Spirit Talks
Zona Historico Walking the historical district
Walking streets in the historical district of Mazatlan, before people wake up, photo ops pop like bubbles from a glass of champagne. Inanimate objects are posing and don't require permission to photograph. With people there are always questions of...
Jack Kerouac in Mazatlan On the road
Back in the 1950's, after WW2, most people headed home to raise families. Men were tired of shooting bullets and women were tired of making them. Instead of killing humanity the focus became re-populating humanity. An era of big bands was...
Surprise Arizona at Sunset Dusk
At dusk, clouds congregate on the horizon and cars exit Highway 303 at Bell Rd. to go to Surprise, Arizona. It is quitting time for those who still have a job to go too. In Surprise, brother Alan and I are staying at the Happy Trails Resort but it could...
Roy Rogers- Dale Evans/Chuckwagon Restaurant Cowboy culture
Surprise, Arizona didn't start where it is today. Back in the day there wasn't much here but tumbleweeds, cactus, rugged mountains, ranches, farms, a few dirt roads and lots of dreams. The Happy Trails Resort was once nothing but a set of plans for...
Oranges, Saquaro and Ducks Resort accoutrements
There is, at some point, a line whereby good taste moves into bad. There are value meters operating in everyone's head at any given time with rating needles moving from one to ten, good to bad, up or down simultaneously within many categories. The Happy...
Steins, Arizona Murder Pulling off the freeway
I-10 takes you to Los Angeles if you stay on it all the way. Out of Wilcox, Arizona the Interstate takes you along a steadily winding uphill road that goes from long flat expanses to foothills and into rugged mountains. Several miles before you get to...
White Tank Mountain Reserve, Arizona protected nature
Outside the Happy Trails Resort, to the southwest, is a nature preserve named the White Tank Mountains. Whereas Surprise is a continuation of development, an encroachment upon the desert, the White Tank Mountains are resolutely clinging to...
California Soul Records Looking for a shirt
Victoria Gardens is a Rancho Cucamonga mall, one of many in the Los Angeles area where shopping ranks high on people's to do lists. The day before Christmas, late afternoon, crowds are thinning. By now, most have their shopping complete and are winding...
California Shopping Mall Ontario, California
The shopping mall is not only a metaphor for the Christmas season, but a melody. Jingle bells ring from inside closed stores as a security pickup patrols and deliveries are made to the back door. Stores open at ten in the morning and stay open till ten...
Pompano Beach/Florida Working class beach
Fort Lauderdale is to Pompano Beach as Cadillac is to Ford. Fort Lauderdale has location, money, reputation, retirees. The boulevards are a little bigger, the canals a little deeper, the yachts a little bigger, the bling a little brighter, the...
Florida/ A Fountain of Youth Coral Springs- The Walk
Florida is close to being underwater. It is incredibly flat, incredibly wet, incredibly dense with vegetation, increasingly populated by people coming to paradise to restart lives, escape boredom, find wealth and prosperity, or just escape the...
Rocking and Rolling The Earth shakes
Tourist season is blooming and booming. Tour companies pack avid nature lovers into Costa Rica's National Parks, visit rain forests, hike deep into volcanic arenas, provide vivid sights for photographers, bird watchers and naturalists. You can do zip...
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