With an early morning flight home the decision was made to spend the night at the Hilton Hotel in O’Hare Airport. A 9th floor roon facing the runways was great for checking out the terminals, plane watching, and enjoying the sunset.
The control towers were literally just outside our windows.
The train between the terminals alternated amusingly from empty to packed.
The underground walkways between the terminals, the CTA station and the hotel had a number of murals.
With sunset coming before 5 PM local time, the airport was still busy as the sun set, providing great shots.
The great thing was the commute to the terminal took about 10 minutes to walk over, scoot through security and it was off to Tucson! But not before one last sunset photo.
With another year of travel and photography, with the first full year living in Arizona, it is time to highlight my favorites for the year.
Living in Arizona and the west resulted in far more nature photos than in previous years, but well worth it. But of the thousands of photos taken, I have narrowed it down to 23.
Amazingly two came from the same time in Saguaro National Park East in Tucson as the sun was setting on a January day.
A trip in April to the Petrified Forest/Painted Desert gave us a chance to stay at the campy Wigwam Motel along Route 66 in Holbrook, Arizona for another sunset photo.
The final sunset photo in the series is the classic Grand Canyon shot. What isn’t shown is the 40 MPH winds that were howling in the chilly April evening.
East of Tucson is the small western movie ranch in the town of Mescal.
A bird’s nest in a cactus at the Tucson Botanical Gardens.
Monument Valley – it doesn’t get any better than here for dramatic scenery.
Western Wyoming in late May with snow still gracing the tops of the mountains.
Grand Teton National Park at dawn.
Oregon Highway 3 in the far eastern part of the state during a very rainy Memorial Day weekend.
Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah.
Antelope Canyon, Arizona in Navajo Territory. It was a structured tour, but well worth it.
Palm Springs, California with a classic mid century home and an even more classic vintage Mercedes.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas.
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.
Late September fall colors in Beaver Canyon Scenic Byway, Utah.
An owl at the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City, Utah.
A receding Great Salt Lake, Utah.
Hoover Dam and another fast receding lake – Lake Mead.
Franklin Auto Museum in Tucson.
Dia De Los Muertos – Tucson.
A sculpture in a courtyard at the Tucson Museum of Art.
To finish off the year with one from back east – Millennium Park in Chicago the day after Christmas.
While we have been to the Grand Canyon a few times we had never been to the hard to get North Rim. There is a saying, go to the South Rim first, because when you go to the North Rim you will never go back to the South Rim!
That saying is true – similar fantastic views with (literally) 10% of the people. Nice and quiet.
There are minimal amenities, but that is ok, there is a place to eat and sleep (if you are lucky – which we were).
There are more views of the side canyons and they connect to the main canyon, adding interesting views.
The view from Point Imperial.
Cape Royal views.
The views of Angel’s Window.
More Cape Royal views.
Sunset from the North Rim Lodge and Bright Angel Point.
This is Bella. She loves nothing more than riding in the car and going for walks.
That works out well since Saguaro National Park is a short ride away. Bella was insisting on a ride and a walk late one afternoon – good for her, we got great sunset photos (from the iPhone!)
After the previous failed sunset we went up South Mountain, just 5 miles south of downtown Phoenix. This time there were no clouds to obstruct the view!
An internet search of best sunsets in Phoenix suggested Usery State Park – just east of Mesa. We headed off for the short drive out, but in the end sunset was not to be as storm clouds moved in. While disappointed about the sunset, the clouds provided a great backdrop not often seen in Phoenix.
The drive back into town also provided some great shots
For five months we had the good fortune of having an apartment on the 16th floor overlooking the Rio De La Plata and the city of Buenos Aires. Little did we realize when we arrived the view would constantly change depending on the weather.
It became routine to leave the camera on the kitchen table to try and catch sunrises as we woke up each day. This long posting features the best of what Argentina weather and a 16th floor apartment overlooking a ‘river’ can provide.
The sun, water, clouds, moon – all shape the changing view.
RDZ Photography 