The Road Less Traveled

Now for something totally different.   Some time ago, a friend shared some of his snaps of a series of manhole covers/utility vault lids that he saw while traveling.   They were totally fun, and made me take note of something I often completely ignore.

As I’ve been poking around Japan, I’ve been paying more some attention to various features in the public space, that I thought would be fun to share.  (This post’s for you, Joe.)

This utility vault cover was in color. How cool is that? The design is featuring one of the elements in Kanazawa's historic garden, considered one of the top three gardens in the country. Understandably something to be proud of, so no surprise it "made the cover" so to speak...

More after the jump… (more…)

I suppose it’s one of those things you learn in kindergarten – that life’s full of choices.  But choices are funny things, at least for me.  Some take up major amounts of my thoughts, even simple choices.  I can angst over whether to buy a can of smoked oysters or not, for much longer than is reasonable to admit.  (It’s best not to go shopping with me, if you’re in a hurry.)  And others, are rather simple.  Like my choice to focus my time and money on my vacation ethic, rather than fixing up things in the house or the like.

I’ve made what I think is a wise choice to not name this post Lens Envy, though this photo gives a sense of what I’m talking about.

Lens envy!

As I was thinking about this – my next blog post from what has been a magical and meaningful trip for me this past few weeks – that title popped into my head.  Consider the scene – late afternoon out the back of this lovely cafe at Tsurumidai, a part of Kushiro Shitsugen National Park, a vast wetland famous for the amazing Red Crowned Cranes.

The Tancho, or Japanese Red-Crowned Crane. A quite lovely bird, and loud too. (At least during mating season, which is winter.)

Continued after the jump… (more…)

There’s all kinds of travel and all kinds of places to travel to. For me, one of the more fun ways to travel is to just head down a side road and see where it takes me. I’m also really fond of places with cliffs and birds.

When I took off on a trip to Ireland last spring, what I was most looking forward to doing was finding cliffs to go hang out on and take photos. I stayed in B&Bs mostly, which were really more like B&B&Ls as they fed me so much I was able to pack a small lunch of toast and jam for myself to eat while sitting on the bluffs somewhere.

Anyhow, I’m working on a special project that I’m really excited about (beyond this blog, which I’m also very excited about.)

Here’s a sneak peek at a part of my project.

Stay tuned…

There are some places you visit where you just feel good, like it’s a place to stay for a while, where things are right, somehow.  The little village of Kilbaha was one of those places for me.  Not only is it near Loop Head, which I had heard was a ‘must see’ if I wanted to enjoy amazing cliffs with birds and random beauty.

Crashing waves erode tunnels through the cliffs

It’s also got one of the most comfortable places to stay I’ve ever experienced.  This was more a feeling I got from the welcome by strangers than plush accommodation.  I stayed at the Lighthouse Inn, which  fit my image of a traditional Irish Inn, a pub downstairs with rooms upstairs, but they were friendlier than one could imagine.  (more…)