October 29, 2024
Walks like this invigorate the soul. Every turn–beauty–an escape from the everyday manmade hierarchy of priorities. Every step is just where I ought to be, reinforced by the ease of gratification. Oh, the world can be so simple. Any yet…
October 23, 2024
How would guess that I was in the Pacific Northwest? Would it be a horizon dotted with coniferous silhouettes, like a Bob Ross painting? Would it be the prevalence of drive through espresso stands and their foot-tall coffee cups? Or the grey? The wash of a cloudy web of gauze Read more…
October 22, 2024
This is it, the reason of my long journey West: The Hoh Rainforest at Olympic National Park. Though surrounded by the glorious Sitka spruce and Douglas Firs, this piece of surreal temperate rainforest beckoned me into its mossy arms. I was ecstatic that the sky was clear and the sun Read more…
File this under sublime. A tree suspended in air by eroding land digs its roots into… the air. It carries on the functions of a tree: growth, photosynthesis, other tree processes, including looking gorgeous for my pictures. Here’s a collection, including some by a slightly surly visitor to Olympic National Read more…
I wanted to treat myself to a gift for my birthday… one of my favorite things… a beautiful place. Olympic National Park on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsular has an abundance of all kinds of beauty. One can spend weeks in the range of landscape wonders in the park, but I Read more…
October 18, 2024
In a cute little town we found, vegan options! The bustling and 100% vegan Kelley Farm Kitchen was the perfect place for a meal after some exploring. We shared some vegan nachos. Shared as in he had like 10% and I had 90%. Mutualism… eating makes me happy and watching Read more…
Autumn is a beautiful time to go see covered bridges. So flying my guy to town, we made a day of it because this would be the first of a series of days where I would hold the cards… the birthday cards! Yes, it is birthday week and so I Read more…
October 6, 2024
I feel like I have been on vacation for a year… each day an unknown waiting adventure. I welcome the adventures. In fact, I am here for them… away from all I know and love. So let me pay my dues then let me get to a place where I Read more…
October 2, 2024
I had a relatively long overnight in Huntsville, so I checked some things out beyond the historic cemetery. But this required walking… do not take the ability to walk in peace, in safety for granted. Huntsville is not a walky place, but it is how you find the gems. Like Read more…
Overnights are a highlight of the job. Sometimes they last only for a good night’s sleep, others last a couple hours short of an entire day. Even quick overnights offer at least some good natural light from the large hotel windows to take selfies. Others offer at least the palm Read more…
October 1, 2024
My job offers me the opportunity to explore so many cities. An one of the things I like to add to my list is cemeteries. Beautiful historic rural cemeteries offer me lots of steps and lots of pictures. To follow, one such cemetery close to my hotel in Hunstville, Alabama… Read more…
September 19, 2024
Just a quick stop at the all-vegan Mad Rabbit Cafe, just a short walk from my hotel. After hours of snacking on airplane nuts, it is nice to sit down and get serve a hot, delicious vegan sandwich. I got the No Harm, No Fowl—fried chik’n, chipotle sauce, cabbage slaw, Read more…
Just a quick drive from Madison, Wisconsin is Verona–headquarters to the software company Epic. The sprawling campus is quite the draw as it features structures meant to evoke the imagination. Both the exterior buildings and the inside workspaces are themed! Though I just walked about on my own, opting to Read more…
September 14, 2024
It was time for another trip… this meal prep would be easy peasy. Bread, almond butter, jelly Fruit is a necessity … these kiwis only lasted a day. I ate them all up one after another! Long time, no uniform! An abandoned hotel on my walk in Albany, my first Read more…
September 5, 2024
This bizarre radar dome was part of Nike Missile Launch Site W-83 back during the Cold War days. Time moved on and grew a community in the space that once were the grounds, but this thing remains. It is out of place next to some baseball fields attached to an Read more…
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia might be one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. I mean, they have the Space Shuttle “Discovery” INSIDE the hangar, as well as 3,000 other artifacts–HUGE & small. My Dad would know the names of all these planes. Wish he Read more…
September 3, 2024
You know I love a sunflower field… even a dying field of sunflowers. Because in my history of stumbling upon sunflowers who’ve had their fill of sun and bow their heads to wither away, folks do some fun things to their cute faces. And it was no exception in Tennessee. Read more…
September 2, 2024
Where in the world am I? With a workplace up in the sky, sometimes I forget the where and the when. It’s an occupational hazard… But today, I’m in Memphis! And here are some pictures from my quick stay. Like other cities in Tennessee, Memphis is a musical place: Al Read more…
August 27, 2024
When the stars came out at City of Rocks National Reserve, I saw the Milky Way right away… a gauzy spread of stars right above our campfire. I set up and used the glowing light of the fire to paint the interesting rock formations around us. This is why I Read more…
“This City is walled in on every side with towering granite mountains, some peaks shooting athwart the sky like towering domes. While hundreds of piles, peaks, steeples and domes, of all shapes possible in the distance looking like an old dilapidated City”– Emigrant journal entry from Dr. John Hudson Wayman – July Read more…
August 26, 2024
This place had us doing a 3-point turn on a one-lane 70 mph state road… an old bar with some great details and a mobile home out back. It announces “You loot; we shoot.” I wish I could take this vintage rug-covered bar Another amazing rug Vintage ads A decaying Read more…
So I have a list of theme hotels I want to hit… this ocean-inspired room is beyond the door at Pocatello, Idaho’s Black Swan Inn, a classy fantasy suite hotel I hope to return to soon. The attention to detail in the room was extraordinary, as was the customer service. Read more…
Running back out to Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve when it was dark enough gave us a sliver of time before the clouds rolled in to capture the vivid stars. And a sliver is all we had left having taken two flights and driving several hours after Read more…
This land used to be lava… oozing, moving, drying and once again holding life. Having briefly stopped here at Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve in 2016, I wanted to shoot the stars at this wondrous landscape. But first, a visit during the sunshine. The colors of time Read more…
August 25, 2024
When I reserved a room in Arco, Idaho from the comfort of my bed in Washington DC it was because of its proximity to Craters of the Moon National Monument. When we arrived, the small town had plenty of wonders to wonder about. Like why were there a bunch of Read more…
A quick stop at Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho. Taller than Niagara Falls, Shoshaone is often referred to as the “Niagara of the West.” Though beautiful, the 900 foot width is far less than Niagara’s and therefore a bit static and less exciting to photograph. I recommend it as Read more…