Travel

April 18, 2014April 17, 2014

The moon and our shadow

As we watched the lunar eclipse Monday night, I joked with Phillip that I could see our two shadows on top of the earth’s up there too.

We had walked down our sidewalk to get out from behind the trees. A few of our neighbors were already outside, sitting in yards, leaning over balconies, or standing on the sidewalk like us. No one said much. They greeted us or just smiled. One commented “Crazy, huh?” And it was. A lot of the people I used to know have moved out, and I haven’t really gotten to know this new crowd yet. But there we were, hanging out together outside at midnight, craning our necks to watch the shadow of the planet we were standing on eclipse the moon.

I felt a sense of community with our neighborhood that I hadn’t in a long time.

I remember looking at the moon the first time I travelled outside the country. It almost felt strange how it looked exactly the same when so much around me seemed a little off. But there it was, on its journey across the skies of the world, tugging at the oceans, moving through its same phases.

This week a lot of people in a lot of places were looking up at it in the same moment – from sidewalks and balconies, through windows and telescopes – like one huge, sprawling neighborhood.

Whether you saw it or not, we all cast a shadow across the moon.

April 15, 2014April 15, 2014

Enjoying spring anywhere: 3 simple ways

I know there are some places where people are still waiting for spring. Here in Phoenix, our spring is drawing to a close as temperatures keep creeping up, and we are savoring it while it lasts.

I made this list of simple ways we enjoy the season that you can adapt to wherever you are, whenever it arrives.

1. Take a hike and look for signs of spring. We like exploring trails at South Mountain – there are tons of them! As the wildflowers fade, the cactus starts to bloom, so there should be plenty of color in the Sonoran desert throughout the month of April.

2. Go on a Picnic. Lots of parks have tables just waiting for you. We noticed a large picnic area at Estrella Mountain Regional Park. There’s also a great day-use area at Dead Horse Ranch State Park (I know! Terrible name but great camping and huge day-use area.) in Cottonwood, if you’re up for a drive – which brings us to #3…

3. Take a drive (or bike ride) and see what you discover. We’re big fans of taking the side streets just to see where we end up.

What do you do to enjoy spring weather?

April 8, 2014May 23, 2023

Southwest Maker Fest wrap up

So Southwest Maker Fest turned out to be eclectic and awesome. They had a street (or maybe it was two) in downtown Mesa blocked off for a live music stage and a whole variety of booths. In a matter of minutes, you could stroll by an open-source car, handmade flutes, geeks with 3D printers running, and an overalled man showing people how to weld.

There were presentations and demonstrations going on throughout the day at nearby venues. I gave my travel journal talk at an art gallery/event space.

Afterwards, I went to help out at the Gangplank booth for a bit. (Yep, I was one of the geeks at one of the 3D-printer-equipped booths.) I did my best to answer people’s questions about the collaborative workspace – but there’s really more going on there than I can keep up with.

By the time I was done there, I was so tired and hungry. Phillip and I took a quick tour of the booths on our way out, but we weren’t able to engage as much as we would’ve liked.

I’ll have to learn to weld another day.

All in all, it was a good start for Southwest Maker Fest and great to see a sampling of Phoenix’s diverse maker community come out of the woodwork and get together. I’m looking forward to the next event.

If you weren’t able to be there this year, you can get on the list to be notified about next year’s event. I’ll also be presenting about travel journals again at Craft Hack in May (watch the Facebook page or sign up for the Travelcraft Journal newsletter for details).

Photo of my talk by Trish Gillam.

March 31, 2014April 1, 2014

Postcards from Travelcraft Journal

I know you’re really busy. And you probably don’t have time to read every Travelcraft Journal post.

So I thought I’d help you out and make a monthly summary of the highlights, plus some extra goodies that you’ll see there first. We’ll call it a newsletter. But really it’ll be more like a collection of little postcards.

The first one will include Travel Expo tickets and travel scrapbooking checklists. And it’s coming out this week!

So get in on the ground floor and sign up here…

March 26, 2014March 26, 2014

Why Arizona? Because of March. Basically.

March is the reason people live in Arizona. Not the only reason. But it represents a pretty big one, because it tends to come with the kind of gorgeous weather we dream of during the inevitably scorching Phoenix summers.

Of course, I would write that sentence on the day we get a fluke spring dust storm. (We don’t really expect those until July or August.) But still. It was an hour or so blip in the middle of some really nice days.

March also brings wildflowers. Some years more than others, but if we’ve had any rain at all, the desert gets more colorful.

Because the weather is so good, things get busy. People come to visit. Events get scheduled. (Lots and lots of events. They were basically stacked on top of each other this past weekend.) Before you know it, you’re in some convention hall or shopping center or crowded restaurant wondering what you’re doing there and if you’ve missed all the nice weather. Or (in my case), you’re sitting outside writing a post about wildflowers and wondering if they’ve already finished their brief annual appearance.

So Monday I texted Phillip that I wanted to see if there were still wildflowers on South Mountain and should I pick him up after work to go check it out. He was up for it, so we slipped into the park just before they closed the entrance gate and hiked until we ran out of light for photos.

I’m happy to report that it’s not too late to spot some wildflowers in the desert.

Also, the creosote bushes are yellow and fragrant, and hedgehog cactus is starting to bloom.

If you’re here in Phoenix and you possibly can, get out this week – even for an hour – and soak it all in. And if you live somewhere else, you might consider visiting next March.

It’s a beautiful time to find a reason to be here or to remember the reasons you already are.

For Your (Wildflower-Hunting) Information: I took all of these photos (except the top one of clouds after the dust storm) on 3/24/14 at South Mountain Park.