Las Vegas was interesting, but I have to say that the trip really started for me once mom and I took off on our road trip. First destination: The Grand Canyon. We made it to Williams the first night out of Las Vegas. This is the gateway to the Grand Canyon, and it was a very cute little town. We spent the morning shopping a little bit, finding a few good gifts. It was SO cold though! I really did not expect it to get so cold on our trip, but alas it did. It spit snow on us a little bit driving into Williams that night, and then the next day right as we made it into Grand Canyon Natioinal Park we god a couple more snow flakes spit at us before the clouds started to slowly give up and drift away.

The clouds turned out to be perfect though, it added some dimension to the scenery. And with the lovely lens that Bernie let me borrow, with its great polarizing filter, I got some wonderful pictures on our journey! The colours of the Canyon simply amaze me. Its spectacular to look down into this gaping hole in the ground and see all these beautiful colours accenting every formation and bend.

Unfortunatly Mum started catching a cold at this point, and was having a hard time breathing. She did not feel up to any of the steep climbs that the Canyon is filled with, so we kept our outings simple. This was a lovely 1.5 mile walk along the rim. We got to see different view points (mum enjoying one of them in the picture above), giving us many perspectives on the Canyon. Its great to see the trails snaking down toward the river at the bottom. It made me really want to strap a backpack on and head down to the bottom. When I met Bernie seven years ago I was not a hiker at all, I developed this skill quickly as I joined him in his adventures. The Grand Canyon was my first real overnight hike with a backpack. We had been doing day hikes up to that point, and driving out dirt roads and camping, but we had not done a hike in camping trip yet (The Grand Canyon adventure was only a month or two after we had met). This was my first time back to the Grand Canyon since that adventure, and looking down at those trails brought back some memories. I have walked literally thousands of miles since then, and it would be great to go back down with a whole new perspective.

We saw a flock of beautiful little pygmy nut hatches in a tree along our walk. I do love the nut hatches. Such beautiful little birds, and a great personality! They jumped around the tree, gently talking in their happy tones to each other, gathering little morsels of food. I snapped this picture just as he pulled a seed out of the cone, and a moment later he had flown of to hide his treasure in a food stash somewhere.

There are many buildings along the rim. A good handful of them are giftshops such as this building, the Hopi House. Most of these structures were designed by Mary Colter in the ’20’s and ’30’s. They are all beautiful and unique in their own ways. Showcasing materials of the area.

The day we left the Canyon we drove along the rim to the east, and stopped at many of the viewpoints. Its amazing how quickly the Canyon changes. Each vantage point is spectacular, and reveals a new perspective.

Another of Mary Colters creations.

Standing at the edge….. Loving Nature!

This was the sunrise here the morning we left for Las Vegas. What a beautiful send off! I am not a morning person, so I don’t see a lot of sunrises, lol.

The convention that we were attending was at Ceasars Palace. We stayed at a different hotel about a (Las Vegas) block away. These are the statues that greet you when you first walk in Ceasars. All the details that they have put into this massive building is amazing. It is beyond imagination how much it cost to construct this monster of a resort. The whole place takes up a huge amount of land, and is a maze to get around.

This is an indoor cafe….. all the detailed painting, and statues. It amazes me.

One of the fun parts of one of the shopping areas there is the FAO Schwarz Trojan Horse. Only in a building of this size could something like this look at home. Its pretty neat. We went to the Forum shops at Ceasars also, very expensive over all, but kind of fun to look through. Things that I would not normally see shopping around here in Bellingham. I did find a Christmas gift for mom though.

One evening we made our way up to Fremont street to have dinner, do some shopping and experience the light show. For anyone that has not been to Las Vegas, this is a walking only street that has a huge lightshow built over it. It runs a couple blocks long, and every hour or so each night they put on this big show with music. We happened to be there for two shows, and each one was different. At the end of each show there was a Halloween bonus show. These two pictures are from one of the bonus shows at the end. Its a pretty amazing thing to watch. Nothing in Las Vegas is small.

Mom and I had a good time in Las Vegas. It is an interesting place to visit once in a while. I have to say it is not a place that I would really enjoy living in, or spending too much time at. But its always good to get a different perspective on life, and Las Vegas will do that for you for sure! It is entertaining in its own ways, if you have never been you might ponder doing it once as a once in a lifetime experience. It’s unique!

Last Sunday when mom and I were at the Pike Place Market, there was a man and his beloved bird performing on a corner. He said that he got him when he was a featherless baby and now he is 15 years old. I never did catch the mans name, but the birds name was Phinius (really not sure on the spelling there). This guy had taught his bird all kinds of great tricks, and had us all smiling. I just loved this first photo, cant you just see the love that this guy shares with his bird? And that piercing gaze in the second photo, he was looking right into my soul.

I wish I had been able to get some video of the act these two friends did. They both seemed to enjoy the attention, and even though Phinius was doing most of the work, you could tell he was so much happier than a bird that had to sit in a cage all day. I have seen birds that live in a cage plucking themselves bald out of stress and bordom. This bird was as healthy as you could ask for, nice feathers, good weight and a wise joyful expression. So lovely to see!

Having grown up with many animals, I love to see someone that is so loving, and having so much fun with their animal companion. Its such a special relationship to some people, and that is just wonderful! I have never understood how some people can honestly believed that animals do not have a soul, or are incapable of thinking, I suppose we all have a different perspective on the world…… Whats one of your favorite experiences with a beloved pet?

I am off to Las Vegas tomorrow, and then the Grand Canyon and Sedona, AZ. I hope to get many wonderful photos to share on here, and to remember my adventure. I am truely blessed to have great opportunities to go explore the world, and am endlessly grateful for them. I may not have internet access again until I get back in a week (at this time I do not  have a laptop or other mobile device to take with me). I hope all of you have a magical week! (Oh! And my last post was my 100th post! Does not seem like I have had that much to say….)

This past weekend my mom and I drove down to Olympia for my cousins wedding on Saturday. It was great to see some family that I had not seen in a good number of years. Reconnecting ties that had started to slip loose. It was a lovely wedding, and the Bride was beautiful of course! Unfortunatly I don’t have the flash set up needed to get good pictures indoors, and thus I did not get any pictures that I thought were worth sharing. But on Sunday we got up and drove to Seattle so that we could visit the Pike Place Market. Its such a great place to visit, so much going on, and great things to see! These first two pictures are not the highest quality, but they are good memories for me. The first is the sign that sits atop the open air building that the majority of the market sits under. The second is my mum, giving me a lovely smile (its hard to get her to smile nice for the camera some times, lol). We had a wonderful time wandering the market together! How much fun. Mom found a couple Christmas presents for people (yes, it is getting to be that time of year already).

There were people of all types there, I liked this picture of a gentleman doing his weekend shopping. The  produce there really is beautiful! Its wonderful quality, and they arrange it in an amazingly artistic way. It makes it very tempting to buy! There are also many flower stands. There are little ladies standing there all day putting together the most beautiful arrangements. We bought two, but I did not end up getting a picture of them. Its great to watch these women piece together an arrangement one stem at a time.

There are also all kinds of crafts people selling their art. I got a T-shirt with a beautiful fish design and ‘Seattle Pike Place Market’ written on it. This lady does beautiful designs for shirts. My parents bought a raven one for Bernie last year, which is also very nice. They are based on Native American Art with this ladies personal touch on the design.

There were some amazing chili arangements in all kinds of shapes and colours. We were also blessed with enjoying the amazing Fall colours. The Northwest doesnt always get the nicest fall colours, because if it rains a lot (as it usually does this time of year) the leaves will start to turn colour and then they get all wet and just turn this blah brown then fall to the ground. This year though, they are amazing! I unfortunatly did not get any pictures of it, as we were always enjoying the beauty as we were driving.

It was a lovely weekend!

Well I have been a little slow at posting, because I haven’t been doing hardly anything! There has been a lack of fresh energy for me to post about. But today Bernie, Angel and I went to the Nooksack River. It wasn’t a very long outing, but we all got to stretch our legs, and do something other than hang out around the house. The light was low, but I fiddled around with my camera a little. Bernie let me borrow his new lens, it really was nice, giving me a better quality photo. Unfortunatly I chopped the top of Bernie’s head off in the second photo, but I kept it because I loved his expression and Angels determination.

Now I can’t say we haven’t been doing anything. Bernie has been a saint helping my dad do some projects around the property, the place is looking good. I have been running around town here and there, one day even dropping off a couple job applications. I am slowly working toward the idea of getting a job. This is challenging for me, I am a bit of a free spirit, and don’t always enjoy having to live by a schedule….. But I am slowly getting closer to accepting it is a step I need to take at this point. The plan for this weekend? Going down to Olympia for my cousins wedding. He is only 20 years old! So young! Maybe I will get some fun pictures down there!

Nature draws us into its embrace,

helping us to remember how to live in the now,

loving,

nurturing,

and sharing the beauty of life.

On Tuesday Bernie and I took our guests, Lyndsay and Jordan out to San Juan Island. I had not been out there in years, and it was wonderful to re-visit and get to experience the beauty of this wonderful place. The day started with a Ferry ride from Anacortes to Friday Harbor (ferry photo courtesy of Bernie). A ferry ride is something that everyone should do at least once in their life, it is just so much fun. This one is an hour long, and gives you a wonderful tour through the San Juan Islands (now to clear up any confusion, all the islands in this area is grouped under the name ‘the san juan islands’, but one of them is named San Juan Island….) There is a magical feeling of peace and adventure riding the ferry. They float you along the water, transporting you along the highway of the islands. The deck of the boat rumbling and vibrating under your feet as the massive engine pushes the mass of the boat loaded down with the weight of cars and passengers through the softly rippling waters. The weather could not have been better, it was a calm warm day. The waters stood almost completely still for us.

When we arrived at our destination we spent a bit of time exploring the town of Friday Harbor. We found a quaint little used book store, with shelves pouring out onto the floors and counters surrounding them. Lyndsay bought a little french childrens novel to practice her french, and I bought yet another cookbook to add to my never ending collection. After a tasty lunch at a restaurant with the best view of the harbor we set out in my (wonderfully cute!) car. The first stop was Cattle Point, a beautiful windswept point on the south end of the island. We frolicked and strolled along the beach.

Is he sticking his tongue out at me?

The Island is filled with great history and beautiful places. This lighthouse is located at Lime Kiln Point state park. Its on the side of the island that looks toward Vancouver Island (yes you can see canada from right there). Its a really deep channel that runs between San Juan Island and Vancouver Island, this creates a rich feeding ground. Often Orcas are spoted along this shore, unfortunatly they did not make a showing while we were visiting. I was really hoping that they would so that Lyndsay and Jordan would get the chance to see them. The park also has an old restored Lime Kiln. There are many great places to visit, two of them are American Camp (close to cattle point) and English Camp. These were occupied at the time when the border between America and Canada were being determined. They are both amazingly beautiful spots, and so vastly different! They are on opposite ends of the island, and have such a different feel from each other.

Of course there was much picture taking the whole day.

The best part of all is that the ferry ride home was right at sunset, and although it had clouded up part way through the day, the clouds were well worth it at sunset. I have not altered this photo in any way, the sunset was so amazing. It really was a magical end to a great day. The next morning Lyndsay and Jordan boarded Amtrak for a train journey back to their home in Tennessee. I hope they enjoyed their visit to our little corner of the world. I had a wonderful time exploring places of old with a fresh perspective.

We have a lovely couple visiting for a couple of days who we met on the Pacific Crest Trail this summer, Lyndsay and Jordan. They ended up finishing a couple weeks after us, and spent some time enjoying Canada. It’s great to get to spend a couple of days with them before they head back home to Tennessee. We actually met them somewhat early on in our pilgrimage this year, and actually last saw them in southern California. I had wondered about them many times along the trail, and did not hear how they were doing. I am glad we got in touch right at the end!

We had a lovely day today. It was relaxing, and we visited some beautiful places around Bellingham. I really liked this picture of them enjoying the views out toward the islands. Tomorrow we journey to the San Juan Islands. It should be a great outing, and I hope to get some nice pictures out there! We get to go on a Ferry ride, and thats always a great experience.

Tonight we all watched the movie Kung Fu Panda. Cute, as expected, but it also had a great message. I love the disney movies, because even though its usually a basic concept they are very profound if you take a moment to reflect on it. So I leave you with this thought:

There is no ‘hidden ingredient’ to transform us into something special,

We are special.

  Ok, I said I was going to get a picture to show the sheer numbers of chickens. This is just part of them, these are the ones that I could get to come when I threw food out, there are MANY more. Sorry you see more tail feather than heads, but they were chowing down. Does anyone want to attempt counting the chickens in this picture? I can tell you there are over 50. The other day I sat down on the front portch and counted the “little” group that was in front of me, and there were 26 chickens, it was a very small group of the whole flock. Scary.

  We had a rain system roll in yesterday and today. The chickens have smartly been staying inside the barn most of the day. It’s funny to me they don’t enjoy the rain at all. This picture was taken yesterday when the storm clouds parted for a while, and they were catching up on their outdoor time.

  Now I am off to cuddle up in the living room and work on some shopping bag sewing. Rainy dyas are always good to do crafts!

Love is our natural state of being,

We are often out of balance with this state of being,

It takes more work to be out of balance

than to experience Love in each moment.

Watch the world around you,

How many times each day can you see examples of Love?

How can you bring more Love into your life?

How do you experience Love on a daily basis?

This thought was inspired by these carrots that I pulled out of our garden.