Photo: Inside the Wienermobile

Kids love the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!

And the parents do too.

Check out our new travel photos on Viva la Voyage of the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile. These photos show more of the mountains. This is a unique area of volcanoes and the Andes mountains in the driest desert on earth. With all of the publicity about a little more than one year ago with the miraculous rescue of the Chilean miners in the Atacama, you should come visit our site to see how harsh the conditions can be.

Photo: Front of Wienermobile

Can you imagine creating this vehicle?

The Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile has such an interesting design.

I am sure the driver must be careful not to topple over.

Tomorrow, I will show you the inside of the wienermobile.

Check out our new travel photos on Viva la Voyage of the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile. These photos show more of the mountains. This is a unique area of volcanoes and the Andes mountains in the driest desert on earth. With all of the publicity about a little more than one year ago with the miraculous rescue of the Chilean miners in the Atacama, you should come visit our site to see how harsh the conditions can be.

Photo: Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile

"I wish I was an Oscar Mayer Wiener, as that is what I truly want to be.

Because if I was an Oscar Mayer Wiener, everyone would be in love with me"

Check out our new travel photos on Viva la Voyage of the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile. These photos show more of the mountains. This is a unique area of volcanoes and the Andes mountains in the driest desert on earth. With all of the publicity about a little more than one year ago with the miraculous rescue of the Chilean miners in the Atacama, you should come visit our site to see how harsh the conditions can be.

Photo: Sunset over Mummy Mountain

This is a photo of the sunset over Mummy Mountain, viewed from across the north end of McCormick Ranch lake. This is a typical, clear desert sky.

I have a confession to make. My husband took this photo. I have been out of town on lots of trips lately, mostly for business, so Dave went out and took a few photos for me.

However, the story behind the photo is more interesting than the photo. Dave remained and took some more photos as it was getting dark. When he finished, he looked down to get his glasses from his shirt collar, as he can't see through the cameral view finder with his glasses. His glasses were gone.

Dave then had to look for his glasses, in the dark, without his glasses. He crawled around on the shore of the lake on his hands and knees feeling for his glasses, where hundreds of geese walk around and leave behind, well, you know.

Dave and my mother went back at sunrise the next morning and my mother's dog found the glasses. They were new glasses that cost $600, so Dave was quite appreciative. After Dave went to all of that effort, I certainly had to post the photo that he took.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are returning to the Atacama Desert of northern Chile to show more of the mountains. This is a unique area of volcanoes and the Andes mountains in the driest desert on earth. With all of the publicity about a little more than one year ago with the miraculous rescue of the Chilean miners in the Atacama, you should come visit our site to see how harsh the conditions can be.

Photo: Thanksgiving Pumpkin

To add to the Thanksgiving weekend festivities, I thought you might enjoy the creativity of the carving of this pumpkin.

I am taking a little artistic license in posting this photo, as this is not an Arizona pumpkin. The pumpkin is carved with a maple leaf motif. That perhaps will give you a hint that this pumpkin is from Canada and my recent trip to Nova Scotia when I joined some friends to celebrate the Canadian Thanksgiving with them last month on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.

This week we are showing photos of the fall colors in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Leaves of Color

Here is a photo to show autumn is here.

These lovely red and golden leaves were laying so artfully on a sidewalk slab.

We rarely see such colors in the Valley.

Happy Friday!

This week we are showing photos of the fall colors in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Thanksgiving Autumn Soup

Here is a photo of the autumn soup we enjoyed while dining at Tru in Chicago.

The aesthetics of the presentation were perfect to create the ambience of an autumn fall harvest.

The soup itself in this unique squash container was delicious.

Happy Thanksgiving! And a shout out for a big Happy Birthday to my Grandmother who is 91 years old today!

This week we are showing photos of the fall colors in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Fiery Camelback

Here is a photo of a fiery sunset over Camelback Mountain.

I took this from my backyard.

This week we are showing photos of the gorgeous fall colors in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: McCormick Ranch Lake

This photo shows a view down McCormick Ranch Lake. This is a large lake. To me, it looks more like Florida, not Arizona.

Former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt, who later ran for President and was Secretary of the Interior under President Clinton, caused Arizona to enact pioneering laws in the early to 1980's prohibit developers from using groundwater for decorative lakes and ponds.

McCormick Ranch was a 4,200 acre horse ranch that was developed by Kaiser-Aetna into a master-planned community in the 1970's, with lots of hiking and biking trails lacing through the beautifully landscaped neighborhoods. And, yes, they have lots of lakes to make the 25,000 residents feel like they are not in the desert.

This week we are showing photos of the fall colors in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Last light reflections on McCormick Ranch Office & Lake

This is another photo of the office building on McCormick Ranch lake catching the last rays of the sun.

We have a lot of Spanish colonial architecture in Scottsdale and throughout the Phoenix metro area. And, yes, there is an irony that many people support building a wall to keep out people from south of the border, yet we love the romance of architecture from south of the border.

This office building is the headquarters of Forever Living Products, which is a multi-level marketing company that sells aloe vera products. The building also houses some investment businesses.

This week we are showing photos of the fall colors in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Egret in Flight

The egret I showed yesterday flew out to the center of the lake, out of the shadows and into the sunlight. This is a photo using my zoom, as he was farther away.

Compared to the photo yesterday when he had just taken off, his legs are now tucked up under his body, similar to an airplane bringing up its landing gear.

My husband's parents lived their final several years in Leisure World in Mesa, Arizona, just east of Scottsdale. Their house was on a lake and they enjoyed watching the egrets from the picture windows in their family room.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing some additional photos from my recent trip to Nova Scotia. This week's photos highlight the fall colors on Cape Breton Island in the north of Nova Scotia.

Photo: Great Egret and Reflection of the Mooon

This is a closer photo of the great egret that I showed in yesterday's photo. I moved in for a closer shot and lined up the reflection of the moon with his beak, but there were enough ripples in the water to interfere with the round shape of the moon. I nevertheless liked the white accent of the moon with the white egret.

This week we are showing photos of Canadian Thanksgiving on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

McCormick Ranch Lake, Office, Egret and the Moon

This is a photo of an office building across the lake at McCormick Ranch. There is an egret, the daytime moon, and a reflection of the moon in the photo as well. The bird has just plucked a fish from the lake, which caused the rings of water below his beak.

This does not look like a scene in the middle of the desert, but we do have places with lakes within Scottsdale and the other cities in the Valley of the Sun.

This week we are showing photos of Canadian Thanksgiving on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport

This photo of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport that shows something that we love about Phoenix/Scottsdale -- the airport is in the middle of town.

In how many cities could you take a photo that shows airport runways from the vantage point of an office building in the central business district. We can go from the office to the airport in about 10 minutes, which is about the time it takes to get from the parking lot to the terminal in many airports.

The large building at the top left is Terminal 4. A 9-level parking lot sits right on top of the terminal, so getting from your car to the concourse is as close as an elevator ride and walk around the corner.

The disadvantage of an airport located in the middle of town is the issue of noise. The flight paths follow the Salt River in each direction, but there are now lots of new buildings under the flight path around the Tempe Town Lake, which is a dammed up portion of the Salt River.

This concludes my series of photos from central Phoenix. I hope you have enjoyed these bird's eye views from our office.

This week we are showing photos of Canadian Thanksgiving on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Courthouse

This is a view from our office to the Sandra Day O'Connor Federal Courthouse downtown. It is only few years old. There is a glass atrium that occupies the north half of the interior, which is the side of the building shown in this photo.

Sandra Day O'Connor is an Arizona native, growing up on a ranch and practicing law, serving as a state legislator, Superior Court Judge and Court of Appeals Judge in Phoenix. In additon to the new federal Courthouse, the law school at Arizona State University is also named for her.

Although she has retired from the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice O'Connor remains very active in Arizona. The house where she used to live has been moved to the campus of Arizona State University and she founded the O'Connor House project, which gathers civic leaders in her old house to brainstorm on solutions to community and government problems.

This week we are showing photos of Canadian Thanksgiving on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Aerial Photo: Phoenix Central Library

This is the main branch of the Phoenix Public Library. It is an architectural masterpiece. It has a rather minimalist, industrial design, but is stunningly beautiful. It was also about half the price per square foot as the average library construction costs.

The east and west facade, on the left and right ends of this photo, are metal to reflect the sun. The north and south facades are glass, with sail-like shade structures that let light in but keep direct sun out.

There are round skylights on the roof, and on the first day of spring and fall the sun passing directly overhead at noon sends shafts of light down onto pillars in the interior. Crowds gather to watch, sort of like a Phoenix equivalent of the crowds watching the serpent shadows on the side of the staircase of the grand pyramid at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan.

This week we are showing photos of Canadian Thanksgiving on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Downtown Phoenix

This photo looks south from our office to downtown, with South Mountain in the distance.

There are lots of recognizable buildings in this photo. in the lower left is the main Phoenix Library. Just beyond the library, where the road splits there is the deck park, on top of a sunken stretch of Interstate 10. Thank goodness this massive highway was placed below ground cutting across central Phoenix.

Going farther down Central Avenue, on the right, just before the copper colored high rise, there is a grey mid-rise building with a tall antenna on top. That is the Westward Ho, which at one time was the tallest building between Texas and Los Angeles. It used to be a hotel, and is now a senior citizens home.

The tall building on the right is Phoenix City Hall. The building with the widest facade in the center of the Photo is the headquarters of the Freeport McMoran mining company, which acquired Phelps Dodge Copper Co. several years ago. The wide tan building on the left is the new Sheraton Hotel.

This week we are showing photos of the Canadian Thanksgiving at a lodge on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Aerial Photo: Phoenix Art Museum

This photo looks down from our office onto the Phoenix Art Museum. From its beginning in 1959, it has now grown to a collection of 18,000 works of art, with 285,000 square feet (26,500 sq. m.) of exhibition space.

The building has been expanded several times during the last 20 years, and the Art Museum took over the space of what used to be the main Phoenix Library, which is the wing at the top of this photo.

We have enjoyed very memorable special exhibitions that have been hosted at the museum, in addition to its regular collections. David and I are members, and we are also members of several of the museum's support groups for Latin American, Asian, and European art.

As you may have gathered from my post yesterday and today, David and I are supporters of the arts in Phoenix and Scottsdale. David is the longest consecutively serving member of the Board of Directors of the Phoenix Symphony, now in his 5th 3-year term. Several years ago David and I hosted a reception at our house for the Boards of Directors of the Heard Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, Symphony, Ballet, and Opera and several of the Phoenix City Council members who support the arts. Phoenix arts institutions lack the endowment of arts organizations in older cities of the East and Midwest because the area has grown to be a major metropolitan area only in the last 50 years.

Today is Sunday, so we have photos on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing photos of the Canadian Thanksgiving at a lodge on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. It was my pleasure to join friends there recently, and I hope you will join us by visiting the site.

Aerial Photo: The Heard Museum

This photo looks down on the Heard Museum of Native American Cultures, a world famous collection of Native American art and culture. The Heard has 40,000 items in its collection, displayed in 130,000 square feet (12,000 sq. m.) of space.

We are members, and we enjoy going to the Heard's Indian Market each spring, with rivals Santa Fe as the premier exhibition and sale of Native American art. We have bought dozens of art works there over the years.

Because we have been spoiled by the Heard's collection, when we went to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall in Washington D.C. recently, we loved the architecture of the building, but we were very disappointed in the collection. It simply does not compare with the Heard.

This week we are showing photos of the Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Good Samaritan Hospital

Let's take a look at a few landmarks that we can see from the vantage point of our office 23 floors above central Phoenix.

This is Good Samaritan Hospital, where my brother and I were born. When my husband was hospitalized here for about 4 days for some cardiac testing (he is fine) my brother visited him and said he felt like a salmon returning to his birthplace.

For mid-century architecture, I think this design has help up well. The hospital is rather unusual inside, as there are not many straight corridors, as the rooms are arranged in circular pods. By the time a patient's family figures their way around, hopefully it is time to check out of the hospital.

This week we are showing photos of the Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Car fire on Central Avenue

A moment after I took the photo I showed yesterday, I saw this cloud of smoke coming from what appeared to be a car fire at Central and Thomas Avenues, a little less than one mile from our office.

I think everyone was OK, as the smoke lasted for only a moment. I hope that they had good insurance coverage.

The white building in the right foreground is the headquarters of U-Haul International, one of the leading privately held companies based in Phoenix.
This week we are showing photos of the Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Central Avenue Business District

I took a few more photos from our office when I brought in the camera on a recent Saturday. This is part of the view from my husband's office, as he works down the hall from me. His view is to the north, and this photo shows the Central Avenue business district.

The light rail tracks run down the middle of Central Avenue. The mountain in the distance is part of the North Mountain Preserve, a massive City of Phoenix park, with lots of desert hiking trails.

The low white dome in the center of the photo is the Xavier Catholic Church. The low carmel colored building in front of it is Central High School. There are lots of law firms and accounting firms in the high rise office buildings that line Central Avenue.

This week we are showing photos of the Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

The hidden, empty city

My title for this post refers to a recent newspaper article that reported that within Maricopa County, which includes Scottsdale, Phoenix and the surrounding area, with a population of about 4 million, there are now 230,000 empty houses and apartments.

That is about the same number of housing units that there are in the entire city of Tucson, Arizona's second largest city. In other words, we have the equivalent of an empty Tucson within the Phoenix metro area. The likely explanation for this is that Arizona has made things so unpleasant for immigrants that many have left, often with the rest of their families also leaving, even if other family members are citizens.

When the population drops, the sales tax revenues for local governments drop. And the empty houses hurt neighborhoods and property values.

This is part of the view that I look at from my desk in my office in Central Phoenix. This view is to the north west. For those of you who follow our good friend Sharon's Phoenix Daily Photo site, Sharon's house is in the center right of this photo, too far to see it individually. She lives in a charming central Phoenix neighborhood, a little to the left of the white medical office building on the right of the photo. The Encanto Park golf course is visible on the left.

This week we are showing photos of the Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Camelback Mountain from central Phoenix

Because you could not see the shape of Camelback Mountain in the photo I posted yesterday, looking from the east, here is a classic view of Camelback.

I took this photo from our office in central Phoenix. Camelback is about 10 miles (16 km) away. It rises 1,280 feet (390 m) above the valley floor.

If you look closely, you can see how houses, or perhaps I should say mansions, crept up Camelback to take advantage of the views, before they stopped allowing building on the mountain to preserve it.

The side of Camelback shown in this photo is in Phoenix. The other side of Camelback is in Paradise Valley, with Scottsdale just beyond Paradise Valley.

This week we are showing photos of the Villa Balbianello at Lake Como, Italy on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. You might recognize having seen it in Casino Royale or one of the Star Wars movies.

Central Scottsdale and Camelback Mountain

As long as I was showing a few photos from central Scottsdale, I thought I would post this photo, taken from the roof of the Nordstrom's parking garage at Scottsdale Fashion Square, looking west to Camelback Mountain.

The office building is the building where I used to work in the 1980's that I showed a few days ago. On the right is the Neiman Marcus store, also a part of Scottsdale Fashion Square, as the mall includes two enclosed bridges of shops that cross Camelback Road and Goldwater Boulevard.

You cannot discern the distinctive shape of Camelback Mountain from this angle because you are looking at the back end of the camel. But the prime attraction of this scene, in my opinion, is the wispy clouds.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site. This week we are showing photos of the details of the Villa Balbianello in Lake Como. It is one of our favorite places on earth. If you have not been there, you owe yourself a treat to take a look.

Scottsdale Waterfront Condos

I mentioned a few days ago that a 10 story office building was the tallest building in Scottsdale for decades. A few years ago the City allowed these tall condos in the heart of Scottsdale. People who live here love it, as there are lots of amenities and they can walk to probably 50 restaurants. My husband and I walk here for dinner in the evening sometimes from our house.

The condos are part of the Scottsdale Waterfront Project, which combines residential towers with shops, restaurants, and offices. The Waterfront connects Scottsdale Fashion Square, which is across the street to the north, and downtown Scottsdale, which is across the canal to the south, as I showed yesterday.

I think the City allowed the height as an incentive for the developer because of the benefit of developing and uniting the land between the mall and downtown. But of course now developers want to the zoning changed in the surrounding area to allow more tall buildings.

This week we are showing photos of a mussel ranch in Nova Scotia, Canada on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Scottsdale Waterfront and Soleri Bridge

This is the scene looking east from Goldwater Boulevard near the fish wall that I have showed during the last few days. This photo shows a pedestrian bridge that connects the Scottsdale Waterfront project on the left with the Southbridge project on the right.

Inn the background are the two towers of the Paolo Soleri suspension bridge, which is also a pedestrian bridge across the canal.

It is only during the past few years that Scottsdale has decided to take advantage of the canals that cross our city, bringing water from as far as the Colorado River, 200 miles (320 km) away. San Antonio learned how to use canals as an architectural feature 80 years ago. Of course, 80 years ago Scottsdale was desert.

This week we are showing photos of a mussel ranch in Nova Scotia, Canada on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Fish wall and Scottsdale office building

This is my final post showing the fish wall. I included this photo to show the overall scene. The flowering shrubs and palm trees are in the median strip of Goldwater Boulevard.

The office building in the background was, for decades, the tallest building in Scottsdale. Scottsdale has not had tall buildings until recently, as people want to preserve the views to the mountains.

I worked in this office building throughout most of the 1980's, in my first job after I graduated from Arizona State University. I grew up and lived in Mesa, about 10 miles east. I never imagined that 20 years later I would live just one mile from the building where I worked.

This week we are showing photos of a mussel ranch in Nova Scotia, Canada on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Fish on the wall

Here is another view of one of the fish on the wall near Scottsdale Fashion Square, which is the largest shopping mall in Arizona.

Behind the scales of the fish the wall is made of glass block. I took this photo in the morning so there would be sun on the fish and wall. In the late afternoon, the light shines through the glass block to brighten the inside of the fish.

I will have to return sometime to show the afternoon effect.

This week we are showing photos of a mussel ranch in Nova Scotia, Canada on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Theme Day: Fences

Today's worldwide Daily Photo theme is "fences." We do not have a lot of fences in Scottsdale, as most people have walls around their yards. This wall, however, also has a fence. There is a fence that holds back the river rock and simulates the waves of either the ocean or a river, under the fish.

This wall is about one mile (1.6 km) from our house. It decorates a wall along Goldwater Boulevard just south of Camelback, near Scottsdale Fashion Square.

I like public art such as this. It makes the city more festive and interesting. This wall is certainly much more attractive than a plain, straight wall, don't you agree?

The reason we have walls rather than fences is that wood fences would never be able to withstand the Arizona sun.

This week we are showing photos of a mussel ranch in Nova Scotia, Canada on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

To see how other City Daily Photo bloggers have interpreted this month's theme Click here to view thumbnails for all participants