Photo Blogging

Today we have another treat – two sets of photos from the same location.  This morning’s photos were taken in the daytime.  The photos in tonight’s On the Road After Dark will be night sky photos of the same location.  Seems fitting, no?

If you haven’t had a chance to catch them yet, check out the On the Road After Dark posts.  ~WG

BillinGlendaleCA

Three years ago I had just joined the local photography group meetup and was excited to see a meetup scheduled at Joshua Tree National Park for some dark sky photography. The organizer of the meetup, Hami, had scouted locations in the park during the day prior to meeting at a location outside the park. He chose a location with ample parking for the trail that lead up to Ryan Mountain.

Ryan Mountain is in the center of the northwestern portion of park and affords a pretty good view of the park and even Mts. San Jacinto and San Gorgonio on clear days. The area around the trailhead has some nice rock formation that would make for good foregrounds and isn’t one of the more popular locations in the park for astro photography so it wouldn’t be too crowded.

While waiting for the sun to set and darkness to engulf the desert landscape, I took some photos of the rock formations that were just off the parking lot for the trailhead and two large rocks turned out to perfectly frame the setting sun. As golden hour turned to blue hour, the photographers gathered by the a rock known as the Indian Cave to await the rising of the Milky Way.

Joshua Tree National Park, CAJune 24, 2017

A Joshua Tree is flanked by two rock formations facing the setting sun at the Ryan Mountain trailhead.

On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Ryan Mountain TrailPost + Comments (17)

These outdoor photos are both stunning and charming, and the colors are fantastic!  Now I want to go to Venice!

Oh, and don’t forget to check out On the Road After Dark ~WaterGirl

way2blue

Our friends have often urged us to visit Venice, and we’ve always resisted because it’s so overwhelmed with tourists. This past year, however, we planned an October–November trip to a less traveled part of Italy in the pre Alps. And decided to include a few days in Venice as it was off-season. We stayed in a little roof-top flat in a district mostly populated by Venetians.

Our last couple days in Venice, the high, high tide (acqua alta) would flood some of the main plazas, but this flooding was considered a lark by tourists, who bought colorful galoshes to pull over their shoes, and splash through the shallow water covering the plazas & quays. The day we left, the water bus (vaporetto) service was reduced owing to choppy seas, and as we drove north to Salzburg, we encountered snow in the Alps. Venice was inundated by exceptionally high flood waters soon after…

VENEZIA

A UPS boat on a canal.

On The Road – way2blue – Venezia Before The FloodPost + Comments (22)

We are adding On the Road After Dark for a couple of weeks of catch-up.

On the Road: Week of July 6 (5 am)

Albatrossity – Chaco Canyon, Winter
way2blue – Venezia Before the Flood
BillinGlendaleCA – Ryan Mountain Trail, Daytime
frosty – Coronavirus and the Road
otmar – Festung Hohensalzburg, Part 1

On the Road After Dark: Week of July 6 (10pm)

Albatrossity – Chaco Canyon, Spring
Origuy – Carmel Mission Basilica
BillinGlendaleCA – Ryan Mountain Trail, Night Sky
Emma – Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm, WA
otmar – Festung Hohensalzburg, Part 2

Albatrossity

If you have traveled much in the southwestern US, you may have heard of Chaco Canyon and the Chacoan culture. But probably not, for lots of reasons. The main center of Chacoan culture is preserved in Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico, and it is very isolated. You have to drive on a rutted dirt road for about 40 miles to get there, and you will need to camp because there is no lodging and no food available. The canyon is on the Colorado Plateau at about 6,000 ft above sea level, and can get very cold in winter as well as very hot in summer. Nevertheless, it is a fascinating place to visit, both in terms of the history and in terms of the flora and fauna.

The story of the Chacoan culture is still being unraveled, but beginning in the mid 800’s, construction of large buildings (containing hundreds of rooms), probably ceremonial centers, began in the canyon. These are impressive in their architecture and in what they imply about the people who built them. The structures are oriented to take advantage of the canyon features in terms of astronomical sightings, allowing the inhabitants to define the equinoxes and the solstices with great precision.

They were trade centers as well; items from Mexico and elsewhere have been found in the excavation of the ruins. By 1050 or thereabouts this site was the center of a civilization that stretched across the San Juan basin, with more than 150 widely spread Chacoan “Great Houses” linked by excellent and arrow-straight roads to Chaco Canyon itself. And then, probably as a result of droughts, it all collapsed in the 1200’s, and the inhabitants dispersed to other sites. The Puebloan Indians of the Southwest descended from the Chacoans, and their architecture retains many of the same features seen in Chaco. If you are curious to learn more, I can recommend “House of Rain”, by Craig Childs.

I have visited Chaco Canyon multiple times, in winter, spring, and summer (not yet in the fall). It is a magical place, and worth going out of your way for if you are ever in that part of the world. My first visit was in winter, New Years Eve in 2006, and here are some images from winter visits there.

Chaco CanyonDecember 31, 2006

The high Colorado Plateau does not get a lot of moisture, but even a little bit in the winter can transform the place. Here are some trees and shrubs after a snow storm and then an ice fog the next day. I’ve used this image on Christmas cards in the past!

On The Road – Albatrossity – Chaco Canyon, WinterPost + Comments (28)

It’s day 10, our last day of First Timers Week.  Let’s give a warm welcome to ljt.  Road trip with Mom!  (Or daughter, depending on your perspective.)  The fall colors against the stones are amazing, but I can’t take my eyes off of the final image.  Spectacular!  ~WaterGirl

In 2018, my daughter took a temporary job in the SF bay area. She drove herself cross-country, with the expectation that she might stay in California for a while, but she knew almost right away that she belonged back on the east coast. So when it was time for her to leave, I offered to meet up with her and share the driving and costs, and do some sightseeing along the way.

We met in Salt Lake City on October 31, then visited 8 National/State Parks in 8 days. The official season ends in October, so there were hardly any crowds, and the weather was perfect. We finished our trip with 3 long driving days, with breaks to see Taos Pueblo one morning, and a short detour to Crystal Bridges Museum one afternoon. I flew home from St. Louis after 11 days, and she continued her journey, visiting friends in various cities over the next couple weeks.

It was an amazing experience. I took thousands of pictures–even the scenery from the highway was breathtaking at times. I hope to see some of these places again.

Arches National Park, Moab UTNovember 1, 2018

We spent our first full day in Arches National Park.

On The Road – ljt – National Parks WhirlwindPost + Comments (37)

It’s day 9.  Let’s give a warm welcome to Salty Sam!  What a backstory!  Such beautiful surroundings, in any case.  Seems like a much better outcome than for those people who went on a 3-hour tour.  ~WaterGirl

I have been a Juicer since 2012.  In 2017, the boat we lived on in S Texas was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey.  We found and purchased a sister-ship in MA, became Massholes for a couple ‘a years while we fixed her up.

<aside> As a born’n’bred Texan, I was blown away with how much I loved living on the North Shore (Noath Shoah).  Looking forward to returning someday-  I’d kill for a Dirty Lobster Martini from The Lobster Shanty (Salem MA) right now… </aside>

Our family set up a rendezvous in Culebra, Puerto Rico for Christmas 2019.  We cruised the coast of Maine for the summer of 2019, and then realized we had to skedaddle for points south if we were gonna make it.  It was a grueling, but fun, trip down the east coast, and we arrived Culebra the day before Christmas Eve, just in time to celebrate with the family.  It was awesome.

While mulling over plans for “where we go from here”, Mr. Coronavirus  came to town and made some decisions for us.  As a result, we are “stuck” on this very small tropical island –  Culebra, a small island a few miles east of the main island of Puerto Rico.   Inter-island travel is shut down “for the duration”.  We could not be happier about it.

I have no idea the names of these flowers- they just struck me with the brilliance of their beauty.  These pics were taken in the area around our house and on the walk to the produce store a half mile away.  I have many more pics if people would be interested.

AustinJune 23, 2020

The view out our front door…

On The Road – Salty Sam – Tropical FloribundancePost + Comments (20)