March 23, 2017March 23, 2017 by kritterspaw

Best of 2016: Honorable Mentions

Travel
2016, az, best of, california, flowers, lockett meadow, lunenburg, night photography, northern arizona, nova scotia, oregon, photography, photos, top 10
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I wrote about my Best of 2016 photos here. What a fun and enlightening experience going through all my 2016 photos was. I feel super fortunate that I had enough good photos that I can do another Top 10 via this Honorable Mentions post… these were the ones that DIDN’T make the cut.. and a lot left that didn’t make Honorable Mentions. Must mean it was a great year.. and it was.

So here are the second Top 10 photos of 2016… check it out.

1. South Oregon Coast

2. Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

powell rvr closPSi.JPG 3. Lake Powell, Utah

4. Mogollon Rim, Northern Arizona

5. Happy Jack, Arizona

j beam lookPS.jpg 6. Canyon X, Page AZ

7. Lockett Meadow, Arizona

8. Baddeck, Nova Scotia

9. Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

startrees vert_Ssi.JPG

10. Happy Jack, AZ

Check out the Best of 2016…. here.

What do you think?

January 1, 2017January 1, 2017 by kritterspaw

Northern California Coast

Travel
CA, california coast, coast, crescent city, forest, northern california, ocean, redwoods, tree, water
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After all the scenic overviews we had along the Oregon coast, we were a bit surprised by the lack of ocean views along the Northern California Coast. Granted California has a lot of beach and ocean views… but I’m not talking about San Diego, Mission Beach, or Redondo Beach. I’m talking about the section from Crescent City, CA to just north of San Francisco.

This area tucks inland and goes through some very pretty red wood country. There are a number of ‘alternate routes’ like the Humboldt State Park that are certainly worth doing to get the full exposure to the redwoods… not just highway driving, which is what most of this drive feels like. While there are small towns in between, they seem to be working towns, run down and dilapidated. They aren’t the popular tourist towns bustling with people and shops like Sausalito.

maple redwoods vertPSi.JPG

There are the occasional signs that says ‘Coastal Access’ … turn here. If you drive down the long dirt road (and back) it’ll take an hour with no premonition of the view until you get there. Once you do, it yield beach access to the ocean and beach, but no great views, no jutting rocks.

The best ocean views along this stretch is between Jenner and Bodega Bay… with the added advantage that you can tuck into the quaint charming winery towns from Jenner. You can visit Duncan Mills, Guerneville, Sonoma, many more.

December 13, 2016December 13, 2016 by kritterspaw

Oregon Coast

Travel, Uncategorized
coast, lighthouse, ocean, oregon, rainforest, sea, surf, west, west coast
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harris beach ltPSi.JPG

Oregon does it right. With about 362 miles of coast land, they celebrate it at every turn. I counted over 70 State Parks along the way… on the coast alone (no mention of inland Parks). These parks offer Day Use & Camping (for hikers, bikers, campers, and RV’ers). They are full of scenic trails, picnic tables, fire pits, and nature walks. I so respect and admire their preservation of this absolute beauty and their embracing and sharing of it to their own and other communities.

kentuckyfallstrail copyPSi.JPG

There are wooded rainforest lands, lighthouses along the way, and rock outcroppings in the sea afar. It’s diverse, stunning, and gorgeous.

November 29, 2016November 29, 2016 by kritterspaw

Olympic Peninsula

The Olympic Peninsula is in the northwestern part of Washington state. It is home to the Olympic National Park, but the park itself weaves in and out of the Olympic Wilderness and National Forests. Several small towns sprout up here and there between the park and the wilderness areas, Quinault, Forks, Port Angeles, Sequim. It’s hard to know where the park begins and the wilderness ends.

You can see my post here on Olympic National Park.

It’s a huge wooded area and beautiful drive in and out of the park and forests. We love the eerie fog and rain forest trees.

It’s hard to imagine the amount of rain this area must have to get to develop the lush green that is evident by the result of it, but very interesting and beautiful to see.

November 21, 2016 by kritterspaw

Portland’s Japanese Gardens

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend Portland, Oregon as a travel destination… but if stuck there, I would recommend Portland’s Japanese Gardens. It is poetry in life and living Japanese art. The gardens are a contemplative beautiful place filled with moss ridden artfully composed bonsai trees and Japanese sentries.

The walkways and landscapes were stunningly choreographed. Admittedly a better time of the year to go would be when the leaves are flowering and with more color – probably October. Definitely worth the visit if in Portland – probably the best thing in Portland to see and do, in my humble opinion. Frankly, I hope never to have to go back to Portland… while I’m sure it’s not altogether true, it sure seemed like the bum population must outnumber the working class. But that was just our observation staying in downtown, as we had to step over and around the abundance of people sleeping on, in, and around the streets. It was disconcerting and uncomfortable for us. Would never go back.

October 17, 2016October 17, 2016 by kritterspaw

Lockett Meadow

Travel
arizona, aspen, autumn, color, fall, fall color, flagstaff, leaves, lockett meadow, popular, road, windy road
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aspen yellomtnPSi.JPG

One of the easiest and most beautiful fall color outings to get to outside of the ‘big city’ is Lockett Meadow. It’s only 20 minutes from Flagstaff and yields awesome concentrations of full color yellowing aspens.

aspen roadPSi.JPG

aspen canopyPSi.JPG

The characteristic white trunks and silver dollar yellow leaves make these aspen fields stand out in their stunning beauty. It’s a great place to go for the day, for a picnic, and just soak in nature at it’s finest.

It’s been an early fall. I wrote about it first here. As such the leaves are already starting to dissipate. Compounded by our gusty winds, the leaves are definitely falling as we are getting ready for winter. But for now we are enjoying the last hurrah of what has been a gorgeous Fall here on the mountain.

aspen grnoyellPSi.JPG

September 24, 2016 by kritterspaw

Vegas Fall

Travel
aria, bellagio, birds, decorations, fall, las vegas, photography, prada, pumpkin, pumpkin head, seasonal
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We tend to go to Vegas fairly often. The first thing everyone assumes is we like to gamble. Actually, not so much. For us, Vegas isn’t about gambling. It’s about the art, photography , and food. We eat stunning meals, helmed by amazing chefs, and then walk it off as we wander aimless through the miles of eye candy. Eye candy that is art, color, and lots of photographic fodor. The whole idea that someone built a very reasonable facsimile to Paris, INSIDE a building, is just plain remarkable. The imagination and creativity is fantastic.

The decorations are seasonal, and change constantly, so there is always something new to see. I can only imagine the creative staff sitting around in their morning meetings having some conversation… ‘ so Fall is coming… what speaks Fall to you?. How about birds migrating, sitting on power poles, flying about? And we have to have a pumpkin? How about a pumpkin head person? Why not? Let’s build it.’ INSIDE a building, mind you. Really?! Wow!

There is art in art stores…

There is art in purse stores and other unseeming places.. inside and out.

It’s a pleasure to walk around and through… ever changing, and ever interesting… and delicious, in more ways than one.

August 8, 2016 by kritterspaw

A Year in the Grand Canyon

Every once in awhile you come across something you really want to share. Point in case, my friend, Dave. Dave, is like my dog… in a good way (I do love my dog, Journey, by the way, and Journey adores Dave – she has good taste.). I mean that in the way that he has never met a stranger. Everyone he meets is a friend. He’s affable, friendly, talented, intelligent, and kind. He’s one of those interesting people that you just love to know, and someone I am super proud and happy to call my friend.

But this isn’t a plug for Dave… not really. It’s a plug for his book. You see, Dave is quite the aficionado on the Grand Canyon. He has been down the Grand Canyon over a year. And by that I mean IN the Canyon OVER 365 days. Pretty impressive. In that time he has had quite the many experiences. We are very fortunate that Dave heeded the advise of many who know him to write them down and publish them in a book. He finally did.

His book, A Year in the Grand Canyon, is a collection of those adventures. It reads like stories around the campfire. It’s engaging, inviting, fascinating and intriguing. It’s one of those books you just can’t put down. It’s a man’s tales of life through passing through the Grand Canyon and it’s many lessons it teaches. It’s fun, dead serious, and entertaining.

He got an impressive endorsement from none other than the famous Arizona story teller himself, Marshal Trimble who gives it a glowering review:

“Dave Elston’s passion for spending time in the beautiful Grand Canyon wilderness has produced a series of riveting stories that makes it a must read for anyone who’s ever been bitten by the “Canyon Bug.” His quest to spend 400 days in “Natures Grandest Architectural Masterpiece” over a period of years turned him from a green novice into an experienced veteran.

Elston’s stories also provide many important lessons in survival. Nature can be very unforgiving. The vicissitudes of the wilderness including the capricious elements, ankle-twisting terrain, lack of preparation, not understanding one’s limitations, and a myriad of others have endangered or cost the lives of many who fail to give it proper respect.

This book should be on the shelves of anyone who’s ever hiked the challenging trails of the Grand Canyon or ever wanted to.”

I don’t recommend a lot of books. In truth, I don’t find the time to read a lot. But this book is hard to put down, and a great read, one I highly recommend. Check it out..

A Year in the Grand Canyon, by Dave Elston

It is published by Vishnu Temple Press, Flagstaff, AZ . Online orders can be made at vishnutemplepress.com. The price is $15.95, and the book will ship around mid-August. If you would rather have an e-book, it will be ready by the end of August. Both versions will soon be on Amazon as well.

Order yours today.

July 23, 2016July 23, 2016 by kritterspaw

Seattle, WA

Travel
color, fish, market, old, pike place market, pikes place, sea, seattle, veg, wa, washington, zoo
2 Comments

We were just in Washington state. We haven’t been in probably a decade. It made me start to realize that irritating trait older people have… ‘I remember when’, ‘You’re too young too remember’, etc. Yes, it’s true we are young to be retired, but here we are… we never won the lottery, we never ‘made it big’… but we saved hard, and lived a different lifestyle. We seldom wrote checks to have others do for us what we could do ourselves. And we are younger than most of our retired friends.. the rest just aren’t retired yet. Why we have to endure their…. ‘just wait you’ll get there’, is beyond me. I hope never to do that to others in the future.

But here we were in WA state, bemoaning how it has changed from the last time we were here. I suspect that as time has passed, and time goes forward, it will forever be true. You can’t take it back as you plow down nature, replacing it with buildings and high-rises holding the likes of Starbucks and Hard Rock Cafe’s. As each of us see something for the first time, it is forever not the same again.

The traffic alone in the Seattle area was enough to keep me from ever coming back. It was worse than the worse day in California traffic, and that’s notoriously bad. People from the area swear never to go to Seattle proper just because of the traffic.

We remember going through Pike Place Market ever so fondly in the past, so we made a special trip to walk it’s halls yet again. We felt like salmon swimming upstream in a sea of tourists. It was a complete zoo.

June 25, 2016June 26, 2016 by kritterspaw

Nova Scotia

Travel
boats, cabot trail, canada, eagle, fog, lighthouse, lobster, lobster boats, lobstermen, nova scotia, puffins, seal, trees
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We just got back from a week trip to Nova Scotia. Many people asked us before we left, Why Nova Scotia? I found that to be an odd question. I ask… Why Not?

Why does anyone go to a particular place for vacation? Perhaps it’s because they have been before and enjoyed it, or maybe they want to try someplace new. For us, we don’t generally go to the same place twice, and are always trying to find new places to experience grand new adventures. Every person has different things that make their ideal vacation. I think it was my sister-in-law, Kate, who originally raved about Cape Breton (the northern most island of Nova Scotia). For Kate, I think the allure has more to do with the quiet solitude, Celtic influence, and musical flavor. Frankly, things that have little bearing for me personally.

Vacation ‘buying factors’ for us include great food and great photographs. We love seafood… so Nova Scotia seemed to us like as good a place as any. We had gotten a couple recommendations from other friends that had been there. It has been on our GO TO list for some time. So it came up to the top of the list and we scheduled the trip.

We broke the trip into 2 parts: (1) Cape Breton, the northern most island of Nova Scotia, home to the scenic Cabot Trail, and (2) Peggy’s Cove / Lunenburg coastal area.

Cape Breton in known for it’s Celtic origins. Even the signs are in Gaelic. It’s also home to the windy scenic Cabot Trail that winds between the forest and over the hills. The views yield mountains of trees tapering off into the sea, the occasional lighthouse, and vast hiking areas.

For our trip we were gifted with overcast skies, gray clouds, and drizzly rain. It made for poor sunrise/ sunsets, but interesting fog pix.

Lobstering is a big industry in Nova Scotia, as is all things sea related (no big surprise as it’s an island surrounded by the ocean and bays). Since we were there during lobster season we witnessed the hard working lobstermen coming in from their early morning hauls, and enjoyed many fruits of their labors (i.e. – lots of lobster 🙂 ).

In Baddeck we went on a puffin tour trip and I was thrilled to see many very small Atlantic puffins. My practice of panning photographs paid off as I swept my inadequate telephoto lens across the water to capture the fleeing small awkward birds. What fun! I wanted to turn around and go again. Worth the trip alone!

Not only does Baddeck have puffins (actually on Bird Islands off of Englishtown), Baddeck is also home to the Alexander Graham Bell museum and Baddeck Lobster Suppers, which in addition to great lobsters had fantastic mussels fresh from Cape Breton.

We had a fabulous time in Cape Breton, and were off to Peggy’s Cove. See post here.