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Archive for the ‘Favorite Places’ Category

Canyonlands: Island in the Sky

Posted in Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , on May 24, 2013| 6 Comments »

         ” May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” — Edward Abbey

The view through Mesa Arch shows off a rich, red-rock background. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The view through Mesa Arch shows off a rich, red-rock background. — Photo by Pat Bean

Weekly Photo Challenge: In the Background

I always find Canyonlands National Park, located in Southern Utah where four other awesome national parks vie for attention, surprising. One visit it is the deep blue, cloud-dotted sky above a red-rock landscape that captures my awe. On another visit, it is the emerald green of the Colorado or Green rivers off in the distance as seen from a high viewpoint. The confluence of the two rivers takes place within the park.

A more distant view of the arch shows off the La Salle Mountains in the Background. -- Photo by Pat Bean

A more distant view of the arch shows off the La Salle Mountains in the Background. — Photo by Pat Bean

I’ve visited Canyonlands’ Island in the Sky section many times, as it is located on the shortest route from Utah to Texas, the one I took many times when I worked and lived in Utah and visited family members in Texas.

This week’s photo challenge gave me an opportunity to show off its Mesa Arch, perhaps one of the most photographed scenic sites in North America. Reached by an easy half-mile round-trip hike  just off the park’s main road, I never visited the park without walking out to see it.

And then there is always the emerald green of the river in the background as seen from one of the park's many viewpoints. -- Photo by Pat Bean

And then there is always the emerald green of the river in the background as seen from one of the park’s many viewpoints. — Photo by Pat Bean

The season, time of day and weather made each viewing a one-of-a-kind experience, not to mention the varying wildflowers and dry or wet potholes scattered along the hike that gave a different mood to the trail.

Bean’s Pat: The Road Ahead http://tinyurl.com/p6jzvvu This blog describes perfectly how I feel the first day of a road trip. I see more, write more in my journal and am awed more by the landscape than any other day on a trip. But of course that’s not to say I don’t also enjoy all my traveling days.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape

Posted in Favorite Places, Journeys, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , , , on May 19, 2013| 2 Comments »

            “Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write compose or pant can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic inherent in a human situation.” Graham Greene

Gypsy Lee in Capitol Reef Gorge in Utah. during an escape I took with my oldest son during Gypsy Lee's first year on the road. -- Photo by D,C, Bean

Gypsy Lee in Capitol Reef Gorge in Utah. during an escape I took with my oldest son during Gypsy Lee’s first year on the road. — Photo by D,C, Bean

Escape = Writing, Nature, Books and Gypsy Lee

  

Gypsy Lee by Lake Frank Jackson in Alabama at sunset. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Gypsy Lee by Lake Frank Jackson in Alabama at sunset. — Photo by Pat Bean

          Escape from anything the slightest bit heated, boring, uncomfortable, emotional or unpleasant has always been my first line of defense. It began as a child growing up in a turbulent family and never stopped.

I finally learned to face head-on things that simply had to be faced, but I still don’t like it.

These days, when my life is mostly quite mellow, Gypsy Lee is my No. 1 escape mechanism. I use her to escape from itchy feet that still want to go everywhere, see everything and do everything.

I do so love her.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Survivor Fan http://tinyurl.com/bhsdcmo This old broad is a big survivor fan, and this blog – how true, how true – had me rolling on the floor laughing. What a great way to start my morning.

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Standing Above the Virgin River in Zion

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Birds, Favorite Places, Journeys, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , , on May 8, 2013| 6 Comments »

             I rate enthusiasm even above professional skills.” – Sir Edward Appleton

To enjoy the view from above, one first has to get to the top of Angel's Landing in Zion National Park. -- Photo by Pat Bean

To enjoy the view from above, one first has to get to the top of Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park. — Photo by Pat Bean

Weekly Photo Challenge: Above

My enthusiasm to get to the top of Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park every year on my birthday was motivated by my belief that if I could make it, I could handle anything the next year threw at me.

My immediate reward, however, was a view of the Virgin River and the winding canyon below, where birds flew below me and  people were dwarfed to bug size.

It was an exhilarating experience made even more awesome one year when a pair of peregrines flew below the edge of the ridge. For the first time I got to view the back of these falcons and not just their bellies as they flew.

I suspected the pair was nesting below in the rocks, an occurrence that closes down Angel’s Landing to rock climbers every year. I also suspected that the rock climbers had an even more exhilarating enthusiasm for the view from above after their strenuous efforts to get to the top.

It’s been a few years since I stood on top of Angel’s Landing.  Thankfully, since my children are grown and I’m now into the joys of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, life isn’t throwing me as many curves as it did in my earlier years.

So walking my canine companion, Pepper, up and down three flights of stairs for her four daily walks, has become my motivating challenge to keep me in shape to handle life’s more difficult moments.  But who knows. These efforts might get me into good enough shape that I might once again stand on the top of Angel’s Landing for yet one more view from above.

Ahh! I made it! -- Photo by Pat Bean

Ahh! I made it! — Photo by Pat Bean

            Bean’s Pat:  Wild Junket: http://tinyurl.com/buy5x2e Take an armchair exploration of St. Vincent

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Every Day Should Be Earth Day

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, tagged , , on April 22, 2013| 5 Comments »

        “Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be waiting for us in our graves – or whether it should be ours here and now and on this Earth.” —Ayn Rand

            “I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you different. – Kurt Vonnegut

I've never seen a picture of me taken in Mother Nature's playground where I'm not smiling. -- Photo by Kim Perrin.

I’ve never seen a picture of me taken in Mother Nature’s playground where I’m not smiling. — Photo by Kim Perrin.

            “Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the Earth are never alone or weary of life.” – Rachel Carson

            “The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and … our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.” Wendell Berry

I’m a Tree Hugger

I don’t get on my soap box every day to tell you this, but today is Earth Day and I decided it was a day to let it all out. I really am a tree hugger.

Sometimes, as I was driving in Gypsy Lee, Mother Nature demanded I stop and look at her. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Sometimes, as I was driving in Gypsy Lee, Mother Nature demanded I stop and look at her. — Photo by Pat Bean

I want to scream curses at people who dirty this planet with war and hate, people who take from the land without giving back, and nasty litterers who offend the senses of all who appreciate beauty.

As one who has traveled this country from coast to coast and border to border, I can truly tell you that nary a day on the road did I not see the beauty all around me. Perhaps it was the way a small stream flowed downhill laughing all the way, or the sudden appearance of a white-tailed deer as it stepped out of the woods.

No artist can capture the majesty of a purple and pink sunrise or a fiery desert sunset like Mother Nature gifts us with so very often. No architect can build a structure that matches the majestic grandeur of mountains.

Being born in Texas’ flatlands I didn’t see my first mountain until I was 14, but from that day forward the sight of these uplifted landscapes have never failed to touch my soul.

Wouldn't you stop and look, too? == Photo by Pat Bean

Wouldn’t you stop and look, too? — Photo by Pat Bean

I’ve used the beauty of this Earth often to let go of stress and tension, which when I was a working journalist, helping put out a daily newspaper on deadline, were daily annoyances.

I’ve walked in nature when I was sad, and when I was happy, and when I just needed to be renewed.

I’ve often wondered how people handled daily life without the help of Mother Nature to walk beside them. I suspect the psychopaths who kill, murder and rape must be among them because I can’t imagine people who truly love this Earth and Mother Nature would ever be so cruel

My heart fully celebrates this special day. But then I think every day should be Earth Day.

          

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

  Bean’s Pat: Look on the bright side of life http://tinyurl.com/c4587du If this doesn’t make you smile you’re a real grump.  

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The Desert Around Me

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, tagged , , on April 16, 2013| 11 Comments »

            “Balance, that’s the secret. Moderate extremism. The best of both worlds.” – Edward Abby, “Desert Solitaire”

I love the way the yellow tree tops contrast with the mountain off in the distance just a ways. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I love the way the yellow tree tops contrast with the mountain off in the distance just a ways. — Photo by Pat Bean

Morning Walk with Pepper

I can’t tell you how many times in my travels, I’ve come back from visiting an awesome  landmark, like a waterfall that required an easy half-mile hike to access, and have a local who’s lived within five miles of it all his life tell me he had never seen it.

What a waste, I always thought.

The path behind my apartment's parking lot. - Photo by Pat Bean

The path behind my apartment’s parking lot. – Photo by Pat Bean

I thought about this facet of life this morning as Pepper and I strolled around the outskirts of our Tucson apartment, which sits in balance between city development and Mother Nature’s desert creation.

I can walk across the street and have a Starbuck’s latte, and then come back and watch a gila woodpecker sit on top of armed saguaro cactus or admire how the season has turned the desert to gold.

I’ve found the balance I wanted in a rooted life. I don’t have to travel – although I still plan to do so – to enjoy the wonders of the world. It’s all around me. I just have to take the time to look.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Boston Rainbow http://tinyurl.com/d72e3v9 Something to remember as we mourn the senseless tragedy that marred the Boston Marathon. May the hearts of all those who lost life and limb find comfort in knowing this. My heart aches for you all.

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Weekly Photo Challege: Change

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged , , , on April 15, 2013| 4 Comments »

Zion National Park 

“He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” – Harold Wilson

When I took my canine traveling companion on her morning walk at Zion National Park, the view across from my RV glowed. -- Photo by Pat Bean

When I took my canine traveling companion on her morning walk at Zion National Park, the view across from my RV glowed. — Photo by Pat Bean

 

“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” – Mary Englebreit

An hour later, when I was getting ready to leave the park, the view's intensity had changed significantly. I'm glad I' an early riser. -- Photo by Pat Bean

An hour later, when I was getting ready to leave the park, the view’s intensity had changed significantly. I’m glad I’ an early riser. — Photo by Pat Bean

 

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” W. Edwards Deming

 

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: http://tinyurl.com/chabzlm The first thing each morning… I make coffee, walk Pepper, and plan my day while I drink my coffee. What about you?

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Vermillion Cliffs

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Travel, tagged , , , on April 10, 2013| 12 Comments »

The late afternoon sun bathed the Vermillion Cliffs in a glow that set off their redness. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The late afternoon sun bathed the Vermillion Cliffs in a glow that set off their redness. — Photo by Pat Bean

            “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming: Wow! What a ride.” — Hunter Thompson

Colorful Detour

            My canine traveling companion, Pepper, and I took off in my RV, Gypsy Lee, this past week for a 1,700-mile roundtrip from Tucson to Ogden, Utah. It’s the first road trip we’ve taken since I kind of put roots down in the Arizona desert city in January– and then promptly broke my ankle.

Navajo Bridge with the mighty Colorado below -- but not looking so mighty at the moment. But having been eaten by Granite Rapid downstream, I do know it is mighty. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Navajo Bridge with the mighty Colorado below — but not looking so mighty at the moment. But having been eaten by Granite Rapid downstream, I do know it is mighty. — Photo by Pat Bean

Being on the road again feels wonderful. Even Gypsy Lee, who has over 135,000 miles on her, seemed happy to be traveling again.

The plan for one day of travel was to spend the night in Page, Arizona. That plan went awry when I came upon a road block at Highway 89’s junction with Highway 89A. I had driven Highway 89 into Page many times and I suspected a landslide had occurred somewhere along the scenic route.

Later research showed my suspicions exactly right. It had happened in February, but I hadn’t heard the news.

The detour didn’t really add miles to my drive, but did mean that I would spend the night in Kanab, Utah, instead of Page. What made me a little grumpy is that it meant I was traveling Highway 89A, which goes over the high Navajo Bridge, beneath which flows the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, near Lee’s Ferry.

And this is why I had to detour. -- Arizona Highway Photo

And this is why I had to detour. — Arizona Highway Photo

It was not an unfamiliar route, and even one that I had planned to take on my return trip home so I could double my landscape viewing. Twice, in my younger more fit days, I had floated beneath this bridge at the start of a 225-mile, wild, white-water raft ride through the Grand Canyon.

What I was grumpy about was that I was hitting this stretch of road late in the afternoon and wouldn’t have much time to linger long along the way to gaze in awe at the awesome landscape. I don’t drive after dark.

I did, however, stop briefly at the bridge’s overlook for a view of the magnificent Vermillion Cliffs that lay to my north on the Arizona-Utah border. They were brilliantly bathed in the evening light showing why they had been named.

 

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Mother Nature Lives in Tucson

Posted in Birds, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, tagged , , , , on March 17, 2013| 12 Comments »

            “We are born again each morning. What matters most is this day.” Buddha

Gambel quail skitter about in this landscape. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Gambel quail skitter about in this landscape. — Photo by Pat Bean

And Makes Me Feel at Home

            My apartment has all the conveniences of a city just two blocks away, yet it’s sheltered from traffic noise by trees and a landscaped courtyard, and is bordered on two sides by a natural desert landscape filled with wildlife.

Seed pods against the desert sky.

Seed pods against the desert sky.

            I see Gambel’s quail skittering between the saguaro and ocotillo cacti and am serenaded by mourning doves, song birds and a great horned owl on a daily basis. A pair of Cooper’s hawks are nesting in a nearby near tree and yesterday morning I spied a bobcat on the edge of the apartment’s parking lot.

            Tucson, I’ve discovered, is a place where civilization and Mother Nature coexist better than any other place I’ve ever lived. And here in the city’s Catalina Foothills that I now call home, most buildings have been designed to look like they belong to the landscape.

            I truly am falling in love with Tucson.

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

            Bean’s Pat: Life in the Bogs http://tinyurl.com/bwlykyh And speaking of Mother Nature, she lives in Robin’s bog, too.

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Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Birds, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , on March 13, 2013| 6 Comments »

            “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it, you can never get it back.” —  Harvey MacKay

I dawdled to watch squirrels at a campground. == Photo by Pat Bean

I dawdled to watch squirrels at a campground. == Photo by Pat Bean

Time Always Runs Out

            A few years back I planned a trip to Maine. I left in early May with the goal of reaching the state’s Atlantic Coastline before the puffins, the sandpipers, the plovers and other shore birds migrated south. Too much dawdling along the way made me arrive two weeks too late.

 

I dawdled to see all the sights along oute 66. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I dawdled to see all the sights along oute 66. — Photo by Pat Bean

           It was a missed opportunity that most likely will never come again. At the same time, my dawdling along the way visiting places like Queen Wilhelmina State Park in Arkansas, the Budwieser Brewery in Missouri, Wolf Park in Indiana, the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan Niagara Falls in New York and many, many other places along the way were memories made that I wouldn’t have wanted to miss either.

            I’ve reached the point in my life when I know that there is more time behind me than ahead of me. Accepting this reality has not made me sad, but it has certainly made me more aware of how fleeting time has become.

            I remember when it seemed an eternity for each Christmas to arrive, and now it seems like I’ve barely put away the Christmas decorations before it’s time to get them out again.

I dawdled to watch sunrises. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I dawdled to watch sunrises. — Photo by Pat Bean

            What got me thinking of time was Tom Brokaw’s book “The Time of our Lives: A conversation about America.” He and I are less than a year apart in age, and we both had journalism careers, although his took him on the big stage in front of a camera and mine took me to a smaller stage on the pages of newspapers.

            I once got to interview Tom Brokaw when he visited my smaller stage setting, the memories of which came to the forefront this week when I picked up his book and read the things he pointed out in his preface of having lived through –  the moon landing, Vietnam, women stepping out of the kitchen and into the working world, civil unrest as black and white cultures integrated, the riots, the prosperity, the stock market fluctuations, the technology takeover, the continuation of war, and the big bang of the internet.

            These were the same things I had lived through and wrote about.

            Looked at in this way, I guess I know where time has flown. I wonder what is still ahead for me to experience – as I continue my dawdling ways.

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A Desert Landscape of Balloons and Cacti

Posted in Birds, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged , , , , , on March 4, 2013| 11 Comments »

             “What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I wondered if this balloon was going to get high enough to miss the wires. It did. -- Photo by Pat Bean

I wondered if this balloon was going to get high enough to miss the wires. It did. — Photo by Pat Bean

Adjusting to a New Life

            After exiting, but not abandoning, my nine-year RV home, Gypsy Lee, in an apartment complex parking lot, I wondered if I had chosen the right place to put down a few roots.

Balloons are a familiar sight over Tucson. -- Photo by Pat Bean

Balloons are a familiar sight over Tucson. — Photo by Pat Bean

            I was still remembering how claustrophobic I had felt after purchasing my last rooted home back in Ogden, Utah, in which I had spent seven years before moving into Gypsy Lee.

            Right up until the last few months, when this old body decided it needed a bit more space and a few conveniences Gypsy Lee didn’t have, I never felt more at home than I did when traveling across this beautiful country. The road truly felt like home and the place I should be.

            I had thought when I retired that I would have about five years on the road before I would need to settle down again. I almost doubled that. I also thought that I would find a place that would call out to me as being my next home. It never did.  

            I suspected I would end up in my native Texas, where most of my children and grandchildren live, and started looking, and continued doing so for almost a year. I found nothing that met my requirements – nice, dog friendly, large bath tub, light and airy, and near town conveniences but with a place to walk – that either appealed to me or was in my measly price range.  

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            When I started looking in Tucson, where my youngest daughter lives and where I was headed to spend this past Christmas, I found what I had been looking for instantly, with the bonus of it being located at the foot of the Catalina Mountains.

            But almost as soon as I had moved into my new, small, third-floor apartment, I broke my foot and also began having doubts if I had made the right decision.

            A pair of Cooper’s hawks nesting in a tree in one of the apartment’s courtyards helped convince me — I’m a passionate birder — that I had, as did the beautiful view I have of Mount Lemmon to the north and the beautiful sunrises that have brightened almost all my mornings.

            I never thought I would live in the desert and like it. But I’m slowly beginning to think of Tucson as home.

            I’m especially enjoying a landscape where giant saguaro cacti — including one here at the apartment that is home to a pair of Gila Woodpeckers – dominate the landscape, and where it is not unusual to look up and see hot air balloons gliding by.           

The Wondering Wanderer's blog pick of the day.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

   Bean’s Pat: Basil the Hippo http://tinyurl.com/cq9x969 I fell in love with this story – and Basil.

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