in search of awe There are many mornings in Olympic Valley when the world feels newly made. When fog drifts low across the meadow and the first sunrays cut through the pines, turning every branch to gold if only for a moment. In that stillness, something wordless gathers us. Whether standing barefoot on a boardwalk or passing people on a trail, we feel it together: a quiet awe, a sense of sublimity, that connects us beyond words. Sociologist Émile Durkheim called this “collec

The Sawtooth Mountains A full moon fell on the mountains, the sun rose over the meadow and for a moment there was complete cosmic balance. This was my introduction to the Great Sawtooth Mountain Range and the Salmon River, also known as the River of No Return. I was there for my daughter's wedding, the perfect backdrop for such a happy occasion. Sunrise at Meadow Creek I walked across the meadow toward the mountains. With each step they were drawing me in. But as I approached

The Embryo You can read about it, hear stories, even see photos—but until you set foot in Tahoe’s National Forest, you haven’t truly felt...

Grace Kelly Getting there is never easy, but well worth the hustle up top to be in their company. I’m talking about the defiant and...

For a long time, I hesitated to share my photography. “There are already so many photographers out there.” Everyone has a camera....

The upside of unpredictability Baby Wood Stork's First Flight There's a great deal of discipline required in becoming a pilot. Pilots go...

Meet the Flinstones As we get older, one of the things that seems to fade along with our hearing, is our vision. Not just our eyesight,...

“The basis of all human fears, he thought. A closed door, slightly ajar.” ~ Stephen King, Salem's Lot “Fear is a strange thing,” says...

Leap of faith: first flight of a baby wood stork I love this simple Seek-Sense-Share model Harold Jarche uses to turn curiosity into...

Peregrine Falcon at Point Lobos, Big Sur, CA You won't understand the feeling at first because you've never experienced anything like it....

Inside a Palisades Tahoe Snowcat with a veteran groomer Jeff Morrison, Groomer Have you ever wondered what it’s like to ride in a 600...

Sunset Happy Hour at High Camp delivered more than we expected, including a rare phenomenon: a halo, rainbow-like ring around the...

“And you may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’” ~ Talking Heads, Once in a Lifetime Our beliefs, standards, friendships,...

A glimpse of the marvelous Moon Over Headwall Express A man is climbing up Tram Face above Olympic Valley, and as he passes through the...

Once I was nothing but a twig. The softest breeze rocked my world. I’ve been stepped on, defiled, and worse, ignored. In winters, I...

What can a book say? Can it utter a single word? No, not one. And yet, as Carl Sagan marveled, “What an astonishing thing a book is…...

With Glenn W. Turner at his Lake Mary, FL home. Glenn W. Turner was a controversial and charismatic man known as “the harelip son of a...

In his excellent book, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows , John Koenig creates words by using combinations and fragments of Greek words...

A walk on a Lake Tahoe pier, especially at sunrise, inspires a reverence only the natural world can evoke. The imagery of the mountains...

Depending on your point of view, the world around you can seem like a dream or a nightmare worthy of a painter and poet like William...