Earlier this summer, I attended a photography workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico, under the tutelage of Brett Erickson. Before I flew back to New York, I drove to Los Alamos County to check out the ruins at Bandelier National Monument. Near the park shuttle bus terminal at the White Rock Visitor Center is the White Rock Overlook Park, from where I took this photo on a partly overcast day. The cliff plunges 1,000 feet to the canyon below. The river you see is the famous Rio Grande, and you can clearly make out an almost perfect mesa in the distance on the lefthand side, as well as the one directly in the middle. If you look really closely at the bare patch on the right bank of the river, right before it curves, there is a little community there of a couple of houses and some trucks. The cactus in the foreground was blooming and this was just a magnificent viewpoint, but one to avoid if you are scared of heights. Hope all is well with you.
White Rock Canyon Overlook, Los Alamos, New Mexico
This postcard may be slow to reach you. I forgot to mail it until near the end of my trip. I was looking south across from Steveston at the mouth of the Lower Arm of the mighty Fraser River. This scene struck me, with the driftwood, the boats passing by, and the purple wildflowers growing by the water’s edge. In the distance, some islands, including Vancouver Island provide a nice silhouette. It was just a beautiful scene that stuck with me.
My friend Melinda Green Harvey was in BC around the same time, and took a magnificent photo of driftwood, if this sort of thing interests you. I promise to continue with posting about Iguazu Falls later this week.
A little to the northwest of Osoyoos, BC, the city that claims the title of hottest place in Canada and one of the border towns with the US, is this alkaline water formation known as “Spotted Lake.” This view from the side of the Crowsnest Highway (Number 3) is the closest one can legally get to the lake these days, as it is private land belonging to a native band. According to Wikipedia the natives bought the land partly to prevent the development of a spa. Interestingly, the mineral-rich area was used to source material for ammunition during the First World War.
It isn’t worth going out of your way to visit since you can’t walk down onto its banks, but if you are passing through the area, it’s worth a stop to have a look from the side of the road. You can read a bit more about Spotted Lake here.
