Yeah, it's kind of a boring shot, but I love clouds...and we don't get clouds like this in Arizona. Taken in Miami this summer before a big rain storm on the beach.

--Rob

With my day job I spend a lot of time traveling with a football team and really don't have much to do for the first quarter of any game (I edit game film) so I do what any fan would do. Run to the sidelines with my camera in hand. I won't post many football shots here, but this one was too good to pass up. Sadly, we lost the game, but it was damn close. Many more cool shots from the area to follow as we spent 3 days in Madison, Wisconsin before the game.

--Rob

Saddle-like airline seats? No way!

"The new airplane seat, to be unveiled next week at the Aircraft Interiors Expo Americas conference in Long Beach, would give passengers an experience akin to riding horseback.

They'd sit at an angle with no more than 23 inches between their perch and the seat in front of them — a design that could appeal to low-cost airlines that have floated the idea of offering passengers standing-room tickets on short flights."

Read the full article...

Three Servicemen Statue shot next to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC 5 years ago. One of many memorials I visited during our trip to DC.

--Rob

Silence at the springs

I enjoy traveling with my family so much that sometimes I forget how much I also love traveling alone. It’s such a decadent treat.

Lately I’ve been craving silence and solitude in a huge way. The way I craved liverwurst when I was pregnant. (I know, right?) So I hopped into my car and headed up into the Tonto National Forest near the Mogollon Rim. In an hour and a half, I can go from beige desert spiked with saguaro cacti to lush pine forests.

Rim country is amazing. The Mogollon (pronounced “mo-guh-yon”) Rim is an escarpment (a big word for a big cliff) that stretches across the state of Arizona. The land at the bottom of the rim is about 4,000-5,000 feet, and it rises in an instant to about 7,000 feet. It’s an understatement to say that the views of the Rim and from the Rim are spectacular.


There is a hike just outside of Payson called Horton Springs Trail. At the top of the trail (about 3.5 miles with a 1,000-foot climb) there is a spring that feeds Horton Creek. I have hiked along this trail many times, but never, over the course of about 16 years, reached the springs. This was due to various reasons—weather, young child in tow, whatever. I decided that this weekend I would finish the hike already and see the springs.

Take a hike with me...

The London Eye. Diane has long loved this photo. I shot it in 2004 during our trip to Europe.

--Rob

Nothing quite like a sunset in Arizona.

--Rob