I ended my previous post thinking the spirits in this sacred place were telling me to slow down. Well, perhaps I misunderstood that message, because the hike I went on the next day seemed spectacular. First thing, I signed in with the visitor’s center for back-country hiking, then I joined Tracy in fording the Milk […]
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Writing-on-Stone Overwhelm
I often feel like spirituality is something other people experience. I’ve never felt connected to a greater being, and I wonder if my feelings about the land and nature aren’t a little forced. And when I get emotional while witnessing indigenous ceremonies, my tears are probably a whole lot of racial guilt. Some places are […]
Hiking Texas’ Hill Country
My Texan friend, Karen, told me that this central region (the Edwards Plateau) is lovely, and right she is; it’s unlike any part of Texas we’ve seen. Not to imply Texas is generally unlovely, but this area is special. We’re in Garner State Park, along the Rio Frio, west of San Antonio. Right now it’s […]
I’ll Meet You at the Gator, But First I Gotta Get Around This Turkey
I texted that to Tracy yesterday afternoon while we were both hiking here at Choke Canyon State Park in south Texas. He was up ahead, and he’d found an alligator in a shallow part of the lake, so he texted me a heads-up in case I wanted to see. I did! In my rush, I […]
Tabasco Sauce Is a Big Deal
I didn’t know this until we spent a day at the McIlhenny farm and factory and bottling plant, all on an “island” in southern Louisiana. It’s called an island because the land is a big circle and much higher than surrounding flat Louisiana; it’s, interestingly, a naturally occurring salt mound that was shoved upwards during […]
Eating Our Way through Cajun County
We’re wrapping up a week in a small town in south Louisiana called Abbeville, which we picked because we love the little bit of this state we’ve seen on two drive-throughs and wanted more before our winter stay in Texas. We’re right in Acadiana (a term somehow I’d never heard) aka Cajun Country. I tell […]
Doug and Melanie in New Mexico
Hi all. We spent two short weeks at Big Bend National Park on the Mexican border. It is a beautiful, rugged part of the country where even dried mud can be art. The scenery is stunning. It varies from river scenes along the Rio Grande, to desert landscapes to mountains and magnificent night skies. But […]
North Shore: Waterfalls, Smoked Fish, Never Too Many Breweries
I was set on writing this entry at the end of today’s day of errands in Duluth, Minnesota (it’s Thursday); I like having an entry to end the ”blog week,” with my email going out on Fridays. But damn did we have a busy day out. We left the campsite before 9 am, and now […]
A Different “Premium” at Lake Superior
Man, it’s been almost a week since I posted last, which has to be a record for me. Since then, we: stayed overnight in a rest area near the Canadian border, which had its pros (a pond we sat by for happy hour) and cons (trucks moving in and out all night); crossed the border […]
Black Bear, Black Bear, What Do You See?
I see a lone hiker looking at me. If my headline isn’t familiar to you, you don’t know a kid, I’d bet. People have been reading the picture book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, by Bill Martin Jr. and the famous Eric Carle, since 1967. My mom read it to me; I […]
