HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

A few days ago the fabulous Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay celebrated it's 75th anniversary.  I have fond memories of the construction through the photographs of my father's brother, Zenas Howland Taylor.  He lived in San Francisco for many decades and he and some buddies watched the construction from their "swimming camp" just down the coast.

This is my Uncle Zenas at the beach.

And this is the beginning of what was the famous Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay.

As you can see from the photographs, only the huge suspension towers were in place at this point.  None of the cable had been strung nor the roadway built.

The members of this swimming club had their own construction project underway on the beach.  Using driftwood and construction material that floated onto shore, they were building their very own "camp" for protection from those nasty Northern California winds.

This was the 1930's, the glory years for that Band of Brothers.


A few years later, Uncle Zenas had put on some weight and was looking good on one of his many visits to one of his favorite places for climbing and camping out - Yosemite National Park.

These pictures came to my attention after his death.  But they help me to remember my favorite uncle.

TJ'S IS COMING ALONG

Construction on the much demanded and much maligned Trader Joe's store is moving right along just below the Gateway Mall in Prescott.  Here are a couple of views.

The store has been much demanded by people who have shopped at Trader Joe's stores elsewhere and have come to love them.  The much maligned part comes from those people who object to the city offering tax advantages to the parent company to lure the store to our area.  Most of these people have never darkened the doors of a TJ's, as evidenced by their comments about the high prices in stores that are only supported by the well-off.  Nothing could be further from the proof but if those folks choose not to shop at the store it will just make it that much easier for folks like me, who can't wait for the store to open.

We got one of their Fearless Flyer's in the mail the other day and after going through it, SWMBO exclaimed "It just makes you want to go to a store right away."  She, and I, are among those anxious shoppers waiting for the store to open.

Sometime in 2012, according to a sign at the site.

Going up!

Prescott Valley's new town library is steeling itself for the town's readers.

Funny. You'd think a building that used to house prim little ladies whispering "shhhhh" to noisy patrons wouldn't be made out of steel.

Anyway, here's a look at the project, which will also house some classrooms for the P.V. campus of Yavapai College.