even more red rocks.............

 

What us Ohioans appreciate most about taking pictures of the red rocks in Sedona is the startling blue sky.  Hard to come by in Ohio in January and February.

Red rocks.............................

 

More red rocks

the most fundamental freedom..............

 

As creatures who are self-moving, freedom of movement would seem to be the most fundamental freedom there is, a minimal condition for that basic animal pleasure that makes life sweet. . . . What is at stake is not simply a legal right, but a disposition to find one's way through the world by the exercise of one's own powers.

-Matthew Crawford,  Why We Drive: On Freedom, Risk and Taking Back Control

Well................................

 

.......................................good for them.

choices...........................

Now that the proposition of crossing Antarctica by myself had taken hold, my choices were to see it through or to live with regret for the rest of my life. . . .

I wasn't sure what worried me more; skiing 1,700 kilometers or spending two months alone.

-Felicity Aston, Alone In Antarctica

On perseverance.....................

 It was clear to me that the success of my expedition had not depended on physical strength or dramatic acts of bravery but on the fact that at least some progress—however small—had been made every single day. It had not been about glorious heroism but the humblest of qualities, a quality that perhaps we all too often fail to appreciate for its worth - that of perseverance.  Critical to skiing across Antarctica had been the distinctly unimpressive and yet, for me, incredibly demanding challenge of finding the will to get out of the tent each and every morning.  If I had failed in that most fundamental of tasks, then my expedition would have been over. . . .

     Keep getting out of the tent.

-Felicity Aston, Alone In Antarctica

loopy..............................

 A rut is not a sign that you've tanked.  A plateau is not a cue that you've peaked.  They're signals that it may be time to turn around and find a new route.  When you're stuck, it's usually because you're heading in the wrong direction, you're taking the wrong path, or you're running out of fuel.  Gaining momentum often involves backing up and navigating your way down a different road—even if it's not the one you initially intended to travel.  It might be unfamiliar, winding, and bumpy.  Progress rarely happens in a straight line; it typically unfolds in loops.

-Adam Grant, Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things

Both...............................?

I wasn't sure what worried me more; skiing 1,700 kilometers or spending two months alone. 

-Felicity Aston, Alone In Antarctica

thanks David

shuffled.........................

Traveling one day—my brother the sieur de la Brousse and I—during our civil wars, we met a gentleman of good appearance. He was of the opposing party, but I knew nothing of it, for he pretended otherwise; and the worst of these wars is that the cards are so shuffled that your enemy is distinguished from yourself by no apparent mark either of language or of bearing, and has been brought up in the same laws and customs and the same atmosphere, so that it is hard to avoid confusion and disorder.

-Michel de Montaigne, The Complete Works, Book 2, Chapter 5

Bags of time.....................

 When the keeper of the inn

where we stayed in the Outer Hebrides

said we had bags of time to catch the ferry,

which we would reach by traversing the causeway

between this island and the one to the north,

I started wondering what a bag of time

might look like and how much one could hold.

Apparently, more than enough time for me

to wonder about such things,

I heard someone shouting from the back of my head.

Then the ferry arrived, silent across the water,

at the Lochmaddy Ferry Terminal,

and I was still thinking about the bags of time

as I inched the car clanging onto the slipway

then down into the hold for the vehicles.

Yet it wasn't until I stood at the railing

of the upper deck with a view of the harbor

that I decided that a bag of time

should be the same color as the pale blue

hull of the loan sailboat anchored there.

And then we were in motion, drawing back

from the pier and turning toward the sea

as ferries had done for many bags of time,

I gathered from talking to an old deckhand,

who was decked out in a neon yellow safety vest,

and usually on schedule, he added,

unless the weather has something to say about it.

-Billy Collins

Traveling to Mars..................

...............or not?   Here's a fun-to-read essay suggesting it would be folly to send live humans to explore the red planet.

 "When you hold on to a belief so strongly that neither facts nor reason can change it, what you are doing is no longer science, but religion."

via

Imagine..................

 more fun here

End of the trip.......................

Denali National Park and Preserve is home to Denali, at 20,310 +/- feet above sea level, the highest mountain in North America.  We traveled there via a five-hour bus ride north from Anchorage.  Alaska is a mighty big state.  

When I was a youngster, we learned to call the peak Mt. McKinley.  The natives never called it that, and in 2015 it was officially renamed.   The Denali National Park contains about six million acres and is accessed by one wee roadway.  I got the idea that visitors were welcomed to look, mostly from a distance, with the intent being to leave the acreage wild and mostly unvisited.  They have succeeded in that.  All in all, it is a pretty amazing place.  If you get the chance, go.

The Alaskan Range

The Alaskan Range takes in a lot of territory

Pretty fair hiking country

From 60 miles away, mostly shrouded in clouds, we
think the big thing in the middle is Denali

Ditto

Interestingly enough, we were told on multiple 
occasion: "Run from a moose."  They are not out to
get you, they may charge you simply because they
want to be left alone.  On the other hand, we were
told on multiple occasions: "Don't run from a bear.
If you run they think you are dinner.  Stand in a 
group, raise your arms to look bigger, make noise.  
Don't run."   Never had to make either decision.

Traveling by train back from Denali to Anchorage to
get on an airplane back to Ohio.  Here we are sitting
in the upper deck with great views, we dined in the
lower deck.  Very civilized way to travel.  

Fourth Port of Call...............................

 ..........................................Skagway:

Situated in the northernmost fjord in the Inland Passage, Skagway is a delightful little town.  I say little because there were more people on our cruise ship than live and work in Skagway.  It's heyday came in the very late 1800s.  Gold was discovered in the Yukon Territory, and Skagway was the most logical jumping off point for waves of prospectors. All that traffic attracted the usual characters.  Most of the buildings seem to date from that era. Our quick tour of the town included a visit to the "Boot Hill" cemetery, where our guide gave a colorful exposition on the life of Soapy Smith.  The highlight though was the train ride up White's Pass.  Most of the photos were taken on that trip.

Skagway has a delightful historic downtown.  We had an
excellent lunch at one of their many restaurants

The Skagway River

Ditto

Some pretty fair views from the top of the Pass

A bridge in our future

I could stare at this view all day

If you squint, you can see the cruise ship

Thankfully we didn't take this bridge

Local mass transit option for tourists

Skagway.  We would go  back.

On plans..........................

It is essential to get lost and jam up your plans every now and then.  It's a source of creativity and perspective.  The danger of maps, capable assistants, and planning is that you may end up living your life as planned.  If you do, your potential cannot possibly exceed your expectations.

-Scott Belsky, as lifted from here