Tag: photographs & memories

This week’s Foto Friday Fun features images chosen by 11 readers including South African greens, Southwest golds, and this is my 3200th blog post since October 9th, 2008. (Feels like a milestone.)

Jim and Diana chose #67, a scanned print.  This injured Great Horned Owl lived at the California Living Museum where I was an animal keeper in Bakersfield California during 1989.

Doris chose #9065.  I am impressed with the 900 year-old masonry work of the Ancestral Puebloans as seen in Wupatki National Monument, Arizona.

Jeff chose #1902, “the year the old growth trees in Big Basin Redwoods was set aside as a state park, devastated by fire last week.”  I cry to think of this loss, partly our own fault for suppressing fire for over 100 years.  I saw very few trees to burn when hiking in the Drakensberg Mountains.  His choice was one of two in a panorama of a trail stream crossing in this moist grassy South African landscape.

Sherry chose #3894.  This might almost look like her driveway if it gets overgrown but it’s really the drive to the Never Daunted Self-catering Cottage I stayed at in Hogsback, South Africa during my 2013 visit.

Yogi and Random dot org chose #2976.  An almost blown out white flowering Candleabra plant seen in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa during their summer in 2013.

Jo chose #3790.  As an avid birder I’m sure she’s seen the Yellow-billed Stork from her home country of South Africa.  This was just one of many wonderful birds I saw in Kruger National Park.

Diane and Nigel chose #2108.  The Colorado River 3000 feet straight down from the iconic Toroweap overlook.  It’s a long bumpy drive yet sure worth the view in the remote western Grand Canyon National Park.

Cathy chose #1763.  Humphreys Peak dominates the horizon when approaching Flagstaff on SR89 south.  Especially nice under sunset.

Rita chose #6633.  The granite boulders are sculpted by weathering and erosion as seen along the Hidden Valley trail in Joshua Tree National Park, California during a March, 2015 hike.

Jennifer chose #8, another scanned print.  From a 1971 family vacation to visit my maternal grandparents near Sacramento, California.  They owned a boat store and we boated on Folsom Dam.  Think this was my first reservoir experience and I remember searching the depths for the remains of a flooded town.

Jodee and Bill chose #142.  The Ogden Bridges as seen from Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint, a rest area along US97 in central OR over the Crooked River, and I honestly don’t remember being here.  Dated 9-13-07, would have been towards the end of my last season working at Oregon Caves.

One of my interpretations this week for Arizona Highways Facebook Friday theme “works of art” – Vishnu schist & Zoroaster granite in The Box along the North Kaibab trail Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

And a leftover from the previous post at Sheep Creek/Swamp Canyon overlook along Bryce Canyon National Park’s scenic road.

Thank you for playing along with Foto Friday Fun which allows me to share these photographs and memories.  For more of the story just follow the links.  Please join in next week by leaving a number between 0001 and 9999 in your comment below.

Do you have a favorite this week?

This week’s Foto Friday Fun features images chosen by 11 readers including South African wildlife, red rock, and dinosaurs.

Diane and Nigel chose #1408.  I’m sure they’ve seen all the animals in this necklace.  But for my first visit to Kruger National Park in South Africa they were all exotically new to me.  So much that I bought this beautiful sterling silver necklace in 2010.  Sadly it was in a bag that was stolen along with my laptop during my 2014 visit.

Cathy chose #2718.  Mountain Zebras seen at their namesake national park in South Africa during my 2013 visit.

Sherry chose #8213.  Young elephants at play are rather comical.  These seen at Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa during my 2014 visit.

Rita chose #7938.  The golden Aspen leaves of Autumn contrast nicely with the ever greens on the North Kaibab National Forest.  Only a three hour drive from Bryce, I hope to get up there this fall for a color show.

Jim and Diana chose #74.  During a 2005 trip to Florida I traveled with an old high school friend in his motorhome to St Augustine and visited the Castillo de San Marcos.

Doris chose #8035.  I may not see many sunrises but did occasionally work an early shift at the North Rim Grand Canyon to catch early light on the prominent temples seen from the lodge’s verandah.  San Francisco Peaks shine a little on the horizon.

Sallie and Bill chose #80 for her 80th birthday this week.  Ranger Gaelyn wishes her a happy birthday from 2006 when I worked at Oregon Caves, not all that far from their summer home.

Jeff chose #2001, “the last time extreme heat led to blackouts in San Diego.”  In 2008 it was floods and washouts that changed the configuration of waterfalls in Havasu Canyon, like this Lower New Navajo Falls.  Damage was still visible only two years later during a hike on the Havasupai Reservation.

Jo chose #1240.  The hoodoo formations seen here at Cedar Breaks National Monument are the same formations as Bryce only about 30 miles away as the Raven flies.

Yogi and random dot org chose #7085.  This time a Burchell’s Zebra and seen at Karoo National Park in South Africa 2014.  Note the noticeable differences between the two Zebra species.

Jodee and Bill chose #938.  Part of a mural depicting the Grand Staircase Escalante environment 90 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed a tropical landscape.  A nice display of dino fossils can be seen at the small yet awesome visitor center in Big Water, Utah.

Going through photos for Arizona Highways and Foto Friday Fun this week I am reminded how much I like to spend time with an environment, get to know it’s subtleties and qualities of light.  The Kaibab is still calling my name but travel in the heat with Sierra in the camper doesn’t feel quite right yet.  Hopefully come the change of colors when Autumn turns the Aspen gold like Rita’s choice above.  I dream of camping once again at Marble View, where the light plays like magic across the land.

Thank you for playing along with Foto Friday Fun which allows me to share these photographs and memories.  For more of the story just follow the links.  Please join in next week by leaving a number between 0001 and 9999 in your comment below.

Do you have a favorite this week?

This week’s Foto Friday Fun features images chosen by 11 readers including parks both worked and visited, Drakensburg Mountains in South Africa, and slot canyons.

Bonnie chose #1130.  A noon-time shaft of light streaks into Antelope Slot Canyon near Page, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation.  Tours required but as of this publication closed due to COVID.

Jim and Diana chose #81.  More sandstone walls but this time at Mesa Verde National Park from my 2005 summer season.  That big ladder climbs 62 feet into the Balcony House cliff dwelling where I led a tour.

Lisa chose #1791.  Monks Cowl camp view of the Drakensburg Mountains, South Africa.  A couple days later I hiked into those mountains as you’ll see below.

Diane and Nigel chose #708.  My second season at the North Rim Grand Canyon in 2009 taken at the Point Imperial overlook.

Then compare to a recent Facebook memory of my first Ranger job in 1992 at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, Washington.

Cathy chose #1478.  Cape Royal, my favorite place for sunsets on the North Rim Grand Canyon National Park with the last light shining on Woton’s Throne.

Yogi and random dot org chose #2333.  Another perspective of the Grand Canyon, this time from Toroweap’s iconic 3000 foot drop.

Jo chose #4850.  Klipspringers, an animal she’s probably seen in her home country of South Africa.  These two were in Kruger National Park during my 2014 visit.

Doris chose #2000.  Clouds hung over the Drakensburg Mountains while hiking in for an overnight camp.

Sherry chose #9118, her grandson’s birth date.  Although she’s been sweltering in the east this summer I hope this snowy scene will cool her off, yet none of this white stuff appears for that special birthday next month.  This was my RV window view of the Vermilion Cliffs on February 1, 2016 when I wintered in Kanab, Utah.

Sallie and Bill chose #8192.  A small slot canyon along the White Domes Trail in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada from a January 2016 visit.

Jeff chose #1992, “the last time Comet Swift-Tuttle replenished the debris that creates the Perseid Meteor Shower.”  Here I am hiking in the Drakensburg after a downpour rain shower.

My first choice, a Facebook memory from 8-12-18 of sunset over the Date Creek Mountains lighting up SR89 on the Yarnell Hill.

And a second choice from Wednesday when I got lost in my archives for World Elephant Day.  Objects in mirror may appear closer.  Kruger National Park South Africa.

Thank you for playing along with Foto Friday Fun which allows me to share these photographs and memories.  For more of the story just follow the links.  Please join in next week by leaving a number between 0001 and 9999 in your comment below.

Do you have a favorite this week?