Summer Of 2026

The summer of 2026 is slowly floating by.  Jane and I have enjoyed being home between trips with coffee on the patio watching the mushrooming cumulus monsoon clouds rise into the atmosphere.  There were two short, but fun trips this summer.  In June we ventured into Navajo country with stops at Window Rock Navajo Tribal Park, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Navajo National Monument, and Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.  Our journey then proceeded further into southern Utah with stops at Valley of the Gods, Goosenecks of the San Juan State Park, Natural Bridges National Monument, and Newspaper Rock near Canyonlands National Park.

I had wanted to photograph some more old cliff dwellings, so we also spent several days in Hovenweep National Monument searching for and hiking to some of the monument’s outlier ruins.  Our last stop was a two-mile hike to some ancient cliff dwellings in Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado.  Even though we started our hike early in the morning, by the time we returned to the trailhead it was late morning and temperatures had turned pretty hot.  Don’t mind confessing that we were pretty worn out.

There was a reward at the end of the hike, however.  As we were putting backpacks away, I noticed a billboard across the road advertising that Sutcliffe Vineyards was just a quarter mile away with wine tasting and charcuterie board.  Obviously, that is where we ended up and brought home some of their wine.  Our way home from Cortez, Colorado, routed us through Bloomfield.  I remembered stopping at Wines of the San Juan Winery in Blanco, New Mexico, some years ago and suggested to Jane that we stop there for another wine tasting.  We did and purchased more wine, including a bottle of lavender wine that is still corked.

Our second trip of the summer was in early August when we joined a photography tour to Churchill, Canada, on Hudson Bay, to photograph beluga whales.  Groups of these small, white whales migrate from the Arctic Ocean to congregate, socialize and molt at the mouth of the Churchill River as it enters Hudson Bay.  There were lots of belugas in the broad, mirky river, but extremely difficult to photograph.  Unlike the large humpback whale, belugas do not spy hop or breach.  They merely raise their head partially out of the water to breath while remaining mostly submerged.  Obtaining an image with their eyes and smiling mouth out of the water was a challenge.

We ventured onto the Churchill River in both zodiacs and kayaks.  Zodiacs were best for photography but the kayaks were more fun.  Beluga whales are actually rather curious and would follow us while kayaking.  Since the whales were behind us, we did not see them as they splashed water and blew noisy bubbles.  At times, they actually nudged the kayak, creating a level of nervous fear that the kayak would topple over.  All ended well with no scarry incidents.

Now we are merely waiting till fall when our next adventures will begin.  Pictures from these two summer trips are in the Latest gallery.