The feature image is Frank and I taking a selfie with Trout Lake behind us in Yellowstone National Park. We had to climb 150 feet of elevation to get to this peaceful spot, carrying our binoculars and cameras with bear spray strapped to our belt loops. So worth the huffin’ and puffin’! I was more out of shape than I had thought before making this hike. Elevation!!! I just wasn’t climatized but by the end of 12 days, I was good!
This post is in response to TERRI WEBSTER SCHRANDT Sunday Stills challenge. The theme this week is Your Happy Place.
My happy place is being outside in nature with my hubby, Frank! I’m also happy when I’m with my kids and grandkids but haven’t seen 2 of my 3 kids and none of my grandkids since January of this year due to the pandemic. I get to Facetime with them, but that is it. So for this challenge, I will stick to what I do when I can’t be with them physically.
Birding and hiking with Frank!
We were on the Chesser Island Boardwalk at Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge in Folkson, Georgia. Frank has his head to the sky looking for birds. I’m looking at him and taking a snapshot of this moment. It is a 3/4 mile hike to the end where there is a covered observation tower. There are other covered sitting areas along the way to rest or see what nature has to offer.
Frank taking Heaven for a walk 
St. Marks Lighthouse
Hiking around the St. Marks Lighthouse & Wildlife Refuge in April after losing my job and going on lockdown. The park stayed open the whole time and visitors were limited. This area is so large that you could manage social distancing without a problem.
We had to stop shortly after our 12 plus mile paddle down the Yellowstone River to fix a scupper that was leaking. I didn’t mind unloading the boat as the view was so incredibly awesome! You can read the entire “Living in the Moment – Paddling the Yellowstone River” post here if you missed the original story.
The view of String Lake in Grand Tetons National Park on our paddle for my birthday in September, 2019. The water was so clear, we could see the bottom from 10-15 feet. The water was cold, but the air temperature was in the high 60’s with a light breeze and the sun was shining. I was certainly in my happy place here!
While on our honeymoon in 2017, Frank & I went on a small hike in the rugged terrain at Death Valley National Park. The shadows are me & him taking a photo of the same thing as the sun was going down.
Birding is my all-time favorite past time. On occasion, an Anhinga will just hang out on the boardwalk while we are hiking along. If you want to see more of my birds, check out my Bird Weekly Challenge.
These photos were taken on our favorite beach in Jacksonville, Florida. Little Talbot Island State Park is just off of A1A between Jacksonville and Amelia Island. It is over 5 miles of untarnished beach. The only structures on the property is the Ranger station, maintenance building and public restrooms. This land is protected and is not for commercial use.
Our Eyes Open 
Comments
26 responses to “Sunday Stills – Happy Place – 10.18.20”
Looks like a happy place to me as well 🙂
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All these places are happy places! America has a lot of very interesting “happy places”. I have so much more to discover! 🙂
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What beautiful happy places, Lisa! Your pics are so amazing (as usual!) 🙂
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Thank you Virginia! I can’t wait for this pandemic to be over so I can get on a plane and go to the next happy place destination. 🙂
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Great photos, guys! The land around the lake looks so nice, as though it is mowed weekly! 😊
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Thanks John! It was a bit thicker than it looked but the trail was nicely trampled on. If they mow it, they must have a maintenance shed close by because ain’t nobody going up that hill with a lawn mower! LOL! 🙂
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Thanks for linking your beautiful happy places to Sunday Stills this week, Lisa! Love how you threw a bird pic in there, LOL! I love paddling too! Nice shot of the yellow paddles. I think if we were neighbors IRL, we would get along great with our similar interests. Plus you wouldn’t mind stopping a million times for random photo ops! Glorious shots of your happy places. Like you, I haven’t seen much of my family since last February/March 2020BC (before Covid).
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We would be out enjoying nature together, that’s for sure! We took our boat on the plane with us. It took up 2 suitcases. One for the boat and one for the paddles/seats and other camping gear even though we didn’t camp. Our days were spent in Yellowstone & Grand Tetons away from civilization. Our food and necessities went with us every single day. We made our way back to the B&B every night for a comfortable bed to sleep in. Maybe we can plan a trip to come see you when this crap is over! 🙂
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A great trip! And that would be wonderful!
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Sure would. 😊
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happy places, indeed! 🙂
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Great shot of the Anhinga. He looks like quite a character. 😅 String Lake is beautiful and looks like a very serene place to go paddling.
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Wonderful place Lisa !
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Thank you. I very think so. 😊
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Those 2017 shadows: what a memorable photo!
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Yes! Funny how we didn’t even notice until afterwards. 😊
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Perfection!
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Yes it is! I thought you would appreciate the St. Marks Lighthouse being in there. 🙂
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Loved it!
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Yay!!! 😀
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Outside with nature is my happy place. It sure is odd right now. In NY people flooded mountain hiking trails do much they had to close some down. The wildlife areas did not have that issue.
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Yeah many of our wildlife refuges stayed open during the shut down which was great for us. As summer approached and our stupid governor opened Florida back up, crowds were everywhere. We have to get creative to be outside. 😊
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NJ closed their parks and wildlife refugees, but NY kept them open. The throngs did not show up at the refuges. Mostly the parks and mountains.
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Sounds about right. It was glorious to be out in nature alone most of the time during the spring. 🙂
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Great post! This is wonderful place, Lisa!
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Thank you so much Jun! 🙂
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