Home Sweet Home!

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Photos, Travel 7 Comments

Aerial of Seward, Alaska.

Aerial of Seward, Alaska.

As much as I love to travel, I gotta say after 2.5 months on the road that it is nice to be home!  It is sure hard to beat the dramatic, snow covered mountains this time of year!

It should be a busy spring – I already have a fair amount of assignment work piling up – I’m looking forward to Summer!

This is a photo from a couple of Augusts ago – I had hoped to post a new photo of Northern Lights.  After a long, tiring day of travel from Arizona to Seward, I dragged myself out of bed at mid-night and went looking for the lights without success – that was painful.  So, I’m going with an older aerial for now.

 

Fountain Hills Fountain

Ron NiebruggeArizona, Phoenix, Photos, Travel 4 Comments

The world's largest fountain, Fountain Hills, Arizona.

The world's largest fountain, Fountain Hills, Arizona.

We are back in Arizona packing up gear and shipping it back to Alaska for our return home.  It has been a great trip, but it will be nice to be home.

I knew before I returned to Fountain Hills that sunset and the fountain would correspond this time of year.  When I saw clouds staring to form last night I knew I would have near  perfect conditions.

Colorado River Kayaking

Ron NiebruggeArizona, Nevada, Photos, Travel Leave a Comment

Janine kayaking in a cave on the Colorado River, Arizona.

Janine kayaking in a cave on the Colorado River, Arizona.

Thursday, after I wrapped up my time at the NAB Conference  we brought  couple of friends from back home kayaking on the Colorado River – one of my favorite things to do when staying in Las Vegas!

Since I had photographed this stretch of river a couple years ago, and because all my dry bags were back in Alaska – I decided not to bring my camera.  Big mistake!  This cave which had visited before looked spectacular – much, much better then before.  So  the following day (last Friday), Janine and I bought a dry bag at REI and drove back to Willow Beach, rented kayaks and repeated the trip.  That was ok with me since it was so much fun paddling on such warm weather.

So why was the cave so much better?  Since the temps were in the mid 90’s, the demand for electricity to power air conditioners in Las Vegas has increased substantially.  To produce the extra electricity, they had to push far more water through the turbines at Hover Dam which increased the water level a fair amount over our previous visit during the cool month of November  Evidently the extra water level is perfect for filling the cave, and that really increases the access to the amazing sight.

I have said this before, but I would really like to do a over night trip on this stretch of river, it is really beautiful.  We even saw some desert bighorn along the banks!

Desert Bighorn – Valley of Fire

Ron NiebruggeLas Vegas, Nevada, Travel 4 Comments

Desert Bighorn, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Desert Bighorn, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

I spotted this guy in Valley of Fire last week.  As beautiful as the scenery is in this State Park, it is also one of the better places in the Southwest to find Desert Bighorns.

This guy looked a little haggard.  Later in the day I found a band of about 11 big, beautiful rams, but they weren’t nearly as approachable as this guy.

Scion FR-S

Ron NiebruggeLas Vegas, Nevada, Photos, Travel 5 Comments

Scion-FR-S seen during a commercial shot, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

Scion-FR-S seen during a commercial shot, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

I was in Valley of Fire State Park yesterday shooting a moving 3D time-lapse on a 6 foot ramp when my unique setup caught the attention of a film crew working on a car commercial.  I was happy to answer their questions since I had my own questions about their production.  I asked if I could grab a few photos of the cars during the filming and they said go ahead – so this is a scene that you may soon see on TV, except in a horizontal format.

This 2 seat sports car will be released this week I understand – it is a joint venture between Toyota and Subaru.  Subaru will market it as the BRZ, while Toyota  will sell it under their Scion brand and will call it the FR-S.  It will sell for around $25,000.

I often think I may have the best possible job out there – but after talking to the professional drivers who were able to race up and down the curvy roads through the park that were closed off by Highway Patrol – now I’m not so sure.  🙂

Update:  It will be formally introduced tomorrow (Sunday) at the Long Beach Grand Prix as the marshal car.