STL DPB ON THE ROAD - DEATH VALLEY

There is no better place we know in the US to clear out your head than Death Valley. It's two hours drive from Las Vegas and, outside of the central village, you might as well be on another planet (with your fellow tourists). This is Badwater Basin, 282 feet / 85.5 meters below sea level, the lowest point in this country. (I'm talking geography, not politics or history.)    

The mountain range in the background and the one behind me are slowly spreading apart as this section of the valley continues to sink. Springs that originate in the mountains drift toward here and evaporate, leaving a crackling salt crust.          

CITY DAILY PHOTO JANUARY THEME - PHOTO OF THE YEAR

Happy New Year to all our friends and colleagues. On the first of January City Daily Photo members share their best image of the previous twelve months. This is my favorite from 2022. It's not St. Louis but it appeals to me: a view of coastal mountains in Southern California, taken from an airplane approaching Los Angeles.  

See the masterworks of other City Daily Photo members at https://citydailyphoto.org/2022/12/27/january-gallery-photo-of-the-year-2/.                   

STL DPB IN THE AIR - APPROACHING LOS ANGELES

I should have posted this just after we arrived. From the airplane, 15 or 20 minutes out of LAX.   

Today's Destination

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I'm in the air this morning, heading for sunny southern California. I've got a business meeting in Los Angeles all day Monday and Tuesday morning. The plane arrives at LAX at 11:30 AM today. I'll pick up a rental car and spend a happy half day shooting around the city of the angels. The weather should be perfect. Maybe I'll run into my favorite LA character, Nick Danger.

With luck, some pix should be up tomorrow.

The top photo is a new painting on the graffiti-okay part of the Mississippi River flood wall. The bottom is of Disney Hall, home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, a photo I took a year and a half ago.

I love to explore Los Angeles. As the saying goes, it's an nice place - no, a great place - to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.