"It's the sensual texture of things here. It's the wood smoke that's in the air on a dreary winter day. It's the chicken and barbecue that they sell in little stores and service stations. It's the conversations about people from the past with old family names that intertwine."—Willie Morris

"It turns a conversation into a party"—Fred Noe, Master Distiller, Jim Beam

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas. It is a creative art.”—Ansel Adams

Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. —Albert Einstein

"This may be my favorite place on Earth. I just love it here"—Arok

"In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is. I hope you will not have a building of any kind, not a summer cottage, a hotel or anything else, to mar the wonderful grandeur, the sublimity, the great loneliness and beauty of the canyon. Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it."—Theodore Roosevelt

Photos of the Coyote Buttes portion of the Paria Canyon Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness Area, Part of Vermilion Cliffs National Monument

Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park: a "helluva place to lose a cow." —Ebenezer Bryce, Mormon Settler

"One hardly knows just how to think of it. Never before has such a naked mountain of rock entered our minds. Without a shred of disguise its transcendent form rises pre-eminent. There is almost nothing to compare to it. Niagara has the beauty of energy; the Grand Canyon of immensity; the Yellowstone of singularity; the Yosemite of altitude; the ocean of power; this Great Temple of eternity." —Frederick S. Dellenbaugh

Devils Tower: America's First National Monument

"Give a month at least to this precious reserve. The time will not be taken from the sum of your life. Instead of shortening it, it will indefinitely lengthen it and make you truly immortal. Nevermore will time seem short or long, and cares will never again fall heavily on you, but gently and kindly as gifts from heaven." —John Muir

I've spent my entire life living in one of these two states. I find them as familiar as the back of my hand. And I often overlook their beauty. But occasionally even dense ol' me sees what is right in front of my eyes.

“Among the notable things about fire is that it also requires oxygen to burn - exactly like its enemy, life. Thereby are life and flames so often compared.”— Otto Weininger (Austrian Philosopher, 1880-1903)

What we do during our working hours determines what we have. What we do during our leisure hours determines what we are.—George Eastman

I used to work for a medical marketing agency. I was inspired to take these as I couldn't ever find them as stock. Never did find a use for them.