The Homeland

Over the last three weeks I was fortunate enough to spend time with family and friends within the watershed where I was raised in Newport News, VA.

The Chesapeake Bay Watershed is the largest estuary (a partially enclosed body of water where salt water from the ocean meets and fresh water from rivers, streams, lakes) in the United States.

I was able to spend time along the banks of Knotts Creek, the Nansemond River, the James River, the Eastern Shore's Barrier Islands, the Great Dismal Swamps Wildlife Refuge, and on Jamestown Island.




Flat lands, large pines, mixed deciduous forest, and salty air characterize this coastal zone.

I completed two books that I really enjoyed over the last couple weeks. The Last Season, by Eric Blehm, a story of a lifelong Sierra backcountry ranger who had an amazing connection to the lands of Yosemite and Kings Canyon. The other book I finished was Iron John, by Robert Bly, which is the dissection of a myth and a look at its relation to male 'rights of passage' in today's society.

Now back to my rainy Washington home in the forest.