In 2023, I went A.I. (All In)! No, I didn’t upload my brain to Botland—do you have any idea how terrible they are at getting historical facts right?—but like lots of folks kicking off the Year of the Rabbit, I couldn’t help but dip my toe in technology! Here’s what the bots thought of a simple beaver like myself:
Neat as it was to dabble in the Future, it wasn’t half as fun as getting out and exploring this year! With a resplendent rainbow hat from Boopies Closet, I set out to find the most colorful locations I could in 2023. That took me to the tropics of Hawaiʻi and Florida, across rainbow bridges on Maui and Lake Powell, and deep into LGBTQ+ history with the unveiling of California historical landmark #1063, the Black Cat Tavern! Despite a slow start and a bunch of skipped posting days this year (including dropping X/Twitter altogether), this beaver is far from finished! Let’s look at the numbers:
- 2 Plaque Installations!
- 6 State Capitols!
- 8 Historical Landmarks!
- 10 States!
- 28 National Parks!
So without further ado, here’s a sampling of this year’s adventures with my 10 Best Photos of 2023!
1. Days of Futuros Past!
Back in 2016, I visited my final California historical landmark, until the state added ten more to the register! It was a fun trip down Memory Lane traveling up to the Bay, to Sacramento, and out into the desert of Riverside County. The highlight, by a long shot, was ascending to the snowy heights of Idyllwild to see Landmark #1062, the Donaldson Futuro, a spaceship-shaped chalet that’s been here since 1969! This isn’t the kind of architecture that comes to mind when thinking of history, but surrounded by breathtaking beauty, I think it’s a very creative and special addition to the state’s registry!
2. Walking out for History!
This April, thousands of Florida students walked out of class in protest over the state’s new policies limiting what could be taught about race and gender in class! I paid a visit to the Sunshine State’s capital, Tallahassee, to witness a piece of this protest in action, and it was encouraging to see so many students stand up for unlimited access to learning! I’m not sure if anyone at the state capitol noticed my sign, possibly because this historic façade wasn’t the state capitol anymore; the real state capitol was the huge skyscraper behind it! At the end of the day, though, any little bit of support helps!
3. A Branching Disaster in Māui!
This August, a hurricane-fueled wildfire devastated the island of Māui, obliterating much of Hawaiʻi’s former capital and its history. It was a real gut punch to see, because I had just been there in July. Some sites I’d taken the time to photograph; others, I’d overlooked. In just one day, irreplaceable structures and artifacts were reduced to ashes. There was no way to predict it as I sat on one of the sprawling branches of Lāhainā’s historic banyan tree, which lost 20% of all its branches and trunks but survived. This reminded me of how important it is to document history before it’s gone, because it can vanish in a heartbeat.
4. Recognition for LGBTQ+ History!
My proudest moment of 2023 was finally installing the plaque for California Landmark #1063: the Black Cat Tavern! It took 6 years of paperwork, emails, and fundraising to catch up to states like Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky and recognize California’s first LGBTQ+ historical landmark in bronze! It was my second plaquing this year with the California Landmark Foundation, but it was the first for any of us with a press release, local dignitaries, and an actual witness of the original 1967 protest! Our hearts were pounding for sure, but when that flag came down and revealed the plaque in all its glory, I just about popped with pride! I can’t wait to get planning the next plaque!
5. The Lastleaf That Wasn’t!
All around the country, there were little hints of a changing climate. In Daytona Beach, the GPS directed me down a road that was very much underwater! In New England, I encountered an autumn that was actually an October summer! I went to Massachusetts planning to celebrate Lastleaf at the famous Walden Pond in Massachusetts, but it was surrounded by greenery! Plus, it was hot, humid, and abundant with mosquitoes! I did finally spot some color lining the edges of Weir Pond in southwestern Connecticut, but it was a long way from the fall foliage I’d hoped to see on this trip! I’ll have to plan my trips much later in the year if I want to do Lastleaf right!
6. The End of the Drought…?
2023 was a huge year for moisture! After what felt like an ages-long drought, California got pummeled by a parade of atmospheric rivers! It was super inconvenient where I was, but the rain and snow refilled reservoirs across the West, like Lake Powell, which rose 60 feet this year! Canyons refilled, docks reattached, and tours once more motored out from Wahweap Marina. I pounced on the opportunity to visit, and the slow drift among the towering sandstone cliffs of Forbidding Canyon made for one of the most spectacular boat rides I’ve ever taken!
7. Somewhere over the Rainbow Bridge!
My journey to Lake Powell was all for the sake of visiting Rainbow Bridge National Monument! Because of the ongoing drought, it was pretty unreachable by water and would otherwise have taken a 12-mile trek, if permitted, through Diné land, to reach! By July, the docks were re-attached to the shore, and by November, it was about a mile’s hike to reach one of the world’s largest natural bridges! By contrast, there were lines of mussels a good 6 feet up on the boulders, showing how high the water had been in the past and highlighting just how precarious the West’s water supply is. But after all this waiting, it was a great triumph to finally lay eyes on Nonnezoshe, the “rainbow turned to stone!”
8. Stunning Shells at Dry Tortugas!
The nation’s 9th least visited national park, Dry Tortugas is located in a super remote part of the Florida Keys, home to nesting green and loggerhead turtles and one of the largest known frigate bird colonies! Getting here was a hassle! Only one boat was scheduled to leave Key West the week I was there, and it was the morning after I flew in! That meant four hours traveling to Key West in the dark, only to wake up bright and early for a rough, 70-mile voyage to tiny Bush Key. On arrival, the boat captain announced that storms had stirred up the water, making the park’s spectacular snorkeling, well, less spectacular. As always, if things aren’t going to shake out as I planned, I make do with what’s available. In this case, it was America’s largest brick fort and an absolutely spectacular display of shells washed up on the beaches! Despite the gusty wind and wandering tourists, I managed to snap a pretty nice photo!
9. Bill Overboard!
In the last 12 years, I’ve been in snow, jungle, desert, and high mountains, but never underwater, at least not with a camera. This year, I put on my thinking helmet and crossed that frontier with a beaver-sized diving suit of my own invention! After a few prototypes, I put it to the test in Biscayne National Park, where most of the wonders are underwater! Did the suit leak? Sure did! Did I see many cool things to photograph? Sure didn’t! But the Wright Brothers didn’t invent the F-16 at Kitty Hawk, and I plan to perfect my submarine creation on upcoming adventures to the Virgin Islands and American Samoa! Luckily, these places are so far-flung that I have a few years of planning ahead of me…
10. Afloat Among Alligators!
My flamingo float debuted back in 2017 with a crossing of the Delaware River, and since then, it’s carried me down the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, along a high mountain lake in Wyoming’s Wind Rivers, and even around the hot tub on an Alaskan cruise, but never in a location where there was real peril! When I signed up for a slough slog in Everglades National Park, I was not only going to be drifting among the exotic air plants of a cypress dome but also through the territory of beaver-hungry alligators! It was a smart decision to go with a professional naturalist and trained gator wrestler, who pointed out the 12-foot bull gator relaxing in a pool of its own design. Observing him from a safe distance, we kept ourselves off the lunch menu, and no other gators made surprise advances on the slog, which let us enjoy the clear waters of this critically endangered ecosystem in a peaceful conclusion to the year’s adventures!
I’m getting close to completing my grand adventure, which feels super strange: only 1 Wonder of the World and 33 national park sites left. 12 years flies by in the slap of a tail, doesn’t it? Well, however long it takes to reach the end of the list, whether or not I find George at the end of it, I’m going to keep on filling my days with as much adventure as I can!
What do you think of this year’s photo safari? Did any other moments stand out to you in 2023’s adventures? Leave a comment, and let me know!
Happy New Year!
