Happy 4th of July everyone!

I just got home from my *first visit to the beautiful (but very, very hot in June) southwestern national parks.

I'll be adding flesh to this report during the week and the photos will take longer. Unless you'd like to see them on Instagram at my account at skywalkerbeth. I posted as I went, there - a handful each day.

I visited the Grand Canyon (south rim), Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion NP, Bryce NP, Death Valley (heat like I've never experienced before), Yosemite (via Mammoth Lakes), Napa, and San Francisco. I've been to Napa and San Francisco before but not the other places.

What a beautiful part of the USA. I could not live in the Southwest - far too arid and relentless sun and I would miss the foliage - but it's a photographer's dream. I bought two photo books for ideas of where to seek out photos. I would not say many of my photos are any good, though, since to get really good photos you need to linger during sunset and sunrise, both, and have lots of time for variations of weather and so on... and I moved along too quickly in each venue. Some of my photos turned out nicely though.

I did this trip solo since I was gone long enough that none of my friends could join me although once I got to San Francisco I had friends to look up. Initially it was going to be an XC road trip but sanity prevailed at the last minute and I got tickets into Las Vegas and home from San Francisco. So glad I did it that way. The drive XC would have added at least 4+ days to the whole endeavor and that is driving more or less straight through. The places I didn't get to visit such as Memphis or Saint Louis I can do some other time.

To be continued...

*First, other than my visits to New Mexico to visit relatives in Albuquerque (as well as Taos and Santa Fe and parts between). And I'm not sure if Colorado is technically the southwest - probably not. I've been there before, too.

Glad you made it safe and sound and that you did the smart thing and flew to get to the parts you wanted to see most. XC can be interesting but it does involve some very long days with seat in the car.

Continue when you get time.

Love the photos, thanks

Thank you emalloy and kazza!

A note on lodging:

I only cobbled this trip together a few weeks before my flight. Like, almost exactly two weeks before the flight. It all worked out well though.

Grand Canyon: Maswik Lodge. What a perfect location. The room was basic but very well appointed and clean and lots of room (two queen beds). The staff was very helpful. Bed super comfy. It cools down at night so the fans were perfect. Big tip: the pizza at the lodge is FANTASTIC. One of the best pepperoni and cheese pizzas I've had in a long time. They make the dough.

Page AZ (Antelope Canyon): Sleep Inn. Also two queen beds so a big room and big bathroom. Not a fancy hotel by any stretch of the imagination but well appointed and nice staff. Lots of families.

Monument Valley: Monument View hotel. I can't imagine staying anywhere else, to visit here. Lovely room with lots of space - two beds - and a huge bathroom. Food was nothing to write home about (neither good nor bad) but the restaurant closed at 930 PM and since I was off taking sunset photos at the "Forrest Gump point" I had cereal for dinner.

Zion - Majestic View in Springdale. Cute little town, lots of food options and lots of places to get gear you may need. I rented gear for the Narrows hike for instance, in town. Hotel was nice - king size bed, laundry facilities a short walk away, pool.

Bryce - Bryce Lodge. Again the only place to stay if you are visiting, I think. Especially with a short stay like I had (one night). You can stroll five minutes to see the main canyon.

Death Valley - Furnace Creek Resort. AC was strong and plentiful which at 122 degrees when I arrived - critical. The tap water never got below warm which isn't the hotel's fault just an interesting point.

Mammoth Lakes (for Yosemite). Quality Inn. Poorly staffed. The people were marginally helpful and a problem with the wifi upon arrival should have been handled by the front desk guy and not me. I wasn't able to solve the problem so he finally said he'd look into it. Irritating. The room was ok - large, had everything I needed... location was fine for the town but if I did this again I would probably not choose this town for Yosemite. I wasn't able to get into the lodge which would have been the best. Second best, I think, would have been Mariposa on the western side (or just any town on the western side but near the gate). Both Mariposa and Mammoth Lakes are roughly 45 minutes from the gate to Yosemite BUT the eastern gate is still a good 1.5 hours more just to get into the Valley instead of maybe 15 minutes to get into the valley like Mariposa. The only reason I mention Mariposa is because I had rez there initially but on the advice of someone changed it to Mammoth Lakes. I think the logic was the drive from Death Valley to one or the other was a big difference in time. Thing is, you are just moving the time not making it better. My drive to Yosemite valley took forever and the day I left ML to drive to Napa was very long. Had I bit the bullet on the big driving day it would have been a better overall experience. The day I drove to Napa I was on the road at 7 AM but still didn't hit the vineyards (after checking in to my hotel and dropping my bags) until 230 PM. I would have saved three hours on that day alone, I think. Live and learn.

Napa Winery Inn. FANTASTIC. I really liked this hotel. Great location and huge room with a huge bathroom. Pool and hot tub how can you go wrong?

San Francisco: King George hotel. I had a king size room which was a good thing because I have read about small rooms here. Great location and nice people. The room was plenty big enough for me - not massive although even with the king size bed there was enough room to move around the bed itself. The tub was funny - big enough to sit up with the legs stretched out but not big enough to lie down in. But they did well with the space they had. The closet was walk in and kind of jutted out from the room (hard to explain). Long and short the closet was like having a small room added to it and I kept two suitcases in it. All my gear from the trip was strewn around the room. It was my last stop so I had to have it all with me to pack it up to leave.

More later...

Nice photos. Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to more!

Thanks for detailed hotel descriptions....taking notes for my family trip

Really great photos, looks fab! Thanks for posting them here and im looking forward to see more photos that other have put on this forum if there as good as these.

It's "'merica" or "'murica", not merca.

What is Forest Gump Point?

Great info - looking forward to the rest.

For others who may be reading this for advice/suggestions. Mammoth Lakes is NOT a good base for Yosemite. Mariposa would have been marginally better. If one cannot get into Yosemite Valley the only two places that would be a good base are 1) El Portal (there are two motels in El Portal) which is a 15 mile/30 minute drive from the very center of Yosemite Village, or 2) Yosemite West (houses and condos inside the park boundaries) which are 18 miles/40+ minutes. Even the Wawona Hotel inside the park is more than an hour from the Village.

EVERYWHERE else is a long drive.

Agreed that ML was not a good base for Yosemite, bad enough, in fact, that I toyed with giving up night three there and leaving the morning of my final full day and just getting on the road and giving up my hotel rez that night at a loss. ML is 45 minutes from Tolumne Meadows entrance, so if that is a burning desire for hiking you are actually in the park but it's not the valley itself.

Looking at a map you think it's not a bad idea until you actually do it.

That said, I visited Yosemite during the course of the first full day I had there and while I didn't get any hiking in, there, I did see some interesting things.

My three nights in ML were meant to give me two full days in Yosemite and it was way too much driving to bother going back for hiking. I did a little light hiking in ML but that wasn't why I came to visit this area. It was over 2 hours in and over two hours back so a LOT of driving.

For a very last minute cobble together, though, I did pretty well. That was the only true miss, I'd say. I did have Mariposa reserved first before I changed. I wish I had not. If nothing else it would have made the drive to Napa shorter.

Forrest Gump point is where he stood in the movie and decided to stop running.

I am slowing adding photos to my instagram account as well as flickr. Gonna take a while...

Enjoy!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/skywal...57670692543521