South Mountain Park/Preserve

In October, Team Diabetes visited South Mountain Park as part of our marathon training.  San Juan Road runs east/west through the park about 14 miles round trip.  This is taken facing east along the road.

Camelback

It only seems right after Pass Mountain and Piestewa that I include Camelback.  This was my 3rd attempt to get up it and I still haven't managed the top, but I'm getting closer!

The top shot is of the first real problem area on the trail. Some people can just run up this sucker, but I have to climb the rail and it's tough to haul my butt up there! The picture below was taken about half way up the climb. You never know what you're going to find!

I have made it to the top of this section every time, but this was the first time I made it past it.  There is a second challenge a little later.

The climb up, however, is rewarded with some wonderful views of the valley.

Piestewa Trail

In July, I went to North Phoenix to participate in a fun run with Team Diabetes.  Afterwards, I went partway up the Piestewa Summit Trail.

The trail goes up nearly 1,200' in about 1.2 miles, so it's steep, but most of the way there's no bigger steps than a staircase.  However, there are sections where the rocks are jagged and you do need to watch your step.  This is the one trail that I've tried so far with Minimus shoes that was actually too painful to do.

Wind Cave and Western Diamondback

In July, I was hiking down Pass Mountain on the Wind Cave trail when I came across this little rattler...

When I first saw it, it was stretched out across the trail and I nearly stepped on it before I spotted it.  I tried to persuade it to move off the path and it did so, slowly and with much hissing and rattling...

Kalusa Airplane Collection

This is a B-36 handmade to scale and painted with a typical design.  It was made by John Kalusa as part of his collection of over 5,500 aircraft.  All are made of balsa wood.  The collection is housed at the Hazy Library on the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

Mini Time Museum, Tucson

This is one of many, many cool miniature displays in the museum.  Some are in houses like this display, but others are in tea pots or a violin or as standalone rooms or single items.  We spent about 3 hours there and it wasn't enough!  Wonderful docents, too.

Cactus flowers

Aren't those beautiful? I found them hiding in a corner...

These date back to May, 2011. I'm going to do some catchup posting here...

Dust Devil Deluxe!

This thing went way up and it was doing a great job of being a brown tornado for the time I watched it.

Footprints

Dino tracks! Clayton Lake State Park, New Mexico.  A long way off the interstate, but a very cool place.

Sunrise and Fog

When I left Lompoc yesterday morning, it was cold and damp.  Fog was curling down the hills and filling the valleys in places.  I was heading down toward the coast when I saw this and just had to stop and take the shot.

I was told by a guy in Banning, east of LA, that they got 6 inches of snow overnight.  By the time I got there it was just a light cover, and only in places.  As you can see, I shot this from the highway.  Snow in Southern California in April - not exactly the image that you expect!

California Coast

The hills above Highway 1 northwest of Santa Barbara are covered with yellow flowers.

Water Ranch

I took a short walk this afternoon at the Water Ranch in Gilbert.  There were just tons of ducks on the ponds, along with a smattering of other birds.  In this shot there are Mallards, Northern Pintails and one Green-winged Teal.

Along with the ducks, there were a lot of egrets and herons, including this one:

I also saw coots, Black-crowned Night Herons, Black-necked Stilts, Kildeer, hummingbirds, sparrows, a Black Phoebe, a flock of blackbirds (I couldn't get close enough to see if they were red-winged), and several others.  It's been a pretty good time for birds recently, with very cool encounters with a Barn Owl and two Great Horned Owls, plus a hawk, all near my house.

Macro Pictures Squidoo Lens

I've created a new lens on Squidoo that talks about macro mode.  It includes a couple of my pictures.  The flower and the bee, specifically.

Shooting Macro Pictures links to it.

Fou Corners Power Plant

My destination for my trip last week.

Canyon de Chelly

This was taken out the window of the Durango to Phoenix flight. We flew in a Bombardier DH-8 (assuming I remembered the type correctly).