A stiflingly dry heat permeates in the Yosemite Valley air, as the aroma of Christmas exudes from the conifer resin of the trees nearby. Pickup trucks and four-door sedans alike, crunch and grind their tires through the gravel parking lot, kicking up a cloud of gray dust in their wake. Beside the lifted trunk of [...]
Last summer, I bought a book of poetry. It was an impulse-buy, I admit, from a dainty, quaint little bookshop in the small town of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. I was running errands for a freelance project that day and originally had no intentions of going to a bookstore. But as I walked along the sidewalk, [...]
A cool forest air rolls through the windows of my Ford Escape as it slowly eases to a stop. The soft breeze continues on, caressing the treetops of Allegheny National Forest in western Pennsylvania and offering a brief respite from the heavy heat of summer humidity. Several cars rest idly by in the parking lot, [...]
Twisting and turning up a mountain road, you climb steadily through a sea of towering pines and evergreens. Above the tree canopies, the clouds take on a soft, underbelly glow of a dawning new day. In a quite literal race against time, you take each bend in the mountain road as quickly as you can, [...]
Do you ever surprise yourself sometimes? Like when you look back on a decision you made and after it's all said and done, you can’t help but wonder, “Did I really just do that?” It’s typically the kind of decision you make on a whim with zero expectations, except for to take whatever comes next [...]
A soft, early morning glow illuminates the treetops as the car weaves on a two-lane road through a tunnel of pines. Underneath the canopy, the forest floor is a barren brown, contrasting the lush and vibrant evergreens. Between each of the towering trunks the air is dark, an eerie fog emerging from its depths. Following [...]