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Closing The Loop

October 29, 2020 in photography, RV, Travel | Tags: Full Time, nature, outdoors, photography, Photos, RV, Travel, Utah | 1 comment

Back in 2012, I had a bit of a health issue (see here for those posts). Following my recovery, or at least a good portion of it, we went to Utah and a bit of Arizona for what became known as our “I’m Not Dead Yet” tour. We hit many of the big parks for three night stays in their lodges or nearby and had a blast. Those posts start here if you’re interested. One thing that we learned is that just a few days in these types of locations is not enough. There is a direct line from that lesson to our going full-time in the RV last year. You can’t say we’re slow learners. At least in this instance.

So now we find ourselves back where it started. We booked a 2-week stay just outside Moab and it still wasn’t enough to even begin to see everything there is to see, but we saw a lot. Our lifestyle (ie: staying at a destination location in our own home) allowed us to take our time, but still go see cool stuff. If we decide to take a day off for laundry, chores, naps, and perhaps a bit of Xbox, no sweat.

Obviously this is a target-rich environment for photographers. This post will cover Arches National Park since it was our most visited destination with five separate trips (thank you once again America The Beautiful Pass!). It’s hard to pick just a handful, but needs must.

Sunset view of Balanced Rock, Arches NP, 9/21/20

A closer view of Balanced Rock. Arches NP 9/18/20

Sunset in Arches NP, 9/21/20

Early morning in Arches NP, 9/18/20

Landscape Arch, Arches NP 9/18/20

Pine Tree Arch, Arches NP, 9/18/20

Tunnel Arch, Arches NP, 9/18/20

Navajo Arch, Arches NP, 9/18/20

Arches NP, 9/18/20

Fiery Furnace, Arches NP, 9/17/20

Broken Arch, Arches NP, 9/17/20

The Fiery Furnace, Arches NP, 9/21/20

The Courthouse Wash Rock Art Panel. Arches NP, 9/22/20

Sand Dune Arch, Arches NP, 9/21/20

Broken Arch, Arches NP, 9/21/20

Skyline Arch, Arches NP, 9/21/20

We felt like Randall Flagg was following us around. #TheStand Arches NP, 9/17/20

Skyline Arch, Arches NP, 9/21/20

Timing Is Everything

October 3, 2020 in photography, RV, Travel | Tags: Full Time, nature, outdoors, photography, Photos, RV, Travel | 1 comment

The plan was to leave the coast and spend a couple of days just east of Portland in order to check out the Columbia Gorge, then go to ground in Boise (with a quick overnight stay en route) for the Labor Day weekend, and then dash to Salt Lake City (with another stop on the way) for several days. Which is what we did. Sort of.

We did, in fact, have a great time briefly exploring the Gorge. Impressive views and several waterfalls kept the “Oh, wow!” factor alive and well. Many of the trails that are acceptable to us (ie: easy-ish) were closed due to the pandemic but we were able to see the sights and take some walks. Lived up to all of the hype. We’d love to revisit in the spring some year in order to see the waterfalls at their best. A common phrase worth repeating: we’ll be back.

As it turns out, we got out of Dodge at just the right time. Wildfires kicked up in the Portland area in a big way immediately after we left. Our run east to Boise was uneventful as was our stay there. Between Covid and holiday crowds, we felt it best to just hunker down, which we did.

One of my trip planning tools is a website called Windy. It provides a nice view of upcoming weather, particularly wind speeds. Wind is not my friend since we are effectively driving a large sail down the highway. Broadside gusts can make life interesting. Looking at Windy showed some strong winds on our travel days due to a front moving through, starting just at our overnight stay in eastern Idaho as well as in Salt Lake City the next day. So we decided to stop for a couple of nights a bit earlier than planned. Twin Falls, ID looked good so I found a park near there and off we went.

This turned out to be a great decision for two reasons. First, the winds were indeed crazy with 90 mph gusts in SLC. Forty-nine semi-trucks were blown over right when we were to arrive! Bullet: dodged. Second: Twin Falls rocked! Beautiful canyon which Evel Knieval tried to jump on his motorcycle, lovely waterfalls, charming downtown area. Significantly better than muscling Sybil and the truck through high winds.

After our layover we headed to SLC for a few nights. Three words describe our stay: lousy air quality. We were happy to move on and start our time in Moab, Grand Junction, and Bryce. More on that next time. Meanwhile here’s a handful of shots from the Gorge and Twin Falls.