Journey Back East

After doing a "fast and furious" tour through the southwest, it was time to make steady progress home to the East Coast.  The first stop was back in the Rockies in Aspen, CO.  I stayed with family friends Jane & Tony - thanks you!  They showed me around town and made sure I saw Maroon Bells, one of the most photographed group of mountains in the Rockies - mainly because there is a perfectly sited lake ideal for giving great reflections of the landscape when the air is still.  It was a little cloudy and misty the morning I was there, but it was only 50 Degrees, chilly compared to the 90s and 100s I'd been in during the prior days.

I had to drive up through the Rockies over the Continental Divide after staying in Aspen.  On my way up, the road paralleled a stream, thus allowing a convenient valley for the road to be built, and some great photo opportunities for me.  A constant struggle I've had throughout this trip is the desire to get out of the car every ten minutes and take a photo - it's amazing I covered any ground at all!  There were a few switchbacks heading up the mountains, but I was fortunate enough to run into any Winnebego RVs coming in the opposite direction.

Kansas City

Kansas City has a lot more to it then just it's name.  First, all those Hallmark Card you buy at the supermarket originate from the Hallmark Company headquartered in Kansas City.  Second, and I learned this myself over the past year, there are some truly gracious and unique neighborhoods in Kansas City, especially around  America's first suburban shopping district, Country Club Plaza.

That's right, this photo you see above is looking out across the Spanish influenced Country Club Plaza and the J C Nichols Memorial Fountain.  It was the founding vision of J C Nichols, the developer of the plaza in the 1920s that started the plaza from swampland that bordered the southern part of downtown Kansas City.  The Giralda Bell Tower pictured here is a half size version of the original from Seville, Spain.  Along with leading designer stores, there are numerous fountains, sculptures, and unique architectural details making the entire district a unique place to stroll around. 

I first learned about the plaza a year ago when I was asked to do a commissioned watercolor poster for the Urban Land Institute (ULI).  ULI is a public policy organization concerned with real estate development, and they hold a yearly competition asking graduate students from top universities to submit plans to re-develop an urban site in the U.S. I was responsible for designing the competition poster - the Gerald D. Hines/ULI Urban Design Competition.  The group asked that I use Country Club Plaza as the background for the 2012 competition.  Here's the poster below:

St. Louis

I has always wanted to see the Gateway Arch in person in St. Louis, MO along the Mississippi River.  I realize for me it was the "gateway home" rather than going west but I can say with confidence the photos and postcards don't do it justice.  The monument is HUGE!  You really have to stand underneath it in the park to understand the great feat of engineering that took place when it was built from 1963 - 65.  Underneath the arch is the very informative Museum of Westward Expansion that describes the journey of Lewis and Clark when they rafted up the Mississippi and then Missouri River in search of the Northwest Passage.  I particularly liked reading the direct quotes from the two explorer's notebooks.

The former train station in St. Louis was also a surprise, it's a beautiful red tiled Romanesque inspired site, and luckily it was saved and turned into a hotel (it's a Marriot) rather than torn down.