I went on a road trip last year that took me from the east coast, through Denver, up to Oregon and Washington, down through California, before finally arriving in Las Vegas.

I was playing with Google Maps this morning, in a bout of nostalgia. I retraced some of our route, and let myself get lost in my memories. But eventually, the stunning imagery grabbed my attention. It was something like being in a car going through the mountains or in a plane over a city... There's so much to take in.

Some of the images from the satellites are really stunning. I find them thought provoking, as well. The brilliance of human creativity and nature's wondrous beauty are on full display. This is art.

I decided they were worth sharing, because we tend to take these things for granted. This is my way of stopping to smell the roses.

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Once you pass Bakersfield and start heading west to Las Vegas, things start to take a turn to the desolate.


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Though if you look, even in the emptiness there are people up to something.

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South of Barstow, there are a couple towns called Victorville and Apple Valley.

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Like a lot of towns, they developed around a water source. In this case, Spring Valley Lake.

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The lake is pretty amazing!

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There is a golf course in town.

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And a bunch of houses.

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North of Victorville, something else caught my eye. The Southern California Logistics Airport.

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The airport itself is something special, but what actually caught my eye was this assemblage of buildings.

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There is recreation nearby.

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The cracked asphalt of this parking looks cool.

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Some interesting buildings are part of the complex.

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What looks to be an array of solar panels nearby.

<center>https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/15/f78011f11ef7da9e444ec1d789845d47.png</center>

There's something I like about this... the different ways we shape the landscape for different purposes produce contrasting textures.

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And of course, what's an airport without planes?

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To he east of Spring Valley Lake is a town called Apple Valley. The overhead view of the town's residential neighborhoods are stunning.

<center>https://www.steemimg.com/images/2016/09/15/a7c703734ba14ac7e92228c4bb241624.png</center>

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I hope someone out there enjoys looking at this stuff half as much as I do! :)

(Note: All images in this post were screenshots taken while playing with google maps. This is considered fair use.)