U.S., 2018 In 2018 Keewi and I moved back to the U.S. from South Korea, where we had lived for almost two years. Our car was in California (for logistical reasons), so we had to drive back to New York. These photos come from a couple of points along that road trip. Arapahoe National Wildlife Refuge This National Wildlife Refuge is in Colorado. It's small, but happens to be near a place my family often stays, and we visited it. There's a driving loop with nice views of pronghorn "antelope" (they're not really antelope), prairie dogs, and various birds. I believe the raptor is a Northern Harrier (white rump), and the bird with the long curved bill is a White-faced Ibis. We've also got Lark Sparrows and American Avocets and American White Pelicans and Sage Thrashers, among others. Chaco Canyon Chaco Canyon is a gorgeous spot full of amazing, astounding ruins and petroglyphs from an ancient Native American culture. These photos are from a bunch of spots; we start with Hungo Pavi and then Pueblo Bonito at sunset. Pueblo Bonito is simply stunning, and you can walk around all over the place. Now we're at Kin Kletso, and then we hike up the Pueblo Alto Trail to the high country above the canyon. The upward slot canyon photo is the route we climbed upward; the next photo shows the route that we just ascended. The last photo in the fourth row shows fossilized shrimp burrows, and the next photo, if you zoom in on it, shows a climbing route up the cliff face used by the Chacoans. These next photos come from a walk to see petroglyphs, which are concentrated along one cliff face that used to be a major migration route used by the Chacoans. This is a special thing about Chaco Canyon; you can see a whole bunch of amazing petroglyphs up close. Now we're at Pueblo del Arroyo and Casa Rinconada. This was the end of our visit; after this we drove back to Santa Fe, where we were staying for a while. Georgia O'Keefe House Georgia O'Keefe's house near Abiquiu is a national historic landmark. She's one of the great foundational American artists, and it was neat to visit her home and her studio, to see how she lived. The curving highway in the third photo was a favorite subject for O'Keefe's paintings, as were some of the subjects shown in the later photos. The mountain with the slanted top in the seventeenth photo, named Pedernal, was a favorite model for her. Abiquiu and Taos Continuing in O'Keefe's stomping grounds, here are photos from a day trip starting in Santa Fe, up to Abiquiu and over Taos. The later photos are from Taos Pueblo, a very beautiful spot. Big Bend National Park The last spot that I've got photos from is Big Bend National Park, in Texas. I was amazed by it; it was much more mountainous and varied than I expected. I could have happily stayed much longer than we did. The skeleton photos toward the beginning are from a very nice paleontology exhibit they have in the park; the pterodactyl skeleton was amazingly huge. Right after that is a photo of a Greater Roadrunner, a very fun local bird, and then there's a tarantula. These next photos are from the Window Trail, which wends down to a tiny gap in a broad rock face, carved by a stream that runs through the gap and falls down a waterfall. We hiked to the gap and back again at sunrise. We end with photos from Boquillas Canyan, at the eastern edge of the park, where the Rio Grande runs into a tall canyon. From here we went on to various other great spots — New Orleans, Nashville — but I didn't take photos. And then we got back to New York just before Christmas, after a last-minute replacement of the alternator in our car in Virginia that almost stranded us until after New Year's! These images copyright © 2019 Ben Haller. All rights reserved.