Landscape

Salton Sea, California /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Salton Sea, California
November 2015

A big salty lake in the Colorado Desert in California, we skirted its shoreline for half an hour while we zoomed deeper into the desert towards Salvation Mountain. We stopped for a moment to take photos of the strange hazy light that was floating over the water. Later in the day, and after the sun had set, we passed by again. this time stopping at the tiny seaside community of Bombay Beach (population 295) for a drink at the Ski Inn, recommended to me by a friend in LA. We put songs on the jukebox, looked over a well-loved geology book about the Salton Sea shared with us by the friendly bartender Steve and stuck a signed $1 bill to the ceiling. 

South Beacon Firetower hike, Beacon /  by Liesl Pfeffer

00180020.jpg
00180022.jpg
00180018.jpg

Breakneck Ridge, Beacon, NY
October 2015

We hiked up Mount Beacon to the firetower, a steep and very rocky trail with incredible views of Beacon, the Hudson River and the surrounding valley. The trail is a series of switchbacks alongside an old incline railway track, which goes past the remains of the brick building that housed the machinery for the railway, and up to the firetower. I complained quite a lot (that's how I hike) (it was really rocky) (it made my feet hurt!) (it took hours) but the view from the top was rewarding and so was the chocolate Adam brought for me to eat when we rested half way up and the beer we had when we got back down. Ummm, I'm a baby.

Chipmunk Hollow /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Chipmunk Hollow, NY
December 2014

A place with a silly name where I spent the weekend for an office holiday party. It snowed and snowed, as it seemed to do all winter in New York. The surface of the lake froze and I tried to step on it because I have never walked on a frozen lake but the ice broke and my shoe was drenched with cold, cold water. Still learning lessons in America. 

Topsham, Maine /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Topsham, Maine
November 2014

The thanksgiving holidays were spent in a beautiful family home on a farm in southern Maine. We drove overnight to get there from Baltimore/New York, and arrived around 6am. The snow started to fall late morning, and by the end of the first day the snow was up to our shins. It then continued to snow on and off for days. One day we went for a walk just before sunset to look at the freezing river. We heard gun shots in the distance because this is hunting country.  

Cape Schank /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Cape Schanck, Victoria
Australia
January 2014

My friends drove us to this beautiful promontory on the south coast of  Victoria. We climbed across black rocks crusted with life. We dared each other to swim in the ice cold rock pools that were constantly refilled with fresh seawater. It felt like what holidays are supposed to feel like. I remembered what I had forgotten. That Australia can be new and surprising, even after living there all my life. That I can forget daily life, easily. That those things I obsess over and which seem to be constantly on my mind, don’t need to be. I wish I could always be the holiday version of my self. 

Puebla /  by Liesl Pfeffer

Landscape in Puebla state, Mexico
August 2013

The Mexican countryside was much more lush and mountainous than in my imagination. On the road between Mexico City and Oaxaca, our bus crossed several frighteningly high and narrow bridges to shorten the distance between mountains.