Archive for category Photo albums
Columbia River Video
Posted by nbdog in Photo albums, Travel on 27-Aug-2013
I made a short video of some photos from our trip along the Columbia River. It turned out nice, I think.
(Click on the photo to open in You Tube)
Sunsets/Sunrises Collection
Posted by nbdog in Photo albums, Travel on 7-Apr-2013
Sunset over Colorado River near Moab, UT
Some of my favorite photos are sunrises and sunsets so I’ve put together a collection of some of them.
← Click on the photo to go to the album.
Capitol Reef: Cathedral Valley
Posted by nbdog in Photo albums, Travel on 3-Apr-2013
Cathedral Valley is touted as the highlight of Capitol Reef: it’s the sandstone spires from this area that are featured in most of the travel photos of the park. But you are also warned that it is a challenging drive. Both things are true. The scenery is spectacular and the road is horrible. The route begins with a drive across and IN the Fremont River; a very weird experience for non off-roaders like us.
Entering the Fremont River Ford
Once out of the river, we managed a quarter mile or so of deeply rutted, soft sand “road” and drove for a couple of hours on moderately bumpy dirt and gravel. As the route loops over Thousand Lake Mountain the Hartnet Road is very rocky with occasional fallen boulders to avoid and deep washouts to contend with. For almost an hour we barely crept along in the AWD Acura. Back on the Cathedral Valley floor the route becomes Caineville Wash Road which led us past and sometimes right up to several of the Park’s iconic buttes and painted desert landscapes.
Temple of the Sun
The final twenty miles or so traversed magically colored mounds…
… and desolate rocky landscapes …
before we finally exited back onto Highway 24 and signs of civilization. It was an arduous and memorable six-hour tour.
Here are more photos of the Cathedral Valley excursion (37).
After lunching at the Fruita picnic area, we rinsed the Acura in a nearby car wash and drove the 200 miles or so to Ogden where we relaxed with room-service burgers while watching a Nova episode on PBS.
Moab to Capitol Reef National Park
Posted by nbdog in Photo albums, Travel on 1-Apr-2013
Busy day today…. After a yummy breakfast bagel at Sweet Cravings in Moab we stopped at Dead Horse Point State Park. What fabulous views of Canyonlands and the Colorado River.
Additional photos of Dead Horse Point (10).
David and Trisha at Dead Horse Point State Park; Colorado River in the background
From there we toured the bizarre formations at Goblin Valley State Park,
Goblin Valley State Park
a side trip that included a few minutes of black-out conditions in a dust storm.
Dust storm; view through our windshield
Here are some additional photos from Goblin Valley (16).
On the way to Capitol Reef we were treated to truly unearthly landscapes along Highway 24 near Hanksville, UT. The day ended with a few miles of preliminary reconnoitering of Capitol Reef in anticipation of tomorrow’s full day tour of the park. Our humble room at the Best Western includes another stunning vista off the back patio:
View from patio of our room at the Best Western Motel, six miles of Capitol Reef National
park
Canyonlands: Needles District
Posted by nbdog in Photo albums, Travel on 31-Mar-2013
Today’s destination was the Needles (southeastern) District of Canyonlands. It’s much different from the northern section, offering a perspective from the canyon floor featuring red sandstone spires and vast expanses of desert grub lands. We had a quiet road side lunch of Spanish cheeses, pita bread and fresh berries. 
Photos of our visit to Needles region (16).
Wooden Shoe Arch, Canyonlands
We had not made reservations anywhere for Easter dinner. We took our chances and tried the Desert Bistro in Moab. We were rewarded with a truly scrumptious meal.
California-Arizona Trip: Day 2
Posted by nbdog in Photo albums, Travel on 27-Sep-2011
Sept. 27 – Tuesday – Medford, OR to Mariposa, CA
Lake at Lassen NP
Today turned out to be a little longer than planned. After leaving Medford at 8:15 we made such good time that we decided to take a side trip off I-5 to Lassen Volcanic National Park, east of Redding, CA. This gave us a chance to check off another National Park in our quest to visit them all. Lassen was beautiful and fascinating but it did add a few hours and quite a few miles (564 for the day) to our day and we didn’t arrive in Mariposa until 7:30. We stayed at a well-worn Best Western motel and ended up getting take-out pizza for dinner from the local Pizza Factory. The highlight of the day was probably enjoying a quiet lunch at this impossibly blue mountain lake in Lassen.
Here are just 6 photos of Lassen.
Yellowstone Trip Summary and Photos
Posted by nbdog in Photo albums, Travel on 22-May-2010
We had a great time. Going early in the season turned out to be a good choice. We encountered tour buses and school groups only at Old Faithful and the only wildlife traffic jam was for the mother bear and the cubs on our last day in the park. At times, ours was the only car on the road. A few side roads were still closed as was the route through Dunraven Pass and Mt. Washburn, the highest drivable destinations. We were fortunate weather wise. Other than a thirty-minute shower on the 18th, we had dry conditions and temperatures mostly in the 60s. So we will continue our off-season travel schedule. It was so pleasant having so much of the space to ourselves with the option to slow down and pull over whenever we wanted. Photos….
- Here are twenty-four of the Grand Tetons National Park-Jackson, WY area.
- And seventy-nine of Yellowstone National Park.
We were surprised at the mostly dated or simplistic accommodations and dining options in West Yellowstone and Gardiner. I guess you don’t travel to Yellowstone for an upscale hotel experience. Before the next trip we’re going to get some really good binoculars to enhance wildlife viewing. I also learned to always, always have the camera at hand. I missed our only chance to get a photo of a wolf and a bison strolling through a supermarket parking lot because I left the camera in the car. And I’m very tempted to get a much more powerful telephoto lens as well.
Merry Christmas! Winter Scenes
Posted by nbdog in Around the house, Photo albums, Weather on 23-Dec-2008
I’ve put together a little collection of winter photos over the past week or so.
Watch the mini slides below or click on the link above to go to our collection of photo albums.
http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf
Chambers Bay
Posted by nbdog in Golf, Photo albums on 16-Nov-2008
I’ve been wanting to play the new Chambers Bay course near Tacoma since it opened a little over a year ago. It will be the site of several major tournaments in the future (including the 2015 U.S. Open) and I wanted to see what a top-level PGA course is like. We played 36 holes, using the first time through the get acquainted with the layout and greens. I improved each nine holes but was still was appropriately humbled shooting a 101 in the afternoon round. That said, I didn’t play as well as I have been lately and I managed a respectable 47 on the final nine with pars on three of the last ten holes. The greens are exceedingly difficult and I didn’t have a single one-putt hole. It was all still great fun on an exceptional fall day; I even got a little sunburn on the nose. Not bad for the middle of November. And the views are tremendous.
New Mexico trip – Durango to Albuquerque
Posted by nbdog in Photo albums, Travel on 24-May-2008
Long drive back to Albuquerque (215 miles). Cold morning leaving Durango and hit snow for a while about two hours outside of Albuquerque. Visited the Petroglyph National Monument on the outskits of town and stopped by the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. We had hoped to have dinner at the High Finance restaurant atop Sandia Peak overlooking Albuquerque but high winds closed the tram for the evening. We settled for a nice steakhouse (The Cooperage) where Trisha has steak and shimp scampi and I did steak and crab legs. Of course, there was a successful hunt for Baskin-Robbins after dinner.
—» Here are a few photos of the petroglyphs near Albuquerque.
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