ProCaliberTraveler
Well-Known Member
My 2023 was one of the better years. It was crazy in the good sense in that there was a ton of travel to many new places. For this exercise, I interpret "Best of 2023" to be like a photo journal of my favorite trips rather than my best photographs. It's difficult to choose just 10 photos as not all of them represent all of my travels. But the images below show some of my favorite highlights.
1. Monument Valley was just one part of a 2,500-mile road trip in January, but the two nights here was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
2. I drove at least a thousand miles hunting wildflowers in the spring and took at least that many photos of them. This shot came to be during a trip with an off-roading club in the Volcanic Tablelands near Bishop, CA.
3. In May I spent a week in San Luis Obispo, CA, for work and spent an evening walking around Montana de Oro State Park.
4. I spent a weekend in Chicago during which I ate some delicious food and wandered around the waterfront at sunrise.
5. It was a year of incredible waterfalls thanks to the record-setting snowpack in the Sierra Nevada. I got to watch the sunrise from Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park one morning this summer. This image represents not only this special memory, but all of the other waterfalls I witnessed in the Sierra this year.
6. I visited Colorado for the first time and spent some time in Garden of the Gods, Staunton State Park, and Denver.
7. I didn't do much hiking in the high Sierra this year, unfortunately. But when I did, it was as refreshing as when a man dying of thirst has a drink of water. This image is of Little Lakes Valley at sunrise.
8. I went on a 3-day motorcycle trip in Southern California this summer, during which I experienced heat exhaustion and saw the border wall with Mexico for the first time. This image is of the shoe tree in Rice, northeast of Joshua Tree National Park.
9. I spent a long weekend in Las Vegas. It was filled with delicious food and a visit to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area where the September wildflowers were in full force.
10. After having to cancel a trip to Alabama at the end of December, I suddenly had a week with nothing planned while visiting my parents for the holidays. So, my father and I began to study maps of northern California and southern Oregon. We decided to take a 3-day road trip to the old-growth redwood forests near Crescent City and Burney Falls. This waterfall is, frankly, astonishing. It's elegant, sophisticated, and graceful! Since we visited in the colder and wetter part of the year, we were able to park with no problems and minimal crowds. I'm pretty pleased to end the year with a great road trip with my dad.
1. Monument Valley was just one part of a 2,500-mile road trip in January, but the two nights here was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
2. I drove at least a thousand miles hunting wildflowers in the spring and took at least that many photos of them. This shot came to be during a trip with an off-roading club in the Volcanic Tablelands near Bishop, CA.
3. In May I spent a week in San Luis Obispo, CA, for work and spent an evening walking around Montana de Oro State Park.
4. I spent a weekend in Chicago during which I ate some delicious food and wandered around the waterfront at sunrise.
5. It was a year of incredible waterfalls thanks to the record-setting snowpack in the Sierra Nevada. I got to watch the sunrise from Yosemite Falls in Yosemite National Park one morning this summer. This image represents not only this special memory, but all of the other waterfalls I witnessed in the Sierra this year.
6. I visited Colorado for the first time and spent some time in Garden of the Gods, Staunton State Park, and Denver.
7. I didn't do much hiking in the high Sierra this year, unfortunately. But when I did, it was as refreshing as when a man dying of thirst has a drink of water. This image is of Little Lakes Valley at sunrise.
8. I went on a 3-day motorcycle trip in Southern California this summer, during which I experienced heat exhaustion and saw the border wall with Mexico for the first time. This image is of the shoe tree in Rice, northeast of Joshua Tree National Park.
9. I spent a long weekend in Las Vegas. It was filled with delicious food and a visit to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area where the September wildflowers were in full force.
10. After having to cancel a trip to Alabama at the end of December, I suddenly had a week with nothing planned while visiting my parents for the holidays. So, my father and I began to study maps of northern California and southern Oregon. We decided to take a 3-day road trip to the old-growth redwood forests near Crescent City and Burney Falls. This waterfall is, frankly, astonishing. It's elegant, sophisticated, and graceful! Since we visited in the colder and wetter part of the year, we were able to park with no problems and minimal crowds. I'm pretty pleased to end the year with a great road trip with my dad.
