AZ Nature In Focus

Has anyone else noticed that the lure of travel has gotten much stronger?  That pull of the open road and the freedom of stepping out of my normal life to escape for a little while has only gotten stronger over the past ten months.  Vacation and traveling, in general, allows me to get off the roller coaster of normal daily life and take a break.  A break from responsibilities and demands.  A break from routine that allows me to see the world just a little bit differently.   The holidays are busy times in general and while my family and I might sneak away in past years for a weekend to see holiday lights or experience a festive gathering, this year is very different.   Mentally I knew going into the holiday season that we wouldn't be traveling between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I threw myself into imagining the outside lights that we would now put up to enjoy.  The indoor decorations and the cookies that I would make this year.  An...

I am someone who has a need to travel.  I need to escape my everyday life and recharge in different surroundings.  I have a drive to explore the world and gain a new appreciation for other landscapes, lifestyles, and people.     I know that I am not alone in saying that 2020 has knocked me around a little.  Plenty of great things have happened this year but by and large, it is a year that I am ready to put behind me.  I have had a few painful losses recently and as luck would have it, my family and I had plans to take a weekend escape to Payson, Arizona just when I needed it most.  For anyone unfamiliar with this area, Payson is a small town immersed in high desert wilderness of Arizona.  We rented a house that backed Tonto National Forest and I was able to spend the weekend seeing virtually no one and enjoy the solitude of nature.   Coming from the desert region around Phoenix, the sights, smells, and sounds of the forest transpo...

I was recently "organizing" my collection of sea glass which basically means that I was taking time to explore and admire my collection.  I began collecting sea glass many years ago when on South Padre Island in Texas and I found a piece of beach glass and pottery at the waterline.  I didn't even realize that pottery or glass became so weathered and smoothed by the ocean until that point and I was hooked.  On my many trips to a beach point since my first find, I am on the lookout for the gleaming piece of glass lying in the sand. After I began looking for glass, I would find one or two pieces on most trips to Southern California but on my last trip to the Monterey Bay area of California, I brought home almost four pounds of glass.   Most of my finds were common glass colors of green, white, and brown but there were several rarer finds of blue, milk glass, or pieces that have clearly been tumbling for close to 100 years.   If you are interested in findi...

Kayak Adventures in Prescott Arizona A few weeks ago my family and I ventured to Prescott, Arizona for a few days filled with kayak adventures.  I am sure many of you can commiserate with our travel experience this summer.  A trip to New Mexico was rescheduled from May to July but then needed to be canceled due to travel restrictions. We were left still wanting to do something but chose to stay in-state and settled on a few days on a lake.  What could be better than hours in a kayak exploring and relaxing?   Watson Lake We had been to Watson Lake on a kayak trip many years ago and decided to return.  For anyone who finds themselves with the opportunity to stop, Watson Lake is a beautiful and rather distinctive lake situated on the outskirts of Prescott, Arizona.  The granite dells are very unique and provide many little coves which allowed us to just float on calm water, enjoy the scenery, and the wildlife. My family and I rented kayaks through Prescot...