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.
It’s Albatrossity Monday, with a twist! And we start a new series of adventures with Uncle Eb, frosty, lashonharangue, and Dagaetch!
We have a big milestone coming up at the end of next week – 1,000 On the Road posts published since I started shepherding OTR after we lost Alain.
I was thinking I might re-run the two Farewell to Paris posts as a way of marking the 1,000-post milestone. So many lovely Paris pics in that series. Has anyone been to Paris since the pandemic? We would love to see your pics!
Any other thoughts on how we might celebrate the occasion?
Every picture tells a story, as the song goes. Every picture brings back memories, of a time, a place, a person, and those stories all come together in a single image. That’s one of the things I love about photography, and about the images shared by all of us here On The Road.
So here are ten pics that I’ve chosen, with ten (short) stories. Random places and subjects, with nothing in common except that I took them and they spark good memories. I would love to see a similar collection from lots of you, especially if you have never commented or submitted posts to On The Road in the past. So I’ll commit to giving a 2024 Albatrossity photo calendar to the first 5 jackals who have never contributed photos to On The Road and who send in a post like this one. Let the good times roll!
This white rock is in the River Ardeche; on the bluff above it is the medieval town of Aiguèze. We spent a few days in this part of southern France, and from this picture I can feel that sun, and nearly taste the wonderful food and wines we enjoyed in the region. Click here for larger image.
Closer to home is this sunset with partial solar eclipse, taken from a hilltop on the Konza Prairie about 8 miles from my house. Astrophotography is something I will cede to Bill; his shots are always stunning and informative! But this one is memorable because I found a good friend and fellow photographer on that same hilltop; we both had figured out that it might be a good spot to see this eclipse! Click here for larger image.
Much further from home. We hiked through this forest of Southern Beeches on the north end of the South Island of New Zealand. And you can see my sweetie Elizabeth at lower left, giving a sense of scale to these impressive trees. No hobbits were sighted. Click here for larger image.
Another pic from New Zealand, a Buller’s Albatross that we saw from a boat off the coast near Kaikoura, also on the South Island. It was a perfect day on the water, calm and full of birds. I added three or four species of albatross to my life list that day! Click here for larger image.
The third and final image of New Zealand comes from the Southern Alps between the Rangitata and Rakaia rivers, west of Christchurch. I had scouted out this location, with the impressive tussock grasses in the foreground, and thought it would make a great sunrise-greeting spot for the New Year. I got out of bed at oh-dark-thirty (recall that the longest day of the year in the Southern Hemisphere was just a few days before this) and headed for this spot to see this scene unfold. It remains one of my favorite images, and memories. Click here for larger image.
The Kansas City Symphony performs a concert in the sublime Flint Hills of Kansas every summer. It is a wonderful event, at a different rural venue each summer, and if you are interested, here’s more information. There is always a cattle drive staged near the end of the concert, and here are some cowboys and cowgirls riding off into the sunset. Click here for larger image.
As part of the research for a book that Elizabeth was writing, we visited the Yucatan and saw many Mayan sites. After the archaeology tour was over, we stayed in Tulum and hired a guide for some bird-watching experiences. Both the archaeology and the birding were magnificent. Our hotel was on the beach; I took this picture from the back door of our room. Just down the beach, in both directions, were small restaurants and bars; at one of those we had the best paella I have ever tasted. Twice! It was that good! Click here for larger image.
Petroglyphs in the desert southwest of the US offer many opportunities for photography, exploring, and making memories. These are from Utah, in the area of Black Dragon Canyon, and the time (May 2021) is memorable because we were coming out of the lockdown part of the pandemic, people were getting vaccinated, and it seemed that life would return to normal again. So we went to Grand Junction CO (wave to our fellow jackal cope) to visit an old dear friend, and one of the trips was out into this part of Utah. We even ate in an indoors (albeit mostly empty) restaurant! Sigh. Click here for larger image.
Colorado is close to my home state, but also a world away. Public land with mountains and deserts and lots of vistas that just cannot be found here in my patch of Flyover Country. This is from a camping trip to the Rio Grande valley near the Great Sand Dunes, which you can see in the foreground. The Sangre de Cristo mountain range and a flock of White-faced Ibis adorn the background. Click here for larger image.
This is a sea arch on San Cristóbal in the Galápagos, locally (and confusingly) known as “Darwin’s Window”. The isolated formation framed within the rock is the world-famous snorkeling site known variously as Kicker Rock or Leon Dormido (Sleeping Lion). This is from our first Study Abroad class trip to the Galápagos, and we were on a boat that was captained by a guy who was pretty much full of himself. He parked the boat briefly on this side of the window, and I got off one lucky shot from that pitching platform, with Kicker Rock perfectly framed and a flight of terns coming through the window. Then he gunned the engine, and we roared under the arch and out the other side. Just another day in paradise! Click here for larger image.
Your turn now. Let’s see your pics and hear your memories!
eclare
All of these photos and memories are wonderful, thank you. I can feel a slight breeze from the beach photo.
Lapassionara
What wonderful photos from such intriguing places. Thanks!
Chris T.
They’re not at the north end of the South Island. Hobbiton is in the middle of the North Island, and as you know, most hobbits never wander far from home….
Albatrossity
@Chris T.:
Indeed, but we found out later that one of the scenes in The Hobbit movie was filmed only a mile or so from this spot. So there were hobbits here at least sometime in the past! And the jewelry shop that made The One Ring is in nearby Nelson.
Chris T.
@Albatrossity: Ah, on Trafalgar Square, I see. Nelson is the area I’d want to live in, if I were to live in NZ.
(I can recommend staying at the Palazzo, or at least, from 2009 or so, it’s been a long time. Lambretta’s cafe was pretty good too. I can’t find my favorite restaurants now, alas—I think one has changed hands and names. On another note, if you’re in Christchurch and it’s still there, check out Scorpion Books.)
Albatrossity
@Chris T.:
Yeah, it is lovely. Elizabeth’s brother and sister-in-law live there, and actually did a tour of the country on their honeymoon to see what part of NZ they would like to live in. They chose well! And I’ve not stayed in a hotel or eaten in too many restaurants there, because we stayed with them whenever we visited!
Betty
Wonderful memories and beautiful photos.
Dagaetch
Wonderful photos as always! Thank you for sharing. And I love your suggestion to get some new OTR participants.
OzarkHillbilly
Gotta say that Lake Heron, New Zealand shot is just “Wow.”
Thanx for the Kansas City Symphony tip. Sounds good and a real good reason for me to go see the Flint Hills again.
Obviously, you’ve never had my wife’s seafood paella. ;-) ;-) She learned it at her Mallorcan mother’s elbow, and I’ll tell you, Monse knew how to throw down in that tiny little kitchen of hers. I’d gain 20 pounds every visit.
mvr
Really like the Galápagos, photo!
Thanks!
pieceofpeace
Such a good, visually stunning set of locations: sometimes, at the end, I realize I’ve been holding my breath while I whip from one, then another and so it goes. Can’t pick a favorite….
AM in NC
Wonderful photos and descriptions – thank you for sharing!
Husband and I retired early this past year; younger child graduated from high school this past week, and we are looking forward to (fingers crossed) many years of adventures across our globe. You are an inspiration!!!!!!!
Anyway
All great photos and accompanied by nice details (per usual).
Hard to pick one but I’m leaning towards the petroglyph. On a Utah kick and would would love to go back — was there Oct 2021 and enjoyed every moment.
WaterGirl
Albatrossity, I love getting all these glimpses into your adventures!
Not to mention the stunning photos. :-)
Yutsano
I knew there had to be one bird! But what a wonderful example at that! All of these pictures are wonderful but the symphony ending with a cattle drive is so meta to me.
lee
Great photos and wonderful stories.
Elizabird
@Albatrossity: @Chris T.: I have to join this conversation, too! Indeed, Albatrossity, my brother and sister-in-law, and I were all in a movie theatre in Nelson, watching the latest in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, when a scene opened with the Fellowship walking across a grassy plain with marble outcrops. “OH,” said I, aloud (but a polite NZ whisper, I hope). “That looks like Takaka Hill!” — place not far from town where we had walked on some previous visit. “Ye-aaah,” my brother confirmed, thoughtfully. “Yeah, I remember now, they were here filming for a few days.” It’s such a cool place, a karsty landscape with caves and sinkholes holding moa bones beneath the grassy/stony surface.
WaterGirl
@Elizabird: We are lucky you guys came back to the states!
KSinMA
Gorgeous photographs!
cope
Wonderful pictures and back stories, thanks. I’m going with the dunes/Sangre de Cristo/ibis. However did you identify the birds?
The light in this picture has that hazy western aspect to it and the depth of field shown by the foreground scrub, the dunes and the distant and very big mountains well above treelike gives a great sense of scale. Those facets of the picture and the fact that this is a place I could actually drive to today if desired all make this my favorite shot.
Thanks again.
PS There is an excellent book about the San Luis Valley by Ted Conover called “Cheap Land Colorado” documenting the history, places and people who populate (sparsely) the valley. Rocky Mountain PBS created a multi-part documentary with the same title using Conover as guide that is a good watch as well.
pajaro
thanks for the beautiful photos.