It’s totally geekie but we love Kidrobots! The cute little creatures find every opportunity to hop down off the shelves, and stow away in our bags in hopes of sneaking off for a photo adventure. This prickly cactus creature snuck his way onto our Death Valley camping trip. He was so persistent about jumping into our pictures that we thought we’d share.
So a few months ago I received a phone call from a friend of ours named Bill. He said that a group of friends with UTV’s (Utility Vehicles) were going to be heading on a midnight run from Lake Pleasant to Jerome in Arizona. I figure that it would be fun to ride along. The weather would be nice because it drops down to a fantastic 85 degrees at night and we can be in the hotel once the sun starts to cook Arizona. Well Life being as it is, we end up leaving from the lake at 7 am just as it broke the 95 degree mark. Regardless, we started our run up north. Thankfully the temperature began to drop as we gained elevation. We had a few hiccups along the way, vehicles breaking down, tires popping on some of the very jagged rocks along the route. But the unbelievable views from the many vistas, and the ever-changing landscape made any difficulties all worth it. We had a fantastic time and really cannot wait to do it again.
These things are perfect for shooting video on these trips.
One of our breaks.
I can think of worse places to break down.
Don’t worry Bill, We will get it running again!
Brandon is ready to go!
It’s a dirty job but somebody has to do it.
Billy is so generous.
pit stop for water
On the chase
80 mph+ on the backroads.
Chop and his RZR
Billy’s Turbo GSXR Rhino, Soooo mean.
The group takes a pit stop near Mayer
We found ourselves in possession of a cumbersome pile of old wood, and what better way to dispose of it then with a beach bonfire. We discovered recently that not only does Fiesta Island have enormous fire pits but that it’s also dog friendly. It was last minute and very spontaneous, but we loaded down the truck with our wood, tossed the doggies in the car and headed off for a Bonfire. Luckily it wasn’t too crowded on Fiesta Island so we were able to find a fire pit we liked right away. It overlooked the water Skiing Jumps out in the bay, so we got a nice show from a couple skiers as we set up our spot. The dogs were in heaven, with all the sand, seaweed, and generally doggie smells. We let everyone off their leashes including Brett. Maggie however had to be regulated and put back on leash almost immediately. She’s going deaf in her old age. All the smells were so intoxicating to her that she kept wandering off and couldn’t hear us calling her back. Of if she did hear us (which I think she can sometimes) she just blatantly refused to come back to us. We all had a great time cooking hotdogs, roasting marshmallows, and making a really big fire. Fiesta Island is one of our new favorite places in San Diego. We can’t wait to gather up enough wood to warrant another bonfire.
Maggie was so cute and kept sitting on our wood pile. This, however, was not very helpful.
Piglet was super sneaky and kept stealing our chairs when we weren’t looking.
Everyone wanted a bite of hotdog!
Kita had so much fun running around in the sand, but then again what dog wouldn’t.
Maggie who enjoys the finer things in life, watched the sun set.
On Monday we were driving home from Tucson where we shot Alison and Andy’s beautiful wedding. Along the way we decided to stop and photograph some of the many dilapidated and ramshackle buildings that are scattered along the Interstate 8 and 10 in Arizona and California. After passing through the Agricultural station on the border of CA and AZ, we saw a group of old buildings and cars on the right and exited the freeway. Once off the highway the road quickly turned to dirt that seemed to be fine to drive on. Our borrowed Mini-van was handling it well. Elizabeth seemed a little worried but I thought it would be ok. Everything was going fine and we were getting closer to the buildings when suddenly the road dropped down a little hill and became a sandy wash. I decided to stay on the gas pedal to see if we could get across it to an area of harder dirt. Unfortunately the further we got down the wash, the deeper the sand became. I made one tragic mistake and lifted off the gas pedal for a slit second and that was it. We lost momentum and dug ourselves deeply into the sand. Amazingly we had traveled about 1/2-3/4 of a mile down the wash before getting stuck! We made three attempts to dig her out as well as airing the tires down to about ten pounds to get some more surface coverage on the sand. After about two hours of digging and jacking up the car and getting no where we threw in the towel and called a tow truck. After all it was about 95 degrees out there in the hot sand and Liz and our dog Piglet were beginning to overheat. Thank goodness we had cellular reception. It also didn’t hurt that we were close to the Border station just on the other side of the fence. After about 15 minutes a 4×4 tow truck showed up and dragged us out in no time. We made it out safely and learned our lesson by paying what I like to call “the stupid motorist tax, $150 in tow truck fees. Next time we’re in a van we will be sure to look ahead and watch carefully for any danger ahead… either that or we will just take our truck instead.
