For the past three years, I’ve spent the holiday season through the New Year driving around Baja Mexico in a Jeep.  I enjoyed it because the weather was gorgeous and it gave me time to get away from civilization, which always helps me think about where I am in my life and what I’d like to do in the coming year. The result of my first drive through Baja, in fact, led to my changing coasts to set up shop in Southern California a few months later.

This year, after tossing around a few ideas including the Pacific island Kauai, I decided to stay a little closer to home and skim the Mexican border, from California, through Arizona to Patagonia for a few weeks. Instead of a Jeep, which is great for off-roading, I’ve recently become a fan of RVs, which let me have all of my gear along and many of the comforts of home. If I need to stop and wait for the sun to set in order to get the shot that I’m looking for, no problem!

Another thing that is driving this road trip through Arizona is a new website that I recently launched to host my constant exploration for great food and dining experiences. If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you may remember my tinkering around with tossing in restaurant suggestions from my travels here and there. Well, now I’ll have Hit the Dish to handle my restaurant and recipe raves from across the country. I encourage you to check it out and pass along any “must try” spots, especially Arizona restaurants, in the near term.

While I was in Baja California Sur this past December-January, I visited with Cuco and Pilar at Rancho Pilar to see their puppies, which I photographed last year. Pilar got the puppies after her long time companion, Chata, who I photographed in 2006, passed away.

Unfortunately, the unvaccinated replacement puppies died soon after I left last year and they had two new dogs greet me as I pulled up at their open-air homestead. One of the dogs, a very timid, tan mutt, had an eye infection. Luckily, I had some antibiotic ointment in my pack and was able to convince the little guy to let me help him out. When I returned a few days later, his eye cleared up and was re-opened, but the infection had left him blind in that eye.

I just got back from a third trip through Baja California Sur, the thin peninsula below California that is detached from the rest of mainland Mexico. I’m still sorting through the images that I captured while I was there, but wanted to share a few scenes from Baja in the meantime.

This was the first trip that I actually used a tripod for some landscape images. I’ve stayed away from them in the past, as I like to keep things fluid when I frame my shots. Nonetheless, I gave it a try – here are a few that I’ve offloaded from my memory cards since I returned yesterday:

Natural Salt

You had to be there

Four Wheeled Gringos

Southern Tip

If you haven’t been to Baja, you might enjoy some of my Baja photos from last year.

I recently returned from a second trip through Baja California Sur, the thin peninsula below California that is detached from the rest of mainland Mexico. My first trip was last year from December 2006-January 2007, when I explored the western coast by Jeep; photographing wild dogs and local personalities throughout the region. It was this trip that was to blame for my decision to move from the east coast, where I was living at the time, to Southern California the following spring.

This year, I returned to Baja with Mia to further explore the region and visit a few locals (and their dogs) that I befriended the prior year. The weather was fantastic – crisp blue skies and warm red sunsets made for some gorgeous images.

During our travels, we were introduced to an interesting drink made from Jamaica (pronounced ha-mike-ah) while we visited with Cuco and Pilar. The two local artists live a very simple life on a cozy ranch, duly named “Rancho Pilar”. Sadly, Pilar’s dog, “Chata” that I photographed last year, had passed away and she was still quite sad over it. The couple was nice enough to offer us the most amazing accommodations on the private beach at the far side of the ranch; giving us a night of the most incredible stargazing that one can imagine while we awaited our custom-made sandals, constructed from car tires by Cuco himself.

We traveled by Jeep to some rather remote areas where dried river beds were roads and were able to made it down to Cabo San Lucas, located at the southernmost tip of the peninsula, for New Years Eve.

A few of my favorite shots from the trip are included below.

La Candelaria Sunset

NYE @ Lands End

Dried Riverbed Road

Pilar