Monument Valley, Navajo Nation, Utah

Monument Valley was an incredible place to see.  We arrived in the evening and photographed the setting sun shining on the monuments.  The next morning we took a photo tour with a young Navajo guy named Larsen who caught my enthusiasm and showed us some great rock formations.  He spent way more time with us than was required.  We ate lunch at the restaurant outside of the park and then started on our drive to Sedona.  These are better viewed on the slideshow.  Just click on one of the photos.

This photo was created by John.

Photo courtesy of John.

Known as "The Dragon," this mountain formation could not be photographed as one pic.  It took four photos to create this panoramic.

Can you see it? 



Travel Photography

We spent 11 gorgeous days in Oahu and 4 in and around the Seattle, WA area for our family vacation this year. It's been a dream of mine to go to Hawaii and when friends told us they were moving to Oahu for 2 years, I became very excited and started planning our trip to get there. It is beautiful and I can't wait to go back some day. I've spent a lot time editing all the pictures from the trip. I'm publishing a few photos that I artfully enhanced, hoping that you'll get a feel for what Hawaii and Seattle are like.

(Click on pics to view larger and see detail)

Makapu'u Point Lighthouse

Sandy Beach, Oahu

Waikiki

The Lagoons at Ko' Olina Beach

Hawaiian Spinner Dolphin

Waterfall on way to Mt. St. Helens

Waterfall on way to Mt. Rainier

Seattle Skyline

Friends, Bellows Beach, and the Lagoons

Drove up to Punch Bowl Crater to visit the memorial.

Bellows Beach

Visited with Daryl and Michelle and kids.  This beach has some of the finest sand I've ever seen...like powder.  It also had Man-of-Wars the day we were there coming in with the waves about 4:00.  Fortunately for J, they were tiny ones since he got hit on both feet by one.

Looking for Man-of-wars!

  

The Lagoons at Ko' Olina were my favorite place...calm water, grass and shade and beautiful sunsets.

North Shore and Dolphin Excursion

Took another drive, this time around the North Shore.  It rained most of the drive, but we did come to a clearing on the way back.  This was a pretty beach.

Ate dinner at the Hilton's restaurant Tropics.

 

One of our favorite things we did was the Dolphin Excursion.  Beki has always wanted to do this.  I was nervous about the snorkeling, but finally on my second time in the water, I caught on to the whole breathing through the tube thing.  While we were in the water, the dolphins, Hawaiian Spinners, swam right beneath us.  The one pod was huge...40 or more dolphins.  They then took us to a reef to snorkel where we saw some tropical fish and a couple sea turtles.  A photographer went along with us.  Waiting on the CD with all the pics she took of us in the water.  Will post those later.