The AARoads Blog

a bit of a diversion from our usual roads fare…

photo taken in rural San Diego County.

And here is the rest of day 2 in Alberta and Northwest Territories… the sunset and the northern lights!

Sunset, over one of Canada’s innumerable boreal forests.

A pair of otters. If anyone wonders why I spend so much time between blog posts… it’s the sheer quantity of photos I have to process. I took about 200 just of these otters! (One came out.)

Full moon, perched on top of a cloud.

Aurora, and inverted big dipper. We have arrived!

As promised, a photo of the Alberta/Northwest Territories border. with all the northern staples: aurora, big dipper, yes it is time to head north and see what the world brings.

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A day spent in Northwest Territories … here’s just the first half, because I took 1560 photos that day, so I am breaking it in two. No northern lights in this batch; you can all go home now.

Painted skies at dawn.

A seagull at the Mackenzie River ferry. Yep, they do have them even thousands of miles from the nearest sea.

Some yellow and some evergreens.

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and here we start three days of photos from Alberta and Northwest Territories. I flew into Edmonton for the weekend (Friday-Sunday) of September 9th, as that is one of two annual peaks for the northern lights.

did I see the northern lights? In the interest of maintaining suspense, I’m not going to say quite yet.

Sunset. Usually shooting directly into the sun is a bad idea. Sometimes it isn’t.

The northern lights. Yep, they were out. This is about as bright as they get – when the red, purple, and green mix together to form a band of white.

Directly overhead, spanning the entire sky.

I used the fisheye lens for nearly all of the aurora photos seen here.

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We pick up in Iowa, where we decide to stop heading east in order to get to New Mexico. We see flooding along the Missouri River, and catch a thunderstorm in Kansas.

Minimum maintenance road.

Flooding causes standing water. Standing water causes mosquitoes and other insects. A fresh source of food means the dragonflies grow fat and happy. This one was about three inches long, with a five inch wingspan.

We’ve got ourselves a good old fashioned lightning storm. Western Kansas.

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The longest swath of the Fourth of July trip that we’ll feature in one set of photos: about 800 miles covered in this burst. Continuing on US-212 across eastern Montana, to get to South Dakota, and then driving through the Black Hills at the time of day when they are the blackest. We then continue into Nebraska, and drive US-20 east all the way to Iowa.

Endless fields of yellow flowers are the most prominent feature of the eastern Montana landscape. All the way across the state on US-212, from I-90 eastward, featured miles upon miles of bright colors.

The Milky Way. A 90 second exposure.

Very early dawn in Nebraska. Above this house: a noctilucent cloud – one of the rarest kinds to see!

Slightly later dawn.

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the second day of the Gila River trip – now with special guests! Dale, Beverley, and Shelly live in a completely different section of New Mexico, but when I discovered that they were camping on the western side of the state (only a 630 mile drive from San Diego!) I knew I had to drive out there for the weekend.

I find them at Lake Roberts, and we head up to the end of New Mexico 15 to the Gila Cliff Dwellings, find some hot springs, and generally have a quality time of things.

I took over 1000 pictures on this day – quite a lot of things to be seen!

Shelly, Dale, and Beverley at the entrance to the cliff dwellings. The ladder is a modern touch for modern folks. The original inhabitants, of course, flew from door to door on the power of their awesomeness.

Today’s theme ingredient is: forest fire.

I believe this is a desert spiny lizard (Sceloporus magister). Dale spotted the little critter first and it took me a good several seconds to note what he was pointing at. The camouflage is dang near perfect!

The Gila Cliff Dwellings. They were built around 1280 by the Mogollon people, and were abandoned sometime in the 1300s. Due to the desert climate, they remain very well-preserved; almost exactly how they looked over 700 years ago.

Dale. No further explanation needed.

A lazy evening spent at a hot spring. I took this photo while sitting in the pool. Probably not the smartest idea ever, but hey, the photo came out!

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some photos from favorite old haunts … northeastern New Mexico, including a trip to Sierra Grande, the tallest mountain in Union County.

Two days of photos – one of just hanging out, the second of actually going somewhere.

Flowers still in bloom in late October at 6800 feet. Someone does one hell of a job with the gardening!

Why has Dale ascended to such magnificent heights atop this flimsy half-a-utility-pole? Because he can.

Iridescent clouds, and a radio assembly on top of Sierra Grande. (Or: a flying saucer comes in for a landing.)

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fireworks on the fourth of July in Raton, New Mexico – and other odds and ends.

Sunset over highway 64/87.

A few test shots before the last of dusk.

Perfectly clear skies at 6800 feet. 5 1/2 minute exposure.

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more from my trip to New Mexico, home of thunderstorms and brilliant orange sunsets.

It happens to be raining in sunny Union County.

Fence post, and observer, at sunset.

Orange skies are orange. I had not seen this sort of sunset since just after a thunderstorm in South Dakota in 2006!

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