The Traveling Widower

Tag: moab

  • I Always Wanted To Be A Painter

    A man painting a landscape of an arch rock formation on an easel outdoors, smiling as he holds a paintbrush.
    I have that shirt! Who is this guy anyway?

    May 3rd, 2026

    This post should actually be titled “A Final Post On Moab”, or maybe “I Promise I’ll Improve” since I’m still flailing around with Adobe Lightroom. I’ve made some improvements to my computer setup, and now have a 8TB hard drive for storing photo images, and I’m using that as the permanent source for Adobe processing. As my father-in-law used to say, I’m getting organized. I’ve moved all the files from my travels to this drive, and have begun the process of filtering through them using LIghtroom, starting with the Arches/Astrophotography trip. 

    Adobe products have always been feature rich but very complex, and Lightroom Classic follows that path. It’s a wonderful product but it does rely on first understanding how to use the application, and having some artistic/creative capabilities for creating images that others might enjoy. Well, once upon a time (high school), I had artistic aspirations, which quickly faded after a few art classes. I have a creative streak, but it never quite made the brain-to-canvas transfer. I sadly switched my career goals to journalism/creative writing – that lasted for one semester in undergraduate school. My first semester English professor did not appreciate my warped sense of humor. Hmmm…I’m off track again. Where was I?

    Unfortunately, photography requires some of the same creative skills which I seem to be lacking in, both in basic composition, and as I’ve now discovered, in post processing. But, I’m giving it a go anyway. I really enjoy this as my hobby, and can whittle away hours messing around with Adobe. And best of all, you don’t have to clean up paint brushes afterwards.

    So, here’s what I’ve got from my post-processing of the Milky Way and starry night shots from Arches. I’ve posted a few of these before. I’ve also added a few lightly curated landscape shots as well.

    Landscape/Daylight

    A desert landscape featuring red rock formations, sparse vegetation, and a sandy ground under a blue sky with fluffy clouds.
    A towering rock formation under a clear blue sky with scattered clouds.

    Milky Way

    Night sky with the Milky Way visible above unique rock formations, illuminated by red light.
    A night sky filled with stars and the Milky Way over rugged rock formations and desert landscape.
    A starry night sky featuring the Milky Way, above rocky formations and a faint horizon glow.

    Stars

    A nighttime landscape featuring two large rock formations under a star-filled sky with numerous stars and faint celestial objects.
    A night sky filled with stars above a rocky landscape, featuring illuminated rock formations and greenery in the foreground.
    Night landscape featuring towering rock formations illuminated under a starry sky.
    Silhouette of a rock arch against a starry night sky with clouds.
    A dark night sky filled with stars above a large, illuminated rock formation.
    Starry night sky over rock formations with clouds illuminated by moonlight.

  • Moab Wrapup

    Silhouette of a large rock formation against a starry night sky filled with twinkling stars and distant galaxies.

    April 22nd, 2026

    I’m writing this whilst comfortably crashed at the Doubletree hotel near the Salt Lake City airport. A nice warm chocolate cookie and a comfortable chair have revived me from the four hour drive from Moab this morning. I was running on vapors by the time I got here. I have enough energy left to do some writing, have an early dinner, and then maybe watch some of the NBA playoffs before falling asleep. I have an 11:00 flight home tomorrow so I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn for a change.

    Tuesday was my last day in Moab, and I was really feeling the effects of six days of sleep deprivation. I did not get back to the hotel until 4:00AM that morning, so I was pretty much trashed that day. I gave up any thoughts of doing a 7th Milky Way shoot, and the same for sunset at the park at 8PM. After yet another pseudo breakfast at noon (I discovered my favorite gelato shop, Elsie’s,  also did late breakfasts), I settled for one more low-energy tour of the park. No long hikes, just a drive around to see a few features i’d driven by, but not stopped to photograph. A cold front was moving in, and clouds had already started rolling in by the time I left for the park so I was glad that I went out for that last shoot the night before.

    First stop of the day was the Courthouse Towers, a huge block of sandstone, with some great views of the big wall formations across the road. Spectacular scenery.

    A towering sandstone rock formation against a blue sky with scattered clouds, showcasing the natural beauty of the desert landscape.
    A scenic view of towering red rock formations under a blue sky with scattered clouds, surrounded by desert vegetation.
    A scenic view of rocky formations under a partly cloudy sky, showcasing reddish-brown cliffs and a sparse landscape with low shrubs.
    A panoramic view of unique rock formations against a backdrop of mountains and a partly cloudy sky.

    After that, I headed back to the Windows parking area – I had already been on two of the trails there for the Windows and Turret Arches, but want to see the spectacular Double Arch as well. It was just a short walk on a packed gravel trail to get to the base of this feature. Most everyone climbs up the rocky base to get into the arch – I scrambled up a bit, and found a very comfortable boulder to sit on. I was too woozy to go too much further on the steep, sloping sandstone. I made it this far without doing any damage – I wanted to make it home without any new cuts or bruises.

    A large red rock formation with a prominent cave-like opening, surrounded by desert vegetation and a clear blue sky.
    A view of two large sandstone arches in a desert landscape with a clear blue sky.
    A desert landscape featuring red rock formations and sparse vegetation, with a gnarled tree in the foreground and a blue sky dotted with clouds.
    A snake with a patterned body slithering across a sandy, rocky surface.
    A scenic view of unique rock formations in a desert landscape, featuring towering red sandstone structures under a partly cloudy sky.

    Funny thing about Arches – I had not seen any wildlife at all either during the day or at night, other than hearing some owls one time. As I was walking down this trail, a young couple in front of me came to a stop and shouted – snake!!. Sure enough, there was a very pretty, six for snake slithering across the trail. It was not a rattler – I have yet to identify it, but it was nice to see something other than ravens. 

    I was about done for the day after that, but I had wanted to see one other area on the way out – The Garden of Eden, which has a jumble of sandstone fins and spires. I was way too tired to hike around the area, so I just watched a couple of rock climbers, attempting to work their way up a nasty looking crack on one of the spires. The lead was really struggling, and I did not really want to see him fall, so I left and headed back to town. 

    View of unique rock formations in a desert landscape with blue skies and scattered clouds.
    A landscape featuring large red rock formations, including a tall, slender rock topped with a round boulder against a blue sky.
    A tall red rock formation in a desert landscape, with two climbers scaling the side and a cloudy sky in the background.

    I really could have gone for a good martini, or a good IPA beer or two at one of the many brewpubs in town. But, I’m sticking with my cardiologist’s orders, and settled for a really lousy non-alcoholic beer with dinner. At least the ice cream was good. I think there were more ice cream and/or gelato shops in Moab than brewpubs. Nothing wrong with that. I tried four of them – maybe I’ll go back there again to try the rest.

    I’ve got a lot of thoughts about this trip bouncing around in my head, but I’ll do another post tomorrow…once I’m rested and home. Maybe I’ll have some of the Milky Way photos curated by then too.