If you love travelling as much as I do, I’m sure there are times when you read a post about somewhere interesting, maybe somewhere you’re already planning to go, and you think, ‘That will be useful’. Maybe you even bookmark it, or copy and saved some of the useful information. And just maybe, you remember, when the time comes to visit that place, that you read and saved that interesting post … somewhere!
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Very many people have had their say about what constitutes creativity. Most focus on a degree of rule-breaking and risk-taking. In this post I want to share some of the creative people I’ve featured previously, bringing examples of their fascinating and unusual work together into this single post.
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There’s a temptation when we travel to try to cram everything in. To see every sight, explore every street and alleyway, visit every museum even! We fear we’ll go home and regret having missed something that others say is a must-see. Or worse perhaps, miss seeing that one thing that we could have been the first to discover and share.
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The Roman poet Horace said that 'a picture is a poem without words'. Of course he would not have known about photography, living as he did over two thousand years ago. But I’m sure if he had, he would have looked for poems in photos.
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I confess I have never been one to climb mountains, and certainly not these days! But I am inspired by the sight of them and by all the wonders of the world’s wilder places. And where better to see some of these than in a national park? I’m a particular admirer of the US national parks system, which owes much to the campaigning of John Muir.
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Summer temperatures in Death Valley can reach as high as 47 Celsius / 116 Fahrenheit. Even in mid-October, when we visited, daytime highs were in the mid 30s Celsius / 90s Fahrenheit. Nevertheless visitors want to see as much of this amazing landscape as they can, even if that involves taking some risks.
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The great redwoods and sequoias of California are not merely trees; they stand to remind us of the beauty and resilience of nature. They have inspired countless artists, writers and nature lovers. They epitomise strength, survival and the grandeur of the natural world.
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The Nevada ghost town of Rhyolite was once very grand, but was very short-lived. The mine got into financial difficulties in 1910, five years after opening, and closed the following year. With no work in the area the population of Rhyolite declined rapidly, to below 1,000 immediately after the mine’s closure and close to zero by 1920.
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Kings Canyon National Park consists of two areas. One is Grant Grove. Detached from this to the north, separated from it by large tracts of forest and wilderness, is Kings Canyon itself. Like Yosemite this was carved by a massive Ice Age glacier and shares much of its grandeur. But it is a little harder to reach, a little less famous and consequently a lot quieter!
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There are times on every road trip when you have to focus on exactly that, the road. Days when it is more important to cover the miles and get from A to B, stretches when major sights are few and far between. But even on these days it’s good to stop from time to time and take a breather.
