What I’ve Been Up To
It’s been two years since I’ve posted to this blog. It’s been a weird couple of years. Between Covid-19 and a serious knee injury, 2020 wasn’t a great travel year. After my knee healed up, I took a few trips to Michigan, which is within easy driving distance. I had a lot more optimism for things getting back to normal in 2021, but the first half of the year saw more of the same — a few trips to Michigan to photograph lighthouses. I took some wonderful photos, but I just didn’t have the inspiration to share them here.
By last summer, I was vaccinated and things were starting to open up. In the last year, I’ve been to Maine three times, as well as three trips to Europe — Portugal, Italy, and France. Maine was a real eye opener — a state I had never visited, but that checked many boxes for me. The trip first Maine trip invigorated my photography, and life felt nearly normal.
I also enjoyed my time in Portugal, visiting both Lisbon and Porto. It was a little hard negotiating all the minutiae of testing requirements and rules for the trip. I had connections in Spain and the UK, so I needed to be aware of the rules there, too.
I traveled to Italy over spring break, visiting the Amalfi coast for the second time. I’ve recently returned from ten days in France, spent between Paris and a driving trip through Brittany. I knocked off a major item from my bucket list, spending two days at Mont Saint-Michel and photographing it during sunrise, sunset, and a moonset.
Conspicuously absent from that list is Mexico, a country I’ve visited forty times since 2008. I do plan to return some day, but my eyes have been opened to some other destinations, and perhaps I was spending a little too much time there going over the same ground.
I’ve thought a lot about what the future of this blog might be. When I started, it was more about sharing my travel experiences and details on what I did. My travel interests have shifted, and I find myself very interested in sharing photography, and less so in sharing things like bus schedules. My plan is to continue featuring photography, but hopefully telling a bit of a story with the photo as well. I’ve also collected a lot of pottery, textile art, and other interesting objects during my travels. I may share some of that from time to time as well. Suffice it to say, new content is coming — hopefully regularly! As always, thanks for reading!
Looking forward to your blog posts!
Thanks for sharing. I like how you intend to move forward. Will anxiously await your next share. Stay safe and enjoy.
Welcome back!
Something to think about – Mexico is not IT? I have been so focused on it and maybe I should expand my horizons too.
There’s something to be said for familiarity, and going to Mexico was really easy. I could just buy a ticket and go. Didn’t really have to do much in the way of research of planning, because I mostly knew everything I needed to about getting around. I could take a long weekend and it was no problem. Plus the flights are relatively short for me, and not terribly expensive. But I may have been a bit too laser focused on that, and seeing some new things has changed my perspective a bit. Where else would you like to go other than Mexico?
Glad to hear you are back on the road! I have profited immensely from your posts on Mexico, including the bus schedules, which have inspired a number of my own trips to south of the US border. But of course, there is much more to explore all over the globe. That said, I do see some common themes in your pictures from the Amalfi coast and Mexico. Whatever your future plans will be, I look forward to learning more about them.
Thanks in advance!