Photo: Winter rain falls over Badwater, Death Valley national park, California

The full moon and forecast of rain saw me heading out of town for the deserts of Death Valley national park.  I figured it would also be a good place to contemplate turning 30.  Though the weather didn’t work out quite as planned. Wind gust to 50-60 mph and Sahara like dust storms – basically dust just everywhere.  Have I mentioned I hate dust! – meant it wasn’t the most productive trip.

Most the time was spent sitting in the back of my truck.  I tried to be somewhat productive and start the writing on a project I’ve been working procrastinating on.  Didn’t go so well, just basically stared at a mostly blank page until my laptop battery finally died.  Saved!  I’m glad I never took it upon myself to be a writer of any sort, would’ve been an even more unsuccessful pursuit than photography.

Cooked dinner inside my camper shell as the light faded, reading the instructions on my stove specifically saying not to cook inside.  Are my windows open enough?  What are the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning?  Ack, my instant noodle soup’s boiling over onto my bed!  At least I managed to go the whole week without spilling the melt water of my cooler all over my bed, usually a common occurrence. Luck was definitely on my side this time!

This was only my second time to visit the Eureka dunes, located in the isolated northern park of national park and only reached by dirt road.  On my first visit the weather was bad so I didn’t take any photos.  Had slightly better conditions this time, but still not ideal.  The dunes are best photographed at sunset, but by late afternoon clouds would fill the sky before the sun was low enough to the horizon.  At sunrise, mountains to the east block the sun for the first hour after sunrise, so by the time the dunes are lit, the sun is already fairly high in the sky.  Hopefully I’ll make another visit next month.

The blog will still be a bit slow for the next month.  Still trying to catch up on things and get organized with other projects.  I’m going to start posting some sort of ‘series’ of content so that I can try and keep things a bit more regular.  Will probably be something related to the Lofoten Islands, maybe just a single photo some behind the scenes info or whatnot.  I’ll see…

Photo: Eureka dunes rise into the desert sky, Death Valley national park, California

Photo: Self portrait of view from Eureka dunes, Death Valley national park, California