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The Fields Aflame
Sometime in late 2010 I came to know of Florence + the Machine via the Lungs album. I bought the cd and ripped it to upload to my mp3 player and listened to the album on our 2011 Florida Trail thru-hike in the evenings while in the tent. Since then I’ve become a huge fan of her music and have bought her subsequent albums, mostly recently High As Hope, albeit over a year after it was released. I’m a little slow on the music front these days. It was really one of the songs from that album that I came across on Spotify that sealed the deal to get back…
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First Citrus Harvest
Finally, after all of these years of trying to grow citrus we are being rewarded with fruit! The oranges are from a tree I bought Chris when we were still living in our tiny rental here in Houston circa 2011/2012. The tree finally went in the ground when we moved in to the house and we added to the little grove over the years. The lemon tree we added as as a sacrificial tree for the giant swallowtail caterpillars that were chowing on our smaller trees out back, only we didn’t realize at the time of purchase that they were treated with a systemic pesticide and our act of goodwill…
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Mendenhall Glacier | Juneau, Alaska
When we were planning our cruise and knew that we were going to be visiting Juneau, I knew that I wanted to visit Mendenhall Glacier. And at first I thought we would just figure out a way to get there on our own. Later when booking our tours, Chris found a whale watching tour with a side stop to the glacier. It wasn’t going to be for as long as I wanted to stay at the park but it would suffice. I had vague ideas about the glacier from a former co-worker in Florida who had visited when he went to AK for a work trip. I recalled the photos…
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Island Trail Exploration | Martin Creek Lake State Park
Let’s go back to Easter weekend this year where I left a post or two incomplete from our trip to Martin Creek Lake State Park. The promise of spring was so bright—plants were blooming, the earth smelled sweet…ahhh, only a few more months away! Annual Blue-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium rosulatum Texas Vervain, Verbena halei Green Antelopehorns, Asclepias viridis Hercules’ Club, Zanthoxylum clava-herculis Black Snakeroot, Sanicula canadensis Lizard’s Tail, Saururus cernuus Sugar Hackberry, Celtis laevigata On the southeast portion of the park is an island that you can access by a pedestrian bridge. At the time we hiked there were portions of the trail that were a big soggy in places and…
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Adventure Reads Part II
One post over the years that seems to have done well was my Adventure Reads post. So, I thought that it was high time to have an Adventures Reads Part II. Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home by Heather ‘Anish’ Anderson I’ve never had a burning desire to hike the PCT. The CDT was always what I wanted to hike next in the compendium of ultimate long distance trails. Even reading Wild didn’t really cement the desire to hike the PCT into my brain like it did to so many people who wanted to traipse in Cheryl’s footsteps. But Thirst fleshed out more of the details of the PCT for me,…
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Totem Heritage Center | Ketchikan, Alaska
Our brief foray into the Totem Heritage Center was enjoyable. Forest was so enthralled by some of the totems outside as we took photos with them that ran up the ramp and really wanted to go in. Chris and I both had a feeling this would not be the place for a rambunctious 5-year old. He loves going to the Houston Museum of Natural Science and even then we are bouncing from exhibit to exhibit, not really able to focus on reading any of the exhibit signs or really getting to absorb it. But he was adamant about going in and since he was free and we only had to…
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Chilly, Dreary Thanksgiving Weekend
Oof, we should have gone south for Thanksgiving. Instead we drove to Cooper Lake State Park for the long weekend to camp for the first time this season. We knew in advance that there was potential for rain, including thunderstorms, and for cooler to cold weather. So, we came prepared but I was heavily wishing this was one of those state parks that conveniently had covered picnic table areas at the campsites, but no such luck, our one pop-up tent had to suffice. Before we left I wanted Chris to get our bikes together so that we could ride with Forest. He’s getting to the point that I can’t keep…