The grand, Grand Canyon!

Hello dear friends, it’s good to be back!  I missed all of you!

In the next weeks I’ll share some of the 2000 photos I took.  Don’t worry! You won’t be seeing all of them! haha!  

We began our stay with good friends from college at their home in Prescott, AZ.  I take back anything I’ve said about the heat in the summer in Prescott!

It was absolutely delightful.  Lovely breezes, low low humidity (one day it was 2% !!) and temps in the 70s and 80s F.

 It actually was much cooler there than back home in

Michigan,where the awful heat wave we’d had since June, continued unmercifully.

Sunrise on the way to the Grand Canyon.

We left Prescott at 6 AM one morning in order to reach the Grand Canyon around 8 AM, and have some good early morning light for photos.  The canyon shuttle runs about every 7 minutes during the summer.  We wanted to go to Hermit’s Road first.  I’ve been on that road before (in Feb. ’11) and I liked the views.  We hopped the shuttle and stopped at the first overlook.  Because I prefer to enjoy my surroundings and take my time to look at every aspect of the beauty before me, shooting lots of photos, we missed the next shuttle.   That was fine with me.  It’s not a marathon race!  Instead, we began to hike the Canyon Rim Trail to the next overlook,  and were able to get some great shots in between overlooks.  In fact, we liked it so much we continued to walk the Canyon Rim Trail for quite a distance.  Along with getting some awesome photo opportunities, there were very few people on the trail…a bonus for summertime!

Morning light beginning to show in the depths of the canyon.

It was a special treat to be alone on the Canyon Rim Trail and catch some great early light photos.

I’ll never forget the feeling of peace and serenity we had, as we walked along the edge of this spectacular setting.

I call this “Gold Standard”!

I love getting big hunks of rock in the foreground of my shots.  In the canyon that didn’t seem to be a problem!

Stone ledge….

  The sun is higher now and I struggled with brightness the rest of the day.  I didn’t stop taking photos, though!

I was lucky.  There were clouds in the sky that helped offer some lovely shadows and some overcast conditions, rather than full-on sun.

As near as we could tell, these “paths” are now washes, where earlier in the year they probably had water in them.

(However, they also could be trails.)

I call this “Canyon Neighborhood!”

I pushed my regular lens (Nikon 18-135) all the way out to shoot the canyon floor in this spot.  I thought this looked like two front yards!  

There are steps and a “fence” and the houses are the tall rocks!  Okay…so I have an overactive imagination!  Just wait until I get to Bryce Canyon! lol 

I call this rock formation Castle.

I think this looks like an awesome, ancient castle.  I wish I had better light for it.

 It’s a stunning example of nature’s work with wind, water and the movement of the earth.

A beautiful amphitheater.

*******

Last, but not least……a family tradition, started by my son, when he was hiking in Colorado.

We all do “feet photos” when we are on trips!

My feet!

Here’s my version at the Grand Canyon!

I hope you enjoyed this short version (!) of my trip!  I may toss in a few more sometime.

Thanks for all your support while I was gone.  I appreciate it!

I’m glad to be back!

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.