Welcome to Judith Works' Website!

WUPATKI NATIONAL MONUMENT

By
judithworks

on

February 10, 2022

Explorers of the West in the 19^th Century like John Wesley Powell marveled at the scattered ruins of pueblos and strange volcanic landscape that makes up the area called Wupatki one of the many National Monuments in Central Arizona. So did we.

The scenic road from Sedona led us north winding around hairpin turns through Oak Creek Canyon and up over the Mongollan Rim at 8000 ft altitude. The road widened as we continued through wildflower-carpeted Ponderosa Pine woodlands to Flagstaff.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

1 Comment

Arizona independant travel Travel

ARIZONA – Montezuma’s Castle and Well

By
judithworks

on

January 11, 2022

The second historic site near Sedona, Montezuma Castle National Monument has more to capture the eye and thoughts of the past than the meager remains of Tuzigoot. Early Spanish explorers thought the “castle” was built by the Aztecs. An offshoot of the monuments is called Montezuma’s Well, a watering source used by the local people for irrigation. Both parts are misnamed as the Aztecs lived thousands of miles south and the castle is a cliff house and there is no well.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

3 Comments

Travel

ARIZONA – Tuzigoot and Jerome

By
judithworks

on

November 13, 2021

Who can resist visiting a National Park Service Monument with the curious name of Tuzigoot? The word means Crooked Water in the Apache language but it preserves remains from peoples who arrived around the year 1000 AD to take advantage of water resources to grow corn, beans, squash to supplement their diet of deer and other game. And they also grew and wove cotton for garments and trade—the prized Pima cotton label we now look for on clothing and bedding labels.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

1 Comment

Arizona Travel

ARIZONA: The Red Rocks of Sedona

By
judithworks

on

October 15, 2021

Everyone says don’t miss Sedona. They were correct!

We turned off the freeway about two hours north of Phoenix to follow the road to Sedona winding through desert plants surrounded by small yellow butterflies flittering around flowering shrubs.

Another few turns brought us to a halt to stare in awe at the magnificent sight of orange and dark red sandstone sculpted into giant spires, plateaus, canyons and massive rock escarpments all constructed by the gods of wind and water over eons.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

2 Comments

Pacific Northwest

ORCAS ISLAND – A Rural Idyll

By
judithworks

on

August 24, 2021

Anacortes on the north coast of Washington State and our stop before moving on to Orcas. The town was formerly somewhat of a backwater but has recently become a destination for water-oriented retirees attracted to small-town living, gorgeous views of saltwater with passing cargo ships, pleasure craft and fishing boats, and easy access to the San Juan Islands.

We were amused at the many cutouts of historical figures and current workers that decorate buildings as we drove toward the ferry dock.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

2 Comments

Travel

HAWAII -Of Gods & Men

By
judithworks

on

June 11, 2021

A barefoot man wearing a loincloth and a traditional short cape made of ti leaves walked by me as if deep in thought. When I turned to watch him, I could see his black hair cut high on the sides and left long on top to fall around his shoulders. Without looking to right or left he strode away from the Great Wall defining the Pu’uhonua, Place of Refuge, during ancient Hawaiian times.

He projected power and I could not help but wonder if he was a chief or priest.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

10 Comments

Hawaii Travel

HAWAII -HILO & RAIN

By
judithworks

on

April 16, 2021

Hilo isn’t exactly what one typically pictures of Hawaii – white sand beaches, luxury hotels, blue sky. Instead, it’s truly tropical with rain, clearing, and more rain – ten feet a year on average. BUT, it has food, a foodie’s idea of heaven along with parks hosting enormous banyan trees and bamboo. On the Island of Hawaii (known as The Big Island) it’s a world away from the condos and golf courses that dot the dry, Kona Coast, side.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

2 Comments

Pacific Northwest

SAN JUAN ISLAND

By
judithworks

on

March 3, 2021

The weather report was bad but a winter getaway called to celebrate our anniversary — a week early because everything was booked for our day which is Valentine’s Day. We decided to stay on the largest island in the town of Friday Harbor, the county seat of San Juan County made up of an archipelago of four lightly populated islands and a spray of others that adjoin those in Canada that continue up the Inside Passage.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

6 Comments

State of Washington Uncategorized

ROLL ON COLUMBIA: ASTORIA AND THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER

By
judithworks

on

January 21, 2021

Woody Guthrie’s famous song written in 1941 to extoll the virtues of dam building on the Columbia River and its tributaries is not the subject of this story although the effect of all that damn dam building (some eighty) is one of the causes of the demise of the salmon fishing and canning industry that once powered the booming economy of historic Astoria Oregon.

The small city sits a few miles from the mouth of the Columbia where the river empties into the Pacific Ocean in a roiling combination of swift and silty fresh water fighting the ocean tides and storms.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

4 Comments

State of Washington

A WINTER WEEKEND ON WHIDBEY ISLAND

By
judithworks

on

December 5, 2020

Tired, oh so tired by our semi-lockdown due to Covid, we decided to take a quick getaway to an island we can see from our living room. An island with almost no virus cases. Feeling secure, we joined the line at the ferry dock in the nearby town of Mukilteo for the twenty-minute cruise to the tiny town of Clinton on the south end of Whidbey Island.

Named for Joseph Whidbey, Master of HMS Discovery, who along with expedition leader Captain George Vancouver, explored the island in 1792.… Read more

Share this:

READ ARTICLE

3 Comments

worksjudith