Prescott photos...

[Don B.]

(mix of new shots from this year and some older ones from last year):

Sunset tonight:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_1915largecopy.jpg

Looking east down Gurley:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8668copy.jpg

Whiskey Row:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8654copy.jpg

More people than in downtown Phoenix:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8666copy.jpg

Another sunset shot at Willow Lake in March, 2007:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_0623screensavercopy.jpg

Mars, anyone:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_0622maxcopy.jpg

Yeah, I like sunsets:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8536copy.jpg

Misc. images:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8686copy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8678copy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8680copy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8657copy.jpg

Milky Way at night:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8651copy.jpg

:)

--don

[Azndragon837]

Wow. I have family that lives in Prescott. They own a quaint little Chinese restaurant in Downtown. The last photo is AMAZING....the last time I saw the Milky Way in full technicolor was when I was camping up in Wyoming in 2001.

Great photos! Prescott looks beautiful, I gotta come up there sometime. Too bad sprawl is taking over the area outside in the Valley.

-Andrew

[oliveurban]

Nice, and cool.

[Upward]

Great shots. I especially like that last one. Have you tried any star trail pictures (very long exposures)?

[Comrade]

I think Prescott is my favorite Arizona city.

[JAHOPL]

Thanks for the photos, Don. My mom and three brothers live in Prescott and I lived there about 20 years. Inspite of several shopping centers on the outskirts of town, the downtown area continues to thrive. There is not one vacant store in any of those surrounding the downtown courthouse square. You captured some beautiful sunsets. This time of the year around the Fourth of July is crazy; forget about getting a hotel or motel room, although with the newer ones further out you might get lucky, and the campgrounds fill up too.

[wrendog]

Thanks! Prescott is a cool town.

[PHX31]

Great sunset shots... I'm surprised you didn't get a picture or two of the courthouse. Even if the large trees may block parts of it.

My parents have a place up there, directly next to the national forest. A few years ago the forest fire came extremely close to their house (they got red fire-retardent slurry all over their house), that's only only draw back of the area. Other than that, downtown Prescott is a great time.

[shawneriksmith]

Nice pics...I'm planning on taking my in-laws up to Prescott in middle of July (they're flying in from Puerto Rico). I'll show them the pics so they know what to expect. It'll be my first time up there as well.

[plinko]

No Thumb Butte? :)

Willow Lake is other-worldly.

I think DT Prescott might actually be more vibrant than Flagstaff.

[BroncoCSU05]

nice last photo! care to share the stats from the EXIF on that? ;)

[Don B.]

Thanks, guys! :)

Phx31: Oh, I have pics of the courthouse. I just didn't stick them in this thread. Here's my favorite:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20and%20Snow%20pics/IMG_6962copy.jpg

Another from the same older series above:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_8682copy.jpg

Plinko: Thumb Butte is in the left lower corner of the first sunset shot in this thread. :)

BroncoCSU05: I don't hide my exif data...you can see it on any of my images. Here it is for that pic:

f/1.2
85 mm (prime lens - fixed)
5 second exposure
ISO 1600
pattern matering mode
manual exposure program
0 step exposure compensation

:D

Upward: No, I haven't tried any star trails shots. I think you need a special remote transmitter for the 5D to hold the shutter open that long.

--don

[PHX31]

Great courthouse pics. It looks nice in the snow, but probably even better when the trees have leaves.

[JAHOPL]

There are pictures of the earlier and smaller courthouse and the young, small trees have just been planted, around 1900. I think the granite blocks in the present courthouse come from Granite Mountain to the northwest, the mountain on the right in Don's first photo.

[soleri]

Prescott is gorgeous - and your pics are otherworldly in their artistry. I'd like to see a little Point/Counterpoint, however. Show the downtown area and then show the Wal-Mart where they blew up half a mountain to get a large enough pad to put their big box. Or show the haphazard development in Prescott Valley, or the McMansions on Forest Sevice roads. Prescott is a gem, but the suburban encrustations are wretched.

[Don B.]

^ I hear you, but the problem you speak of is endemic to the entire United States, not just Prescott. I think this city has done a better job than most at controlling growth, and proof of this is found in the bustling downtown, despite all of the exurban sprawl that is going on. I guess it shows you can have your cake and eat it, too, so long as you balance the competing interests.

--don

[Exiled_Boulderite]

Here are a couple of sets of I took of Prescott recently.

http://homepage.mac.com/tom.michell/PhotoAlbum1.html
http://homepage.mac.com/tom.michell/PhotoAlbum2.html

I haev yet to figure out why a town the size of Prescott needs 2 giant Walmarts let alone the 3rd one that their currently builiding less than a mile from one of the existing ones.

[Don B.]

Here are a couple of sets of I took of Prescott recently.

http://homepage.mac.com/tom.michell/PhotoAlbum1.html
http://homepage.mac.com/tom.michell/PhotoAlbum2.html

I haev yet to figure out why a town the size of Prescott needs 2 giant Walmarts let alone the 3rd one that their currently builiding less than a mile from one of the existing ones.

^ Cool pics.

Where is the third Wal-Mart? I only know of the two - one off of Willow Springs in the northwest part of town and the other off of Hwy 69 near the new Gateway Mall.

If you are referring to the hideous grading project further east on 69, that's for the Home Depot, and yet further east from that is the new shopping center, towards Prescott Valley.

Latest numbers from YAG:

Prescott: 47,500 (+1.2% per year)
Prescott Valley: 46,300 (+2.3%)
Chino Valley: 10,900 (+3.6%)
Dewey-Humboldt: 7,800 (1.9%)

Yavapai County: 278,000 (+2.1%)

Average ages:

Prescott: 47.8 years
Prescott Valley: 36.6
Chino Valley: 32.3
Dewey-Humbolt: 43.1

Yavapai County: 39

Percentage of population over 60 years of age: 32% (highest in Arizona).

--don

[Exiled_Boulderite]

Oh yeah you're right it's the Home Depot I was thinking of.

[JAHOPL]

Our family moved to Prescott in December, 1966 when the population was about 15,000. PV had maybe a thousand and Chino Valley a couple thousand. There was only one traffic light between Prescott and I-17, at Robert Road in PV. The downside was that it was one lane each way from Prescott to the interstate, and you'd get stuck behind slow traffic sometimes and not enough room to pass. We'd look at all that flat land in PV and say to ourselves that one day PV will have more people than Prescott. According to those figures above, that day is about here. Only took 40 years.

[andrewkfromaz]

Great pics, Don.
A friend and I ate at Caffe St. Michael's (corner of Whiskey Row and Gurley St.) Saturday night (the 23rd) and were amazed at how busy all of downtown was for the Bluegrass Days. The courthouse square was littered with people, and there were dozens of people walking down Whiskey Row.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Prescott over the next few years. I'd love to see some urban growth in the area. I think (and hope) water availability will curtail some of the sprawl.

[R.H. Klotzbach]

Don, did you take that second shot looking east down Gurley Street from McCormick Place?

[Don B.]

Don, did you take that second shot looking east down Gurley Street from McCormick Place?

^ I did. Good eye. :)

Since I'm back in this thread, I though I'd slap up a couple of pics of where I'm working this summer:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_1815largecopy.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v22/don85259/Prescott%20Photos/IMG_1816largecopy.jpg

Cool house, great location and very walkable.

--don