What does someone from northern Minnesota do on vacation? Head to the American Southwest to photograph a once in a decade snowstorm in the desert.
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Actually it was just dumb luck, and the snow melted by 1 pm. Our AirBnB hosts told us this was only the third snow event they had  seen in 20 years! My location for the photos was a bit north of Tucson. It was truly crazy weather last night … first a downpour and 40+ mph winds. The rain then turned to snow and dead calm conditions. Upon waking up this morning the scene was truly magical. I quickly headed out at sunrise (behind clouds), but found a “Kodak Location” for later (around 9 am) when I there was a 30 minute window of blue skies. (video links for email subscribers: One | Two)

Molly and I are spending a little over a week in Tucson, and down in the Desert SW birds are already well into the mating season, including these two red-tailed hawks which I saw a bit after sunrise. One issue I had not anticipated is roaring rivers in the desert. Two dry washes which I normally use on my birding hikes were totally impassable due to rivers which had appeared.
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Get this, if we wanted to take a drive in our car and climb a bit in elevation there is a winter storm warning for the next 24 hours. Even down at our elevation of 2,400 feet snow is likely tonight. Tomorrow’s sunrise photography assignment may be photographing the snow covered desert!

Cementing the Love Bond

One Hawk Checked Me Out!

5 Minutes Before Sunset Yesterday Evening at our AirBnB (looking away from the setting sun)

How many of you take the road less travelled? Molly and I just spent the past 5+ days driving home from Tucson to Duluth. While this drive could have been accomplished in three days via the Interstate Highway System, we chose to use local roads and see America. The first part of our journey was driving north through the desert from Tucson to Moab, Utah. This route also forced us to angle NE across Nebraska. My only comment about the Great Plains of Nebraska … they are not very flat!

For our first night we stopped at Chinle, Arizona on the Navajo Nation. We did not want the HUGE crowds found at the Grand Canyon and thus decided to visit Arizona’s other canyon, Canyon de Chelly National Monument . At sunrise the next morning we had the canyon 100% to ourselves (Easter Weekend of 2022). We visited three overlooks at sunrise and took small hikes. We never saw another person or car! The beauty was breathtaking as it was peaceful.

Canyon de Chelly at Sunrise (video link for email subscribers)

Pueblo Ruins at Canyon de Chelly

Moving on from Chinle we were amazed to find the desert in full bloom. Purple and red flowers were everywhere at higher elevations.

Once we reached the Moab, Utah area we did rediscover people, but the beauty was still breaktaking. The first image is from Arches National Park, and the second photo I took while hiking a few minutes before sunset.

The morning we left Tucson I did photograph a bird … this House Sparrow! Somehow finding a house sparrow nesting in a cactus was different for this northern Minnesota boy.