Patti challenges us with monochrome photography in this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge. Thanks, Patti! Monochrome photography is an interesting way to interpret the scene for a photographer like me who somewhat depends on a splash of color. I’ve had fun with it!
To meet this challenge, I thought I’d share with you a short travelogue of my journeys over the last year. I spend my winters petsitting through TrustedHousesitters, and it’s taken me to some fine, fine places.
What’s Happening Now
I’m currently spending a little time in Colorado. It’s a blast from the past, an opportunity to get back to my roots, revisit landscapes forever held deep in my heart, spend time with family, and heal. I was fortunate enough to land a housesit in Allenspark, in the southwest corner of Rocky Mountain National Park, which made this sweet sojourn with a land I love possible.
Winter On The West Coast
A year ago today, though, I was on the Long Beach Peninsula, Washington State. I was housesitting a very sweet dog and cat in a lovely old home just 4 blocks from the beach. It was wonderful to spend a whole month immersing myself in the Pacific Northwest, an environment I’d never before had the opportunity to really experience.
Long Beach wasn’t my only coastal refuge this past winter. I spent most of the winter on the central California coast. I had a housesit in Monterey
and one in Goleta, where I mourned the loss of the Monarch Butterflies.
I even drove the Big Sur Highway a few times. It is amazing that this road even exists!
In between house sits, I spent a lot of time camping at San Simeon. It was an unexpected wildlife treasure.
I finally visited Mystic Hot Springs in Utah, which had been on my bucket list for years.
Spring In The Desert
I visited four deserts, with a wonderful house sit in Tucson giving me a taste of the Sonoran,
a bit of quality time spent on the Colorado Plateau,
and, as always, following the flowers in the Mojave
and the Lower Coloradoan Desert.
Summer In Alaska
I always come back to the Wrangells, though. It’s true – there’s no place like home!