Trip to Durango

So we went to Durango for a McKean Family Reunion. Tia was in CO with the fam, so I drove up alone and spent the night at Monument Valley on the UT AZ border. These are some famous formations known as the mittens, because they look like mittens.

Here with the stars.

Here at sunrise.

Then I went north of Durango near where we camped as a family and found quite a few cool flowers.

A few dandelion shots.

Some other kind of flower.

And some daisy type flowers at camp.

And one more.

And of course, a night exposure. This time of Paul's tent under the stars.

Then we went up to Molas Pass on the way to Silverton. The view was spectacular.

This is a handheld 9 shot panorama.

Google Sketchup...

...an idea for a kind of Dream House:

I've had this general idea for a house design for awhile. I got to work it through a bit while playing with the free and fun google sketchup.

 Master and 2nd bedrooms and an office on west of the house, above that is a large loft and 3rd bedroom.

 Above the garage is a complete one bedroom guest house, 

with a private entrance from the courtyard and it's own balcony.

Dining room faces east and south, to be able to eat breakfast facing the sun and to get the heat thru the day in the winter. Bedrooms face west to get the last light of day. The courtyard in the center of the house provides cooling breezes and easy access to the outdoor spaces.

 Courtyard includes large covered living area, and uncovered areas for grill and garden.

 The thermal masses soak up the heat of the sun all day (in winter) and radiate it back thru the house all night.

Doors from the courtyard open up for cooling breezes from the north (in summer).

Simple south orientation and proper eaves make the home very seasonally efficient.
That was kind of the idea that I started the whole thing with.
The eaves block all the direct sunlight in the summer, and let the sun in all day in the winter. The south facing curved glass wall tracks the sun, to maximize heat gain in winter and indirect sunlight in summer.

Tonto National Forest

I went to two different areas in Tonto National Forest yesterday; Tonto Creek and Tonto Natural Bridge State Park.

Tonto Creek is like any small mountain stream, cascading over rocks and falls through the trees.

Then there is Tonto Natural Bridge, which is like nothing else I have ever seen. It is a huge tunnel through the rock, some 400ft long and 200ft tall. There is water flowing through the tunnel, and also off the edge in multiple places.

The Bridge from down stream.

Details of where the tall fall hits the ground.

Pool inside the tunnel.

Notice the guy sitting on the rock.

HDR of the small falls.

HDR.

4 shot panorama.

These last shots are from a hanging garden where the water has a constant flow down the cliff and creates this beautiful wall of green.

A spider anxiously waits for an insect to land on his flower, but was not lucky enough to make his catch while I was there.

There were tons of yellow Columbine flowers, here is one that is just opening.

And the sun peeking through the trees.

Salome from Dad

So I guess dad must not have had time to post his pictures from our hike to Salome Canyon a few weeks ago, so I have taken the chance to post them. These are all from Dad.