Random Photo Friday - Lava Beds National Monument

As a photographer, I face the constant battle of organizing my images in ways that allow me to find a specific image easily at a later time.  It's been a challenge, to say the least, especially given the fact that, while the images I've taken over the past couple years are well organized, the plethora I took back in, say, 2007, well, they aren't even close.  So, each week, I try to spend a little time going back through those old images and sorting them into their rightful places.  It's actually quite fun-- I look at images I haven't seen in years, and they bring back all the memories of our adventures.

This week, I found one from an unexpected trip to Lava Beds National Monument.  I say unexpected because, well, we expected to be taking some rock climbing lessons around Mount Shasta that weekend, but a rain storm rerouted that adventure.  With two days suddenly free, we decided to head father north to see what northern California had to offer.  A few hours later, we arrived at Lava Beds National Monument, which sounded like a great place to be in inclement weather, since the main attraction, lava tubes, was underground, and thus out of the raindrops.  We secured a campsite, stopped the visitors' center where we procured yellow souvenir hardhats and some large flashlights, and headed underground for two days of exploring some very cool tunnels and rock formations.  Mind you, it's probably not the best activity for the claustrophobics in the crowd, but it's a ton of fun nonetheless.

Have a wonderful weekend!