Category photography
Grand Canyon is ‘grand’ from South Rim
After my post about hiking in the Grand Canyon, several of my blog readers who haven’t visited the Grand Canyon asked me if a visit to the Grand Canyon would be so “grand” if they weren’t hikers. Yes! Grand Canyon National Park — as with other national parks – is designed to provide a wide […]
Hiking the South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon
When you reach Ooh-Aah Point on the South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon, you know why it got that name. What a view! As I looked out over the Grand Canyon, I felt like I was airborne but without a plane. Ooh-Aah Point is a 1.8-mile round-trip on the South Kaibab Trail, and hiking […]
10 tips for buying running shoes
Running has been my primary fitness activity since I completed my undergraduate degree and started running to stay in shape for activities like hiking and softball. I love running not only the health benefits running offers but being able to enjoy being outdoors for most of my runs. I’ve even included running in my teaching, […]
Tips to avoid getting sunburned at the beach
I recently drove to Dunedin, Florida, to meet two of my friends from Kentucky who were vacationing in the Clearwater area. We were having lunch before I took them to explore Honeymoon Island State Park. As we ate our lunch in air conditioning, sipping iced drinks, one of them asked: “What is it that you […]
LeConte Lodge – cabins, llamas & mountaintop views
My recent hike to Mt. Le Conte marked my 51st hike there. I first hiked to Mt. Le Conte with my church youth group when I was in high school. I’ve been fortunate to able to hike Mt. Le Conte almost yearly – and sometimes several times a year – since that first hike. Most […]
Rainy hike to Mt. Le Conte
Clouds, rain and thunderstorms. That wasn’t the weather I would have requested for hiking, but that was the weather we had for hiking Alum Cave Trail to Mt. Le Conte to spend the night at LeConte Lodge. And when hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, rain always is a possibility, especially in the […]
Tree leaves provide different looks for nature trail
What a remarkable day in May for Florida. The weather system that caused the closing of roads in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park due to fallen trees and the possibility of snow on mountain tops brought a beautiful day to Florida. Cool temperatures and enough breeze to mean no insects. A great day to check out […]
De-stress: Run, bike Gainesville-Hawthorne Trail
I just received my Hike 100 Challenge pin in the mail. The pins were sent to the more than 2,300 hikers who completed the Smokies Hike 100 Challenge in 2016 as part of the Centenniel Celebration of the National Park Service. I’m so glad I could be part of that hiking experience. I love hiking […]
Pumpkin carving provides unique way to propose
The moral of today’s post is to always have your camera and your curiosity with you. When I went into a store at the mall, I could see the employee in the back of the shop carving a pumpkin. As he was getting up from his workbench, I asked what he was carving. So he […]
Julie Dodd 