Productive in Pensacola

March 23, 2017 Teressa Jackson

Pensacola's beautiful historic buildings

As February came to a close, I left Death Valley in my rear view mirror and headed back to Las Vegas. No, I wasn't interested in trying my luck as a gambler, or being entertained by the Osmonds or Celine Dion. I was catching a flight... to Florida!

With many of the western locales I would like to visit still experiencing colder temperatures than I'd prefer, I took the opportunity to spend some time in the Sunshine State. I've been based in Pensacola, and honestly, being pretty darn boring. I've caught some rays at Pensacola Beach, Johnson Beach, Navarre Beach, and Destin. Most of my time, though, has been spent working on projects for clients, painting, and strolling the streets of this lovely historic city, which first hosted European settlers in 1559.

Pensacola's historic train station, which is incorporated into the Pensacola Grand Hotel

Pensacola has been a great place to unplug and recharge. I know everyone feels so sorry for me (ha ha... not!) but it is actually kind of exhausting to be constantly traveling to beautiful places. January and February found me in a total of ten different locales. Relocating that often, so much driving, and the self-induced pressure to go, do, and experience as much as I can, had me ready for a break.

I'm not just laying in bed and staring at a wall all day, though. I've gotten quite a bit of work for clients accomplished during this time, my taxes prepped, and I've cranked out ten paintings (with three more in progress) in the first 23 days of March. I'll probably be here for at least two or three more weeks, and then I'll return to Vegas and figure out which direction to point my vehicle, which is still parked at the airport racking up a nice parking bill. In the meantime, cheers to you from the Emerald Coast!

My Artwork - February 2017

March 9, 2017 Teressa Jackson

February 2017 took me to Fallbrook, California; Joshua Tree National Park; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Death Valley National Park. All that bouncing around didn't stop me from creating - I produced seven new pieces of original artwork inspired by my travels and informed by my original photography. Several are already sold (thank you, awesome people!), but a few are still available and ready to pack their bags and bring a bit of new life to your locale.

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Fallbrook, California: 1/31/17, 11:45:21

Fallbrook, California: 1/31/17, 11:40:17 #2

Fallbrook, California: 1/31/17, 11:49:21

Fallbrook, California: 1/31/17, 11:52:26

Joshua Tree National Park, California: 2/13/17, 14:13:15

Every $30 you buy in art helps keep me rolling on my adventure across the United States for approximately 1-2 days (gas is expensive!). I'm truly grateful to all the people in my life who keep me fueled up, both literally and figuratively!

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Life in Death Valley

March 8, 2017 Teressa Jackson

Salt Creek, home of the desert pupfish, is surrounded by salty badlands

Following a night of enthusiastic storms, I headed east from Twentynine Palms, California. I decided to take the shortest route to my destination, which sent me through Mojave National Preserve and Mojave Trails National Monument. While this was a beautiful and intriguing landscape, it was also quite soggy from the rains of the previous hours. There were a few close calls, but I luckily made it to my destination of Las Vegas without encountering any roads that were completely washed out and impassable.

I'd never been to Las Vegas before, and wasn't entirely sure what to expect. My first thought was that it was actually a lot smaller than I had envisioned. Other than that, it pretty much lived up to my expectations... gambling, over-the-top glitz, shows, weird people, and lots of intoxicated partiers who could barely walk - including one who had literally passed out on the sidewalk. His friends were pretty concerned. I don't think I have a lot in common with the people for whom this is a dream destination, but it was fun to experience it for a day. I do love people watching.

The streets were pretty empty when I rolled out of town around 7 a.m., wild and crazy party animal that I am. The clouds were beginning to drift away, making for a dramatic and beautiful scene as my car passed through Red Rock Canyon and headed west again.

In about an hour, I was in Pahrump, Nevada, my home for the next week. I hadn't researched much about Pahrump ahead of time, only that it was the closest locale of any size at all to Death Valley National Park. I came to learn that Michael Jackson had once owned an estate here, it is home to the Chicken Ranch and some other (yes, legal) brothels, you can do some hardcore firearms training at Front Sight Training Institute, and famed madam Heidi Fleiss was once proprietor of a laundromat in the town called "Dirty Laundry." I can't say that any of that got me really excited. :-)

Salt in Badwater Basin, which was underwater during my visit

I was pretty pumped up about seeing Death Valley, though. After itching to visit this expansive national park for years, I was finally going to experience it. I had also achieved my goal of visiting during the wintertime, as a summer visit to the hottest, driest, and lowest place in North America can be worse than inhospitable. Back in July of 1913, the temperature reached a whopping 134 degrees there.

Death Valley has apparently been growing slightly wetter over the past few years, and they had received nearly half their total average yearly precipitation a couple days before my visit. This meant that the landscape was different than it would likely look in warm and toasty July. The lowest lying areas of the park were home to shallow bodies of water, not dry, cracked salt flats. Salt Creek, home to the rare desert pupfish, was flowing instead of being reduced to a few life-filled puddles. And there was certainly plenty of salty mud to adorn my hiking shoes as a souvenir of my visit.

One my surprises at Death Valley was the variety of scenery that exists there - flat, salty, lifeless expanses; beautiful multicolored striped mountains; surreal, wrinkly, colorful badlands; canyons; sand dunes; creeks teeming with fish; the well-preserved ghost town of Rhyolite just outside the park's borders; and so much more than I could ever properly describe. It literally takes hours to drive from one end of the park to another, and it seems nearly impossible that anyone could ever truly see and experience its diverse wonders.

I have found that the desert has a way of teaching you about the persistence and creativity of life. Some might think that Death Valley would be an exception to this observation, but despite everything it's up against, life creeps through even this harshest of landscapes. In addition to amazing desert fish, I spotted a brave and curious coyote, many birds, lots of darting lizards, and some very hopeful vegetation. While the guy passed out on the sidewalk in Las Vegas probably woke up the next morning wishing he wasn't living and the gold prospectors cleared out of Rhyolite long ago, these life forms slowly and quietly adapt, adjust, and amaze those who take a moment to stop and spot them. I'm glad I am among them.

Badlands at Death Valley's Zabriskie Point

Announcing Upcoming Tour Dates!

January 14, 2017 Teressa Jackson

It's hard to believe that the first two weeks of 2017 are already a wrap. In a week, I will bid farewell to my Bisbee home. I'm going to take a little break from my schedule of one location per month and take the opportunity to visit a few locales on my "must see" list.

An Organ Pipe Cactus. Photo Credit: Robb Hannawacker

1. Ajo, Arizona

After spending a few days in Tucson, I'll head to the area around Ajo, Arizona, where I will visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. I had never heard of either of these places before beginning my travels, but was intrigued enough after learning of them to put them on the itinerary.

2. Yuma, Arizona

Next, I'll spend a bit of time in Yuma, Arizona, located at the intersection of Arizona, Mexico, and California. I love sunshine, and I should find plenty of it there, as the sun is said to shine during about 90% of Yuma's daylight hours, making it the sunniest place in the world. Per Wikipedia, Yuma is the "driest, the sunniest, and the least humid, has the lowest frequency of precipitation and has the highest number of days per year (175) with a daily maximum temperature of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher." I definitely wouldn't want to be there in July or August, when average high temperatures exceed 106 degrees.

3. Salvation Mountain & Salton Sea

After Yuma, I'm making a stop to see Salvation Mountain and the Salton Sea, California's largest body of water. The Salton Sea has an interesting history and has always intrigued me. I'm looking forward to some unique photography opportunities there. This video probably explains the sea better than I really could.

4. Fallbrook, California

Joshua Tree National Park. Photo Credit: Joshua Tree National Park

My next home, Fallbrook, California, is known as the "Avocado Capitol of the World." I am spending a couple of weeks on a small ranch that is home to an alpaca, mini horses, pig, goats, and chickens (I love farm animals!). I will also be relatively close to the beach and other outdoor adventuring locales.

5. Twentynine Palms, California

From Fallbrook, I'll spend a week in Twentynine Palms, California. Twentynine Palms will serve as home base while I visit Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve.

Badwater Basin Sunset, Death Valley National Park, California. Photo Credit: Nagaraju Hanchanahal — Badwater Basin Sunset, Death Valley National Park, California. Photo Credit: Nagaraju Hanchanahal

6. Death Valley, California

Last, I will round out February in one of the places I've longed to see the most - Death Valley National Park. I will have a week there to explore its otherworldly scenery with the benefit of February's non-deadly temperatures.

As time ticks on (which it does at the same speed when I was home and working full-time, sadly), I will determine where March will find me. Until then, I don't think I will be at risk of boredom!

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