Friday, March 24, 2017

Road trip therapy...

Sometimes you just need to hit the road to get yourself straight.  Arizona offers a lot of options.  Dart to the map landed on the Monument Valley on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona.  Listed as a two hour loop drive (took me 2 1/2 hours) and $20 entry fee.

There are several large rocks outside the park that you can photograph for free but it was still worth it and no power lines to mar the photo and plenty of places to safely pull off and with a speed limit of 15 MPH no worries about cars coming up on you at 65 MPH!

First day got to the park just before the gate closed at 5:30 (BTW-this part of AZ does daylight savings time and I had no cell service anywhere on the reservation).  There are people who live in the park, no power lines in sight, but they didn't appreciate all the traffic in the evening which is why it closes earlier in the winter.   Got some shots from the visitor center.  

 

This horse and its posse didn't allow the cattle guard to deter its path, it skirted the fence and guard and meandered to greener grass.

A nights rest and back to the park (P.S. Stayed in Kayenta at the Wetherill Inn. Comfy and roomy.)  Here are some of my pics from the park-played with some of the settings on camera - vivid colors, fisheye:

Group of horses just roaming around.
 

 This horse took a dislike to my hand sanitizer and chased me to my car!

 


 
 There is blooms but very small and you must stop and search.  There are lots of shades of green too.







 The vivid color setting on my camera really pops the landscape (more than reality, but its pretty).  Unfortunately I end up looking like one of the oompa loompas with orange skin, hair even looks a little green here...

I was thinking maybe my eyes would pop on this setting but had a hard time not squinting and when I didn't squint I forgot to use the right setting, lol.  Then the right setting, big eyes but...ummmm...NEXT!
 
On the way home and finally some wild flowers.







Friday, March 10, 2017

 If you get low enough you can make it look like there is a lot of flowers.  We were a couple of days late to get to see the bumper crop of blooms.  This is Picacho Peak.

There should be a lot of blooms on the Sauguro come May/June.


My partner in the day's adventure.  So glad to get to know B.M. better.





Up close and personal with some flora.


We thought maybe a venture up to Mt Lemon might give us some more flowers, instead we found snow at the higher elevations and a few flowers on the lower.