November 11th - Vacation Update.

OK - You can stop emailing me to update the blog. I have been super busy for the past two weeks and was a little negligent in keeping everyone updated on my whereabouts. Sorry!

For those of you who are regular followers, you know that I had a fantastic vacation planned from October 26th through November 9th. My girlfriend flew out from Ohio and joined me in the camper for a two week tour of Southern Utah and a little bit of Northern Arizona. The trip included a 4 day float trip down the Green River for some fantastic scenery and wonderful remote camping along the river. We used a local Moab Rafting company called NAVTEC Expeditions and they were fantastic. Great hosts with nice equipment a fantastic guide. The weather for the entire journey was fantastic with clear blue skies and warm weather for the past two weeks.

We arrived back in Salt Lake City for her flight home in a winter storm and the past two days has seen about 20 inches of snow where I am in Salt Lake. Since Pat left, I have been busy processing some of the photos I took on the trip and I now have some from the first couple days and will provide a brief description of where we were and some of the photos from our trip. In the next day or two I will continue the journey with text and photos.

Here is a great picture of Pat for those of you who have asked.
This was actually on the raft trip, so it is a little out of sequence.



Pat at the entrance to Arches National Park which was where we visited first!



One of about two pictures of us together.



The Windows or also called the "Spectacles"





Pat and I made a stop after Arches at Deadhorse Point State Park, near Moab!









Ready to leave on the raft trip!



Pat at the Raft Launch site, ready to go!



On the River!



Here we are breaking camp on the float trip!



Old high school friends joined us on the float trip. Greg Lantz and his wife Katrina.

Here is Greg pulling the raft in for our first camp!



Some fall scenery!



Greg trying his hand at the inflatable kayak!



The Green River scenery!



Some evening campfire fun!















On a hike!







Look for updates of the remainder of our trip in the next few days!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

Tuesday November 6th - Update - Election Day GO VOTE!

So here I am in Page Arizona on election day with a raging liberal Democrat! WTF

Sorry for the delay in updating my blog, but it has been a very busy time since October 26th when my imaginary girlfriend arrived from Ohio for our two week vacation.

We first visited Arches National Park for a day, then we went to Canyonlands, Islands In the Sky area and Deadhorse Point State Park. Then it was back to the camper to get ready for our four day float trip down the Green River through Labyrinth Canyon. The weather has cooperated to the extreme, with clear blue skies and sunshine every day.

The raft trip was amazing with beautiful scenery around every corner. I have a ton of pictures to process and will be working on those in the coming weeks. Yesterday we toured Antelope Canyon a place I truly love and is very photogenic. I got some great pictures...

Here are a few from the past week or so...

We were joined on the raft trip by an old high school classmate and his wife. This is us getting ready to load up for the two hour drive to the put in location near the town of Green River, Utah.



This is Pat telling a wonderfully boring story on the river...



A wonderful nighttime fire along the river!



A wonderful shot of the canyon we were traveling through!



Here is Pat and I after traversing (Upper)Antelope Canyon!



This is Pat in an arch in the much more dramatic (Lower) Antelope Canyon!





Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

October 25th - Salt Lake City Update!

Well I arrived in Salt Lake City on Friday the 19th of October and immediately made plans for a wonderful BBQ with my Salt Lake friends. It was a combination of a wonderful tri-tip steak and some nice fresh marinated Alaska Salmon. With some smoked salmon dip and smoked salmon as a wonderful appetizer. We had the BBQ on Sunday the 21st.

Needless to say a good time was had by all!







Now on Thursday morning I awake to some beautiful snow! Not good the day before my girlfriend arrives for our 2 week Southern Utah Adventure, however the weather report for S. Utah looks great, hopefully most of this snow will be gone for the drive down on Saturday the 27th.













Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

October 21st Update - Arrival Salt Lake City

I arrived at my good friend Steve's in Salt lake City Friday afternoon. Dropped the trailer in the driveway and took a drive on a beautiful day for some fall colors.

However I also processed a couple panoramas I took of the Tetons a few days ago.





Spent the night along the highway RT -I-80 and stopped at Little America for the night with all the truckers....awoke to an amazing sunrise, the scenery was not the best but the morning light was beautiful, knowing it only lasts for a couple minutes I grabbed a shot.



Then in Salt Lake City I managed a few fall color shots.









Now a little blast from the recent past. I had two really great guys for my end of the season at Yes Bay. We had a great time and today I received a couple pictures that one of the guys took...Spencer is a good photographer and snapped a couple really nice shots of one of our last few days of fishing.





I took the liberty of adding the frames but other than that they are as he sent them.

This week is a waiting week. I have some Lodge work to get completed and a little getting ready for Pat my imaginary (soon to be real) girlfriend. She arrives on Friday from Ohio and then we depart on a Southern Utah Adventure trip. Including a 4 day raft trip down Labyrinth Canyon near Moab, we are meeting some old friends who will join us on the raft trip and it should be fantastic.

Stay tuned for more updates as the adventure continues. Tonight an Alaskan Seafood BBQ with some old friends here in Salt Lake City!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest