The first photo series of my two 3000+ mile trips around Arizona and Utah

I'm from California and have family in Arizona that I visit often. In 2015 and 2016 I took two trips around Arizona, Utah, and hit up the eastern Sierra Nevadas on the way back (Mt. Whitney was covered in clouds). For the 2015 trip I took my Mustang (lowered but not as much back then as it is now so it wasn't too bad), for the second trip I rented a Maxima for like 25 bucks a day. I used my Olympus E-PL5 with a couple Sigma prime lenses and a B+W CPL filter

Let's start with the 2015 trip. I will do the 2016 trip in a separate post

Sedona, AZ (Red Rock State Park)

I forget which canyon this was, but it was pretty cool, in AZ

Humphrey's Peak north of Flagstaff, AZ (stayed in the worst motel there)

Grand Canyon South Rim. This was my second time visiting in my life, the first was when I was a little kid. Amazing every time and pictures certainly don't do it justice

The famous Horseshoe Bend. I was too chicken to lean over the edge to get the whole thing.

Glen Canyon Dam in Page, AZ. This is a great little town to stay in if you want to see Arizona and Utah. It's right on the border and has good clean hotels/motels and a wide selection of food. People seemed like mostly tourists, and there was no ghettoness

After Arizona, I drove up to Monument Valley in southern Utah. Here are some photos or random sights along the way

And here is the actual Monument Valley. I want to go again some time when it isn't as hazy. I figured out monsoon season is the best time to go (August) if you want dramatic skies. This was the season during my 2016 trip. 2015 was in April

Now it's time for the trip back. I decided to take a detour along the eastern Sierras on my way back to CA. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good shot of Mt. Whitney due to the clouds. Lone Pine is the town right at the base of it and it's a really cool town where they have filmed many Western movies.

That's it! Stay tuned for my 2016 trip, I'll post it up right after this