Valley of the Fire State Park

After 2 days of our little photo troop traipsing around Death Valley amongst inspiriation, we journeyed over to in City, or Lost Wages, or Las Vegas, whichever you call it.  Checked into a small casino resort (only 20 floors, 750 slot machines, etc).  and walked the strip.  But I get ahead of myself.

Some interesting rock formations

The main reason we came to this area was to visit the Valley of the Fire State Park about an hour east of Vegas and just north of Lake Mead.  Last year, when Sraddha and I were headed back to California into the face of a storm we drove along the shores of Lake mead to try to bypass the urban area as much as possible and we saw the turnoff to Valley of the Fire.  The area didn't look appealing and boy were we wrong in this assessment.

Great Campgrounds.  We will come back 

This time, fortified with a good strong Starbucks coffee purchased at the Casino (it's only redemptive feature). we drove out into the "wilderness".  I had found a good article on what to shoot in the area so we began to search for locations which provided some interesting landscape and rock formations.

Positioning camera in a cave.  

Here are some iPhone shots.  I will return to add additional photos when I get them processed.

Steve contemplating the shot in the cave

Sraddha and I definitely want to return to this place to camp, explore and photograph some more.

Rock Formation

Bebe looking for a photo op

Elephant Rock  Can you see it?

Piano Rock

The elephant rock.  Easier to see now.

Artsy instagram shot

Rhyolite near Death Valley

Today is Day 1 of a Camera Club of Tucson photo trip to Death Valley and southern Nevada. We (5 of us in 2 cars) departed Tucson at 6:30 AM. We arrived late afternoon with about 45 minutes of light.  shot a few pix.  Headed for Beatty, Nevada nearby for motel and bad dinner.

Bebe is shooting the Caboose

Rhyolite is an old mining ghost town east of Death Valley.  Not much left here.  No people for sure.

Steve Dell Shooting the Caboose.  Me on this end shooting him.

 Several skeleton buildings left from 140 yrs ago.  Not much to shoot.  I am a railroad guy so enjoyed shooting this caboose.

HDR shot of Caboose

 A couple of bikers touring the country stopped for a little visit.  They collect stickers from their destinations.

This motor bike has seen a few states in USA.  Wow.

 One other piece of architecture caught our eye.  An old house whose walls were made from glass bottles stuck in the cement.  This is a lot of bottles.  I didn't take a picture of the house itself, prefering to get a couple more "artsy" shots for you.

Can you see me in the window shooting this house

House made of glass bottles all sides.  Here is a sample

Time to head to bed as we have a 5 AM departure for Zabriskie Point to shoot sunrise.  Stay tuned.

On the Road Again to Mono Lake

We departed this morning after a big breakfast at our good friend's place in front of which we were parked for past week.  We backed out just fine after picking up, drove down to upper parking lot, hooked up the toad,  dropped off the mail and departed.

Our "campsite" in front of Smallens with my good freind Durga"

Up Hwy 20 to Interstate 80 to Truckee, south on 89 to Lake Tahoe then around east side of tahoe to Hwy 50 and down into Carson City Nevada.

Rest break at Lake Tahoe.  Can you say sunshine?

We turned south on 395 and them pulled into Trader Joes, Walmart, Costco all in one stop.  sometimes convenience matters.  Stocked up with groceries for next week or 10 days while we boondock and camp in forest service campgrounds.  The weather portends to be nice yet cool for a while so this is perfect for fall colors.
- blessings from the road

Location:US-395,Indian Hills,United States

Nevada Northern Railroad.

Here in Ely, Nevada, Nevada Northern Railway is a fullly working historic railroad museum and Ghost Train.

We stopped here during our westward journey on highway 50 so I could make a conference call.
While waiting for call, we toured throughout the place. Here are some iPhone pix and video.

blessings from the road

Location:Avenue A,Ely,United States

Great Basin national Park

Seated at the base of Peak, theist famous part is the Lehman limestone caves. We took a 90 minute tour inside the 1.5 mile long cave. Wow. Here are some iPhone pix.
I shotth without flash using my ProHDR app. Enjoy

















- blessings from the road