Places are fragmentary and inward-turning histories, pasts that others are not allowed to read, accumulated times that can be unfolded but like stories held in reserve, remaining in an enigmatic state . . .
[Michael de Certeau, The Practice of Everyday Life, Walking in The City]

This past September, on my second day of being an Outsider, I walked from Exposition Park to Murray Street Coffee on the eastern edge of Deep Ellum. I took a photograph of the streak of light that streams down at noon between the eastern and western lanes of traffic of the Route 30 overpass. For the past six months, I’ve continued to capture moments of the unexpected and of the delightfully mundane within a relatively small walking radius of our office on Exposition Avenue.

At first I knew nothing about where I was. I knew nothing about Exposition Park, or even anything about Texas. Everything was different, the plants were strange, the heat was brutal, the sun a bit blinding. It was easy to meander, to get just a little bit lost. It became midday ritual of wandering around the same few blocks in search of the unexpected.

It also became an experiment in seeing. I wanted to walk around the same block three or four times a week, and to see something that I hadn’t seen before. Eventually, I would know when a dumpster appeared, and when it left, when the rain caused a sidewalk to sink and crack even further. I know when the last leaves fell from a tree, and when the first tinge of green appeared.

In September, Peter Graves posted about his research into the history of Exposition Park by studying historic maps. This is another layer to that same story. As landscape architects, we have many ways of learning about a place. There are maps, and data. There are the stories of the place and its people. But there is also careful observation of the material condition of place. An observation of material that tells a story of people and processes.

This series isn’t about the exact composition or resolution of each image. It’s about looking at sidewalks with curiosity to learn their stories. It’s a practice in the everyday act of walking, and a practice of seeing. It's a practice of being able to get lost in your own backyard, and to look with wonder at the spaces that you thought you knew.

Road Trip

Important to every life of a Studio Outsider is planning how to use our paid time off (PTO). Last year my wife and I, new to North Texas, decided to take advantage of our closer proximity to Colorado and take a road trip to the Rocky Mountains. Our America the Beautiful Annual Pass was expiring and we wanted to squeeze-in one more park, do some hiking, and see some scenery. A (long) day’s drive from Dallas, nestled in the south Rockies, Great Sand Dunes National Park seemed like an interesting destination to visit with beautiful scenery, unique hikes, and fascinating history.

History and Geology

Originally designated in 1932 as a National Landmark, Great Sand Dunes National Park was established in 2004 to preserve the unique character of the site and to protect valuable water resources that still exist just a few feet below the surface of the sand. Covering 44,245 acres, the sand dunes are the highest in North America. Trapped between the San Juan Mountain Range to the west and the Sangre de Cristo Range to the east, the dunes rise as high as 770 feet above the San Luis Valley floor. The dunefield evolved and grew over the past 440,000 years as winds from the west deposited sand left behind by the now extinct Rio Grande River and prehistoric Lake Alamosa at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range. The dunes grew higher as storms blew from the east down from the mountains pushing and depositing the sand back towards the valley floor. Contributing to this constant evolution Medano and Sand Creek run along the base of the dunefield carrying sand from the eastern edge of the dunes around to west edge where the eolian process continues in an endless loop.

The Hikes

The Park offers incredible dune hikes as well as hikes into the Rocky Mountains and through the valley’s grasslands and wetlands. Our favorite trail was to the summit of Star Dune, the highest dune in North America. I use the term “trail” loosely as I can’t tell you how we reached the Dune. As we entered the dunefield we gradually found our way up, around, down, and across several ridges, past High Dune, and eventually to the summit of Star Dune. From Star Dune we looked across the 30 square miles of the dunefield toward the Rocky Mountains in the distance. If you remember your sled (we didn’t) you can make the trip down the dunes much quicker by sliding or sandboarding down the sandy slopes to the edge of Medano Creek.

Safe Travels

A uniquely exciting trip, I would recommend Great Sand Dunes National Park to anyone looking to escape the city for a long weekend. If by chance you have enough vacation days to extend the trip, the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park is a quick and beautiful four hour drive north through the Rocky Mountains. Drive safely and remember your water and sunscreen!