Road Trip!

Route 66, Arizona
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I will be incommunicado for the first part of the month. My husband and I are taking another trip down to the Southwest area that we so enjoy, both for the incredible scenery and the mystical history behind its scattered ruins. This will be the first time we hit Four Corners, where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado meet, so there will be much to discover. We fly into Las Vegas, then immediately set off on a week-long road trip, mostly spent exploring the National Parks in Utah, to finally end up in Salt Lake City for a few days before heading home.

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I am including a tentative itinerary here for any armchair travelers among you who might be interested. Of course, plans are always subject to change! Leaving the house and furry companions in the capable hands of our big sons, we will be free souls wandering wherever whim takes us…our favourite thing in the world to do!
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Grand Canyon, Arizona

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My much-loved regular readers do not

need me to say that I am rendered breathless at the thought of photographing Antelope Canyon, (high on my bucket list), and Bryce Canyon, not to mention Monument Valley! Think of every John Ford western flick you’ve ever seen with the red spires and buttes…are they not beyond magnificent? I am literally aquiver with anticipation!

Grand Canyon, Arizona This is the plan:

2nd: Vancouver to Las Vegas
3rd: Las Vegas to Zion Nat. Park
4th: Bryce Canyon, UT,
5th: Antelope Canyon, AZ
6th: Monument Valley, AZ
7th: Mesa Verde, CO
8th: Arches Nat. Park, UT
9th: Canyonlands, UT
10th: Salt Lake City and environs
11th: Salt Lake City to Vancouver

Chapel On The Hill, Sedona

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My camera awaits...batteries charged and memory cards lined up. When I get back online, I hope to have many wonders to share with you. I’ll try not to bore you with an excess of photos, but like an overexcited child, I don’t always know when to stop…and moderation never was my strong suit!
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I may check in whilst away, but striving to take in as much as we can, we spend very little time in hotel rooms. I’ll tell you all about it when I get back. In the meantime…happy blogging!!
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The photos above are from a trip to the Arizona in 2007

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Looking at Whistler Skies.

This past weekend my husband and I took a longer-than-usual Sunday drive, doing a round trip of four hundred kilometers to play tourist on Whistler Mountain for the day!

If you watched any of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games held this February in Vancouver, you would have seen many televised events from the ski hills and sled runs of Whistler. .

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Getting up to Whistler Mountain was always a challenge. A precarious two-lane road hugged the hillsides too tightly for comfort and the sheer drops on the open side gave
many a passenger pause on the return trip!

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Snow and falling rock closed the road with some frequency…and the endlessly twisting road was never a joy to drive in the dark.

All this changed with the announcement that Vancouver was getting the Olympics. Work began on the new Sea-To-Sky Highway, with its extra lanes and added security features.

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Now it is a joy to drive, although still challenging in the winter, and the scenery is quite stunningly beautiful. It was a wonderfully moody day, weather-wise, when we went, and my camera seemed always to be pointing at the sky, torn as it was between sun and cloud...
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I’m posting my favourites for this week’s ‘Looking At The Sky Friday’, graciously hosted by CrAzY Working Mom at the link below. Do stop by for skies that will inspire!
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http://www.crazyworkingmom.com/
I have also put a few Whistler photos on my main blog, ‘Imagination Lane’, for the ‘Project Genesis’ forum. If you would like to check these pics out or learn more about the eco-friendly ‘Project Genesis’, do follow this link:

http://imaginationlane.blogspot.com/2010/08/project-genesis-iii.html

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