Photo-Swap-Thursday #2

Edge View From Horseshoe Bend

Heather: Sometimes, the view itself is the adventure… Last spring I spent a week hiking around Arizona with my oldest son. I shot this photo from my own breath-taking cliff’s edge position at Horse Shoe Bend in Page, Arizona where there are no barriers except your own common sense.

“Sunset photos of Horseshoe Bend near Page, Arizona take a bit of planning.  Bursting, changing light and a cliff side tripod perch are just a couple of the challenges.  Wind and blowing sand can make the experience even more interesting…”

More photos, audio and the full story can be found here: Photo’s Edge

Heather Dugan is a writer/photographer and voice-over/on-camera talent based in Central Ohio with clients worldwide. A frequent traveler and lover of the outdoors, she is never without her camera and running shoes.

Her travel adventures are chronicled on "Footsteps" www.heatherdugan.com/blogNEW

Writing samples/article links and recording demos can be found at www.heatherdugan.com. "

Find her on Facebook here!

Still waiting....

Set to the movie "High Chaparral" - in Old Tuscon, AZ
***

Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act.
Paulo Coelho

Hi my friends,

Thank you all for the wonderful comments again. I was to busy yesterday to put up a post. I hope you'll enjoy this one today. I've captured this picture in the old film studios in Old Tuscon in Arizona on my recent trip across America. It shows the entrance to the ranch house out of the TV series "High Chaparral".

Have a wonderful day - and thanks for visiting and commenting again.
Susanne



Don't forget, my CALENDARS 2010 are a nice gift for Christmas and also great colorful deco for the walls in your office. Order one now. Thank you!

It's like out of a fairy book!

On the way up to the Bryce Canyon

First we had to pass trough the "Red Canyon"

And this was the picture I have seen there: The majestic Bryce Canyon!

The elevation was more than 8000 feet - and I could feel it very well, the air was thin and I had a hard time to breath.
No wonder people say: The Bryce Canyon is breathtaking :)

Tourists from all over the world came to see this wonder work of Mother Nature, I heard also Swiss people discussion the amazing view :)

I can only say: Enjoy these view!

Speechless about so much beauty

The "magic" entrance - to another world maybe ? :)

The full view (with my wide angle lens)

Close up shot (300mm lens)

It looks almost like the temples of Bali :)

I couldn't get enough to photograph these "Hoodoos" :)

I can not say which one of the two Canyons are more beautiful - they are bot majestic and so different from each other. I liked them both and I'm so lucky and happy that I had the chance to visit both of them.

Hi my friends,

Grand Canyon - Bryce Canyon and all the other pretty places we went trough.... I have seen now so many beautiful and amazing landscape in our pretty soon 4 moths of traveling and every state here in the U.S. has his own beauty to share with us. I'm often totally overwhelmed about the beauty of America - and about the size too...LOL...

We are just now almost in Salt Lake City in Utah. I like this green state with its still snow covered mountains and with all the green valleys. It's very special!

Dave is still recovering from his bronchitis, but he is getting better every day, so we have to move on a little bit slower as usual, heading probably up to Montana - slowly, one day we will be there.... :)

Thanks for all your kind comments and visits, I appreciate every single one!

Stay tuned with me... :)
Susanne and David

Have a nice weekend!

I have photographed this big, wonderful Agave plant in the yard by the "Casa Grande" National Monument, close by Florence,AZ


AGAVE
A genus of plants (order Amaryllidaceae) of which the chief species is the maguey or century plant (A. Americana), wrongly called Aloe. It is from ten to seventy years, according to climate, in attaining maturity, when it produces a gigantic flower stem, sometimes forty feet in height, and perishes. The fermented juice is the pulque of the Mexicans; distilled, it yields mescal. A strong thread and a tough paper are made from the leaves, and the wood has many uses.

Hi my friends,

I wish you all a nice weekend!!

Tomorrow we will be hitting the road again, our relaxing time is over. We've enjoyed our stay here in pretty (and finally warm enough for us) Arizona very much.

Actually we don't like to go away and to leave the warm weather behind us...but life has to go on, right?....LOL... Just now we still don't know where to go, in which direction...In the N and NE it's still cold....right? :))

Thanks for all your wonderful compliments these last days to my postings, stay with me also when we are out there on the road again. I'll try to keep up looking to your blogs also - if I'll have good connections. :)

See ya' later...!
Susanne and David

Pretty Landscapes on The Way to Phoenix,AZ

This photo belongs actually to the post before, when we left Sedona. It is such a pretty last view back towards the red rocks of Sedona! I just wanted to share it with you too. :)

This was the fantastic view, when we were driving from Flagstaff over all the hills towards Phoenix

Pretty color contrast of yellow fields and the "Black Canyon" mountains

The first fields of Saguaro Cacti came up, those are so typical for Arizona
I love these trees

Another pretty view close by Black Canyon City


Hi my friends,

we are still in beautiful and warm Phoenix, Arizona and have booked just now another night. We cannot decide where we want to go as next....LOL... :)

Thanks for all the nice comments and the loyal visits! Love you all! :))

Come back soon!
Susanne and David

Leaving Old Tucson to Quartzsite, AZ

We left Old Tucson and drove the I-10 towards Phoenix with terrible traffic situations - but we made it trough with our "box" :) Those black spots are skydivers - and not spots in my lens...LOL..

Beautiful mountain scenes with even "Baby Mountains" like this one, were to see to the left and to the right of the street

...and still 84 miles to go!

The desert was blooming, so pretty!

The yellow bushes were everywhere, also between the cacti on the hills beside the road

...and finally: Quartzsite came in sight! A little sleepy town with 1900 population only in summer - and almost 250'000 in winter, the time when the snowbirds are there. We stayed one night there before we left to our next big goal: California!

If you pass through Quartzite in summer, the answer to this question is, “Absolutely nothing.” You will see flat desert, some roadside businesses, tumbleweeds and that’s about it.

But come winter, the answer is quite different. Each winter the flat desert bustles with activity. RVs by the thousands camp in fairly primitive desert conditions. So what’s the attraction? Well, it's warm in Quartzite during winter, for one. And, second, it's pretty inexpensive camping.


Hi my friends,

thank you for the nice comments and all the compliments to my last post. I'm glad you liked that little "Movie town" like I did! :)

We made it today trough Los Angeles, we have seen Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Venice and so much more. I'm looking forward to present to you soon all the pictures I made. But first we will pass together in my next postings the big desert in Yuma AZ with real white sand dunes and only 300 feet away from the border to Mexico. Stay tuned and stay patient with me. :))

Susanne and David

Arizona Sunset

We stayed one night in the Saguaro National Park, AZ and had the chance to watch a wonderful sunset in the West and on the horizon in the East was the rising moon coming up

Arizona moon between the red colored mountains at the Saguaro National Park

Beautiful evening light in the high desert!

Last sunbeams on the cacti

An intense glow colored the sky after the sun went down behind the high mountains!

Hi my friends,

We are arrived in California today and we are planning to stay here around for a while here before we will be heading up more North at the coast line!

I'm behind with my postings now, I know... I hope you'll still enjoy my posts from Arizona and also the future ones. There will come some more from a very special place we have visited there around Tucson, still in Arizona. And then there will come also some pictures from our driving from AZ to CA with interesting landscape changes - pictures from the high desert down into the valleys and to the yellow/white sand hills at the border to Mexico... stay tuned! :))

Thank you so much for your visits and all the nice comments and compliments, they are all very much appreciated!

Susanne and David

Good bye New Mexico - Hello Arizona

We left Silver City and drove down the hills towards Lordsburg and took the highway towards Arizona. In the pictures are the Cupper mines of Tyron to see.

This is how it looks out in the desert: long straight roads for miles to go and mountains, mountains, all over you can see!

Tuscon in Arizona cannot be to far away - only 173 miles or something like that... :))

We stopped by a ghost town named STEIN - it was closed because of to many ghost activities...LOL... it was not open for the public anymore

And this is how STEIN looks - old buildings and ruins that have seen better times

But the UNION PACIFIC train is still around and searching his way up the hills - very slowly

Soon after STEIN we crossed the state line to Arizona. I always wanted to see this beautiful "Grand Canyon State"

Pretty soon also the landscape started to change the colors to big red rocky formations

I'm fascinated with cactus flowers and cactus plants. You will see more of them in my coming next photos, visiting some National Parks and the heart of the desert of Arizona

If they are blooming red cactus....

...or yellow cactus flowers - they are all magnificent for me!

We arrived in Tuscon Arizona and outside of the city we have found a great place to spend the night: on the parking lot of the Desert Diamond Casino which is owned by Tohono O'odham Indian tribe. And of course, YES, we went to the Casino - and YES, we did some gamblings - and NO, we didn't won....LOL... we lost a little bit of our pocket money :)).... no problems, maybe next time we will be more lucky!


Hi my friends

Thank you very much for all your nice comments and compliments to my post about Silver City. Yes it was a nice experience for both of us to visit that hill town in New Mexico, close to the Arizona border. And the ride to Arizona was pretty too. Arizona is a very nice state and there is a lot to see also. We will visit probably Sedona, AZ on our way back coming from Las Vegas, some when in summer or so...

Tomorrow I will show you some photos from a very great and exciting place in the heart of the desert and up in the hills. We slept there in one of the big Sate Parks and I have captured for you a mountain sunset. So stay tuned!

Looking forward to your comments and see you soon!

Susanne and David