Traveling Jo

We landed at sunrise in Dublin, just as the skyline was turning pale pink behind the coming and going airplanes. By the time the sun was cresting the distant horizon, we had loaded the mini Cooper rental car and were out of the city. Toll roads, tunnels, and bridges gave way to thick hedges that cloaked either side of narrow roads that were carved through the land before cars existed.  Our intention for the trip was to see as much as we could, visit sacred sites and the oldest pubs and bistros Ireland. Leaving the highway, we found ourselves drenched in green landscapes with stone fences flanking either side of our Cooper as we whizzed by.  We wound up and down mountains, watching as the clouds moved over the foliage the way waves move across a beach. The damp and cloudy day had a way of making all the colors of the plants and stones around us brighter and more vibrant.  Arriving at Piper's Stone Circles, you pass through a hodgepodge entry that adds charm to the experien...

I was raised at the foot of a serpentine canyon outside of Provo, Utah. Many of the youth activities I attended for my church were there in that winding passage. I've driven this canyon my whole life. As a passenger and as a pilot in many different vehicles. I remember when a tram used to take sightseers to the top of Bridal Veil Falls and a small restaurant offered refreshments. A landslide cleared those novelties long ago and I have been witness to two other landslides there since.  photo credit Katie Jo The Provo river meanders between the mountains, trickling out from the Deer Creek Reservoir Dam above. As a child in elementary school, we used to practice emergency drills just in case the dam broke. In high school my friends and I would build fires at campsites and talk until sunrise or curfew; whichever came first.  I find myself in these canyons when my heart needs reprieve. Simply being in the cradle of the mountains and the tilting of the car as I drive through the cur...