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To the Poppy Fields or Bust!
“On the Edge of the Mojave Desert is a place of Momentary Vibrance. “ Saturday, April 15th 2021After being pummeled by numerous atmospheric rivers, California has been mostly pushed out of it’s persistent drought status. With the fall of so much rain, comes the after effects in the western most regions of the Mojave Desert. A super bloom of wildflowers that Jenny and I would not allow ourselves to miss out on. The California Poppy was the main attraction at this location. There were acres and acres of them splashed along the hills and open fields along with a few other wildflowers. The saturation of color was almost uncanny and…
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Southwest 2015 – Zion, Images of a Winter Dreamland
Monday, December 14th, 2015 Julia and I awoke on what would be our very last day in the town of Springdale. For the last few days, we waited patiently for a snow storm to hit that we had been hearing about all week long, but it never came, that is until we looked out the window this morning. It was snowing and the mountains were covered in it! This seriously could not have been better timed. Rather than pack up, check out, and go home, we stayed for the day and spent our last hours here exploring through a new snow covered Zion. With our camera gear mounted up and…
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Southwest 2015 – Lazy Sunday at the Virgin River
Sunday, December 13th, 2015 Julia and I woke up super late today. We were very sore from all the resistance hiking through The Narrows yesterday so today was definitely going to be a lazy Sunday for us. Our knees were aching, but our attitudes remained positive as we slowly made our way out of the hotel and on to another small venture for the day. We didn’t want anything too crazy, so we settled on a casual walk along the Virgin River just south of the main entrance to the park. It was practically lunch, so we grabbed a quick bite at Cafe Soleil since it would be our last…
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Southwest 2015 – Journey Into the Narrows of Zion
Saturday, December 12th, 2015 When the alarm went off this morning, we wasted no time in getting breakfast, showering up, and gathering all our camera gear for today’s adventure. This was not the typical day of hiking or photo venturing, it was an epic voyage into the Narrows of Zion. Julia was excited and so was I. Once we had all our stuff together, we drove to the Zion Adventure Company to get a crash course on the Narrows including navigation and what to do in case the water level rises suddenly due to a flash flood. After watching the short video brief, we got all our rental gear and suited…
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Southwest 2015 – Secret Petroglyphs and Slot Canyons
Friday, December 11th, 2015 This morning we awoke to some pretty ominous clouds in the sky and wondered if the snow storm was coming in a bit early. Julia and I didn’t want to waste any time so we got ourselves some breakfast downstairs and then got cleaned up and ready to hit the road. We wanted to stop off at the Zion Adventure Company for some general questions about the Narrows tomorrow. The girl we spoke to said that there was the possibility of a flash flood today and so booking ourselves for the next day was a good idea. I wanted to explore the region of the park…
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Southwest 2015 – Journey into the Great Navajo Nation
Sunday, December 6th, 2015 “Farewell Williams, it’s been an amazing week, but the time has come for us to explore the northeast regions of Arizona!” We got up early today to get a good head start on the road to come. We grabbed all our stuff, loaded up the Starship and made a hasty checkout from our cozy room at the Rodeway Inn and Suites. Our breakfast was a very small Greek yogurt to go and it was just moments before we finally hit the 40 east toward Flagstaff and took the 89 northbound toward Page, AZ. Naturally we were going to hit up every interesting photo opportunity we could along the…
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Day Venture – Highway 58 to Mojave, CA
Monday, April 11th, 2016 It was a stormy looking day and I decided that I wanted to venture out toward Highway 58 in search of some photo opportunities. I invited my mom to come along for the ride since I know that she loves getting out on small adventures like these. We started by taking Old Route 66 from Victorville to Lenwood and that’s when we hopped onto the 58 westbound toward Mojave, CA. The first half of the drive was amazing, the rain had started to really come down and began flooding several parts of Route 66 from Oro Grande to Bryman, but it was nothing that the Starship…
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Southwest 2015 – The Desert View Watchtower
Thursday, December 3rd, 2015 Today was a good day to head back out to the south rim of the Grand Canyon for some pick up shots and a bit more time for exploration. The Grand Canyon Railway was a most excellent experience, but unfortunately it did not leave us with much time to hike around and get the shots we wanted, so Julia and I took the starship out to the south rim and took in some much desired photo opportunities as we trekked along the regions east of Mather Point. Before we set off for a day at the south rim, Julia and I tried a place just down…
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Death Valley Super Bloom 2016
Thursday, February 18th, 2016 Death Valley is a place of extreme heat and desolation with wide valleys well below sea level and surrounded by tall and eccentrically featured mountains of the Amargosa Range to the East and the sierra like peaks of the Panamint range to the west. Of all the times I have visited this beautiful park, never have I had the opportunity to catch the annual flower bloom, let alone the even more rare “Super Bloom” which was happening this year. The last Super Bloom occurred over a decade ago in 2005, so I was certainly not going to miss this! Victorville My day started off somewhat later than…
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Charlie Brown Farms
Thursday, January 28th, 2016 Today I took my mom to visit one of the local gems in the high desert, a place that’s had me visiting the small town of Littlerock, CA for well over a decade. Charlie Brown Farms is a place that has it all and I mean “ALL”. If you can think of any confection, they most like have it or at least some variation of it there. If you are traveling to Littlerock via Hwy 18 from the 395 like I do, just be aware that Hwy 18 is closed past Oasis Rd. The old bridge that overpasses a set of railroad tracks is being demolished and rebuilt.…
