In a spectacular house above the Getty Villa in Malibu we had dinner with some dear old friends, Shawn Scott, Anthony Hitt, and a sweet Newfoundland named Kiko. The sunset was a pineapple and the company a peach. We had such a great evening and hated to push on, but there’s a lot of Pacific…

The folks on Venice Beach are the most colorful collection ofcharacters anywhere! Their “street performances” are unusual, original and sometimes dowright strange. I love to watch the freaks at the beach do their thing. They are excellent character studies for doing portraits, and in no way camera shy. I think I should do a portrait…

The drive from Tucson to LA was great, up to the LA part. After three hours of fighting traffic, we reached the Pacific Ocean and landed on Venice Beach. The graffiti here is great, but we came for the people watching!

Just outside of Tucson we stopped in to visit the greatest collection of Saguaro cacti. These giants don't sprout their first arm until they are almost 75 yrs old. Marla wanted to give one a hug, but he was prickly so she decided to mock him instead. 🙂

In Tuscon we had lunch with my Grandparents, Paul & Norma Niemann. Grandad is 94 and acting 70 still! Norma can’t be over 65, but she’s not telling. 🙂 What a fantastic opportunity to have lunch with the greatest man on planet earth. I can’t wait to do it again!

I guess I’ve got some catching up to do after being out of wireless range for a bit. We left Page, AZ, headed for Tuscon, but stopped at a big ditch along the way. Every view of the Grand Canyon is breathtaking, but it is almost too much to take in. It is simply overwhelming…

Artist's paradise!

Exploring the Navajo nation is a visual dream! Everywhere you look is a watercolor waiting to happen. Today we drove out on some seriously washboarded roads to find this view from Muley Point. You’d think you were overlooking the Grand Canyon, but this is just a primer for bigger things to come.

We chased the sunset into Moab, Utah 21 hours after watching fireworks in Columbia MO. This sunset put on a better show! First thing the next morning we hiked out to the Delicate Arch to revisit an old friend. Somehow I always forget how much of a climb it is to get there!

We watched fireworks in the rain, then hit the highway, crossing half of Kansas in the dark. We had breakfast in Manhattan and are pressing westward toward Colorado.