Tag: National Parks
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Centennial stamper
I don’t know about you, but on this, the National Park Service centennial, this millennial is paging through her big fat stack of stamped pages, proof of a lifetime of national parks love. Apparently I like to cram that ink into every nook and cranny of my passport—but that’s good, because I’m trying to leave…
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Wild, wild west
The Tailor and I took a road trip to a friend’s farmstead wedding in North Dakota this month. We figured that while we were at it, we might as well make a mountain (read: 750-mile) detour to complete our vacation. So off to the Rockies we went, sketchbook in (my) hand, with our eyes peeled…
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Deep in the heart of Texas
Mexico on the left, Texas on the right. With all the crazy work I’ve been doin’ lately—and all the rain that this season brings—I really, really needed a vacation. So the Tailor and I took ourselves on a little road trip—way the heck down to the Texas-Mexico border. Yep, we drove 2,200 miles one way,…
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Printing at Penland
When Jessica and I were in North Carolina last summer, we had just enough sightseeing time to squeeze in a short trip along the aptly-named Blue Ridge Parkway. Between the dappled sunlight, the lush Southern greenery, and the unexpected splashes of color, we were enchanted in an instant. (I, for one, was tempted to do…
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Even Keel
It’s hard to think of a better weekend activity than taking a quick trip to San Francisco. First of all, Jessica and I got to visit the lovely Sarah and Jesse, who live here— and whose back yard contains this. And then we got to raise a fantastic ruckus and make guerrilla street art with…
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Over the mountains
Whenever the Tailor and I do our annual peach haul from the other side of the Cascades, we like to take the back road. That way, we get to take in the mountain air, visit every orchard along the way, Have our pick of the best farmstands, and take the time to find out what’s…
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Cancelled trips
Since I posted this drawing and some others this summer, people have been asking me what’s with the stamps in my sketchbook. I guess the short answer is that each one is a little piece of personal tradition. But you know I don’t really do short answers. The long one, then. I grew up in…
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Volcano vacation
The second part of my little stolen holiday was a little more ambitious: a four-night camping trip with the Tailor in southern Oregon. It was just what the doctor ordered—the perfect prescription for recharging the soul. We camped in the Rogue River National Forest, in a grove of hemlocks and blooming dogwoods, just downstream from…
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Vampire vacation
Since I’ll be a hermit for most of the rest of the year while I finish my Rainier book, I tried to sneak a little stolen summer vacation time into June. If I was going to lock myself indoors during our sunniest season, I wanted as many mountains, oceans, flowers and skies as I could…
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Finding winter
The sun came out yesterday afternoon, and Mt. Rainier peeked out from behind the clouds. On a whim I tossed my camera into the car and bolted to Paradise, where I had been hoping for one more research shot for my book: Rainier in the snow. Well, I certainly got my wish. An hour and…