Before the coronavirus 19 turned everything upside down in the end of March, I was fortunate enough to squeeze in trips to three amazing places: the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, and scenic rivers in Florida. The Yucatan trip included visits to several fabulous Mayan archaeological sites and some pretty wonderful natural features. The Galapagos trip involved 10 days of getting up close and personal with the wildlife that the Galapagos islands are so famous for. In both places, I met wonderful fellow travelers, learned about other cultures, and was reminded about how little conversational Spanish I know!
The Yucatan:
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| The UNESCO World Heritage Mayan Pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico |
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Temple of the God of Wind, Tulum
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The Galapagos Islands
The Galapagos Islands were simply spectacular! The main draw is the exotic, "endemic" animals that live on or around these islands and nowhere else in the world. But the islands themselves are beautiful, the surrounding ocean is warm and wonderful, and the people I toured these islands became a family of friends by the time we were done.
Florida's Subtropical Rivers
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| Great Frigatebird; Genovesa Island, Galapagos |
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Blue Footed Booby, Santiago, Galapagos
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After a quick turnaround back home, I loaded up the rig and headed down for about a month of paddling 35 sections of spring fed rivers of Florida. I was joined by paddling buddies mostly from Pennsylvania, and over four weeks we paddled rivers in the northern, central, southwestern, and panhandle regions of the state. Beautiful places, and fortunately, we did not encounter many other people while we were there. Mostly tourists seem to go to Florida to hang out on beaches or visit popular tourist attractions.
Late Fall, 2020: Back home again!
By late fall, the widely anticipated "second wave" of covid infections was going off the charts in the US, and I decided it would be wise to stay close to home again for awhile. So I canceled my winter travel plans (ouch!) and planned to shelter in place until spring or until I receive the vaccine. So it is back to painting, music making, language learning, and planning for road trips and international travel in the next few years. And do some more local hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and biking when conditions permit. I'm eager to head west and north again, and am looking forward to traveling into northern Canada, coastal British Columbia and Alaska, and the western US states. Here's a link to my little online "Art Gallery," with some of my most recent work appearing first:
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| Big Rapid, one of three Class II rapids in Florida. Along the Aucilla River, near Tallahassee, Florida |
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| Little Manatee River shoreline, near Tampa, Florida |
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| Lori, Damian, and a pod of 8 manatees, on the Silver River, near Ocala, Florida |
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| Baby gator! |
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In the wooded, swampy Shingle Creek, near Orlando, Florida |
The Spring of 2020. Stay Home!
As the month of March was ending, the seriousness of the covid pandemic was becoming more clear, and "Stay Home" orders were being issued. So home I went, and I spent the next few months learning to live in my house again, getting some spring cleaning and decluttering done, and getting involved in some pretty interesting projects, like building this blog site, participating in a virtual choir, painting pictures of some of my favorite places, and taking a few online courses, including one in conversational Spanish!
I built a little online gallery to post and share some of the artsy stuff I've been doing during this time. I've long said that when I can't travel, I'd like to paint some of the amazing places I've been able to visit. I'm making no claims to great art here, but I've been having fun mostly using watercolor to "paint" black and white images of some of my favorite places. After they are done, if I think they are reasonably interesting or good, I post them in the online gallery. Another work in progress. Here are a few examples:
You can check out more of the pictures as well as a description of how I make them at:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1HgbLR75g5CYsGig6
I built a little online gallery to post and share some of the artsy stuff I've been doing during this time. I've long said that when I can't travel, I'd like to paint some of the amazing places I've been able to visit. I'm making no claims to great art here, but I've been having fun mostly using watercolor to "paint" black and white images of some of my favorite places. After they are done, if I think they are reasonably interesting or good, I post them in the online gallery. Another work in progress. Here are a few examples:
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| Pyramid Mountain, Jasper National Park, Alberta |
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"Class II," Hillsborough River, Florida
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| From Angel's Landing, Zion National Park, Utah |
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| The Narrows; Zion National Park, Utah |
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| Sandy River Gorge, Oregon |
You can check out more of the pictures as well as a description of how I make them at:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1HgbLR75g5CYsGig6
On an entirely different note, I had a wonderful opportunity to participate in a virtual choir, led by Eric Whitacre, a contemporary composer who more or less "invented" this musical art form. He wrote a song called "Sing Gently," specifically for these times and and for a virtual choir. Anyone who was interested was invited to join in the effort. In the end, 17,572 people from 129 countries participated in this production. And here is the beautiful song that came out of it all. Very happy to be part of it!
The Covidian Summer of 2020
I would never have expected a public health epidemic to have the power to change so much about everyday life, but that is what has happened around the world as well as in the USA. Even for me, and I am one of the fortunate few who has been able to weather this storm relatively well. I've been able to stay safe, remain relatively healthy and happy, and keep active. Very thankful for all of that. I hope the same for you.
After a springtime of staying inside my house practically 24-7, this summer was a season of staying close to home and gradually getting outside more. I put my indoor pursuits of painting and language learning mostly on "pause" as I began to go out for more hikes, bike rides, and kayak trips. Although I've been doing more outdoor activities, I've pretty much restricted them to places in my home state that were likely to be uncrowded and still beautiful. About half of the time, I'd do things on my own; the other half of the time I'd share trips with small groups of safe and trusted friends. So far, so good!
There have been lots of places I've visited and things I've done for the first time in my 40 or so years of living in Pennsylvania. It was good to have the time and the opportunities to explore my own back yard. I'll group what I've done in three main categories.
First, I was able to explore all of Pennsylvania's "Wild and Scenic" rivers this summer. All six of them. Four of them are on or near the eastern border; the other two are in the northwestern part of the state. All of them are pretty scenic; none of them are particularly wild, at least not by the standards I've experienced in the western states or northern parts of Canada. But I'm still very happy to have seen, hiked along, and paddled sections of all of them. I remain a fan of the Wild and Scenic Rivers system, an official way of preserving and protecting sections of rivers in their more or less natural states for present and future generations.
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| The Delaware Water Gap |
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| The Allegheny River |
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| The Clarion River |
Second, I had a chance to visit a few local gems: Parks and rivers that are within an hour of my home. That includes paddling local lakes and rivers, hiking nearby trails that I'd heard about but never visited, and riding bike trails that never before got my attention. Lots to love locally; I am beginning to understand why many people view Central Pennsylvania as a vacation destination!
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| Along the Schuylkill River Bike Trail |
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Suzy's Hole along the Pequea Creek; Lancaster County |
Third, I had a chance to paddle more local rivers and lakes with small groups of boating friends. Whitewater kayaking remains my first love in terms of water-based activities, but I've broadened my paddling experiences to include canoeing, paddle sailing, and scenic river touring. All wonderful ways to experience nature and see things from a different perspective (from the water), while being physically active. More and more I find myself in agreement with Kenneth Grahame when he wrote (in The Wind in the Willows) that "there is nothing ... half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats!" Well okay, there may be a few other things, but "messing about in boats" is pretty high on my list!
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| With friends on the Swatara Creek |
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| Ohiopyle Falls |
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| On the Youghiogheny River |
The "Neighborhood Tour"
By September, I was feeling more confident about being able to stay safe and travel around in the rig, so I began what turned out to be a two month "neighborhood tour" of the states that are right around Pennsylvania. I spent about a week in each of the seven states around me, and mostly visited scenic rivers and state parks in each of them. While the east coast of the US does not have some of the dramatic geology and scenery of the western states or the wild and open spaces of northern Canada, it was wonderful to drill down into the Appalachian mountains and the Atlantic coastal regions near me. Each area had something special, and it is hard to pick a favorite. But highlights included the New River Gorge in West Virginia (which officially became the newest National Park in the USA about a week ago; Yaay!), the stunning cliffs and gorges in western New York, and the waterfalls and overlooks in Virginia. Most of my favorite places involve water in one way or another, as you may notice!
Overlook: The New River Gorge National River, West Virginia. This gorgeous river valley officially became the 63rd National Park in December, 2020. And the New River is apparently one of the oldest rivers in the world! Lots of wonderful hiking, biking, and paddling to be had here.
"Upper Falls in Fall," one of three big waterfalls in the Genesee River Gorge, Letchworth State Park, New York
Big Branch Falls, at the end of a wonderful 4 mile hike on the North Fork of Moormans River Trail, near Staunton. We got all the way to the very top (of course)!
"Into the Mist" in memory of my mom; along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia
"A Matter of Perspective" Structure and Shadow along the James River Foot Bridge. The 2,200 mile Appalachian Trail crosses the James River on this bridge.
"Blue Ridge Lines" along the Blue Ridge Parkway
Late Fall, 2020: Back home again!
By late fall, the widely anticipated "second wave" of covid infections was going off the charts in the US, and I decided it would be wise to stay close to home again for awhile. So I canceled my winter travel plans (ouch!) and planned to shelter in place until spring or until I receive the vaccine. So it is back to painting, music making, language learning, and planning for road trips and international travel in the next few years. And do some more local hiking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and biking when conditions permit. I'm eager to head west and north again, and am looking forward to traveling into northern Canada, coastal British Columbia and Alaska, and the western US states. Here's a link to my little online "Art Gallery," with some of my most recent work appearing first:
I also tried to select about a dozen of my favorite images from the past year; that is pretty tough when there were so many great places to visit. But here's a "Best of 2020" collage that I put together:
And here's a link to the images separately:
While my focus in these "travel notes" is to share some of my travel adventures, I don't want to overlook the deep gratitude I feel for the many "blessings" I enjoy, including good health, great friends, loving family, adequate income, amazing freedom, and plenty of curiosity about and appreciation of our natural world. And words don't express adequately how thankful I am for friends and readers like you who have an interest in sharing some of these experiences. I enjoy sharing and hearing back from you, and I'd encourage you to share with your friends and family some details of the "journeys" you are on. It is a wonderful way to reflect and connect!
Best wishes for 2021, and hope our paths will cross along the way, soon!
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