The Shadows in Arizona's Desert

(The Grand Canyon)

I'm combing two factors into this blog, but they're connected - shadow people, and Arizona.

I've been cross country twice now. Both times my husband and I drove, and both were the southern route. So we drove from Northern California, down the state, then cut across to South Carolina. The first time was to move to South Carolina for my husband's job (January, 2017). The second time was to get back to our home in SC after visiting our hometown in Northern California (December, 2017). It was sort of a road-trip honeymoon the second time. The first time we were just trying to get through the country as fast as possible, and we had our pets with us. I'm using photos from the second time, since I didn't take many photos the first trip. However what happened to me is an experience in Arizona I had on our first cross country trip.

On both trips, I drove through Arizona. It's a beautiful state. The Grand Canyon is the most well-known area of the state to a majority of people. However, a lot of the state can be very isolated and eerie. I drove for hours in it without seeing a town, another car, and only desert.

There are canyons throughout the state, it's not all flat, but even seeing these beautiful, enormous rock formations can be bone-chilling. They're a nice change of scenery from the flat desert, but there's a lot of hidden buildings in those areas. I saw several hidden buildings up in the canyons. I know there was more too, I just got lucky seeing the few that I did based on the sunlight and shadows pointing them out. I have a photo as proof of one of them I saw.

(I didn't mess with this picture's coloring. It just naturally came out that way.)

It looks like a city in the hills, right? Well this wasn't. It had been at least an hour since I had seen any town, and usually when you're coming up on a town after such a long stretch of highway, there's tons of signs to advertise for gas, food, and lodging. This had no signs. If I hadn't been paying attention to the surrounding landscape, I would have missed it. I didn't see any off ramp to it either. If it somehow is a town in these canyons in the middle of no where, please let me know. However there wasn't any indicator of it being one. It may even have to do with oil or a construction site. There was no sign with anything about it so I don't know, and I couldn't drive up to it either to check.

This also wasn't the only one I saw. There were some far better hidden man-made, modern structures  tucked away inside the canyons that I wouldn't have been able to take a picture of. Some were very well camouflaged.

So what are all these concealed structures hidden in the canyons? I can only assume the military. Arizona is infested with military, particularly airforce. A lot of the civilians in the U.S. wonder what they're up to, hidden and sprawled around in the middle of no where through the desert. Many of you will know the name Roswell. That's in New Mexico (I actually stayed there on the same honeymoon trip, but there wasn't much of significance. They play up the alien theme though. It's a lovely town that I would be thrilled to visit again.). Well New Mexico and Arizona are very similar in geography. Both states are equally as mysterious and they definitely have some military life there that most people in this country have no idea about. 

This is a base I passed by quickly, thus the blurry photo. I could have blinked and it would have been gone. This base was in the middle of no where in AZ. It may be where they train new pilots. It definitely wouldn't be something too covert if you can see it from the highway. However, it is worth noting that there was no road to get off to this base around. The people who are stationed there must have a back way they enter it, because there was no off ramp from the highway. Now you can see there's a lot of strange military areas out there. It's a bizarre state. 

(A view from the window of the Arizona scenery)

Another sinister aspect to this state is just how many abandoned towns there are. I didn't get any photos of those that I can find, and if I did I'll insert them at a later date, but when you're driving on the highway then you see a block-sized town completely abandoned and in disarray, you get goosebumps. You come to the realization that real people settled down there, and left because of the lack of resources, or maybe were even told to leave. There were even some towns that looked abandoned, but then I'd see a trailer or two that were lived in. So people were living in an essential ghost town, miles away from any resources or other humans. It was abnormal to see.

So what does this have to do with shadow people? I mean, at this point you may assume I'd talk about aliens or government conspiracies. However, I'm not, well not really. I had an experience with a shadow person when I stayed in Arizona on the first road trip I went on. It was the only time I've ever experienced anything like that, and with how creepy this state can be be, it really makes me question why it happened. 

I didn't go into Arizona with a preconceived notion it would be some spine-chilling place. In fact, I did that with New Mexico. Arizona was considered to me a pretty innocent state before I went through it. I had even gone to Phoenix, AZ on a trip with my church years before, so if anything I had good memories of the area. I explain this because I have considered maybe I was subconsciously scared the evening it happened, and my brain reacted to this fear and came up with it. That very well could be a possibility.

(Blurry photo of some Arizona canyons)

I just wanted you to get a picture of the landscape and terrain of the area. I also have a ton of pictures of the Grand Canyon, random scenery shots from the highway, and some from the Petrified Forest State Park. I'll be inserting those throughout the blog, so you can stay in the mood of where I was when this happened. Remember, my experience happened a year prior to when these photos were taken. 

(There's a lot of wind power all through the southwest portion of the U.S.)

First, a shadow person is a being you see usually in the middle of the night, although some people see them in other areas, usually out of the corner of their eye - I'll be talking about seeing them in the middle of the night though. It's almost always accompanied with sleep paralysis, and there are several theories that go along with why people see them. Sleep paralysis is essentially when your mind is awake, but your body isn't. So you're consciously aware, but can't move. We'll go into all of the following theories of shadow people down below.

(The Grand Canyon - it truly is grand and it showed me how small I really am in this world)

Science has some theories on why seeing shadow people may happen. They say it may be from having your emotions in an increased, almost paranoid state, as you're in this vulnerable position of being essentially paralyzed. They also say another factor is it happens when sleep deprived. We start seeing hallucinations in the shape of something that can harm us, other humans. As someone on Wikipedia put it, you don't see shadow dogs or shadow birds, you see people. Most of us fear a human coming in and attacking us in our sleep, and that can dig its way into our subconscious. We wake up - whether it be in the vulnerable position of not being able to move, run, defend ourselves, or scream due to the sleep paralysis, or maybe we're coming off some drugs that have messed with our mind, or we've been exceptionally sleep deprived and that's messed with our head - and our fear comes to life in our brains with this hallucination of someone standing there, looming over us, or walking up to us. Another possibility is maybe we see a random shadow projecting from something in the room, and our brain is trying to figure out what it is so it comes up with the shape of a person. That may be out of fear, or just familiarity as our brain wants to recognize the shadow's shape. 

Then there are more supernatural explanations. One popular theory among religious individuals is demons - watching you while you sleep, maybe even trying to possess your body. They have been thought to attack you while you're in a helpless state, and create fear. Fear weakens an individual, and that can play on their faith. Demons want this.

Similar to demons, but not quite so malevolent, is the theory of ghosts. The difference here is one was once living. It could be a curious ghost just studying you. It could be a depressed ghost watching you with sadness and envy because it lost its life too soon. It could be a ghost wanting to find a way inside you to live out its life again, similar to the premise of Insidious. It may even be a loved one who's going to check up on you - in your half-conscious state you could just be closer to the other side and can see them more clearly. Although ghost do tend to be seen in more of a white, transparent light, versus a dark shadow. 

Here we'll get into more bizarre theories. There may be more than I list though. I'm doing this mainly from memory from various YouTube videos I've seen on the subject in the past. 

One is creatures from other dimensions. Or more accurately humans from other dimensions (at least humanly shaped creatures). The thought is that there are multiple universes, and sometimes they connect. A thought that's always crossed my mind is I can be sitting in a room, writing my blog, and in another dimension in the same place, there's a highway, or meadow filled with people. We're both unaware the other exist, but we're both living our lives in our own dimension, yet in the same place. I could write a whole blog post on dimensions and different theories on how they may work, it's a rabbit hole to fall into. 

There are a couple of theories on dimensions. I'll very quickly scrape over the surface of them. The first is that there are other universes. Like I put earlier, they have different creatures living in another realm to us that we can't get to or see. The second is these dimensions are different versions of ourselves, each being a different timeline of life events that happens after every decision we make. Essentially, I say yes in this dimension, and no in another, and like the butterfly effect it spirals me into different outcomes and life events. *spoilers* Think of that scene from the new Avengers movie (Endgame) where the Ancient One says if the Hulk takes her stone and doesn't return it, it will destroy her reality, but save his. The concept is similar to that way of thinking. 

Perhaps the shadow beings are us peeking into our alternate lives. Or if we're going with the first theory, other creatures from these different realms are looking in on us. Maybe they're even unaware we're there, or we're the shadow people to them.

Astral projecting is another possibility. This is where you have an out of body experience when you're asleep. Again, think of the premise of the movie Insidious. The little boy astral projects in this story. His being leaves his physical body as he sleeps. There are two theories involved with this one. Either this shadow person is you looking in on yourself, (however this theory doesn't make much sense because if your astral self is watching your body sleep, then you wouldn't have another consciousness in your body to be aware there's a shadow creature watching you). The other theory is it's someone else's astral projection watching you. This could be an innocent occurrence, with it just poking around and you coincidentally seeing it, or it could be an astral being of someone who wants to harm you, or spy on you. 

(A small river at the bottom of the canyon, you can see it leads to an even bigger river too)

(A gorge at the bottom of the canyon)

(There are trees growing up the side of the canyon, you can really see the height here of how far down the Grand Canyon goes)

Time travelers has been considered another possibility. Some people think that humans of the future have figured out a way to travel through time. This theory is where time travelers are the shadow people. They want to watch and observe humans from different time periods (shadow creatures have always been a prevalent subject, even among old legends and folklore). They don't want to be recognized or seen but are sometimes caught observing us. Perhaps their technology gives away from disguising or hiding them and that's when we see them as a shadow person.

(Petrified Forest State Park)

(Another spot in the park)

(Whipple Point in the park)

The last, and probably the most famous theory, is aliens. Aliens are extraterrestrial beings from other planets. It's a long debate on whether they're real, if they're watching us, how advanced is their technology if they are, and if the powerful governments of this world are in on it. Aliens are another rabbit hole you can fall into, but some people theorize they have other worldly powers. That they have the ability to go through humankind structures and objects, or that they are telepathic in some way. Many people theorize that this is them, watching and studying us. 

(Arizona Desert)

I'm sorry if you know all of these theories and it's just a repetition of information for you. I wanted to bring them all up to connect the theories with where I was when my experience occurred. In particular the alien theory, which some people believe are hidden out in the Arizona and New Mexico deserts. There have been bizarre sightings of them in areas like these, although others argue it's just where secret military technology is being tested. Whatever the theory, it doesn't change the very real thing that happened to me.

My husband and I stayed in Flagstaff, AZ on our way to our new home. We got a pet friendly hotel. It was called Hotel Aspen and it was an adorable, quaint room. Everything was normal that night. The trip was going smooth. We got Taco Bell for dinner, and I walked my dog around in the snow for awhile to get her energy out. The people were friendly and I wasn't getting any weird vibes from the towns people or room. In fact, I love cozy rooms so I was happy we were staying there.

That night, I slept on the right side of the bed. I purposely wanted to be by the window. Although the curtains were fully shut, it's always made me feel less claustrophobic. That night I fell asleep after awhile, and woke up in the middle of night. I'm not sure what time it was.

I've had sleep paralysis a few times in my life. It's not how most people claim it is, at least when I experience it. I can't move, and I am conscious, but only somewhat. I'm in a bit of a dazed fog, and I often keep passing out and waking up over and over without the ability to move my body. Some people make it out to be like you're fully conscious and just stuck there. While this may be true for others, I know I'm not fully conscious. That would have made this experience far more terrifying.

I woke up and saw a shadow person right by the door. It was in the corner, past the window, in the shadow of the door. It was normal height, not too tall or short, and was just staring at me. I mean, of course you can't see its face or anything since it's a shadow, but it was faced in my direction, and it's like I could feel it staring at me.

I couldn't move and could only see this thing through my blurred mind and foggy eyes. I passed out and woke up a few seconds later to find it still there, facing me. This happened about a half a dozen times. It wasn't right on the foot of the bed, or looming over me, it was just in the corner by the door and window. It would be an extremely scary story if I were to say it kept getting closer to me each time I woke up. But no, it just stood there in the same spot. It didn't go away until I passed out for good for the night, and woke up the next morning.

There are some logical explanations to this phenomenon I had. Perhaps it was just a shadow emanated from something outside that I hadn't seen during the daylight, and my brain made it out to be a person. Like a trick of the eye in my half-sleep, vulnerable state. And that could be it. I did take a little while to go to bed that night though. I stared over that way for about thirty minutes in the dark after I had turned out the lights, and didn't see anything when falling asleep. It also wasn't right in front of the window, it was in front of the door. It was in the shadow's already, it was just a darker shadow. Maybe I was sleep deprived from the stress of moving, which is also another valid possibility. It just looked like such a human, but only their shadow. Like Peter Pan's shadow followed me to that hotel that night. Its silhouette didn't look like or similar to a human, it looked exactly like a human. It also felt like a human - it felt like there was another being in that room watching me. I don't know how else to put it, and I don't know what the right answer is. All I know is I've never seen anything like it before, even when experiencing sleep paralysis in the past. I also haven't experienced anything like it since, and hope I don't again. 

I've stopped sleeping on the window side of the bed whenever staying at a hotel too. I especially avoided it when I went the next year and stayed near the Grand Canyon.

Arizona is a mystical state, and I will go visit again. The endless desert and high canyons are captivating. You will never see a sunset quite like the sunsets out there. The sky transitions so well with various, mystifying colors that blend from the orange, lowering sun, into the deep blue, night sky. But I'll never forget the experience I had there, in Flagstaff. It's one thing to read about it, and hear other people's stories, but to go through it is a whole different, unreal experience that you can never fully explain quite right. Whether there's a scientific explanation or not, it was a very real, terrifying experience to go through. I'll return to the state, and enjoy seeing its' beauty, but it will always be in the back of my mind of my experience with the shadows that show up in the desert at night. 

The Cavalier Hotel

The Cavalier Hotel

The photo above is the the front entrance to The Cavalier Hotel. 

The Cavalier is a historic hotel in Virginia Beach with a bountiful history. The final product of it's original construction was finished in 1927. This building is what helped sensationalize Virginia Beach, and it now is sitting in the "resort area" of Virginia Beach. Some notable figures have stayed at this place. This extensive list includes Frank Sinatra, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Muhammad Ali, Judy Garland, Elizabeth Taylor, Doris Day, Bette Davis, Will Rogers, Fatty Arbuckle, and Benny Goodman. Most, if not all of these figures, are obviously notable. The fact there there were a handful of U.S. presidents to stay here is quite an interesting aspect too. There may have even been more people of importance who stayed here, but who weren't significant enough to be featured on The Cavalier's website.

This hotel has gone through quite a whirlwind during their timeline from their opening, to today. Opening up during the roaring twenties, and featuring such prestigious people throughout time, this hotel has managed to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. When it originally opened, the hotel was set on a vast amount of land - 350 acres to be exact, and 290 of those acres was a golf course surrounding the hotel. As you'll see in my photos, residential housing has taken over a lot of this land. The original amount of rooms this hotel had was 195, but after it's long history, it's been reduced now only 85, commodious rooms and suites. It's also worth noting that many of the original 195 rooms were combined to make more spacious rooms.

This was quite a bustling hotel when originally opened. It had boutiques, offices for a photographer, stockbroker, and doctor, a salon, an ice cream store, and other miscellaneous retail shops in and throughout the hotel. To add more luxury to this glistening hotel, in 1929 they created the "Cavalier Beach Club" that showed popular bands for throughout time. This hotel stayed extravagant until, unfortunately, the military took the hotel for a few years. The hotel and its land became a place for radar training for U.S. Navy soldiers in 1942, which lasted 3 years during World War II. Why the military disrupted a grand place like this that was bringing in a lot of revenue to the local area, I don't know. The land was eventually given back to the owners in 1945. The website glosses over what the hotel's purpose was during the 50's and 60's, but some places say it held a private club during that time. In 1976, the hotel re-opened to the public.

Recently, in 2012, there was some controversy over this hotel. It had some structural weaknesses and had to go through a court ordered sale due to a dispute with the family who owned it. Luckily, a group called "The Cavalier Associates" won the bidding for the hotel - they were the only ones who didn't want to demolish the building, and quickly started planning to refurbish it. This was a long process and it's probably one of the main reasons why the hotel decreased in the amount of rooms and its overall size. Much of the surrounding land was sold to create residential housing, this gave them some money to help restore the hotel. They also made the street this hotel is on, Cavalier Drive, into a public street to collect tax benefits. Thankfully for this hotel's rich history, the new owners were given some grants combined with the other practices to get money raised for its restoration, and in 2014 they began restoring it. In effort to get the grants for the hotel being such an influential and historic place, 2014 was also the year The Cavalier got its name down in the National Registry of Historic Places.

The hotel officially reopened in Spring of 2018. It's budget had unexpected, additional demolition that increased the expected budget from $50 million, to $74 million by the end of it. It now only lays on 21 acres of land, and has 62 rooms, and 23 suits.

I should also mention that a sister cavalier opened up on Oceanfront in Virginia Beach in 1973. It was called "The Cavalier Oceanfront" and was eleven stories high overlooking the Atlantic. This is worth noting because they demolished this sister hotel in 2015, and now a new hotel is set to open on its land in 2020. I'm not sure if this new one has anything to do with the Cavalier name though, but it may be a future blog if it does.

So I self-toured through The Cavalier Hotel, and I'll take you on a virtual tour as well. I believe two photos are blurry, and that's because I took them nervously and quickly, but I think they're worth putting in here so you can feel like you're walking through it too. The place is pristine now, and it was filled with elegant people, so at times I felt overwhelmed taking a photo. I'll point out to these instances when I come to them.

Here is the circle leading up to the front entrance to the hotel. Since parking is for residents or guest only, I had to park on a residential street that had three hour parking. I walked up the pathway you can can see at the back center of this photo, and faced the front of the hotel that's behind me when taking this photo. The pathway to get here went behind a diverse many of astounding houses. They were residential houses that I'm assuming we're part of the land owned by the Cavalier that got sold off to help raise funds to restore it. 

While you've seen this photo, this is what I faced when walking out from the circle. So the circle and the pathway through the residential houses is behind me. I walked out from it and saw this extravagant sight.

Now this photo is a bit blurry. I was nervous when taking it. Even though I had been told that they offered self-guided tours, I felt out of place here. Pulling out my camera first thing did draw some attention. Luckily there was a man, who I'm going to guess was a valet driver or perhaps a doorman, who walked me inside. He was extremely friendly and talked to me about what a beautiful Mother's Day it was. I told him I was there to do a self-guided tour, and he told me about a few spots to check out. He was a nice, older gentlemen and I'm happy he was my first interaction at this hotel.

The photo above is what they call "The Grand Lobby." To the left and right there was spiral staircases leading down. I walked up however to get a pamphlet from the front desk for the tour.

This was above me when I took a picture of the Grand Lobby. A ravishing chandelier with an antique design surrounding it. This was one of the features that showed me they added the original 20's charm back into this recent restoration.

Here are the two chairs in the Grand Lobby. Behind it, the red room you see, is technically the front desk. A polite woman game me a self-guiding tour pamphlet when I told her that's what I was doing. The scarlet of the room was a striking aspect that stood out among all of the black and gold accents of the rest of the hotel.

I walked to the end of the lobby, and straight forward from it was a museum and gift shop. It had a lot of history written on the walls and in photos. I managed to capture this photo of some artwork of the Cavalier. The top left photo was an old photo of the grounds back in the hotel's heyday. That's my best guess anyways. You can see a vast amount of land in comparison to the present time.

If you go left right before the museum and gift shop, it leads to a gleaming room called "The Raleigh Room." It was a place where many people were sitting and lounging, enjoying some coffee and finger foods. This staircase was to the left, right before you entered the Raleigh Room. It had a black and gold accented 20's look to me, and the mirror on top was a bit eerie. It was also a lot darker to see, but I brightened it up a bit. This was a staircase for staff only though, so I couldn't walk up it.

Here is the first site I saw in the Raleigh Room. A man was playing the grand piano beautifully, and there was historic remakes of famous art on every wall. 

On the opposite wall of the piano was this attractive setup for guests to sit and begin having their morning tea or coffee. There were a few guests here lounging in other areas, so I obviously didn't take a photo of them or every setup like this. However, I did get a few setups that I'll post down below. There was a mirror behind this antique, green couch - you can see me taking a photo and my husband slightly standing besides me. We dressed nice to come visit this hotel so we wouldn't stick out too much.

This was next to the green couch, you can still slightly see it to the right. A painting of a girl is featured here and she goes well with the black, comfortable-looking chairs. She looks Russian to me, and I apologize to anyone who may know this painting and wants to yell at me that she most certainly isn't Russian, maybe you even want to lecture me on learning my historical figures too. Perhaps it's the hat that makes her look it though - whoever she is, she's absolutely stunning nonetheless. 

The back left wall had this decorative setup. More antique furniture and designs, and more remakes of famous artwork. You can see in the most right chair that it has an intricate design seen in the light.

This was in the back center wall. The deep, pink chairs accented by the woman's dress and single rose placed on the table was an artistic sight to see. I really tried to fix the lighting in this photo when editing, but then it became quite difficult to see the painting of the lovely woman featured. I apologize for the bright background. 

Outside of the museum and gift shop was the "Becca Garden." This was my first sight when stepping out of one of the doorways leading to it, it was to the right from the door. A fancy setup is featured with hanging vines and other contrasting greenery. This looks like another lounge area - perhaps it's a place for guest to have supper. The draping floral life and hanging lights looks remarkable.

On the opposite side of the elegant lounge area, to the left of the doorway outside, is this more casual lounge. It features a relaxing setup of rocking chairs and a fire pit. There are also some covered areas in the background for when the Virginia Beach humid weather starts making it's way out this summer. 

Here is an downward photo of spiral staircases, colorful flowers, and the circular middle of the Becca Garden. The lampposts are all 20's style as well. You can also see residential housing that sits on the land that was once all the Cavalier's. 

I'm now downward a bit and standing to the left of the original photo of the gardens. I'm straight above the white and pink flowers. 

Now I'm completely to the left of the flowers, on one of the rounded stairways down to the center circle. I love this charming photo as you can see the exquisite hotel, both lounge areas, and the spot where I took the first photo of the Becca Garden. They truly are keeping their garden in a pristine condition.

Here I am in the center of the circle, underneath the delicate, white archway. The shrubbery is all healthy and it was a magical area. Even though it was the center circle, it felt extremely private. I would liked to have danced in the middle there if it was nighttime and no one was around. I noticed a lot of the foliage had lights wrapped around it, so I can only imagine how glimmering this area is at night. A romantic spot for sure.

A photo I took from the circle of the hotel. The architecture is one of the most unique, well thought-out designs I've had the privilege to see.

I walked to the very right of the garden, past the rocking chair lounge area, and entered through another way back into the hotel. You can see they have tanning chairs out front, and if you look closely, there are poles with horses on them directly in front of the brick exterior. I felt like I was back in Saratoga Springs for a second. They call this place featured the "Grand Lawn Loggia." If the guest sit in these chairs, they can see the Atlantic Ocean across the roadway.

Here is through the door back into the hotel. This is another "loggia" of the hotel called "The Plunge Pool and Loggia." If you walk all the way to the end of this lounge area, and turn right, you'll be out in the Grand Lawn Loggia area again. If you turn left, you'll be in the pool room. I did not take any photos of the pool room. Many people were in bathing suits and a lot of people were eating brunch in there. I felt it would be an invasion of their privacy and a disturbance to their relaxation. I want to reiterate that the people staying at this grand hotel were elegant people. They seemed like old money to me. I didn't recognize anyone, but one of them could have been someone of significant importance and might have assumed I was taking a photo of them. Even if they weren't, I just didn't want to be disrespectful with so many people in the room. People, particularly old money, like their privacy. I found that out when exploring different places up in Saratoga Springs.

So this lounge area is a lovely area. The greenery on the wall and all of the shrubbery transitions well from the Becca Garden. It's a nice mixture of that, and fashionable furniture, like black and white chairs and table.

Here is an up-close picture of one of the furniture setups. Black and white are one of my favorite color combinations, so this setup was glamorous to see. You can also see the pool room a bit in the background through the windows. Just google search a photo of that, because it's worth seeing. Two of the staff members I talked to said it was their favorite room in the hotel. The pool water was a deep blue, and the whole room, including the furniture, was a color combination of black and white.

Wow, this looks familiar. We have now taken a left from the loggia, went through the pool room and came out of the doors in the left of this photo. One more place I'll show you on the lobby level is a snippet of the Crystal Ballroom. Do you see up the stairs, the doorway on the right side of photo. Not the one straight across from the pool room, but down the photo a bit, it looks darker and it's more across from the lobby area. That leads to a hallway that leads to the Crystal Ballroom. Also, the first door you see to the right, the one I told you to ignore that's straight across from the pool room, is another entrance to the crystal ballroom. That one was locked so I took the smaller hallways down to it. You can see how big the Crystal Ballroom is though with the distance between the hallway's doorway, and one of the direct entrances to the room.

Here was something featured in the hallway on the way to the Crystal Ballroom. I'm going to assume it's a part of the distillery down below that I'll feature a photo of later. I could very well be wrong though. It was too interesting not to put in.

Here is my one snippet of the Crystal Ballroom. I know, I didn't get photos of two luxurious areas of the hotel. This and the pool room. The crystal ballroom was filled with food and people getting ready for something. Maybe it was a reception, or some other sort of party. The people in there were wearing nice clothes and were staring at me and the camera in my hand like a hawk. I thought it best to not disturb the party, or attempt to take any photos. The place was ravishing though. Google search images of the Crystal Ballroom of the Cavalier as well. This photo is a good indicator of the sparkling interior. The grey look and mirrors featured looks like an ideal, shimmering entrance to a place called the "Crystal Ballroom." How did I take a picture of mirrors and not get myself in it? Have a good guess.

On the way out from the hallway, this antique phone was resting on a marble counter. It's the little touches like this that make me happy they restored such a historic place. Those who restored it gave the history justice with these fine touches throughout the hotel.

I've now walked down the lobby, back to the entrance of the Grand Lobby, and went down the stairways to the bottom floor. This is the photo above the staircases going down. Both staircases going left and right lead to the same place, which is under this twinkling chandelier and the large photo of men.

Here is my second blurry photo. We've turned around from the men-at-the-table photo, and this is what's behind us. A checkered floor that's so clean a reflection is gleaming, a distillery, and a spa. The distillery and alcohol shop were the black store to the right of this photo. The spa was at the very end of hallway, where the glass doors are open on the left.

Here is a photo of the distillery. The woman working in the shop selling the alcohol made here said they do give tours of the distillery. She told us this distillery is actually not original to the Cavalier when it was first built. I found this shocking since it felt like an original feature. I believe she said it was put in around 2006. It says in their tour template that this was the first craft distillery in the country to be put in a hotel. On the tour, I'm almost positive she said they give samples of the alcohol made there, so it may be something to try one of these days for my husband and I to have a date night.

Here is a crest on one of the doorways in the hotel. My husband wanted to take this photo. It's beautiful and the gold is yet another touch to show the 20's features of this hotel. I'm going to assume the C stands for Cavalier.

One more antique crest. There was one on each elevator, and this one definitely is representative of the Cavalier.

Now we're out of the hotel, past the Grand Lawn Loggia, and out on the street where the ongoing road through Virginia Beach passes by the hotel. To the left is the Atlantic Ocean, to the right is the front of the hotel. Not the entrance that we originally went in though.

Written above: "KV 31 - THE CAVALIER HOTEL - The Cavalier Hotel, completed in 1927, is emblematic of Virginia Beach's transformation from small town to major resort during the Roaring Twenties. The hotel's luxurious accommodations attracted visitors from across the country, including several U.S. presidents. It's 500-watt radio station, WSEA, was the first to report on the return of Charles Lindbergh to the United States after his transatlantic flight in 1927. The Cavalier Beach Club regularly hosted big band performances featuring international stars. During World War II, the U.S. Navy operated a radar training school at the hotel. The Classical Revival building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places."

Last, but certainly not least, is the view of the Cavalier from Atlantic Avenue, under the sign. You can see why I wanted to go here after passing by several times. A dazzling, sensational sight that holds so much awe in its story. I hope you enjoyed going through it with me, because I loved seeing the hotel and documenting its newfound restoration. The owners did a magnificent job bringing this piece of history back to life.

The Eagle

So I've been debating if I should start putting nice photos I take in my day to day, regular life, onto here. I've been torn because this blog has a theme of exploring places, and creepy things. However, I started this blog because I live cross country from my hometown, and I wanted a place to post my adventures for my family and friends. I feel like I've put myself in a box keeping one theme up. So I'm breaking it, and I'll just post what I want. The other reason is some of my pictures are pretty cool, and I know putting them on the internet gives people the chance to steal them. I went through so many scenarios in my head of how to avoid that. I could put a watermark, but then that could be cropped out. Then I could put it in the middle of the picture, but that would take away from the picture. I could take out the link so you can't click on it to make the photo bigger to save it yourself, but then you couldn't see the finer details of the photo. See, a lot of scenarios ran through my head. I came to the conclusion that if someone wants the photos so bad, they'll find a way to take it. So if I want to share these on my blog, I need to quit overthinking it all. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a photographer and only have a cannon point and shoot camera, but I do catch some interesting scenes, and a photographer trying to grow their portfolio could take them and edit them to look more clear and professional, then claim it's theirs. Since this is a tiny, unknown blog, no one would know. But it's time I stop being paranoid and overthinking everything. Just don't claim someone else's photos are yours when they're not - it's not cool. Go out and have your own adventures - it's way more fun that way!

Here's the eagle that lives close to me. When I take my dog on her walks to the beach, there's an eagle that has a nest up high on some power cable. I've seen the eagle around since I moved here, so all of these photos are from different days accumulated through the months. I actually haven't seen the eagle in a couple of months, and I thought it moved on for winter. Today though, I saw it sitting on its nest, so it must be back. I decided to share the best photos I've gotten of it.

Here's the first photo I'll share, just to introduce you to it. There's it's nest, it's pretty high up. 

This was when I was walking about halfway down the beach. It was perched on what looks like an old cable pole away from its normal nesting spot. I thought this was perfect though, since the flag is in the background.

Can you get more American than this?

Here's when I saw two of them. I'm no expert on eagles, but it seems like both mother and father are guarding the nest. I doubt it would be too males, or two females, since most animals are territorial. However I'm not sure. They seemed to be happy in each other's company though.

Another angle of them, except now one of them is looking at me. These guys seem extremely self-aware when I'm taking a picture.

I took this photo a few months ago so it's hard to remember for sure, however I'm pretty positive that this is the eagles baby. I remember seeing the little one taking off straight from the nest, and it almost looked like the parent was with it as it was learning to fly. Or maybe it was teaching it to hunt. I know it looks like a regular bird with it though, so take a look at the next photo. 

They both have a similar wingspan here. I know this photo is blurry, but I thought it showed a good depiction of them flying next to one another. It looks like parent and child to me.

So today I went to the beach, and I saw that the eagle is back. Now the black bird right next to it is a raven or a crow. For some reason, the black bird kept circling around the eagle. Maybe it was trying to eat the eagle's new egg, or maybe they're just unlikely friends, like the fox and the hound.

Another angle - it looks like it's trying to swoop in there and get something though. It did keep landing on the wires below it, then it would fly off and start circling it again. The eagle looked like it was standing on guard the whole time.

This photo above showed a good picture of the black bird and the eagle. I did some clarity to the photo, but didn't edit it too much. The lighting was already so good, and both we're in a nice, posing angle.

I really debated putting this last photo in since it's blurry, but I just love the way the black bird's wings are here. 

So this is the eagle that lives in my neighborhood. I've gotten some pretty nice documentation of its life, and every time I take its picture, it seems like it knows I'm taking its photo. Sometimes it will fly away annoyed when I take my camera out - but sometimes it will pose. If I take any new photos of it that are worth posting, I'll just edit this blog and put it here. I feel like we've gone through different seasons of this eagle's life. When the eagle isn't around, sometimes other birds will be sitting in its nest, like it's renting it out as a bird airbnb. That's funny too, because it's in the air. That's enough of my dad jokes. 

I will continue to upload some nice photos I've taken of the nature around me, that way I post more too anyways. I'm definitely not a professional photographer, but it's nice my family and friends are seeing the nature I experience seeing in my life.  If you know anything about eagle's, feel free to correct me on anything I guessed. I don't know anything about them, so I just guessed based on what I observed. I hope the eagle continues to do well, and is living a happy life up in its nest.

The Fog

"Almost midnight.

Enough time for one more story.

One more story before just to keep us warm.

In five minutes, it'll be the 21st of April.

One hundred years ago on the 21st of April,

out in the waters around Spivey Point, a small clipper ship drew toward land.

Suddenly, out of the night, the fog rolled in.

For a moment, they could see nothing, not a foot ahead of them.

And then, they saw a light.

My God, it was a fire burning on the shore.

Strong enough to penetrate the swirling mist.

They steered a course toward the light.

But it was a campfire, like this one.

The ship crashed against the rocks.

The hull sheared in two.

The mast snapped like a twig.

And the wreckage sank with all the men aboard.

At the bottom of the sea lay the Elizabeth Dane with her crew,

their lungs filled with saltwater,

their eyes open and staring into the darkness.

And above, as suddenly as it had come,

the fog lifted, receded back across the ocean and never came again.

But it is told by the fishermen and their fathers and grandfathers,

that when the fog returns to Antonio Bay,

the men at the bottom of the sea, out in the water by Spivey Point,

will rise up and search for the campfire that led them to their dark, icy death.

Twelve o'clock.

The 21st of April."
-1980's The Fog Opening Scene


Tonight in Virginia Beach, the fog crept in slowly and steadily throughout the evening. I looked outside and couldn't see much further than my hand. I went to the lighthouse and took some photos, trying to get one of it shining in the fog. The fog was so thick though that even my camera couldn't make it out. This was the best edit I could make to show it. I like it though, it looks old, and eerie. A night like this should feel that way.

The fog is only getting thicker. The coast guard has to have the fog horn going - it's been on for hours. I've been going and sitting outside, listening to it. I've been searching for the light shining from the lighthouse, but I can't see it through the impenetrable fog. Yet I can hear the foghorn, it blows loudly, and even the dense midst can't take away from it.

The Fog is one of my favorite movies. I watch it whenever I get homesick. Tonight it feels like home came to me. I thought I would quote the infamous first scene, since it fit so well.

I'm posting this exactly at midnight on the other side of the country from where it takes place.

But the fog reaches us everywhere, no matter where we are in the world.

Have an enchanting witching hour, from midnight to one. Don't forget to admire the beautiful fog when it comes to visit you. However, stay safe in your homes as you watch it and listen to the foghorn, so the fog doesn't swallow you into the night.