Saguaro National Park is located in southern Arizona on the outskirts of Tucson established to protect its namesake—the giant saguaro cactus. Many other kinds of cactus, including barrel, cholla, and prickly pear, are abundant in the park.

The Guadalupe Mountains National Park is located 6 hours away  in West Texas and contains Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet. Located east of El Paso, it also contains El Capitan, long used as a landmark by people traveling along the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line. I arrived just in time for evening light but not early enough to complete a planned hike into McKittrick Canyon. Instead I pushed on to Midland, Texas where, motivated by the desire (and need) for a hot shower, I stayed in a motel for the evening.

The Painted Desert was aptly named by explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado in 1540. Now a part of the Petrified Forest National Park it is a photographer’s dream.  I have often admired this area from 30,000 feet while flying over and was thrilled to have a closer look today.

Famous US Route 66 used to traverse the park and is now commemorated with the exhibit shown below. At many sites within the park, petroglyphs have been scratched, pecked, carved, or incised on rock surfaces, often on a patina known as desert varnish. Most of the petroglyphs in Petrified Forest National Park are thought to be between 650 and 2,000 years old.

The Petrified Forest is known for its fossils, especially fallen trees that lived in the late Triassic period, about 225 million years ago.  Despite looking so natural, these tree sections are now composed exclusively of rock-hard minerals. As nightfall approached, I found myself passing Biosphere 2, the largest closed ecological system ever created. Used only twice for its original intended purposes as a closed-system experiment, both attempts, though heavily publicized, ran into problems including low amounts of food and oxygen, die-offs of many animal and plant species, squabbling among the resident scientists, and management issues. I was unable to gain access beyond the security gate and had to settle for sleeping in an adjacent cow pasture for the evening.

After dropping Jeanine off for her pre-dawn return flight to Boston, I drove 8 hours to the Chaco Cultural National Monument (click on image for a more detailed view) which hosts the densest and most exceptional concentration of pueblos in the American Southwest. The scale, architecture and precision of construction are awe inspiring.  Along the drive I was treated to a full double rainbow, an old fashioned steam powered train, antique Rolls Royce, and mountains full of aspens in bloom.

Once in the park, I completed a 5-mile hike to the top of the escarpment overlooking the ruins for a bird’s eye view. Vertical access was by way of a narrow slot canyon “stairway.”

Wildlife encounters for the day included many elk and countless ravens.

Perfectly timed to my departure from Chaco Canyon, the setting sun turned the red rocks to gold.

Nicolai and I started the day by shopping for a pair of proper boots which he needed prior to the onset of winter.  We then joined Jeanine who had secured us a table at a very popular breakfast cafe where we enjoyed a delightful meal. We bid Nico farewell before returning to our hotel for a much needed nap. Fully rested we walked to the nearby Manitou Cliff Dwellings and Museum. These Anasazi ruins were originally located in McElmo Canyon, in the southwest corner of Colorado near Mesa Verde and Dolores. The process of relocating them began in 1904 and was completed in 1907 when the preserve was opened to the public.

Jeanine used her superior restaurant sniffing skills to identify the Jerusalem Cafe as our destination for dinner.  The meal was the best of our vacation and we wrapped up the evening with a stroll through the quaint town of Manitou Springs.

Jeanine and I met Brady Grainger (mother of Nico’s roommate) for coffee and breakfast.  We were eventually joined by her son (Tom) and daughter (Aliza) both at Colorado College as well as Nicolai who had spent the night on campus.  Jeanine and I also made a brief stop to deliver a care package to Karuna (Nico’s girlfriend and CC freshman) who was not feeling well enough to join us for breakfast. We then drove up to the Catamount Center to see where Nicolai was living and learn more about the program.  The setting on two lakes at the base of Pike’s Peak is nothing short of stunning.

Nicolai lives in a bio-thermally heated high tech structure high on campus which stands in stark contrast to all other buildings which are very rustic.

Nicolai is studying here as part of the Teaching and Research in Environmental Education (TREE) program, a 16-week, residential semester program that mirrors the traditional study abroad experience. The TREE Semester is specifically designed for undergraduate students interested in exploring both environmental and educational fields. Nicolai will spend over a hundred hours teaching a group of  K-12 students while simultaneously cultivating his own conceptions of environmental stewardship and researching his students’ development.

Visiting parents were treated to astudent-ledd tour of the campus and later Nico, his friend, Cameron, and I hiked to the location where he did his solo vision quest returning to base just as the Grainger family arrived.

A subsequent hike was aborted due to the onset of a brief hail storm. The entire group had dinner together at a Mexican restaurant in Woodland Park.  I joined the group later after returning to the Catamount Center to take advantage of the post storm evening light.  I lucked upon a herd of elk that were perfectly positioned at the top of a ridge and am very happy with the resulting images.

Rain last night persisting into the morning informed our decision to drive into Estes Park for breakfast rather than trying to cook at our camp site in the drizzle.  When we returned to the RMNP we encountered a small herd of grazing elk. The light was very nice and I focused on the largest and smallest of the group.

We exited the park by way of the Trail Ridge Road which offered great overlooks until our increasing altitude took us into the dense clouds.

As we descended on the other side of the mountains, we paused for a short hike to Lake Irene. The unplanned stop was motivated by the lakes’s name, the same as one of Jeanine’s close friends.

The main reason we are in Colorado is to visit with Nicolai who is studying at the Catamount Center for Environmental Science & Education located in Woodland Park.  We elected to stay in Manitou Springs, half way between the Colorado College campus and the Catamount Center to facilitate visits to both. Nicolai drove down to join us for dinner after his last class of the day. It was wonderful to see him and to learn about his program of study.  It was clear to us that he is thriving in this environment and is passionate about the work.  Little more that a parent could wish for.

I spent the day with the person I love, in a place that I love, doing what I love. Not a bad way to celebrate your 58th birthday.

I was up early to position for sunrise at Sprague Lake which also offered a nice golden light view of a rocky Mountain peak. I moved on to Bear Lake where the water was still smooth enough for a nice reflection of the background.

After days and days of driving, the 3 hour round trip to the Denver airport to collect Jeanine seemed like a jog around the block.  We returned to the park where we enjoyed watching the elks and a nice hike to Nymph Lake and Dream Lake. The bull elk in the foreground tried desperately to seduce the harem on the other side of the meadow with his majestic bugling.  Hoping to see a confrontation with the other bull elk in the photo we were rooting for him.  Alas, his earnest efforts were unsuccessful.  Click on any of the photos for more detailed views.

At home, I am incapable of cooking anything more sophisticated than eggs (although I do this well).  While camping, however, steak tip fajitas with sautéed mushrooms and peppers, served with guacamole and salsa are not a problem.  I figure that cooking all our campground meals will serve as a further inducement for Jeanine to join me on these adventures.

Driving across time zones is something I am not accustomed to.  I woke up early to arrive at Chimney Rock in time for sunrise only to discover I was an hour early (argh).  The 300 foot tall geological feature served as a landmark along the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, and the Mormon Trail, which ran along the north side of the rock.

One of only 5 states I have not visited yet, Nebraska’s farms and ranches utilize 45.3 million acres – 92% of the state’s total land area.  Where some see monotony, I see a beautiful natural tapestry.

It was necessary to interrupt my travels to visit a dentist while passing through Loveland, Colorado. Last night, I managed to pop out one of my gold crowns while flossing.  Fortunately, I only lost an hour to the entire process of locating a dentist and having the repair made.

My final destination for the day was the Rocky Mountain National Park where my first order of business was locating a tent site in the Moraine Park campground.  I nabbed one of only two remaining sites which was situated on a bluff overlooking an elk-laden meadow below.

Once situated I set out to see the park for the remainder of a perfect fall afternoon.

Spotting this cute juvenile marmot was the highlight of my day.  It made me wish that Maya and Jeanine were here to see it with me.  The boys would have only started looking for rocks.

Other than a loose plan to visit a number of national parks, I do not have a fixed itinerary for this road trip. The Australians go on “walkabout” which has come to signify “temporal mobility.”  I think what I am up to could aptly be described as a “driveabout.”  Today I covered 751 miles, arriving at a campground in North Platte, Nebraska well after sunset.  I captured this grasshopper somewhere along the way when I stopped to stretch my legs.

The first stop on my road trip was at a campground near the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge near Seneca Falls, NY.  Jeanine and I stayed at the same location several weeks ago and it was nice to find a familiar location given my late night arrival. I was treated to a spectacular sunrise and an abundance of birdlife. Despite the need to cover ground, I stayed for several hours before hitting the road. I drove 765 miles in about 12 hours and spent the night in Altamont, Illinois.  I would have stopped sooner, but I was listening to the Presidenatial Debate and did not want to stop until it had finished.

The Ride for Food, organized by Three Squares, is a bicycle ride fundraiser to help local organizations seeking to eliminate food insecurity. Jeanine completed the 25-mile course and personally raised over $3,000.  In aggregate Open Table participants raised $23,000 for the organization, more than double from last year.

Immediately after my soccer match this morning I set off on a road trip of indeterminate duration and with an open itinerary.   I do plan to meet up with Jeanine and Nicolai in Colorado next weekend but other than that nothing else is pinned down and I will go where my cameras take me.  Stay tuned as  I hope to post blog updates from the road.

Kicks for Cancer was started 10 years ago to raise money for cancer research in honor of Lois Wells, the mother of several former CCHS soccer players and current assistant coach Steve Wells.  For the first three years, the event only included one game. Beginning in 2010, the event grew into two matches. A year later, there were six matches and today it includes 16 teams. The event has raised close to $300,000 since its inception. Players wear special jerseys which include the name of a loved one affected by cancer.  I find it more poignant to photograph for those names rather than player’s faces as is my normal practice.  Pictures from the entire match can be found here.

Jeanine is preparing to publish her memoir cookbook and I have been enlisted to help with photography.  Today’s assignment was for a story called Figs & Lemons. Still life photography is not my strong suit so I took over a hundred variations of this theme so that Jeanine and her book designer will have many options to choose from.

Determined to never again lose photos while traveling, I purchased a 13″ MacBook Air today.  This will allow me to download photos each day while traveling and potentially post blog entries from the road (internet connectivity permitting).  This was prompted by my decision yesterday to embark on a 2-3 week roadtrip to Colorado starting this weekend.  Jeanine will fly to Denver joining me there for a long weekend that we will spend in the mountains with Nicolai.