Monday, April 30, 2007

I Have Returned from Paradise and what do I see?

The Virgin River, Zion National Park, Utah - © 2007 by M. Pancier
Well infidels, after a week in paradise, it is a rude awakening to be back in Miami. A whole week without reading the paper, without watching television, without listening to the radio, without listening to anything except the sounds of silence; the sounds of nature. The sounds of a river, of birds, or mother Earth. I have been to the mountaintop and have seen the hand of God. What I saw with my own eyes in the desert of Nevada and Arizona, and in the mountains and Canyons of Utah prove to me that God is the one true artist and that we as mere mortals are simply borrowing His work in our own interpretations which we call nature photography/art. I took 20 gb of raw images and nearly 1000 images which will take me months to process. More to come. It was sweet not having to deal with traffic although it was Hell to drive on US-89 through Zion - 2 lane road with over a 1000 foot drop and no guard rails. It was strange not being able to buy alcohol and noting that nearly everything closes at 9:00 p.m. I did have some great Mexican food though. Of course there was the one elitist snob who wore a mink fur to see Bryce Canyon (as I was wearing photographers vest and jacket). There's always one in the crowd.
After seeing heaven I did spend a few days in the devil's lair, Las Vegas, and passed through the Valley of Fire (amazing scenery in the Nevada desert). If you are into real gambling and not the ritzy nonsence, then you need to go to Downtown Vegas and play at the old school casinos that pay you 5x odds (compared to the single odds you get at the strip). You can actually win money there.
Upon my return to Miami, I note that yesterday, I spent over 3 hours to get out of Key Biscayne. What the hell is going on over there? I left Cape Florida State Park at 6:30pm and did not leave Key Biscayne until after 10:00 p.m. Was there an accident, I asked? Some event? Was the President visiting? None of the above. There was a bunch of thug looking gang bangers near the Rusty Pelican with their low riders all parked in the middle of the road and in the middle and on the sides blasting the rap crap and literally closing down the way out. The blocked traffic to everybody as the police watched and did nothing. And you figure they could open another lane to help get out of there? Negative. Am I missing something? I've never had to wait that long in traffic in my life and never had to wait that long to get out of Key Biscayne. If this is how things are going to be, I'm never going there again. See, 2 days back and I'm annoyed again. When's the next plane to the desert leave?
That aside, here's an eye opening op ed from W. Buckley on how things aren't looking so hot for the GOP. If the lib Dems take over the whole govt. in 2008, the GOP has only itself to blame (much as the dems had themselves to blame for all their prior defeats) for abandoning what got them into power in the 1st place. Thus, it is no surprise that all of Reagan's men are backing Thompson. On the other side, the Dems who have the wherewithall of the French may have to deal with Carl Bernstein's new book coming out on O'Hillary. That may be worth downloading into your ipod.
Oh, and check this out. A great op ed from R. Cohen at the Washington Post who shows the hypocricy from the left in how the leftist British Journalist group is urging a boycott of Israel, a democracy, but does or says nothing about tyrannies such as Iran, China, N. Korea, Cuba, etc. Got to love the elite huh? Cause it is the elite that loves to hate the Jews. Read it here.
That's all for now. Hasta la bye bye folks.

5 comments:

Robert said...

Looks like you're suffering from a common ailment: "post-vacation-back- to-the-daily-grind syndrome".

Good to have you back.

Sharpshooter said...

Henry,
I was lucky enough to see all those National Parks you visited years ago when I lived in the US. I was traveling on my BMW motorcycle which made the trip even more enjoyable. I visited Zion, Cedar Breaks, Bryce Canyon, Monument National Park and Lake Powell.On the return trip home, I went to Yellowstone Park for the 5th time and the Grand Tetons. A wonderful trip which I enjoyed to the fullest. It made me appreciate the US even more. You were a lucky guy if you got to see a sunset in any of those parks.

Henry Louis Gomez said...

Agustin,

My co-blogger MrCohiba AKA Cigar Mike wrote that.

Sharpshooter said...

Henry,
well Mr. Cohiba sure is one lucky guy! During my visit I only had my rusty trusty Nikon and not a new digital camera. But I used up over 10 rolls of film taking wonderful pics. I recommend that trip to all my friends. The trip through a tunnel in Zion park going downhill he mentions, is breathtaking. And the folks from the Dept of Interior through the park, are wonderful and very helpful.

Michael Pancier Photography said...

Augustin, that tunnel at night is scary. I had to drive US-89 through the park at night a few times, pretty scary knowing the edge of the canyon is next to you.

I shot 4 rolls of medium format film too so I'm curious to see how those images came out.

I have to go back to do the other parks: Arches, Capital Reef, The Needles, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon North Rim, plus the parks in New Mexico and Arizona....