Painted Desert

 

The above photos were taken at the Painted Desert in Arizona.  This location is just off of Interstate 40 near the Pretrified Forest National Park

 

 

A train near Intersate 40

Valles Caldera National Preserve

 

Images above are from a trail along the Jemez River (creek) near the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  Becky and I found this trail in 1998 and hiked up several miles in mid August.  This is when I discovered how you can become dehydrated very easily in low humidity environments.  You don't think you are sweating but you are and it dries so fast that you don't realize it.  Very beautiful location and it brought back good memories.

 

 Corral on the back side of the Valles Caldera (appox 20 miles from the entrance)

 If you are a fan of the television show "Longmire" (A&E Channel) you will recognize this a Sheriff Longmire's house.  On the TV show this is in Wyoming.  In reality it is on the Valles Caldera National Preserve between Los Alamos and Jemez Springs, New Mexico.

 View of the Valles Caldera National Preserve from New Mexico Hwy. 4

 One of the many corrals located on the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  This was once a working cattle ranch before the U.S. Government purchased it.  They still lease out areas for cattle ranching.

 

These are elk grazing at the Valles Caldera National Preserve.  These elk are more than 2 miles away from where I was standing when I took this photo.  The photo was taken with a auper telephoto lens. 

Area Around Taos, NM

 Mountain near Red River, NM.  There is a very large mining operation just across the peak of this mountain.  Don't know if the mining caused this bald spot or if it was there originally.

 Rio Grand River just south of Taos, NM

 Rio Grand River just south of Taos, NM

San Francisco De Asis Ranchos New Mexico



Santa Fe, NM

 The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, commonly known as Saint Francis Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

 The Native American Only area on the Santa Fe Plaza in downtown old Santa Fe

Spiral Staircase inside

Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Monument Valley

This is a panorama (click on image to see the entire panorama) of the Mittens at Monument Valley.  We departed Bryce Canyon at 5:30 am and arrived here about 11:00 am.  Wish we would had been a little later because the sun was not in a good location to caputre the true color of the two mittens on the right.

Hoodoos at Bryce Canyon National Park

Bryce Canyon National Park was the last of our Big 3 National Park circle.  This image includes some Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon.  The photo was taken from an overlook behind our cabin.

Zion National Park, Lower Emerald Pool

Michelle and I hiked up the Emerald Pools trail from Zion Lodge to the Lower Emerald Pool.  It was still early morning and the sun had just crested the peaks.  The sunlight was falling on a small waterfall at the pool.  I was able to find some shade to keep the sunlight out of my lens and get a good photo for the waterfall.