Capital Reef Utah, April 24-25

It's the end of the Canyon Lands trip and Capital Reef has been as surprising and wonderful as the rest.  Finally got some sun today and went out camera in hand, thinking in black and white.  I think John Muir summed it up nicely when he said:  "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life".

Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, April 20 - 23

Spent the past few days chasing sun breaks and dodging hail and thunderstorms.  There wasn't a lot of good light to be found for photos but Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park are truly spectacular.  The landscape of southern Utah in general is far more beautiful than I imagined.  The contrasting colors of red rock, white snow, blue sky, and black clouds made a perfect western scene which I quickly paired with the local country western station in the car to get the full effect.  As though on stage, supporting cast members revealed themselves one by one to complete the story:  a field of bison, a man on a horse with a cowboy hat and spurs on his boots, a junk yard containing only vintage trucks, signs selling ostrich eggs and elk steak...this part of the country definitely warrants further exploration at a future time...

Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

My last day in Phoenix I took a day trip to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson.  The museum is a zoo, natural history museum, and botanical garden all in one.  April welcomes blooming cacti and hatching hummingbirds at the museum and was a terrific time to visit.  Bright displays of cactus blooms lit the desert floor.  In the hummingbird aviary, Costas and Annas got up close and personal while defending their territories.  Tiny hatchlings the size of a pinky finger peered out from miniature nests tucked carefully into Palo Verde branches.  I never imagined the desert so full of life as I experienced on this visit.  See slideshow below for pics...

Arizona Sonoran Desert Slideshow

Phoenix April 17 - 20, 2010

Sabbatical travel began with a trip to Phoenix to visit friends from college.  Trent and Ann have four beautiful, intelligent, and often hilarious children ages 2-10.  The visit was all kinds of crazy wonderful and I was invited back even after creating a new sport called "grass diving" while watching the two youngest boys.  In case you've not heard of this sport, grass diving is what happens when you run down a grassy hill at lightning speed, lose control of your footing, and dive face-first into the ground.  It often leads to raspberries on your nose, bloody lips, and grass between your teeth.  Hayden (age 4) became a champion grass diver while in my care.  Luckily his parents brushed off the incident as quickly as he did and the childless friend was forgiven.  I left feeling as though I'd spent good quality time with dear friends and gotten a nice snapshot of each child's unique personality.  My favorite comment of the visit came from Hayden who stated one afternoon, "You're pretty good looking for someone old like a dinosaur with big veins".  This flattery was quickly followed with an inquiry about the "crack in my eye".  That my young friend, is called a wrinkle.