Stairs, like railroad trains and highways, are links between Here and There. Once in a very great while the
There is obscure; usually, we're talking about the usual Up and Down. Example: these RR ties made into steps from the street up the incline to a yard here in Prescott.
Similarly, the pair of steps here (above and below). What caught my attention was how the stairs were integrated into the driveway. An interesting local innovation.
Back last month on my trip to Cajun country, which is also oil country, I scored these shots. I find stairs mounting a great tank (above) to be absolutely elegant and was pleased to get a replacement for pictures I took last year in Flagstaff, lost when my hard drive crashed. However, the tangle at the bayou oil collection point below is a bit of a puzzle. (One problem with Prescott is that we really have no interesting industrial stuff to photograph, except maybe old mines.)
But best of all in my stairway folder is a set of steps that deliberately go absolutely Nowhere. At all. Found at the
National Ornamental Metal Museum, a favorite hometown showcase of the Famous Niece from Memphis. Names of cities and companies are featured on each rung; we couldn't figure out if all were steel mill towns/companies or not, though that's what we suspect.
Stairs, like railroad trains and highways, are links between Here and There. Once in a very great while the There is obscure; usually, we're talking about the usual Up and Down. Example: these RR ties made into steps from the street up the incline to a yard here in Prescott.
Similarly, the pair of steps here (above and below). What caught my attention was how the stairs were integrated into the driveway. An interesting local innovation.
Back last month on my trip to Cajun country, which is also oil country, I scored these shots. I find stairs mounting a great tank (above) to be absolutely elegant and was pleased to get a replacement for pictures I took last year in Flagstaff, lost when my hard drive crashed. However, the tangle at the bayou oil collection point below is a bit of a puzzle. (One problem with Prescott is that we really have no interesting industrial stuff to photograph, except maybe old mines.)
But best of all in my stairway folder is a set of steps that deliberately go absolutely Nowhere. At all. Found at the National Ornamental Metal Museum, a favorite hometown showcase of the Famous Niece from Memphis. Names of cities and companies are featured on each rung; we couldn't figure out if all were steel mill towns/companies or not, though that's what we suspect.
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16 comments:
Using old railroad ties is kind of neat, but I wonder how long before the wood needs replacing.
Wow, Granny J, your photos make ordinary stairs/steps look so elegant.
Kudos to you!
~Anon in AV.
Great blog!
"Stairway to heaven" do you know of the song?
The last one is a work of art. I must build one some day, from which to overlook my domain...
Mark.
steve -- actually, after looking more closely at the timber, I would guess that it never saw a choochoo but was installed new from the garden center or lumber yard.
anon av -- I find only the faux RR tie steps to be in the ordinary category; never before had I seen stairs incorporated into a hillside driveway which is why I took the pix. As for the stairs up the tanks, I've always wanted to climb them whenever I saw them, tho they seemed somehow a bit mysterious and scary.
windy -- thank you kindly. Glad you enjoyed.
mark -- certainly I remember that one. Bing? As for the fanciful flight, I would put it on the deck of my mighty schooner.
Wonderful flight of fanciful steps.
Stairway to Heaven was a Led Zep song, later re-hashed (and I use that word advisedly) by Rolf Harris.
All together now...
Oh dear, Stitch -- my age is really showing! The tune running through my head is "Stairway to the Stars:, a Glenn Miller hit; the Bing Crosby item is "Pennies from Heaven". Took a bit of time with The Google to get my head straightened out!
What a coincidence. I was just in Prescott last weekend taking photos of stairs and pathways I saw in Ponderosa Park. Nothing compared to yours of course but still kind of funny.
I'm glad you showed a spiral stairway going up the storage cylinder. I've always loved those things.
As long as we're remembering old broadway songs, how about "Up a Steep and Narrow Stairway," from the "Chorus Line."
I'll bet there are a couple of those in downtown Prescott.
boonie -- you are so right about steep & narrow stairways in downtown Prescott -- I've seen several of them. Thanks for more musical education!
qd -- Ponderosa Park is quite full of quirky things to photograph. I'd love to spend a couple of days wandering about there.
Since the "bridge to nowhere" got scrapped, maybe Alaskans who favored it would like your staircase to nowhere! ;>
Great pictures, GJ.
Cat-A -- I'll be glad to take it up in person later this summer!
Granny: How cool! Thanks for sharing the stair pictures!
The last stair-art is amazing. The whole series is grandly sweeping.
I keep thinking of Winnie-the-Pooh thump, thump, thumping down the stairs.
Or how about Gershwin's 'I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise'?
zhoen -- I'd like either to own that fanciful stairway to climb every day, perhaps to greet the sun or maybe the moon. On the other hand, wouldn't it be grand to live atop one of those huge storage tanks, accessible only by the staircase that spirals up the side. Welcome!
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