I’ve been to the Grand Canyon before, in 1982! The Canyon has not changed, but my hiking abilities have. I stayed up along the rim this time. We visited The Watchtower, which was designed as a Harvey House rest stop, serving tea for those visitors on a Harvey Tour. The architect, Mary Colter, worked hard…

Many of the walls were constructed of flat-sided stones and pebbles surrounded by cement. They called this “desert masonry” (look at the wall behind the guy in the purple shirt.) The petroglyphs shown was found on the site and became the logo for Taliesin West. Many pieces of artwork were included throughout the buildings.

Outside of Phoenix is the winter home/studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. He and his apprentices built the structures trying to coexist with the surroundings. I especially like his attention to the small design details that show up in corners and ceiling designs and fixtures.

The canopy of trees towering above our heads as we walked was beautiful. The guide said it was a competition about which trees could grow tall enough quickly enough to get to the sunlight. Other trees were useful for capturing the nitrogen and enriching the topsoil, but they seldom made it to the canopy. The…

The island trek was pretty easy. There was a boardwalk to follow with only a few wobbly boards. The temperature was cool, but since it was not raining, it was really a pleasant walk. We did not look for Pokémen because there was no internet service. You gotta get off the grid once in awhile….

In Ketchikan, Alaska, we boarded a speedboat and sped off to Betton Island which is part of a temperate rainforest. We hiked through the forest and saw various plants (lots of mosses, lichens, and fungi) as well as the native trees. The tour was really interesting and we even saw whales on the trip home….

Early one morning of the cruise, the ship traveled up a narrow channel to see Dawe’s Glacier which was at the end of the channel. The glacier is an ancient accumulation of compacted ice. As glaciers slowly flow, they carve out valleys and also carry huge boulders with them. We passed chunks of deep blue…

I wanted to get ONE shot of the two of us starting out on this cruise. I am not very good at selfies and refuse to buy one of those selfie sticks. Here we are in the main parlor of the ship. There is a nice chandelier behind us. Off we go.

I am always impressed with cities that take some time and effort to provide art throughout the city. Seattle seems like a really cool city anyway (Starbucks, for one thing). This giant eraser is part of MY past when we did all of our typing on typewriters. Most of my students would use white-out tape…

We are in Seattle to board a cruise ship to Alaska and Canada. Of course, we had to explore early in the morning… for exercise, for sightseeing, and especially to catch some Pokemons. This is a great picture of the Space Needle seen behind the EMP Museum (the Experience Music Project Museum). It is a…