ElementalAs luck would have it, a thick fog cleared just before dawn as the moonrise and milky way lined up over Halemaumau Crater in Hawaii

Helens in Washington during a peak wildflower bloom

I now see why the Norwegians are so good at the sport of curling

Wild eroded sandstone patterns litter the high desert in the desert Southwestern region

An incredible sunrise burns the dried lakebed of the Alvord Playa in Oregon

Even more so at sunrise

We ran into master photographer Chip Phillips here at sunset

Sunrise light bathes the Cascade mountain range in Oregon

Sunrise in the aspen groves of Colorado is a wonderful carpet of color

Waves crash over an old lava flow beneath a vibrant sunrise on the shores of Hawaii

Lava is seen pouring into the ocean through intense steam at the ocean entry of Kilauea on Hawaii

An intense sunrise in Glacier National Park reflects in a mountain stream

But my tripod ballhead failed right when I got to this magical location in Arizona