Tag Archives: Travel

Trail Cam

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To find the universal elements enough;
to find the air and the water exhilarating;
to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter…
to be thrilled by the stars at night;
to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring –
these are some of the rewards of the simple life.
~ John Burroughs

Join me on an early morning walk around the lake trails.

There’s a familiar fragrance of tule, which some people don’t like, but I love love the way it smells. Tule grows in dense stands along freshwater wetlands.

Indigenous peoples ate tule roots and seeds, while the reeds were used to make baskets, cord, sandals, and clothing. P.S. Here’s how to say it: “too-lee”

With all the rain we’ve had, everything was uncharacteristically green…as far as the eye could see…

Pretty Black-eyed Susan flowers!

It’s a human-made lake, not natural, intended to be a reservoir, but the ducks and coots don’t seem to mind a bit.

Native buckwheat.

I didn’t see any coyotes this time, but it was still a lot of fun!

Flying Saucer?

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Looking through old photos again, I recall this was my thrilling first actual sighting of a lenticular cloud phenomenon. I thought it was Mt. Rainier, but my son, the original Angel Boy, corrected me and said it was Mt. Adams.

It really does resemble alien spacecraft or could belong on an episode of Lost in Space, right?

Some other nicknames for lenticular clouds include “cloudships,” “clouds of heaven,” and “lennies.” They also have a fancy scientific name: Altocumulus lenticularis.

“Danger, Will Robinson!” Maybe the Robinson family stayed away long enough and they’re on their way back to planet Earth. The entire landscape looks otherworldly.

Although there is no significant weather produced by a lenticular, their presence often foretells snow in the next 24-48 hours. Regardless, they’re a good warning sign of an approaching weather front and sometimes a big snowstorm.

Whether it’s Mt. Rainier or Mt. Baker or Mt. Adams, it’s absolutely spectacular!

Yay for window seats!

Sunrise | Sunset

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I don’t know how it happened since I had all the vaccines; flu, pneumonia, and Covid – but I got sick!

Fever, chills, headache, congestion–all the worst symptoms. I’m feeling better after a few days of antibiotics. When I didn’t have much to do except look through old photos, I found some of my favorites from the Pacific Northwest. I sure wish I was there!

Sunrise through the trees.

Sunset on Shilshole Bay with the beautiful Olympic mountain range in silhouette.

Overlooking the marina.

It doesn’t ALWAYS rain, sometimes the weather is absolutely magnificent.

Meine Wanderungen (My Wandering in Germany)

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Before there were the Angels 2.0, there was the brilliant original version. As I’ve often said, I wasn’t a helicopter mom, I was a drone mom, hovering ever so near…

During his junior year at university, my son signed up for a three-month program in Germany to perfect his language skills.

We discussed it and agreed the better idea would be to take the full year abroad to completely immerse himself in the language and culture. (And that’s totally NOT what a drone mom would do, by the way…)

He stayed in a dorm and went to the UCSD program partner at University of Goettingen.

I visited him for about a week in February of that year. We spent a lot of time walking and and took a couple train rides to the Harz region, including Goslar, a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany,  known for its medieval old town and half-timbered houses. We took the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen, Germany’s famous narrow-gauge steam railway. (That’s another story.)

I brought back some of what that area is known for, a bewitching elixer called Harzgeist. It’s similar to Jagermeister, but more herby and spicy and incredibly delicious. I wish I had some now!

One day, my son said it would be fun to take a hike to visit a nearby castle. He assured me that it was about four hours round-trip, and I believed him because we could see the castle off in the distance.

Somehow we ended up walking through what looked to be a dense forest of mature pine trees. Were we lost? I’m still not sure. When we finally found our way back to the road, I looked up and saw, off in the distance, a sky full of ominous looking clouds.

“Hey, those look like snow clouds to me. How far are we from the castle?”

I asked the question because we had been walking non stop for a couple hours and we seemed to be no closer to the castle then when we first started out.

“It’s not far, let’s keep going.”

“Are you sure?”

With a sense of unease and foreboding, I had no choice but to follow his lead. Not only did I not know where I was, I couldn’t speak German at all, and my son was fluent.

A few minutes later, I insisted we stop and eat the lunch I had packed. I spotted a bench and we sat down.

I looked up and said, “I told you so” as the first giant snowflakes came down. It didn’t take long before the wind picked up and the fluffy snowflakes turned from a gentle dusting to a full on, blinding blizzard.

In just a few minutes, we were covered in snow. The bench was covered in snow, inches of the white stuff. I refused to walk any further to this non-existent mirage of a castle, and we headed back to Goettingen. We could barely see the road and I hesitatingly trusted my son that he knew where we were going.

I took a picture of us so we’d never forget, and every once in a while I’ll remind him of the time he should have listened to me when I told him there was an approaching storm.

By the way, that castle (can’t remember the name) was actually more than TWENTY MILES away, and there’s no way in the world we could have day hiked there. Later, my son laughingly told me he biked there and it was awesome…uh, thanks a LOT, Angel Boy!

Word of the Day: Nemophilist

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This is such a great word!

Nemophilist: One who is fond of forest or forest scenery; a haunter of the woods.

Photo by veeterzy on Pexels.com

Oh yes, I’d love to haunt some woods right about now, with the stars above and the full moon to guide a late night hike…

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.
George Gordon Byron

(George Gordon was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the greatest of English poets. Wiki)

Moonstone Beach | Sea Glass Treasures

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Since it’s just about time to honor June’s Full Moon, it seems like the perfect opportunity to chat about Moonstone Beach, another sea glass location I need to visit. It’s in Cambria on California’s Central Coast.

It’s said that at Moonstone Beach beach you can find moonstone agates plus jade, jaspers, and other semi-precious stones.

Here’s a photo of some of my beach glass collection. Red is the third most rare type of sea glass, and I only have a couple pieces of that color.

Did you know? Orange is the most rare sea glass color. Turquoise is the second most rare color and the rarest type of blue sea glass. Red is the third most rare sea glass color and yellow is the fourth. I guess white and green and brown are more common to find because I have a lot of those colors, probably because most bottles were crafted in those colors.

None of the beaches around me have sea glass OR many seashells, although we have an abundant and endless supply of ROCKS.

| sanctuary |

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“Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.”- Rumi

Vermillion Cliffs Secret Cathedral: Photo by Enchanted Seashells

Paradise = Beach + Sea Glass

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As much as I love seashells, I love sea glass, too. Did you know it takes an ocean about thirty years to break down glass into these jewels?

The beaches in my area aren’t great for sea glass OR seashells, but we do have a lot of rocks, so I can always satisfy my obsession by picking up one special stone or a dozen sun-warmed rocky gems.

I’ve always wanted to visit Fort Bragg in Northern California but you’re not supposed to remove any glass from that beach, which would be so hard NOT to do.

Here are some other beaches that I’d love to visit and collect a treasure trove of sea glass:

🐚 Hanapepe Bay Glass Beach in Kauai.

🐚 Port Townsend Glass Beach, a two-hour ferry ride from Seattle.

🐚 Summerland Beach outside Santa Barbara.

🐚 Steklyashka Beach in Vladivostok, Russia is supposed to feature an amazing display of colorful glass, but I doubt I’ll ever get there. I found the photo on Pinterest, but I think that’s where it was taken.

Have you visited any of the seaglass beaches? Let me know in the comments!

Santa Fe, Turquoise, and Zozobra

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I always thought “turquoise” was the most delicious word to wrap my tongue around. So much is going on with its delightful twists and turns.

Some summers saw us travel to Santa Fe, New Mexico to spend time with family who lived in an adorable adobe house. I loved it there. It was dusty and hot and full of colors and sounds and smells that we didn’t have in Detroit.

Our family has a long history in Santa Fe. Before and during WW2, my parents used to hang out in Taos with Georgia O’Keeffe and D.H. Lawrence. I wish I could remember more of their fascinating stories but I was an extremely obnoxious eye-rolling teen and ignored mostly everything they ever said. About anything, haha.

During those trips to Santa Fe, of course I had to have an elaborate fiesta dress and lots of turquoise jewelry. This was probably when I first fell in love with this exquisite rock. I surely wish I still had my little fiesta dresses for Angel Girl, but all I have is my mom’s dress.

We would go to La Fonda and the Plaza where the Native Americans spread their treasures on blankets and we’d spend hours walking around.

This isn’t very PC but one day a little girl yelled at her mom and pointed to me and said, “Look at her, mommy! That’s a real Indian girl!” I always thought that was the coolest thing although I’m sure it was because I was very tan from being outside all day (no sunscreen back then) and my hair was plaited in two long braids.

Sometimes we’d be there for Fiesta and the Burning of Zozobra, an event to dispel the hardships and travails of the past year. Zozobra is the creation of Will Shuster, one of Los Cinco Pintores, a group of artists who made their way to New Mexico in the 1920s. Shuster’s creation first burned in his backyard in 1924 as a 6-foot effigy, and over the years, has grown to a towering 50-foot high marionette.

Photos of Santa Fe from SantaFeSelection.com

Somewhere there’s a photo of me (with pigtails) standing on the steps just beneath the not-yet-burned Zozobra but I couldn’t locate it. When I do, I’ll update this post.

UPDATE: My memory was inaccurate! This is a photo I was thinking of, but it wasn’t me, it’s my older brother and my parents, way before I was born…

Another photo, during another summer visit in Santa Fe with Zozobra…

The Burning of Zozobra has been called the first Burning Man, but I don’t like the comparison at all as the intentions of the two events are lightyears apart.

Searching for Doors of Perception

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NOT the psychedelic kind that Huxley wrote about…but opening the door to self reflection with love and compassion.

This photo looks like it could be one of my favorite places, a slot canyon in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument or here at Vermillion Cliffs, where I snapped this photo.