We had a great day at Big Bend National Park today, with some challenging hikes to beautiful areas, a very interesting ranger’s lesson, and fine food cooked on a gas grill. The day was capped by a magnificent sunset, and then the stars came out. It was about as close to a perfect day as a human being can reasonably expect to get.
We’ve come to the end of a long travel day, and this scene was our reward.
Egg Harbor, that is. The sun sank majestically over the spit of land at one edge of the bay, a lone sailboat bobbed quietly at anchor, and the lake water lapped against the break wall as night fell in this pretty corner of the world.
As any long-time reader of this blog knows, when I travel I like to take pictures and post them. This photographic impulse always requires a choice: do I use the portrait shot, or the landscape shot, to best capture the scene that I think is worth memorializing? Usually I employ both options to take pictures, then sort the results out when I’m getting ready to post something and make a decision on which of the alternatives is better.
This blog post features two pictures, taken a few seconds apart, of a pretty sunset on Deer Isle, using the two different settings. Which is better? The portrait setting has the advantage of being bigger, and thereby allowing a better view of the boats in the distance, backlit by the sunset. The landscape shot, on the other hand, shows the interesting cloud formation overhead and is, perhaps, a bit more dramatic. Typically, the landscape shot tends to be darker, and the portrait shot is lighter.
My disposition is to favor the larger and the lighter, so I usually pick the portrait shot–but I think there are pros and cons to each option.
It was a beautiful sunset scene when we left the Pilgrim Inn on Deer Isle after a fine dinner tonight.
The Maine coastline is rugged and ragged in this “Down East” part of the state. The area is pockmarked with bays and inlets, studded with islands and narrows, almost always bordered with sheer rock face.
We’re staying in a bungalow on one of the fingers of Blue Hill Bay, with a view of the bay and Blue Hill itself in the distance. One of our goals this summer is to one day take the hike up to the top of Blue Hill, but as night falls it is pleasant just to sit on the porch and enjoy the sunset, the pretty scene, and the gentle lapping of the water in the bay against the stony coastline.
Last night we visited the Biltmore, the colossal country retreat built by Charles Vanderbilt in Asheville. After a brief tour of parts of the house–more on that later–we enjoyed a reception on the sweeping veranda to the side of the house, which affords a view of miles of rolling, tree-covered hills and the Blue Ridge mountains beyond. On a clear evening like last night, the beautiful setting makes for a pretty spectacular sunset.
It’s not hard to see why Mr. Vanderbilt picked this spot.
After spending the first part of our trip in the large cities of Istanbul and Athens, we’ve opted for a change of pace. We rented a car, hopped onto a ferry, and headed out into the Saronic Gulf and the Saronic Islands. Our destination was Aegena (pronounced EGG-in-uh), an island close to Athens.
Aegina has a totally different vibe than hectic Athens. It’s a quiet and laid back place, like islands always are. And it’s got another attribute common to all islands: great sunsets.
At the end of a long day, the sun sets at the western edge of the Tortolitas, leaving a warm glow on the horizon. With a glass of wine in hand, we can appreciate the blanket of silence falling on the desert once again.
Aruba, like many Caribbean islands, is a great place for sunsets. Above is a photo of last night’s effort, taken as we were waiting to head to dinner at our resort. Below is tonight’s handiwork of Mother Nature, taken as we were having dinner at a seaside restaurant just south of Oranjestad, Aruba’s main town. We thought they were both pretty special.
Aruba, like many Caribbean islands, is a great place for sunsets. Above is a photo of last night’s effort, taken as we were waiting to head to dinner at our resort. Below is tonight’s handiwork of Mother Nature, taken as we were having dinner at a seaside restaurant just south of Oranjestad, Aruba’s main town. We thought they were both pretty special.
A Buckeyes win, and a beautiful sunset over the Scioto Mile. Columbus is a happy place tonight.
Yesterday afternoon we took a sunset cruise along the west coast of St. Lucia, heading south to the two peaks–the Pitons–that are a kind of trademark of the island (and that are featured on the label of the local beer which is itself named for the mountains). Visitors can climb the peak on the right in the photo above, following a trail that runs up the western slope and, according to one of the locals, is “two hours heading straight up, then two hours heading straight down.” The eastern peak features a sheer escarpment that can only be tackled by dedicated, and well-equipped, rock climbers. Much of the west coast of the island is similarly rugged, with many cliffs along the oceanfront and small fishing villages located in the sea level areas in between.
The crew plied us with very tasty rum punches and we listened to a great reggae music mix as we sailed along. A school of dorsal-finned sea creatures–the crew said they were small whales that were about the size of porpoises–encircled us as we sailed south, frolicking in the waves before turning west to head toward deeper waters. We also saw many flying fish zipping briefly over the surface of the water before diving back in It was a beautiful evening offering just about perfect sunset cruise conditions with clear skies and the temperature around 80, and other boats were on the water, also enjoying the striking sunset colors and the warm surroundings.
The after-sunset in St. Lucia is a pretty sight, too. There’s about a half hour period where the sunset glow lines the rim of the western horizon, providing enough light to see clearly as the sky turns purple above and you head back to the dock. It’s a great time to drain the last dregs of your rum punch, tap your feet to the reggae beat, and look forward to the dinner to come.
We had a lovely day for our Christmas in St. Lucia, with sunny skies, temperatures in the 80s, a calm ocean, and the first waterfront sunset I’ve seen in months. And, because St. Lucia is an hour ahead in the Atlantic time zone, it’s time to get ready for our Christmas dinner.
I hope everyone had a great day, too!
Last night we took a sunset cruise around Charleston’s harbor. It was a warm, pleasant evening with lots of clouds in the sky, but happily the rain held off and we were able to enjoy a light breeze and the scenery. The cloud banks prevented us from actually seeing the sun drop below the horizon, and instead we were treated to the colorful impact of the dying sunlight on the many clouds. As we sailed along it was like traveling through an ever-changing modern art painting. Pretty spectacular!
Webner House 