Anne introduced this challenge by starting out with the question “Where do you find peace and relaxation?”
The rest of her introduction says “I find mine wherever water touches land. Yes, any type of shoreline. It may be a beach, a lake, a pond, a creek; you know where I’m going. I’m heading to the shore.”
I agree 100% with Anne. Wherever water touches land is where I want to be. Being near water soothes my soul.
I have thousands of shoreline images from our travels. I narrowed down my selections for this challenge to include American shorelines along the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, and Alaska.
Here are a few Atlantic Ocean shorelines from Maine to Florida.
Bass Harbor Light, MainePortland Head Light, MaineBiddeford, MaineHatteras Beach, Outer Banks, NCHunting Island State Park, SC Tybee Island, GeorgiaUninhabited Georgia barrier islandNanny Goat Beach, Sapelo Island, GeorgiaSunrise at Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, GASt. Simons Island, Georgia from top of lighthouseAnastasia State Park, St. Augustine, FloridaPonce Inlet, Florida
The next gallery features some Florida and Texas Gulf Coast shorelines.
Gulf Islands National Seashore at Ft. Pickens, FloridaSt. Joseph Peninsula State Park, FLSunrise over the Gulf at Galveston Island State Park, TexasMustang Island State Park, TexasPadre Island National Seashore, Texas
Pacific Coast Shorelines from the United States west coast and Hawaii.
Cape Disappointment, WashingtonRuby Beach, Washington Port Orford, OregonNorthern CaliforniaPoint Loma, CaliforniaOahu, Hawaii
I’ll finish with some Alaska Shorelines.
Lynn Canal, Haines, AlaskaLynn Canal between Haines and Juneau, AlaskaKenai Fjords National Park, AlaskaResurrection Bay, Seward, AlaskaValdez, Alaska
Our host Johnbo asks us to feature cool colors for this challenge. He tells us “Cool colors evoke calmness, serenity, and tranquility, feelings often associated with water, sky, and nature.” I’ve included a few of my favorite cool colors for this challenge.
Blue umbrellas on the beach under a cloudy skyA river runs through the Georgia Salt MarshGreen Palms against a brilliant blue skyTurquoise waters of the Caribbean SeaBlue Ridge Parkway
When I read Patti’s challenge was ZigZag I didn’t think I had any images that would work. As I went through my photo archives I was surprised by what I found.
Bridges with ZigZags
Zigzags in Ireland
Rivers that Zig and Zag
Yellowstone National Park, WyomingNew Mexico River
Roads that ZigZag. I had too many to include them all so I chose this one that descends into Palo Duro Canyon in Texas.
Our guest host PR of Flights of Soul chose Balconies for this challenge. Decks and porches are more common where I live so I searched through my travel archives to find images of balconies.
I decided to feature a few balconies from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The challenge from Elizabeth of Albatz Travel Adventures is to use diptychs to create perfect pairs. I wasn’t familiar with this term so I was glad she defined it like this: “A diptych is two images placed in proximity to one another, forming a pair. To make a successful pairing there should be several things in common, and something very different, contrasting.“
I love lighthouses and I am fortunate to live close to two different lighthouses. The first one I will feature is the Tybee Island Light Station, Georgia’s oldest and tallest lighthouse with 178 steps to the top. The original lighthouse was constructed in 1736. The lighthouse has been rebuilt several times and the daymark has also changed several times. Today the lighthouse is painted with the 1916 daymark of three stripes – black at the top, white in the middle, black at the bottom.
The lighthouse has just completed it’s latest restoration. The first two images below show the lighthouse during the restoration project and the lighthouse as it looks today with it’s new coat of paint.
Tybee Island Lighthouse during restoration, June, 2024Tybee Island Lighthouse after restoration, July, 2024
The Lighthouse flies an American Flag on patriotic holidays such as Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veteran’s Day. The following two images show the lighthouse as it was on Memorial Day, 2021 and this year’s Memorial Day, 2024 after the old layers of paint had been scraped off.
Tybee Island Light Station on Memorial Day 2021, before the 2024 restorationTybee Island Light Station Memorial Day 2024, during restoration
The Cockspur Island Lighthouse is shown in the next pair. On the left is a closeup of the lighthouse at high tide as seen from a boat. On the right is the lighthouse as seen from the Lighthouse trail at Ft. Pulaski National Monument near Tybee Island. If you look closely at the image from the trail you can see the top of the Tybee Island Lighthouse to the right of the water tower on the other side of the water behind the lighthouse.
Wandering Dawgs 