East of Montego Bay, Jamaica, is an impressive Georgian mansion that sits high on a hill overlooking the ocean. This isn’t just any great house, however. The story goes that Annie Palmer moved to this house with her husband, John Palmer, in the 1920s. Shortly thereafter, John mysteriously died. Annie’s two subsequent husbands also died under strange circumstances. A mistress of voodoo, Annie is said to have terrorized the slaves on the plantation and supposedly murdered a handful of slaves she lured into bed.
Rose Hall fell into disrepair over the years, and in the 1970s, former Miss USA Michelle Rollins and her husband John Rollins bought it. They refurbished the buildings, and today, visitors to Rose Hall can tour the place where Annie ate, slept and went about her daily life. Some even say the place is haunted.
In my opinion, one of the most fascinating aspects of the refurbished hall are the walls, which are covered in wallpaper made of silk and fabric. One is even embroidered! Every single room is decorated differently than the last, and the wallpaper very much matches the design of each room’s decor. I snapped a few shots of the walls as I made my way through Rose Hall.
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Like many lush Caribbean nations, Jamaica is awash is brilliantly colored flowers. On a recent bloggers trip, I slipped away from the crowd with my new camera in hand and managed to snap a few pictures of some of the country’s vegetation.
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Located on historic Route 66, Winslow, Arizona, is just like any other sleepy southwest town on the road: Kitschy, quiet, cute and, in some respects, crumbling in disrepair. The city was once the largest town in northern Arizona, but the creation of I-40 in the late 1970s literally drove traffic out of the town and many of the city’s businesses faded into history.
In 1972, the Eagles immortalized the city in their song, “Take it Easy.” The lyrics:
Well, I’m a standing on a corner
in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don’t say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
gonna save me
We may lose and we may win though
we will never be here again
so open up, I’m climbin’ in,
so take it easy
In 1994, the Standin’ On The Corner Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the rebirth of the city, sprang into action to revitalize the downtown area of Winslow. In 1997, a committee of volunteers designed a park, which commemorates the corner that made its debut in the Eagles song so many years ago.
It’s a shame that for more than 20 years the city of Winslow nearly faded from existence, and though it’s no happening place now, there is a revitalization and reason for people to visit. In addition to the park, a historic hotel and restaurant have been renovated and several investors have made efforts to kick start the economy in this sleepy southwest town.
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On the long road that cuts through the Mojave Desert in Southern California, there are a variety of cacti, twisted Joshua trees and the very rare desert tortoise. South of Mojave National Preserve and north of Joshua Tree National Park there is a toppled tree on the side of the road that is just a bit more colorful and notable than others. I’m not sure if this particular tree is known by any particular name, but I’ve come to call it the shoe tree.
I’d love to know the shoe tree’s story. Who threw the first shoe onto the tree? Was it intentional or did someone throw a shoe out a moving car window in frustration? Now covered in hundreds of flip-flops and tennis shoes, hiking boots and slippers, the shoe tree has become a collection of wearable graffiti. Some shoes are worn with peeling soles and tattered laces. Others look new enough to sell in a second-hand shop. All of them, in some way, have a story to tell.
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One of my favorite things about Huatulco, Mexico, was the incredible amount of color in everything. I saw it in the birds and flowers, in the water and food, in the clothing and along the streets. From the golden sun on the deep blue water in the morning to the outrageously colored costumes worn by the resort employees in their shows at night, the area was saturated in a rainbow.
Here are some of my favorite shots of this colorful locale. (Click on the photos for larger images.)
Cloth in a local store
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All the guidebooks we read about New Orleans advised readers not to visit the city’s cemeteries without a tour group. Apparently New Orleans’ cemeteries are a hot spot for unsavory activity, which I suppose makes sense given the pseudo-spooky, maze-like nature of these above-ground spaces.
We discovered, however, that the cemeteries are actually quite crowded throughout the day with tour groups and other interested folks, so we felt perfectly safe wandering through both St. Louis Cemetery #1 (located right outside the French Quarter) and Lafayette Cemetery #1 (located in the Garden District). The raised burial plots and tombs were beautiful and sorrowful, perfect for taking photographs.
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Though Huatulco, Mexico, was a lovely, uncrowded resort town anyway, it was the brilliantly colored flowers blooming absolutely everywhere that really grabbed my attention. Reds, pinks, purples, yellows, oranges—every single color of the rainbow was represented. Here is a sampling of the fantastic foliage I photographed.
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On my recent cruise to the Caribbean, we spent one day on Grand Turk, one of the 40 Turks and Caicos Islands. Grand Turk is only seven miles across, and approximately 5,600 live there. It was devastated by a hurricane in 2008, and the island is still working hard to recover from the destruction of the storm. We took an auto tour of the island, and the movement of the vehicle coupled with the rain did not make for many good pictures of the buildings and landmarks on Grand Turk.
Nonetheless, I did get a few decent photographs despite the crummy weather.
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‘Tis the holiday season all across Las Vegas.
Regardless of the season, we love to stop in the Palazzo and check out how they’ve dolled up the area near the gigantic waterfall. This year there’s a great big pool with floating cranberries and two polar bears made out of white carnations (similar to the bear at the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden.
Here are some of our favorite images this year:
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Posted in: I Love Las Vegas, Photos
One of my favorite ways to enjoy the holiday season in Las Vegas is to marvel in the incredible decorations that many of the resorts and hotels put up. Here are a few photos from the 2009 holiday season at the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden.
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Posted in: I Love Las Vegas, Photos
