Day: June 5, 2018

When I was in Grand Junction over Memorial Day weekend I discovered that the city feature various pieces of art sculpture all over town.  These metal horse sculptures were in a traffic circle, of all places, as I got off the dreaded interstate on Horizon Drive.  There were a total of 5 horses, 4 full grown and one colt:

And I’ve decided what will be at the top of my list to-do the next time I am in Grand Junction.  When I went to the Visitor Center Saturday morning I saw a brochure for JetBoatColorado – which features a high-speed, daredevil type ride on the Colorado River not far from Grand Junction.  The company also offers a low-speed morning ride along the river to see many scenic views and various wildlife.

(Photo credit: TripAdvisor.com/JetBoatColorado)

I didn’t know about this in advance but may come back to do it some time.  They apparently also operate similar experiences other places so I may run into them somewhere else in my travels.

Here are a bunch of photos taken with my smartphone camera when I was at Goblin Valley State Park near Green River, Utah back on May 28.

Here are a bunch of photos taken with my smartphone camera when I was at Goblin Valley State Park near Green River, Utah back on May 28.

Here are a bunch of photos taken with my smartphone camera when I was at Goblin Valley State Park near Green River, Utah back on May 28.

Here are lots more photos taken with the digital camera when I was at Goblin Valley State Park near Green River, Utah back on May 28.  I posted some other photos a few days after I was there (put Goblin in the search box on the Home page to find that post).

 

 

Here are lots more photos taken with the digital camera when I was at Goblin Valley State Park near Green River, Utah back on May 28.  I posted some other photos a few days after I was there (put Goblin in the search box on the Home page to find that post).

Here are lots more photos taken with the digital camera when I was at Goblin Valley State Park near Green River, Utah back on May 28.  I posted some other photos a few days after I was there (put Goblin in the search box on the Home page to find that post).

Here are lots more photos taken with the digital camera when I was at Goblin Valley State Park near Green River, Utah back on May 28.  I posted some other photos a few days after I was there (put Goblin in the search box on the Home page to find that post).

By the time I was ready to leave the Park to get back to Grand Junction the sun had moved enough that these two formations near the entrance were getting more sunlight on the side facing me (the sun was behind them when I arrived at the Park earlier in the morning).

This morning I decided to go back down to Red Rock Canyon, about an hour southeast of Pahrump, to take photos with the morning sun at my back.  I posted some pictures from there a few days ago as I drove from Las Vegas to Pahrump, but that was late in the afternoon as the sun was moving behind some of the formations.  There was also a light cloud cover which affected the quality of some shots.

This was from the road heading towards the Canyon:

When I finally reached the Canyon I stopped again at the Visitor Center:

Then I embarked on the 13-mile road through the Canyon:

This is a 4-shot panorama, left to right, of the main formation shown above.  I believe I posted pictures from the same vantage points a few days ago, but these are now in full sun.

And these are some other formations deeper in the Canyon:

And here another vantage point of one of the first pictures in this post.  In the hour and a half that elapsed between the two photos you can already see a change in the colors, how the red line is more enhanced.

Not only did I want to go back to Red Rock Canyon to have the sun at my back, but I also wanted to zoom in on some of the patterns on the main formation.  With full sunlight the images will be better than they would have been with the light cloud cover which was present when I was here last Saturday.

Before I get to the closeups of the formation, I saw this in the Visitor Center when I was there this morning.  I hadn’t noticed this on Saturday.  According to the man at the front desk, this mountain lion was roaming the area 30 years ago when it died (there are conflicting reports as to how, but most likely it was shot).  Through the process of taxidermy it has been preserved and sits high atop a wall over the Information Desk inside the Visitor Center.

Now, the reason I came back for more photos.  This formation had the most interesting colorations, lines and textures:

And this was the top of another portion of the same formation, which also shows another mountain in the background: