Category Archive for ‘Travels’ at Becca’s Cyber Home

Archive for the 'Travels' Category

Vacation on the bay

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10 months, 4 weeks ago

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Yeah, I’m a little behind… this is a draft post from June. Since it’s now September, figured I ought to post it already!

So, finally, I had a real honest-to-goodness vacation! Hubby and I spent Mon-Fri at a beachhouse (well, really a canal house) in Rockport, then my parents and sister joined us. It’s been a good week but hot as Hades down here on the Gulf.

On Tuesday we went pier fishing at Goose Island State Park. I tried casting a line for the first time in my adult life, and for those of you who know me, you can imagine what a show that was! Let’s just say I am not coordinated–I can barely walk and talk at the same time without disaster striking. Flicking a pole and releasing a reel for a smooth cast? Not gonna happen.

The first half-hour was almost the end of the trip. I’d lean back, cast from the right, and wait expectantly for an assertive plunk thirty-or-so feet away. Only the rod would stop and nothing would happen. The line was still dangling limply from the fishing rod. Then suddenly the line would reel out with a whirr and plop in the water right in front of me. Needless to say, I didn’t catch anything.

Pink mountain majesty

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beccataylor

1 year, 4 months ago

in Musings and Travels

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One of my favorite sights in the world is flying over the mountain ranges into the Albuquerque area. This last trip, I flew in right at sunset to a full view of beautiful pink-tinted mountains overlooking the valley where Albuquerque rests.

Scotland dreaming

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beccataylor

1 year, 8 months ago

in Musings, Travels and Writing

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Scotland has been on my mind lately. I visited over a year ago, and it’s funny how often my mind calls up a memory or impression from my trip there…

My friend Megan suggested a meditation exercise to help me sleep. Because I tend to draw strong connections to place, she suggested I focus on a favorite place and savor all the senses as a way to clear my mind. Quite often I focus on the luscious few minutes I spent at the northern tip of Scotland near John O’Groats. As I was doing this exercise last night, I remembered that I wrote about it last fall after a guided meditation at an SCN Writing From Life workshop. I needed to revisit the journal entry and decided to share it with you.

The grass beneath my feet is a profusion of long, slender stalks, a soft mat of padding atop these jagged, rocky cliffs. The crashing waves pound the cliffs and the wind roars, the sound of it rushing through me off the frigid North Sea.

Here, at the land’s end, earth meets water meets sky in their eternal dance. Awed by the vastness, I seek a physical anchor to the land. I wiggle my toes in the grass to feel the earth. I wiggle my outstretched fingers to feel the wind. I inhale the scent of sea and soil and grass.

There is nothing but me and nature in this lonely spot. But shrouded in the mysterious damp moist of the Scottish autumn afternoon, cradled by the soft earth, caressed by the wind, and serenaded by the waves, I am on sacred ground. I am surrounded by it, I am part of it. I am Nature, Nature is sacred, sacred am I.

Out and about in northern New Mexico

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beccataylor

1 year, 11 months ago

in Travels

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I feel re-energized after spending the first part of August in the northern part of New Mexico. There’s something I love in every part of the state, but I’m partial to the northern mountains. It hardly seems possible that I’ve been gone from NM for almost 10 years! But it’s taken me those years to be able to return to some parts of the state that hold a strong personal history for me. Places have always held a strong emotional and memory ties for me. You know how smelling a certain scent can bring back very visceral memories? Place does that for me too.

So I was very excited to show my hubby some of those places that have been special to me over the years. He spent 5 years at school in Socorro but never got north of Albuquerque, and I lived in NM for 16 years and didn’t see Angel Fire or Eagles Nest. Definitely shortcomings that needed to be rectified! We spent a whole day driving from Santa Fe around the Enchanted Circle. We had perfect weather–storms in the morning and clear skies in the afternoon.

Here are some photos from the trip!

Santa Fe

1: I went with a writer friend to see the Georgia O’Keeffe museum and was pleasantly surprised to see an AWESOME exhibit with O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams. If you’re in the area, don’t miss it!
2: A beautiful, albeit crazy busy, day on the plaza.

Enchanted Circle

1: My favorite shot of the day. As we drove into Taos through the Rio Grande gorge we were surrounded by scattered storms.

2: A view of the Rio Grande River Gorge stretching into the horizon.

3: Sunset from my condo in Red River (I stayed here for a writing workshop before hubby met me).

Elizabethtown, New Mexico

We were pretty excited to see a ghost town on the Enchanted Circle map! Sorry to say, it was a bit of a disappointment. The only obvious ghost town element are the ruins of the hotel, which you can see from the road. (Interesting side note: the photo of the wall ruins was taken on my iPhone–not a bad picture for a camera phone!) There is an introduction video and building filled with ephemera from the town, but it’s a messy jumble. The marketing/PR demon living inside of me was railing at how much cooler the place could be with a little funding and know-how, but as always, I ignored the demon and enjoyed myself anyway.

Blisters-R-Us in Philly

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beccataylor

2 years, 1 month ago

in Musings and Travels

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I’m a bum and completely unashamed to admit it! I slept in this morning–no alarm clocks, no wake up calls, no meetings. It was divine. The STC conference was great! My brain is so completely fried that I’m trying not to think too much about it. I have notes out the wazoo, some good new connections, and several research ideas I want to explore. But not yet!

After I dragged my butt out of the hotel I wandered six blocks to the Historical Independence district, which is apparently a National Park (you learn something new every day!), hoping to tour Independence Hall. All the tickets had already been distributed for the day, so I missed out on that. But I took a Duck Tour and part of a double-decker bus tour. I only did the partial tour because I realized one of the stops was half a block from my hotel and my tootsies were killing me! Trudging through the rain to the ballgame last night ruined my shoes, so my feet are very unhappy. But I hope to continue the bus tour tomorrow morning between conference calls and getting to the airport. We’ll see!

Here’s Captain Butch of the Philly Ducks. Captain Butch likes long drives and making wise-quacks. (hehehe) He wisely advised us that if we saw him donning a life jacket, we might want to consider doing the same ourselves. And, of course, since it’s an open boat without closed windows, finding an escape route shouldn’t be too difficult.