Utah

As captivating as our entire trip has been thus far I found myself staring open-mouthed at the mysterious beauty that is Utah. When I wasn’t taking photos, that is.  There is a mystical feel to this incredible expanse of space. Stopping at the Utah Visitor Center 40 miles across the state line, the volunteer told us to be sure to fill up the car in Green River. “There’s nothing else for over a hundred miles afterward,” she said with foreboding. When asked what sights I should look for she told me to be sure to stop along the several scenic overlooks when we reach the San Rafael Reef. A reef? Here? Turns out the answer is “yes,” albeit one tens of millions of years old.  Also known as San Rafael Swell, I learned that this is a large geologic anticline.  An “anticline” is a formation of stratified rock raised up, by folding, into a broad arch so that the strata slope down on both sides form a common crest.  She said we would recognize the area immediately as we would be met by a wall of inclined rock that stretches almost as far as you can see to the north and south.  True enough.  Driving westward this wall was easily spotted, and was the spot of our first scenic view.  It was an incredible sight.  Thank you, Utah, for an amazing time.

Road Trip!

Missed me?! We drove cross country from the sands of North Carolina beaches to the sands of the high desert of Nevada. Our journey took us through North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada. I took scads of photos “on the fly” as the husband drove. By the time we arrived at our destination I was getting pretty good at capturing scenes going mach speed! This one image is from the Rocky Mountains. I’ll post more as I process them, however I’m finding the images aren’t quite living up to my memories. That ever happen to anyone else?

For Nelson Mandela

“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”
(Nelson Mandela)

Rest in peace, Mr. Mandela.

Pink Clouds

Sometimes it’s not the sunrise that’s photoworthy, but what it illuminates. These huge, pink feathery clouds were to the north and west of the ocean. As with all things sunrise-y, this sight only lasted a few minutes.

Sunrise

“Know where to find the sunrise and sunset times and note how the sky looks at those times, at least once.” (Marilyn vos Savant)

I enjoy watching our friends and family witness a sunrise on the ocean for the first time. The gloom begins to brighten, and if there are clouds, colors began to faintly show in one section of the sky. Gradually, yet quickly, those colors bloom and swell painting clouds in shades of purple, red, orange, pink, yellow, peach, all reflected in the mirrored surface of the ocean and wet sand. Those 5 minutes before the sun pops over the horizon can be sheer magic. If you want to add something worthwhile to your bucket list it is this – watch the sun rise up out of the ocean.

The Banks of the Cape Fear River

We soon will be setting sail for parts west, driving from the east coast to the southwest desert and back again. Two months of travel; eighteen states, weather permitting, seeing many friends and family members along the way. I’ve stressed the importance to my husband of ample photo opportunities along the way for my mental, physical and emotional health AND so that I can blog about our journey. This will be the first time ever we will have crossed the country in a car. Wish us luck but also if you have any advice please share. I’ve uploaded the WP app onto my iPhone and will be testing it this week before our departure. If it is acceptable, I will use that most of the time until we arrive at our Christmas destination where they have, thankfully, all the modern devices to which one is accustomed.

Thoughtfulness

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” (Henry David Thoreau)

Today, working on positivity.