it's hard to take a bad picture this time of year.
at the river 1
at the river 2
river 3
river 4
 

spent a couple of days in new york recently. walked around chinatown for a while. learned that 2006 will be the  year of the dog. walked up to  little italy, ate dinner at a place called la mela, which means "the apple" in italian.
up in midtown, we saw the empire state building, the  chrysler building,  and bryant park. we saw lots of skyscrapers, skyscraper 2, and they saw us. that night we went to times square; the place was jammed with people and just buzzing with a crazy energy.
next day, it was back down to lower manhattan to see the world financial center, south street seaport, the mix of old and new, and more skyscrapers 3, skyscraper 6.  we even took a ride on the staten island ferry. a pleasant time was had by all. enjoy!
 

just a few common things around the house, looking for some texture mostly. like a knife handle,  lace curtain,  oak cabinet carving,  blinds with the little pull up thing. this one's not funny.
this series was taken in front of an old mirror and has a nice impressionist painting kind of quality to it: mirror flower 1,  mirror flower 2,  mirror flower 3, and  mirror flower 4. what would life be without music?
i'd like to see jack go over this one

WARNING: YOU MUST BE 21 OR OLDER TO CONTINUE!! IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED, PLEASE LEAVE NOW!!

who wants to see my fuzzy balls? whoa, that's more like it. my favorite zero-carb adult beverage, and  after a couple. before joint; after Joint. and finally, which do you like the best: spread cherries or tight cherries?  i'm new here so i don't know you very well. hope you're laughing. if not, sorry, i did warn you.

so, after chelly, it was on the road into utah. we stopped to take a picture of church rock; the cloud makes it more interesting i think. it was stormy at times on the way up to monument valley. this was one of the places i'd dreamed about visiting for years, and it was really cool, but i thought valley of the gods was nicer. smaller scale, yuccas in bloom, even an arch. and very cool  rock formations like monument valley.
arches national park was next. there was wall street,  balancing rocks,  wildflowers, and of course, an arch. what's the first thing you think of when you see this?  for me it was: erika badu.
more utah shots: escalante i think; yucca buds.
on to bryce canyon national park.  these are called hoodoos. they are the rock that's left after everything else has eroded away. so after a few million years, you have this, or this. we got there in the late afternoon.  we spent the next day seeing the park. at 9000 feet, there was still a little snow in the hoodoos. the different colors indicate different elements in the rock. do you see the  cathedral arches, or the castle on the hill?  
next to bryce is zion national park. along the way we found this little creek showing eons of erosion. in zion, we walked a trail on a hot day to a cool pool. there were  little rocks at the base of a small waterfall, which is what big rocks become eventually. looks like a hawk standing guard, doesn't it?
this is the home stretch now people, stay with me... on the way back to vegas we stopped at the valley of fire state park in nevada. hottest day (95) of the 6 weeks so far. a great day for some critters. this place was all about red rocks and deep blue sky. very cool shapes in the rock, not all of it as red. and that's about it. after almost 6 weeks on the road, back to vegas, for for 2 nights of sophistication, or not, before our flight home. once again, thanks for looking and sorry it's soooo long.

so after idaho, it's over to the seething cauldron that is otherworldly yellowstone. mammoth springs was very cool; there were bubbling blue pools all over the place. the grand tetons were one of the most beautiful sights of the entire trip. very majestic. jackson lake was very pretty, though it was still mostly ice-covered, even in may.
this is called the colorado national monument. it's near grand junction. there were some really cool hollows in the rock. the  road to get up there was amazing. saw lots of  weather effects up there. i couldn't leave colorado without getting a picture of the aspens. i have to mention the mesa verde anasazi ruins also.
we crossed the rio grande canyon on a heavily overcast day on our way to new mexico. lots of color in taos  and santa fe. a very  magical place.  turquoise is THE color out here, doors, windows, everywhere. i really find store windows interesting to photograph.
 leaving new mexico, it was back into arizona and up to canyon de chelly, with its spider rock, more cool erosion, and more anasazi ruins waaay down there.
this is getting pretty long, and i still have a ways to go before we get back to vegas. looks like part 3. thanks for looking.

this past spring i spent 6 weeks out west seeing this beautiful country. 7692 miles in our rented convertible. picture this huge loop: las vegas, out to the grand canyon, down through the desert, to joshua tree nat'l park. off to santa monica and hollywood. oh, and along the way we had to hit route 66, and passed through the used-to-be town of seligman, az. then it was up the coast, to santa barbara,  big sur, to  the city by the bay. since we were "on the road", we had to see  kerouac's cafe. up route 1 along the sonoma coast, then the mendocino coast. continuing north, we saw the redwoods in humboldt county. on to oregon, across the high plains, and into idaho to see  ernest hemingway's grave. the pint of jack daniel's was a nice touch. so was theraven in the graveyard. rather than make this too long, i'll post the rest as part 2. thanks for looking.

recently completed 40 days out west. amazing sights