The Showers of Blessings

This week John Steiner at Photo by Johnbo is the guest host for Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #92. He picked the theme: Going Back – the Second Time Around.

He said, “Considering the current world situation, I decided to focus my challenge to your sharing images from your previous travels rather than asking you to go out to photograph new examples to share.”

There were several countries where we went back to visit for the second or third or fourth time. In this post, I included Hawaii, China and Alaska.

Makena Beach is a tucked away small beach in Kihei, Maui, Hawaii. It was on this beach my husband and I got married. We have been there four times. It was always enjoyable to go back to this beach every time we were there.

On thing we did differently during the last trip was hiking in Haleakalā National Park to visit the seven Sacred Pools. We hiked up to Waimoku Falls which can mean water that cuts, severs, amputates, or breaks in two as a stream often does after heavy rains.

I have been to China three times but didn’t do too much sightseeing until the third visit when seven members went on a family trip. Even though growing up in Hong Kong, I didn’t go to see the Great Wall until this trip. I’ve heard and read about the Terra Cotta Soldiers in Xi’an but never seen them in person until this trip.

The spiky mountains along Li River in Guilin inspired many painters throughout the Chinese history. One scene of the mountains along the Li River is an image on one of the Chinese bills. We had one family member holding the money and had the photo taken when we passed by that famous spot (not included here). It was a treat to cruise on this river.

Our first trip to Alaska was the week after the summer tourist season. The train to Denali National Park was closed as the snow piles up in the winter. When planning for the second trip, I made sure we wouldn’t miss the visit.  Most of the tours to Denali National Park are five days or longer, but our stay was only six days. I found a two-day tour as an excursion of a cruise. We were also fortunate to be there on a sunny day. Alaska has more than 57 million acres of designated wilderness which accounts for about 30% of the nation’s wilderness. These wilderness areas support diverse wildlife populations and we were excited to see several creatures such as this baby moose.

Thank you, John, for hosting the challenge this week.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #92: Going Back – the Second Time Around