Family Road Trip - Oak Creek Canyon

Living in Arizona has advantages - one being the proximity to different climates and geographical changes - extreme differences within close distances.  I remember being up at NAU in Flagstaff once snowboarding in the morning and then driving south to our place on the beach in Mexico, swimming in the ocean at sunset.

We grabbed our dogs and took a short day trip to Sedona and Oak Creek yesterday.  I've never photographed Cathedral Rock and although its way overdone, its something I've been wanting to check off my list.  Kinda like a chef - gotta cook Coq Au Vin a few times before you master molecular gastronomy.

Nice place for lunch on a Sunday afternoon.

Lots of Aspen trees in this area (at least I think they're Aspen)

Old Mill - Crescent Moon Picnic Area

B&W of Mill Door

Mill with Cathedral Rock in the background - Crescent Moon

Cathedral Rock, after sunset

Climbin' trees!

Oak Creek - flowing pretty good after two days of snow

Rock piles are all over in this area. I think these trace back to native cultures and their beliefs in symbols of protection, but don't quote me.

This area is one of the most photographed spots in Arizona - this was one of two large groups of people we saw taking photos yesterday.  I waited until sunset and then I shot mine - there was only one other guy there at that point.

Example of HDR - High Dynamic Range - where multiple exposures are combined together so that all details are visible.  Nowadays cameras will do all of this for you with the click of a button.  I'm not a huge fan of HDR but I think this shot came out OK.

Cathedral Rock Sunset - I Photoshopped a few tourists out who were playing on the other side of the river.  If you look carefully there's a blurry spot to the right of the bolder in the middle of the photo - that's where they were standing.

 Up Next...More Mexico!