“What are your four favorite birds?” Snorri asked Astrid as they walked the paved path that wound through the landscape of the natural museum. “Hmm, let’s see. Raven, Loon, Crow and Chicken.” “You can’t have two Corvids,” Bjorn said. “And why chickens?” “It’s my list, I can have any bird I want. Chickens are ofContinue reading “AZ: Four Birds, and The Last Hike”
Category Archives: Travel from the Third Person Point of View
AZ: RedRock Cathedrals and Prickly Spires
“If it is avoidable, the meaningful thing to do is to remove its cause, for unnecessary suffering is masochistic rather than heroic. If, on the other hand, one cannot change a situation that causes his suffering, he can still choose his attitude.” Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl, Simon and Schuster, page 148. “Give meContinue reading “AZ: RedRock Cathedrals and Prickly Spires”
AZ: TreeRock-Seeing, and Ill in Sedona
Let everything happen to you Beauty and terror Just keep going No feeling is final* Rainer Marie Rilke *This quote/poem was used at the end of Jojo Rabbit, a poignant, strange, fascinating movie. The family drove into The Petrified Forest National Park under a dreary, overcast, chilly, windy sky. At first, it seemed like theContinue reading “AZ: TreeRock-Seeing, and Ill in Sedona”
AZ: Outside Expectations
From Las Vegas, the family drove to Kingman, Arizona to stay a night, then started out toward Grand Canyon National Park in the morning. The landscape slowly became more green, but the rocks, boulders and gravel were a constant along the route. Once at the park, they left their rented car in lot C, byContinue reading “AZ: Outside Expectations”
AZ: Thinking in Las Vegas
“Thinking is done in language, and, understanding, a result of thinking, is expressed in language, but when we simply adopt and recite what has been expressed, we have committed neither thinking nor understanding. Richard Mitchell, The Graves of Academe-pg. 28 “I hate Wednesdays,” Astrid used to say, or think, repeatedly on the dreaded day’s eve,Continue reading “AZ: Thinking in Las Vegas”
Why Write
I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say. Flannery O’Connor My* Because I saw a bulletin board titled, “My Why”, which showcased all the reasons why the employees in the building did what they did. After overthinking it a few hours, I thought, “Shouldn’t it be, ‘My Because?’’’Continue reading “Why Write”
158 Years Ago
It was not a common thing to visit a battle field in America, and she wanted, as the Gettysburg National Military Park guide encouraged, “to reflect and try to understand what happened here.”
Walking in the Cold To See a Beautiful Thing
Astrid was in Iron Mountain, Michigan, a town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, just north of the Wisconsin border. The family was there to see Olaf for Thanksgiving. That day the family drove up to see the “Ski Jump” and Veterans Memorial, then came back to the apartment to watch movies and prepare ThanksgivingContinue reading “Walking in the Cold To See a Beautiful Thing”
The Dakotas: Storms
~4:30AM MDT: After a night of intermittent insomnia, Astrid lay awake, staring up at the ceiling of her tent. The weather reports indicated a good chance that a severe storm, with “golf-ball-sized hail” may heading for the family as they slept in their tents in The Badlands National Park. She spent the next hour imaginingContinue reading “The Dakotas: Storms”
The Dakotas: Moving Against the Herd
The next morning the family checked out of their cabin and hit Custer State Park’s Wildlife Loop for sight seeing. “What is that?” Astrid leaned forward in her seat, squinting to better see what comprised the brown mass of things which was moving toward them on the highway. “Yeah, one of the websites for theContinue reading “The Dakotas: Moving Against the Herd”
Not I 