Delaware Water Gap in Winter

Even though the last time I went to the Delaware Water Gap, I got Lymes Disease, the boy and I decided to return anyways. In the winter, with less mosquitos and the addition of downhill skiing. Getting out and going on a winter adventure is something I have to do at least once or twice a year. There is something so magical, captivating and quiet about nature in the winter. You can see 

everything.

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.

William Blake

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape. Something waits beneath it; the whole story doesn't show.

Andrew Wyeth

While I relish our warm months, winter forms our character and brings out our best.

Tom Allen

The next time I venture into the forests of the Delaware Water Gap or the mountains of northern New York, I will be accompanied by a slingshot and 140 bullets. Things could get interesting.

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” 

Edith Stillwell

All Photos Copyright Jaci Berkopec

Portugal: Hitchhiking, Mermaids, and Pastries

I've recently been thinking about my trip to Portugal nonstop. It's because this trip was filled with an exuberant amount of beauty, energy, and exploration. Portugal allowed me to set myself free and let my inhibitions run wild. It was an experience I cherished with two friends of mine who were living there at the time. Portugal, I will come back to you soon.

“The art is not one of forgetting but letting go. And when everything else is gone, you can be rich in loss.”

Rebecca Solnit

“Leave the door open for the unknown, the door into the dark. That’s where the most important things come from, where you yourself came from, and where you will go.” 

Rebecca Solnit

“Getting lost was not a matter of geography so much as identity, a passionate desire, even an urgent need, to become no one and anyone, to shake off the shackles that remind you who you are, who others think you are.” 

Rebecca Solnit

"A city always contains more than any inhabitant can know, and a great city always makes the unknown and the possible spurs to the imagination.” 

Rebecca Solnit

All Photos Copyright © Jaci Berkopec

The Homeland: Minnesota

I brought my man home to Minnesota with me for a fall adventure. The St Croix River, Mississippi River, Fort Snelling, glacial potholes, and corn mazes. Chasing light, climbing rocks and eating candy. 

“I like this place and could willingly waste my time in it.” 

-William Shakespeare

Heroic Lumberjack Shot. Adam, Matt, Tori, Me

St Croix River. Wisconsin on the left, Minnesota on the right

Matt and Adam

Composite at Franconia Sculpture Park in Taylors Falls, MN

Color Tree

“Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and it's beauty.” 

- Albert Einstein

All Photos Copyright © Jaci Berkopec

Paris: My Heart Longs for the Banks of La Seine

Sitting there, alone in a foreign country, far from my job and everyone I know, a feeling came over me. It was like remembering something I’d never known before or had always been waiting for, but I didn’t know what. Maybe it was something I’d forgotten or something I’ve been missing all my life. All I can say is that I felt, at the same time, joy and sadness. But not too much sadness, because I felt alive. Yes, alive. That was the moment I fell in love with Paris. And I felt Paris fall in love with me. 

-from in the final vignette of Paris Je T’Aime

Almost 2 years ago I left on the biggest adventure I have ever been on. 6 months living and studying in Paris, France. I met some of the most amazing people on the way, traveled to different countries, and went on countless adventures. However, this post is solely dedicated to Paris. Because I miss having picnics on the banks of La Seine, riding bikes through old alleys, drinking wine and coffee at cafes and most of all, experiencing my first breath of true independence. 

Paris is always a good idea. -Audrey Hepburn as Sabrina Fairchild in Sabrina

Picnic on La Seine

Sophie riding a bike through Versailles

Kevin leaning out the Eiffel Tower to photograph with his Rolleiflex

My version of leaning out the Eiffel Tower

Stairs leading out of the apartment

Laying in Versailles with Tori

First day playing with Aaron

That Paris exists and anyone could choose to live anywhere else in the world will always be a mystery to me. 

-Marion Cotillard as Adriana in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris

Kevin and I

Paris is a place in which we can forget ourselves, reinvent, expunge the dead weight of our past. 

-Michael Simkins

Haley and I with painted backs

View from the apartment on a full moon

Paris… is a world meant for the walker alone, for only the pace of strolling can take in all the rich (if muted) detail. -Edmund White

My studio in Paris

Paris taught me many beautiful things. Things that are unexplainable, things that make my heart go wild, and most all, things that make me want to return and never leave.

In the words of Oscar Wilde:

When good Americans die, they go to Paris. 

All Photos Copyright Jaci Berkopec

Delaware Water Gap (pt. 1)

In August, my man and I adventured to the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania. AirBNB got us a killer yurt on a plot of farmland near a small creek. Falling asleep looking at the stars through the skylight and waking up to the sun on our faces and the sounds of the creek. Paradise. We cooked over a fire for 4 days and our meals included chicken breast, steak, and trout. 

Outside the Yurt (Our front doorstep)

Making breakfast

The yurt

Hammocks by the firepit

Outhouse at the Yurt

Matt and Tucker

Firepit

On the Delaware River

Trout fishing

Trout Filets

The Adventure Duo

"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."

-Khalil Gibran

All Photos Copyright © Jaci Berkopec