Zion to Slab City

One last shot of Zion. A beautiful sunrise just before I left for Las Vegas...

...where I stayed at my friends Joel and Deann's house. Here's

a shot of Joel's new band. Joel's the one on the left.

Here's an urban cowboy.

Scrambled around at Calico Basin while my friends Merritt (pictured) 

and Nikki did some serious rock climbing.

Merritt's job is to shoot huge plumes of flame from

the antennae of this giant praying mantis... in time to

a high-powered rock soundtrack. (Only in Vegas!!!)

Looking toward Freemont Street on a regular Monday night.

I spent several days in Joshua Tree (town & park) and played at

Pappy & Harriet's open mic in Pioneer Town as well as the

open mic at the JT Salloon in Joshua Tree. Here are two shots

of the other-worldly landscape in the park.

Then on to Slab City. The train runs right along the 111.

Slab City, where there's a party at The Range every Saturday

night. Friends Tyler Gregory and Dolphin are onstage. 

Here Tyler's performing "Tear the Still House Down."

He had the place rocking hard.

Salvation Mountain is still standing.

And best of all, friends:

Barry,

Jared,

Peter,

Radio Mike,

and Randall.

And this small miracle: a hole in one at 

Gopher Flats golf course, eighth hole.

Zion, Take Two

 Angel's Landing. Almost 1,500 feet high.

And terrifying.

The view from Upper Emerald Pool

The Virgin River's been working on this 

canyon for millions of years.

Entering The Narrows where you have to

walk in very cold water to continue.

The gold color is due to light being reflected 

from the yellow cliff above onto this wet wall.

The leaves are turning.

And then this happened:

And this. A partial solar eclipse. I happened to have my 

neutral density filter with me. Stopping everything way

down allowed me to get this. Notice the sun spots.

This is my campsite.

Zion, At Last

The Promised Land.

A Moment in Vegas

My first pass at Zion was a miss. The place was mobbed.

Also, I needed to get some car work done, 

so I continued on to Las Vegas where I visited 

my friends Joel and Deann.

Las Vegas now has the World's Tallest Observation Wheel: 

The High Roller. 550 feet high. Crazy!

Joel