I tell stories with my camera that typically involve people.  This story is about a place.

A girlfriend and I ventured down to Scottsdale for a weekend escape and were rewarded with much more than a fabulous pool side bar and tan lines.  Skipping the overwhelming number of turquoise and silver and otherwise general southwest tchotchke shops crowding Old Town, we partook of some A-mazing food, Taliesin West {Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter residence}, a pre-sunset hike in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, and an afternoon at the Desert Botanical Garden.

To my Northwest-via-East-Coast-eye, it’s a land of enchanting and exotic prickly things.  A place with warm light and warm colors. And after a winter spent in greyish-blue light, a trip to the southwest was like a trip to the spa for my eyes and creative senses.

Swell and Santa Barbara saved my Oregon winter once again.  I was thrilled to have another opportunity to work with Swell Athletic Clubs, stocking their photo library with images of their newly remodeled Cathedral Oaks Athletic Club + Santa Barbara Athletic Club.   Thank you so much to the awesome team of Swell staff, Kara Richard’s styling skills, and the good humored {+ uber fit} team of members and models, who helped pull off yet another fun shoot!

…from me to you.  I am so very grateful for your business in 2012.  And wish for you all a 2013 in which you can do what you love.  Every. Single. Day.  As you have enabled me to do.  xoa

Or “How I Spent My September”.  Or “Another Excuse For Why I Stopped Blogging”.

44+ hours of flying time.  25 pounds of camera gear.  22 security patdowns.  22 Starbucks {tall:nonfat:double shot} cappuccinos.  20 Starbucks yoghurt parfaits.  20 rental cars complete with 20 different sets of directions.  20 hotels {might I recommend the A-Loft Hotel or Hotel Indigo over La QUIN-ta Inn}.  5 hours of 2 drunk brothers {not mine} repeating over and over “I love you, man”.

I could go on.  But I think you get the picture.

A few other observations from the road…

My driving has gotten…soft…here in the Northwest.  Average speed on pretty much every interstate in the country besides the one that runs through Portland, is 70 mph.  And I was reminded again what that thing in the middle of the steering wheel is for.  You know, the one that goes “beep” when you hit it as you’re passing drivers from Oregon?

I have an infinite capacity to entertain myself.  99.9% of that entertainment involves a camera in some way, shape or form.  Or Instagram.  You are never really alone if you are traveling with Instagram.

My high school French teacher would be so disappointed in my pathetic attempts to order a beer, in French, in Montreal.

There’s a lot of really groovy public art in airports.

Flo Rida’s song “Whistle” has captivated the nation.  Except for maybe Pittsburgh.  That’s where 80’s metal lives on.

A large percentage of the country survives on sub-par coffee {and food for that matter}.  I’m not sure how they function.  And I’m not sure of the exact time and date when I became such a coffee snob.

But despite my snobbery, and despite the fact some parts of the country made me feel like I had landed on another planet, I still hold fast to the belief we live in an amazing country filled with a lot of incredible, friendly people willing to share their time, advice, story, a smile… if you allow yourself to open up to the experience.

Ultimately though, there’s no place like home.  I came across a quote {on a piece of airport art no less} from the artist Martin Donlin that summed it up best.  “Back home on the ground, we discover that the gift the great wings give us is new eyes to see that this place where we live, we love more than we know.”

This sight of the Pacific Ocean on the morning before my final flight home, captured for me those words in an image.

I love the lessons of travel.  I love coming home.

I thought this might help explain the loooong absence from this blog…. please forgive me while I spend more time capturing moments like this than creating blog posts.  It’s nothing personal.