Selected works of our Southwest trip, August 2009

I was recently going through old photos and realized that we've got some really great ones I'd love to share. So, pretend you're slipping into a hot tub time machine, and reset the date to August 2009.
(Sorry for the few pictures that get caught up in our sidebar, I thought these ones deserved to be really BIG!)

We started our trip in Vegas, because it was actually a lot cheaper to fly into Vegas, rent a car & a hotel room for one night and drive to LA & Phoenix than it was to rent a car in either location. Our first stop: Hoover Dam.

My favourite parts of the US: the old, the abandoned, the real. (This place is apparently 'Open')

While the above photos were of facades, this was NOT. We stopped for coffee to go. And everyone in the restaurant stopped and looked at us like we were crazy. (Or future roadkill...)

After telling Adam that it never rains in the desert, rain.

Towards the Grand Canyon.

Our morning started in Vegas, at about 110 degrees. We'd driven so far north and higher in altitude that it was about 50 degrees (43 c -10 c).

The inspiration to my novella.

After a night in Flagstaff, we took the road south through Sedona & the red rocks. (Also the vortex of the universe.)

As Adam took this picture while standing in the ditch, we heard the tell-tale sound of a rattlesnake tale (tail)
 rattling... we hopped into the car so fast we almost didn't even open the doors!

Phoenix: Guadalupe, Native American Reservation.

And through Phoenix towards Palm Springs.

A haunting image that will stay with me forever.

And LA! Chinese Mann's Theatre

Spiderman stretches too. 

LaBrea tar pits. Pretty sad & disturbing when you see fake mammoth babies watching their fake mammoth family drowning in tar...

We saw the Inglorious Basterds in LA and we realized that we were in a theatre full of people who worked in the movie industry. It was such a good atmosphere. 

Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell. 

Santa Monica Pier at night. 

I was still learning how to use the camera...

The Getty. The Gorgeous. The Great. 

My uncle is a great photographer & we really learnt (ADAM) how to manipulate the camera's features to get just the right shot! Thanks Uncle Kelvin!

Death Valley, the road to Vegas.

Adam refused to take lots of pictures of Vegas. If we wanted to see the Eiffel tower, we'd go to Paris. If we wanted to see the canals in Venice.... well, this was pretty funny.