Sandra Friend

Sandra Friend

22
Feb
View from the Pinhoti Trail at Cheaha State Park, Alabama

View from Cheaha

Cheaha State Park Alabama afford views unparalleled for the region. This state park is truly vertical. The Pinhoti Trail follows its top.
1 min read
16
Feb
Poland Maine quarry rockhounding

Poland Mining Camps

One of the most enjoyable research trips I've done - this one for Rock & Gem magazine - was a few days deep in the Maine woods at a camp for prospectors.
1 min read
13
Feb
Devils Den

Ghosts of Gettysburg

Gettysburg is an uneasy place. So much bloodshed. So much pain. And yet there is beauty on the battlefield, the forests and hills, the monuments placed skillfully so as to invite reflection.
02
Feb
Hikers walking downhill through a vineyard

Hikes with Wine

One of the more intriguing hikes I’ve taken in the past year was along the Weinwanderweg – translation, "Wine wander way" – in the vineyard-covered hillsides outside Stuttgart, Germany.
1 min read
18
Oct
Pay toilet in Germany

Frei Die Toiletten!

I've been piddling away Euros these past two weeks while piddling in Germany. In my youth, pay toilets were uncomfortably common in the USA, thankfully no more.
1 min read
21
Jun
Moon from Dicerandra Scrub, Titusville

Moon Shot

I lucked into this daylight shot in Titusville at Dicerandra Scrub Preserve, no tripod, with my Nikon D-80. Perhaps the stars were in alignment?
1 min read
05
Apr
Easter Corfu Town

Χριστός Ανέστη!

Holy Week is the most important week in the Orthodox calendar, and Easter evening its culmination. This is the worship service in Corfu Town at midnight.
1 min read
05
Feb
Ghostly face at Tolomato Cemetery St Augustine

Ghostly Appearance at Tolomato Cemetery

St. Augustine is saturated with ghosts, and a spooky place to walk at night, especially around the old cemeteries.
1 min read
08
Jan
Petroglyphs carved in stone face

Kinomagewapkong: Rocks that Teach

Hidden in deep woods in the rocky, lake-dotted landscape northeast of Toronto, a sacred treasure is etched in stone: the petroglyphs of Petroglyphs Provincial Park, Kinomagewapkong, the rocks that teach.
2 min read
12
Jun
womans urinal Florida

She-inal at Punta Gorda Dairy Queen

One of Florida's oddities is in the toilet. Really. It's a woman's urinal called a Sheinal, developed in Florida and installed in businesses around the state. This one in Punta Gorda is the only one we know of, now a virtual museum piece.
1 min read