Enchanted Evening in Monteriggioni

Monteriggioni is an utterly charming village
about 20 kilometers or less from Siena.
It is thoroughly touristy
but has good restaurants
and cute shops
and a really nicely preserved town piazza
with a small church,
and best of all,
a completely preserved circuit
of medieval walls with towers.
I was lucky enough to visit on an evening
when I had a rental car at my disposal
(the bus service finishes up much earlier)
so I could linger for late-evening light glow
and full moon rise.
It was gorgeous!

Happy Trails

The trail to Stewart Cascades is a lovely, gentle, two mile hike with not too much up and down.
And lots of aspens, ferns... and stinging nettle!

Good thing the views are worth it.

Ted and Eme usually got ahead of me because I fell behind to take pictures.

And at the end- waterfall payoff!

Empty Soup, or, Twenty-Nine Years Later

When I was about seven, my dad took me on a hike up in the mountains near Aspen Grove.
I vividly remember the waterfall at the end of the hike, and how I scrambled around the river rocks and made 'empty soup' with our lunch containers.
It was one of those Magic Childhood memories.

I never really recalled where the falls were, though.
I knew they couldn't be First Falls on the Aspen Grove trail for Timpanogos, because I hike that a lot and the falls don't look the same.

But today Ted and Eme and I decided to hike to Stewart Cascade, because none of us had ever been there.
Or so I thought!
When I got up close, I knew this was THE waterfall of the empty soup day.

You can get right down to the base of it!

And as I recalled from my childhood, the rocks are slippery.
I still had to mind my step!

Southwest Kansas

I hated to leave Birrd and her family but I needed to head home.
Driving through southwest Kansas in the evening light was lovely:

Moonrise over wheat fields!

Sunset against wild fields: