Ladee's Travels

Phoenix - 911 Memorial

These photos were taken the weekend of the Arizona Statehood 100th birthday celebration, which is why there are so many people and booths in the area. The area is normally quite serene. More information about the memorial can be found online.

I think that the design is quiet and reflective.

The main information is found as you approach the memorial.

A timeline of events is carved in to the ceiling "ring". As the sun shines through the carved metal, the words are shown on the concrete bench below.

A tower structure piece is on display.

This is a view of the circular metal piece from across the grass.

Phoenix - Phoenix Art Museum

The Phoenix Art Museum has been growing over the years and brings in great traveling exhibits. The theater department has also done a great job obtaining films pertaining to art subjects. The latest one, "Leonardo Live", depicts the Da Vinci exhibit that was at London's National Gallery. This was one of my reasons for attending the museum. See the Events list for this and other scheduled events. Many of the show times were sold out (great!!!) so I think that this has been a huge success. I also went to see the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit, as I am a huge fan.

My day started with a nice lunch in the onsite restaurant "Palette at the Phoenix Art Museum". If you are planning a meal, be sure to check the website for the closing times.

Be sure to look around the outside of the Museum for interesting architecture, fountains and statues.

The restaurant was the first stop of my day.

The entrance.

Interesting piece in the front lobby. I asked an attendant about the photography policy. She told me that there were signs (and indicated about a six inch square with her hands). I picked up my ticket from will call and proceeded in to the Museum. I saw a lovely poster of the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit next to his model of a mile high building and took a photo BECAUSE I did not see a sign. The guard came running up to me and told me that I could be sued for taking it. I calmly asked for the location of the "no photographs" sign and he pointed to a tiny 1/2 in stamp on the description of the art. Who can see that without glasses????

So, I put the camera away so that I wouldn't get in any other trouble (and I'm NOT posting the photo!)

All in all, the Museum has a nice collection and is very kid friendly (see the red dinosaur on the front lawn!)

Phoenix - Viad Park

The Viad Corporate Center is located at 1850 North Central Avenue. It is near the Phoenix Art Museum and the Metro Transit stop at Central and McDowell. I have driven past this park for years, but never stopped in to take a look at the beautiful bronze statues. There is also a playhouse in the Viad building, home to many troops "Playhouse on the Park".

The shape of the building is interesting enough in itself.

The park sits on the north side of the building. There is a parking lot next to the park.

The first bronze looks lifelike from the parking lot. Look, someone is enjoying a nap underneath the tree!

As you get closer, you see that it is a bronze!

There are a lot of glass windows on the building and it surely warrants constant attention to keeping the windows clean and shiny.

"Bob" is there night and day, keeping things in order.

There is a nice seating area and fountain (the fountains weren't running on this day).

Another tourist is taking photos of the park.

The children are certainly having a lot of fun running through the grass.

A beautiful old clock and fancy "gas lights" add to the ambiance.

Flowers filled the area, and this woman wonders what else needs to be planted.

It is worth the time to stop and enjoy this park. There are restaurants in the area, the Phoenix Art Museum and Phoenix Little Theatre are within walking distance.

Phoenix - Vietnam War Memorial

The Vietnam War Memorial sits to the South of Wesley Bolin plaza.

Black slabs with the names of those lost in the war surround a center platform. The platform gives significant events throughout the War.

The dedication plaque.

The statue, while it depicts a sad event, is beautifully done.

The statue was done by Jasper D'Ambrosi in 1985 and cast by Arizona Bronze. I was thrilled to learn that we have casting facilities in the state and will need to make time to visit their works.

Close-up of a soldier.

The work is extremely detailed.

A map of Vietnam and the cities is on the walkway.

Phoenix - Korean War Memorial

This memorial is located in the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza. It honors the Arizona Casualties of the Korean War.

The bell is beautiful. It is very tempting to ring it.

Phoenix - USS Arizona Anchor and Mast

Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza is the home to the anchor from the USS Arizona and a mast. (Note that the original Arizona bell now hangs in the University of Arizona (Tucson) Student Union Memorial Center bell tower. The bell is run after every home football victory. Other artifacts are permanently housed at Arizona State Capital museum.) You can read about the USS Arizona here.

This is the anchor and you can see the mast in the distance.

The base of the anchor holds the names of those lost during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

This is the view of the mast looking forwards the Arizona Capital building.

A dormant fountain has the Arizona state flag. The pigeons are lined up for a private viewing.

There is also a time capsule at the exhibit. Hmmmmmm, 2075 seems like a very long time.

This is a little closer to the mast.

This plaque tells more about the USS Arizona Signal Mast. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

This is looking from the mast back at the anchor. The three poles sticking up are flags near the anchor, just to give you a perspective on the distance between the mast and the anchor.

There are many books on the ship and the battle at Amazon. (affiliate link)

Here is the post from my visit to the sight in December, 2013
http://ladeetravels.blogspot.com/2014/02/honolulu-hawaii-pearl-harbor.html

Phoenix - Ernest W. McFarland Memorial

I work near the Capital building and have started exploring the monuments and memorials in the area. I find it quite interesting that I have lived in Phoenix for such a long time, yet there are still a lot of sites that I do not take the time to visit. Isn't that true of our own hometowns a lot of the time?

This is located in the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza. The first memorial that I visited was Ernest W. McFarland. You can read more about him here. He was a democratic senator for Arizona, the tenth Governor of Arizona, and chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court. He is also honored as the "Father of the G.I. Bill."

The area is very nice and is across the street from the Arizona Supreme Court. It is Winter in this photo, so you can imagine that it would be very shaded in the Spring and Summer.

The fountain and seating were very interesting in that they looked like large books.

A wall shows a list of his accomplishments.

Amazon has a few books about his life and story. (Affiliate links)

Pittsburgh - Stephen Foster Memorial

The Stephen Foster Memorial is located on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Yes, Stephen Foster is yet another Pittsburgh native.

We weren't able to enter the building due to a scheduled event, but the grounds were wonderful. Be sure to check the official campus website (here) so that you are sure of the hours. I am going to show a few of the photos that I took and the things that caught my eye. References that I give are taken from this wikipedia description.