SkyBluePink
From the yearly pilgrimages to the Lights
On The Road – SkyBluePink – Winter Lights at the ArboretumPost + Comments (19)
by WaterGirl| 19 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging
From the yearly pilgrimages to the Lights
On The Road – SkyBluePink – Winter Lights at the ArboretumPost + Comments (19)
by WaterGirl| 37 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging
Two pictures from when I was two years old. The back of the crying picture says “he didn’t like his horse but now he rides it all the time. Two pictures from the Christmas I was 16 years old. Dig those side burns!
Paul in St. Augustine, now Paul in Jacksonville – Old Christmas PhotosPost + Comments (37)
by WaterGirl| 56 Comments
This post is in: Holidays When We Were Little, On The Road, Photo Blogging
This morning we have a set of great Christmas pics from cope! (Thought I had better belatedly clarify since apparently “cope” doesn’t necessarily jump out as a nym!)
My stepdad took lots and lots of pictures when we were growing up. He only took slides, though, so after a single viewing, they pretty much disappeared into a closet. Over the past couple of years, I took it upon myself to scan all his slides and turn them into digital slideshows complete with opening and closing credits and accompanying songs of the period. Some of the slides were, after more than fifty years, in sad shape and my scanning and editing software could only do so much but there you go.
This is my cohort, my brothers and sisters in arms. I am the oldest. As I keep blathering about, my wife and I are moving back to Colorado after thirty three years in Florida. The five of us will all be living within fifteen minutes of each other. That small rocking chair is already packed up, ready to go.
by WaterGirl| 16 Comments
This post is in: Grand Junction, On The Road, Photo Blogging
Hey you *slackers :-) where are your holiday pics? Holidays when you were little, Christmas lights, decorations?
* cope, jeffery, SkyBluePink, one more mystery person and the person who lost all their childhood pictures in a fire … not included in the (pretend) name calling.
In July of 2022, my grandson and I flew out to visit my family in Grand Junction, Colorado. Born and raised in Florida, he had never been out West. At the time, his family was preparing to sell their Florida home and move to Vermont, a task they completed this past November. During this visit, I decided that my wife and I should sell our Florida home too, and move back to Colorado after 33 years of Florida life.
I tried to make sure we did something different every day so my grandson could share some fun memories with his grandpa. I think that mission was accomplished.
To save money, our flights there and back were at odd hours and each involved a lengthy layover in Denver. This is the dawn view as we left Orlando in a drizzle.
On The Road – cope – Grand Junction and Beyond, Part IPost + Comments (16)
by WaterGirl| 19 Comments
This post is in: French Basque Country, On The Road, Photo Blogging
There are seven Basque provinces, four in Spain and three in France. St. Jean Pied de Port is the center of the three French ones arrayed along the Spanish border in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques mountains. It was classified among the Most Beautiful Villages of France in 2016.
These first three photos are of the main street, rue de la Citadelle, which runs down hill and over the river Nive.
On The Road – Steve from Mendocino – French Basque Country #3Post + Comments (19)
by WaterGirl| 31 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging
I’m pretty much a lurker on the site, but thought I could contribute a couple of On The Road items since you’re running short!
This is of a visit that a friend and I made to St Davids the smallest city in the UK in May 2019. My friend had recently bought an electric car and this was the first long drive she’d attempted (long as in 230 miles) and I think I was invited for moral support during range anxiety.
This is the view from where we stayed, Tower Hill – a Landmark Trust property. That’s St Davids Cathedral which gives the small town its city status. It was a popular place of pilgrimage in the middle ages. Pope Calixtus II decreed that “Two pilgrimages to St Davids is equal to one to Rome, and three pilgrimages to one to Jerusalem”
by WaterGirl| 20 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging
The Paria river is a tributary of the Colorado River. It drains an absolutely huge area of the Grand staircase Escalante National Monument (GDSENM). In its lower reaches it runs through a slot canyon that starts some 40 miles west of Kanab, UT and ends at Lee’s Ferry. Some miles down the slot canyon is the confluence with Buckskin Gulch, the World’s longest slot canyon, of which I have shown some picture here in a previous submission.
During my latest crossing of Southern Utah I hiked the Paria slot and then climbed out to the top of the Paria Plateau. I crossed the plateau, then climbed down by the Vermillion Cliffs and hiked over to the Grand Canyon.
I this submission to One the Road I show you some pictures from the Paria Plateau. There are two special areas on the plateau, the Coyote Buttes, to which access is strictly controlled. One is the famous “Wave” located in Coyote Buttes North and the other is the the Coyote Buttes South area. In order to visit either of these sites you have to have a permit which you obtain (or not, most likely) by participating in a lottery, either online via recreation.gov or locally two days before you hike. There are a maximum of twenty lucky people per day that get to visit these two places. There are of course always a few who try to sneak in and they invariably run afoul of the rangers who patrol these areas every day. I am told that it is expensive when you get caught. I have so far not been lucky enough to score a permit, but this Fall I scored an overnight permit for the Paria Canyon, so I know that one can and even I can be lucky.
This Fall I visited the White Pocket as part of a short two-day hike, passing Coyote Buttes South as I did so, getting a sneak preview of what the might be like. I will include a few pictures of what I saw in this submission. White Pocket is accessible from a trailhead along a long and rather rough dirt road. A hike of about five to six hours will get you there. It is not that far, but the entire hike is along deeply sandy roads and walking these is just exhausting. Those who cannot or do not want to put in that much effort can drive to White Pocket if they have a 4 WD car and if that vehicle has high clearance and if they know what they are doing driving 4 WD. Getting stuck up there and having to be pulled out would be really expensive.
My plan was to reach White Pocket in early afternoon, take some pictures in late afternoon, camp nearby, take some more pictures early in the morning and then return to my car. As a consequence of how White Pocket is situated the light in late afternoon was not good for taking pictures, most of the sandstone was in the shade.
Northern end of Coyote Buttes North from along the dirt road leading to White Pocket. Of the two Coyote Butte areas with restricted access, the Northern one is the more subtle and the Southern one the more showy.