Trip Log - Part I
May 20 - May 31
This is the first month's log of our trip which Bilbo Baggins would have titled,
"There and Back Again - The Beginning".
"There and Back Again - The Beginning".
Quite a few people have asked me in e-mails about our route, known as 'The Drive from Texas to Alaska and Back'. There is not much commentary included in this log, just sequential locations, dates, and mileages when available. The Alaska Trip Log will be divided into four months (parts) and posted on the next four consecutive Sundays. Past and future posts of Alaska Sunday (apart from the trip log) will have more detailed information and more photos of each specific area.
UPDATE: The log will contain 2 weeks per post. I didn't realize how time consuming it would be to look at trip records, mileages, and sorting photographs for each post. Not to mention deciding which photographs to post.
So here is a condensed version of the trip, with a few photos out of the 18,000 that we kept. A few of the photographs have been published, but are re-posted here to give a flavor and progress of the trip, and to see the landscape change.
Be sure to click on the photographs for full screen views.
5/20 Ft. Worth,TX to Santa Rosa, NM 498 mi
5/21 Santa Rosa, NM to Flagstaff, AZ 495 mi
Painted Desert - Arizona
Enriched colors due to
Perfect angle of near horizontal light and a rain shower
Enriched colors due toPerfect angle of near horizontal light and a rain shower
5/22 From our Campground in Flagstaff to Grand Canyon and back to Flagstaff, stopping at Marble Canyon and Vermillion Cliffs along the way. 445 miles
Marble Canyon - Colorado River
from the bridge over the river at Lees Ferry
Those small yellow dots on the river are the large tour rafts
from the bridge over the river at Lees Ferry
Those small yellow dots on the river are the large tour raftsVermillion Cliffs (a Stitched Panorama)
Note Hwy 89A (bottom right) for perspective & scale
Note Hwy 89A (bottom right) for perspective & scaleGrand Canyon in the Rain
North Rim
North Rim5/23 Flagstaff, AZ to Bakersfield, CA 480 mi
Mojave Desert
Looking Toward Death Valley
Looking Toward Death Valley5/24 Bakersfield, CA to Oakhurst, CA 200 mi
5/25 Yosemite (Adventure in the Sierra Nevada High Country) 124 mi
Half Dome - Yosemite
Glacier Point Road
Perhaps Ansel Adams stood on this very spot
and made a Black & White Photograph
Glacier Point RoadPerhaps Ansel Adams stood on this very spot
and made a Black & White Photograph
5/26 Oakhurst, CA to Redding, CA 332 mi
5/27 Redding, CA to Trinidad/Arcata to Klamath, CA 190 mi of serious winding road
The Pacific at Trinidad/Arcata
Hazy Day
Time to turn North on Hwy. 101
Hazy Day
Time to turn North on Hwy. 1015/28 thru 5/31 Coastal Redwoods, Fern Canyon, Pacific Overlooks, and Area 460 mi
The Pacific at the Klamath River
A Perfect Day
A Perfect DayFern Canyon
A Magical Place of Five-fingered Ferns
(Enlarge and scroll up and down)
A Magical Place of Five-fingered Ferns(Enlarge and scroll up and down)
Please comment and tell us which photograph you like best and why.
3224 miles logged during the 12 days of May
Next Sunday's Trip Log will be for the Month of June....
Oregon, Washington, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Yukon, Alaska
A lot of ground to cover and sights to see in the next 30 days.
Photographs by Troy and Martha
13 comments:
Don't forget to vote for your favorite photo.
Troy
I especially like the North Rim picture ... with the rain and the clouds and yet the sun.
What a wonderful trip to have been able to take ... so many glorious sights along the way! It must be hard to pick and choose.
Thanks for the tips on sizing and posting photos.
I've been using a Canon G9 since March. I used a Pentax Option S4 before that. I only use pocket size cameras because I don't like packing around the big guns!
Troy and Martha, these are all magnificent photographs! My early years were spent in New Mexico, and every beautiful photograph of the western part of the US brings joyful tears to my eyes! I have really teared up on these. I am hard-pressed to choose a favorite, but I think (right now) that it is an unbreakable tie between the Marble Canyon shot and the panorama (which is seamless to my eye --marvelous job). Those two photos embody everything I find most beautiful about the desert Southwest: the majesty and grandeur of the land; the colors of rock, earth, water and sky; and the clear evidence of the hand of the Creator over the eons.
I will view the photos in this post over and over again, and will probably tear up every time. Thanks for sharing them with us!
I look forward to seeing more of the (to me) unbelievable 18,000 photos!
My favourite is the Vermillion Cliffs because you can see the layers of sediment laid down over thousands of years and it is a beautiful photo, well done for stitching together so well, something I never achieve well.
How can I pick?
I'll give you 5 and why.
Painted Desert--It is a spectacular picture. I've been through there many times and never seen it so colorful. Could be the difference in the time of the year, but it's usually much more hazy when I see it.
Vermillion Cliffs--I just love this stretch of road. I was there last week and love "vermillion," "white" and "pink." The vermillion are my favorite, though.
North Rim--Spectacular view, and I love the North Rim so much more than the South Rim.
Pacific @ Klamath River--The color. The color! And I'm an ocean girl.
Fern Wall--Amazing is all I can say.
I like them all, but Grand Canyon in the Rain is awesome! I don't think I've ever seen a shot of Grand Canyon while it was raining. Love the lighting through the clouds.
Uh - when I grow up, I want to make a trip just like that!
No real favorite here - they are all great! But if you start to unpack the thumb screws, I admit that I'm a bit partial to the fern ... ;)
Great fun to follow you!
Cheers, Klaus
I knew you were Bagginses!
The Grand Canyon in the rain photo is my favorite because it has so many elements going on--foliage, geography, rain, light, and clouds. It's not a plain landscape shot--the rain (which is actually visible thanks to the great light) fills up an otherwise empty expanse of air.
A horizontal line cuts right through the middle of the photo which might ruin any other landscape photo but the line adds to this shot rather than takes away from it. So it's a photo that breaks a composition rule in a way that works. There's no part of the photo that doesn't have something going on for it visually.
Wowser excellent shots, the colors are fantastic, and of course I love B&W, just watched a show on Ansel Adams, quite a remarkable photographer.
Oh, the Painted Desert, definitely. I love driving through the desert. Beautiful beautiful.
Like all your pictures - favourite is the Grand Canyon in the rain - you have everything - dark clouds,mountains and the trees in the foreground ..
Vote for the GC in the rain - very moody
Fabulous collection of photos, how fortunate for you to be able to travel to all of these beautiful places and thanks for sharing the views with us.
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