California, Arizona & Back Again

Well, Israel is a bust this year too... Time to visit the family via a road trip.

We figure it will take two days of driving to reach California. Of course we will make planned stops along the way.

First stop, Antelope Valley State Park in Utah. Only a hour drive from Salt Lake City.

From Top to Bottom:

Buffalo

Wide Angle Shot of the Lake

Infrared Photo of the Plains

Infrared Photo of the Lake

We spent a lot of time there shooting the buffalos (with cameras) but we were loosing light fast. Major flying insect invasion. Sounded like rain when driving.

Next stop, Bonneville Salt Flats, UT

Not much to say here other than it is fun as fuck to drive at 110 mph here.

Back in the car and headed out to the Bay Area. We decided to stay in Suisun City for the first two nights so we could visit with mom before heading out to the Wine Country.

The Hampton Inn in Suisun City (infrared photo)

After we visited with mom, we headed out to our next adventure, Safari West in Sonoma, CA. Our lodging was a tent cabin located on a 460 acre wildlife preserve. We opted for the dinner package which included the tent, dinner, wine and safari tour. It was pretty cool.

Lots of birds, zebras, lemurs and water buffalos.

Up and early so we can get to our next stop. Pleasant Hill, CA. Of course, we have to hit a couple of wineries on the way out:

St Suprey Winery

Infrared Photo

I would bore you with other details but we saw the entire family for mom's 89th birthday, our Aunt Maureen and some cousins.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites. Never will we ever stay there again. NO room service whatsoever. We asked to get new towels and garbage pick ups be they never occurred. Six nights of not tipping the maid was nice. Only one elevator working for the entire hotel. Crappy service and we had to pay $30 a night for valet parking. #EmbassySuitesSucks

Oh, I almost forgot. We went to the city too. Pretty much devoid of humans.

Back on the road to home via Arizona and the south west corner of Colorado to visit Mesa Verde National Park.

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