-
Join 70 other subscribers
Topics
- Community (34)
- Food (12)
- Beer & Wine (6)
- Local delicious (2)
- Travel (135)
- At Home in California (8)
- At Home in Denver & the Rockies (47)
- Conversations on Travel (28)
- Different Modes of Exploration (19)
- Guest Writer Series (5)
- Nature Photo Journal Collection (20)
- On the Road in America (14)
- On the Trail (1)
- Panama (5)
- Running (10)
- Something from the Vault (10)
- Southeast Asia (32)
- Virtues of Travel (11)
- Wandering Wisdoms (8)
Archives
- November 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- February 2016
- November 2014
- September 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- November 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
Blogroll
Spring Roadtrips: Paonia
Photo Journal #17
Fruit blossoms, snowcapped mountains, vistas and vines … we’ve been to Paonia on numerous trips over the last decade and have always thoroughly enjoyed our time there. Spring is particularly lovely. Not pictured here was a wonderful time hanging out with and feeding baby goats, and enjoying our remote cabin.
Posted in Nature Photo Journal Collection, Travel
Leave a comment
Southeast Utah Adventure – Part 3
Photo Journal #16
Posted in Nature Photo Journal Collection, On the Road in America, Travel
Tagged Southeast Utah
Leave a comment
Southeast Utah Adventure – Part 2
Photo Journal #15
Coming back and looking at photos after a wander or trip is an interesting experience, as themes emerge of things I observed, but might not have noticed I was noticing at the time. While I fumbled with my shutter speed settings on the second half of this trip, I was able to pull out and work on a few photos to get a glimpse of what we were seeing and experiencing …
Lines, textures, and shapes mostly …
And there was also a lizard …
Posted in Nature Photo Journal Collection, Travel
Tagged Southeastern Utah, Textures
Leave a comment
Southeast Utah Adventure – Part 1
Nature Photo Journal #14
I’m smitten with Red Rock Country. I was neither born there nor have I ever lived on the Colorado Plateau. But the moment I step onto a sandstone feature, sink my fingers into the chromatic earth, or stare our at the wide horizon, I feel at home. My pulse slows and my shoulders relax as I sink into the landscape. Possibly it’s the inviting vastness or the diversity of shape and texture that reminds me that we are mere humans walking on a massive planet through a time that is only a brief breath in geologic chronology. I imagine that stirs distress in many; for me it cools my mind and frees my soul.
One can wander day after day, exploring the expanse or getting down on hands and knees to examine some magical detail …
Or get lost in the rich, saturated color. Maybe it’s that orange and blue out there, nature’s magical trick of complementary colors, that invites such balance …
Eventually dusk comes. Light shifts from bold, to subtle, to almost dull. Earth’s features become silhouettes of the complex forms they once were. And we are left craving the coming day, or longing for the next trip …
Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument – February Desert Adventures Part 2
Nature Photo Journal #13
In 4th Grade I traveled to Organ Pipe with a Desert Studies class I was lucky to be a part of as my sense of adventure and environmental exploration bloomed. Captivated by the Organ Pipes, the landscape has stayed strong in my memory for more than 25 years. I was glad to be able to bring Brennan here on my third trip, (amazing how a place you have only been to a couple of times can stick with you), and see her same awe of the cactus and the vastness.
But capturing the beauty and essence of these particular cactus certainly challenged my novice photography pursuits. I found demonstrating the joy of the walk we took, the same one I took with my class decades ago, to be near impossible to find in an image. Sometimes it’s just about the experience.
People tend to love mountains and oceans with ease, the masses flock there for good reason. The desert seems to take a longer courting. But I was born there, and those horizons and landscapes are in my blood.
And the desert keeps giving, because as you look down from the expanse, the eye is filled with wonder at the nuance, the textures, and the loveliness of subtlety.
Then there is dusk. The quality of light seeping through hills, changing the feel of the exact same place, altering the way we see.
Scottsdale/McDowell Sonoran Preserve and Granite Reef Recreation Area ~ February Desert Adventures Part 1
Nature Photo Journal # 12
Always appreciative of natural areas in reach of an urban area, these two spots near Scottsdale and Phoenix offered some incredible space for desert wanders.
The cactus at the Sonoran Preserve were unbeatable: Saguaros standing in their usual sentinel poetry, Teddy Bear Cholla glowing in the sun, and other species offering rich colors and sharp-spine textures. And seeing a Cactus Wren’s nest and its adaptations to live in this environment was a real treat.
At Granite Reef, Brennan spotted wild horses grazing along the Salt River while I was mesmerized by seemingly lost swans (an adult Trumpeter Swan and an immature Tundra Swan met up this winter to enjoy the desert). The rich color of the nearby cliffs was only beat by the red of a Vermillion Flycatcher, who gave quite a show.
graywanderings 