East of Phoenix near Talking Stick Resort, there's an entertainment complex comprised of about 8 family friendly attractions. One of them is "Butterfly Wonderland", an open environment you can walk through that contains thousands of butterflies of various species. I snapped this pic of one of them grabbing a snack.

Businesses featuring southwestern themes like this used to be ubiqutious throughout Arizona. Today, much of Arizona's cityscapes are comprised of modern American monoculture. I apprediciate Kachina's 60+ year old brand asthetic upholding

a bit of desert culture and nostalgia. Don't ever change that sign!

Owned by a guy who moved to Arizona from Chicago.

He said, "Because I moved out west, I had to buy a truck."

Some people around here might say the best roadhouse in Texas is in Phoenix Arizona. Famous for their chicken fried steaks, TexAZ has an atmosphere that screams Texas hospitality. This is a photo of their bar area. It's fun.

And now for something completely different ... this is an actual municipal crosswalk sign on Mill Avenue in Tempe. When the light turns green, you know what to do.

More from Scottsdale ... There is a lot of cowboy flavor in Scottsdale, mainly for the tourists. This area contains many high-end trendy bars and fine dining restaurants, even if sometimes they're covered in Southwestern kitsch.

There's a public art installation in the Sunny Slope neighborhood of Phoenix called the "Dunlap Tree Garden". For a stretch of about a mile, the trees along the road are accompanied by various painted steel figures. I always thought this one looked like my friend Johnny.

More from Scottsdale ... Robert Indiana's "LOVE" print from the 60s is iconic. He also created several sculptures based on the print. This aluminum version stands 12 feet tall in Civic Plaza as part of Scottsdale's public art collection.

I took a walk around Old Town Scottsdale and Scottsdale Civic Plaza. It's a very touristy area and fun to visit. This clock is in Civic Plaza and was put there by the Rotary Club in 2014.

I'm kind of wishing I'd had the opportunity to venture into the desert this weekend. It's going to soon be too hot to off-road around Phoenix. Luckily mountains and cooler climes are only a few hours north on Highway I-17. Here's a photo of crane I took in the Hassayampa River Preserve southwest of Phoenix a few years back.

"Papers? I don't need no stinkin' papers!" -

Floyd, a Mexican born in the USA, vetoes Arizona's new law.

I saw a Facebook group today called “Boycott Arizona”, and felt like I should let folks know not all Arizonans support the new law signed by Governor Jan Brewer last week. The law, a hot topic that has polarized much of the state, is currently the strictest immigration control measures in the US, allowing and encouraging police to request documentation from anyone they suspect may be here illegally.

So basically, it legalizes racial profiling. The federal government has given very little thought to viable solutions on illegal immigration, so now individual states are taking a crack at it, at the risk of disastrous results.

This is an embarrassing black eye for Arizona, a state I’ve lived in for 15 years and dearly love. Makes us look like a bunch of backwards fools. Never have fully grasped the politics here, being a Chicago Democrat at heart—but I’m always willing to listen to opinions different than my own. This new ruling is against basic civil rights. It promotes hatred, racism, fascism.

Arizona has only been a state for 98 years. Before that, it was a territory, and before that it was part of Mexico. There are generations of Arizona-born U.S. citizens with Mexican heritage that extend back far longer than most of us more recent arrivals.

Jan Brewer was not elected-- she was appointed when Janet Napolitano, our popular 2 term Democratic governor was selected for Obama’s cabinet, as Secretary of Homeland Security. Napolitano vetoed this same bill the first time it came up. She was also savvy about tourism’s importance in our state, unlike Brewer who has cut Arizona Office of Tourism’s budget by 70%, and closed half a dozen state parks. Jan Brewer is causing damage that will have a lingering impact long after she’s out of office, leaving a wake of bad publicity, boycotts, and negative feelings for the beautiful state of Arizona.

I am more frightened of the Arizona lawmakers than any illegal immigrant. Besides that, this says nothing about natural born Americans with Mexican heritage who are now targets of the police for no other reason than their heritage.

The irony of it all? The part that makes me laugh? Maybe the Navajo, Hopi, Yavapai Apache, Supai, Tohono O’Odham and Pima Indians ought to start asking all of us for our documentation!

Foliage in Flagstaff, Arizona. A wonder place to visit during Autumn

Sunset on Four Peaks looking from the Lost Dutchman State Park.

I was offroad on the Mogollon Rim when I spotted an old ranch. I got out to look, and when I returned to the Jeep, this guy was standing there. I wish I'd had an apple on me.

Granite on water. Lake Watson - Prescott, AZ

SONY DSC

Credits: Kris

See also www.flickr.com/photos/42854494@N08/8443939593/in/photostr...

Another spectacular Arizona sunrise! I took this one in Tempe, featuring the Mill Avenue Bridge, downtown, and that perennial reservoir we affectionally call Town Lake. You can tell I took this one awhile ago by the buildings missing in the skyline ... sorry Farmer's Insurance.

shattered, sun baked, sprung.

Granite formations at Watson Lake at sunrise. Prescott, Arizona

Random homeless people sitting on a street corner

This cat lingers around our house. If Chad leaves the vent window open on his bug, the cat always ends up sleeping the night inside of his car. Here is a cameraphone photo I took of him while walking to work one morning, just before I shooed him out.

Might be the earliest our apricot has ever bloomed?

Arizona is vintage car heaven.

In 1982, InnerConn Technology, a manufacturer of circuit boards for computers and watches, announced plans relocate its operations to Casa Grande. But the the company defaulted on its construction loan before completion and the full series of domes was never completed. The property has been abandoned since.⠀

⠀

The Casa Grande Dispatch, which covered the construction in the 80s and has followed the story to the present day, described the construction process similarly to an "upside down swimming pool, with the concrete formed around a big balloon. They were then covered with a spray foam."⠀

⠀

It's said that InnerConn Technology intended to get into the dome building business. The company reportedly formed a subsidiary, Dome Industrial Homebuilders Inc. for the venture. Low-cost, rapid construction, and high heat efficiency/insulation were identified as key qualities of the domes and their unique construction process.⠀

⠀

In 2017 the Casa Grande Dispatch reported the property owner was ordered to demolish the domes. Who knows how much longer they will stand.⠀

#architectonics ⠀

#artofvisuals ⠀

#urbanromantix ⠀

#modernspaces ⠀

#urbandecay ⠀⠀⠀

#sombrescapes ⠀⠀⠀

#all_is_abandoned ⠀⠀⠀

#abandonment_issues ⠀⠀⠀

#the_relics ⠀

#beautyindecay ⠀

#rurex ⠀

#travelog⠀

#mytinyatlas⠀

#instapassport⠀

#flashesofdelight⠀

#forahappymoment⠀

#exploringtheglobe⠀

#arizonalife ⠀

Now that Simon is halfway through his vaccinations we can take him on some little adventures outside of the yard.

More from Scottsdale ... Civic Plaza features lush flower gardens intermixed with public art pieces. I'm not sure what kind of flowers these are, comment if you know.

I took a ride to Coolidge, Arizona to see the Casa Grande ruins. The ruins consist of a "Big House" surrounded by several outlying structures. They were built in around 1150 by the Hohokam, a prehistoric native people. The site is thought to have been abandoned by them in about 1450.

In 1982, InnerConn Technology, a manufacturer of circuit boards for computers and watches, announced plans relocate its operations to Casa Grande. But the the company defaulted on its construction loan before completion and the full series of domes was never completed. The property has been abandoned since.⠀

⠀

The Casa Grande Dispatch, which covered the construction in the 80s and has followed the story to the present day, described the construction process similarly to an "upside down swimming pool, with the concrete formed around a big balloon. They were then covered with a spray foam."⠀

⠀

It's said that InnerConn Technology intended to get into the dome building business. The company reportedly formed a subsidiary, Dome Industrial Homebuilders Inc. for the venture. Low-cost, rapid construction, and high heat efficiency/insulation were identified as key qualities of the domes and their unique construction process.⠀

⠀

In 2017 the Casa Grande Dispatch reported the property owner was ordered to demolish the domes. Who knows how much longer they will stand.⠀

#architectonics ⠀

#artofvisuals ⠀

#urbanromantix ⠀

#modernspaces ⠀

#urbandecay ⠀⠀⠀

#sombrescapes ⠀⠀⠀

#all_is_abandoned ⠀⠀⠀

#abandonment_issues ⠀⠀⠀

#the_relics ⠀

#beautyindecay ⠀

#rurex ⠀

#travelog⠀

#mytinyatlas⠀

#instapassport⠀

#flashesofdelight⠀

#forahappymoment⠀

#exploringtheglobe⠀

#arizonalife ⠀

top photo is a mash up of colored lights in our pantry with a cool Chevy Apache truck parked in the 'hood..

In 1982, InnerConn Technology, a manufacturer of circuit boards for computers and watches, announced plans relocate its operations to Casa Grande. But the the company defaulted on its construction loan before completion and the full series of domes was never completed. The property has been abandoned since.⠀

⠀

The Casa Grande Dispatch, which covered the construction in the 80s and has followed the story to the present day, described the construction process similarly to an "upside down swimming pool, with the concrete formed around a big balloon. They were then covered with a spray foam."⠀

⠀

It's said that InnerConn Technology intended to get into the dome building business. The company reportedly formed a subsidiary, Dome Industrial Homebuilders Inc. for the venture. Low-cost, rapid construction, and high heat efficiency/insulation were identified as key qualities of the domes and their unique construction process.⠀

⠀

In 2017 the Casa Grande Dispatch reported the property owner was ordered to demolish the domes. Who knows how much longer they will stand.⠀

#architectonics ⠀

#artofvisuals ⠀

#urbanromantix ⠀

#modernspaces ⠀

#urbandecay ⠀⠀⠀

#sombrescapes ⠀⠀⠀

#all_is_abandoned ⠀⠀⠀

#abandonment_issues ⠀⠀⠀

#the_relics ⠀

#beautyindecay ⠀

#rurex ⠀

#travelog⠀

#mytinyatlas⠀

#instapassport⠀

#flashesofdelight⠀

#forahappymoment⠀

#exploringtheglobe⠀

#arizonalife ⠀

Local yokel, artist Richard Johnson

In 1982, InnerConn Technology, a manufacturer of circuit boards for computers and watches, announced plans relocate its operations to Casa Grande. But the the company defaulted on its construction loan before completion and the full series of domes was never completed. The property has been abandoned since.⠀

⠀

The Casa Grande Dispatch, which covered the construction in the 80s and has followed the story to the present day, described the construction process similarly to an "upside down swimming pool, with the concrete formed around a big balloon. They were then covered with a spray foam."⠀

⠀

It's said that InnerConn Technology intended to get into the dome building business. The company reportedly formed a subsidiary, Dome Industrial Homebuilders Inc. for the venture. Low-cost, rapid construction, and high heat efficiency/insulation were identified as key qualities of the domes and their unique construction process.⠀

⠀

In 2017 the Casa Grande Dispatch reported the property owner was ordered to demolish the domes. Who knows how much longer they will stand.⠀

#architectonics ⠀

#artofvisuals ⠀

#urbanromantix ⠀

#modernspaces ⠀

#urbandecay ⠀⠀⠀

#sombrescapes ⠀⠀⠀

#all_is_abandoned ⠀⠀⠀

#abandonment_issues ⠀⠀⠀

#the_relics ⠀

#beautyindecay ⠀

#rurex ⠀

#travelog⠀

#mytinyatlas⠀

#instapassport⠀

#flashesofdelight⠀

#forahappymoment⠀

#exploringtheglobe⠀

#arizonalife ⠀

More from Scottsdale ... I'm not sure what these lights are called, but they're for sale at most southwestern stores. I love how festive they look. Maybe I'll find a place for one eventually.

In 1982, InnerConn Technology, a manufacturer of circuit boards for computers and watches, announced plans relocate its operations to Casa Grande. But the the company defaulted on its construction loan before completion and the full series of domes was never completed. The property has been abandoned since.⠀

⠀

The Casa Grande Dispatch, which covered the construction in the 80s and has followed the story to the present day, described the construction process similarly to an "upside down swimming pool, with the concrete formed around a big balloon. They were then covered with a spray foam."⠀

⠀

It's said that InnerConn Technology intended to get into the dome building business. The company reportedly formed a subsidiary, Dome Industrial Homebuilders Inc. for the venture. Low-cost, rapid construction, and high heat efficiency/insulation were identified as key qualities of the domes and their unique construction process.⠀

⠀

In 2017 the Casa Grande Dispatch reported the property owner was ordered to demolish the domes. Who knows how much longer they will stand.⠀

#architectonics ⠀

#artofvisuals ⠀

#urbanromantix ⠀

#modernspaces ⠀

#urbandecay ⠀⠀⠀

#sombrescapes ⠀⠀⠀

#all_is_abandoned ⠀⠀⠀

#abandonment_issues ⠀⠀⠀

#the_relics ⠀

#beautyindecay ⠀

#rurex ⠀

#travelog⠀

#mytinyatlas⠀

#instapassport⠀

#flashesofdelight⠀

#forahappymoment⠀

#exploringtheglobe⠀

#arizonalife ⠀

Polaroid Land Camera Automatic 230 (c.1968)= $2.00

Early 1970s General Electric Cassette Player= $2.00.

Major thrift store scores Saturday morning from the Misson Thrift Store in Cottonwood, AZ. Also got a $6.00 picnic basket, a wealth of vintage post cards, and a couple of nice books. Success!

The cassette player reminds me of one my family had when I was very young, except ours was white, or maybe grey. We used to borrow cassette tapes from the children's section of our local library and I'd lay on the floor listening to stories, fascinated with the sounds of the recording, and how they were emanting from the little machine. Perhaps this is why my most favorite Christmas gift of all time was when I got a tape recorder in 1982, and could use it to interview people, and record skits & antics of me and my brother.

The Land Camera had minor electrical problems, a corroded negative battery wire and terminal, which Chad was able to jury-rig/fix for me, getting the shutter to fire again.