my travels in pixels

Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming We met a great couple this time last year, Linda & Alex who invited us to stay with them in Wilson Wyoming, which is about 12 miles out of Jackson Hole. There are lots of ranches out here and you feel like you are driving through Horse Whisperer* country with rolling green hills all around you. We had to take the long way around to their house, as the short cut had a locked gate at the end of it that didn’t open for a few more days. Turning into their driveway wasn’t easy as it’s not meant for a 35’ trailer! cut the corner and the trailer would end up in the ditch; after a few attempts I managed to get into their property. Not having done any walks for a while they took us on a hike up the hill opposite their valley. 7,000ft can really get your heart pumping. It was a great walk through the aspens, and at the top we were rewarded with fantastic views of the valley. And, we didn’t run into any bears on the way! With the annual elk antler c...

Utah Lake State Park Campground Why we chose here? seemed a nice place to stop while waiting for some parts from Campingworld in Draper Location: Utah Lake, Provo Sites: 55, 40' max RV length. Back in and pull through's Facilities: Showers, Electric and Water hookup, Dump station, Grill, Groceries: Provo Reservations: Yes, only one site available before May 1, all others first come first serve Cell Coverage / WiFi: Verizon Price Paid: $30 Date of visit: April 2015 Would we come here again? Sure, it's nice and quiet

Canyonlands National Park, Utah We moved north onto the other part of Canyonlands passing through Moab and picking up some groceries and fuel along the way. It rained most of the trip. Mesa Arch The Island in the sky is a high mesa about 2,000 feet above the junction of the two rivers. The trees here are resilient as the rainfall is low, the junipers are twisted and stunted, and they shed their limbs when water is scarce. Canyonlands National Park was created in 1964 to preserve the colourful landscape showcasing cayons, buttes and mesas. Thousands of years ago, the Puebloans lived here, though any items or tools are long gone, newspaper rock shows some petroglyphs and some of their dwellings still remain. Winter is back! There was one BLM campground Horsethief just outside the park that allowed trailers up to 35’ so that was where we headed. Being Friday, I was hoping there would be spaces available. The campground is half a mile off the bitumen and while there are...

Horsethief BLM Campground On the road into the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands Site 25 Why we chose here? The closest campground to Island in the Sky (Canyonlands) that allows RV’s over 28’ Location: Just outside the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands and just before the road to Dead Horse State Park Sites: 56 sites of various sizes, up to 35’ RV allowed. Nicely spaced out. Facilities: Vault toilets and rubbish dump, Fire pits with BBQ grill, metal slotted table/bench seats Groceries: Nearest town is Moab (60 miles) and there is a City Market grocery store there Reservations:  No, first come first served Cell Coverage / WiFi: Yes we were able to access Verizon at the campsite, but not on the road in Price Paid: $15 Date of visit: April 2015 Other: Nearest dump station is at the Maverick Gas station in Moab or RV parks Would we come here again? Yes Looking down the campground road to other sites Site 25 from the b...

Needles Outpost RV Campground Our site near the Juniper Tree Why we chose here? The National Parks campground only allows 28' RV's, this park allows larger RV's Location: Just outside the Needles section of Canyonlands Sites: 26, don't drive around the group tent section (on the right) in an RV, there is a big dip! Facilities:  Dry Camping - no hookups. Showers, Food - fresh and cooked, Dump, Water - but as they have to truck it in, don't fill up your tanks, fire rings Groceries: Monticello or Moab Reservations: Yes Cell Coverage / WiFi: No Price Paid: $20 Date of visit: April 2015 Would we come here again? Yes Looking back towards the group and tent area

Canyonlands National Park, Utah - The Needles There are four parts to Canyonlands divided by the Green and Colorado Rivers, so it's not possible to drive from one part to the other. The most visited areas are the Island in the Sky and The Needles. There is also the Maze and the rivers themselves. We decided to concentrate on the first two. Coming from Monument Valley we ignored Tom Tom’s suggestion and came up the 191 and apart from a few bumps which made most of our clothes come off their coat hangers, all was fine. We had left behind 40 mph winds from the night before and traded it for lower temperatures. It feels like winter again. The campgrounds in both parts of the park we wanted to go to have a campground but they won’t allow anything larger than 28’, and we are 35’. So the next closest campground in the Needles was the Needles Outpost, which for $20 a night gave us a nice spot but no hook ups, just outside the National Park. All water is carted in, so they would not ha...

Monument Valley, Arizona When you see the Mittens at Monument Valley, you think of Western Movies. Actors like John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and Tom Hanks worked here. Movies such as Stage Coach, the Lone Ranger, Forrest Gump, Easy Rider, How the West was Won were made here. Monument Valley was under the Gulf of Mexico 570 million years ago. It started it’s life 65 million years ago as the Pacific and North American tetonic plates off the coast of California collided sending shockwaves to the east. Erosion by water, wind and ice has chiseled the rock formations over thousands of years into what they are today. Showing the road around the buttes There is a 17-mile valley drive which can be undertaken between 8am and 5pm October to April in winter when sunrise is between and 6am-8.30pm May to September in summer. Sunrise and sunset never occur within these times anytime throughout the year, which makes it very difficult to get a good photograph. We went back to the ...

Cottonwood Campground in Canyon de Chelly National Monument, AZ Chinle, AZ One of the larger sites Check with the visitor centre on arrival as they have ranger programs and a free walking tour. There is only one walk to the White House Ruins that you can do on your own. The other options are private walking tours, 4WD tours or horse trail tours Why we chose here? There are only two campgrounds in Canyon de Chelly (pronounced shay), one near the visitor centre - Cottonwood and another – Spider Rock, a fair way in on the south rim. Location: Drive to Chinle, AZ, then drive east. Coming out from the visitors centre, turn right, then turn right, then the campground will be on your left. Sites: 92. Up to 35’. Most of the sites are difficult to get in to if you are large. The entries seem to be in the opposite direction than you are supposed to be driving. Lots of small sites. There is a dump, but no water in winter – they take the hoses away. There is only one tap in th...

Canyon de Chelly National Park, Arizona When we arrived in Canyon de Chelly (d’shay) two weeks ago there had been a ranger talk that night and a ranger walk the next day, but because we couldn’t drive our truck we missed out on both of them. Now the next ranger walks are not for two weeks due to staff shortages, so we miss out again. This national monument is on Navajo reservation land and observes daylight saving while the rest of Arizona does not. So we were a bit confused as to the right time to see sunrise and sunset. My photography app showed nearby towns with and a different current time and a different time for sunrise and sunset to what we had been told. Reality was somewhere in between. People have lived here for over 5,000 years. The current inhabitants are the Navajo, who first arrived in 1700 only to be captured or killed before or during the long 300 mile walk of 1863 when the land now known as Arizona and New Mexico was taken from the Mexicans and became part of...

You've taken some photos, now what? Adobe Lightroom is a lot cheaper and less complicated than Photoshop and will give you great results. I put off changing from Camera RAW to Lightroom for years, I am so glad I changed. I still find Photoshop better for cloning and removing unwanted items, but the majority of work can be done in Lightroom. A great learning tool are You Tube clips. Just type in what you want to know e.g. Lightroom catalog. You will learn a lot. The Catalog The hardest thing to come to terms with is the Catalog - it is where all the information regarding your changes are held. The Catalog files are located under Pictures/Lightroom and will start with the words: Lightroom 5 Catalog unless you have given it a unique name. The first task is to import your pictures. When you open Lightroom, click the Library tab. Then click the Import button at the bottom left hand side of the screen or choose file/import photos or videos. From Then you need to work thr...