ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
Seattle saw a brief blizzard on Monday night that was on the edge of freezing over and piling up. But by morning, it stopped snowing and the thaw began. This is an excellent time to take pictures of interesting ice shapes and frost outlining many plants’ interesting contours.
Time was running out to visit White Sands National Monument. The New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo and nearby pistachio farms took up most of our day. In a few hours, it would soon be dark. When my wife and I were there in 2011, White Sands was a national monument. Only in... Continue Reading →
The American Southwest has its share of hardy plants that evolved to survive punishingly dry and hot conditions. The ocotillo is as spiny as any cactus, although it isn't one itself. They sort of look like tall dead sticks splaying out from the ground, but they produce beautiful red blossoms after a rain. Look closely... Continue Reading →
This is the time of year in the Pacific Northwest when irises bloom. There is a nice assortment of bearded irises in my daughter's neighborhood in Seattle. While they're gorgeous to look at, I never bothered to look inside the flower. This takes a little effort because the upright petals (called standards) need to be... Continue Reading →
The view was a bizarre juxtaposition. Outside my hotel window was the Pyramid of Khafre, easily 4,500 years old. In between was the hotel swimming pool, traffic roaring on the highway, trailers and a swath of the Sahara Desert. It was enough to do a double-take if I didn’t know where I was. Khafre was a... Continue Reading →
The sun had risen while at the Sphinx. I boarded the tour bus to go to an observation area to see the three pyramids of Giza on the horizon. It stopped briefly beforehand so we could all see Khufu and Khafre's pyramids close together. In one of those serendipitous conjunctions in time and space, Khafre... Continue Reading →
The Great Pyramid has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. What started out as a youngster's obsession with things ancient became a curiosity about the incredible feat of technology, craftsmanship and genius that it took to build it. It rightfully is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the only... Continue Reading →
The hieroglyphic inscriptions were beautiful when I first saw them, like the most intricate wallpaper. The subterranean walls of the horizontal passage, antechamber and burial chamber were covered with them. They were a complete surprise because the pyramid of Teti is a pile of rubble above ground, thanks to robbers who quarried the stone for... Continue Reading →
The sites of Abusir and Abu Ghurab are located not far from Cairo. Pharaohs of the 5th dynasty built their pyramids and temples there. While the quality of pyramids was quite inferior to Giza's, archaeological finds were important, including papyri that are the oldest ever found. Although not of primary importance to archaeologists (or because... Continue Reading →
Mostapha was as spirited a person as they come. He enthusiastically greeted my wife and me at the cruise ship dock and immediately whisked us off to the Temple of Edfu in his horse carriage. From the seat, sitting or standing, he bellowed at people along the way but in fact was greeting or acknowledging... Continue Reading →
zoomeboshi 