November Fall Colors

I usually don't think of November as a time for fall colors, but they've been really beautiful this year. Some of the trees are just brown and blah, but others are making up for it.

The apricots in the orchard and the silver poplars by the Lehman Caves Visitor Center are gorgeous.

 Down on the ranch we even found a crabapple with some bright red leaves.

Willows and rabbitbrush framed the mountains as storm clouds approached.

This morning I noticed frosty leaves as I walked with the kids to school. I got out my macro lens and played around.

The ice crystals took so many forms!

We'll be raking leaves and jumping into them this weekend!

First Night Out Camping in 2015

 With the amazingly warm winter we've been having (sorry East Coast and Midwest!), we decided that we'd start our 2015 Desert Survivor Get-Out-And-Camp Challenge early. Our goal for this year is 12 nights out. Last year the kids got 11, and they are pretty determined to meet the challenge this year. The high was 70 degrees that day (average high for this time of year is about 40) and the low was supposed to be 35. We decided to give our old camping trailer a try, and the kids spent a few hours cleaning it and my husband spent a few hours doing important stuff like making sure the lights were connected and we had a spare tire. Meanwhile, I spent a few hours packing. Camping preparation always takes longest for the first trip of the year!

Finally we were ready and we headed to Ibex Cliffs, about 50 miles west of Delta, Utah. It's a renowned climbing area and the site of a dry lake bed. We arrived in the dark and just parked on the dry lake bed. We could see a couple other campfires along the old shoreline.


I couldn't resist going for a walk and admiring the night sky.

The trailer is small and cozy, and we had fun getting used to it.

During the night the wind started blowing hard and everything started rattling. Fortunately my husband had brought three screw jacks, so the trailer didn't feel like it was going to tip over. But none of us slept that great. Nevertheless it was still a joy to wake up in a different place in the morning. Henry and I went for a morning walk to photograph first light. Here are our shadow selfies, with the cliffs in the background:

We're giants!

The early morning light really illuminated some of the tracks across the playa.

Nevertheless, I could find some undisturbed cracked mud. I love the patterns.

When we arrived back to the trailer, the kids had woken up and were cuddling with dad (below the water stains--we have to treat the trailer gingerly as it's had some stress).

Then we continued on our day's adventures…to be continued.

Random Photos

 I was going through my January photos and found a few I'd like to share. I went out to the Baker Archeological Site to try and get a photo of the full moon setting, but it turned out to be cloudy. That meant it was a gorgeous sunrise!

One day I saw a beautiful red-tailed hawk on a pole. I've seen lots of them, rough-legged hawks, immature bald eagles, and golden eagles this winter.

We had a couple mornings with inversions. It was really neat driving up the mountain and exiting the cold air layer and breaking out of the clouds. From higher up, it looked like giant white lakes had invaded the valleys.

I had Desert Girl check out a bird with binoculars. Do you think she saw anything?

Full Moon Photography Challenge

Don't you love seeing those fantastic photos of the rising full moon over the horizon that seems magical? Yes, me too. Now I just wish I could take one! So what better way to learn than to practice, practice, practice.


Hence, the Full Moon Photography Challenge was born.

Your objective: take a photo of the full moon every month.
Post it on this special Facebook page (if you want).
Check out other photos, and improve!

What you get:

• Better photography skills (the Facebook page will have links on how to photograph the moon)
• Better feel for the lunar cycle (a lot of full moons are on Sundays this year!)
• A great reason to schedule trips during the full moon so that you can get some awesome photos!

F.A.Q.

What if it's cloudy during the full moon?

Sometimes clouds can accentuate the full moon. Or you might just have to get creative! Although the challenge is for the full moon, if you can't take a full moon photo because of weather, try photographing the moon at a different part of its cycle. Sometimes you can photograph the moon the night before or after the full moon and it still looks full.

Can I use my phone camera?

Yes, we will have guidelines on how to get the best possible photo from your phone camera. 

Does this cost anything?

Nope, it's free!

Where's the best place to take photos of the full moon?

Check out the Facebook page for ideas, plus a list of upcoming full moons. The first one is coming soon, January 5, 2015, so hurry over to get started!

More Night Sky Photos

 I camped out one night this week at over 10,000 feet elevation. To my great surprise it was totally clear and calm, so I was able to break out the camera and wander a little to capture some of the amazing dark sky over the Great Basin Desert.

I like experimenting with tent photos. This tent is grey and green, but because I put the light in my blue sleeping bag cover, it showed up blue.

Shooting towards the south was the best, as the Milky Way was more vivid. Last night at Great Basin National Park's Astronomy Festival, I learned that's because it's looking towards the center of the galaxy. Or in other words, it's looking towards the city, while the other side is out in the suburbs.

 Sometimes it's fun to add a little extra light to the foreground objects. It can be tricky to get just the right amount of light. The other really tricky part is to not get airplane trails in the photos. There are so many airplanes that go overhead!

I wandered around for awhile, looking for interesting frames for the night sky. This is a hobby that sure is a lot of fun! I look forward to learning more about both the night sky and astrophotography.

Nevada Northern Railway's Plein Air Outdoors Art Festival

 A couple weekends ago I had the opportunity to participate in Nevada Northern Railway's Plein Air Outdoors Art Festival. This is the fourth year they've had the event, but my first to attend. I went as one of 16 vendors that included artists, photographers, food vendors, crafts booths, and product booths.

The weekend kicked off with a train trip pulled by Steam Engine 93. It sure is magnificent.

We left from the East Ely Depot.

This logo is on the tickets, too.

We went with friends, which made the trip even more fun. A highlight for the kids is getting the tickets torn and later stamped by the conductor.

Harold narrated the trip, telling us about the history of the train and Ely, as well as information about some of the sites on the way.

The girls were all chill.

We sat outside briefly on the way up the canyon, but that's when they're really shoveling coal, so you get a lot more cinders on you. So we stayed mainly inside going up but mainly outside heading back down the canyon.

Angie was the engineer for our trip and we had a smooth ride.

A game of I-Spy was lots of fun on the way down. We looked for and found lots of holes in the rock, both mines and little solution caves.

The kids posing. I don't get many of them this way (sitting down together).

Everyone on board seemed to have a good time.

Deanna and her girls.

A highlight of the trip is going through the two tunnels. Here's the older tunnel. Some people were preparing for the cinders. They weren't bad.

The next day Deanna and I set up canopies and displayed photographs and books. I didn't have any train photos, but Deanna had quite a collection from her Western Mountain Photography.

The kids constructed a train out of boxes and other kids were encouraged to help.

It was nice having both of us there because we could take turns watching each other's booth and then wander over to the other booths. I met Colleen Reynolds, an artist from Salt Lake City, who was painting the scene in front of her. This was so impressive to watch!

It was a fun weekend and we learned a lot about being at an art event in a capacity different than a visitor. Thanks so much to Dany Feinstein of NNRY for organizing this event!

The railroad has the Ghost Train coming up in October, which people who have been on it have told me is really fun--and spooky!