This July “Seasons” will be the theme for the entire month with a different season featured each week. This week the challenge is “Autumn”.
In coastal Georgia, cool fall weather is always a treat after the sweltering heat of summer. The sweetgrass (muhly grass) that grows here announces autumn with it’s brilliant pink colors.
In coastal Georgia, Muhly grass (sweetgrass) turns a pink in autumn
When we want to see red, orange, and yellow autumn leaves we travel away from the coast.
Fall Colors in GeorgiaVibrant autumn colors on the UGA campusFall colors at Lake of the OzarksFall Colors on Blue Ridge Parkway in NC
In our house, autumn means it’s college football season. We have spent many fall Saturday afternoons at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia cheering on the Dawgs.
This July “Seasons” will be the theme for the entire month with a different season featured each week. This week the challenge is “Spring”. For me, spring is best represented by the vibrant colors of flowers.
Here in coastal Georgia I know it is spring when the azaleas, dogwoods and fruit trees are blooming.
Spring AzaleasSpring Dogwood BloomPeach Blossoms in Georgia
Spring is a beautiful time for a road trip. In Texas, fields are filled with the bluebonnets and other brightly colored wildflowers.
Bluebonnets near Stonewall, TexasBoots and Bluebonnets in TexasBluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush along Park Road 4
The spring blossoms in the Blue Ridge Mountains add bright colors to the landscape.
Flame Azaleas on the Blue Ridge ParkwayWild Rhododendron along the Blue Ridge ParkwayEastern Redbud at rest area in Western North Carolina
This July “Seasons” will be the theme for the entire month with a different season featured each week. Amy is starting the challenge with “summer”. For this challenge I’m taking a trip down memory lane to some of my most memorable summer road trips.
When I was growing up my family took a road trip every summer to visit relatives. However, the most memorable summer road trip from my childhood didn’t revolve around visiting family. In the summer of 1959, when I was eight years old, my father’s work required him to spend several weeks in California. My whole family went with him on a cross country road trip to see America. I spent many hours sitting between my two brothers in the back seat of our Ford station wagon as we made our way to the west coast. We stopped at national parks, a Santa Claus village, prairie dog towns, and bought cowboy hats. While in California we panned for gold, went to Disneyland, San Francisco, and Yosemite. On the return trip back east we saw more national parks and many more road side attractions. There’s more about my 1959 adventure at Revisiting My Childhood in Pictures.
Our family of 5 traveled cross country and back in this Ford Station wagon in 1959Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone National Park, 1959 ~ photo from my Dad’s digitized slideSan Francisco street, 1959 ~ photo digitized from my Dad’s slide
Now flash forward to 2006 when Henry and I made our first cross country RV trip. Our main destinations were the Grand Canyon North Rim, Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, three Utah National Parks, the Black Hills and lots of places in between.
Grand Canyon North Rim Roosevelt Point OverlookWandering Dawgs at Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park in 2006Arches National Park – Delicate Arch (Utah)
Our biggest summer road trip was our four month long RV trip to Alaska in 2013. Truly the trip of a lifetime!
Watching for whales in Haines, AlaskaPolychrome Overlook, Denali National Park, AlaskaMama bear looking for more fish near ValdezA pair of Orcas on Columbia Glacier tour from Valdez
Sadly, this summer there will be no long summer road trips for us. Stay tuned for more about a short weekend trip we have coming up next week.
This week our host Ann-Christine has challenged us to show anything that was a surprise.
I’ve had a few surprises in the garden this summer. When I found two unidentified plants growing in one of my small beds I left them alone to see what would happen. I was surprised when they turned out to be Black Eyed Susans that I planted about two years ago.
Black Eyed Susan
I’ve seen plenty of cicada skins attached to things around the exterior of our house but I was surprised to find one hanging onto a zinnia while it was shedding its skin. A few days later, the skin was still there.
Cicada shedding it’s skin
Empty cicada skin
Another time a mama diamond back terrapin decided that underneath the salvia would be a perfect place to lay her eggs.
This week our host Patti has challenged us to capture a quiet moment.
My favorite thing to do on a hot summer day is hop in our 17 foot boat and go for a ride in the salt water creeks and rivers near our home. Getting out on the water is always soothing and sometimes we can enjoy some quiet moments as we go along.
This week we took a scenic ride through narrow, twisting creeks through the salt marsh.
Quiet boat ride through the salt marsh
We found some quiet moments as we slowly made our way through the twists and turns. Except for when we met a boat going the other way we were the only humans in the area. As we were treated to sightings of snowy egrets, herons, and wood storks the only sounds were those of nature and our quiet engine. Even the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins surfacing for a breath of air made little noise. I was too busy enjoying the moment to get any photos of the wildlife.
Wandering Dawgs 