Pink-Flower Hedgehog Cactus

Ron NiebruggeArizona, Phoenix, Photos, Travel 11 Comments

Pink-Flower Hedgog Cactus, McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Scottsdale, Arizona.

Pink-Flower Hedgehog Cactus, McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Scottsdale, Arizona.

During my photo workshops a few weeks ago I was reminded just how rich and colorful the desert looks during a rain storm.  So yesterday morning as I heard the rain pouring down – I couldn’t wait to get out with my camera.  I had my eye on a stunning Graham’s Nipple Cactus bloom that I spotted while running the day before, but evidently they don’t open on cloudy days.  So I had to “settle” for this Hedgehog cactus.

I find it fascinating that such a sharp, potentially painful plant can produce such a beautiful bloom!

Speaking of my workshop – as much fun as I had hosting them, I think the follow up emails and photo attachments from the participants may have been even more rewarding!

Most participants don’t have websites that I’m aware of, but a couple do and I would like to share them here.

First is Samatha – on this website of Samatha’s photos she writes about the workshop, some of the things we talked about and places we visited during the second weekend – it was a fun to relive the weekend through her images.

Greg Lato posted a couple photos of our group during the first weekend on his photo blog.  And be sure to check out his photo from Anza-Borrego.  It is fun to see the different interpretations of the the same area.

I have more photo tours coming up including one where we will be up close to grizzly bears all day!

Aria Hotel City Center

Ron NiebruggeLas Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel 5 Comments

Canoe art, City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Canoe art in the middle of City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

I’m trying to imagine the conversation:  “You see we are building a very high-end, 11 billion dollar resort in Las Vegas and think your old canoe would look perfect out front.”   Do you or your friends have anymore?”

It is a pretty cool statue, but seems more like something you would see in front of a resort in Jackson Hole or Whistler rather then Las Vegas.

Below are two of the new hotels in City Center.  The pool belongs to the non-gaming hotel called the Vdara.  Across the way is the much larger hotel and casino known as Aria.  It is a bit hard to imagine, but on any given night there could be far more people in this one hotel, then living within 100 miles of my Alaska home.  But then, that is one of the things that makes where we live so wonderful – and it is a place where you really can use a canoe!

The pool of the Vdara along with the Aria Hotel and Casino, City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The pool of the Vdara along with the Aria Hotel and Casino, City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Crystals, City Center Las Vegas

Ron NiebruggeLas Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel 8 Comments

Crystals, City Center Las Vegas, Nevada.

Crystals, City Center Las Vegas, Nevada.

Crystals is the new retail center in the heart of City Center.  Something tells me this isn’t the place to pick up a new pair of Carharts or Xtratufs!  The top view is of City Center from Las Vegas Blvd “The Strip”.

Below is an inside view – the wooden structure is actually a restaurant!  A restaurant that I’m sorry I didn’t get the name of and will be extra sorry when I go to keyword!

Crystals, City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Crystals, City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

City Center Las Vegas

Ron NiebruggeLas Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel 13 Comments

This tram connects the Bellagio and the Monte Carlo with the hotels and mall of City Center, Las Vegas.

This tram connects the Bellagio and the Monte Carlo with the hotels, condos and mall that are the City Center, Las Vegas. The buildings in the background makeup a portion of the Aria Hotel and Casino.

We spent the last two nights and one full day on a very quick trip to Las Vegas.  I really needed to photograph the brand new City Center.  I have an extensive collection of Las Vegas photos, but not having images of the  brand new 11 billion dollar City Center was a giant hole.  Yeah that’s right 11 billion!  So with wildflowers a bit off here, we made the quick drive to Las Vegas.

I had hoped to photograph the City Center last October, but its planned opening was delayed until December, so I walked finding vantage points outside the project in which I could get distant images.  Now I was able to photograph the huge 76 acre project from within.

I usually try to pick “quiet” times to photograph Las Vegas.  I was once there during a cold, rainy mid week evening in which I had the Strip about as much to myself as possible in a place visited by more then 35 million people a year.  🙂  Well, visiting during a warm stretch of weather, during Spring Break, St. Patrick’s Day, and right before the biggest gambling sporting event of the year wasn’t actually quiet, but fortunately it worked out.

Silk Road resturant at the Vdara hotel, City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Silk Road restaurant at the Vdara hotel, City Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

2010 Bells Alaska Travel Guide!

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Photos, Shameless Self Promotion, Travel 14 Comments

Bells 2010 Inside Passage Travel Guide

Bell-s 2010 Inside Passage Travel Guide

I’m proud to say our photos are on the covers of all three Bell’s Alaska travel guides again this year!!  Great travel guides produced by a wonderful family, I’m proud to be a part of their guides again this year.   You can find these travel guides throughout Alaska at most visitor centers, restaurants and other businesses.  If you are in Alaska be sure to pick them up, they are full of useful information.

To get a feel for just how small the little grizzly cub is in the top photo, keep in mind those are dandelions.  Sure dandelions grow big up here, but still… !   This little guy was outside of Haines, Alaska.

Bells 2010 Alaska Mapbook

Bell's 2010 Alaska Mapbook

The Mapbook cover was of a sunrise in the Seward Boat Harbor – it was a post on the blog at the time.

Bells 2010 Alaska Highway Guide

Bell's 2010 Alaska Highway Guide

The final cover is of Emerald Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada.

Baseball Spring Training

Ron NiebruggeArizona, Phoenix, Photos, Travel 8 Comments

Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants during Spring Training, Scottsdale, Arizona.

Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants during Spring Training, Scottsdale, Arizona.

Some dear friends generously provided us with tickets to the San Francisco Giants Spring Training games – they are sure fun!  I love the relaxed, casual atmosphere where before the game the players work their way down the sidelines posing for photos and signing autographs.  We had such good seats to yesterday’s game that I decided to bring my camera and try to capture the action – that was a  blast as well!  I gotta admit, catching that moment the ball leaves the bat is much harder then it looks!

A wide throw lead to a succesful stolen base in yesterday's Giants game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

A wide throw lead to a successful stolen base in yesterday's Giants game against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Arizona Wildflower Forecast 2010

Ron NiebruggeArizona, Phoenix, Photos, Travel 19 Comments

McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Arizona.

McDowell Mountain Regional Park, Arizona.

We just moved to Arizona to a place just outside of Fountain Hills, which is just outside of Scottsdale, which is just outside of Phoenix – you get the idea.  🙂

As you can see, things are really green out here right now and look very promising!  With temperatures predicted into the 80’s next week, I’m hopeful that things will really start blooming very soon – it should be a great year.  As we made our way across Arizona I10, the hills throughout the state were very green, but only the edge of the roadbed is blooming right now.  The road edges always look the best.

This area has received over 6 inches of rain since the beginning of this year, and signs of the wet year are everywhere.  We are camped on the edge of the Verde River and I can’t believe how much water is flowing in it right now – substantially more then our past two visits.  Many of the normally dry riverbeds around Phoenix are flowing right now, it is fun to see the transformation.

Here are some photos of the wildflowers of McDowell Regional Park from 2008 during our last visit to this area.

California Desert Wildflower Update

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 21 Comments

Yesterday's sunrise, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Yesterday's sunrise, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This was our final sunrise in Anza-Borrego – we made the long drive to Arizona.  So, I thought I would offer one final update on the desert wildflower conditions.

The wildflowers are definitely running late this year – experts in the local newspaper are saying they are at least two weeks late, and cold weather this week won’t help.  In 2005, there were poppies all over the hills near Lake Elsinore, and wildflowers throughout Anza-Borrego and the Southern end of Joshua Tree by the last week of February.  Even in 2008, by the first week of March there were many flowers in Borrego, Southern Joshua Tree and thick poppies around Escondido.  This year I haven’t seen or heard of very many poppies yet, and there isn’t anything happening in the Sonora region of Joshua Tree.   Anza-Borrego is hit and miss, but there is plenty of potential and many photo opportunities.  I read somewhere that 50 different species are blooming right now in Hellhole Canyon, a dream for macro photographers and pedal peepers, but I will stick to the big bold wildflowers favored by landscape photographers.  Here are those hits and misses:

Hits

Without a doubt this is the year for the beautiful  Desert Lily – Far better then even 2005!  I’m usually excited to find a few – this year I have found fields of hundreds.  And the plants have more blooms then I’m used to seeing as well.  These should get better in the week or two to come.

In many areas, Lupine and Hummingbird Bush (Chuparosa) are also looking as good as they did in 2005.  The Chuparosa are particularly vibrant- rich red leaves with bright red blooms.

Barrel cactus also seems to be blooming early and looking as good as I can remember.

Misses

Brittlebush.  You can usually count on this bright wildflower and it is starting to appear, but not in big numbers.  This could still change.

Sand Verbena and Evening Dune Primrose.  There were a few nice patches of these popular wildflowers early on, but they are starting to show some wear and tear and recent winds won’t help.  The mustard has over taken much of their habituate, but even some of my favorite, more remote dunes that aren’t effected by the mustard are lacking blooms.

Desert Gold.  It was starting to emerge amongst the mustard along the famous Henderson Canyon Road, but the mustard is getting so tall, I think it may be a losing battle.

The weather forecast was for much warmer weather next week – that could be the boast the area needed – as long as it doesn’t get too hot!

Hopefully tomorrow I can share my observations for Arizona.