On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
lashonharangue
When WaterGirl asked me for a submission of soothing or calming photos, I went back and selected examples from different places. They don’t have any common theme beyond landscapes. Hope there is at least one that can help you in these stressful times.
The park has a series of waterfalls. I took a lot of photos but this was my favorite.
A very famous castle/abbey in a tidal flat. Most pictures are of the castle from below. I took this at the top looking out over the surrounding landscape. Lots of up and down stairs. But we had a fabulous omelette in a restaurant that had pictures of famous people who had visited over the decades.
Lake Bled is a resort location that has attracted visitors for over a century. Another photo looking out from a castle. This one is toward the church on the tiny island in the middle of the lake. Bled Castle had less up and down than Mont Saint-Michel.
I submitted a previous OTR about our canoeing on the Green River. After finishing one of those trips we stopped by Arches. Look under the arch for the people to get a sense of the scale.
My MIL retired and lived in Kailua-Kona for about 20 years. She had to return to the mainland several years ago for health reasons. She asked us to take her back to see the old sights one last time (she is 94). This was taken at sunset from the hotel room at full zoom. The outrigger canoes were training for a race that was held about a week later.
One of the great things to do in autumn in CA (when it isn’t burning) is go to the eastern Sierras and see the aspen trees turn. I am not sure exactly where this was taken, probably near Silver Lake on the loop that goes off of Highway 395.
One time we did a trip in June with the llamas in the backcountry near Mammoth Lakes. Unfortunately that is peak mosquito season in much of the Sierra Nevada. We could apply bug spray and retreat to our tent. However, the mosquitos were driving the llamas crazy so we cut the trip short. I did manage to get this photo at sunset.
This is a tiny pond in a bowl of granite. We took the llamas there for a weekend during hunting season. The llamas had on big orange collars to make sure they were not mistaken for deer. We could hear gunfire but nothing close. We camped on bare rock and the llamas ate food pellets as there wasn’t enough for them to browse.
Not especially calming, but this is for those of you who wanted another llama picture. This photo was taken in February at a county equestrian park near Sonora. It was convenient for taking them from the nearby ranch for a three hour hike when snow made the mountain trails inaccessible. Because the park was for horses, I had to be on the lookout and try to hide the llamas off trail when the riders came along. I could never know if a horse would be spooked by them.
One year between Christmas and New Year we visited Lake Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico. It is a popular destination for older expats, mostly from Canada and the US. Some are seasonal visitors and others are full time residents. I took this shortly after sunrise as I went for a walk by the lake. Five minutes later it had clouded up and the sky turned grey.
Albatrossity
Wonderful! I love the reverse view from Mont Saint-Michel, and the Emigrant Wilderness vista the most, but they are all marvelous!
arrieve
Great pictures. And llamas!
The picture of the tiny pond in Emigrant Wilderness is amazing.
WaterGirl
Thanks for these photos, lashonharangue! I loved reading your descriptions.
The photos are all beautiful and calming, and some are just spectacular.
Benw
What the fucking holy shit these are like the most beautiful pictures
Mary G
Always happy to see the llamas. That dawn photo on Lake Chapala with all the pink is spectacular.
WaterGirl
@Benw: I told you guys, everyone totally rose to the occasion with these election respite posts.
Elizabelle
Wonderful. Plus, llamas.
debbie
Totally love those aspens!
BigJimSlade
Thanks lashonharangue! Yey, more Emigrant Wilderness :-) And the view from the top of Mont St. Michel, and then Croatia and Slovenia, llamas and Chapala – what a fine, diverse set!
JanieM
Oh, wow. They’re all so lovely, but I love the Mammoth Lakes reflection the most.
Maybe because I don’t ever expect to visit Croatia, the Croatia shot sends me off on a thought train about how many incredibly beautiful spots there are on this planet, some hidden away, some right out there for all to see.
My hiking friends and I got lost in Arches once…..it was a little scary until we found some natural bathtub-sized basins full of water from the most recent rain. I remember pulling in to the park after an almost straight drive from the East coast and thinking what a scratch in the desert it was. I remember coming out of the desert after we righted our course and thinking what a lush safe haven it looked like. ;-)
And — it’s brilliant to see the view from Mont Saint-Michel for once!
Benw
@WaterGirl: for reals. BJ to the front
Kristine
Lovely photos. Thank you.
Lapassionara
These are wonderful! Thank you.
Auntie Anne
Love the view from Mont Saint-Michel – it was one of my favorite parts of my visit there – such a lovely, peaceful view.
cckids
Just stunning photos! Love the Emigrant Wilderness, and Mammoth; those bring back memories.
cope
These are wonderful pictures of a wide range of places. I believe your Arches picture is of Delicate Arch, yes? I worked a lot in that area some decades ago and love the red rocks country. Yours is a perspective of Delicate Arch I haven’t seen before and with people for scale. Very serene, thanks.
Dagaetch
Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing!
stinger
“All of them, Katie.” But I love the aspens, and the colors in the Croatian waterfall. Thank you!
Mike in NC
We fervently hope we can safely cruise again someday, doing both river and ocean cruises. They are fabulous and the last few European visits had been so amazing:
We feel blest to have traveled so much recently.
J R in WV
Have been to Spanish Basque country, France, Italy, Mexico, Navajo Nation, most US states but for the Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska and Minnesota.
These photos are great, the last one was my favorite, so fully colored. Llamas are cute, also too! If we ever go into the back country again, horses or llamas will be carrying the load. Or a big RV…
TriassicSands
Years ago a story circulated that the names of Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch had been inadvertently switched. Looking at the two arches, it is easy to see why someone thought they are misnamed. The Park Service says that isn’t so, which leads one to the conclusion that while they may have kept the names straight, someone wasn’t very good at naming arches.
Delicate Arch is situated in the midst of a wonderful landscape and it is not, by arch standards, especially “delicate.” Landscape Arch, on the other hand, while being extremely delicate and fragile — in the nineties there were significant rockfalls leaving the arch even more delicate than it had been before — is not situated amidst a particularly noteworthy landscape*. Delicate Arch as undoubtedly been around a long time but a few more rockfalls and may not be an arch anymore. (The Arch formerly known as Landscape?)
As for “Delicate” Arch, a much more evocative name for it is, in my opinion, “The Chaps,” the aptness of which is immediately apparent and it seems to also have been called a variety of names associated with “bloomers. Overall, the arch looks fairly substantial, but the obvious horizontal crack about where the knee would be on the narrower leg could have given the namer (Frank Beckwith) the sense that it is delicate. He bestowed the name almost 90 years ago.
*Maybe it is if you’re from Kansas, but for Utah’s red rock desert it’s a cool arch in a rather ordinary setting. It I had to bet, I’d bet that Landscape Arch will succumb to gravity before Delicate Arch surrenders.
JustRuss
Great pics. Thanks.
There go two miscreants
Very nice! I have seen a lot of strange sky colors, but never like that last one. I’m really enjoying this series, although I usually only view them the next morning.
SkyBluePink
Very lovely and peaceful. I’m ready to pack my bags for any of the above…
UncleEbeneezer
Wonderful shots! June Lake Loop in fall is so lovely.
So jealous you got to go to Croatia and Slovenia. They both look amazing.