Creative Travels: observations of a cycle

Cold Moon, December 2024

As the final full moon rises before winter solstice on a cloudy night in the North american eastern woodlands, I look back through the past solar year and then to the path that lies ahead.

Earlier this year, I decided to update the name of this blog to “Arianna’s Creative Travels” from “Arianna Persephone Travels,” and I also changed the site layout to focus on the main page with the Travel Stories collection on the drop menu. There was no announcement of redesign, I just did it and proceeded onward.

“Climbing higher to embrace the fall/
Seeking passage to transform it all”

-Maria Franz,”Metamorph” (2015)

PATTERNS EVOLVE

When this blog was born, I was traveling internationally by bus, boat, and combi, in whatever availability, and on a budget. I would take cross-country USA trips before and after that and would capture stories of my passing experiences. It was epic and poetic, often spontaneous.

Following the pandemic break and resettling back east, my travel patterns are different… local and more intentional. They are connected with an art, educational, or land project; an event or seasonal observation related to my interests. Time and resources are more limited (typical of moving into a later phase of life), and I must use them wisely.

Currently, I especially enjoy writing about an experience (a visit to a place or an event) and then showing how that experience directly inspires an artistic work. This past summer, I frolicked in flowering Rhododendron bushes at Craggy Gardens into a state of euphoria, then made a necklace with a bead pattern based on these flowers to the glowing, prismatic music of Chappell Roan.

Alternately, there are pleasures to be found in short trips to nearby historic and geologic sites. In 2024, I reacquainted myself with the Piedmont, going back to several places I enjoyed in my youth and observed something new about them. My partner and I made memories at Mitchell Mill on the Rolesville batholith twice. I walked in two “triassic basins” and explored an adandoned speedway in the woods 30 miles or so from where I grew up. These spots are fun to explore in all seasons and most are free to visit.

The past year has brought some challenges that have taken planning and self-confidence to overcome. I’m glad to have the experience and stronger mental skills to succeed at my goals, small as they may seem.

In the coming seasons, I plan to further explore connections between industrial history and geography/geology, while worries about the government opening our public lands for more drilling and mining occupy my mind. I’d like to dig for fossils at Aurora on my knees at the gifts of the giant Phospate mine, visit all of the old textile mills and dams on the Deep River, find where Lithium is actually extracted; go deep into coal beds in the Appalachian Plateau; see how lands, communities and industries adapt to socio-economic changes and recover from catastrophes; protect the forests and inspire others!

As I write this, “Happy Xmas (War Is Over) appropriately plays on the radio. https://youtu.be/uMH_wMvMy_8?si=CCiZRM1hmBXr88xO

COMMUNITY

I also enjoy reading and watching others making “creative travels.” It’s wonderful that there are so many approaches to travel storytelling, and so many perspectives are being shared. YouTube vloggers Real Appalachia and Hood in the Woods and I all visited the Virginia towns Ivanhoe and Pocahontas, and our stories about them are each different.

My visits to Ivanhoe in 2022 and 2024:
https://ariannastravels.com/2022/05/03/new-river-valley-calm-old-mining-towns-and-a-return-to-writing/
https://ariannastravels.com/2024/05/05/ivanhoe-the-fair-a-return/

New River Valley calm, old mining towns, and a return to writing

Ivanhoe, the fair (a return)

Adeeba, one of my best friends, started the “Taste the Noise” channel with her partner RJ in 2021, traveling around the world together experiencing local music, visual arts, food and drink. This is from their visit to Salta, in the Andes of Argentina.

Mark Huneycutt hiked across a debris field near Asheville that Hurricane Helene created and then posted the video of his experience; geologist Philip Prince explained this same debris flow with helpful maps on his GeoModels channel. The two creators link their videos as they complement each other, which I find informative and inspiring.

I also find inspiration in the visceral journeys of Eva zu Beck… https://www.evazubeck.com

…and appreciate my fellow evolving WordPress storytellers Tesserology and Global Awareness for Travelers.

My most viewed travel story is “Clear Lake and Harbin Hot Springs, California“ (898 views) from two 2014 visits to that beautiful yet hurting lake. I am happy with the way I expressed that difficult experience as a first-person narrative, but I wish I could go back and take more photos and add information that I learned later about mercury mining near the north coast. If I randomly came across that story now as a reader, I would still love it and probably visit their site to see what else they did!

Wishing a good Solstice, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, and all holidays of the season for everyone.