresh ones. Here are a few of them.



Here's the head and part of the body, as seen from the southwest. See what I mean about the trees?

From My Tucson

And here's the tail, as seen from the walkway leading into the bridge itself. The snake's concrete and steel body is designed for bicycles and pedestrian traffic only. The tail is strictly ornamental.



Here's how it looks on the inside. Unfortunately it is not quite as nice as it was a few years ago, due to tagging and places where the paint (possibly more than paint) has been scraped away.



What I didn't notice the last time I visited the Diamondback bridge is that if you follow the walkway south of the tail, you come to another bridge I've been trying to photograph for years. This one is a little over three years old, if I recall correctly, and a little tricky to get to. I usually pass it on an adjacent highway at 55 mph! But on foot it's just over a quarter mile from the Diamondback Bridge, as I discovered late this afternoon. Like the giant snake over Broadway, this bridge has a motif honoring the local fauna. The sides are covered with stylized lizards, probably inspired by designs on petroglyphs.



This is another bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. Inside it's just as trippy as the snake bridge.



With its rust red and school bus yellow girders, it could almost be a ride at an amusement park. Whee!

Please scroll down for a tour of other Tucson bridges, pulled from my archives and in some cases newly reedited. Then check out the other Robins' bridges:

Linking List
as of 3:28 PM PDT/MST,
Saturday, October 23, 2010

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Nathalie - Posted!
Memoirs
http://nathalie-memoirs.blogspot.com

Fhaye - Posted!
Your Daily Photo Depot
http://photodito.com

Jeanette - Posted!
Net On The Net
http://netonthenet.blogspot.com

Linda - Posted!
Mommy's Treasures
http://mommystreasures.blogspot.com

Freda - Posted!
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.com

Ruth - Posted!
ScrabbleQueen
http://scrabblequeen.wordpress.com

Sandy - Posted!
From the Heart of Texas
http://sandyfromtheheartoftexas.com

Kat - Posted!
In My Dreams I Can Fly...
http://inmydreamssfk.blogspot.com/

Tara
The Lengths
http://mommaneversaid.blogspot.com/

Margaret - Posted!
Margaret's Musings
http://www.amusingmargaret.com

Rita - Posted!
Cashjocky and the Old Salt
http://cashjocky.blogspot.com

Monica - Posted!
Shutterly Happy
http://monica-frameofmind.blogspot.com/

Erin - Posted!
A Hardcore Life
http://erin-hardcorehensel.blogspot.com

Peg - Posted!
Who Can Discover It?
http://whocandiscoverit.blogspot.com/

Manang Kim - Posted!
Photography in Focus
http://mgahulagwayko.blogspot.com

Be sure to check out "The Bridges of Pima County" as well!

Karen

Round Robin: The Bridges of Pima County

This is one of two posts I'll be doing tonight for Round Robin Challenge: Bridge. Please scroll up to see the other one, entitled "The Snake and the Lizards" (no, really!).

This Round Robin topic was suggested by Steven of the much-missed (sometimes)photoblog at the beginning of 2009. I've been wanted to do it ever since. That was about a year after I did a major photo shoot for a particular bridge at the edge of downtown Tucson. Actually, there were three bridges in and around downtown that I found photogenic. Over the past several years I'd photographed those bridges and at least three others in other parts of Tucson. Here is a sample from my archives. In my other "Bridges" entry, I'll be showing you new pictures of two of the bridges, taken earlier today (Friday).

From My Tucson

From August 2007: Rainbow Over the Veteran's Memorial Bridge.

From My Tucson

From September 2007, newly reedited: my favorite old railroad bridge (the Stone Ave. one) in downtown Tucson, at rush hour.

From Sabino Canyon 2009

Here's one of the bridges of Sabino Canyon, built by FDR's depression-era agencies: the ERA, WPA and CCC, by way of economic stimulus. Photo from January 2009.

From Tucson Rain, Floods and Washes 2009

This blue footbridge over Alamo Wash in my neighborhood needs repainting. May 2009.

From Bat Night 2009

In September 2009, thousands of Tucsonans stood under this bridge where Campbell Avenue crosses the dry Rillito riverbed, waiting for thousands of bats to fly away at dusk. Well, why not?

Now let's go see everyone else's bridges!

Linking List
as of 3:28 PM PDT/MST,
Saturday, October 23, 2010

Karen - Posted!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Jama - Posted!
Sweet Memories
http://mummyjam.blogspot.com

Nathalie - Posted!
Memoirs
http://nathalie-memoirs.blogspot.com

Fhaye - Posted!
Your Daily Photo Depot
http://photodito.com

Jeanette - Posted!
Net On The Net
http://netonthenet.blogspot.com

Linda - Posted!
Mommy's Treasures
http://mommystreasures.blogspot.com

Freda - Posted!
Day One
http://fredamans.blogspot.com

Ruth - Posted!
ScrabbleQueen
http://scrabblequeen.wordpress.com

Sandy - Posted!
From the Heart of Texas
http://sandyfromtheheartoftexas.com

Kat - Posted!
In My Dreams I Can Fly...
http://inmydreamssfk.blogspot.com/

Tara
The Lengths
http://mommaneversaid.blogspot.com/

Margaret - Posted!
Margaret's Musings
http://www.amusingmargaret.com

Rita - Posted!
Cashjocky and the Old Salt
http://cashjocky.blogspot.com

Monica - Posted!
Shutterly Happy
http://monica-frameofmind.blogspot.com/

Erin - Posted!
A Hardcore Life
http://erin-hardcorehensel.blogspot.com

Peg - Posted!
Who Can Discover It?
http://whocandiscoverit.blogspot.com/

Manang Kim - Posted!
Photography in Focus
http://mgahulagwayko.blogspot.com

Be sure to check out "The Snake and the Lizards" as well!

Karen

EMPS: The River, the Bats and the Bridge

What shall I show you for Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #58: Bridges And Walkways? In past Round Robin Challenges and other entries, I've already posted photos of my favorite old bridge in downtown Tucson and the walkway beside it, the Diamondback Bridge and the walkway leading off from that, the little blue bridge over the Alamo Wash, a stone bridge in Sabino Canyon built by the CCC, the bridge over Pantano Wash during the monsoon, and the bridge with the stylized lizards on it. Most recently I showed you just one shot from the hundred or so I took of the underside of the bridge over the Rillito at Campbell Ave on Bat Night. I think this is my cue to show you more from that event.

Just an ordinary overpass, seemingly, except for an extraordinary sky.

From the Picasa album Bat Night 2009

Batman makes a personal appearance on the walkway along the river's north edge.

Thousands of people gather in the riverbed. The river is dry most of the year.

Once upon a time, the Rillito was a "real" river. As recently as the 1930s, I think, there was water in it year round. Then people came, watered their families and their livestock and irrigated their fields.

Balloons represent the falling water table.

When air conditioning hit the market in the 1940s, Tucson's population exploded and the water table dropped precipitously. Now there's only water in the river after a major rain storm, or when whatever snow falls on Mount Lemmon melts away again. During the summer monsoon, though, a storm can cause a major flash flood to fill the river and others like it, washing away the occasional car and, at least once down near Marana, a building.

People costumed as bats.

But this was September, and the monsoon was over, making the riverbed a safe place to gather. Bat Night is a chance for people to see bats, real and otherwise, and to learn the history of the river and what humans have done to it. Part of the event involved these folks, rather bizarrely costumed as bats.

People watching real bats.

The main attraction of the night was a colony of about 40,000 Mexican free-tailed bats, mostly female, flying out from under the bridge at sunset for a night on the town. As the name implies, they spend their winters in Mexico, but they migrate north to Tucson to breed. They eat mosquitoes and other bugs, and are thus highly beneficial from humans' point of view.

Bats take to the skies for a good meal.

A speaker from the Rillito River Project outline's the river's sad history.

Members of the departing crowd cross the bridge at sunset.

Unlike Carly, who just get some great ones at the zoo, I never got a really good or close-up shot of the bats. But Bat Night was still an amazing and visual experience.

Karen

Walls and Bridges

This is going to be one of those rambling entries in which I make a lame attempt to tie disparate subjects together under a vague theme. You don't mind, do you? Mostly it's an excuse to use a couple of photos I took yesterday. Walls and Bridges, in case you don't know, is the title of a John Lennon album.


On Thursday I happened to find out from my boss that Baggin's, a local deli chain, has a location on Valencia near the airport. That's not terribly close to where I work, but I decided to take Palo Verde over there anyway. On the way I noticed these walls going up on the left side of the road. I have no idea what they are building, but these huge concrete slabs with no roof really caught my eye.

When I first drive past there was a man standing in between the two slabs, looking almost as if he intended to play Sampson and knock down the walls. Unfortunately there was no way to photograph the scene at that moment, as I was passing by at 40 mph, with my camera turned off and in my pocket. When I returned after lunch, there were no humans in evidence at the site.


On the return trip I photographed the two walls from several angles as Pink Floyd played in my head. This particular angle reminded me of the backs of building facades at Universal Studios. I bet these slab walls weigh a lot more than the average false front on a back lot.


But as massive as they look from the front and back, from the side there's not much to them!

This is another part of Palo Verde Road, photographed last summer as I commuted from the Anonymous Regional Retailer business office. This particular underpass has a name like Veteran's Memorial Underpass or something like that. I was trying to capture the flag motif and the rainbow in the same shot.

And here's that wonderful downtown bridge again, as photographed the day I was taking train pictures for the Round Robin in January.

Now for the lame thematic tie-ins:

WALLS:

AOL is getting between me and my email. The stupid Webmail apps (both versions) has been unreliable for several days, often not loading anything new when you refresh the page, even though AIM says new mail has been received. Tonight the webmail won't load at all. I eventually got at it through Vista's Windows Mail, which is basically Outlook. Even that got stuck several times. Oh, and Julie, I tried to leave a comment on your journal, but after the timeout and a page back, Firefox refused to try again. So I won't be leaving any comments tonight, except the one I successfully got onto Sarah's LJ.

BRIDGES:

I have now heard from three different people from SAFE (Saving Animals From Euthanasia) about Lady Heather, the black and tan chow mix we're going to see in the morning. They all have been very nice, and all want me to know that the dog will be at the PetSmart at I-19 and Irvington tomorrow morning. We'll be there, in preparation for which I will not be pulling my usual Friday all-nighter. If we do bring her home, she will probably get a new name. Any suggestions?

Karen

Round Robin (Part One): Crossing the Snake

Yes, it's Round Robin time again! This week's topic, Landmarks, comes to us from RRPC co-founder Carly of the blog Ellipsis.

Tonight and tomorrow night I'll be posting some of the photos I took in downtown Tucson over the past couple of weeks, but held back until now. This entry is all about one specific landmark; tomorrow I'll be covering two very different examples of the same kind of structure, and a few other landmarks along the way.

Those of you who saw the announcement entry for the "Landmarks" Challenge have already seen a piece of the thing I'll be showing you tonight. But what is it? Can you tell?


That's only a small part of it. Perhaps if you see the whole thing at once, it will be a little clearer what it is:

(I've uploaded larger-than-usual versions of this photo and a few others on mavarin.com, so feel free to doubleclick for a closer look!)

Still not terribly clear, is it? Unfortunately, I've never found a really good vantage point for photographing the whole structure. Trees and traffic signals get in the way. But how about if I zoom in on the other end of the thing? That should identify it for sure!


Yes, it's a snake, a giant snake made of steel and concrete. To be specific, it's the Diamondback footbridge that crosses Broadway Blvd, immediately east of downtown Tucson, Arizona.


Our Diamondback undulates over cars and concrete, near appropriate desert landscaping.


It even looks snakelike from underneath, although a real snake would find this position precarious, if not downright impossible.



The Diamondback Bridge is more artistic than functional. Few pedestrians have any reason to cross it, except as exercise. To get to it from the south you have to climb up this path, and turn right at the rattle. To get to it from downtown you have to walk several blocks (as I did), and through a few ground level crosswalks. But that's hardly the point, is it? One doesn't really cross this bridge to get to the other side. One crosses it because it's part of a fun and pretty walk that quickly leaves the downtown traffic behind.

Here, for example, is a guy out walking his puppy. Don't tell Animal Control, but the puppy's not on a leash!



Once you get across Broadway, the bridge dumps you inevitably onto a pedestrian footpath with no obvious exit to either side:



Two weeks ago when I took these photos, I followed this path at least half a mile, finally exiting onto a quiet residential street in an historic neighborhood. I was very close to the old rail depot, but on the wrong side of the tracks, with construction in between. What I saw on the rest of that long, interesting walk I leave to your imagination - until tomorrow night!

A quick note of explanation to those of you who may be new to the Round Robin Photo Challenges: Unlike the Weekend Assignment and the Monday Photo Shoot, the RRPC is once every two weeks rather than weekly, and the topic is announced in advance for a specific posting date. You can post up to six days late, but for maximum traffic to your blog we recommend posting on the announced day. For further details, please see our Welcome Entry. We've been delighted to see lots of new Robins joining us recently., but there's always room for you!

Now go see what the other Robins have found for this week's Challenge:


Linking List

Carly - POSTED!
Ellipsis
http://ellipsissuddenlycarly.blogspot.com

Karen - POSTED!
Outpost Mâvarin
http://outmavarin.blogspot.com

Sandra - POSTED!
Strong Chemistry
http://strongchemistry.blogspot.com

Betty (canceled due to illness and a death in the family)
Biker Betty
http://bikerbetty.blogspot.com

Jill - POSTED!
Letting Crazy Take A Spin
http://lettingcrazytakeaspin.blogspot.com/

Martha - POSTED!
Perception
http://journals.aol.com/lifes2odd/perception/

Lisa - POSTED!
Lisa's Chaos
http://lisaschaos.blog-city.com

Sandy- POSTED!
Myanderings
http://www.myanderings-myanderings.blogspot.com

Shorty ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED!
I Couldn't Help Myself
http://icouldnthelpmyself.blogspot.com

Gattina - POSTED!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com

Nan - POSTED!
Life is Like a Lunchbox
http://www.shawnanigans.net

Rachel ***Welcome New Member***
Rachel Schell, Spokane Photographer
http://blog.rachelschell.com/

Janet - POSTED!
fondofsnape
http://www.fondofsnape.com

Vicki - POSTED!
Maraca
http://mymaracas.blogspot.com/

Kim ***Welcome New Member***
Rainy Day Diamonds
http://rainydaydiamonds.blogspot.com

Marie - POSTED!
Photographs & Memories
http://journals.aol.com/mariebm56/PhotographsAndMemories

Chrissea
Chris-seas Corner
http://chrisseas-corner.tripod.com

Teena
It's all about me!
http://purple4mee.blogspot.com

Robinella ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED!
Robin's Nest
http://robinellablog.wordpress.com

Janet ***Welcome New Member***
From The Planet Of Janet
http://fromtheplanetofjanet.blogspot.com

Suzanne R - POSTED!
Living . . . Suzanne R's Life
http://newsuzannerslife.blogspot.com

Nancy - POSTED!
Nancy Luvs Pix
http://journals.aol.com/nhd106/Nancyluvspix

Pamela ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED!
The Dust Will Wait
http://thedustwillwait.blogspot.com

Kim - POSTED!
Nekked Lizard Adventures
http://nekkedlizardadventures.typepad.com

Duane - POSTED!
Life, the Universe and Everything
http://fdtate.blogspot.com

Gina - POSTED!
Gina's Space
http://journals.aol.com/rbrown6172/Ginasspace

Momma***Welcome New Member***
Sandcastle Momma - POSTED!
http://sandcastlemomma.blogspot.com

Molly ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED!
Return of the White Robin
http://returnofthewhiterobin.blogspot.com

Sarah - POSTED!
Charish Me
http://charish-me.blogspot.com

Kiva - POSTED!
Ecletic Granny
http://eclecticgranny.blogspot.com/

Jama Hameed ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED!
A Moment In Time
http://journals.aol.com/jamahameed/a-moment-in-time/

Jennie ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED!
PrairieAir
http://prairieair.blogspot.com/

More about the bridge:

Our Metal-bending Work - Snake Bridge, Tucson AZ

'Basket Bridge' is missing link | www.tucsoncitizen.com ®

Tucson region receives ‘Gold Award’ as bicycle friendly community

Karen