With 2022 in our rear view mirror and 2023 already promising to provide a number of exceptional adventures, I’m up to my neck in travel planning.  So, it’s time to settle down and get our most recent National Parks trips documented and put to bed.  Th...

The majority of the photos in today's post were taken at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge and the Opryland Hotel in Nashville (both in Tennessee).  These establishments truly know how to do it up right for the holiday season. 

Earlier this month, Alan and I took an impromptu trip to Tennessee.  For years we had talked about visiting both Dollywood and Nashvillle during the holiday season.  This year a Tennessee Christmas adventure finally fit into our schedule – after the holiday shopping was done but before the gifts were wrapped and in between two critical dental appointments.  I needed a shoehorn (remember those?) to wedge it into our calendar, but wedge it I did.

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course o...

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course o...

Alan and I recently completed an 8,333 mile loop through a number of southern states in which we hadn’t yet camped.  In my previous post, I covered the “lowlights” of that trip.  Now, it’s on to the highlights! The tour bus, rumbled down the track, i...

Alan and I recently returned from a five week loop through a number of southern states in which we hadn’t yet camped.    We tallied seven new-to-us states (West Virginia, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Maryland) and traveled a to...

I’m taking a brief break from documenting our West Coast National Parks Trip with two or three miscellaneous posts.  Bob Lowry over at My Satisfying Retirement (link in the column to the right) recently published a post entitled, “What Do You Do for Fun?”  Suffice it to say that his readers enjoy quite the variety of fun-filled activities.  In the spirit of that post, I thought I’d bring a little fun to your day and mine by publishing a quiz that will allow you to get to know me a little better, if you’re so inclined.  Photos in today’s blog post were taken during our family’s annual summer vacation at Great Lake Sacandaga in central New York.  During one of our blue-sky boating days, the clouds were particularly photogenic, and I’m a sucker for photogenic clouds. 

In the past, I’ve published two other quizzes.  If you’re interested in backtracking to those, you can find them here (I Can't Go Camping, So . . . ) and here (It's A Pop Quiz!).  If you’re ready to take on today’s challenge, read on. 

I’m taking a brief break from documenting our West Coast National Parks trip with two or three miscellaneous posts.  Our friend Patty recently commented that I should do a blog post about the myriad of things we’ve seen out our “big back window.”  The...

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course o...

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course o...

With this post, I’m finally back to documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  By the end of the previous installment in this series, our intrepid travelers (Alan, Kyra and I) had landed in Oklahoma City on Day #5.  We had ...

On a warm and sunny summer afternoon over the Fourth of July weekend, our son, Ryan, and his long-time girlfriend, Anya, were married.  The date was exactly one month following the ninth anniversary of their first date.  Anyone who knew these two young people in their early years of dating knew that it wasn’t a matter of if they would get married; it was simply a matter of when.  The when was 4:30 p.m. last Saturday afternoon.  You’re invited to come along and share the joy with us, if you’re so inclined.

It’s way too soon to have any photos back from the official wedding photographer, and I was without my camera until we got to the reception.  So thanks to family members and friends who passed along a number of photos that I’ve shared here in this post.  I couldn't have pulled this off without them.  Note that I didn’t request permission to use these specific photos.  If any of them are replaced in a day or two with pics of flowers or clouds, you’ll know that I should have.

It was a dark and stormy night.  No, really, it was.  Despite a sunny and sweltering day on Friday - the day of the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner - it poured almost all night long following a rain-free evening.  On Saturday morning, the weather forecast looked somewhat promising, with the chance of rain diminishing hour by hour as the day went on.  There were many fingers crossed on Saturday prior to the wedding ceremony, which made it awfully difficult to knot the boys’ ties and tie the sashes on the girls’ gowns.  (Yup, it’s definitely boys and girls throughout the post; the words ladies and gentlemen are way too formal for this crowd.)

I’m not even sure where to begin.  Lately, it seems like life at our house has been one long story after another.  Our kitchen stove that was purchased in February hasn’t worked in a month (long story).  My beloved 2007 Tahoe didn’t pass inspection (long and ongoing story) and the sale of a rental property required the rescheduling of the closing date five times (long wait AND a long story).  Apparently, the sixth time's the charm.  Plus, we’re in the final countdown to our son’s wedding which is adding an additional layer of complexity to our lives right now.  Joyful complexity, but complexity nonetheless.  So, it’s not that I haven’t wanted to blog; I just haven’t been able to scrape together enough minutes to do it.

I’m taking a brief break from the series documenting our 2017 West Coast National Parks trip.  Why?  Because I’ve been spittin’ sparks over a couple of really poor customer service incidents.  I feel the need to vent about those and recognize some wonderful individuals who truly know the meaning of good customer service.  The photos in this post are from a recent two week trip to the coast of South Carolina, central North Carolina and the mountains of Virginia.  I’m hoping a few relaxing nature photographs might calm me down after my exasperating experiences.

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course o...

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course o...

This post represents another installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  Alan and I, along with our 18 year old daughter, Kyra, logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course o...

This post represents the first installment in the series documenting our West Coast National Parks trip in the summer of 2017.  We logged a total of 8,513 memorable miles of adventure over the course of five and a half weeks.  Read all about it here –...

Wow!  You guys must think that I’ve fallen asleep at my keyboard!  Truth be told, blogging has taken a back seat to a couple of more pressing matters over the past few weeks.  We are up to our ears in planning for our son and future daughter-in-law’s s...

This post is the final installment in the series documenting our trip to the states of Minnesota and Michigan back in the summer of 2015.  Our daughter, Kyra, was 16 and out of school on summer vacation, so she joined us on our two week whirlwind tour...

This post is another installment in the series documenting our trip to the states of Minnesota and Michigan in the summer of 2015.  Our daughter, Kyra, was 16 and out of school on summer vacation, so she joined us on our two week whirlwind tour of the...