Botallack is a small village in western Cornwall, near Lands End. 

As the fierce wind along the Atlantic coast buffeted us, we approached the cliffs. We wandered along the tops of the cliffs and couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the angry waves crashing below.  The fury of the wind fueling the waves was quite an experience; one Dave would have loved.

But as we walked away, we couldn’t help but notice the calm that was just a short distance from the cliffs; different, but just as lovely.

I guess it is quite symbolic of life itself.  You make it through the tempests of life to reach the calm on the other side hopefully learning from both.

Another beautiful place for Dave.

Port Isaac is a charming little fishing village in Cornwall on the Atlantic coast.  The prosperity of the village in the 18th and 19th centuries focused mainly on fishing and coastal freight. Nowadays, there is a significant tourist presence during the summer due to its popularity for filming movies and television shows.

We visited in the fall when it looked simply like a scenic sleepy village.  I tried to imagine living is such a place.  You certainly must be in shape; everything seems to be uphill.

As we walked (uphill) through the village center and along the coast, the beauty of the area was so calming.  The seagulls soared above the blue water and came to rest on the cliffs while cows leisurely grazed nearby on vibrant green grass.

It was here that I sprinkled Dave’s ashes; a quaint picturesque Cornish harbor.

We encountered so many breathtaking views during our trip west several years ago. So many, that I was able to pick and choose the most amazing places to sprinkle Dave’s ashes.  It seemed like every bend in the road or mountain to climb brought about magnificent views that I defined as “Dave worthy.”

The Yellowstone Grand Canyon is such a place.  It is the first large canyon on the Yellowstone River downstream from the Yellowstone Falls. The 24-mile canyon was created by river erosion. The fir trees tenuously cling to many areas of the canyon.  The area is stark, yet beautiful.

As I tossed Dave’s ashes over the side, a small gust of wind blew a bit toward us.  It seemed like the opportune time to introduce Dave to Fred.

We smiled at that thought as we said good-bye to another special place for Dave.

As soon as we arrived in Waterton, I immediately knew this was another special place for Dave.  The view of the crystal-clear lake with the surrounding mountains was picture-perfect.

Waterton Lake National Park is known as one of the most beautiful destinations in the Canadian Rockies.  The rolling hills of Alberta meet the mountains along the Montana border to provide breathtaking, unspoiled forests and lakes.

It is considered the wildflower capital of Canada. There are also groves of aspen, poplar, and spruce, along with prairie grasslands, and is home to many wild animals from sheep to grizzlies who all enjoy the crystal clear glacier-fed lakes.

I am happy that a little bit of Dave is in so many beautiful places, but how I wish he could have visited them in person.

Growing up in New Jersey, my idea of a “soaring mountain” was the Catskills or the Adirondacks.  Banff National Park in Canada surely changed my mind about the definition of “soaring.”  With its jagged and sharply pointed rocky peaks, The Rocky Mountains in Alberta soar high into the sky.  Gouged out from the ice fields are glacial rivers and lakes.

Lake Louise is one of those magnificent turquoise lakes.  The glacial dust reflects light creating the striking turquoise water.  The Victoria glacier and the majestic mountains blanketed with pine trees surround the lake providing a view that is awe-inspiring.

With hiking trails all around the lake–some easy and some for the young and energetic–I knew this was another perfect place for Dave.

The weather wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t lessen the joy I felt leaving a little bit of Dave in such a special place.

It has been 15 years since I received that heartbreaking phone call that Dave had died in the canyons of Utah.  The feelings of overwhelming grief, unbridled anger, and helplessness will stay with me always.  There was nothing I could do.  Nothing.  We were just a small family in River Vale, NJ.  What effect would we have? I thought that perhaps we could tell the world Dave’s real story and then others would understand our outrage. So when the Associated Press ran Dave’s story and it appeared all around the world, we finally felt like we were heard and Dave was vindicated.  The little family from River Vale just needed the truth to be told.

Once I felt Dave’s story was accurately portrayed, I needed a way to continually remember him in a special way.  This is how this website came to be and how the Remembering Dave blog shows all the places I have sprinkled his ashes; places he wanted to travel and places where he would’ve loved to travel.

 

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We traveled to Niagara Falls on July 17, 2018:

The Canadian Horseshoe Falls is the largest of the three falls and is located at the end of the Niagara Gorge.  It has been the proverbial honeymoon destination because of its spectacular beauty and dramatic crashing waters; the most powerful fall in all of North America.  The nightly fireworks and the illumination of the falls further create a magical experience.

An especially touching moment for me was while we were resting before going out to dinner.  I suddenly felt an inexplicable urge to look out the window.  At that moment, there was a beautiful rainbow over the falls.  It only lasted a minute or so, but long enough for my mystical July 17^th moment.

Whether it was the first anniversary of your passing or the fifteenth anniversary, I always ask the sad question, “What if?”

Due to a year of clipped wings, I have run out of current places where I have sprinkled Dave’s ashes.  So until we can comfortably start traveling again, I will share beautiful places from the past where I have spread his ashes. They just didn’t make it into a post.  There are so many more places than what I have reported in Remembering Dave.

This trip was in 2016.

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Hopewell Rocks are rock formations caused by tidal erosion by the Bay of Fundy.  It is a unique and beautiful place to visit in that, for a 3 hour period each day, you can walk along the rocky ocean floor before the tide comes rushing in.  This is plenty of time to admire to 40 to 70 ft. rock towers, but always keeping an eye on your watch for the estimated time of the highest tide in the world.  Up to 46 ft. of water fills the ocean floor at 12 ft. an hour!

You don’t want to ignore the warning siren alerting you that it is time to leave the area.  If you wait too long, there is a tower you can climb to wait for someone to rescue you, which must be quite embarrassing.

As beautiful as this area is, I could only smile to myself as I imagined Dave being one those tower people.  I can still hear him saying to me, “Ma, sometimes you have to live on the edge.”  That he did.

I sprinkled his ashes on the ocean floor and built a small cairn nearby knowing that the tide would come rushing in and sweep him out to sea.  That’s ok, he would’ve ignored the siren anyway.

Another unique, yet beautiful, place for Dave.

 

The wild horses have roamed the beaches and backwoods of the the Outer Banks for centuries.  Because of the increasing development in surrounding areas, the horses were moved to Corolla where they continue to roam free over 7500 acres. They wander through public and private land.

Whether they stop to cool off in a carport or freely trot along the shore, it is heartwarming to see these beautiful animals unfettered and running free—as they should be.

Corolla, with its beautiful sunrises and sunsets, wild Spanish mustangs, and a feeling you have left the world behind, would have been just the place for Dave.

I can see him on the beach, book in hand, watching the horses trot by.

In his words:

“It’s a simple beauty that’s found in
natural things that embrace their
natural form. It’s a beauty that loves
deeply, but resists possession.

What I call sweet grace.”

Another special place for Dave.

Click here for more images.

There are so many beautiful, scenic places in Ireland; some of which I have previously written about.  One more place is Caherdaniel; a charming little village located in County Kerry on the Inveragh peninsula.

When I looked out over the Derrynane Bay at the picturesque rolling mountains and beaches, I knew instantly that Dave would love this secluded part of Ireland.  It became one more special place for Dave.

Although I have written about all the beautiful places where I have sprinkled Dave’s ashes, I also know that Dave loved a good time and relished the fun side of life.  His trip to Ireland would have been a combination of nature’s beauty coupled with enjoying lively pubs where he could down several pints of Guinness.  With a little urging, I could see him making an hilarious attempt at step dancing!

That was Dave; full of fun and laughter.  You never knew what to expect from him.  He was a character for sure. Ireland would have surely welcomed him as one of their own.

Click here for more images.

While in Europe two years ago, I sprinkled Dave’s ashes in many jaw-dropping places; some of which I did not post.  Now that Covid-19 has clipped my wings for a while, I decided it was time to find and post some of those missing places.

Mount Pilatus is in central Switzerland and overlooks the lovely city of Lucerne. It is composed of several peaks and offers beautiful countryside views. At least that’s what they told us. It was overcast and cold.  The only picture I took was of a group of crows sitting on a railing.  It was definitely NOT a Dave-worthy place that day.  I was disappointed, but it was just a weather bump in the road.  The weather had cooperated with us most of the time so I figured I shouldn’t be greedy.

As we headed down the mountain in the cogwheel train, we stopped to transfer to a cable car in Fräkmüntegg.  Even though it was cold and rainy, we could actually see the pretty Switzerland countryside below.  Granted, it would have been more spectacular from atop the mountain and if the sun had been shining.

That’s fine because I knew the sun would come out once again and Dave would be in another amazing place.

Click here for more images.