Grand Canyon at Dusk
I first visited the Grand Canyon with my children and it is one of their favorite travel memories. At that time you could drive yourself around to the various lookouts, while the pressure of large crowds has meant the institution of a shuttle nowadays. The massive crowds even outside of the summer months has made the experience more frustrating but it is still a place you should visit if you can. The views will still stop you in your tracks.
Grand Canyon at Dusk
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Canyon de Chelly, Arizona
The U.S. Southwest is well known for its red rock of many beautiful shades and one of the finest places to see it is Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona. The yellow and greens of the trees provide an counterpoint to the sheer sheets of the colorful walls, especially in Autumn.
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Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus
Similar to the familiar Northern Cardinal, the Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus, is resident in the northern parts of Mexico and and southern parts of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. They prefer desert scrub as well as riparian woodland.
 Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus juvenile |
 Pyrrhuloxia, Cardinalis sinuatus |
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Monument Valley
Hollywood has made it known to many people, as a great many Westerns were filmed in Monument Valley. It is one of my favorite places, a place where a look in every direction shows great beauty.
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Red-faced Warbler, Cardellina rubrifrons
The Red-faced Warbler, Cardellina rubrifrons, is one of the most spectacular looking members of the new world warblers. They breed in mountain forests and range up to Arizona and New Mexico.
Red-faced Warbler, Cardellina rubrifrons
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Masked Bobwhite, Colinus virginianus ridgwayi, male
The Northern Bobwhite has a wonderful subspecies called the Masked Bobwhite, Colinus virginianus ridgwayi. It has been extinct or close to it in the wild primarily caused by loss of breeding habitat. A great deal of work has been done to try to re-establish wild populations using birds raised in captivity. One of the target locations for this has been the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (BANWR) in southern Arizona. There has been no conclusive success to this point.
Masked Bobwhite, Colinus virginianus ridgwayi,female
These pictures are of captive birds kept in The Desert Museum aviary.
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“One real world is enough.” – George Santayana
This is a place we are all familiar with, wagon trains winding their way though the buttes, and John Wayne leading the way. Monument Valley has been the scene of many movies, it is a vast landscape begging to be filmed or photographed.
For an image gallery of Monument Valley, click on:
Monument Valley Image Gallery
“To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
An eternity in an hour..”
- William Blake
“We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore.”
- John Wesley Powell
Although we only had a few hours to visit this great spectacle, it was still worthwhile. I had not been there for many years, and the crowds had become horrendous, the downside of the experience.
“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most” – John Ruskin
Antelope Canyon, outside of Page, Arizona, is the most famous slot canyon in the southwest. It is a mecca for photographers. Situated on Navajo land, it can only be visited by permit only, generally this means taking an established tour out of Page.
For a gallery of Antelope Canyon, visit the following link:
Antelope Canyon Image Gallery
