Tempe Town Lake is a reservoir that occupies a portion of the riverbed of the Salt River as it passes through the city of Tempe, Arizona just south of Scottsdale.
On July 20, 2010, a portion of the west side of the dam that contained the water in the lake collapsed sending a flood of water into the Salt River bed, draining the lake. The dam has been repaired, the lake re-filled and just re-opened for public use this very week. I thought it was a good time to get some photographs of the rejuvenated lake, so I went to the lakefront this evening to get a few shots.
A waterfront in Phoenix, you say? Yes indeed! Following are some sunset photos taken from the north side of the lake for the non-believers.
Sun Devil Stadium, Frank Kush Field is an outdoor football stadium, located on the campus of Arizona State University, in Tempe. The stadium’s current seating capacity is 73,379 and the playing surface is natural grass.
It is home to the Arizona State University Sun Devils of the Pac-10 Conference. It has previously been the home of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, from 1988 to 2005 and was the annual site of the Fiesta Bowl, from 1971 to 2006. The Cardinals and the Fiesta Bowl have since moved to the new University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ.
Following are two, similar shots of Tempe across the lake. They show commercial and condominium developments which have sprung up along the new lakeshore. Behind these developments is Arizona State University which occupies much of the land along the south bank of the lake.
I took all the photos between 6:00 and 6:20 PM. It darkens very quickly at this latitude in autumn; it’s even darker since Arizona has not adopted daylight saving time. I did enjoy a beautiful sunset and I really like the colourful reflections it created on the water’s surface.