Pat Bean's blog

December 18, 2012 by Pat Bean

Texas to Arizona

            “Life is one big road with lots of signs. So when you’re riding through the ruts, don’t complicate your mind. Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy. Don’t bury your thoughts, put your visit to reality. Wake up and live!” – Bob Marley

Changing Lifestyles – At Least Temporarily

  

The Guadalupe Mountains — Photo by Pat Bean

          After two months of leisurely cross-country travel, which I just completed blogging about, and six weeks traveling around Texas to enjoy the company of  children and grandchildren whom I hadn’t seen since April or longer, I set off to Tucson to spend Christmas with my youngest daughter and her family.

My canine traveling companion, Pepper, and I made the 950-mile trip in three days, which was way too fast for sight-seeing along the way. That’s best done by traveling only a hundred miles and then staying put for a day or more.

The first night I made it to Anson, Texas, where I hooked Gypsy Lee up for the night in a not-too-appealing RV park that was shared with a motel. It was located next to a noisy cotton mill and litter, every piece of which Pepper wanted to investigate, was plentiful on our short walks around the area.

Guadalupe Peak — Photo by PatBean

The next day, the drive was accompanied by rain, dust storms and high winds that sent tumbleweeds doing their thing across the highway. The wind had RV, Gypsy Lee, doing a rock and roll dance, even after I stopped for the day early in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Thankfully the RV park was nicer.

The next day was calm, and when Highway 180 took me back into Texas through the Guadalupe Mountains, I stopped briefly to enjoy being in the presence of Guadalupe Peak which at 8,749 feet is the highest point in Texas.

After that, I stayed in the driver’s seat, stopping only for gas until I reached Tucson, which is where Pepper and I are going to stay — at least for a while. I found a small pet-friendly, one-bedroom apartment in the Catalina Mountain foothills, which after living in a tiny RV for eight years, seems like a mansion.

But I’m keeping Gypsy Lee primed for the road for when the wanderlust hits again.

Book Report:  Still in snail mode.

            Bean’s Pat: Bird Light Wind http://tinyurl.com/cnevdu8 Red-shouldered hawk. Fantastic photos

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged changing lifestyles, Guadalupe Mountains, Guadalupe Peak, pat bean, postaday, tuccson | 4 Comments »

Weekly Photo Challenge: Delicate

December 16, 2012 by Pat Bean

It’s a Matter of Balance

“A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and woried to death by a fown on the right man’s brow.” — Ovid

Balancing Rock in Utah’ Arches National Park. You can see it in the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. — Photo by Pat Bean

Posted in Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged Arches National Park, delicate, pat bean, Utah parks, weekly photo challenge | 2 Comments »

Chalk Ridge Falls

December 14, 2012 by Pat Bean

Another hiker, the only one we saw on the hike, volunteered to take our picture.

            “Collect moments, not things.” – Unknown

A Hike for the Memory Bank

When my oldest son, D.C.  graduated from high school in Utah, he joined the Army, which sent him to Hawaii. Then he got married, had three kids, made the Army his career, had many tours of overseas duty, and when he was stateside, he and I never lived in the same state.

 

The waterfall. — Photo by Pat Bean

He finally retired, and lately we’ve finally been able to spend more than just a day or two together maybe once a year. Not only did I get to have Thanksgiving with him and his family this year, he and I found time to take a hike together.             It was great easy trail,  with a waterfall at the end of a loop, turtles sunning themselves on logs and a suspension bridge across a river. Mother Nature kept calling me to look at this tree or that plant.

But it will now be awhile before I see D.C. and his family again. Gypsy Lee, Pepper and I are back on the road to visit another child. When you have five kids, as I did way too many years ago, and they all scatter to the five winds, that becomes a way of life.

The turtles. When I tried to get closer they dove beneath the water. — Photo by Pat Bean

That’s why memories are important. And the photos I took of the hike will bring them back many times. I hope you don’t mind my sharing them with you.            Book Report: Stuck again. It seems the closer I get to the end of Travels with Maggie, the slower I get. What’s up with this I’m asking myself.

Bean’s Pat:  The Leisurely Life http://tinyurl.com/d6n8vue After the storm, birds and sunsets

           

Posted in Favorite Hikes, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged chalk ridge falls, hiking, pat bean, postaday | 3 Comments »

December 11, 2012 by Pat Bean

The rv park wasn’t all that great, but the sunset made everything perfect this last night on the road of this journey. — Photo by Pat Bean

            “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – T.S. Eliot

Adventures with Pepper: Day 55 Continued

            Today’s plan was to drive to Memphis, stop at the Graceland RV Park, then spend a couple of days exploring the city, much like I had done in Nashville.

   

One of the many squirrels that delighted me and taunted Pepper during this journey. — Photo by Pat Bean

         After my leisurely morning of birds, a walk with Pepper and a small pot of cream-laced African coffee, I set out on my short drive to the city Elvis called home.            As I neared Memphis, my quiet, peaceful morning turned into a cacophony of loud traffic and a tangled web of too crowded roads leading into the heart of chaos – and yet once again I changed my plans. .

            When I came to the turnoff I needed to take to carry out the plans that had been brewing in my head for the past week, I drove right on by. I knew that one big city in a week, away from Mother Nature, had been just right. An echo of that week would make me as sick as eating too much candy.

             I had decided to drive on for about another hour, and then stop at the first RV park that looked decent. I figured that wouldn’t be a problem, since for the first time in two months I was driving on an interstate and not a back-country road.

            It was over three hours later, after I had passed Little Rock, Arkansas, however before I found one. It was not very inviting but I stopped anyway because I didn’t want to continue driving after dark.

            Tomorrow would take me into Dallas, where my oldest daughter lived, and bring an end to this leg of my journeys. I’m glad you came along for the 6,000-mile, zigzagging ride from Idaho to Texas — past dinosaur bones, up and over the Rocky Mountains, sleeping among prairie dogs, winding through  the Appalachians on the Blue Ridge Parkway, through the Smoky Mountains and finally hooking up at the Grand Ole Opry.

            It was a fun trip. Where do you think we should go next?

            Book Report: Still slowly moving forward. Wish I was in a faster lane, but then I’d miss the flowers along the way. It’s hard being a writer when you always afraid you’re going to miss something.

         

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

   Bean’s Pat: Song for Today http://tinyurl.com/bm4tz9w It’s all about Pooh and Christopher Robin and feeling young again.   

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Journeys, Travel | Tagged pat bean, posaday, RV travel | 4 Comments »

Weekly Photo Challenge: Changing Seasons

December 8, 2012 by Pat Bean

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn  a mosaic of them all.”

 

SPRING

Texas bluebonnets

SUMMER

Tucson desert

FALL

Cumbes Pass, Colorado

WINTER

Chicago morning

Photos by Pat Bean

 

 

Posted in Travel, Weekly Travel Theme | Tagged postaday, the four seasons, weekly photo challenge | 9 Comments »

A Tennessee Warbler and a Bluebird

December 8, 2012 by Pat Bean

            “I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices. But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly. I think it is just as important to sing about beautiful mornings as it is to talk about slums. I just couldn’t write anything without hope in it. – Oscar Hammerstein II

Tennessee warbler — Wikipedia photo by Jerry Oldenette

Adventures with Pepper: Day 55

            Natchez Trace State Resort Park was awesome, and I would have stayed much longer than one night except I had no phone or internet service, and I had a magazine writing deadline to meet.          

Eastern bluebird — Photo by Pat Bean

   I didn’t rush to get off the next morning, however, because my plan was to just drive to Memphis, 120 miles away.

             After much debating with myself during the night, I had decided to skip the remainder of the Natchez Trace and take the quicker shorter route home to family. The decision was partly based on my desire to hug children and grandchildren and partly on budget concerns. Gypsy Lee’s furnace was acting up and I needed to get it checked out, and I thought what I saved on the trip would cover any needed repairs.

            Thankful that I had finally made the decision, I let myself enjoy a cup of coffee while I stared out at Pin Oak Lake and watched the sun come up. I’m learning that sometimes you need to just sit for a while without your hands on a keyboard or a book in your hand. It’s taken me way too many years to learn the reward of doing this, which most days is just renewed energy for a busy day ahead.

            This day I had a different reward. First there was the Tennessee warbler, about 10 of them merrily pecking in the grass right outside my RV. Thankfully they stayed around long enough for me to get out my field guide and identify them as the bird was a lifer for me, meaning the first one of its species that I had identified.

            It was the 703^rd bird species to go on my list, and I watched them until they decided it was time to move on.

            The second reward was a colorful eastern bluebird that was using the mirror of the truck parked next to me to watch itself in the vehicle’s window. It kept turning around and around for a better look. And it was so interested in itself that I was able to slide my RV window open and get a good picture.

            What a great start to my day.

            Book Report: Back to working on Travels with Maggie more seriously. I’m almost back to where I decided to reread what I had already edited this second time around. I was mostly pleased with what I read, and made a format decision that should let me finish the last few chapters more quickly.

          

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

  Bean’s Pat: Serenity Spell http://tinyurl.com/a4gfcco Eyes of the Everglades. I love black-crowned night herons.

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Birds, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged eastern bluebiird, nstchez trace state resort park, pat bean, postaday, tennessee warbler | 3 Comments »

December 6, 2012 by Pat Bean

The Road Not Taken — and Kudzu  

Kudzu taking over the landscape. Photo by Pat Bean ,

            “Everyone has to make their own decisions … You just have to be able to accept the consequences without complaining.” – Grace Jones

Adventures with Pepper: Day: Day 53-54

After two sight-seeing filled days in Nashville, I stayed put at Nashville RV Park for an extra day so as to catch up on my journal, my writing, and some needed rest. I spent most of that day, however, replotting my route back to Texas.

Pin Oak Lake, Natchz Trace State Resort Park, Tennessee. — Photo by Pat Bean

I had planned to drive the entire Natchez Trace but was now reconsidering. I had previously driven the lower end of the trace, and if I only spent one day on the historic old foot path, I could cut miles and days off my trip back to Texas.

Usually when I get into an argument with myself about which route to take, the longer, slower, less traveled one wins the day. But my slow, beit fantastic, drive through Shenandoah National Park on Skyline Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway had been tiring.

I was also eager to once again hook up with kids and grandkids that I hadn’t seen in over half a year. So this time, after a night of sleeplessly continuing to mull the decision, I didn’t take Robert Frost’s less-traveled road, but his road-not-taken instead.

It was

A bit of color could be seen through the trees, but today’s drive was mostly a green one. — Photo by Pat Bean

a slow pleasant 150-mile drive in which autumn’s fall colors had been replaced by trees buried beneath kudzu. If you’re not from the South, you might ask what is kudzu.

It’s an invasive plant that grows and spreads over the landscape like uncontrolled wild fires, beautiful but deadly to plants that it envelops in its viny arms.

I ended the day at Tennessee’s Natchez Trace State Resort Park, where I hooked Gypsy Lee up beside Pin Oak Lake, took Pepper for a long walk, then settled down with her outside to watch the sun set over the lake.

I went to be still thinking about my choice of routes because the options were still ahead of me.

Book Report: Worked on Travels with Maggie for only a half hour this morning, stopping for a dentist appointment.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

 

Bean’s Pat: Life out of the Box http://tinyurl.com/cptj25y The value of a notebook. This should give us all pause to be thankful for what we have.

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Journeys, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged decisions, kudzu, Natchez Trace, pat bean, postaday, robert frost | 6 Comments »

Opryland: Where Outside is Inside

December 4, 2012 by Pat Bean

Looking up at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel rooms from one of the complex’s atriums. — Photo by Pat Bean

 “Do not disturb signs should be written in the language of the hotel maids.” –Tim Bedore           

Adventures with Pepper: Day 52 continued   

One of numerous waterfalls that help create the illusion of bringing the outdoors inside. — Photo by Pat Bean

          What started out in 1877 as the 600-room Opryland Hotel   is today the largest non-casino hotel in this country. Numerous expansions and the big renovation after the hotel was flooded in May of 2010, along with the next door Grand Ole Opry, have inspired the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center ad men  to use the words, “You won’t believe what’s under our roof,” in their promotional copy.

A tour of the hotel was the second part of this Gray Line tour, which earlier had me standing on the “Unbroken Circle” of the Grand Ole Opry stage.

Wow, I think was my surprised response as I wandered through the complex and then took the quarter-mile boat ride around the glass-roofed, landscaped-to-perfection complex.

 

I wondered what Opryland charges these colorful wood ducks for their space in one of the complex’s atriums. I shot this photo of the ducks during the boat ride.

Normal room rates to stay at the hotel range from $169 to $244 per night. I was curious and checked it out to see how it compared with the $34 per night cost of my stay at the Nashville Country RV Park.                        While it would have been fun to stay in the hotel during my Nashville stay, it wasn’t within my travel budget, nor, I suspected, would my canine traveling companion, Pepper, have been allowed to stay with me.

Book Report: Still dinking along while some of my writing colleagues are making amazing amounts of progress on their projects. But I got most of my Christmas shopping done yesterday.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: What I See is What I Shoot http://tinyurl.com/c9kgaqx Far away in the Wonderland. A quirky blog that usually fascinates me. Today you can learn how to say bicycle in Russian

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Birds, Favorite Places, Nature, Travel, Writing | Tagged Gaylord hotels, nashville, Opryland, pat bean, postaday | Leave a Comment »

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflections

December 2, 2012 by Pat Bean

“Everyone and everything that shows up in our life is a reflection of something that is happening inside of us.” Alan Cohen

Gaylord Opryland’s Resurgenge

Resurgence sits in the Cascades Lobby at Gaylord Opryland. — Photo by Pat Bean

When I saw this glass sculpture, I immediately assumed it was the work of the famed glass artist Chihuly. But unlike another blogger, who will remain nameless to protect the guilty, I double-checked and discovered it wasn’t.

The piece is called resurgence and was installed as part of Gaylord Opryland Resort’s restoration after the huge complex was flooded, along with much of Nashville, in May of 2010.

Opryland’s press releases say the piece was made in Sweden but didn’t mention the artist, or perhaps artists.

I thought the piece was fantastic, especially the way light reflected of it. Don’t you?

A glass sculpture by Chihuly that was on display as part of a plant-glass exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in 2006. — Photo by Pat Bean

Posted in Travel, Weekly Photo Challenge | Tagged Chilhuly, Gaylord Opryland, glass sculptures, Nashille, pat bean, postaday, weekly photo challenge | 2 Comments »

The Grand Ole Opry

November 30, 2012 by Pat Bean

Me doing the tourist thing and getting my photo taken at the Grand Old Opry. This gave my kids a big laugh because I’m tone deaf and couldn’t sing on key if my life depended on it.

“Show business is made up of disappointments, and it’s through life’s disappointments that you grow.” – Minnie Pearl

Adventures with Pepper: Day 52

This was the day I did what every visitor to Nashville should do: Visit the Grand Ole Opry. And indeed it was GRAND in capital letters.

The Ryman Auditorium seats 2,362 people. — Photo by Pat Bean

I was glad, however, that yesterday’s tour included a brief one of the less impressive Ryman Auditorium, which was home to the Opry for many years and which is still its winter home.

When I had entered the Ryman, the building immediately had me thinking of its similarity to the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, where a pin dropped can be heard by everyone. Our guide followed my thoughts by noting that its acoustics were second only to the Mormon Tabernacle.

Both buildings have about them an air of history that makes one wonder what their walls would say if walls could talk.

The new home for the Grand Ole Opry seats 4,400. Photo by Pat Bean

The much larger, grander home of the Opry these days spoke to me of how this country and the Opry have changed over the years. It was like going from a log cabin to a mansion.

I couldn’t help but appreciate the conveniences, however. Change is not all bad.

And I was pleased to note – and stand on – the  Opry’s “unbroken circle,” a  six-foot oak circle cut from the Ryman’s stage.

“That circle is the most magical thing when you’re a performer,” said Brad Paisley, “to stand there and get to sing on those same boards that probably still contain dust from Hank Williams’ boots.”

Paisley, via the magic of video, joined us for the tour.

Book Report: I’m happy to say that while I didn’t get as much editing done of Travels with Maggie as I wanted – of course I never do – I got back to the task after a week of family festivities.

The Wondering Wanderer’s blog pick of the day.

Bean’s Pat: Colline’s Blog http://tinyurl.com/c2mceal This is exactly how I recharge. Mother Nature always kisses my wounds and makes everything better. How do you recharge?

Posted in Adventures With Pepper, Favorite Places, Travel, Writing | Tagged country music, Grand Ole Opry, nashville, Ryman Auditorium | 3 Comments »

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  “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters.” — Ursula K. Le Guin

  Pat Bean is a writer, avid birder, hiker and passionate nature observer with wanderlust in her soul. She spent nine years living and traveling in a small RV. She now lives in Tucson with Scamp, a rescue who was supposed to be a Schnauzer mix but turned out to be a Siberian Husky-Shih Tzu mix who is as stubborn as his owner, her granddaughter says. She was also a journalist for 37 years, and can be reached at patbean@msn.com

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