We awoke again before the 5:30 alarm and got out of bed around 5:25. I made instant coffee to go and J started a mug of tea steeping and we left in the Jeep at 5:51.

There were some clouds to the east this morning. :) I had two Clif Bars for breakfast while driving.

We went to Goblin Valley State Park and paid the $7 entrance fee through a self-registration envelope. We stopped to photograph a formation known as the Three Judges with a little color behind it on the clouds to the east. The clouds to the southeast started to get some more interesting color on them, so I changed my composition to include them (left). The image was created by processing a single RAW file three times in order to obtain detail in the bright sky and the dark foreground and then combining them in Photoshop. I had captured three RAW images in the field in anticipation of combining them in Photoshop, but the tripod must have moved slightly in the sand between the exposures and the images didn't quite line up. Instead of trying to get them to line up, I just processed the middle exposure three times. After sunrise, which was around 6:20, we went to the main parking area that overlooks the goblins and hiked out into the valley. I headed towards an area that I hadn't explored yesterday. I found some nice goblins, and the clouds in the sly today were more exciting than the boring blue sky yesterday morning. Then I hiked up and over a small ridge into a smaller valley that was densely packed with goblins (below left). The image was created by combining three exposures in Photoshop to capture detail in the bright sky and dark foreground. The three images lined up perfectly because the ground was solid. I used my new Canon TS-E 24mm f3.5 L II, and I just love that lens! It's extremely sharp and handles well in the field.
After I finished exploring the small valley, I started making my way back to the Jeep because the clouds were no longer very interesting and the sun was getting bright. As I was approaching the parking lot, I took a detour to an area I had seen yesterday because the clouds in that direction were getting interesting (near left).

We stopped at the small, but very nice, Visitor Center on our way out of the park.

We returned to the RV around 9:55 and prepped it to move. We left around 10:15, then stopped a few minutes down the road to hook up the Jeep to tow. We got underway around 10:30.

We got on UT-24 north and then on I-70 east. I listened to an episode of Car Talk. We got onto US-191 south around 11:35.
We reached a nice boondocking spot near Moab and were level around 12:45. We had a nice fast Verizon Wireless Broadband Access signal! :) I had lunch around 2:50 then downloaded the images I took this morning while taking care of some email. I worked up a blog entry then downselected the images I took this morning. The wind had picked up, so photographing flowers this afternoon is likely out of the question. :( I did some computer work.

We had dinner at 6:30 of chicken with mole sauce over rice for me and a salad for both of us.

After dinner, I processed three images for the blog. Around 7:45, J saw some nice clouds outside and noticed that the wind was calm, but it was too late to go somewhere to photograph sunset which would be around 8:20. :( I did some computer work before going to bed.