In early December I took advantage of Martha’s 3 weeks in India to take Starr on a 2 week trip to southern Arizona and western New Mexico. My itinerary was a long list of candidate locations and a desire to “go with the flow.” After a wonderful family Thanksgiving stop in San Francisco, I continued south and ended up visiting the following locations:

* Joshua Tree Nat’l Park
* Kofa Mountains
* Tucson’s Saguaro Nat’l Park & Mountain Park
* Dragoon Mountains
* Chiricahua Nat’l Monument
* Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Nat’l Monument
* White Sands Nat’l Monument
* Bisti Badlands area (King of Wings, Valley of Dreams, & Bisti)
* Shiprock
* Valley of the Gods

For the most part, the weather was conducive for photography – lots of cloudy to stormy skies. I did experience two days of rain between the Dragoons and White Sands stops, and this later became an issue when driving & hiking on NW New Mexico’s slippery-when-wet clay. And, in the end, the trip was cut short a few days when a large cold & wet storm moved into the western U.S.

Full trip details, with pictures, can be found in the Southwest Roadtrip Galleries