Valley of the Sun
Another day spent in the Valley of the Sun. I have a few more pictures to share. Tomorrow we make our way to the Apache Trail. Really looking forward to seeing the legendary Superstition Mountains.
Tag Archive for: travel
Sedona
We spent all day and evening in the Sedona area. Sedona is about a 2-hour drive north of Phoenix. And it is a stunning location. I took hundreds of frames yesterday. I’ve included a few here so that you get some sense of the region.
However, on the way back from Sedona, we saw a magnificient site that I could not photograph: the stars in the sky. My goodness. What a site. I have never seen the stars so brightly lit and so dense.
Desert Tour
The conference finished up today with enough time to fit in a desert tour. We went up to an area just north of the resort. Mark was our driver and guide. A very well-rounded individual. He knew a lot more about Canada than most Americans I have met. And he was exceptionally well versed about the desert itself.
I took about 100 frames today. Tomorrow, we head out to Sedona where I expect to go through 300 or 400 frames. We have our tour of Sedona all planned out. It will be a full day so I won’t get a chance to update the blog until Friday.
Weather has continued to be exceptional down here. Sunny and warm with temperatures in the mid to high 90s. Today there was some cloud to paint the sky. The rest of our time here will be clear skies. Good thing I have a polarizing filter with me.
Here are some pictures from the jeep tour of the desert.
Sunrise
As with previous mornings, I was up early with Matthew to take pictures. We had a bit of cloud this morning which really gives a dramatic view to the skies in Arizona.
Cave Creek
After the conference ended for the day, I took Lorraine and Matthew up to Cave Creek. Cave Creek is a small town about an hour’s drive north of Scottsdale. I was able to capture some of the terrain of the area as well as some nice sunset shots. Homes in this area sit on about 5 acres of land. The buildings are very low to the ground. And they are expensive. Most of the homes are in the millions of dollars. Wonderful views of the mountains.
After the sunset, we headed over to a restaurant in town called the Satisfied Frog. While we were taking pictures in Cave Creek, we met a retired gentlemen and he recommended this restaurant. Amazing steak. Funky atmosphere.
I took some night shots of the restaurant and the gift shops that surround the area.
Arizona Day 4
Conference is keeping me busy for most of the day so little opportunity to take in the magnificient scenery in this area. Thank goodness I booked a couple of personal days at the end of the week.
But I am getting up at dawn and taking photos of the resort itself. A few more to share with you today.
Matthew’s Pictures
As promised, here is a post with a couple of Matthew’s pictures. The first picture is one that I took of Matthew as he looked for that next important camera shot. Matthew is using a Canon SD500, a 7.1 Megapixel point-and-shoot camera. In this photo, you can see the camera dangling by his side.
The next photo was one that Matthew took. The picture is a shadow of the two of us taking pictures. I am behind my camera and tripod, Matthew is taking the shot of our shadow. A very creative shot. The photo that follows was a tricky shot of the sun. And Matthew did a great job of grabbing that shot. Although I did warn him about looking directly into the sun. Must take care of those eyes!
Arizona Day 3
Matthew and I were up very early this morning. And we took advantage of the early sunrise to go out and take some pictures together. He took some great shots. I will post a couple later today.
Here are a few shots that I took around the resort this morning.
