Day 42 – From Fire to Ice: The Crystal Caves of Iceland

Since I talked about a famous Volcano yesterday, why not cool things off a little with some ice caves? Iceland’s Vatnajokull National Park is famous for its beautiful ice caves, often referred to as the crystal caves. These glacier caves are created by geothermal springs running under the ice, and look like giant frozen waves. When rain has washed away snow and frost on the glacier’s surface, the light coming through from outside turns the inside of the ice cave a beautiful brilliant blue!

Since these caves are made of ice, there is a risk of them melting and collapsing. For this reason, visitors to the caves come in the winter, when the ice is coldest and hardest. Even in the winter, visitors can hear snapping and popping inside the caves. This is from the cave moving along with the glacier.

Iceland is a beautiful place if you love nature and natural beauty. It’s been on my list of places I want to visit for a long time, and these ice caves are a must-see when I finally make it there. They look very cold, but absolutely breathtaking!

Read about the ice caves here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2582027/Inside-amazing-crystal-ice-caves-giant-waves-appear-frozen-time-actually-moving-slowly-huge-glacier.html; http://www.travelmint.com/adventures/the-crystal-cave.asp.

Xoxo,

Diana

Day 34 – Central America's Deepest Lake!

Thinking about the World’s most beautiful lakes yesterday reminded me of a beautiful lake I’ve been to but would like to visit again someday: Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. In the summer of 2011, I spent two weeks living with a family in Antigua, Guatemala and studying Spanish. On the weekend, I made the trek out to Lake Atitlán and spent a few days learning about the Lake and the local culture and people.

Lake Atitlán has been called one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. It is a very large lake, and the deepest lake in Central America. It’s flanked by volcanoes, and its surrounding land is populated by Mayan villages. There is no road surrounding the lake and connecting these villages. Many of them are only reachable by boat. The small bed and breakfast I stayed at was only accessible by boat, and I spent a whole day boating around the island with a group of new friends. Although solo travel can get a little lonely, it can also be a great way to meet new friends- Guatemala was no exception! (You can read more about Lake Atitlán on its Wikipedia page: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Atitl%C3%A1n). Here are a few pictures from my trip, although pictures, especially my amateur ones on a point-and-shoot camera, definitely do not do this lake justice!

There was a huge algae bloom on the Lake the year I went, and the areas near the shoreline were often full of dead algae, which turned the water brown and smelled not so lovely. Depending on who you asked, this was either a normal cycle of algae blooms, or the result of overpopulation and climate change. I’ll leave that debate to others, but in this picture, if you look closely, you can see some of the streaks of algae near the shoreline.

Although I love traveling, and have been lucky enough to see some amazing places, there aren’t too many places that I would actually make a point of visiting again. This is because there are just so many places I want to see, and time and money are such limited resources. Lake Atitlán, however, is one location on the list of places worth a return visit. Perhaps when Baby Girl is old enough to understand and appreciate the Lake, I’ll take her there and she can enjoy boating around the lake between the different villages. For now, it’s nice to reminisce and look at old pictures of this beautiful lake!

Xoxo,

Diana

Day 33 – A Goddess’ Broken Mirror

Today I want to talk about Wuhua Hai, or “Five Flower Lake,” in China. I found this lake on a list of the world’s most beautiful lakes, and I have to agree, judging by this picture, that it deserves a place on that list. (http://all-that-is-interesting.com/worlds-six-most-beautiful-lakes). The colors are beautiful!

This lake is located in Jiuzhaigon National Park, in China. It is part of 108 multicolored lakes which, according to legend, were created when an ancient goddess dropped a mirror from her lover and it broke into 108 pieces. Perhaps the coolest thing about this lake is that the floor of the lake is full of ancient tree trunks. You can see some of them in this picture:

I love water- oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds. There is something so calming about it, and it’s so intriguing how many different colors water can take on. This lake is definitely something I would like to see in person someday. The colors of the water against the colors of the trees are a great contrast!

Xoxo,

Diana

Day 32 – A Paintbrush Across the Night Sky - The Northern Lights

When I think of natural beauty, one of the first things that comes to mind is the Northern Lights. I have actually seen these in person before, because I lived in Maine when I was young, and on rare occasions you could catch a glimpse of them. I was only about six or seven years old, so I don’t remember them that well. I do remember thinking they were really amazing (or awesome, or cool, or whatever the “it” word was back then).

Now that I am an adult, I would like to go see them again. However, I want to go somewhere farther north than Maine, and see them in their full magnificence. I found a list of places that are good for viewing the Northern Lights: http://www.fodors.com/news/photos/top-10-places-to-see-the-northern-lights#!1-intro. As you might expect, it includes very northern places like Alaska, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and so forth.

In case you were wondering (I was), the Northern Lights are caused by collisions between gaseous particles in Earth’s atmosphere with electrically charged particles from the sun that enter Earth’s atmosphere (http://www.northernlightscentre.ca/northernlights.html). Pale green and pink are the most common colors, but red, yellow, green, blue, and violet have also been reported. Check out this picture of this beautiful display:

What do you think? Have you ever seen the Northern Lights? Is it something you would think is worth the trip to see?

Xoxo,

Diana

Day 31 – Month Two: Nature’s Artistry

After spending a month looking at different types of art man created, I thought looking at some natural beauty would be a nice segue from there. After all, there are some spectacular places in nature that even the most talented painter could never truly portray. Even photographs cannot do true justice to some of nature’s best masterpieces. Some things just have to be experienced. Take, for example, Glacier National Park in Montana. I took a road trip there in Summer of 2012. Since there is a gap of a few months between taking the bar exam and getting results, it’s customary to take a “bar trip” during that time. Kind of a last hurrah for those who have finished up law school and are leaving the flexible schedule of being a student behind. Many of my classmates took amazing trips to popular cities in Asia or Europe, but I was short on cash and was feeling the need for some peace and quiet. I decided to drive to a few National Parks, one of which was Glacier. Below is one picture from my trip, taken at the end of a hike on one of Glacier’s many trails. I love this picture, and looking at it always takes me back to that peaceful hike. As beautiful as this picture is, you really have to see this scenery in person to truly take it in.

However, since it’s just not possible to visit every beautiful place I want to go, reading about these places and seeing photographs of them really is the next best thing. We are lucky to live in a time where a few searches on Google can give us information and images of so many places. Learning about the natural beauty on our planet always amazes me, and I feel as though it’s stress relieving to look at photographs of the world’s natural wonders. So, I’m going to spend the next 30 days of morning coffee reflections learning more about some of nature’s art: the beautiful places in nature that take your breath away. Who knows, perhaps I will someday have a chance to travel to some of the places that make it on to my blog. Having some places to dream about is never a bad thing!

Also, this is a great time for me to write about this particular subject, because we are going on vacation in a few weeks to see the Grand Canyon and a few other National Parks. I’ve wanted to see the Grand Canyon for a very long time, so I’m very excited! Once we are on the road, I’ll share some pictures from our trip.

In the meantime, are there any places you have either seen or would like to see that you think are great examples of Nature’s artistry? I’ve been lucky enough to visit some really spectacular places, and I’d love to find more spectacular places to dream about visiting someday!

Here I am on another favorite trip, at the end of a hike up to Norway's Preikestolen, or "Pulpit Rock." 

Xoxo,

Diana