My friend Colleen loves to take pictures, find whacky stuff and just go, go, go! She told me about this internet site called “America’s Roadside Attractions.” You go to the website, enter the state and city and you will be directed to some interesting places. So on Saturday, March 4, 2016, we headed out to find these attractions in Phoenix. Hope you enjoy the ride:

1). Guitar Tree

Just a local family-owned business that finds, repairs and restores used and vintage instruments.

2). “Release the Fear” Sculpture

Pistols, knives, rifles and other deadly weapons are fused to the base of the sculpture. The sculpture was erected in 2005 in a tiny park at the corner of Central Ave and East Roosevelt St. It is composed of 8 1/2 tons of metal of which 8,000 pounds is from weapons used in violent acts collected throughout AZ. Artist Miley spent 10 years finding sponsors and sources for the building materials. The funder’s names are inscribed on irregular stone slabs on each side. Miley continues to promote the power of education and art to combat violence, running a community awareness program since 1996.

3). Art made of metal

This was not on the list of Roadside Attractions, but we ran across it as we were driving around and thought it had some interesting characters. As we were looking around, the guy running the store came out and asked if he could help us. We said no, that we were just looking. We asked if these were made here…….No they are imported!

4). Arizona Falls

Arizona Falls is formed by a 20 ft drop along the AZ canal. The canals are a public utility providing a water supply & irrigation to the desert climate. Beginning in 1902 the falls have been used to generate hydroelectric power.

Water is diverted from the canal into new aqueducts framing each side of the water room. The aqueducts release the water back into the canal creating the waterfalls.

During the excavation of the site, artifacts from the old power plant were discovered. At the rear of the water room, you can see the gears and pipes through the falling water.