Tag: Snow

New Zealand ’17: Day 14 – Farewell NZ (Wed)

Flight Home: Air New Zealand Date During Trip: July 12, 2017 I awoke this morning and Steve had already left to go workout. He left the fireplace on. It was fabulous! It was snowing and had obviously snowed a good bit in the night! Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. I began organizing my suitcases for the trip home. It was a big… Continue reading

New Zealand ’17: Day 13 – Glenorchy (Tue)

Lodging: Matakauri Lodge Date During Trip: July 11, 2017 It rained this morning. No snow, yet. I’m still holding out for some. Everyone else seems to have come to the conclusion that the snow will arrive tomorrow. We decided not to drive up to Glenorchy, which is at one end of Lake Wakatipu. We saw it yesterday from the helicopter.… Continue reading

NZ’s Southern Alps Helicopter Adventure

On day 13 of our New Zealand explorations, we took a 40 minute helicopter tour from the tiny town of Franz Josef Glacier, population 100 (out of season residents) – 300 (tourist season residents). We were in town during their off season—lots of locals who all knew each other, and a handful of young tourists, then: us. The little town… Continue reading

Northern Arizona, Day Three — Travel from Grand Canyon to Sedona

Morning Back at the Canyon I am just entranced by the Grad Canyon! Every time you look at it, the view is different, even in the very same place! And beyond that, it’s just so big, so crazy, insane big! The canyon actually looks fake! It looks like a big backdrop someone painted and hung out at a distance. I… Continue reading

Mountain House Series (The Outside)

When we moved out to the west coast, we sold the North Carolina mountain house. Maintaining it from this distance was just too problematic, though we both loved it: Silence punctuated by really loud frog sounds in the summer Awesome thunderstorms with torrential downpours A car meandering down the road maybe every 4 hours The smell of clean, fragrant mountain… Continue reading

Knock, Knock! Who’s There?

Winter! Yesterday I was on my way to Safeway when I noticed the change: the hills are definitely beginning to turn green. The bay area is probably not unique in this regard, but I’ve never lived in an area that greened during the rainy winter season with fewer hours of daylight but turned dry and brown during the longer days… Continue reading

Much to My Horror

Image via Wikipedia The Sistoid Unit, my sister, called me today.  (That isn’t what horrified me.)  She asked about some footwear you wear over your shoes so you can walk easily on snow and ice.  I had mentioned them to her when I traveled in the Canadian Rockies back in April of 2009.  In Banff I had to purchase them… Continue reading