It was a rougher year than many yet I still found some good and want to share the best of 2018.
I feel blessed to have such a beautiful place to live in Yarnell, Arizona with great boulders of granite shaped over time. Some just down the road, a few next door, and at the base of the mighty Weaver Mountains for my western view. Since 2005 I’ve called Yarnell home and at least used it as a winter base while summering at Grand Canyon. When you get to know a place it becomes easier to find the light at certain times of day. And now over a full year I know this place even better.
I did travel south a ways in January/February meeting up with friends in Quartzsite. And then a little further south to watch the partial lunar eclipse from the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge. I plan to do that again next month.
I took off a few days in March to visit friends in Casa Grande with a back-road stop at Gillespie Dam along the way.
April I kept close to home to care for my dear friend Berta.
I found out in May I wouldn’t be returning to work at Grand Canyon for the summer. And that was not the best, yet was the most viewed post of 2018. I had the first opportunity to see saguaros bloom in the lower desert spring. I said goodbye and sent Berta to her daughter’s in Oregon.
I hunkered in during June trying to save money and avoid the heat.
My mid-July I hankered to be on the road and return to visit my beloved Grand Canyon especially during monsoon. While there, Berta passed away. The worst thing to happen in 2018.
Plus I visited Bryce Canyon National Park because I was so near and hadn’t been since the documentary filming in 2016, which I can now share with you at this link vimeo.com/282186298, password is geogypsy.
I also enjoyed amazing skies during monsoon back home during August and made a day trip to Watson Lake in Prescott.
September brought a surprise to Yarnell when the local Desert Broom bushes were covered with Queen butterflies.
By October I was jonesing for the golden fall colors of an Aspen grove so took a day drive to Flagstaff’s surrounding forest and was treated with a contrast of snow.
In November I took a friend to his childhood town of Winslow, Arizona and stood on the famous corner.
December I’ve stayed home. Gray skies covered the cold full moon rise of Solstice but I caught it the next morning going down. Hand-held as I didn’t carry the tripod. Maybe next time, a new photography challenge to meet.
So that wraps up the best of 2018. I really hope to travel more in 2019. But right now, I have few plans at all, just lots of dreams.
