The World's Most Beautiful Places
A view of a meander in the Colorado River east of Moab, near Red Cliff Lodge. Parriott Mesa and the Castle Valley can be seen in the distance. Parriot Mesa is named after Dale M. Parriott, who was a Moab settler, and owned a ranch house in Castle Valley. Moab is located in Utah’s red rock country, part of the Colorado Plateau region and gateway to Arches National Park, and Canyonlands.
One of the distinguishing cultural and architectural aspects of the American Southwest are historic remnants of Catholic missions that were established by the Empire of Spain in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. The goal unlike the conquest of Mexico and South America for gold and riches, was to save the souls of native american indians the Spanish saw as pagans.
The Spanish Catholic Mission San Xavier del Bac was founded ten miles south of modern day Tucson, Arizona. It was founded in 1692 by Father Eusebio Kino, who also started the Tumacacori Spanish Mission just to the south near the border with Mexico. During his life, Eusebio established more than 24 missions, and country chapels in Pimería Alta (Sonora) and Baja California.
This mission was named after Francis Xavier, a Christian missionary and a founder of the Jesuit Order. The current church was completed in 1797, after the previous structure was destroyed by the Apaches. Its primary mission was the conversion of the local Pima Indians, and more specifically the Tohono O’odham band.
The church employs white stucco and a ornate Moorish-inspired architectural design.
This view comes from a failed attempt to build modern “cliff dwelling” in the famous sandstone cliffs of southern Utah. As the story goes, the man who constructed this was doing it in violation of Bureau of Land Management rules, and to make matters worse, the sandstone was of a variety to soft for hazard free living. Evidence within the cave makes it clear the structure will eventually cave in on itself. In any event it made for a nice shelter from a spring storm outside of Moab. In the distance you can see the storm clouds approaching and the green fields of a farm that hugs the banks of the Colorado River. The fields, the storm, cave opening and sandstone all made for a beautiful contrast.
See more images from the Colorado River watershed.