Moab - The First Days

We left at 4:21 in the morning on Sunday too excited to sleep longer. And had to drive through winter to get here. We saw tons of elk and not very much road because at times we were in total white out conditions. Still the early start got us here in plenty of time to do a beginning loop of Arches National Park to refresh the spirit. The remnants of clouds and snow were to make for some fantastic photos for the next days.
While it was still quite chilly we did have to stretch our legs from all the driving and take in some of the short treks to arches just off the loop drive.

Had missed Sandstone Arch on our first trip here but got some great photos of it on this trip.
Only on the beginning of our third full day in Moab. Seems as if we have done more than can be included in those days. But each day begins about 6:30 and goes to 7:30 or eight before we return to base camp to prepare dinner and enter into the continuing Yahtzee tournament.

Inspiration for paintings has been abundant and close to the car but the Jeep has also allowed us to get further away from the standard photo opps. Yesterday we went on a 10 mile back road trip to do a 3.4 mile round trip to Tower Arch. And the day before we did Shaffer trail to White Rim trail. Shaffer trail was a six year dream. And maybe the reason Debbie got the Rubicon. White Rim trail resulted in the experience at Musselman Arch among others.

I have found lots to inspire me. And the cacti have been blooming which deviates us from grand view photographs. I think they and my inspirations deserve their own blogs outside the travel log.

Debbie on Musselman Arch

Tower Arch

Just a small fragment of the photographs taken.

Comments

  1. thebutlerMay 6, 2010 at 12:54 PM

    Awesome shots; love these arches!
    Will be eagerly awaiting more of same!!!
    Ya'll be careful out there too, ya hear me? ;0

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

I write for me but I care what my readers think. Please be polite and no scamming.

Popular posts from this blog

Polyethylene Packaging - a Dark Times Journal entry

Image
I was in the fourth grade when our family moved from El Paso, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We moved because I could not breathe the air there. I want to say they cracked petroleum there. But what did I know beyond the sky was sometimes yellow and I could not breathe. Mom was pregnant with Debbie, and Gary and I rode in the backseat separated by a round tank full of Dad's tropical fish. Dad had a job with Sealright, Inc which made paper milk cartons. Sealright was a polyethylene packing subsidiary of Phillips 66. The petroleum company. I was rather proud of myself for learning to say that, and to not laugh when adults would stare at me not knowing what to ask about that. Albuquerque smelled better. Then. Before all the freeways were built and the shape of the valley trapped the exhaust down near the ground in the winter months. We lived in the foothills. I could breathe. I learned that if I could see the air I could not. Still it was better than El Paso though I missed our trip...
Read more

Swimming

Image
For much of my college career my fitness workout was swimming on the B squad of the swim team. I remember it as the days before heated pools and women coaches. I also remember being so exhausted and cold I could only lean against the shower wall and throw up. Not exactly warm fuzzy images but I was in awesome shape. Needless to say it did not leave me with a overpowering desire to swim laps. Point of fact for years my swimming became really informal: Swimming to shore after the canoe tipped over, challenging my sister once a summer to across the lake and back, seeing how long I could back float without moving a muscle, and a scuba course. I also played around with other ways of staying fit: aerobics, bicycling, jogging, skiing and dance classes. All of which seem to be bad for the knees, back or feet. After my ski accident my physical therapist steered me back to the pool. Damn if I was going to swim laps! However, aqua fit was just getting rather seriously taken so I took it. It r...
Read more

The Pruning the Crown of Thorns

Image
Crown of Thorns Before I am a lover of Euphorbias . They are from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar. They have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America and are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. My big Crown of Thorns was one of my first of a growing collection of these succulents from the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. I picked it up as a 6 inch plant in a New Iberia nursery when my sister and I were touring the northern gulf coast. I believe that was 15 years ago. I made an attempt at limiting its height a few years back to allow it to devote more energy to the new branches and make it a denser plant. That failed. And the height of the plant continued to challenge the window space and soon the long branches were leaning over and leaning against the window. I googled and found the proper way to prune this treasured plant. Still it was very difficult to cut off the four longer branches. Even with a plan. The f...
Read more