Of course I brought my Sony Alpha 100 DSLR; Once I get my photos sorted out I will post some.

Soldier’s Pass Trail is a remote and relatively less travel trail. This is partly because the parking lot is difficult to find and the parking lot only permits less that 15 cars at a time. There is one spot reserved for the handicapped. The parking lot is gated and the sign states that the lot closes at 6:00p. I don’t know what happens at 6:00, but it might be best to get out of there beforehand just in case, otherwise your car might get stuck there overnight.

Parking Fee
You must pay a fee to park there. You cannot buy a pass there, you must purchase the pass elsewhere, the Sedona Chamber of Commerce sells tickets in Uptown Sedona and you can purchase a pass at some other trailheads. One trailhead which has a ticket vending machine (accepts credit cards) is the one for Little Horse Trail, which is located near the Village of Oak Creek off of Route 179. A day pass is $5.00 and lets you park at any of the trailhead parking lots in Sedona.

Where You Can Find The Trail
The trail head for Sodier’s Pass is to the southeast of Coffee Pot Rock, which is to the north of Route 89A. To get to the trail take Route 89A to the intersection with Soldier’s Pass Road, this is to the west of the “Y”, or the junction of Routes 89A and 179. Once you get to the intersection, go north until you meet Rimshadows Drive. Turn right on Rimshadows Drive then continue straight through a confusing intersection, after which the parking lot will be on the left hand side.

What To Expect
The trail is not too difficult. A lot of parts of the trail is either hard rock or packed dirt. I have been on trails which are very gravelly and stony, which can be very uncomfortable to walk on for too long, this was not like that. I took for the trail for several miles and the climb was not too difficult. Soon after you start down the trail you will see a giant sinkhole. Not much further on down the trail you will see the Seven Sacred Pools, which are 7 pools carved out by erosion. Pretty nice stuff to look at.

Other Options
Other ways you can enjoy the trail is by mountain bike or by SUV or by ATV. Of course you can rent an ATV or SUV or you can take a tour. The tour SUVs are ubiquitous around town and should be easy to find once you get there. There were SUVs at the sinkhole and at the 7 Pools. You can get the furthest by foot though.

Check out these pics, I will try to post some more soon…

Battery Life
The first day up in the rocks I left the Sony DSLR-A100 on all day long and had no problems with the battery. Unfortunately, I forgot to check the battery level that night and never recharged it. The next morning I noticed that the battery level on the camera was on the last bar only after I had already arrived at the trail head. I was sure that the battery was going to give out before the end of the day, but it didn’t. Instead of keeping the camera on the entire day, I judiciously kept turning the camera on and off, and the camera made it all the way to the end of the day. Of course, the battery is still only a few months old, but it really came through for me this weekend.

Controls And Features
The controls are well placed and I have grown accustomed to them rather quickly. The Sony DSLR-A100 is packed with features, perhaps more than I will ever use.

The features that I have been enjoying using are the contrast and saturation controls. Also, the light metering options have come in quite handy. On this trip almost all of the photographs I took were hand held and I kept the SuperSteady Shot on the entire time. It really worked out great, and I had fewer blurred shots than usual.

Images
The images I took turned out great. Like I just said earlier, there were few blurred images. Additionally, the colors came out really great, especially the red rocks.

I am quite satisfied with how the Sony Alpha 100 Digital SLR performed on this trip and I can’t wait for another reason to take it out. I will try to post some images soon.

The Getty Center has beautiful is located at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, California 90049. Admission is free, but parking costs $8. The Getty is closed on Mondays. The other six days of the week it opens at 10:00am. It closes at 9:00pm on Friday and Saturday; at 6:00pm on all other days.

Once you park you have to take the tram up the side of a hill to get to the Getty Center. Once you reach the upper tram station you will be let out onto a large open pavilion. The Getty Center is more than just a museum, it has beautiful gardens and architecture, as well as some nice views of the Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Monica, Westwood, and Downtown LA. When you visit you should try to go when the weather is comfortable and plan to spend as much time outdoors as well as indoors.

I brought along my Sony Alpha 100 Digital SLR Camera; DSLR-A100 and snapped a couple of pictures.

The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens is located at 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108; (626) 405-2100. It is open every day of the week closing at 4:30p, with the exception of certain holidays.

The drive from Santa Monica takes about 40-50 minutes with moderate traffic. I took I-10 to RT 110 and continued to the end. I got there around 1:30p and stayed until 4:30p, when security comes around and kindly asks you to leave. The garden covers 120 acres and 3 hours is barely enough to cover all of the gardens. The desert garden is a must see as well as the Japanese garden.

Parking and Admission
Parking is free and admission is as follows:
Children under 5yo are FREE!
$6.00 5yo - 11yo
$10.00 12yo-18yo OR student with ID
$15.00 18yo - 65yo
Seniors over 65yo get in for $12.00

Check out some of the pictures I took with my Sony Alpha 100 Digital SLR Camera; DSLR-A100.

The park is located at 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California. The phone number is (323) 913-4688. It is open from 6:00a to 10:00p daily.

Click here to see photographs I took at the LA Zoo using the Sony Alpha 100 Digital SLR; DSLR A-100 this past weekend.

The Los Angeles Zoo is located in Griffith Park at 5333 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles, California 90027. You can get general information by calling (323) 644-4200. Hours are 10:00a to 5:00p, everyday except December 25. The zoo starts putting animals in for the night at 4:00p and ticket sales cease one hour prior to closing.

Admission Prices:
2 years old and under - Free
2yro - 13yro - $5.00
13yo - 62yo - $10.00
62 years old and over - $7.00
You should also check with them for group rates.

Parking is Free

I went to the LA Zoo this weekend just before 4:00p and stayed until a little after 5:00p, when a security guard on a golf cart started informing everyone left in the park that the zoo was closed. Although the ticket sales agent told me that the zoo starts putting the animals away at 4:00p, a lot of the animals were still roaming around in their habitats. Many were eating and some were sleeping in plain view. Unfortunately, since I arrived so late, I was not able to traverse the entire park. Also, the zoo is going under renovations in several parts of the zoo and there were a few detours and closed exhibits.

Another drawback to going so late in the day was that the light was waning and it was cloudy so it was difficult to take good photos. I took pictures using my Sony Alpha 100 Digital SLR; DSLR-A100. I really dislike shooting at speeds higher than 100 ISO, since it increases noise in the image, but because of the dim light I had to shoot the photos at 400 ISO in some cases and at speeds as slow as 1/30 of a second with the aperture open as much as possible of course. Despite the low light, I was able to get several good shots. Of course I used Sony’s Super Steady Shot feature, which really came in handy for those shots where I shot slower than 1/60 sec.