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Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

“It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link in the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.” — Winston Churchill

Favorite Places: The Tonto Basin

The first time I passed through Tonto Basin, I crossed the lake on the Roosevelt Dam. This bridge was opened to get traffic off the dam in 1990. I chose it as an example of near and far because of the yellow blossoms in the foreground, the bridge in the middle ground and the mountains in the far distance. — Photo by Pat Bean

During my cross-country journeys, even before I became a full-time RV-er, I often planned my trips so I would pass through Arizona’s Tonto Basin.

Located at the base of the Mongollon Rim, which runs across Arizona for 200 miles, with Tonto Creek flowing through it, the valley has always lifted my spirits. I love the tall arm-spreading saguaro cacti  that dot the landscape, the clear mountain air that fills my nostrils and the sight of curve-billed thrashers flitting the ground.

 

 

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“If you see a whole thing – it seems that it’s always beautiful. Planets, lives … But up close a world’s all dirt and rocks. And day-to-day, life’s a hard job.” – Ursula K.Le Guin

This photo doesn’t do City of Rocks justice but it was the best one I took because of being so pressed for time. — Photo by Pat Bean

Adventures with Pepper: Day One

            I took a longer detour than I had expected yesterday when I visited City of Rocks State Park in Southern Idaho on my way to Ogden, Utah, where I’ll be staying for the next few days before the real start of my journey begins.

But I was quite pleased with the shot I got up an osprey hig up in a tree over the Snake River. — Photo by Pat Bean

The reason that it was longer is that a bridge was out, and I had to double back to continue on my journey. It also made me pressed for time because I needed to get into Ogden in time for a party and a play my friend, Kim, had planned for our evening activities.

The City of Rocks is just that. It was a landmark for early pioneers traveling the California Trail. Just as impressive as the jumble of rocks that today are a haven for rock climbers — sadly I didn’t have time to do much exploring or picture-taking – was the City of Rocks Back Country Scenic Byway that encircled the Albion Mountains. And I got to see it twice.

My lack of time was also due to the fact that I had dawdled earlier in the morning, taking Maggie for one last long walk in Lake Walcott, and then spending a bit of time beside the Snake River to watch the parade of pelicans that lazed below the Minidoka Dam. And then there was the awesome osprey that was also hanging out beside the river that stopped me for a while, too.

Book Report: Travels with Maggie has grown to 43,888 words. I got up early and wrote this morning.

Bean’s Pat:  Since my internet connection is acting like a pouting brat who won’t come out of her room today, I haven’t been able to do much blog browsing. So the only Pat the Wondering Wanderer is giving out today is one to me for getting up early and writing, even though I partied until late last night.

Well, maybe also to the crew and actors of Avenue Q, the play I saw at the Rose Wagner Theater in Salt Lake City. I had never seen a raunchy puppet show before, and my friend was afraid I would be offended. I wasn’t. I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my seat. Despite its X rating, the play had a positive upbeat message. I mean how can you get offended at naked puppets, whose bodied ended at their midriffs, having sex.

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     “On the road again – Just can’t wait to get on the road again …Goin’ places that I’ve never been. Seein’ things that I may never see again …” – Willie Nelson

Hello the Road 

Good-bye Mr. Lake Walcott Bear. Have a nice winter. — Phto by Pat Bean

Today I start a 5,000 mile journey. I invite you to come along.            I begin by traveling from Lake Walcott State Park in Idaho to Ogden, Utah, where I will stay a few days with friends and have my RV, Gypsy Lee, serviced and checked out.

I retired from a 37-year journalism career in Ogden on September 1, 2004. Two weeks before my retirement, I bought a new RV, which I named Gypsy Lee. Gypsy is for my itchy feet and Lee is for my grandfather, Charles Forest Lee, from whom my mother said I inherited my wanderlust.

Good-bye willow tree with the split personality. I’ll miss nodding to you each morning when Pepper and I take our walks. — Photo by Pat Bean

Before the end of 2004, I had sold my rooted Ogden home, and took to the road. After this coming journey, which will be the subject of my upcoming blogs, Gypsy Lee will have over 137,000 miles on her, and I will have visited 49 of the 50 states. I visited Hawaii in the 1980s and Alaska in 2001 before I retired.

Traveling between Lake Walcott and Ogden is a familiar 160-mile trip for me, but my plans today are to take a backroad that will take me through City of Rocks State Park. I’ll try and tell you all about it tomorrow.

Taking the untraveled path is how I hope to travel as my journey takes me across Middle America east to Front Royal, Virginia, before it heads south toward Texas, where my children expect me for Thanksgiving dinner.

Good-bye Lake of Many Moods. I’ll miss you, too. — Photo by Pat Bean

Book Report: Zilch. I celebrated my leaving Lake Walcott with a bunch of mostly old broads like myself, a group of women who call themselves the “Bay of Pigs.” Many of them have been friends since childhood. I feel honored that I got to know them at their First Wednesday lunches this year. I’ll carry their warm wishes with me on my journey and hope to see them next year when my tentative plans are to return to Lake Walcott. While I’m sorry my writing got left in the dust today, I’m not going to beat myself up. It wouldn’t be me if at least occasionally I didn’t let life interfere. That’s been a very hard lesson for me to learn.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: It’s a Bird Thing http://tinyurl.com/bnvf333 Exploring the Rio Chama Wild and Scenic River. My kind of travel. I was fortunate to have met Judy on a bird outing to check out mountain blue bird nest boxes above Ogden.

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“If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have to at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.” Douglas Adams

 

Heads or tails? Northern pintails both. — Photo by Pat Bean

 Favorite Bird-Watching Places

A roseate spoonbill turns the water pink with its reflection. — Photo by Pat Bean

            Squished between the Kennedy Space Center and the Canaveral National Seashore  is Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

On and around this Florida coastal area live over 1,000 plant species, 117 fish species, 68 amphibian and reptile species, 330 bird species and 31 different mammals.

I spent a couple of days roaming the refuge in search of the birds. These photos represent  just a few of the ones I saw.

Wood storks, snowy egrets, great egrets and white ibis feeding peacefully together, well until the snowy egrets got pushy. — Photo by Pat Bean

The world needs more such places.                

  Book Report:  Travels with Maggie is up to 43,203 words.. Not much else to say except I’m slowly plodding ahead. 

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Make Mine Mystery http://tinyurl.com/9mnc8b4 Visiting Archer City has been on my To-Do List for some time now. I think I need to give it a higher priority.

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I Often Fine It in Zoos

This artist captured a scene I can remember from when I had a young son and we had a cat. Albuquerque, New Mexico, Zoo — Photo by Pat Bean

“In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.” – Ralph Waldo Anderson

Frolicking young elephants at the Dallas, Texas, Zoo. — Photo by Pat Bean

 

Grinning hippo, Henson Robinson Zoo, Springfield, Illinois. — Photo by Pat Bean

When I travel, I often stop to visit zoos along the way. Besides my job at watching animals, especially if the zoos have given them adequate habitats to meet their needs and keep them happy, the grounds are usually full of botanical wonders. These green spaces also attract wild birds, which is why I always carry by binoculars with me when I visit. An extra bonus are the artistic efforts that have take place to enhance the zoo experience. Most zoos I have visited offer animal artists to show off their talents, often in a whimsical way that makes me smile.  Book Report: Travels with Maggie now at 42,248 words. Not a lot accomplished over the Labor Day weekend. I worked in the entrance kiosk here at Lake Walcott on Saturday and Sunday, and then hosted friends for a Labor Day picnic and day of playing Skip-Bo. I’m hoping to get in a good stretch of writing this afternoon.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Serenity Spell http://tinyurl.com/cjyxyg8 I love this little squirrel and the blog’s message to look for the magical things in the universe.

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            “To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.” George Santayana

            The above quote fit my blog, but the one below made me laugh.  I couldn’t decide which one to post with my column, so I’m sharing both.

            “A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing and the lawn mower is broken.”—James Dent.

The sage brush in an area adjacent to the Lake Walcott campground is beginning to think it’s already autumn. — Photo by .Pat Bean

Summer Comes, Summer Goes

The brown-headed cowbirds that earlier thronged my bird feeders have already migrated elsewhere — Sketch by Pat Bean

            I can’t believe my summer at Lake Walcott State Park in Southern Idaho is coming to an end. But then they do say time flies when you’re having fun.This green, manicured park that sits beside the lake and the Snake River is an oasis in a dry high desert region that this year has been plagued by wildfires. While it was a hotter summer here than last, it was still heaven compared to central and south Texas weather, where I usually spend the winters. There, they not only have the heat but high humidity as well.

I have three children in those regions who frequently remind me how lucky I am not to be there.

But the house sparrows, as noted from the ones feeding beneath my bird feeder just this morning, are still sticking around. — Photo by Pat Bean

Last year when I arrived at the park, it was still winter and the trees were bare. This year, on the exact same day, May 15th, it was 90 degrees when I arrived and the trees were already full of leaves. It cooled off, however, and it was almost July before I had to start using my RV’s air conditioner daily.

Now, I’m seeing signs of fall creep into the park. Many of the park’s birds, like the colorful Bullock’s orioles and the American goldfinch are already migrating south. Most robins, as well. Instead of seeing dozens of these birds on my walks through the park, I’m now lucky to see one.

Book Report: Travels with Maggie, 41,820 re-edited words. Not much progress but I’m hoping to spend all afternoon working on the book. I decided to blog earlier today and clear my decks. A young blogger asked today what was the best writing advice his readers had ever received. I told him, it’s “Write! Write! Write!”  

The wondering wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

          Bean’s Pat: Lifescapes: The Texas Hill Country http://dld.bz/bJNbr The sounds of summer. This is a blog for nature lovers written by Susan Wittig Albert, author of the China Bayles mystery series written for herb and plant lovers. .

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“Don’t taunt the alligator until after you’ve crossed the creek. – Dan Rather

Wheeler Creek, up Wheeler Creek Canyon near Huntsville, Utah. — Photo by Pat Bean

And a Shady Spot to Sit 

Burch Creek as it flows down from the mountains above Ogden,Utah. — Photo by Pat Bean

I like nothing better than to find a shady spot next to a frisky stream. It brightens even the best of days.

And I’ve found dozens of just such places in Utah, where this native Texan was fortunate to live for almost a third of her life. I thought I would share a couple with you.

I hope you enjoy the photos. But it would be better yet, if you would find your own babbling stream where you sit and let it talk to you for a while.

Book Report: Blogging late and quick because I spent the morning writing on Travels with Maggie, which is now up to 41,639 words.

The wondering wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Eric Murtaugh http://tinyurl.com/9lhy3as Who do you think you are anyway? I love this blog, and this blogger. But he names himself properly in this column when he calls himself an intelligent donkey’s behind. One of my models for my travels was Frank Tatchel, author of the 1923 book, “The Happy Traveler,” who said: “The real fun of traveling can only be got by one who is content to go as a comparatively poor man. In fact, it is not money which travel demands so much as leisure and anyone with a small, fixed income can travel all the time.”  Eric sounds to me like a modern-day Tatchel.

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 “I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul … we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.” – Neil Armstrong

Taking a Step Back to the Past

This sunset is my favorite shot of the moon. It just seemed appropriate to run it as part of my tribute to Neil Armstrong. — Photo by Pat Bean

I doubt if there are many Americans my age out there who weren’t glued in front of the television on July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong put the first human footprint on the moon.

I watched it with my five children, who then ranged in age from four to 13. In my opinion, that was the most significant event that’s happened in my life time.

Flowers for Neil — Photo by Pat Bean

The moon landing was especially sweet to me because of a geometry teacher I had in junior high school who said man would never get to the moon.  He was the same macho piece of manure who didn’t want girls taking his class, and said so in class, because they would never need to use geometry.

My granddaughters don’t know what they missed.

The words Armstrong spoke when he bounded on the surface of the moon – I can still see that grainy black and white image — are probably familiar even to those who aren’t my age:

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” If ever someone said the perfect thing at the perfect time, those were the words.

But he also said these words as well: “I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul … we’re required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.”

I hope these are words we will not just never forget, but will also take to heart and act upon.

We’ll miss you Neil Armstrong. May there still be challenges ahead for you in the afterlife.

Book Report: Travels with Maggie is now at 39,592 words. Things are going so much slower than I expected, but it’s going good. Part of the slowness is because of some extra research I’ve been doing to add a bit more depth to the book, and because I’ve been double checking facts.

The wondering wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat Uprooted Magnolia http://tinyurl.com/9tc5pcd Photos of a monarch butterfly to brighten your day. These beauties go through several stages before turning into butterflies. I wonder how many stages we humans get to improve ourselves.

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            “I adore Chicago. It is the Pulse of America.” Sarah Bernharndt

Chicago

I prefer Mother Nature over big cities, but every time I’ve visited Chicago over the years, I’ve always had a great time. –Photo by Pat Bean

“Maybe we can show government how to operate better as a result of better architecture. Eventually, I think Chicago will be the most beautiful great city left in the world.” Frank Lloyd Wright

This photo was taken shortly after exiting the Chicago Museum of Art, which I had spent the afternoon exploring earlier this year during a visit with a son who lives in Chicago.

   “I live and die with the Chicago Cubs.” – Sara Paretsky

Paretsky is the author of the V.I. Warshawski mysteries that are set in Chicago. She’s one of my favorite authors.  I love her tough-gal PI, and her descriptive images of Chicago. Perhaps her books should be displayed in the travel section of a book store and well as in the mystery section.

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“It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” – Frederick Douglass

The Hurricane Deck

On the way up to the Hurricane Deck and the full fury of Niagara Falls. I loved it. — Photo by Pat Bean

During my 2006 visit to Niagara Falls, I braved a claustrophobic elevator ride down through rock so I could view the falls up close and personal from the vantage point of what is known as the Hurricane Deck.

This bright orange wooden platform, reached by a looping series of walkways and steps leading to and from it, sits only 20 feet from the full force of the mighty falls.

The Fisherman by Joseph Mallard William Turner

As I stood on the deck in the useless yellow rain poncho handed out to tourists, being pummeled by the force of the water and deafened by its roar, I thought about J. M. William Turner. This artist, best known for the fantastic light he brought to his paintings, once had himself tied to a mast so he could both experience and observe a storm’s fury.

I once wrote an essay about Turner for a college art class. I wondered how much better the paper might have been if I had experienced the Hurricane Deck before doing so.

Book Report: Travels with Maggie is now up to 38,744 words. My blog today is a short blurb from the chapter that talks about my virgin visit to Niagara Falls. It was a good writing morning, especially since I only worked on the book for half an hour.  I have a busy day ahead. I’m doing the 100-mile round trip to Twin Falls from Lake Walcott to visit friends and stock up.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Green Herons http://tinyurl.com/8fehyzw If only we were all as smart as green herons. This one’s for all my fellow bird watchers. It includes a short You Tube video of one smart fishing bird.

 

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