Mission District murals, San Francisco

The mural on the van almost matches the ones behind it.

Mission District murals, San Francisco

Another great Mission District mural. This one makes me thing of a carnivorous vegetable.

Mission District murals, San Francisco

Wonderfully surrealistic mural in San Francisco's mission district. Leggy Mr. Potato Head?

Decaying Mission District building, San Francisco

A decaying building in San Francisco's Mission District, its former function unknowable from its one proudly standing sign.

San Francisco skyscrapers

Visual walls of the skyscrapers in downtown San Francisco.

Berkeley construction

Morning silhouette of a building under construction at UC Berkeley.

Bay Bridge, San Franciscio

Trapped in traffic on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge, going in the other direction.

Bay Bridge, San Franciscio

Crossing the new span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.

San Francisco in fog

Descent toward a San Francisco that is deeply submerged in fog.

CID construction

Construction of a new round atrium at the Cedar Rapids airport.

Sunset Front, Iowa

The edge of the front has its own unusual shapes as well, as it slowly fades toward dusk.

Sunset Front, Iowa

Deepening sunset colors painted on the steep clouds of this front.

Sunset Front, Iowa

The wall of this weather front bulks high and ominous in sunset colors. Good thing it's going away from us to the East.

Sunset Front, Iowa

A towering front of clouds, illuminated and recolored by the sunset.

Dragonfly wing closeup, North Liberty, IA

Closeup of one of the wings of the steampunk dragonfly, showing its burnished bicycle wheel patterns.

Steampunk Dragonfly, North Liberty, IA

A wonderful metal steampunk dragonfly sculpture outside of a pub in North Liberty.

Water balloons, Iowa City

A rainbow cluster of hundreds and hundreds of water balloons, all of which will be thrown in about two minutes of frenzied child activity.

TIE Fighters, Iowa City

Chalk TIE fighters, all lined up on a garage door ready for erasure with birthday party water balloons.

Laptop Baby, UIHC

In the maternity wing of the University of Iowa hospitals, the elevator doors feature babies drooling on laptops. Hopefully neither babies nor laptops were harmed in this cute/silly photo shoot.

Emergency Donut Vehicle, Coralville, IA

The ridiculous fancy donut shop in Coral maintains an equally ridiculous fancy mobile unit: the Whaaambulance will deliver Emergency Donuts where they are needed. The donuts are good, but they're so loaded down with goodies that they're best understood not as breakfast food but as a competitor for cupcakes.

Beauty and the Beast at the Eastside Hy-Vee

Belle and the Beast one day were dancing around our local supermarket, promoting a special on flowers. They were happy enough to pose for me, grinning slightly self-consciously.

Roots of strength, Iowa City

A powerful rainbow fist rises from its grass roots in part of a student mural in a pedestrian tunnel near the river on campus. It needs its strength: the mural was recently defaced with racist and homophobic graffiti.

We only asked for a trim, Iowa City

"We only asked for a trim" proclaims this newly revealed sad stump near the bike path in our neighborhood.  The small letters say: "So sorry, everyone!" and "45+ years gone 4-ever".

Black swallowtail, Iowa City

A lovely butterfly that held still and wide open just long enough for my shot.

Radar observatory, Arizona

A radar observatory stands out on a lonely peak somewhere in Eastern Arizona. I don't know whether it's for weather, or science, or military purposes, however.

Open aqueduct, Phoenix, AZ

An aqueduct running at the edge of Phoenix, carrying bright blue water in an open trench across the desert.

Dirt track near Phoenix, AZ

Looping dirt tracks, looking like some sort of ATV or motorbike park.

Mobile home oasis, Phoenix, AZ

On the edge of Phoenix, a tightly packed oasis of mobile homes snuggled up around a central watering hole.

Phoenix, AZ lapping at the mountains

It's as through the city is the water of a lake, lapping up against its mountain shores.

Phoenix, AZ

Another view of the early morning Phoenix grid, splashing up against its mountains.

Phoenix, AZ

From the air, Phoenix is mostly a great flat sea of development with bare mountains poking irregularly through disrupting it.

Phoenix control tower

In the early morning light, the Phoenix airport control tower looks like it's made of polished bronze.

Pretakeoff at dawn in Phoenix

Planes lined up for takeoff in the golden Phoenix dawn.

High desert, Arizona

Passing back across the high desert near the Grand Canyon.

Shadows creeping across the Grand Canyon

Finally up at the top again, the shadows of afternoon begin to creep across the Grand Canyon, plunging the trails below into an early dusk.

Up across the dry plateau, Grand Canyon

Looking up across the long, dry baking road back up the side of the canyon.

Bright Angel trail meets the Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Looking down from Plateau Point, one can see the branch of the trail reaching the deep green rush of the Colorado River far below, giving a bit of scale as well.

Foaming Colorado River, Grand Canyon

A thousand feet or so below Plateau Point, the Colorado River foams and roars at the bottom of the canyon, loud even from so high above.

Looking out to Plateau Point, Grand Canyon

Indian Garden is the last point with any shade on the way to Plateau Point, the farthest down into the canyon that rangers will allow you to go in a single day without special permissions. Looking forward, there is nothing but low scrub and off in the distance the faint line of the last bit of trail arriving at the lookout down from Plateau Point.

Indian Garden, Grand Canyon

At the 4.5 mile mark going down the canyon, one passes through the unexpectedly pleasant grove of Indian Garden, a shady area of trees and flowers folded around a single stream that creates this oasis.

Desert blooms, Grand Canyon

And here are some of those beautiful and delicate plants: cacti blooming deep pink by the side of the trail.

Grow by the inch, die by the foot, Grand Canyon

I loved this sign on the fragility of the desert plants down in the canyon.

Park service helicopter, Grand Canyon

One last look at the park service helicopter, swinging its bags above my head in silhouette as it dashed off up the canyon into the desert sky.

Park service helicopter, Grand Canyon

This helicopter in the Grand Canyon, however, drew up not a stretcher but a pair of heavy trail bags: apparently, every day the park airlifts out supplies from rafting trips and such. Having just passed a mule train doing much the same, I was surprised, but perhaps there is a reason for the mix of modes.

Park service helicopter, Grand Canyon

Looking at the helicopter hovering stark against the deep blue sky, I wondered if it was there to rescue somebody. Between heat, dryness, altitude change, and the "down-first" trail, the Grand Canyon makes many casualties per year, and I had already passed one collapsed person being tended to by rangers that day.

Park service helicopter, Grand Canyon

Coming into Indian Garden, at the 4.5 mile point, I suddenly saw a park service helicopter overhead, hovering within the canyon walls and letting down a rope to draw something up from below.

Mule train, Grand Canyon

One still encounters mule trains in the canyon, on this trail typically making their way up from the river where they've just finished supporting some expedition that was rafting down.

Spotty contrails, Grand Canyon

Looking up past the canyon rim, it seems there was not quite enough moisture in the sky to form proper contrails. I've never before seen them "spotty" like this rather than just there or not there, however.

Resthouse piping, Grand Canyon

How is it that the rest houses have water so deep into this dry desert canyon? Let me introduce you to a great big many-mile-long pipe. Most of the time it is discretely hidden out of the way of hiking eyes, but occasionally it crosses the path or otherwise pops up into unavoidable view.

Three Mile Rest House, Grand Canyon

Deeper down into the canyon, the three-mile rest house perches on the edge of a dramatic cliff. In addition to being good resting points, the rest houses are also good points to declare victory, stop and admire the view, and then turn around to retreat back up the canyon.