Gardens – Journeys with Eileen Diane

Road Trip to Yellowstone National Park ~ Overview ~ Photos ~ May 2023

June 5, 2023June 4, 2023Journeys with EileenDiane

I’ve always wanted to visit Yellowstone National Park and finally got there. It is spectacular and I understand why people make more than one visit and/or stay for longer than a few days. I planned to travel prior to Memorial Weekend and waited until the snow season was over (though there was snow on the ground in the higher elevations).

My route from western Washington started with the I-90, stopping in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. I had time to visit a favorite book store (“The Well Read Moose”) before heading to Butte, Montana to break up the drive. Leaving Butte, I went over Homestake Pass (6,329 feet, the Continental Divide) and then local Montana highways to West Yellowstone.

Yellowstone National Park has 5 entrances. I chose the West Entrance as the town is very close to the park. My favorite part was the Canyon area. And I mentally made a note to return to see more of the northern part of the park. Should you travel to this area, definitely check online or guide books for valuable information.

West Yellowstone has a fabulous Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. And while I saw magnificent bison in the park, I am glad I visited the Discovery Center to see the wolves and bears.

Leaving the park, I traveled via the South Exit, noting that the restaurant at Grant Village was closed but would open Memorial Weekend. The South Exit took me to the gorgeous Grand Teton National Park. It was an easy drive to Jackson, then over the Teton Pass (connecting Wyoming and Idaho, 8,432 feet; very steep, 10% grade but very beautiful) towards Idaho Falls.

I stopped in Idaho Falls to break up my trip as I headed to Boise. The falls and the Japanese garden are quite stunning and there is a nice green belt to walk along.

It was terrific revisiting Boise as I love the Rose Garden, Green Belt and the downtown area.

My last stop was Hood River, on the Columbia. Beautiful, windy area.

Below are some favorite photos. I will have additional posts with information about the areas, including favorite restaurants, and more photos.

Would I go back to Yellowstone? Most definitely … it is a treasure and should be on everyone’s travel list!

Savor your journeys, near or far, real or imagined

Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Photos ~ April 2023

April 28, 2023April 27, 2023Journeys with EileenDiane

Savor your journeys, near or far, real or imagined

Fall Begins ~ Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Sep 2022

September 25, 2022September 23, 2022Journeys with EileenDiane

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

September tries its best to have us forget summer ~ Bernard Williams

September is the month of wonderful weather ~ Anonymous

Nostalgia ~ that’s autumn, dreaming through September. Just a million lovely things I will always remember ~ Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

September ~ where fall and summer meet ~ Will Wallace Harney

There is a time in late September when the leaves are still green, and the days are still warm, but somehow you know that it is all about to end as if summer was holding its breath, and when it let it out again, it would be autumn ~ Sharyn McCrumb

Summer Flowers ~ Quotes ~ Photos ~ August 2022

August 5, 2022August 4, 2022Journeys with EileenDiane

The smallest flower is a thought, a life answering to some feature of the Great Whole, of whom they have a persistent intuition ~ Honore de Balzac

You’re only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry, don’t worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way ~ Walter Hagen

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly our whole life would change ~ Buddha

Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful ~ Jim Carrey

A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms ~ Zen Shin

Earth laughs in flowers ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, Florida ~ Photos ~ June 2022

July 18, 2022July 17, 2022Journeys with EileenDiane

The universe is a continuous web,

Touch it at any point

And the whole web quivers.

Stanley Kunitz, Poet

Savor your journeys, near or far, real or imagined

For information about hours, special exhibits, directions, etc:

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens – The Living Museum

Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, Washington ~ Photos ~ early April 2022

April 4, 2022April 3, 2022Journeys with EileenDiane

We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives ~ Gary Zukav

Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Feb 2022 ~ Photos ~ Quotes

February 20, 2022February 19, 2022Journeys with EileenDiane

Don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous ~ Rumi

All that is gold does not glitter. Not all those who wander are lost: the old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost ~ J.R.R Tolkien

The color of springtime is in the flowers, the color of winter is in the imagination ~ Terri Guillemets

In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back ~ Albert Camus

Point Defiance Park, Tacoma, WA ~ Early Nov, 2021 ~ Quotes ~ Photos

November 4, 2021November 3, 2021Journeys with EileenDiane

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower ~ Albert Camus

If a year was tucked inside of a clock, then autumn would be the magic hour ~ Victoria Erickson

Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree ~ Emily Brontë

Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons ~ Jim Bishop

Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

Gardens, Including Japanese Garden ~ Point Defiance Park, Tacoma WA ~ Photos

September 13, 2021September 12, 2021Journeys with EileenDiane

The earth laughs in flowers ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable ~ Joseph Addison