Wildflowers and waterfalls at Mount Rainier National Park
January 20, 2025 We saved Mount Rainier National Park for last during our national parks tour in Washington last July. Technically, it was just me saving it for last, as David had flown in early from Texas, met up with a climbing group, and ice-axed his way to the summit ...
Turquoise lakes, waterfalls in North Cascades National Park
January 18, 2025 After two days last July at Olympic National Park, we drove back through Tacoma, headed north through Seattle, and kept cruising northeast. Just 20 miles from the Canadian border we entered North Cascades National Park, the only one of Washington’s three national parks we had never visited ...
Chasing waterfalls and sunsets (and vampires) in Olympic National Park and Forks
January 17, 2025 Last July, I flew from Austin to Seattle the week before the Puget Sound Fling. With well-planned timing, my husband was descending from the summit of Mount Rainier the same day my plane soared over its snow-capped peak. That evening we met up to begin a national ...
Cadillac Ranch sunset
December 13, 2024 I’ll be getting my kicks on Route 66 more often now that my daughter has relocated to Denver. On a recent road trip back home from Colorado, as we were approaching Amarillo, the sun was sinking low and I had a sudden inspiration — I need to ...
A fall hike at Eldorado Canyon
November 15, 2024 I’d last hiked at Eldorado Canyon State Park, on the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado, 6 years ago during a mother-daughter trip up to Wyoming. My husband had never seen it. So late one afternoon, at the end of a day trip to Boulder from our Denver VRBO, ...
Gold in them thar hills: Aspen season in the Rockies
October 23, 2024 In all my visits to Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park over the years, I’d never seen aspens turning gold or elk bugling. Now I have, thanks to a late September trip. Twice we drove from Denver into the mountains to hike trails under shivering golden leaves ...
Through the looking glass at Chihuly Garden and Glass
October 03, 2024 When I flew up to Seattle in July for the Puget Sound Fling, I spent one morning at Chihuly Garden and Glass, a celebratory display of the glass art and sculpture of Dale Chihuly. A native son of Tacoma, Washington, Chihuly is the most famous glass artist ...
Garden and beach views at Point Defiance Park
August 04, 2024 After taking the ferry back to Tacoma, the Puget Sound Fling buses stopped in Point Defiance Park for a quick look at the public gardens there. Point Defiance is a jewel for Tacoma: a 760-acre park that includes a zoo and aquarium, gardens, beaches, bluffs, trails, a ...
Front-yard gardens and free spirits in Houston’s Heights
June 21, 2024 During a walk through the Heights neighborhood in north Houston last month, amid the derecho cleanup I saw cheerful cottage gardens in bloom. I snapped a few of my favorites, starting with this pistachio-green bungalow. Olive-green Vego planters — I’m going to have some in my next ...
Contemporary re-use in landscaping at San Antonio’s Pearl
June 18, 2024 The old Pearl Brewery in San Antonio is today a shopping/dining complex along the River Walk, with green, landscaped public plazas. It’s called Pearl. We made time to poke around at Pearl during an April visit to the Alamo City. (Here’s Part 1 of that visit.) Historic ...
More faux bois at San Antonio River Walk and Witte Museum
June 14, 2024 I went on a faux bois safari in San Antonio in April, hunting down all the faux bois — locally known as trabajo rústico — that I could find in one day. And I found a LOT. Check out my faux bois post here. But there’s far ...
A tradition of faux bois, or trabajo rustico, in San Antonio
April 22, 2024 Faux bois palapa at Landa Library Last week I roadtripped to San Antonio to explore the city’s faux bois tradition, or trabajo rústico as it’s known locally. These functional works of art — mostly garden furniture but also planters, shade structures, bridges, and even bus stops — ...
Early March visit to Mercer Botanic Gardens in Humble
March 12, 2024 Two weekends ago, during a trip to Houston to see family and friends, I made a morning visit to Mercer Botanic Gardens in the northern suburb of Humble. The gardens were just waking up for spring, and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll along garden paths and trails ...
Cutting Garden and Fling Party at Chanticleer
January 24, 2024 Last September, the Philadelphia Area Fling took me to Pennsylvania, where I enjoyed two visits to the incomparable Chanticleer. I spent a full day there before the tour began and returned for the official afternoon visit, which ended with dinner, live music, and dancing in the garden ...
Ringing Bell’s Woodland at Chanticleer Garden
January 18, 2024 The most secret part of Chanticleer is the entrance to Bell’s Woodland, set off beyond the colorful cutting garden (coming up in my next post). The plant list for it is tucked inside a metal sculpture of a hornet’s nest hanging from a tree — worthy of ...
Falling into ruin at Chanticleer Garden
January 13, 2024 Chanticleer’s Ruin Garden has a fairy tale quality. It’s not an actual ruin but was built in 1999 on the site of one of the original houses on the property. Plants creep up crumbling walls and emerge from cracked paving, ghostly faces appear in pools of water, ...
