Sunday, January 13, 2013

- The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway

I went here in 2012. AWSOME! "PALM SPRINGS, CA - The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway constructed in rugged Chino Canyon on the north edge of Palm Springs - about two hours by car from Los Angeles and San Diego - did not just happen. It required foresight, planning, financing and, most of all a vision. For years, it was the dream of a young electrical engineer named Francis F. Crocker to "go up there where it's nice and cool". Crocker's dream began in 1935 while he was on a trip to Banning, California, with newspaper publisher Carl Barkow. Mopping his brow in the heat of the day, Crocker gazed on longingly at the still snow-capped peak of Mt. San Jacinto 10,834 feet high. At that moment, "Crocker's Folly,'' as it was soon dubbed by one newspaper woman, was born - a tramway up the sheer cliffs of Chino Canyon. Even though the enthusiasm for the tramway idea was high locally, political roadblocks caused numerous disappointing setbacks. Twice, a tramway enabling bill passed the California State legislature, only to be vetoed by then Governor Culbert Olson. With the outbreak of World War II, the plans were shelved. However, Crocker's vision of a tramway to scale those cliffs to the coolness of the San Jacinto mountains never died. Years after the original plans were shelved, they were dusted off and the battle enjoined. By 1950, technicians were moving ahead on designs for the Tramway, spending more than $250,000 solving riddles of road and tower construction. Funds for the construction of the Tramway were raised by the sale of $8.5 million in private revenue bonds. Not one cent of public funds was used for either the construction or operation of the Tramway. The 35-year bonds paid 5½ percent interest and were paid off in 1996. The Korean conflict was to cause yet another delay, but the ambitious project began to take form in July 1961. Construction of the Tramway was an engineering challenge and was soon labeled the "eighth wonder of the world.'' The superlative was earned because of the ingenious use of helicopters in erecting four of the five supporting towers. Some 20 years later, the Tramway was designated an historical civil engineering landmark. The first tower is the only one that can be reached by road. The helicopters flew some 23,000 missions during the 26 months of construction, hauling men and materials needed to erect the four other towers and the 35,000 sq. ft. Mountain Station. Francis Crocker's dream was completed in 1963; the inaugural ride occurred on September 14th with scores of local and state dignitaries and celebrities on hand. In 1966 a 7,800 ft. granite spire in the canyon was dedicated to Coffman who died in August 1967; Francis Crocker died in 1992. The Tramway announced in 1998 that it was embarking on a modernization program that would see the construction and installation in 2000 of new cars and updating of its facilities. Beginning in September 2000, passengers rode the world's largest rotating Tram cars, constructed by the Tram's original car manufacturer, Von Roll Tramways (now owned by Dopplmayr Tramways). More than 12 million people have been safely transported by the Tramway into the majestic mountains overlooking the Coachella Valley since the attraction opened in September 1963." Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument "The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway is a major gateway to the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument traversing the southerly side of the Coachella Valley – officially designated a treasured natural and cultural resource. The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument was established by an Act of Congress on October 24, 2000 “in order to preserve the nationally significant biological, cultural, recreational, geological, educational, and scientific values found in the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains and to secure now and for future generations the opportunity to experience and enjoy the magnificent vistas, wildlife, land forms, and natural and cultural resources in these mountains". A majority of Mount San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness is part of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument and many of the monument’s beautiful hiking trails begin at the top of the Tram and extend over the San Jacinto Mountains to the outskirts of Idyllwild. The National Monument’s boundary encompasses about 272,000 acres, including 65,000 acres within the San Jacinto Ranger District of the San Bernardino National Forest, 89,500 acres within the Bureau of Land Management’s California Desert Conservation Area, the Santa Rosa Wilderness, which contains 61,600 acres of BLM and Forest Service lands, and 19,470 acres of the Forest Service’s San Jacinto Wilderness. Its boundary also surrounds land owned and administered by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, California Department of Parks and Recreation, California Department of Fish and Game, other agencies of the State of California, and private landowners. For more information call the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountain National Monument Visitor Center at 760-862-9984 or for a color brochure go to: www.palmspringslife.com/santarosa"

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Cabazon Dinosaurs

I went to see thses in 2012. I did not like the creationism BULL SHITbut love the dinos! From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Cabazon Dinosaurs Tourists can walk inside Dinny the Dinosaur General information Architectural style Novelty architecture Town or city Cabazon, California Country United States Coordinates 33°55′12.41″N 116°46′22.24″W Construction started 1964 (Dinny) / 1981 (Mr. Rex) Completed 1975 (Dinny) / 1986 (Mr. Rex) Cost $300,000 (Dinny) Design and construction Architect Claude K. Bell Structural engineer Gerald Hufstetler Cabazon Dinosaurs, also referred to as Claude Bell's Dinosaurs, are enormous, sculptured roadside attractions located in Cabazon, California and visible to the immediate north of Interstate 10. The site features Dinny the Dinosaur, a 150-ton building shaped like a larger-than-life-sized Apatosaurus, and Mr. Rex, a 100-ton Tyrannosaurus rex structure. Dinny (pronounced "Dine-ee") and Mr. Rex are at the Cabazon exit of Interstate 10 in California, a short distance west of Palm Springs behind the Wheel Inn diner on Seminole Drive in San Gorgonio Pass. The Wheel Inn Restaurant, once owned by Claude Bell The creation of the Cabazon dinosaurs began in the 1960s by Knott's Berry Farm sculptor and portrait artist Claude K. Bell (1897–1988) to attract customers to his Wheel Inn Cafe, which opened in 1958. Dinny, the first of the Cabazon dinosaurs, was started in 1964 and created over a span of eleven years.[1] Bell created Dinny out of spare material salvaged from the construction of nearby Interstate 10 at a cost of $300,000.[2] The biomorphic building that was to become Dinny was first erected as steel framework over which an expanded metal grid was formed in the shape of a dinosaur.[3] All of it was then covered with coats of shotcrete (spray concrete). Bell was quoted in 1970 as saying the 45-foot (14 m) high, 150-foot (46 m) long Dinny was "the first dinosaur in history, so far as I know, to be used as a building."[4] His original vision for Dinny was for the dinosaur's eyes to glow and mouth to spit fire at night, predicting, "It'll scare the dickens out of a lot of people driving up over the pass."[4] These two features, however, were not added. With the help of ironworker Gerald Hufstetler, Bell worked on the project independently; no construction companies or contractors were involved in the fabrication. The task of painting Dinny was completed by a friend of Bell's in exchange for one dollar and a case of Dr Pepper.[citation needed] A second dinosaur, Mr. Rex, was constructed near Dinny in 1981. Originally, a giant slide was installed in Rex's tail; it was later filled in with concrete making the slide unusable. A third woolly mammoth sculpture and a prehistoric garden were drafted, but never completed due to Bell's death in 1988.[5] [edit] Creationist museum Exhibits and displays inside Dinny detail arguments for Young Earth creationism and against evolutionism. This one concludes that the "Evolutionary Origin of Life Is Impossible". Following the sale of the property by Bell's surviving family in the mid-1990s, Cabazon Family Partnership and MKA Cabazon Partnership of Costa Mesa, California became the new owners of the roadside attraction. The partnership obtained approval for a major expansion of the Cabazon dinosaur site in 1996 with the land-use approvals including restaurants, a museum, and gift shop, and a 60-room motel at the Main Street exit in Cabazon. Orange County developer and MKA partner Gary Kanter states the original vision has been for MKA to transform the area into a children's science and museum exhibit.[6] Currently located inside Dinny is a gift store and museum promoting creationism with some of the toy dinosaurs in the shop sold under the label "Don't swallow it! The fossil record does not support evolution."[7] The current ownership has expressed a Young Earth creationist belief that most dinosaurs were created on Earth about 6,000 years ago – the same day as Adam and Eve.[7] In stark contrast to that belief are Bell's painted frescoes and sculptures inside Dinny, depicting a naturalist and evolutionary viewpoint. Bell's paintings include representations of Cro-Magnon man (labeled "Cro-Magnon Man 30,000 [years ago]") and Java Man (labeled "Java Man 400,000"). Bell's historic displays now exist alongside information detailing the creationist viewpoint of the earth and man's origins.[5] The Cabazon Dinosaurs attraction also features an open-air museum with fiberglass and robotic dinosaurs. Other activities at the site include a sand pit where visitors can experience a "dino dig"[8] as well as a gemstone and fossil-panning sluice. Pastor Robert Chiles, assisting Kanter in turning the exhibit into a non-denominational church, has been quoted as to his belief of why children are drawn to the dinosaur attraction, "There's something in their DNA that knows man walked with these creatures on Earth."[7] Chiles and Kanter plan to promote their views of creationism at the attraction based on their interpretation of the Book of Genesis.[7]"

Joshua Tree

I went here in 2012 and it was really fun. Close to many other destinations. Amazing formations. "National Park: Joshua Tree is located in southeastern California. Declared a U.S. National Park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act (Public Law 103-433), it had previously been a U.S. National Monument since 1936. It is named for the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) forests native to the park. It covers a land area of 790,636 acres (1,235.37 sq mi; 3,199.59 km2)[1] – an area slightly larger than the state of Rhode Island. A large part of the park, some 429,690 acres (173,890 ha), is a designated wilderness area. Straddling the San Bernardino County/Riverside County border, the park includes parts of two deserts, each an ecosystem whose characteristics are determined primarily by elevation: the higher Mojave Desert and lower Colorado Desert. The Little San Bernardino Mountains run through the southwest edge of the park"

Rocks and Horses

"Arrowhead Art" 2

Here is some of my "Arrowhead Art" . Flintknapping has been my hobby all my life.

Ray Harwood, flintknapper
ANGELA PARKER, SUSAN GLEASON, JEANNIE BINNING FLINTKNAPPERS, BY RAY HARWOOD
ANGELA PARKER FROM CARTOON BY RAY HARWOOD
FLINTACLAUSE, SANTA CLAUSE FLINTKNAPPER, BY RAY HARWOOD
ARROW HEAD ART 2012 FLINTKNAPPER RAY HARWOOD PART ONE I have been flintknapping all life. My dad did a little flintknapping and I also learned on my own. It is a fun hobby. Here is some on the photos of Arrowheads and knives and my drawing hobby. 2012
Kamo Kristilee Hunter By Ray Harwood