Beams of light set Antelope Canyon aglow
June 13, 2023 You’ve seen it in photos: swirling red sandstone walls aglow with light, like the inside of a conch shell or a Himalayan salt crystal lamp. Shafts of light that pinpoint, like Indiana Jones’s amulet beam, precise spots on the sandy floor. This is Antelope Canyon, as graceful ...
Cliffs of insanity: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
June 11, 2023 After kicking off our national parks tour at Great Sand Dunes in southern Colorado, we headed west to another park we’d never visited: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The thrillingly steep canyon walls, black and forbidding, so sheer the sun rarely touches both sides at ...
Kicking off our western national parks tour at Great Sand Dunes
June 08, 2023 Exploring national parks has always been one of our family’s favorite vacation activities. You get to immerse yourself in awe-inspiring landscapes, hike scenic trails, see wildlife like bears and bison, eagles and prairie dogs, and just soak up the beauty of the land. This spring my husband ...
Pond of the Blue Moon and bird- and gator-watching at Shangri La Botanical Gardens
December 16, 2022 Yesterday I introduced you to Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center, which sits along a bayou in Orange, Texas, right at the Louisiana border, and I shared a tour of the inner gardens. Today I’ll complete the tour starting at the back of the 250-acre property, ...
Shangri La Botanical Gardens, a garden fairy tale
December 15, 2022 Dancing Sisters bottle tree sculpture at Shangri La Sleeping Beauty has nothing on Shangri La Botanical Gardens & Nature Center. Located in the small town of Orange, Texas, just across the Sabine River from Louisiana, Shangri La’s very existence is in some ways as fantastical as the ...
Facing history with courage at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice
December 13, 2022 During our November road trip from Asheville to Austin, we stopped in Montgomery, Alabama, to visit the remarkable National Memorial for Peace and Justice. The open-air pavilion dedicated to 4,000+ Black victims of lynching wraps a hilltop overlooking downtown Montgomery, near where Jefferson Davis, president of the ...
Chimney Rock thrills with a-Lure-ing views
December 04, 2022 I’ve always loved the thrillingly high and scenic views from the cracked tower of stone known as Chimney Rock, 25 miles southeast of Asheville, North Carolina. I came here many times as a kid and young adult when I lived in the Carolinas. Privately owned and managed ...
Bewitching bonsai, art, and autumn gardens at North Carolina Arboretum
November 30, 2022 Located in Asheville on the doorstep of the Blue Ridge Parkway, with views of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the North Carolina Arboretum draws hikers, mountain bikers, and trail walkers thanks to 10 miles of wooded, hilly, dog-friendly trails. But garden lovers like myself find plenty to enjoy ...
Golden trees and black bears in Great Smoky Mountains and Cades Cove
November 28, 2022 On Halloween, we sought the warm colors of autumn — pumpkin orange, harvest gold, bonfire red — along the Blue Ridge Parkway and in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the North Carolina-Tennessee border. And we found them too, despite the lateness of the leaf-peeping season, ...
Elk watching in Cataloochee Valley
November 25, 2022 I’d hoped to hear the bugle of bull elk during our road trip through Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but those eerie, whistling autumnal calls elude me yet. Still, I can’t complain about the elk viewing in the scenic Cataloochee Valley of North Carolina, about an hour ...
Autumn gardens and biking at Biltmore House
November 17, 2022 During our visit to Asheville, North Carolina, earlier this month, we spent one day at Biltmore House — but not to see the castle-like chateau erected by the New York-based Vanderbilts as their summer place. We’ve toured the house before, and it’s interesting, but I didn’t feel ...
Fall foliage, falls, and food in and around Asheville
November 15, 2022 Looking Glass Falls near Brevard, NC I love fall and seeing the trees change color. Since autumn color in Texas rarely offers more than a faint blush or tinge of yellow, I’ll travel far to see a good show. But it’s tricky when you’re making reservations 6 ...
Bandelier cliff dwellings, Valles Caldera, and epic New Mexico scenery
November 13, 2022 In early September, at the end of our trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, we drove out to Bandelier National Monument. We’d last explored its ancient cliff dwellings and pueblo ruin two decades earlier, and we wanted to hike and see it again. Bandelier National Monument We ...
Walking the rails at Santa Fe Railyard Park and Farmers’ Market
October 17, 2022 Back to Santa Fe! During our stay in late August, we hit the farmers’ market at The Railyard one morning. A tree-studded green space caught David’s eye on the way over, so we stopped to check it out. We found ourselves in Railyard Park, where train tracks ...
Historic adobe church and soaring gorge bridge near Taos
October 03, 2022 Even if you haven’t visited the old adobe mission in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, you’ll likely recognize it. Ansel Adams photographed the church in 1929, and Georgia O’Keeffe painted it in 1930, making it famous to this day. Ranchos Church, New Mexico by Georgia O’Keeffe. Amon ...
Adobe, sky, and bones at Georgia O’Keeffe’s Abiquiu home
September 27, 2022 This time around, I knew to reserve tickets months in advance for a guided tour of Georgia O’Keeffe’s home and studio in Abiquiú, New Mexico, about an hour northwest of Santa Fe. I arrived at midday on August 30th, curious to know what I might learn about ...
