So I may have fallen off the band wagon this year. I started off writing, or when I didn't write, I at least shared something on Facebook or Instagram every week. Sometime around midyear, that seemed to have stopped. I will assume that the halt came with me losing my job, starting a new job, then finding even a different job. Well last week, I left that job too. It's been a roller coaster of a year. I will say I have been producing more artwork and participating in more art shows than I have in the past, 17 in all this year.

I want to recap the year and go back to see how my goals turned out for the year, but I will save that for the end of this month. I still have most of December to get through.

My wife and I went to Santa Fe a couple of months ago. I was spectacular! The leaves were turning gold up in the mountains. Ski Santa Fe had the ski lifts up and running so you could float by all the aspens at canopy level. It really was beautiful!

We stayed at the quiet and beautiful Santa Fe Motel and Inn. It was perfect. I highly recommend staying here and getting one of the casitas if possible. Here is a shot of our private patio entrance.

We stopped by the Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo, TX on the way back. I had driven by it several times in my life but had never stopped. It was pretty cool. Definitely worth the stop for some pics.

For those of you that follow or know me, you know that I love Colorado. My family has been going to Creede and Lake City for over 50 years. A few weeks ago, I had a chance to throw my tent in the Jeep and run out there for 4 days. I delivered some of my photos to a great new shop in Lake city called Cabin Fever Mercantile. Tracy, the owner of the shop is great! She really loves Lake City and the mountains of CO! I just heard that she's already sold a few of my prints too!


I finally got to meet one of my peers, photographer extraordinaire, Michael Underwood. I LOVE his work. He got an awesome opportunity to open a new gallery in Lake City and it is full of some incredible images and all priced to take home!

There were fires north of Durango, CO and around Cimarron, NM that made the trip a bit smoky and hazy. It didn't really effect my trip but it did make for some great sunset pics one evening. It also rained most of my Sunday there so I didn't get out with the camera as much as I had hoped for but it was still a great trip to one of my favorite places.

My annual trip to Creede comes 3 and half weeks from now. It will be a very different trip for we are going to spread my mother's ashes in the area that she loved so much. A large part of the family will be going this time. It's bittersweet for me as the area has always been such an incredible part of my life. I was a one year old the first time Mom and Dad took me. This year will be my 41st year. We went almost every summer, although there were a few that got missed but not many. My Mom and her siblings started going with my grandparents several years before I was born and My grandpa, whom we lost last year too, started going with his uncle (without the kids) sometime in the early 60's. Last year Mom and dad didn't get to go because Mom was in the hospital fighting for her life. This will be Dad's first trip back. It will be a lot of the family's first trip back. There will be a lot of emotions and memories on this trip. I really needed to be there before the weight of this upcoming trip. It is after all, my grounding space. For most of the rest of the family, I think it's just a place they used to go on vacation occasionally.

For this quick trip, I camped one night and stayed at our usual spot, The San Juan Ranch. It's located 22 miles west of Creede off of Hwy 149. Peggy and Kaye have always been such gracious hosts. I was so happy to see them. Peggy ran out and gave me a giant hug. She loved my Mom and our entire family. I gave them a canvas print of my "Curious Cows" photo and Kaye was just absolutely in love with it. The photo was shot on their ranch last summer.

Here are some pics I shot while I was there. The lake is Lake San Cristobal. The cabin with the Jeep is at San Juan Ranch. The old cabin is Uncle Charlies original cabin where it all began. The river is the mighty Rio Grande. And the pointy mountain is Uncompahgre Peak.