Newspaper Rock petroglyphs: Mystery messages from the past
July 19, 2023 What’s black and white and red/read all over? Petroglyphs in the red-rock country of Utah! In early May, after leaving the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park, we stopped along Highway 211 to see Newspaper Rock, a state historic monument in southeastern Utah. A large, sloping rock ...
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 ...
Vermont’s Green Mountains blush orange and red in October
December 01, 2021 Forty-seven miles — that’s how wide Vermont is at its tapered southern end. For someone from the endless state of Texas (773 miles wide, or about 12 hours of driving without stopping for gas, food, or a bathroom), it almost seems like you could stretch out your ...
Mount Rushmore musings during Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
September 14, 2018 When my daughter and I set off on a hastily planned, pre-college road trip through the Great American West, we didn’t know thousands of motorcyclists participating in the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally would be accompanying us, roaring along the scenic highways in their black tees, denim, and leather, ...
Smithsonian Gardens and U.S. Botanic Garden: Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling
July 04, 2017 As we celebrate our nation’s Independence Day today, it seems appropriate to share my pics of the Smithsonian Gardens on the National Mall and the U.S. Botanic Garden, which I toured on the recent Capital Region Garden Bloggers Fling in Washington, D.C. A small posse of garden ...
Visiting the 9/11 Memorial, 13 years later
November 11, 2014 The blue-sky, sunny day was reminiscent of the beautiful morning of September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked and the World Trade Center towers fell. During our trip to New York City in mid-October, my daughter and I visited the 9/11 Memorial. Now almost 15, my daughter was ...