My Favorite Place

I have been to Martha's Vineyard and fell in love years ago but the tourists were all over the place. I almost felt bad for the residents who owned cottages and  beautiful homes on the island. I loved the hydrangas, the grasses and little fences going down to the beach and the cottages and homes with hanging baskets full of blooms. When we traveled to the Outer Banks I felt the similarities of Martha's Vineyard but Ocracoke Island is less accessible, less commercialized and very quaint. The only way to get to Ocracoke Island is by ferry or boat or plane. You can't just sit on your patio and watch the ocean - you have to hunt for it - bicycle for a few miles or get in your car and drive to it. The dikes by the side of the road protect the homes and roads from the frequent tropical storms and occasional hurricanes.But the white sandy beaches and the turquoise oceans are like a tropical island. Of course, the restaurants will rival any great tourist place but the markets and specialty stores are small and kind of quirky. The weeds grow in between houses and you won't find the manicured lawns or landscaped yards. You will find little flowers springing up in the oddest places, a row of konch shells lined up outside someone's window, dogs barking, little baskets of flowers hanging from trees, interesting mail boxes and bicyclists waving and greeting passersby. It's a "feel good place". I hope to go there again some day.  My mouth is watering for a crab-cake sandwich.

A Few Secrets of My Own.....

How can they not realize what a gift it is to see a beautiful small doe with a miniature little fawn following close behind? I am talking about the visitors to Zion National Park. Do they take it for granted? Do they expect it? Well...not me. I well never get over the thrill of seeing wild deer up close and in their natural habitat. Granted, they are protected in the park but they still forage for their own food and wander through the grasses and trees at leisure.

Last evening it rained just enough to add life to the forest. I sat out on my private patio and watched the lightening and listened to the rain. The rich earthy smell was wonderful. It has been so hot and dry this summer.  It is so rare to be in the park at first light and after dark especially when we live so close. We usually travel to the Park for the day and hike up to the Emerald Pools, Weeping Rock or up to the point where the Narrows begin. But I wanted to be there when the deer come meandering down through the trees to the grass by the lodge, when the fox are out, when the tourists are gone or in their rooms for the evening.

 

I wanted to be by myself and think and watercolor and read and meander on my own. So I booked a room at the lodge for myself and did just that. I saw a Steller's Blue Jay on my way to Weeping Rock, discovered a bug bite (I'm thinking a spider or scorpion got me) that only gets bigger as the days go by. I soaked my feet in the river and turned and there was this beautiful buck standing 10 feet away from me.  I frantically got out my low battery iPhone and snapped this fuzzy photo.


I listened to the little brook of water trickling down the mountainside on my way to the Lower Emerald Pools. I sat on the rock bench and let the little drops of water fall on my face close to the waterfall. I ate when and where I wanted, I shopped in Springdale and went to all of the stores that I have always wondered about but never took the time to visit. I drove up to and through the tunnel and wondered how I ever had the courage to drive those switchbacks on my motorcycle. I checked out the buffalo at the ranch outside of the Park and turned around and came back through it again.

My favorite thing was to have the red tag in my car that allowed me to drive up to the lodge during the shuttle season.  I felt like I had a little privilege that only a few people get.  I watched people, I listened to the grandpa out on the private patio next to mine read a chapter of a book to his grandchildren before they went to bed. I laughed at the family of five that had all purchased these new, identical expensive boots just for hiking up the Narrows. I rode the shuttle and listened to the pre-recorded tour guide tell us all about the secrets of Zion.  Now I know a few secrets of my own.