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.
JanieM
A year and a half ago, OTR brought Steve from Mendocino into my life as a photography mentor and picture editor. Over time we became friends, and out of that friendship came an invitation from Steve and his wife for me to visit them in California.
The trip was long postponed, partly because of Covid, but it finally happened in April. So I’m writing this post from a quiet room amongst the redwoods, where I’ve been welcomed like family. It’s my first trip out of Maine in more than two years and my first visit to California since the early nineties.
It was a spooky moment when I first walked into the house and saw a slideshow of my neighborhood in Maine on the monitor in the kitchen. Exhausted from two long bus rides, a night in a Boston hotel room, a cross-country flight, and a two-hour drive through wine country, I couldn’t quite take in the juxtaposition of where I was with where I had come from.
A lot of OTR posts, including some of mine, are about traveling far away from home. Seeing pictures of home while traveling far away threw me for such a loop that Steve changed the slideshow for the first couple of days until I could get my bearings.
Get my bearings I did, and I took a few pictures, too.
Those will come next, but in the meantime, here’s more Maine.
(This is a re-post after “the unpleasantness.” It’s nice to be getting back to normal.)
Wvng
There’s no place like home. Lovely photos!
Baud
That’s quite lovely.
JPL
Love the ponds in New England and you really do capture the beauty of them. You should consider posting some of your earlier pictures alongside more recent ones.
J.
Beautiful pictures.
eclare
Those photos are serene, I can see why the “fall trees reflected in water” is an obligatory shot!
Nice way to start the morning.
Wag
Good to see your photos again. I look forward to seeing more pictures of your barn when you get a chance.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Beautiful pics and beautiful jackals moment
Lapassionara
Lovely post. What a positive way to start the day. Thank you.
Torrey
Visiting CA and talking photography with Steve sounds wonderful. And the pictures are, as Lapassionara said, an excellent way to start the day. It’s amazing how visually interesting the pattern of car tracks in the snow in the downtown Readfield picture is.
MelissaM
I see that dock and ladder in the lovely final fall shot and am thinking, with summer heat to be coming (but not yet in Central IL!) that a jump in that pond would be lovely!
Mom Says I*m Handsome
This feels like a million miles away from urban Denver, although apparently it’s accessible via a cross-country flight, an overnight in a Boston hotel, and two long bus rides. Sure looks like it’s worth the trip! Thanks for posting more about Maine.
arrieve
These are wonderful pictures. Thank you!
way2blue
Your Maine photos capture the stillness of your landscape. Lovely. Thanks for sharing. I”m looking forward to seeing how your eye captures the landscapes surrounding Mendocino…
susanna
Lovely photos, and I also focused on the snowy vehicle tracks leading into town. As a grouping, the pictures give a feeling of enjoyed solitude with nature being the constant companion and gentle resource for the mind.
That took me right inward.
Thank you! Looking forward to those of CA, as that’s my home state.
Munira
Great photos. They remind me of Quebec.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
Lovely pictures. What are the trees in the “waiting for winter” photo? Pines? Anyway, welcome to N CA!
JanieM
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): Probably some kind of pine, but I’m not good on distinguishing them. I’ll look more closely next time I walk by there.
JanieM
@Munira: I’ve only spent a few days in Quebec, but it’s a very familiar kind of landscape, a few hours’ drive from where I live. Pine trees, maple sugaring in the late winter, lots of similarities.
*****
Thanks to everyone for the good words — I really enjoy taking pictures, and it’s extra fun when other people enjoy them too. (Thanks to BJ for the platform for accomplishing that!)
And this also gives me a chance to say thanks to Steve for editing, and for helping and encouraging me in the endless quest to take better pictures.