Author Archives: ajtanek

WA: Forests and Oceans and Beaches and Mountaintops

 -Forest- Because the family slept the night at Hoh Campground (or dozed fitfully, in Astrid’s case), they didn’t have to wait in a long car line to get into this part of Olympic National Park, and after packing up camp, they simply walked to the first trailhead of the day. In her more fashion-conscious past,Continue reading “WA: Forests and Oceans and Beaches and Mountaintops”

WA: Fast Mountains, Furry Trees, and A Wooded Beach

Astrid’s hearing is variably hypersensitive. Bjorn insists it is so pathologically acute that a lady bug sneezing on the lawn would wake her. But it wasn’t a lady bug sneeze that woke her in the night at the AirBnB, it was a crying newborn baby. She wasn’t annoyed at the disruption, but thankful. It wasContinue reading “WA: Fast Mountains, Furry Trees, and A Wooded Beach”

WA: A Most Cozy Place, and Mist into Rain

Astrid and her family started to understand their mistake, when, on their way out of Mt. Rainier National Park for lunch, they passed car after car after car waiting in the line–at least a mile long–to get into the park. So they weren’t surprised after lunch, as they made their way back, to find theContinue reading “WA: A Most Cozy Place, and Mist into Rain”

WA: Into the Ever Green

“That was the longest 4 hours of my life, recently,” Astrid remarked on getting off the plane in Seattle, Washington. It was not a good airplane flying day, she was slightly nauseous the whole time–probably because of her bifocals. It was the price she paid for wanting to see far away and read without changingContinue reading “WA: Into the Ever Green”

Chlorophyll Addict

The Green Every year, in early Spring, Astrid panics, just a little, about The Green.  Unreasonably. Consistently.  For a little over half a century, The Green had always come back.  Every year. After winter.  But she can’t help think, and worry, for a fleeting, horrific moment, that it might not. And, then, when it spreadsContinue reading “Chlorophyll Addict”

Writing From the Side of a Mountain

Prelude to WA: Climbing Mountains  “You may be a little cold some nights on mountain tops above the timber line, but you will see the stars and by and by you can sleep enough in your town bed, or at least in your grave. – John Muir, “Yellowstone, North Dakota” an essay in Wilderness EssaysContinue reading “Writing From the Side of a Mountain”

Beautiful Nothing

This blog entry was published on July 28, 2011, on AJ Tanek’s Blogspot Blog. On the morning of our second day in Nevada, my husband, son and I left the glittering replicas and showy sin of Las Vegas and drove to Hoover Dam. There we spent a few hours paying homage to that extraordinary feat ofContinue reading “Beautiful Nothing”

CO: Mountains and Tomatoes, and Return to the Flatlands

“Are there sand dunes? What’s the weather like, is it going to rain? “ Astrid asked the next day as they drove north toward Denver. The skies were clear, it was sunny and warm. The plan was to do one last hike before catching their flight back to Michigan.  “No sand dunes, but it mightContinue reading “CO: Mountains and Tomatoes, and Return to the Flatlands”