The drive from Phoenix to Portland along the coast is a visual feast with ocean views, wineries, great places to stay, and delicious food. Driving inland a few hundred miles- not so much. It is mostly badlands- dry terrain, steep slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, minimal vegetation, few towns. That that's not even counting Death Valley which is probably even more extreme (too hot for us to explore this time of year). These long empty stretches go on for more than a thousand miles. No cars, no services- just you and the sagebrush. The route home zig zags through California and Nevada, crossing the state lines a number of times. If doesn't matter. It is the same sagebrush and mountains.
There are a number of forest fires burning in the west right now so a lot of these photos reflect the smoke in the air. Everything was brown- particular the air.
I lost my camera into a river while kayaking a few weeks ago so these photos are taken on an old iphone. Still I think they came out pretty well- some even have an arty look- like watercolor or Impressionist paintings. I hope you enjoy this tour through the Badlands and it will save you a drive.
When I edited the iphone pictures I got some interesting results from these photos.
Like this.
No editing here. This one features brown landscape and brown air courtesy of the California wildfires.
Let's see. We had a Hockney, and a Seurat. This one has a touch of Cezanne-- yes?
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| A ghost town in Nevada |
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| And then you reach Las Vegas. It was a very bold idea to think to put a big city in the middle of absolutely nothing. |
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| The gondola ride at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas |
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| The lobby of the Palazzo Hotel |
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| St. Marks Square at the Venetian either in early morning or late night. I forget which. What am I saying? This is Vegas and it would have been packed late at night. So it must be early morning. |
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| Almost home now- we're back in Arizona. That's a sliver of the Colorado River. |
