Merry Christmas!

Today's Photo - The Oswego Lighthouse in Winter

Alright, enough of the mundane discussions of pots & pans! On to trip planning.

There are thousands of places I'd like to see, both again & for the first time. Many I have learned about from reading blogs by other photographers, RVers and travelers, others from newspaper and magazine articles as well as books, and some from discussions with other travelers. I have two files I keep - one a set of links to web pages, GPS coordinates & other "digital" descriptions kept in a folder on my laptop, and the other an actual file folder with clippings, etc.

For example, I've seen some photographs taken from Artist's Point at the end of the Mount Baker Highway (WA Rt 542) that look interesting. We almost went there on our last trip out west in 2004, but we had limited time, and wanted to visit the San Juan Islands (another area well worth a visit) so we passed. This time I do plan to stop, although it will have to be on the way back to Canada since the road is often closed until mid July. I'll have to leave the trailer in a local campground - between mile 47 & 54 the road climbs over 3000'. Still it looks like a beautiful drive as well as a wonderful place to take photographs at the end.

That is only one of the hundreds of places I want to see. No way to hit them all, so I'l have to plan routes that get to as many as possible. As I've said before, my plan is to spend a little time in Canada getting used to the trailer, then head to the Southwest. Although there are many places I'd like to visit, I plan to start by stopping at Moab & revisiting Arches National Park, Bryce Canyon, and Zion National Park as well as first time trips to Canyonlands National Park, Capital Reefs National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument (Assuming the snow is gone), Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument, Kodachrome Basin State Park, Goblin Valley State Park, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Snow Canyon State Park, Dead Horse State Park, and Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. That is just the state of Utah (well, Monument Valley is just barely in Utah.) While doing this I'm sure I will discover enough additional places to see to keep me busy!