Travels With Frank: The Small Stuff

I didn't get my computer back today. In fact, I haven't heard a word from Staples since I prepaid for the servicing. I hope they didn't forget that I came in and paid, and that the computer isn't impossible to clear of malware. I should have called today, but forgot until after Staples' closing time.

So let me just post a few photos with a brief explanation. My dad is very interested in visual detail, something he's still capable of as words and concepts and memories of past and present increasingly elude him. Before the strokes and Ruth's death, he used to build extremely detailed Model railroading layouts in N-scale, the smallest of the commonly available sizes for such things. I'm told that he used to paint even the faces of tiny people inside the N-scale school buses and the like!

So today, when I realized that the Gadsden-Pacific Toy Train Operating Museum reopened today after bring closed all summer, I took him down there for a very enjoyable 45 minutes or so. I just wish there was a way to get him involved in working on such things again, instead of just looking at them. But I suppose that's asking far too much if him at this point.

Karen

EMPS: The Historic Depot

Carly this week wants train-related photos for the Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #64: Trains. I've taken lots and lots of pictures of Tucson's historic rail depot downtown on several trips down there in the past. Nevertheless I went again, and I'm glad I did, because it's changed a bit since I was last down there. For the better? I'm not sure.

The Historic Depot (that's what it's called) is downtown on Toole Ave., across the street from the equally historic Hotel Congress where John Dillinger once stayed. Built in 1907, the Depot complex of buildings was restored in 2004 to the way it looked in 1941. Outside the train station that preceded this one on the same site, Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday ambushed and killed a man named Frank Stillwell in the aftermath of the OK Corral shootout.

Today The Historic Depot is home to the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum, which is mostly about the history of the railroad in Tucson, and to a century-old coal-burning steam locomotive called Old 1673. This train ran for many years on routes in and out of Tucson. Later it spent time falling apart in Himmel Park before a cadre of interested Tucsonans spent a good deal of time, money and sweat equity restoring it.

Last time I visited the Depot, the locomotive's protective shed / fencing / whatever (trestle?) was open at both ends, so visitors could walk up to it (but were not supposed to touch!). Now, sadly, it's locked up all the way around. But I can still poke my camera between the bars!

The Historic Depot is also a working train station, with Amtrak trains in and out three times a week, and freight trains several times a day. The passenger rail schedule is unfortunately so inconvenient, and the distances so great, that Tucsonans board a train here as often as they might do otherwise.

This is a shame. It's a lovely train station, with beautiful wooden benches and reproductions of old Arizona-themed art on the walls.

Since I was here last, one end of the depot building has been leased out as Maynards Market, sort of an eclectic gourmet grocery. You can get unusual wines and locally made tamales, and fresh pizza in varieties you'll never find at Papa John's. It's a neat place, and I heartily recommend it.

Unfortunately, this store takes up a chunk of the old waiting room area that was there before. What benches and decor they still have room for are now concentrated into a smaller area, and the long wooden counter seems to be gone. It's understandable. Why give over a lot of valuable downtown real estate to a waiting area hardly anyone ever waits in, when you can bring in rental income and help to revitalize downtown at the same time? But it's still a shame.

Karen

P.S. Carly would like a picture of a conductor. Short of a trip to Disneyland, this is the best I can do:

A statue of a conductor, or possibly an engineer. 
Southern Arizona Transportation Museum, January 2008.

Related blog entries:

Round Robin: Train Tracking

All the Livelong Day

Two from Tombstone

 I Met John Dillinger!

Picasa photo gallery:

The Historic Depot

I'm Going to Disneyland!

No, not immediately. But Sara and Sarah and I have been planning a trip for months, and for a while it looked as though they would have to go without me. But I'm working again, and we got some good news today that I won't be sharing with you, and the bottom line is, I can go after all!

No point in waiting at the station

The only downside is that I can't take the train as I'd hoped. The train from Tucson to L.A. leaves Saturday night, not Friday, and returns Sunday afternoon. I would have to return on the same physical train, probably, three hours after it arrived. That's clearly useless to me. The Amtrak schedule just isn't designed for weekend trips out of Tucson. Darn it!

A Jolly Holiday for sure!

But still. I'm going! I haven't been to Disneyland in nearly two years (I know; I feel more deprived than I really am), but that's not the main point. See, I've known Sara and Sarah online since 1991 or 1992, before I'd even heard of AOL. Since then I've met Sarah precisely once for a few hours, and I've never met Sara in person at all. That changes this July, at the Happiest Place on Earth. Huzzah!

Karen

(Only Some) Promises Kept

The scene outside McDonald's this morning

My little sidebar project has now turned into a major database creation project, the better to keep track of Robins through blog changes and name changes and life changes. It'll be worth it in the long run, but tonight I've barely gotten started, creating an Excel doc that so far has participants from the first six Challenges back in 2005 and the most recent eight Challenges in 2007-8. It's interesting, seeing who first turned up back near the very beginning, some of whom are still active today.

It's eaten up my evening, though. Well, that and the apples. And the dog. And the thing with my Dad.

There's a scene in Heirs of Mâvarin with the following text:

Del’s party of selmûnen and tengremen was almost to Mâshelamar. Farmers’ fields gave way to cultivated forests of oak and maple and orchards of apple trees in neat rows. When evening came they set up camp in one such orchard, outside Pomlebeth, where the humans dined on venison and roasted apples. Del wondered how so many apples could be ripe this early in the season. Then he noticed that nearly all of them passed through the hands of Gar Nabil first, and knew that selmûn magic was involved.

(Heirs of Mâvarin by KFB, page 249)

That got me wondering exactly how early in the season it actually was. I dug up the Word document that converts key dates from Mâvarin terminology to English equivalents, and read that the book starts on July 5th. This scene takes place a week later, on the 12th. Peak apple season, I read online tonight, is not until September, so mid-July is very, very early to expect ripe apples. When I was in junior high and high school, I used to eat several varieties of apples from branches grafted onto the apple tree in our back yard in Manlius. Seems to me I started doing that as early as July, but the summer apples were tart and sour, like a Granny Smith only smaller and less moist. That's sort of what I'm going for in the scene, that the apples are like that until magically ripened; but I may be pushing my luck with July. I may have to go with August, and change 40 or so chapters from the various books to accommodate the change. Well, maybe I'll leave it in July. Meanwhile, though, I had a good time reading about New York State apples online, got emotional for a moment upon reading the name of a familiar Central New York grower, and very nearly set off for Safeway for a Granny Smith or two. Didn't get a lot of writing in, I'm sorry to say.

And yes, as promised, I walked the dog.



Tuffy loved it of course. Me, I had a backache by the time we returned from what was actually a fairly short walk. That's why I need to do it. It's vital to start getting the exercise I've neglected for two or three years. But I have to start with something relatively easy. Hence the dogwalking.

Sent to my dad: pictures from the local railroad museum

When I got back I called my Dad, to get his take on the primary. He's leaning toward Hillary right now, and I'm leaning toward Obama, although I told Hillary's robocall survey the other night that my current choice was Edwards. I have less than a week to decide! But anyway, talking to my Dad reminded me that I promised him photos from my Round Robin railroad shoot two weeks ago. (He's past president of a railroad museum). So I spent an hour or so filling an email with eighteen large photos, including three from Dillinger Days. I hope Ruth's email server and online connection can handle it!

Karen

All the Livelong Day

The Historic Depot, Tucson, Arizona

I did indeed feel better today, so after my weekly dose of adequate sleep I went downtown to the historic train depot to take all-new railroad photos. It took a while to find my way in though all the construction downtown, but it was well worth it. By the time I drive home about three hours later, I'd taken 166 pictures, enough for at least three entries on several different subjects, with lots left over!

Of course, the disadvantage of that is the eight or ten hours I've spent since then, editing photos. I hope you'll therefore excuse me for the minimal words in the first of these entries.

Behind the building: tracks, trees, train, and...Wyatt Earp?

Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday guard a train of Chinese goods.

Hey, it's historic Engine 1673 - as seen in the film Oklahoma!

Built in 1900, it was donated to the city by Southern Pacific in the 1950s.

Inside the museum, a woman in white checks the schedule.

The old ticket area and waiting room is underused but still pretty.

My adventure lasted until dusk.

I have much more to say, but it's nearly 4 AM now. I'll try to work something in tomorrow night, along with the Monday Photo Shoot. And be sure to check the Round Robin blog for our next Challenge topic.

Karen

Round Robin: Train Tracking

Gina of "Gina's Space" suggested a wonderful topic for this week's Round Robin Photo Challenge: "Railroads." Trains are one of my favorite photographic subjects. Furthermore, there's a freight train that runs past the power station sometimes as I drive by there on my way home from work. I figured that if it didn't turn up on its own this week, I would make a point of getting off work at 5 PM today and go wait for it.

My most recent train photo, December 2007, South Alvernon Way

But I went home sick this afternoon, with some kind of intestinal virus. I've been suffering for a couple of days now, with symptoms that don't match my usual IBS. So finally I gave it up and went home to bed. But that means I didn't see that freight train today. As you can see above, my last attempt to photograph it was none too good. But this is what I have--in terms of recent stuff, anyway.

Really, though, I think one of the reasons I didn't make more of an effort to go out and get good railroad shots for this Challenge was that I knew I already had a bunch of good ones here on my hard drive. My personal standard for these Challenges is always to take new pictures for it, but this once I'm going to "cheat" a little and dig into my archives. It'll be worth it! And tomorrow if I'm well enough, I'll go out and photograph something fresh for you.

Meanwhile, every photo in this entry is being uploaded for the first time, despite being taken over a three year period.

The Old Tucson steam locomotive is a screen star.

This first shot is from mid-March, 2005, when my dad came to Tucson for my graduation from the University of Phoenix. We went to Old Tucson Studios, where I took a number of photos of this steam locomotive. It's been used in the tv show The Wild, Wild West, but that was before it was damaged in an arson fire in 1995 that destroyed half the studio.

Locomotive on display at the railroad station in downtown Tucson

The plaque for the railroad station's steam locomotive

My dad is past president of a railroad museum in Wilmington, NC, so in addition to Old Tucson I took him to see the old railroad station in downtown Tucson. To my surprise, they had a steam locomotive there, too, protected by a ramada and a fence. Unfortunately, the fence made it impossible to get a good angle on it for a photo, so you'll have to settle for a view from the front.

Imported goods head up to Phoenix by rail, August 2005.

In August 2005 John and I drove up to the IKEA in Chandler, AZ. We pretty much always pass a train en route to the Phoenix area, and that day was no exception. What struck me then was the large number of freight cars with Chinese names on them, such as the Hanjin one on the upper left in the photo above. What struck me tonight about those photos is that the trains' two yellow engines with the U.S. flags on them were pretty much identical to the ones I photographed in December 2007.

Verde Canyon Railroad, just before the camera battery ran out.

In March 2007, for my 50th birthday, we went on the Verde Canyon Railroad, a scenic round trip to nowhere much. It was pretty, though, and we had a good time. But as I explained at length in the entry I posted afterward, I messed up the charging of my camera battery, and ended up with hardly any photos.


I spent parts of August and September 2007 working for Anonymous Regional Retailer (ARR!), headquartered not far from downtown Tucson. I ended up driving through downtown a couple times a day. Sometimes those yellow engine freight trains would pass through at the same time. Here I'm about to drive under the train at the 6th Street underpass.

And on September 12th, as I finished up jury duty on a DUI trial, I found myself in a parking garage with a great view of the city. Looking out to the northeast, I saw--you guessed it--that old freight train yet again.

Now go see what railroads everyone else has been tracking. And don't forget, you're more than welcome to join in yourself! See the Round Robin blog for details.

Karen

Linking List

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

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

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

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

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

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

Janet - POSTED!
fond of snape
http://fondofsnape.com/

Cheryl
Life Thru My Lens
http://chersphotos.blogspot.com/

Jill ***Welcome New Member*** - Posted!
Letting Crazy Take A Spin
http://lettingcrazytakeaspin.blogspot.com/

Nan ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED
Life is Like a Lunchbox
http://writer-mom.blogspot.com

Sandy ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED
Myanderings
http://myanderings-myanderings.blogspot.com

Betty ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED
Biker Betty
http://bikerbetty.blogspot.com

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

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

Julie - POSTED
Julie's Web Journal
http://www.barrettmanor.com/journal

Mary ***Welcome Back Mary*** - POSTED!
Just A Happy Gypsy
http://contrarywoman.blogspot.com

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

Sarah***Welcome New Member***
Charish-Me - POSTED!
http://charish-me.blogspot.com

Kiva***Welcome New Member***
Eclectic Granny - POSTED!
http://eclecticgranny.blogspot.com

Gattina - POSTED!
Keyhole Pictures
http://gattina-keyholepictures.blogspot.com
Martha ***Welcome New Member*** - POSTED!
Perception
http://journals.aol.com/lifes2odd/perception

And if I'd charged my camera battery...

After I took hundreds of pictures yesterday, I charged my camera battery before going out again and taking pictures at Organ Stop Pizza. But I made a mistake. I forgot how to tell whether the battery was fully charged. The charger for the Canon, if I recall correctly, had a reddish-yellowish light that turned green when the battery was ready. The Nikon one has a light that flashes until it's done, and then stops flashing. The Sony one has a steady yellow light until it's charged, and then the light goes out. But I didn't remember that last night. So after maybe twenty to thirty minutes of charging, I saw the steady light and thought it was done. Then I took more pictures and a twenty-second film, and left the camera attached to the computer a little too long (which would charge my iPod battery, but it drains my camera battery). And because I thought it was fully charged a handful of photos ago, and was distracted by multiple computer problems, I didn't charge it again.

Big mistake. Because today, you see, we went on a four-hour train ride on the Verde Canyon Railroad. It's basically a twenty mile and back again nature tour through a mostly red rock canyon, where eagles winter and a few (named Black and Decker) nest.


And my camera was out of juice. I knew this early on with my first few pictures at the Clarkdale end of the canyon. That upsetting graphic of a battery shape with a line through it kept appearing whenever I turned the camera on. I did my back to nurse it along, but the camera was pretty much completely dead by the time we reached the red rock areas so reminiscent of the Grand Canyon, only on a much smaller scale.

I did get a few decent shots, though, as you see here. Verde means green, of course, and it's easy to see why this is called the Verde River. That's the front of our train in the shot above, curving its way over a bridge.

And here's the beginning of the red rocks. They got better after that--much better. But I couldn't photograph them.

Between that, the severe traffic slowdown near an accident (which made us worry we'd miss the train), the worrisome sight of a crashed motorcycle in the canyon itself, and stretches of road that were poorly labeled both on a map and in reality, we had our share of stress today. Overall, though it was fun, and very pretty. I even saw a male eagle sitting on a nest. I couldn't take the picture, and anyway he was on the opposite wall of the canyon and I saw him only through binoculars. But still, it was pretty darn cool!

After the train ride, we drove about five miles to Jerome, Arizona. This is one of many former mining towns scattered around the state, mostly based on copper and occasionally silver. Once the mines are played out or otherwise abandoned, they tend to become ghost towns. A few, though, retain enough residents to keep going, sustained by tourism, artists and artisans. Jerome is one of the latter, a place where it seems that every second building is the home, store or studio of a painter, sculptor, maker of glass decorations, potter, jewelry maker, etc. I generally have little use for this kind of art, but it means that I can see and enjoy am 1870s town like Jerome, although all we had time to do was drive to the top of the mountainside streets and down again. My battery allowed me one severely underexposed photo of a small part of Jerome, and then died again.

Tomorrow: Taliesen West, I think.

A Dream of Trains

We're going north: not far, not all the way to the Grand Canyon or Monument Valley, but north. The plan is to seek out some of the weird or historic Phoenix area sights such as the ones I mentioned last night, and then take the Verde Canyon train ride.



I think the Civil War reenactment is at Picacho Peak on my birthday, and Picacho Peak is on the way to Phoenix. That's the weird-looking mountain in the photos above from last weekend. This was the site of the only Civil War battle in Arizona Territory, the westernmost battle of that war. Here's a better photo of Picacho Peak at sunset, taken on one of my trips to Phoenix last May:

This is about the time of year when Picacho is supposed to be full of wildflowers, in years when it rained the right amount at the right time over the winter. I don't know whether January's snow helps or hurts that cause. I'm not a big fan of flowers, anyway, just curious. To be honest, I'm more interested in Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm, a few miles south of Picacho Peak.


March is also supposed to be a good time to see baby eaglets in Verde Canyon. Now where did we put those binoculars?

Karen

Eyewitness to History: Arizona Territory

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Share some of your favorite black and white photos. Older pictures are good, but what you also might think about is seeing how some of your favorite color pictures look in black and white -- most computer photo editors will let you make a photo black and white (or sepia-toned -- that's monochromatic, too). This is an opportunity to look at some of your best photos in a new way.

Time to hop in the TARDIS (or the Wayback Machine) for a trip to Old Tucson! As you can see from the quality of the photos, I stuck to the technology of the time rather than bring a digital camera to the past with me.

The railroad engineer, Old Man Funk, shows off his locomotive.
Unfortunately, a desperado set fire to it some years ago.

Another view of the burned-out locomotive.

The train station.

I arrived in Old Tucson just in time for some frontier justice.

From his haircut, I suspect that the man in front of me was another time traveler.

This man was arrested, tried, and hanged in the course of about ten minutes.
He never even saw the inside of a courtroom.

A judge sealed the man's fate from a second floor balcony.

After the hanging, the unfortunate criminal was carted off toward Boot Hill. The child in the photo is another suspected time traveler. I assume he did not visit the past by himself, but he appears to have wandered off. This could have had severe consequences to the timeline, but everything seems to be okay.

The U.S. Marshall, who wasn't a party to the hanging, was philosophical about it.
"These things happen all the time around here," he said.

More time travel photos to come!

Karen

(All photos by KFB, 3/20/05)