Mendocino. Art students? Budding fashion photographers? Road-kill-in-waiting? (Notice the "artsiness" of my own shot...

Mendocino. The two girls receding and still doing their photo-shoot in the middle of the street.

In northern CA, this was possibly the biggest of the many places selling souveniers. Note the tall Big Foot on the left edge of the photo.

Avenue of the Giants - the 32 mile scenic drive in northern CA through old growth redwoods. The car gives some scale. (The next couple of photos are from that drive.) If you are ANYWHERE in that area, as the Nike slogan says, "Just do it!"

Looking straight up at 200-foot tall Redwoods is surreal....

On the Avenue of the Giants. (Baby is there to give scale to the fallen redwood, NOT because she's photogenic. Really. No, really!

Over-zealous Asian tourist photographing a light-rail station? (Yeah, yeah: "pot calling the kettle black") No, and it's clearly not any of the SEPTA stations (hah!) in Phila....It's the tramway for those too lazy or unable to take a 15 minute walk up a gentle incline from the parking lots to The Getty Center in the hills above LA. (I took it because it was raining. Really.)

The only way to get a good photo of the Getty Center complex is from the air. This is not from the air. There is someting antiseptic about it despite the great care about landscaping, layout, fountains, and use of organic materials, eg. rough-faced stone, "reech Coreenthian leather" (just kidding), etc. It feels like a grown-ups' Disneyland with watchful volunteers in little vests everywhere and a cafeteria that has separate counters for hot food, Mexican food, sandwiches, wraps/salads, sushi (just kidding - don't know how they missed that one)... Considering how often the Museum is in the news as affecting the art market because of its financial resources, I was not as excited/impressed as I had expected to be.

When you have billions and billions of dollars to spend on architecture and art (but not on ransoming a grandson from Italian kidnappers, who then cut off his ear), it'd better look stunning: and it does. The Getty Center is worth a detour.

Henry Gray and his eight year old son, after we made it back up to the canyon top at Canyon de Chelly. (Story in earlier postings.)

This is Henry Gray, the young Navajo I met hiking in Canyon de Chelly, about whom I wrote several posting earlier. Our conversation was profoundly affecting. His son took the photo.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument, AZ. View from the bottom of the canyon. The trail back to the top, about 750 feet up, zig zags across this face. (About an inch down and an inch from the left edge, there are two specks, one reddish and one whitish: they are hikers on the way up.)

White House ruins - a view with more of the sheer cliff face above it. The ruins are about 30 feet high...

White House Ruins, Canyon de Chelly, Arizona. Parts of the Canyon have been continuously inhabited for 800+ years. It is also sprinkled with ruins of the Ancestral Puebloans, like this one (called "White House because the dwelling at the center has traces of white-wash, as you can see -- click on the photo to enlarge). For a sense of scale, the ruins in the cleft of the cliff face are 3-4 stories high. The cliff continues upwards (and curving slightly outward) for several HUNDRED feet and to the left and right as far as the eye can see. (See other photo(s).)

Natchez, Miss - Twice a year, the town has "The Pilgrimage", when restored private homes are also opened to tours and there are dances, etc. to celebrate the pageantry of a lost way of life. A King and Queen and Court are selected for the main Ball. These are the gowns/costumes from a past Ball. ( I'm all for remembering the past, but I think it's a mistake to have the "King" wear a Confederate uniform. For one thing, it's a little strange since the pre-Civil War period, which is the one they are celebrating, by DEFINITION didn't Civil War uniforms, duh!

The sad side of Natchez, Miss. This is one in a row of abandoned houses on Canal Street along the waterfront. The town lost all of its industrial base and hasn't quite re-made itself into a full-functioning tourist attraction. So, ante-bellum mansions, both restored and awaiting $$, co-exist with run-down housing stock and high unemployment.

Natchez, Miss.- Stanton Hall, a house "King Cotton" built. Competing ladies' garden clubs own and run some of the houses that can be toured. The club running this one is quite a bit more snotty than the other one.

My friends Margie and Grace's daughter Eleana (and friend) in front of the shape of things to come: a McDonald's with a "McCafe", a copy-cat Starbucks grafted to its side. Be scared, be VERY scared....

Biltmore House, the largest private home in the USA -- has 255 rooms -- built by one of the Vanderbilts. I would have enjoyed the walking trails, gardens, vineyard, and landscaping if it had been dry...The house-tour (and the furnishings) are unimpressive given how much moolah the man had. (See earlier entry about the visit.)

On I-95 south of Washington, D.C. on the first day of the trip. A little lost?