Moving On From Bishop

Posted on October 13, 2026 by patricia emerson mitchell

Getting up at 5:45 AM was easy: I was already awake! I just had to wait for Dan’s noisy alarm to go off and I got up and ready pretty quickly.

Our plan this morning, after Dan had the motel decaf coffee, was to head south for a bit. So off we went. Into the wind.

And boy was it windy! Enough that I could feel it blowing the car around and opening my door when we stopped was harder than usual.

We stopped in a few places before turning around in Independence. I didn’t bother with the Fuji, but I did use the iPhone. Gotta get what I call my record shots!

When we arrived back at the motel Dan brought our food container upstairs and we had breakfast in our room: granola with bananas in milk, and coffee from his aeropress. Now normally we like to set out camp chairs in some remote spot and enjoy breakfast out in nature, but the wind nixed that idea. The room sufficed. We also had time for showers before checkout, which was handy.

Following checkout we drove north, taking detours here and there. We went to Convict Lake, thinking it might be a spot for lunch, but the lack of picnic tables, along with the chill, sent us on our way.

Eventually we ended up in Mammoth, and we did have lunch right by the car. Then I took a few photos of the view.

Next up, as far as photos are concerned, was June Lake. There we’d find more aspen color, along with some cigar smoking fishermen.

At that point we went to our motel to check in.

Hello, Lee Vining!

Our room and the view from our room:

After a very short stop in our room we headed to Conway Summit. Oops! Too early. We sat for a while and finally the light was right. Dan suggested I use his long lens on my Fuji just to try it out. I hope to see I get a few usable things once we get home and I see them on my computer screen. Silly me, though, neglected the iPhone for a while. Ah, well … I did finally remember I should take some shots. After the light went … but the iPhone sort of adjusts for that a bit.

Dan, being more patient, did more shooting after I ran out of steam. Once he finished off we went, back to Lee Vining. We dropped things off at our motel and walked to a nearby place where we’d eaten in the past. Hmm. While the lodge was still open, the restaurant was closed. There was only one other option in town if we wanted to walk, so we had no choice but to eat at Nicely’s. Now that spot is sort of an old fashioned restaurant, serving too much food that is edible but not remarkable. Whatever. It was dinner and we were happy to have a place near the motel. (It was, in fact, directly across the street!) I ordered the turkey roast which began with a salad. It was … um … satisfactory. But no complaints from me. (And no, I couldn’t finish it all, nor should I have!)

Back in our room we turned on the space heater — there is no built in heater and Lee Vining gets pretty darn cold. The heater works quite well and I’m grateful for it.

Tomorrow is another day. (You can quote me on that.) Time will tell where we go and what we see. You’ll know sometime tomorrow night!

For now, buona notte!

Monday, Death Valley Trip

Posted on February 23, 2026 by patricia emerson mitchell

Today began at 4:45 AM. Too early! But so it goes. It also began with putting air in a tire that appeared to be low. Maybe.

Then to Death Valley Dan drove. Without even getting coffee. Horrors!

We first went back to Salt Creek, hoping for a good sunrise. I noticed there were almost no pupfish to be seen. Hmmm do the hide in the mud at night? Guess I’ll have to research. I did a small amount of photography. Dan did more.

Back to the car. Driving and stopping on occasion. I can’t name all the spots where we stopped, but breakfast was enjoyed at Ashford Mill Ruins.

While there I finally found the desert five-spot flower. I had to make a number of photos. It was my brother-in-law’s favorite desert flower. I do get teary-eyed, thinking of him, as well as my dear sister-in-law who has suffered such a deep loss.

We drove on, finding a lot more desert gold, sand verbena, phacelia, brown-eyed primrose, and evening primrose. Plus fields of flowers.

And a bit of fun.

Lunch was at a pull at some pass. Yes, I’ve forgotten the name. Dan said he’d have just one cookie. (Look closely!)

We headed back down and eventually parked so we could read and nap.

Eventually I got tired of sitting, so I went out to shoot somewhere more flowers right by the car. Dan soon joined in the fun. At one point, while Dan was a distance away, I managed to lose my balance fall over, roll around a bit, and actually have absolutely no injuries. My watch however did ask if I had taken a fall and if it should send out an SOS. No thanks! I must have looked hysterically funny. And yes, my camera was fine!

Then back to field of flowers.

The sun was rapidly setting, so we packed up and headed to dinner.

But wait! As we drove Dan spotted friend and wonderful photographer Franka Gabler. We stopped, chatted, and decided to have dinner together.

It was a great way to end our day … although we then had a long drive to our fancy Motel 6.

Hah!

Trip Photos

Posted on June 16, 2025 by patricia emerson mitchell

I finally got around to getting all my photos, both from the Fuji and from the iPhone, on to Lightroom. There was one photo in particular that I really wanted to see. I just posted it at my photography site, and I will share it here as well. That’s how happy I am with it!

As They Say, “The Best Camera …”

… is the one you have with you.”

Or something like that, anyway. (And yes, I know many would argue with that, but just let me run with it for now.)

When Dan and I were in Ghent we visited “Graffiti Street”. It really was as colorful as you might expect, and quite fun to see. As we were walking through a cyclist suddenly came toward us. I had my iPhone in hand — but it wasn’t open at the moment — and I quickly hit the little camera icon that appears at the bottom right of it. I had to work so quickly I got all of one shot in, not knowing if it would work at all.

May I saw that it worked?! I think so, in any case.

Dan is usually the one to catch stuff like this. But it was my turn. And I’m rather proud of myself (in the most humble of ways, of course.)

Graffiti Street Cyclist, 6.3.25

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Posted on October 15, 2023 by patricia emerson mitchell

Tuesday was moving day: we left Lee Vining, and our destination was Bishop. Of course that doesn’t mean we go directly to Bishop — we couldn’t check in to our hotel until 3:00 PM anyway, but there are also places to visit between the two towns.

Dan always has good ideas about where to go for a sunrise, so we went to one of “his” spots. I had stupidly forgotten to bring my really long lens, so while he used his in this area, I shot different things. I prefer shooting a different direction than Dan in any case: once he aims at something I tend to turn around and do something in the opposite direction! No point doing something that the master photographer is doing, at least much of the time.

Then it was more driving, more exploring …

And yes, those trees in the last image were leaning.

When it was past 3:00 we went to check in to our glamorous (not really) motel in Bishop. Hm. Our room wasn’t ready. But we could still check in, get charged an addition $10 for a “reserve fee” whatever that is, and get our keys. The unavailability of the room wasn’t really a problem, since Dan had said we’d do a “reconnoissance drive” to see where we’d want to be for the next day. So back out we went.

And yes, I really DID take a selfie!

While at the above spot some friends we planned on meeting up with the next day drove past. What a fun surprise to meet up with Charlotte and Gary as we were standing on the side of the road making photos. We chatted a while, agreed where we’d meet for brunch, and said our goodbyes as they went one direction and we went the other.

Yes, we did find color!

We went back, got into our now clean room, and then went to dinner. Another early morning wake-up call meant it was time to hit the hay. But what a lovely day.

Remembering

Posted on September 19, 2023 by patricia emerson mitchell

I’m attempting to look back at photos from the trip that I took using my Fuji camera. Unlike Dan, I really don’t find it easy to do that: the trip is over, and that’s that. But … well … I’m going to work hard and doing a better job of looking at them and perhaps posting things now and then.

These are from our stay in Hotel Torre de Villademoros in Valdes-Luarca, Asturias, Spain.

This first image is at our lodging … just a look at the lovely wall and the beautiful agapanthus:

I took a walk and looked back at our place. If you look at the building to the right of the red roof, our window is the upper right one. I remember texting Dan to say I could see our place from the path I was on. I also said I was returning to change shoes. He then came on the walk with me.

We wound up here, looking out at the Bay of Biscay.

I won’t be posting daily, and probably not even weekly, but I’ll post when I get around to looking at more images. I must say it is a joy to look at them!

Side Note: I don’t know why images put up as single ones can’t then be larger if you click on them. Hm. I’ll have to research that. Meanwhile, I will put all three images below as a collage and I’ll bet you can then see them larger if you click on them.

Side Note #2: I do believe I’ve figured it out! Hoping it works for others as well: if you click on an image you are taken to the image larger. Now if I can add a plugin it might be even better, but I’m not sure I can do that on this site. Time will tell.

Final Day in Lisbon

Posted on July 12, 2023 by patricia emerson mitchell

I don’t care how many days we spend somewhere — I always want more! Today was the final day in Lisbon and we decided to venture out to find a street I’d read about that had street art. First we arrived at another spot for great views. It was pretty super.

Then we headed toward the street art street. Um. Or we thought we did. Never found anything. We also were quite near a botanic garden, but the entrance was not where we were and, honestly, I just wasn’t in the mood. (I know … very weird!) So we had a light breakfast (the lightest yet!), and then walked.

And walked.

And yes, I filmed this car. (We never rode on one, and only took a train to and from Belém while here: we just enjoy walking!)

We ended up at Time Out Market, where we wandered but only at a pastel de nata, knowing they were the last for us here in Portugal.

Finally we headed back up toward our place, looking for a spot to grab a small bite. This time I ordered even less (just a few Pastéis de Bacalhau, otherwise known as Salt Cod Fritters, and the recommended bread the waiter suggested I add, which was a mistake! Totally NOT necessary!, and still felt as if I ate too much. Next time I will try to stick to what I think I should order and not be persuaded by someone (I think he was quite the con man, to be honest — got me to order a slightly more expensive wine as well. Heh. I’m such a goof to fall for that!). As we were eating there a small combo was playing (primarily American stuff, including Take 5) and at one point a couple danced, which was sweet.

Then … LAUNDRY! Doesn’t get more exciting than that. We want to have clean laundry before we head to the next country. Laundry time also meant siesta time.

One thing I did want to mention about Lisbon (and perhaps Portugal in general? Dunno!): people just stand at their front door, looking out the door window or, if they are on a floor above, peer out their window. I tend to wave or smile … for some reason it makes me happy to see them. The old women I’ve seen smile or wave back. We have that window in our door here:

Later, as we were packing, Ana dropped by. It was so lovely to see her! As a reminder, check out Courtesy Morning if you come to Lisbon. I’m so glad I located this place. She said this was the smallest place, and for me that’s just fine, but if you want more space she has a number of options.

And our final dinner … where we started, a 1 minute … NO … a 15 second … walk from our place. Good thing we don’t live here permanently. We’d be in a heap ‘o trouble! Can you tell Dan is so sad to be leaving …?

But dinner was fabulous. I love that we sit outside and people just pass by constantly. It’s like the world is right there. People are enjoying life. And I’m enjoying people. At home this doesn’t happen nearly as frequently, we are so into our privacy and being alone.

And now we are off to sleep … we have a VERY early wake-up call: our taxi arrives here at 5:00 AM. Eek!

A Full Lisbon Day

Posted on July 11, 2023 by patricia emerson mitchell

Hello and goodbye to July 10. It is already 23:05 as I begin to type and I know I’d better get this done quickly so we can get to sleep.

What a FULL day this has been. We woke, started laundry (we are in a VRBO for that very reason), and then headed out to get a small bite to eat. It was already so warm out, and then sun very strong, but it was a fairly dry heat which I deal with much better than the humid kind.

After breakfast we headed up toward St. George Castle (Castelo de S. Jorge). We didn’t have tickets and we weren’t sure we’d bother getting them, but we wanted to at lest get up there. As we were headed there we were, as I’d read about, bombarded by the tuk-tuk drivers who wanted us to pay them to take us up there. Then we saw the people lined up for the bus to get a ride up there. And yes, it’s a climb. BUT (and this is huge!) if you go the right way instead of stairs you can ride an escalator for a good long while. HAH! We probably got up there at the same time as those people in line … or close to it … plus we got great views on the way.

The line to get into the castle was long. Never mind. Not really all that interested in the castle, but more interested in the area. We walked by a few places where people were inside their “homes” … and oh how tiny those spaces were. I didn’t think intrusive photos were appropriate, though, so you’ll see none of those here.

We also entered a church up there, which also had a convent that is no longer in use. When Dan and I went in I signaled to him to take off his hat. Little did I know I should also remove mine! A young man who was watching over things signaled that I should. Later I saw him again, outside the church, and I asked him about it. He said that a scarf or shawl would be appropriate, but my hat was not. He said I wasn’t the only one who asked, and he wasn’t even sure but he asked the priest about it. I found it all so interesting, since I thought a woman’s head SHOULD be covered. Always something new to learn!

We continued to amble. We saw some amazing views. We ended up at some dead ends (no fun when you then have to climb back up stairs!). And we walked and walked. Sometimes we are in areas that wonder about … are my prejudices kicking in and is it just safe as can be? I don’t know! So we just walk and I decide not to worry.

We passed by the elevator that people will stand in line for (not us … too much time — they say some end up waiting as long as two hours to take it), and for lunch we stopped very near our house and enjoyed (too much) food. When will we learn, I wonder?!

After that we rested up (it was HOT out!), and then headed back out to see a park that was a good distance (and uphill). Prior to that we ended up in the more expensive shopping part of town. For me that holds no interest. So it goes.

Back to the house again, but first some “Ginjinha”, a “medicinal” (HAH!) cherry liquor. Quite tasty stuff!

And finally, we looked for dinner. We went one direction, thinking we’d find a place we could hear a bit of Fado (a Portuguese thing … melancholy singing that the woman who runs the VRBO hates: she said it, along with sports and the Catholic Church, were very powerful and controlling back when things were bad here … keeping people suppressed but seemingly happy, from what she explained). Well, that place had a line so never mind. So we wandered back and ended up nearby our place. (One thing we do notice: so many places have someone outside to try and lure you in. We’d been warned about that … that those spots are usually more touristy than not. We really prefer to experience the restaurants that locals enjoy. Thankfully Ana has a long list of restaurants she recommends.)

Another wonderful meal was enjoyed, although our “three fish plate” had some things that, for me, weren’t terrifically tasty but more kind of “ick!” and questionable. Still, I try them … and secretly I did spit one thing out … I honestly think I was eating fish guts! Then our waiter brought out Dan’s espresso and proceeded to spill it. We now know Dan still has incredibly fast reflexes … not a drop on him! AND we got free Ginjinha for the issue. No complaints from us! (And yes, we tipped him. Accidents happen.) Do excuse the “Remains of the Fish” … I forgot to shoot a before photo! Once more we ordered too much food. The second image here — an appetizer — could have sufficed as far as I’m concerned, and for me it was the most delicious part of the meal: tuna and sweet potatoes in a sauce to die for!

So now we are home and trying to figure out what we are up to tomorrow. No matter what, it seems there is never quite enough time in a city. Sometimes I think (update: I KNOW) it would be good to spend two weeks in each place to truly experience the locale.

I’m posting this quickly so if there are errors skip over them: maybe I’ll have a look at what I wrote tomorrow, but sleep is calling! (Update #2: And yes, there were duplicate photos posted, and I’ve added just a bit more writing.)

Death Valley, Day One

Posted on April 5, 2023 by patricia emerson mitchell

Our first full day in Death Valley included an early wake up call to hit the dunes. After that we head back to our motel for an in-room breakfast (we brought a lot of food from home), and for the remainder of the day Dan suggested we head to the high country. We saw the charcoal kilns, visited the mill at Skidoo, and eventually ended up at a location with fabulous views for the evening. Some of the images below are merely iPhone shots, others are from the “big girl camera”.

Morning @ the Dunes: