I had only planned on attending one workshop. I was late signing up for a Santa Fe Workshops class and ended up on the waitlist. Meanwhile, Utah Adventures reached out about a new workshop they were piloting a couple of weeks after the Santa Fe dates — so I said yes. Then, while in Tucson, I got the call that a spot had opened up at Santa Fe Workshops. Suddenly I had two workshops on the calendar!

I took two days to drive out to Santa Fe, staying at the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook on Route 66 — my second time there. I followed that same stretch of Route 66 all the way into Albuquerque as well.

I settled into the hotel Sunday night and jumped into the Santa Fe Workshops class first thing Monday morning. I hadn’t thought to check the weather before I left — I walked out of San Diego in the 70s and arrived to temperatures in the mid-to-high 90s. These workshops had been on my bucket list for years, and I’m happy to report they were completely worth the wait. I’ll definitely be back.

With a week between the two workshops, I decided to base myself in Albuquerque rather than drive home and back out again. Since I telecommute anyway, working from a hotel for four days over the Fourth of July week was no problem — and it meant a much shorter drive to Salt Lake City when the time came.

Basing in Albuquerque gave me plenty of time to explore. One highlight was finally visiting Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe — something a coworker had been recommending for ages. There are four Meow Wolf locations now, including one in Denver where she lives. I also learned I’d been unknowingly driving past the Las Vegas location for years without knowing what it was. That one’s going on the list for my next trip!

Other places I visited in the area included:

• White Sands
• Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument
• Chaco Canyon
• Los Alamos
• Petroglyph National Monument
• Old Town Albuquerque
• Duke City BBQ – I ate here many times during the week

From Albuquerque I headed to Page, Arizona for two nights. I started one morning with a quick walk to the Glen Canyon Dam overlook, then after breakfast joined Antelope Slot Canyon Tours for the Upper Antelope Canyon tour. I booked the 10:30am slot and was glad I chose this company — they use an enclosed 4×4 mini-bus, while other operators were loading people onto open-air pickup truck bench seats. The ride to the canyon through the sandy dry wash is a bumpy one either way!

The 10:30 tour was nearly full, with the most popular times being noon and 2pm. It’s a well-run operation — multiple tour companies share the site and coordinate carefully. Our group of 14 moved through the canyon one chamber at a time, following the group ahead of us. I got some good shots, but it was difficult to maneuver and avoid people in the frame. I asked the guide which tours tend to be less crowded, and without hesitation he said: the 4:30.

He was right — the 4:30 was a completely different experience. Our van had maybe 10 people and we were the last group out from our company. There was only one other group ahead of us in the canyon, which meant much more breathing room. The guide remembered me from the morning tour and let me drift a bit from the group to get different angles. As the last group of the day, we also didn’t have to loop up and over the hill on the way out like the morning tours do — we simply retraced our path, which gave me two passes through the canyon to shoot from opposite directions.

A few things have changed about the tours recently. Guides are no longer allowed to kick up dust to create the famous light-beam effect you see in so many Antelope Canyon photos. Tripods and monopods are also no longer permitted inside. My guide suggested trying Canyon X on a future visit — it’s less crowded and still stunning.

From Page I took Highway 89 north to Spanish Fork and picked up I-15 to Salt Lake City. The Utah workshop took me to:

• Antelope Island State Park
• Stansbury Island – home of the pink salt ponds and Morton Salt company
• Little Sahara sand dunes
• City Park
• Little Deer Creek Falls

The whole region was baking in severe heat the entire trip. Utah was probably the most bearable, temperature-wise — though still hot. The drive home through Las Vegas hit 122 degrees. I’m pretty confident that’s the hottest I’ve ever experienced, and I’m in no hurry to repeat it!