A Stroll Down Mane Street

December 18, 2016, 1 Comment

No, that’s not a typo, I really did mean “mane” like a horse’s mane, because today I’m sharing some images from one of my favorite high desert locations, Pioneertown, and it really is Mane Street here. Just after my family left from visiting for my grandmother’s services, Patrick’s mother came to visit for a week,…

Ghost Towns along Highway 49

September 16, 2016, 8 Comments

I am sorry to report I don’t have any images from our time spent in Portland. I was incredibly busy constantly visiting with friends and family, and shopping of course! What I do have to show for our trip though are some shots I took of some ghost towns. we visited during our journey back…

Mission Santa Barbara

May 17, 2016, 10 Comments

UPDATE: It is important to remember that while California Missions have been hailed as places of peace, they also have deep and complicated histories, including slavery, violence, and forced religious conversion. Over the weekend Patrick and I drove up the coast and crossed another one of California’s Missions off of the list, Mission Santa Barbara,…

Salvation Mountain

March 14, 2016, 4 Comments

Each time I would visit Palm Springs and return home I would get asked “Did you go to Salvation Mountain?” Here’s the funny thing about where Salvation Mountain is… It’s hardly “close” to Palm Springs. Palm Springs, and its neighboring cities of Palm Desert, Cathedral City, and Indio are the closest cities of any real consequence…

Universal Studios

September 10, 2015, 5 Comments

After living in California for nearly a year (seriously, where does the time go, but I’ll reflect on that in a later post), Patrick and I finally made it to Universal Studios yesterday. I hadn’t been since I believe 1997, and Patrick had never been. With the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opening in spring…

Mission San Juan Capistrano

June 18, 2015, 8 Comments

UPDATE: It is important to remember that while California Missions have been hailed as places of peace, they also have deep and complicated histories, including slavery, violence, and forced religious conversion. One of my favorite things about California history is that of the Spanish missions. It is a goal of mine to visit each of…

The Deserted Town of Desert Shores

March 25, 2015, 11 Comments

Over the weekend Patrick and I took a day trip to the Salton Sea to see what we could see (yeah, I just went there). Last March I visited the ghostly Salton Sea for the first time with my dad, but we only explored the east side of the sea. During this visit, Patrick and…

A Return to the Orchid Tree Inn

March 11, 2015, 8 Comments

In 2013 during a visit to Palm Springs I shared images of a vacant (and at the time, for sale) hotel and adjacent church. It was The Orchid Tree Inn and the Community Church of Palm Springs, and you can view the first visit here. When we returned to Palm Springs in 2014, the hotel we…

The Old LA Zoo

February 3, 2015, 4 Comments

As already established, I adore abandoned buildings. I love the spookiness that is created when nature begins to reclaim man-made structures, and it is this that sparked my interest in visiting the old Los Angeles Zoo at Griffith Park, which we went to after our turn about the Merry-Go-Round. The zoo opened in 1912, but…

Not so Royal Anymore

January 10, 2015, 4 Comments

Lost Places Update: Arnie’s Royal Hawaiian has been recategorized as a Lost Place. Why? In April of 2025, after filming wrapped for season two of Fallout, it was demolished. * * * On our way back, we stopped in Baker, mostly because I was starving. There isn’t much in Baker, though it is home to…

Atomic Redhead

personal photography

A Stroll Down Mane Street

Ghost Towns along Highway 49

Mission Santa Barbara

Salvation Mountain

Universal Studios

Mission San Juan Capistrano

The Deserted Town of Desert Shores

A Return to the Orchid Tree Inn

The Old LA Zoo

Not so Royal Anymore