South Mountain

Dobbins Lookout
Canon 60D, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, f/16, .4s, 320ISO, 18mm

The winter weather has a way of messing with travel plans. My wife had dealt with delays and cancellations when she flew back to Texas in April. She left town a couple of days after she was supposed to because of the weather in the Northeast, then had returned a couple of days late because of ice in Dallas.

We had visited family in Phoenix over the Christmas break in 2013. The night before our flight was supposed to depart to be awoken by a phone call around 2am from American Airlines cancelling our flight, and we had been rebooked with two layovers with entirely too much travel time between PHX and LGA. After calling customer service and explaining that no one would be happy with a 2 year old on a late night flight after several layovers, we had a new flight for a day later, and an evening flight, than originally booked. 

Since it was nearly 4am, I decided that I wanted to go up South Mountain and shoot the sunrise there. In my 18+ years that I lived in Phoenix, I had never observed the sunset from South Mountain. I grabbed my camera gear, woke my wife and mother up to inform them of my plans and departed. 

It was very peaceful, though cold, up on the mountain. I didn't encounter another human, though I saw about two cars driving up the road before the sun was fully up. I was happy for the delay, as I got to spend one more day with my family, and I was able to see the sunrise from a location I never had before.

Sunrise Over South Mountain
Canon 60D, EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6, f/11, 1/2s, 320ISO, 18mm