4/10/2025 - Little Red Schoolhouse Museum

 

This building is the Scottsdale Historical Museum at the Little Red Schoolhouse.  The museum opened in November 1991 and operated by the Scottsdale Historical Society.  This building is located at 7333 East Scottsdale Mall.  It is near Old Town Scottsdale.

The Little Red Schoolhouse, originally constructed as the Scottsdale Grammar School in 1909.  It was a tribute to the wisdom and foresight of town founder, Chaplain Winfield Scott.

It is still located on its original site in Old Town Scottsdale, the Little Red Schoolhouse was dedicated on Scott's birthday on February 26, 1910.  After serving as a school between 1909 to early 1950's, it served as Scottsdale's first Town Hall (1955-1963), then it was a public library (1963-1968), and then it was the Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center from 1973-1991.

This was Chaplain Winfield Scott and his wife.

The schoolhouse is a small building for a school.  Here you can read the history of Scottsdale and the area around there.

Scottsdale Historical Society - Historical Museum

4/10/2025 - First Christian Church a Frank Lloyd Wright Design

 

I bet you are wondering why I have this church on my blog.  With my theme of going to see Frank Lloyd Wright buildings.  This was one of his designs.  There were portions of a 1950 design for the Southwest Christian Seminary in this church.  Frank Lloyd Wright was not alive when this place was built in 1971-78.  Taliesin Associated Architects built this church.

This First Christian Church is located in Phoenix, AZ.

First Christian Church of Phoenix

4/10/2025 - Taliesin West a Frank Lloyd Wright Home

This is the Taliesin West House.  The design came from Frank Lloyd Wright the architect.  This was Frank's winter home located in Scottsdale, AZ.  In the late 1930's, he purchased six hundred acres of land in the Sonoran Desert at the foot McDowell Mountain.  This home was his winter home, studio and architectural laboratory until his death in 1959.

The house was constructed of stone, cement, redwood, and canvas.  There are angled roofs, exposed beams and rubble walls mirror the colors, textures and forms of the surrounding landscape.  Later on somethings got replaced with steel and fiberglass.

Now you can visit it to see the amazing house.  You can take a tour or do a self-guided tour.  We took the self-guided tour.  When you are there, you download the app on your phone, and you listen to it through your headphones that they provide or bring your own.  Bring your own headphones is the best.  There is number along the pathways of the house.  You click on your phone for that number, and they talk about.

Here is a list of the numbers along the pathway.

#1 - Introduction, Whitman Square - This is in front of the house.

#2 - Entry Court - This area is like a driveway.

#3 - Petroglyph - This is a rock where they saw a petroglyph that Frank Lloyd Wright got his signature.

#4 - Wright's Office - This is where he showed some of his designs to people.

#5 - Cabaret Fountain - This is a fountain in the middle of the house.

#6 - Prow Pool - Picture of the pool and see how everything is in a triangle.  It shows you how the mountain connects with the house.

#7 - The Prow - A view of the desert.

#8 - Sunset Terrace - These displays were around the house.

#9 - Garden Room - Frank Lloyd Wright's entertainment room

This is in the garden room.  It is a picture wall of the house from a bird eye view.

#10 - Dining Cove - A small room off the garden room.

#11 - Tower Pool - Small pool

#12 - Kiva - Meeting room

#13 - Breezeway - Have the nice cool breeze to go through the house.

#14 - Dining Room - Where they eat.  It was big area.

#15 - Drafting Studio - Here are some of the draft boards they used and they had some drawings of his designs.

#16 - Cabaret - Where they played shows.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the place.  But you have to go for yourself.  Perfect time to go when it is cooler weather.  Take a hat and sunglasses and water.  They have a great little gift shop.  Also, it is UNESCO World Heritage site and National Historic Landmark in Arizona. 

Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

8/1986 - Denali National Park and Preserve aka Mt. McKinley

In August of 1986 I went to visit my dad when he lived in Alaska.  On this trip we went to Denali NPP located in Denali Park, AK.  One of the ways you can get there is by train from Anchorage to the Denali.

Here are some pictures I found of us on the train to the park.

My dad, Bob

My dad and me

My stepmom, Meg.

My dad and Meg.

The park contains North America's highest mountain, 20,320-foot Mount Mckinley.  Large glaciers of the Alaska Range, caribou, Dall sheep, moose, grizzly bears and timber wolves are other highlights of the national park and preserve.

More than a Mountain

Denali National Park & Preserve (U.S. National Park Service)

8/1985 - Kenai Fjords National Park aka Exit Glacier

 

In August of 1985, I went up to Alaska to see my dad and my stepmom.  On this trip we went to Kenai Fjords National Park that is located in Seward, AK.  We went on a boat ride to see the glaciers and saw a lot of wild sea animals.  It is summer up there, but it was still very cold on the boat.  You can go on a charter boat to take you around the national park.  It is an 8-hour ride and takes you around 100 miles.  I do remember they did have some soup on board to get warmed up.

Whale

Dolphin

A lot of Sea Lions

Glacier

Sea Otters

The park within 20 miles of Seward, includes one of the four major ice caps in the U.S., the Harding Icefield, Glaciers radiating from 700-square-mile icefield continue to cut deep glacial valleys, many ending at tidewater.  The coasted fjords and associated offshore islands are remnants of "drowned" mountains.  Here a rich varied rain forest is to sea lions, sea otters, seals and tons of thousands of breeding birds, including puffins, murres and auklets.

Where Mountains, Ice and Ocean Meet

Kenai Fjords National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

1980's - Meteor Crater

 I don't remember going here when I was younger, but I did remember that I have been here before.  It is a crater in the Earth ground.  It is huge hole.  It is near Winslow, AZ off of Interstate 40, Exit 233.  Here are a couple of pictures that were taken there.

Here is my stepdad and me.

Here is the Meteor Crater.

Meteor Crater: A Must-See Natural Wonder | Top Things to Do in Arizona

1980's - Grand Canyon National Park

In the 1980's my mom, my stepdad and me went to the Grand Canyon NP located in Arizona.  I think this was a trip after we moved to Phoenix from Illinois.

My mom Kathy and me

My stepdad Ron and me

The park, focusing on the world-famous Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, encompasses the entire course of the river and adjacent uplands from the southern terminus of Glen Canyon NRA to the eastern boundary of Lake Mead NRA.  The forces of erosion have exposed immense variety of formations which illustrate vast periods of geological history.

Geologic Wonder and Ancestral Homeland

Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

4/1977 - Gothenburg Pony Express Station

 When I was a baby my dad and mom went to Gothenburg Pony Express Station located in Nebraska.  This was one of the stops for the Pony Express NHT when they riders would bring mail to different states in the country.

My dad took this picture of my mom and me. Of course, I am the one setting on the saddle bag that the riders use to use during their travels.

Gothenburg Pony Express Station (U.S. National Park Service)

Pony Express Station