Land of Enchantment

On the open road across the open range east of the Rockies I saw this sunset. If I had to describe the perfect sunset, it would pretty much look like this.

Open range. Big sky. Distant mountains.

I hit the trifecta that day.

One of the things I try to plan for in my photography trips is to be in the right places at the right time. That means I research my destination and try to scope out potential sunrise and sunset areas.

I also try to take it one step further and time my travels to be in interesting areas along the dive for my sunrises and sunsets. This one has some of that pre-planning in it.

After leaving photographing Arches National Park in the morning, having a last breakfast in Moab I started the drive home, winding down through Utah, cutting through the four corners area, and driving down US 550 toward Albuquerque. I knew that I would get there around 4pm and on a Friday too. Two things I do know about Albuquerque are to be careful about missing left turns and that traffic on I-25/I-40 in town is usually packed.

So to beat the second one, I turned left toward Santa Fe and went around Sandia. That put me on the plains east of the mountains at sunset setting up this image.

I was able to get the image and then finish up the last hour of my drive into Santa Rosa. I had the right destination and the right timing to make the most of a driving day. The clouds are luck, the exact location was not planned but the area was and it worked out like I had only hoped.

When that all came together, it was truly enchantment.