from sea to shining sea

Here is Jess gazing across at Criffel from the summit of Lotus Hill. I was visiting Loch Arthur so thought I would have a walk as well, since the weather was good again (a hard frost this morning, clear skies, bright sunshine). Lotus Hill is one of the boggiest hills in the region, especially the forested part which faces north. In this photo, we are looking south east, and you might just be able to see the Nith estuary to the left of Criffel. I took another photo, of the trig post, and the sea (around Auchencairn) was sparkling in the sunshine. The phrase "from sea to shining sea" popped into my head, although not really the right one for this view.

Later research showed that the phrase (from the song "America the Beautiful") was written by Katharine Lee Bates in 1893. She was on a visit to the 14,000 ft Pikes Peak in Colorado, firstly on a prairie wagon and then up to the summit on mules. Katharine wrote later: " I was very tired. But when I saw the view, I felt great joy."