Tag Archives: travel

One Fine Day

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Waking up in Maine….
How could one day hold so much good?


Kathie’s (my SIL) old VW Bug from her college days


A walk on Mackworth Island


A pause to talk…


a stop at the local Farmer’s Market

A clam chowder lunch at:

~     ~     ~


Later…
friends had me up to their place for
a lobstah bake (that’s seaweed with it)


on top of the lobster pile up picked-that-day corn,
potatoes, onions, eggs,
and…


clams on top!

delightful family from my church who are also visiting their family in Maine


Ending the day with the “chimney” fire – a rotten log placed upright on the fire

Going, Going

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I’m headed to Portland, OR & the famous Powell’s Books.
It’s the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world.
One entire city block.
Here is a picture of just one aisle.


I am going to my first (real) book reading: Kathleen Norris!

I will see a lovely friend…

and have a heart to heart with my cousin
about her journey converting to Judaism…

Then I’m zipping up to visit my Seattle kids and perhaps
read a book to my yet-to-be-born grandson, Noah.
I hope he kicks a little…

After which, I pray Hurricane Kyle goes away
so I can enjoy this tranquil garden in Maine
at the beautiful home my sister-in-law and brother have made.

And when one visits Maine, you know what one eats, don’t you?

My friend who happens to be married to my brother
has promised lots of walks.
I plan to take copious photographs.


New England in the fall!

I used to stay home when my guys went hunting, heh heh heh…

Rick Steves in Europe

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Postcards from Europe was a fun, light read.  It weaves stories from Rick’s early life of travel with a current (1999) solo blitz around Europe.  Rick’s signature phrase Europe through the back door promotes travel which spends less money, connects with locals, is more informal, and gets off the beaten path.  In this narrative (although he can never completely shed his role as teacher) Rick reveals stories behind the scenes.  He is a looser, less buttoned-up guide.  He doesn’t purge the book of potentially offensive subjects such as the fact that in Denmark the word journey is spelled fart, or that Amsterdam offers every available vice.       

Face it, Rick Steves has an enviable job: annual trips to Europe which are tax-deductible, friends around the globe, breathing history, the satisfaction of helping tens of thousands of people.  It’s not all beer and skittles though.  His success has proven that a good word from him in a guidebook translates into big money for the folks in the travel industry.  People hound, manipulate, beg, berate and banter for a recommendation from him.  A trip to Europe is always work with its niggling details.  Here are some of my favorite quotes:

From the start, I had a passion for journal writing.
I followed one strict rule: Never finish a day without writing it up.

I learned to write by giving talks…I read one book – On Writing Well by William Zinsser.  When I feel like I should read another book to fine-tune my writing, I read Zinsser again. 

Italians are a moveable party. 
They can make a traffic jam fun.

Good travel is more than counting blessings.  It’s understanding them. You appreciate the vintner and the land in the bouquet of a fine wine. You let a favorite artist share new beauties in times and places you’ve never been. You eat better ice cream than you thought possible. And you warm your spirit in the glow of a European who’s found his niche in life. Good travel makes God obvious to me.

It Is Too Wonderful

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I knew that the little town of Aberfeldy, our home base in Scotland, had a bookshop in a converted watermill. 

Today.  I found this website.  Books. Over 5000 books. Coffee. Art Gallery. Music.

Browsing Encouraged. Woodstove.

Winner Scottish Independent Bookshop of the Year.

Within walking distance of our temporary home.

Please.

For Me.

Go to the Link and click on the Virtual Tour.

The kindness of our God is overwhelming.

Walking Distance!

Let It Rain.

All Day Long.

My lips are numb.

Rattlesnake Travelog

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“Are you going Rattlesnake?”

AAA and Mapquest won’t direct you to this road,
the most direct way from point A to point B,
which traverses a series of canyons.

See for yourself why the highway is called Rattlesnake.

In the left third of the picture below the highway snakes around the mountains.

It is a fun drive in the summer in a itty-bitty sports car.

Even in the winter, it is SO worth it for a wedding.

Tomorrow: the wedding and another blog friend story.

“What I had experienced was a symphony in the wilderness.
Those who never learned to walk
will never know its beauty.
Only those who choose to get lost in it,
cutting all ties to civilization,
can know what I mean.
Only those who return to the elemental world
can knows its beauty and grandeur–
and man’s essential unity with it.”
~ William O. Douglas

Seeing Seattle

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~  the view from the park


~  the blending of two families

~  Carson & Taryn

~  best friends


~ early 20th century transportation

~ early 21st century transportation

~  good-bye Daily Savings Time

~  anyone see Eustace?

~  neon lights abounded…I love the blue in this one

  


~  view of Seattle from Pike Place Market

Lulus and A Travel Quote

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My favorite annual is the Lulu Marigold (Tagetes tenuifolia)
When petunias are leggy (or eaten by the deer),
pansies are wilted (or eaten by the deer),
these Lulus carry on.

They have the smell of a marigold,
but the look of lace and ferns.
They are the last bit of color in the fall,
surviving light frosts.

»     »     »

I’m 76 pages into John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley.  I’ve filled four journal pages with quotes.  His observations on traveling, people-watching, and pondering resonate with me.  I grab my task-oriented husband by the shirt and make him listen to a paragraph.  “How does he do that – write so compellingly?” the busy man wonders.  While I suspect that Steinbeck is coming from the point of view of determinism, I can agree with the next paragraph in light of God’s providence. 

Once a journey is designed, equipped, and put in process, a new factor enters and takes over.  A trip, a safari, an exploration, is an entity, different from all journeys.  It has personality, temperament, individuality, uniqueness. 

A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike.  And all plans, safeguards, policing and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.  Tour masters, schedules, reservation, brass-bound and inevitable, dash themselves to wreckage on the personality of the trip. 

Only when this is recognized can the blown-in-the-glass bum relax and go along with it.  Only then do the frustrations fall away.  In this a journey is like a marriage.  The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.  (p. 4)