3000 miles, 3 kids, and too many photos to count! FINAL UPDATE 7/11

[mom2rtk]

I just got my first dSLR (yesterday!) and I have been lurking the photography board and read your trip report. I love your pics, and trust me, you are so much more advanced than I am! AND as a mom of a two year old little girl, I am in awe of your outfits for Katie!

Many thanks! I'm glad you're reading along. And enjoy that little girl. I made Katie her first princess costume at age 3. I'm afraid we're on borrowed time now with all that!

No, we did not see World of Chaos. People were lining up at 5 am to get wrist bands to get their fps. I just wasn't feeling it. It's a great excuse to go back after it slows down. I dubbed this the no stress trip and that is exactly what we did. No stress at all.

World of CHAOS! That's perfect! I was afraid of that, which is why I rescheduled. I still wish we could have seen it, but I doubt it's going anywhere any time soon. We did the same thing with the Nemo subs in 07...... purposely missed the opening trying to avoid the huge crowds. And we finally did them this year..... only 3 years later!

I'm glad you got to have the "no stress" trip you wanted!

 

[kaoden39]

I did indeed. I took a few looks at different hotels and places in Grand Canyon for next years vacation so who knows maybe we will go someplace totally knew? I have to admit it is your pictures that did it, so that thank you.

 

[mom2rtk]

I did indeed. I took a few looks at different hotels and places in Grand Canyon for next years vacation so who knows maybe we will go someplace totally knew? I have to admit it is your pictures that did it, so that thank you.

No problem. I'm glad you were reading along.

I have seen those shows on the travel channel on the Colorado River and all the parks in that area. But until you see it, you just can't believe it.

If you go down that way, there are TONS of other things to see too. Bryce Canyon, Zion, Canyonlands. It's almost impossible to do it all, but pick at least a few!

And the lodges in the parks are great. They let you enjoy both sunrise and sunset with the least effort. If you can commit to dates early, it's all the better. Some of those locations book up quickly, although less so recently because of the bad economy.

 

[Mirb1214]

Hey Janet! I've always been in AWE of you over in the Disboutiquer world but. . .WOW, your photography is outstanding! It makes me want to start hanging out over here and learn more about my Nikon D70. The only thing I know to do is adjust my ISO. I have no clue when it comes to shutter and f stops. However, I did carry my tripod of Hallowishes last year and shot in manual . . .but I still have a LONG way to go.

I've always told my husband that I would LOVE to drive out west one year for our vacation and you have me SOLD now on the idea after seeing your pictures! And DH might just go for the idea if he thought he could see the guys off Pawn Stars!

I loved your trip report and Great Job again on the photography!!

 

[tricia]

I love this. One of my favourite photos is of my son and my brother on a teacup ride (not at Disney :-( ) With their arms in the air and big smiles and everything behind them blurred like this shot.

 

[mom2rtk]

Hey Janet! I've always been in AWE of you over in the Disboutiquer world but. . .WOW, your photography is outstanding! It makes me want to start hanging out over here and learn more about my Nikon D70. The only thing I know to do is adjust my ISO. I have no clue when it comes to shutter and f stops. However, I did carry my tripod of Hallowishes last year and shot in manual . . .but I still have a LONG way to go.

I've always told my husband that I would LOVE to drive out west one year for our vacation and you have me SOLD now on the idea after seeing your pictures! And DH might just go for the idea if he thought he could see the guys off Pawn Stars!

I loved your trip report and Great Job again on the photography!!

Ah, thank you! It's really nice to see you over here! And thank you for the kind comments.

If you have the slightest inclination to step out of the automatic or program mode on your camera, I highly encourage you to start hanging out over here. There are some really knowledgeable and helpful people here willing to answer any and all questions. A year ago I was about where you are. I had a vague idea about f stops and shutter speed, but not enough to set them myself. I only changed the ISO and added fill flash occasionally. I'm far from were many others here are, but I've come a long way since then.

And I hope you do get to take a trip west. I'd go back again in a heartbeat. There is still SO much we haven't seen. And tell you husband Rick, Chumlee, Coree and the Old Man asked where you guys were. They're waiting to see you! He too could own his very own Chumlee bobblehead!

Actually, if you want to sell him on the trip, just go to Flickr and look for pictures from Utah and Arizona National parks. That's what got us to stop at Horseshoe Bend.

Thanks for reading along!

I love this. One of my favourite photos is of my son and my brother on a teacup ride (not at Disney :-( ) With their arms in the air and big smiles and everything behind them blurred like this shot.

Thanks! I kept experimenting with shutter speed on this ride, which is hard to do while spinning at top speed! I'm glad my daughter and I don't get dizzy. We love the Teacups!!!

 

[twob4him]

Janet...I absolutely soaked up every picture on your report!! I loved them all! What a great trip!!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

 

[mom2rtk]

Janet...I absolutely soaked up every picture on your report!! I loved them all! What a great trip!!!! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

Thanks Cathy! I'm glad came along for the ride!

 

[WDWFigment]

I have to say, you REALLY have stepped up your game significantly in the past year. There are some seriously great shots in here (I stopped on page 4 due to time and because we are taking our first DLR trip in Aug and I started to see pictures of things I didn't want to see until I experience them firsthand); great work and great accompanying commentary. Some excellent UWA stuff!

 

[mom2rtk]

I have to say, you REALLY have stepped up your game significantly in the past year. There are some seriously great shots in here (I stopped on page 4 due to time and because we are taking our first DLR trip in Aug and I started to see pictures of things I didn't want to see until I experience them firsthand); great work and great accompanying commentary. Some excellent UWA stuff!

Many thanks Tom! That means a lot coming from such a UWA legend here! Thanks for continuing to inspire me on a daily basis. It felt great to get out and test some of what I've been soaking up here for the past year. I have a ways to go, but I did feel happy with the progress I've made.

I can't wait to see what you do with Disneyland. And just to hear what you guys think of it compared to WDW. DL has so much more than the MK, especially in Fantasyland. And being such big Fantasyland fans here, that makes it a slam dunk for us.

Bring me back a kabob from the Bengal BBQ, ok????

And find sometime in your life that you can visit the southwest with your camera.

 

[mom2rtk]

The following morning we headed out of Blanding back toward Moab once again. By now everyone was getting a little tired of all the scenery except me of course... They were ready to just get home. Moab was just a town we were passing though this time, not a destination. That's not to say there wasn't much to be seen from the driver's seat though.

As we got closer to Moab, I saw signs for lots they were selling in a development called Wilson Arch. I thought that was strange out in the middle of nowhere. Then I figured, hey... if they named the development after it, then there must be a cool arch around here somewhere. Sure enough, just up the road......

Not a bad find just along the highway. We also got one last view of the La Sal Mountains.

As we drove through Moab, it dawned on my just how different the weather was there on this trip through. On the way in, the temperature broke the century mark. Granted, this time it was mid-morning, but at 63 degrees, I was glad we had passed on the Colorado float trip we had considered. It was very cloudy and starting to sprinkle.

I was driving, so I chose the scenic route back out of Moab this time too. I knew it would be a long time before we get back again, and I really wanted to soak in as much of the scenery as I could.

The rest of the trip was rather a blur.... literally. It rained across Colorado. It rained across the Rockies. It rained across Kansas. It was a long couple of days driving, but so worth it.

I don't know what it is about those red rocks. I just love the area, and would go back again in a heartbeat. That will be a while though. I've already been outvoted for next year's summer vacation. They love Sanibel Island as much as I love those red rocks. Better brush up on beach photography......

Thanks for coming along for the ride everyone!

 

[kaoden39]

Oooh beach photography.....I look forward to seeing it!! Thank you for sharing all this. You certainly saw some beautiful countryside.

 

[Snappy in OK]

Great job!! You have some amazing pictures! I have wanted to drive west to explore & enjoy the scenery, and your pictures & report have me wanting to go sooner than later. I do want to wait until our kiddos are a bit older and can enjoy it more, so I will wait a bit longer.

Of course, I will enjoy seeing the beach pictures as well!

 

[mom2rtk]

Oooh beach photography.....I look forward to seeing it!! Thank you for sharing all this. You certainly saw some beautiful countryside.

Great job!! You have some amazing pictures! I have wanted to drive west to explore & enjoy the scenery, and your pictures & report have me wanting to go sooner than later. I do want to wait until our kiddos are a bit older and can enjoy it more, so I will wait a bit longer.

Of course, I will enjoy seeing the beach pictures as well!

Thank you both!

We've done the beach, and I enjoy it, but honestly, not in the heat of summer. I know... I know.... that's where people GO in the heat. But the FL beach in summer is brutal. Now that the kids are older, it works better. The boys can go out whenever they want. I get up for sunrise, then hibernate in the afternoon, and come back out in the evening up through sunset.

I have shot the beach before on many occasions, and seen all sorts of different styles of sunrise and sunset. I DO look forward to trying my hand at it again with what I've learned since we went last summer.

 

[fireplug]

Wonderful beautiful pics. Looks like it was a memorable vacation!

Squid

 

[disneyboy2003]

Wow! Beautiful pictures of places I can one day hope to visit! I had a lot of fun following your trip report.

One thing I didn't get a chance to suggest to you *before* your trip, but did you bring a GPS receiver to automatically create a GPS track log of your entire trip? If you did, then you can geotag *all* your photos (ie. add GPS coordinates to each and every photo)!

There are dozens of programs that match the time stamp on each photo to the time stamp in the GPS track log and automatically add the GPS coordinates into your photo.

Then later on, say months or years down the line, if you go back to your photo and ever wonder, "Where did I take this photo?", you can click the GPS coordinates, and the exact location of your photo will pop up on Google Maps.

If you didn't bring a GPS receiver, you can still geotag your photos, but you'd have to do it manually. Again, there are several programs that can help you with this, too.

Just one more photography-related thing to learn, if you're interested. It's nerdy fun!

 

[CaptainsLady]

Thanks for coming along for the ride everyone!

Thanks for taking the time to share such a great trip report. Your pictures are amazing and you've really done a terrific job bringing back memories of my family's trips through the same country you covered. I can't believe it but I do miss the red rocks!

 

[mom2rtk]

Wonderful beautiful pics. Looks like it was a memorable vacation!

Squid

It was. Many thanks!

Wow! Beautiful pictures of places I can one day hope to visit! I had a lot of fun following your trip report.

One thing I didn't get a chance to suggest to you *before* your trip, but did you bring a GPS receiver to automatically create a GPS track log of your entire trip? If you did, then you can geotag *all* your photos (ie. add GPS coordinates to each and every photo)!

There are dozens of programs that match the time stamp on each photo to the time stamp in the GPS track log and automatically add the GPS coordinates into your photo.

Then later on, say months or years down the line, if you go back to your photo and ever wonder, "Where did I take this photo?", you can click the GPS coordinates, and the exact location of your photo will pop up on Google Maps.

If you didn't bring a GPS receiver, you can still geotag your photos, but you'd have to do it manually. Again, there are several programs that can help you with this, too.

Just one more photography-related thing to learn, if you're interested. It's nerdy fun!

Thanks so much for your ongoing help and patience with my endless questions!

I actually read about this several years ago and thought it sounded pretty amazing. Then at some point on this trip (you know, out in the middle of nowhere...) I recalled it again and wished I had pursued it. Do you geotag your photos? Any idea what those little gizmos cost now?

Unfortunately I don't foresee needing one for quite a while now. When we go to the beach, we pretty much stay in the same place the whole time. We have done fishing trips, and might add a dolphin watching trip next time, but still no need to geotag. And definitely not much of note between here and there either. This definitely would have been the trip for it though!

Thanks for taking the time to share such a great trip report. Your pictures are amazing and you've really done a terrific job bringing back memories of my family's trips through the same country you covered. I can't believe it but I do miss the red rocks!

Ahh... another red rock lover! I'm glad you enjoyed the photos. Thanks so much for reading along!

 

[ReAnSt]

Can you post a list of places you went to and saw on your road trip? I live on the east coast and would love to do a coast to coast road trip, but know I do not have the time to do that. But I have been thinking about flying somewhere in the midwest and doing Utah, AZ, Colorado, Nevada or some other combination of places.

I loved your pictures they are great.

 

[mom2rtk]

Can you post a list of places you went to and saw on your road trip? I live on the east coast and would love to do a coast to coast road trip, but know I do not have the time to do that. But I have been thinking about flying somewhere in the midwest and doing Utah, AZ, Colorado, Nevada or some other combination of places.

I loved your pictures they are great.

Well, we've been through the area 4 times. Here are some of our favorite spots.

Arches National Park
Bryce Canyon
Zion National Park
Canyonlands
Goblin Valley State Park
Grand Canyon (we've done both North and South rims now)
Horseshoe Bend
Goosenecks
Navajo Bridge (at Lee's Ferry)
Monument Valley
Petrified Forest
Painted Desert

Some of these are destinations, some are interesting stops on the way to other destinations. It can be as much fun researching a trip in this area as it is to actually take it. There is much gorgeous photography to find online, as well as suggested road trip itineraries. Here's an example:

http://www.takemytrip.com/07zion/07_06a.htm

We didn't use this site, but I found it when we got home.

It's also really helpful to go to Flickr and check out the Utah and Arizona National Parks photos.

I honestly cannot imagine anyone living their entire life without seeing the treasures in this area. It is truly some of the most amazing scenery on Earth, and you can just get in your car and drive there........ Told you I loved this little guy.......