The church above is the San Miguel Mission, the oldest church structure in the United States. The original adobe walls and altar were built around 1610, and although it was partially destroyed several times during its existence, those walls still stand. There are more beautiful churches in Santa Fe, but none shine under that...
Kasha-Katuwe
With just three days left in his term, the first President Clinton declared seven new “National Monuments” by executive order, setting aside large areas of environmentally sensitive land and ensuring that they would receive federal protection from commercial development. (The move wasn’t popular with some western politicians, who didn’t want to see their states’...
Compton Hill Water Tower
Near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Highway 44 in St. Louis stands the Compton Hill Water Tower, built in the 1890s to improve water delivery to city residents. The “guts” of the tower is actually a 140-foot-tall, six-foot-diameter standpipe. The city found that somewhat unsightly, so the brick and limestone tower was built...
Seagulls And Sunrises
This land belongs to the gullsAnd the gulls to their cryAnd their cry to the windAnd their cry to the wind—David Gray Michigan City. It’s a town of about 30,000 people, nestled in the northwest corner of Indiana, across the bottom of Lake Michigan from Chicago. My family has vacationed there for upwards...
The Game After The Storm
It was 10 years ago tonight—July 19, 2006—that I had the best seats I’ve ever had for a baseball game, and it was one of the wildest nights I’ve spent at the ballpark. My brother, who at that time worked for Anheuser Busch, which at that time was one of the better employers in St. Louis,...
The Captains’ Return … Returns!
There have been 161 posts on Shoulblog so far. And the one that, by far, gets the most traffic over time is About That Statue, a series of pictures of the Lewis & Clark Statue on the St. Louis riverfront. The statue, named “The Captains’ Return,” was somewhat unique in that it was regularly...
It’s Been 100 Days Since Christmas…
…And that means there are 100 pictures in my picture-a-day blog, Shoulpix. Well, not exactly. I’ve missed a few days, and I’ve made up a few days, but I don’t think I’ve made up as many as I missed. But to apologize, I’m giving you this post at half the regular price! Anyway, these...
Ready Or Not, Baseball Season Starts In One Week
I had some time before work this morning, so I took a walk around downtown to take some pictures. I gravitated toward Busch Stadium to see how “Ballpark Village” is coming along, visit the statue garden, and see if the yard looked ready for baseball. Well, it might be ready, but it’s hard to...
Snow Globes
Oh what fun it is … to leave the flash on while you’re taking pictures in a snowstorm!...
The Ducks At Tilles
It was a nice enough morning, so I went over to Tilles Park to see how the ducks and geese were doing. They’re doing OK, it seems....