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.
Dagaetch
I’ve been lucky enough to get to travel to a huge number of places in my life, and many of them have an extraordinary natural beauty. I’m also fortunate to live in a place that is not lacking in beautiful scenes. But I don’t think that’s special to me…the truth is, we live in a remarkable world, and there’s beauty pretty much everywhere, if we’re willing to slow down enough to see it. That’s been my favorite thing about On The Road since it began; seeing places that I might never go, through the eyes of someone who did slow down enough to enjoy it.
I’ve lived in the Boston area since shortly after college, and just like every place, it has ups and down. But there are some moments when I look at where I live and just appreciate how lucky I am.
I’ve traveled to a lot of places, and one thing I like to do (where possible) is poke my head in the local houses of worship. I have found that one can sense, within moments of entering, if it is a building intended to impress tourists and prompt donations; or if it is a place people go to feel closer to their spiritual selves. I prefer the latter.
“Who’s a good rock! You’re a good rock!” I have no idea if this was done to entertain folks like me taking a boat down the river. Don’t want to ask either, happier pretending it’s natural :).
I did a two day hiking tour in Sa Pa, and found it very interesting. The hill tribes send a few folks with your group, dressed in traditional clothing, who politely wait for the end of the day before they accost you to sell trinkets. But the natural beauty of the rolling hills, combined with the long practiced ways of planting and harvesting, make for a lovely and memorable walk.
I was incredibly fortunate to be able to visit the Antarctic peninsula many years ago. It’s an astonishing place – and I think the hardest thing to convey about it the sheer scale of everything. I’ve been other impressive places, but the vastness of the ice sheets and the open water, and the remembrance that you are hundreds if not thousands of miles from the rest of humanity, is pretty humbling.
This is not an original composition. Anyone who has ever been to Banff and the surrounding areas will find it familiar, thanks to the fact that it can be taken by pulling your car to the side of the road and walking about 200 feet. Still, it truly captures much of the beauty of that area – and the water really is that almost shocking shade of aqua blue.
San Francisco is always active. There is noise, and life, and things to do and see and contemplate. I was there to visit my baby niece for the first time, and we had spent the day going places and doing things. Towards the end of the day, we were walking along the waterfront, and I asked for a 2 minute pause so I could quickly take this photo. After a day of intense activity, the serenity of the sunset on a fairly quiet bay was a wonderful reminder of why San Francisco has drawn people to live there for generations.
Every year I try to take a fall foliage hiatus. Some years it’s a full on trip to a special destination; other years, it’s just a day driving around my local neighborhood. This location turned out to be about 1.5 hrs drive from home; perfect for a weekend adventure. Even after the leaves have fallen from the tree, they continue to be part of the world, here showing the water in motion that would otherwise be invisible to our eyes.
A few years ago I was part of a local photographers group, and one day someone suggested we go to this nearby farm and take pictures of sunflowers. I didn’t get it – what was so special about a bunch of flowers (with apologies to the Sunday garden folks!). But then we arrived and I understood the scale of their incredible fields, and these utterly fascinating flowers. Had I stayed there for longer, you can literally see the flowers turn different directions throughout the day, following their namesake to drink in every bit of light and energy they can.
I’m afraid this is one of those pictures that simply doesn’t convey the same feelings at a smaller size, but let me try – Uluru (once known as Ayer’s Rock) rises nearly half a mile above the surrounding desert. This picture, taken from several miles away (and yes, edited heavily but honestly) required getting up at 3am after a 6 hour drive the day before, and it was completely worth it.
It’s hard to explain the feeling of immensity Uluru gives up close – when you can essentially turn in any other direction and see nothing but flat land, to have this enormous formation jutting out of the earth is quite humbling. The natural world is full of wonders, and I am grateful to have seen this one.
Omnes Omnibus
Sibiu is a beautiful little city – a little bit of Enlightenment Germany dropped down in the middle of Transylvania.
Ruckus
I looked into signing up for Antartica when I was in the navy. They told me I’d have to sign up for 6 more years before they’d consider my request. I didn’t think it would be worth it. But I have been pretty close to it, at the south end of the south island of New Zealand.
Kristine
Lovely photos–thank you.
(I think I say this every time, but we really do have some great photographers here).
Another Scott
Beautiful! And a great reminder of all the varied amazing sights on this little blue planet of ours.
Thanks very much.
Cheers,
Scott.
Yutsano
Betty Cracker must be getting to me. At first I didn’t see a dog. I saw a crocodile! You could almost curate a table top picture book with these.
JanieM
I’m just overwhelmed by these pictures, as I have been by every set this week.
Two comments in particular — the view from the MIT boathouse, or, well, the view across the Charles in general is a familiar and beloved one for me. I went to school at MIT, and being the young idiot that I was, I didn’t realize until later what incredibly prime real estate I was privileged to inhabit for a few years. Later I lived in Watertown and Belmont, and even later I spent a week or so in Cambridge each month for work for about ten years. Retired now, restricted by COVID — I miss the place.
But — I have never seen it quite like this. This and the SF shot convey a peacefulness that is rare in those places, and yet gives us a clue, as you say, to why they are so well loved.
BigJimSlade
Great and varied – we’re being spoiled this week!
@dagaetch – Regarding that first picture of Boston, did you ever join Community Boating, on the Boston side? I did that for a couple summers in the 90s – it was quite a bit of fun :-)
Dagaetch
@BigJimSlade: I did actually! For a couple of summers when I was working in downtown Boston. Would stop there to kayak on my way home a few days a week. Great place.
stinger
Great pictures and great stories!
WaterGirl
Wow. The photos are stunning. I think “this one’s my favorite”, but then I get to another one…
I love the stories about each place. Thanks for transporting me in time to each of these places.
JanieM
@WaterGirl:
You took the words right out of my mouth.
WaterGirl
P.S. That sunflower photo is amazing.
Mary G
Those sunflowers!
Ruckus
One of the things I liked about Boston was going to see old Ironsides, still a commissioned ship in the US navy. It made me appreciate being born just a bit later.
Tehanu
Great pix, thanks!
randy khan
We didn’t get to Uluru when we were in Australia – we were in the southeast, basically – and I really regret it. We’ll have to go back.
But I really wanted to comment on the leaves in the water photo, which is amazing. I’ve been looking at the leaves in the stream near our and it’s fascinating how they highlight currents and eddies.
arrieve
Gorgeous. I love that even the places I’ve been have a different perspective when seen through someone else’s eyes.
Warren Senders
Wonderfully beautiful. What an eye you’ve got!
skerry
Uluru is a wondrous place. The colors at sunrise and sunset are magnificent.
I am glad I was able to see it.
cope
These pictures are outstanding. Thank you for posting them and letting the rest of us appreciate them. You’ve done a great job telling the story of each one in a way that makes them even more beautiful.
WaterGirl
@cope:
That’s what I was trying to say, only you said it better.
Benw
WOW This is my speechless face
susanna
There are times like this where my weariness is set aside as the energy from these pictures and the accompanying narrative leave me unable to not leave a message. These are stunning and like others, the descriptive writings are a delight.
If you do make a coffee table book, sign me up. I especially liked the water formations lined by the leaves. Looks Van Gogh-ish to me, and a lovely composition of nature’s simplicity within complexity. Please post more.
Mike in Oly
Great selections. So much beauty in this world!
BigJimSlade
@Dagaetch: ?? I learned a few knots and how to sail just enough and took their basic sailboats out a couple dozen times over a couple years :-)
I only capsized once because the friend that came out with me had clinched (is that the word?) the jib and a gust of wind came up. For those who don’t know, they keep an eye out for flopped-over boats and come out in a launch to pick you up and tow you back in. My friend was easily the better sailor, too! I didn’t boss him around enough (you know, as captain), lol.
The area you can sail in is pretty much all within that first picture – there are bridges just out of sight on each end that block you into that area. Usually in the afternoon the wind is coming from right to left (in that picture), so you zig-zag upwind, and ride back with the wind in a quarter the time. Unless you wait too long and get to the other side and then the wind dies – then it takes about the same amount of time.
JanieM
@BigJimSlade: My sailing story is about one night when a friend was teaching me how to sail in a Tech dinghy. I had long hair, and it was blowing in my face and distracting me from what I should have been paying attention to. The boom came across and whacked me in the head. My friend looked at me and said “Okay, move, I’ll sail us back in.” I said, “No, I’m fine.” (I wasn’t feeling it yet.) She said, “No you’re not, there’s blood running down your neck.”
Twelve stitches in the side of my head. I never let my hair hang loose again. For years I tied it back with a bandanna, but later in life I just cut it short. So much easier! And less distracting!
The Castle
As a fellow Bostonian, a hat tip to you. Though I’ve been here a long time now, the view of the city from the Cambridge side of the Charles never tires. I’m glad that some of that pathway has finally been upgraded after decades of neglect.
I wanted to give a special shout out for the Bear’s Den photo – I know exactly where that spot is, and it’s a wonderful composition (as they all are) and long exposure.
BigJimSlade
@JanieM: The old joke: well, of course, that’s why they call it the boom! But yikes!!! I know I’ve seen it fly across and thought, geez, got lucky on that one. Did you ever go sailing again?
While playing broom ball* in college once (yes, at night, after a couple beers), I hit the ice chin-first and was already up again chasing the ball when I saw the ref coming over to me… “Did I hit the ice?” “Yeah.” “I thought so.” It was only a few drops of blood, but how you didn’t think anything of it right at first is what brings that to mind. It could’ve used a stitch or two, but I didn’t go to have it looked at until the next day and it was too late for that, so I have a small scar.
*Basically broom ball is hockey for people who can’t skate: played on an ice rink, in sneakers, with a cut off broom stick (just a little bit of bristles left), chasing a ball instead of a puck. I’ve only played it that one time – it was fun!
JanieM
@BigJimSlade: I did sail again after that; I felt like I had learned a hard lesson, but I didn’t come away afraid. I never got very serious about it, but I had a couple of friends on the women’s team, including the one that had been teaching me that night, and I got to go to the nationals with them the following year. There was an extra space in the car and the coach said hey, the more the merrier.
This reminds me of another thing, a reason to marvel at how much has changed in my lifetime and how much progress is hanging by a thread right now. (Although I hope that’s over-pessimistic!) Just as local color and background, when I was a freshman there were 61 women in my class out of about 900 total. The women’s sailing team, and I think women’s teams in a couple of other sports, were very, very good. Some of them started a campaign to get MIT to give varsity letters to women as well as men. The athletic director, Ross Smith IIRC, said: No, that would devalue the men’s letters.
To the credit of the male student athletes, they thought that was nonsense.
J R in WV
@Ruckus: ‘
Isn’t that the truth!?
In Baltimore’s Inner Harbour they have a tiny fleet of decommissioned Navy ships, one is a well preserved Navy Diesel Boat just as it was when deployed during WW II.
NO Private space at all!! Every inch purposed towards something necessary to operate the boat, nothing that doesn’t forward the mission. So glad I missed tiny old diesel / battery boats in wartime!
Also. great phtos! Thanks for sharing with us !!!
Albatrossity
Gorgeous! I’m glad I got to go first; this would be a very hard act to follow! I’ll second randy khan; that image of the leaves in the waterfall eddy is simply stunning.
Thanks!
Steve from Mendocino
Beautiful pictures. Thank you for posting them.
JustRuss
Wonderful. Putting Uluru on my bucket list.
BigJimSlade
@JanieM: “I didn’t come away afraid” – awesome!
I love that the male student athletes didn’t buy the athletic director’s line a bit :-) Yeah, hopefully the progress our society has made can stop this bit of backsliding right in its tracks!
JanieM
@BigJimSlade: Is your chin scar a badge of honor….? or maybe barely noticeable years later, I suppose. Anyhow, it’s interesting how you can get hit pretty hard and think, at first, that it’s nothing much.
Cheers until the next picture-inspired conversation!
BigJimSlade
@JanieM: It’s barely noticeable, but I like to think it makes me look a little tougher, just kind of subliminally.