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Life’s Journey

Posted in Journeys, Travel, Uncategorized, tagged life's journey, pat bean, postaday, self, Sunrise, sunset on July 20, 2012| 15 Comments »

“Does the road wind uphill all the way?

Yes, to the very end.

Will the journey take the whole day?

From morn to night, my friend.” – Christina Rossetti, 1830-1894

Discovering the Wondering Wanderer

You’re on a journey, whether you travel or not, from sunrise… — Photo by Pat Bean

I was a late bloomer, a wisp of a girl who grew up too fast, going from taking care of three younger brothers to a too-young marriage and taking care of five kids of my own.

It wasn’t until I was nearly 40 that it dawned on me that I had no idea who the woman I had become was. Trying to answer that question began a new, and very surprising, journey for me. It’s one that has been full of both heartache and joy, and one that continues to this day.

The truth is, I’m many persons in one: Writer, mother, grandmother, traveler, birder, friend, adventuress, tree-hugger, nature enthusiast, reader, peace advocate, feminist,, animal lover and currently campground host. I’m sure there’s a few more tags somewhere around that I could add.

… to sunset. Make it a memorable trip. — Photo by Pat Bean

But lately I’ve been calling myself the wondering wanderer. It’s a descriptive phrase that I’ve decided fits me as well as a clingy leotard, not that I would put one of those on my over-ripe body these days.

In my own way, I’ve always been a wondering wanderer. And now I wonder why I didn’t understand it sooner.

So how would you describe yourself? This wondering old broad would love to know.

Bean’s Pat: 20 Minutes a Day http://tinyurl.com/77t2488 The Consequences of Being Nice. This blog certainly gave me something to think about. Blog pick of the day from the wondering wanderer.

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Lake Walcott: What Happened?

Posted in Birds, Favorite Places, Journeys, Lakes, Nature, Travel, Wildflowers, tagged butterflies, changes, homecoming, Idaho state parks, Lake Walcott, milkweed, nature, pat bean, postaday on July 18, 2012| 8 Comments »

“The man who never alters his opinion Is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.” William Blake.

These flowers bloomed while I was gone. There were big bunches of them all along a short section of the bank in the upper tent campground. — Photo by Pat Bean.

Life Goes On

And the milkweed plants, which the butterflies love, here at the park went from this … — Photo by Pat Bean

I’m Back now at Lake Walcott, after leaving for four days to fly to Texas for a granddaughter’s wedding. I had a marvelous time. I got to see a new great-grandson, now almost seven months old, for the first time. And I’m still feeling the love from all the family hugs I received.

Homecoming, when it involves loved ones, is always sweet after an absence. It’s a benefit that helps make up for the distance my chosen on-the-road life and the scattered residences – from Texas to Florida, Illinois to Arizona, with Argentina thrown in for good measure – of my children and grandchildren.

But while I was gone, this southern Idaho state park where I’m volunteering for the summer continued its ever-changing life cycle, welcoming me back with new wonders.

My hummingbird feeder was empty and the bird seed feeder, which I had filled to the brim before taking off, had only a few sunflower seeds remaining in it. I had left both full, not wanting to disrupt the continuity of the birds that visit my RV site.

A black-headed grosbeak and an American goldfinch – a study in orange and yellow – were at the feeder when I pulled in. It was the first grosbeak that had visited and I was delighted to see it. I suspected that the Bullock’s orioles had emptied the hummingbird feeder as I’ve only had a few hummers visit this year.

Black-headed grosbeak — Wikipedia photo

My first walk around the park after being back was full of changes too. Along with coming across branches that had blown down from the weekend storm I missed, I noticed that the milkweed had matured, and that some bank plants had come into bloom while I was gone.

It was fun to see the changes, which so often are missed on a day-to-day basis. Life goes on where ever one goes.

Bean’s Pat: Katmai National Park http://tinyurl.com/765d97z Fishing bears. I couldn’t resist sharing this. Blog pick of the day from the wondering wanderer.

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Southern Utah National Parks

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged arches, bryce, canyonlands, capitol reef, flowers, pat bean, postaday, southern utah national parks, Zion on June 18, 2012| 7 Comments »

“Earth Laughs in Flowers.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just one of the many spectacular skylines at Zion National Park. — Photo by Pat Bean

Take Time to Stop and Smell the Flowers

Indian paintbrush growing out of a rock wall. — Photo by Pat Bean

Having spent many hours in each, although Zion hogged the majority of those hours, I dare to say you won’t find anywhere else in the world that has such a concentrated landscape of awesomeness.

It’s mostly redrock country, with rugged mountain peaks, natural bridges, hoodoos, rivers that roar in early spring and hum softly in late summer and sights that simply take your breath away.

While I’ve found beauty in every state, this is truly a landscape you should not miss. And don’t forget to smell the flowers while you’re at it.

Bean’s Pat: http://tinyurl.com/cfbvevs 30 Ways to Improve Yourself. I’m a sucker for these kind of tips, and these are all practical and doable.

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The Grand Canyon: Mother Nature’s Canvas

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Art, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing, tagged grand canyon, hamlin garland, Mother Nature, pat bean, postaday on June 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

“Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.” – Standing Bear

One Last Vista for the Road

The Grand Canyon vista from Desert View — Photo by Pat Bean

The distance between the Grand Canyon’s south entrance, where I entered the park, and its east entrance, where I exited, is only about 30 miles. It took me about five hours to make the journey.

It’s so easy to drink in the Grand Canyon’s vista that sometimes we forget to look at the smaller parts that make up the whole. I try not to forget. — Photo by Pat Bean

Five hours of magic when I left all the worries of the world behind and simply let myself enjoy the wonders of nature’s artistic hand. What a grand canvas she has created.

I don’t know how people exist in today’s chaotic world without visiting Mother Nature’s museums often.

It seems, however, that I’m merely echoing the thoughts of another writer who felt the same way during an era that to me seems far less hectic than today’s world.

Wrote Hamlin Garland in 1899: “I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets. It has given me blessed release from care and worry and the troubled thinking of our modern day. It has been a return to the primitive and the peaceful. Whenever the pressure of our complex city life thins my blood and benumbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail; and when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me – I am happy.”

Bean’s Pat: Kristen Lamb’s Blog http://tinyurl.com/cvto554 How to become a stronger writer. Good advice for serious writers.

*This pat-on-the-back recognition is merely this wandering/wondering old broad’s way of bringing attention to a blog I enjoyed – and thought perhaps my readers might, too. June 11, patbean.wordpress.com

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Grand Canyon: Desert View Watchtower

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged architecture, desert view watchtower, grand canyon, mary coulter, pat bean, postaday, theodore roosevelt on June 9, 2012| 7 Comments »

“The lack of power to take joy in outdoor nature is as real a misfortune as the lack of power to take joy in books.” Theodore Roosevelt

Desert View Watchtower — Photo by Pat Bean

360 Degrees of Awesome

Mary Coulter’s Desert View Watchtower that overlooks the Grand Canyon near the east entrance to the national park looks older than it is.

It was built in 1932 to resemble an ancient Pueblo Indians’ watchtower, but on a larger scale.

I think it fits into the landscape well, as do Coulter’s other Grand Canyon buildings that include the Phantom Ranch buildings on the canyon floor and Hermit’s Rest, a rustic lookout structure at the western edge of the Rim Trail.

Born in 1869, Coulter was a rare female architect for her time. The four buildings she designed for the Grand Canyon now all have National Historic Landmark designations.

A climb up the 85 stair steps is worth the effort just for the view. — Photo by Pat Bean

I braved the jam of people in the tower’s ground-floor gift shop to climb the 85 steps that narrowly wind to the stop of the tower. My reward was a 360-degree, panoramic view of the canyon, and the surrounding high desert.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

Bean’s Pat: Comfort Me With Ice Cream http://tinyurl.com/7plaftb Although circumstances may be different, I can relate, although for me it’s Ben and Jerry’s (Anywhere), Farr’s (Utah), or Blue Bell (Texas) that provides the comfort.

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The Grand Canyon: A River Runs Through It

Posted in Birds, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged canyon wrens, desert view drive, grand canyon, memories, pat bean, postaday, rafting the colorado river, ravens, south rim on June 7, 2012| 17 Comments »

“What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn’t have any doubt – it is sure where it is going, and it doesn’t want to go anywhere else.” – Hal Boyle

A mile below me flowed the Colorado River — and in it flowed a treasure chest of my memories. — Photo by Pat Bean

Memories of the Canyon Floor

If I could see the rapid from a mile away, it had to be one of the big ones. I wondered which? — Photo by Pat Bean

While there’s no bad view of the Grand Canyon, I must admit that my heart beat a little faster whenever the viewpoint allowed me a peak at the Colorado River a mile below.

I rafted that same river twice, once in 1991 when I paddled my way through it in a small six-man raft, and once in 1999, when I was oared through it in a larger raft by someone else’s hand.

In all, I’ve spent a total of 32 days at the canyon’s bottom. The first trip ranks No. 1 of all my adventures, including an African Safari (No. 2) and jumping out of an airplane (No. 3). Yes, I know, I’m an adrenalin junkie, or at least I was.

Ravens haunted every overlook where I stopped to view the canyon this day, just as they had haunted every camp site on the river below. This bold one that didn’t move off at my approach reminded me of the one that had stolen my tube of toothpaste on one of my Colorado River rafting trips through the Grand Canyon. — Photo by Pat Bean

I’m just as happy these days going for a quiet canoe ride on a gentle river – or doing as I was this day, stopping at every overlook along the Grand Canyon’s Desert View Drive.

Each time my stop included a view of the river, memories of the time I spent on it flooded out of my memory bank to be relived.

Once again I was holding onto the paddle boat from the water side in terror after Granite Rapid claimed me for its own. Or I was lying on my back on a beach, staring up at a slim sliver of sky watching the stars drift past.

I remembered awakening to the song of a canyon wren, and drinking in the peace of the silence that always marked the first half hour of our daily time on the river. I emerged at the end of both 16-day trips a different person than the one who began it. More peaceful, more knowing who I was, more understanding what is important in life.

Today, that was simply spending time with the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

Bean’s Pat: http://thismansjourney.net/ Rhythm of the Waves. I love Galveston, and wave watching.

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Favorite Places: Grand Canyon

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged coconino forest, flagstaff, grand canyon, john wesley powell, kaibab borest, mather point, pat bean, postaday, south rim on June 5, 2012| 12 Comments »

“The wonders of the Grand Canyon cannot be adequately represented in symbols of speech, not by speech itself. The resources of the graphic art are taxed beyond their powers in attempting to portray its features. Language and illustration combined must fail.” John Wesley Powell

The view and the viewers at the Grand Canyon’s Mather Point. — Photo by Pat Bean

The Long Way to Page

I left Flagstaff early, my destination being Page, Arizona, just 135 miles away. My route, however, turned it into a 215-mile journey because I planned to drive along the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

One, at least in my book, doesn’t miss an opportunity to see one of Mother’s Nature’s miracles simply because it adds miles to a journey. I would stint myself of something else to cover the extra cost of gas.

The drive north from Flagstaff took me through the Coconino and Kaibab national forests, sometimes in view of majestic mountain peaks. I opened my RV window occasionally to drink in the scent of pine wafting through the air on this glorious May day.

As one who has twice rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, I have extreme respect for Powell’s journey without the aid of rubber rafts and life jackets. This was one of the displays at the visitor center. — Photo by Pat Bean

My canine traveling companion, Pepper, alternated between looking out the window at the scenery and watching me. Both of us, I think, were taking the opportunity to savor the journey.

It came as a jolt to my system when I entered the parking lot of the park’s visitor center near the south entrance. This was a gathering spot for all the park’s visitors, and while the vast parking lots weren’t full, they were far from empty this day. There were more people here than I had seen my entire trip so far.

I quickly checked out the visitor center and then joined the other travelers gawking down at the canyon from Mather’s Point before hurrying back to my RV and Pepper. She greeted me as if I had been gone the millions of years it had taken Mother Nature to form the canyon.

The canyon still takes your breath away, I told her, then gave her a treat before we continued our adventure.

Bean’s Pat: A Butterfly’s Kingdom http://serenityspell.com A place to visit if you’re ever in South Florida. My favorite among the awesome photographs on this blog was the piano key butterfly.

*This recognition is merely this wandering/wondering old broad’s way of bringing attention to a blog I enjoyed – and thought perhaps my readers might, too. The Pat on the back is presented with no strings attached. June 5, patbean.wordpress.com

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Today

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Journeys, Lakes, Nature, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge, tagged Lake Walcott, pat bean, postaday, sunrises, today art buchwald, weeklyphoto challenge on June 1, 2012| 11 Comments »

“We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don’t think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you’re hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time.” ~Art Buchwald

The Beginning of a New Day

Today — How could it have started any better? — Photo by Pat Bean

Early Morning on Lake Walcott

It’s days like this that I don’t mind my canine traveling companion, Pepper, waking me up early for a walk. — Photo by Pat Bean

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Route 66: Where Dinosaurs Once Roamed

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged arizona, dinosaurs, national park, painted desert, pat bean, petrified forest, postaday, rainbow forest museum, Route 66 on May 31, 2012| 5 Comments »

“For fossils to thrive, certain favorable circumstances are required. First of all, of course, remnants of life have to be there. These then need to be washed over with water as soon as possible, so that the bones are covered with a layer of sediment.” – Richard Leakey

Hard to believe that this creature’s bones are over 200 million years old. — Photo by Pat Bean

The Bones of the Matter

It stands to reason that if conditions are right for ancient trees to be preserved, other things in the landscape will also be preserved.

Flowers weren’t plentiful in the Painted Desert. The landscape wasn’t encouraging for them, which is why this small patch of yellow stood out so dramatically. — Photo by Pat Bean

And of course they were, as evidenced by the dinosaur skeletons on display at the Rainbow Forest Museum, which sadly would be my final stop before exiting Petrified Forest National Park.

As dinosaurs go, well if you compare them to Sue, the Chicago Field Museum’s gigantic T-Rex, the ones that lived in this ancient forest, were on the dinky side.

The dinosaurs found here belong to the Triassic Period, the late dawn of the dinosaurs, according to the park’s fact sheets.

Two more ancient dinosaur skeletons. — Photo by Pat Bean

These human-sized dinosaurs shared the landscape, which back them was dominated by a huge river running through it, with phytosaurs and rauisuchians, words that sent me running for my dictionary. Crocodile-like is the best definition I could come up with.

Triassic, another word that left me wondering, refers to the period on earth that existed 200 to 250 million years ago.

Now, just as the age of dinosaurs had come and gone, it was time for me to leave the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest and continue traveling down the road. Flagstaff was awaiting me.

Bean’s Pat: Wistfully Wandering http://wistfullywandering.wordpress.comTake an armchair hike in Grand Teton National Park. I can’t believe I’ve missed this one.

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Route 66’s Best Antiques

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Hikes, Favorite Places, Journeys, Nature, Travel, tagged agate bridge, arizona, pat bean, petrified forest, postaday, state fossil, trees on May 30, 2012| 5 Comments »

“It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Agate Bridge: Floodwaters washed away softer sandstone to allow this harder 110-foot long petrified log to form a bridge. Humans, fascinated with the bridge, added supports, something National Park staff would not do today, preferring to leave things in a more natural state. This log bridge, however, was one of the things that prompted the creations of Petrified Forest Nation Park in 1906. — Photo by Pat Bean

Trees Turned to Stone

Stone logs testify to the ancient forest that once thrived here. — Photo by Pat Bean

Araucarioxylon arizonicum. I can’t pronounce it either. But I did learn that it was one of the most common trees found in a 225 million year old forest that once thrived in what is now Arizona.

These trees are extinct, but more than their memory lives on. The great conifers among them that were quickly buried by mud, silt and volcanic ash in ancient days, then at some point were exposed to silica-laden water, live on, their organic tissues transformed into quartz.

That, at least, ‘s the abbreviated version of the science behind the stone trees. If you want more details, you’ll have to do your own research. It could be fun.

I tried to picture the forest as it once was, with dinosaurs roaming through it, as I stood in front of “Old Faithful.”

Old Faithful: The largest 225 million year old tree trunk in the park. — Photo by Pat Bean

That’s the name of the largest Araucarioxylon arizonicum tree trunk on exhibit along a short hike behind the Rainbow Forest Museum near the south entrance to the park.

Petrified tree remains were once so plentiful, and not just in the Petrified Forest National Park where it’s illegal to remove then, that you can find homes and cafes and other structures in which they were used as building material.

Araucarioxylon arizonicum is also the Arizona’s state fossil.

Hmmm. I wonder if I can learn to speak the name of the tree as easily as I learned to say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Bean’s Pat: Love Thy Bike http://tinyurlcom/7n85fbh Take an armchair bike ride along the California Coast.

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