This year for Memorial Day weekend, we decided to go to Moab, Utah. We'd been there before, and we always meant to go back, we just hadn't had the chance. We used the excuse that I was turning 30 that weekend as a good reason to go... So, we lugged all of our camping gear across the country via airplane and landed in Moab...
We rented mountain bikes a couple of days, that's always interesting... But the highlight for me was getting to go back to the national parks around there, especially Canyonlands. There is an arch there whose beautiful photograph has eluded me in the past. Mesa Arch, it's called, and there have been BEAUTIFUL images created of it over the years... The last time we were in Moab, we got up early to catch the sunrise behind it, only to arrive about 20 minutes too late...!
This year, I was DETERMINED to get the shot. We got up at 4 on the morning of my birthday, and headed out. We arrived with plenty of time to hike in by headlamp, which we did (it's not a bad hike at all). I had just set up my camera and tripod when we started hearing voices out on the trail. Suddenly, there was a group of about 14 photographers, all lined up in a row with tripods, and as the sun came up, everyone was shuffling for the best spot. A few of the people there were taking pictures of the photographers instead of the sunrise...
Anyway, after much shuffling with other people, here is the best image I got from the infamous sunrise shoot.
I still want to go back again, maybe in winter, when there will be less people around, to see if I can get the sun in a better spot.
On the hike out, there were many, many different types of cacti in bloom...
The weekend went well, although that night there was a thunderstorm and lightning decided to hit the town's only transformer, knocking the power out to the WHOLE town. It was entertaining, and so we packed up and went in search of a microbrew and a hotel for our last night out!
