Joshua Tree National Park Day 2

Most of day two was spent scouting for suitable locations for sunrises, moonrises, and lunar eclipse shots, and I did a lot of driving all over the place.  This is a wonderful place, truly magical, and there is way too much to see in just a few days.  Highly recommended place to visit, especially if you love the desert.  Staying in a really rustic (but very cool) hotel in  the little town of Twentynine Palms, gateway to the northern park entrance.

Joshua Tree National Park Day One

Disappointed not to be able to witness this month's "super blue blood moon" on the east coast, and seduced by all the attendant hype surrounding it's anticipated display, I made a crazy, spontaneous decision to head west so that I would be able to see and photograph it.  Of course I did as much research as I could in terms of choosing a suitable location; somewhere where it wouldn't rain, and somewhere where I would be able to see most of it's progression, so here I am in the town of Twenty Nine Palms, just outside the Joshua Tree National Park.  The first afternoon after flying from Charleston was spent getting my bearings and hunting for a suitable location from which to shoot this major event.  Here are a couple photographs from that day.

McLeod Plantation Avenue of Oaks with Snow

I have many photographs of McLeod Plantation, but this is the first time I have photographed snow on the ground.  Wish I could have got here even a day earlier, but even so, this was still sticking two days after the event.  

Charleston SC Snow Storm

Today's weather in Charleston was nothing short of historic.  On James Island we accumulated about 4" of snow.  The last time Charleston had experienced anything like that was in 1989 shortly after Hurricane Hugo had devastated the area.  As the meteorologists excitedly elevated their predictions for snow in the Coastal Carolinas, I listened with some scepticism, having heard similar  forecasts in past years, forecasts that never materialized.  Well, they got it right this time.  Of course we are entirely ill equipped to handle such events, and all businesses and school activity came to a grinding halt for two days, but it sure was a pretty sight.  Maybe we'll see it again in another 30 years, or maybe not.  I had forgotten about global warming :)