It's Not Work, It's Gardening!: travel

Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

I'd like to tell you...

>> Monday, February 18, 2019 – blooms, pond, travel, winter

Although I haven't been writing many posts lately, I still look at the garden and the natural world outside through my blogging eye, always thinking "I should do a post about this...". I've been collecting those thoughts, often with a single photo, many times only using the camera that's always in my pocket (my phone camera). So that's what I have for you today, a collection of shareable tidbits...

...starting with a surprise bloom! This is the Hibiscus acetosella (Hibiscus 'Mahogony Splendor'), and its "inconspicuous bloom" -- as the tag says. Deep ruby red, lasting just a day -- at least that's how it was when one of the several cuttings I have rooted decided to push out a couple of blooms in mid-January. It never hinted at blooming outdoors.

Pickle Springs Natural Area

>> Tuesday, August 28, 2018 – discovery, travel

A few weekends back we were having some decent temperatures, cooler than normal and breezy, so we decided to take a hike. Technically a drive followed by a hike. One of the regular customers at the pie shop had told us earlier in the week about this place, and after seeing her photos we just had to visit!

It's Pickle Springs Natural Area, and was a little over an hour from our house. There is no water access here, no river, no camping, although there may have been a picnic table or two next to the small parking area -- if you don't want to hike, you've come to the wrong place!

Onondaga Cave

>> Friday, August 17, 2018 – travel

Missouri is home to many caves (and there will be a map at the end of this post to prove it), and there are several that are open to the public. A few summers back my wife and I visited Meramec Caverns, and last month we went to another that's just an hour or so from home: Onondaga.

There's not too much narrative to this post, although we did learn a few interesting things about the cave that I'll add here and there. (This post took forever to write!)

Rivers

>> Tuesday, July 17, 2018 – travel, water

If there's one thing we have in Missouri, it's rivers. Recently my wife and I have been visiting some of them. Well, a couple at least -- it's not always easy to motivate yourself on your one day off a week to brave the 95ºF (35ºC) temperatures (plus humidity!) and get out into "the country".

We did though, and the first of the rivers I want to share is the "big" river...

Petroglyphs

>> Thursday, July 12, 2018 – discovery, travel

We're not doing any extended road trip like we did last summer and a few years earlier, but that doesn't mean that we're not getting out and seeing cool things. Just this past Sunday we drove down to Washington State Park (in Missouri), about an hour from home. What's there of interest? That's actually what we wanted to find out, knowing only that it's a heavily forested and hilly region that we've driven past several times on the way to our favorite winery.

The first thing we discovered there were the petroglyphs.

RV trip part 8: volcano

>> Wednesday, October 18, 2017 – travel

We left off in the last post at Florissant Fossil Quarry at about 5:30 PM with a little over three hours of driving to go before our destination for the night: Capulin, New Mexico. What's in Capulin you ask?

Only a volcano, that's what!

RV trip part 7: driving and finding fossils

>> Tuesday, October 17, 2017 – stones, travel

Making our way home from Colorado involved three days of driving. I didn't want it to just be a rush home though with nothing to look forward to (as if being home wasn't enough) so I planned a few interesting stops. A hint:

Before getting to that though, I'll summarize the good and bad parts of the driving.

RV trip part 6: close looks

>> Sunday, October 15, 2017 – macro, travel

Our August RV trip continued, as we spent a luxurious (for this trip) second day at a campsite. No driving meant time for biking and hiking and relaxing. If you remember from the last post, we were at the North Fork Campground in Colorado. We did get down to the river (White river) again this second day (August 24), but the photos look just like those from yesterday's post.

Hiking though gave me plenty of opportunity to capture some of the wild beauty close up.

RV trip part 6: North Fork Campground

>> Tuesday, October 10, 2017 – travel

August 23 we arrived at the only spot we'd be at for two nights: North Fork Campground near Meeker Colorado. This was the view from our campsite looking south:

Although the campground host said that we chose the "worst" site, I think it was pretty great!

RV trip part 5: more of GRC and the next drive

>> Wednesday, October 4, 2017 – travel

Continuing with August's RV trip, we left off in the last post at Green River Campground in Dinosaur National Monument. We only spent a single night there, but it was a great one as the stresses of driving and difficult deadlines were pretty much over for a while.

I showed the long views (mountains and such) last time, so today I'll focus on what I saw in the campground itself. The up-close stuff that I love so much.

RV trip part 4: Green River Campground

>> Sunday, October 1, 2017 – travel

After our short time at the Dinosaur Quarry building in Dinosaur National Monument, we made the short drive to the campground. Although there are several campgrounds in DNM, I chose the one closest to the quarry purely for convenience. From the map and satellite view I was afraid that it might be too close to the road to be as private as I'd like.

I needn't have worried.

RV trip part 3: dinosaurs

>> Wednesday, September 27, 2017 – travel

I left off yesterday with a view of the hills around Dinosaur National Monument, where we'd be spending the fourth night of our August RV trip. Today we start with the dinosaurs...

...which you find here in the "Dinosaur Quarry" building. This is a 2-minute shuttle bus ride from the visitor center and is pretty exciting (the building, not the ride) -- if you have any interest in dinosaurs or fossils that is. Which I do.

RV trip part 2: getting to Utah

>> Tuesday, September 26, 2017 – travel

In yesterday's post I condensed a couple of days worth of travel into a lot of words and few photos. That will eventually change today, as we made our way to eastern Utah and we saw things like this along the way:

But first I have to catch you up a bit more, without photos.

RV trip 2017 begins

>> Monday, September 25, 2017 – travel

Back in mid-August my wife and I took our second RV trip out west. The first was in 2014 and was really fun -- and a lot of driving. This year's trip would be shorter but would also involve much driving: our goal was Colorado. (Since we live in the St. Louis area it takes a few days to get to Colorado unless you're a mindless driving machine.)

It took quite a bit of planning to get the route correct, especially since The Eclipse would be occurring during the trip. Learning months and months ago that totality would be visible only a few miles from our home was so exciting; my disappointment in realizing that our trip would take us away from home at that exact time was equally strong.

RV trip out west, teaser

>> Wednesday, August 30, 2017 – travel

I've had very little to post about this summer, and little time to seek out the details of the garden to even post about those. Last week though we took our second RV trip out west...

...so I actually have something to share! Sure, it won't be about my garden or any other -- unless you count Nature as the biggest garden (I do).

Florida beach life

>> Monday, January 30, 2017 – animals, discovery, travel

In early January we took a much-needed vacation and spent a week on the beaches of Sanibel island in Florida.

Since our days were spent walking the shoreline and lounging on the beach, this post is about the wildlife we found, all of it fascinating to us. Don't expect to learn any names though, as "crab" is about the best I can do on most of these.

Pecans!

>> Monday, November 14, 2016 – autumn, edibles, travel

Last weekend I visited the small pecan farm that supplies our pecans for the bakery. McGraw Hilltop Pecan Farm is located in St. Charles county, and they grow some of the most delicious pecans that we've ever tasted!

Here's what I saw on this beautiful autumn day, as the nuts went from tree...

Something different

>> Monday, July 11, 2016 – travel

Last week we had a couple of days off from the bakery and decided to take a couple of day trips. The first was on a clear, sunny day even though that didn't really matter...

...as we were headed southwest an hour or so to Meramec Caverns. I had been there as a child and my wife had never been, so to Stanton MO we drove.

Another view of Shaw Nature Reserve

>> Thursday, April 7, 2016 – natives, Spring, travel

Shaw Nature Reserve is a sprawling natural area with many hiking trails not too far southwest of St. Louis. From my house it's pretty convenient, about 30 minutes away. My wife and I usually visit in April each year, and one or two other times during the year.

We went for the first time this year last Sunday when the temperature was forecast to get into the 70's, and I saw new things along with the familiar. (This post won't cover everything that SNR has to offer, but you can see my other posts here and here.)

A quick visit to Missouri Botanical Garden

>> Wednesday, March 2, 2016 – Spring, travel, trees, winter

Like many, our weekends are shifted one day to Sunday/Monday, and on Mondays we like to get out and do something different and fun. We didn't have a lot of time this past week but we decided to take a quick walk around Missouri Botanical Garden.

We visited in late March last year, so this may be the earliest I've ever been here. Some things never change regardless of the time of year you visit -- the Climatron will always draw your eye -- but as expected the planting beds look so different in late winter.

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