Bryce Canyon.. need I say more!

I had heard of Bryce many times before and had never been driven to go see the place! But let me tell you when you see it in person it is incredible! And the changing light makes it dramatically change in its look as the sun comes up and moves to its place high in the sky! I was not feeling well the day we were there and it still was awesome! Later that day I had a kidney stone attack and wound up in the ER in Ceder City,Utah. Not an experience I will treasure but, with the help of some strong pain killers and the help of my friend Marshall I got through it! Then after the stone incident and a nights sleep , on to Vegas! As in lost wages! You know what they say! What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, they are talking about the money that you bring to Vegas! I am not a big gambler and I have not been a big winner either! But thats another story!

"The Toadstools" yep thats what its called!

Ah! The Toadstools! What a magical place it is! I think they filmed some of the movie Galaxy Quest near here! Something about Beryllium spheres? Anyway this place is another not very well marked or promoted place of wonder! The top picture is what the entrance to the valley looks like and it just gets different in many cool ways as you get back there! We went in just before sunset and hiked out after it got dark! It was worth staying for all the light! Marshall is in the second picture, just very small! Enjoy!

Horseshoe Bend near Page, AZ.

Horseshoe Bend is just outside of Page heading south and the little sign takes you off the road to a little dusty parking lot and a trail leading up a desert hill with lots of sand and dirt for you to walk in! It takes about a mile of walking and you walk up to the edge of an awesome cliff or event horizon to an incredible bend in the Colorado river!My camera's lens could not capture the size of it! Pretty magnificent but not for those with a fear of heights. Marshall insisted on standing right on the edge of a thousand foot drop to get the perfect shot! Cool! The top picture has a rubber boat with a dozen people in it down on the river to give you the depth of the geological formation! Ciao..

Marble Canyon and Lee's Ferry .

Marble canyon and Lee's Ferry are down stream on the Colorado from Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Before any bridge was built on this stretch of the Colorado river Lee's ferry was the only crossing for almost a hundred miles of river,but I will leave the history lesson for the books or teachers! Its a beautiful spot to get up close to the river and many use it to put in or take out their boats for floating the river! We were here on Halloween and there were some colorful river rats on the river that day! The drive into Lee's Ferry was rockin! In fact they put their rocks on pedestals in that part of the country! (It won't be the last of these type of spots either!). This part of the country is so vast and wonderful that even with a book full of pictures you could not capture all there is to see! Marshall and I had fun with the rocks as you can see! Peace,Jon

Antelope Canyon at Page, Arizona.

Page, AZ. is a place you can drive through and not even know that there is a number of natural wonders lurking just outside town, both free and pay sites(Our native american brothers need to get a little something for their livelihood!). Antelope Canyon is one of the fee sites! The one we saw this time was lower Antelope Canyon. You pull in a dusty, sandy parking lot and go over to the makeshift booth and pay your(photographer's) fee and get to explore the canyon in either direction for three hours! Non photographers pay less and get escorted once through the canyon top to bottom! The top pic is Marshall at the entrance to the canyon.The next two are down in the canyon. The forth is what the top looks like at the exit to the canyon and the last picture is at the exit looking back towards the power plant where the twin stacks can't be seen only the steam! It looked to me like a sleeping dragon 's breath rising up out of the canyon!? What do you think?

The BIG ditch aka The Grand Canyon...

The Grand Canyon lived up to its name yet once again! I never have gotten tired of the beauty and shear magnitude of this awesome place! Marshall and I went north through Sedona, AZ. and up Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff, AZ. Then onward through a dusting of blowing snow to the Grand Canyon's rim. We spent the next couple days researching spots to photograph and going back to them to (hopefully) get the perfect shot of each perfect spot! It was all good! And did I mention COLD? It was very cold and at times very windy and cold! We stayed in the tent and car in one of the campgrounds on the rim and saw as much as we took time to see while visiting! I could tell you much more but there are many more places to show and tell! Jon

Back up and posting!

Hello and welcome back to my unpredictable (at times) Blog! Isn't it a beautiful rock? I have crawled out from under it and I hope to post updates on a much more regular basis! We shall see if it happens, but it is my intention! After the last posting much has taken place! I went to Wenatchee and loaded a truck with my (many) things and my friend Marshall helped me with the move south with all the loading and unloading, driving moving in etc. And after that was done we set about to photograph the southwest, or at least part of it and we started with the Saguaro National Park by Tucson. We spent an evening and the next sunrise up through midday in and around Tucson, then back up to Maricopa to prepare for the next leg of the shoot! The Grand Canyon.