Despite what you might imagine is happening in this photo, these squirrels were neither fighting nor engaged in foreplay. They were, in fact, grooming each other. I never realized squirrels did this, but if you think about it, it makes perfect sense. They run up and down sap-covered trees all day when they are not digging in the dirt.

This morning, I decided I would take a week-long trip to canyon country (Utah, Arizona, Nevada) while Jeanine is in Greece. I booked a flight, car, and first night’s stay in the morning, completed a rough itinerary and packed by early afternoon, and was on a plane headed west before dinner. I made a similar weekend-long trip in May, 2019 when Jeanine was bicycling in France with my cousins. On that adventure, I lost my drone on the second morning and missed out on all the aerial photos I had hoped to take. Hopefully, I will not repeat that debacle.

Anytime I discover a photographically interesting destination, I save it in Google Maps. I have been doing this for years. Pictured below is the rough area I will be visiting. As you can see, it is a target-rich environment. I will only have time to see a fraction of these locations and will choose based on how much ground (in the car and on foot) that I can cover, as well as weather conditions.