I’m sifting through the 29,000 photos in my IPhoto app and came across photos from a trip to South Carolina in 2016.
We went to Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet twice during out time there. It was early May and really beautiful, full of sculptures and flowers.
In addition to the gardens, we took a carriage ride around the gardens and to the river and marshes where rice was planted and harvested.
I don’t know about you, but my Sunday into Monday sleep can be a little rough.
Then after waking up, my mind is on every little thing I have to do from now until Christmas.
I drink my coffee and head out the door to workout and as I walk I say, Dear God, help me to slow down and appreciate the moments and I turned the corner and he says,
Be present.
Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?
One of my favorite places that I have visited was Colorado!
I was in Fort Collins in September of 2022 for a long weekend to “help” my niece select her wedding gown. My two sisters and two other nieces were all there and we had a fun “girls weekend” which included her fiancé!
In one day we saw the sunrise in Estes Park, went to the Alpine Ridge Trail at 12,005 feet above sea level, went to the CSU football game walked 100 miles to a bar after (and then back to our car!). It was a great adventure!
We went back again in September of 2023 for her wedding. Family was together and we had fabulous weather, until the day of the outdoor wedding! Luckily the rain stopped and we had indoor access.
Before we met up with family, my husband and I had time to visit a good friend in Denver and also had time to hike a little bit in Boulder and visit Red Rocks Amphitheater.
On our off day with family, besides the hike, we rented bikes and explored the fabulous trail system in Fort Collins. Of course we hit New Belgium Brewery too!
The day after the wedding, we went to Laramie Wyoming, because, why not? We went to the old prison which is now a museum. First we had breakfast in a bar! Just us and a guy drinking a beer at 9:30!
There is so much to do all over the state and we both look forward to going back!
January 1, 2020 was brisk and bright when I set out for the guided first walk of the year with my sister and niece.
Machimoodus State Park was the location and it took us through the woods and towards a view of the Salmon River before it meets up with the Connecticut River in Haddam, Connecticut.
“Machimoodus” is an indigenous term for “place of bad noises” because of noisy rumblings and echos heard by the Pequot, Narragansett, and Mohegan tribes. The sounds were real and in 1981 geologists determined “micro earthquakes” were the cause amplified by a nearby cave!
We didn’t hear any rumblings, but we saw some beautiful scenery and had a brisk hike to start out the new year!
Cody, Charlene, and Jessie on one of our many camping trips to Hammonasett State Park over the years.
Out of the thousands of sunrise and sunset pictures I’ve taken, this is one of my favorites.
In August of 2019, we took our sixth and final week long motorcycle trip. We traveled to upstate New York. Among the places we visited, our final stop was Storm King Art Center in New Windsor New York.
It’s a 500 acre park with over 100 outdoor sculptures and this is one of “the sculptures”!
It’s called Wavefield and it was created by Maya Lin, the sculptor of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The medium is earth and grass – but you probably figured that out!
There are many impressive sculptures in the park and it was fun to wander around the grounds looking at the sculptures. Some move around and one is a giant swing that you can sit on.
I’d love to go back there and walk through the fields!
We took a Danube River cruise in October 2018 and we had a great time except…. There was sort of a pre-excursion part of the cruise where we stayed at a resort for 2 nights and were bused back to Munich for an excursion and only had an hour at an Oktoberfest. Once we boarded our boat in Passau we cruised forward for the night but then had to be bused to Regensberg and another excursion because the water levels were low and Viking took our spot in Regensberg. It created very long bus rides, shortened excursions, and cranky passengers (not us!).
We decided to cancel all our non-included excursions and woke Sunday morning to the notification that breakfast was ending in five minutes!
We got up, took our showers and headed out to find someplace for breakfast – in a country where we could barely speak the language (ok, we couldn’t at all).
We found this lovely passage and wandered around a bit until we found a cute little restaurant so we sat down and helped ourselves to the buffet being served. then realized the restaurant was part of a hotel!
They were very gracious and let us have our meal – thank God because we were starved!
The trip improved from there and we enjoyed ourselves traveling down the Danube.
Let’s pretend today is Wednesday! Unless you had such a horrible Wednesday, you’d rather forget it….
This was taken in October 2013. It was another fun travel trip with my sister, Janice, and her daughter Julie. We shared driving duties from Connecticut to Las Vegas, and then Jan and I would hop on planes and fly home.
We planned the trip to allow us to see a little of the area along the way. We timed our day right to stop at this site mid-morning and enjoy the grounds and the view from the TOP.
Do you know where we were? Have you been there?
On our trip to California last year, we planned a day at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. We went on the Grand Rooms tour in the morning and the Upstairs Suites tour in the afternoon. Both tours included a stop at this outdoor pool – I didn’t care because the weather was gorgeous and so was the pool!
I can picture William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies hosting parties with Cary Grant and Jean Harlow and Clark Gable lounging along side the pool or playing tennis.
It was a really enjoyable day!
I can’t resist taking a picture of my view when I am outside in the early morning. Wednesday there was fog because of the low night time temperatures reacting to the heat we’ve experienced during the day (at least that’s my theory, I don’t know if it’s fact!)
When my workout was done and I was heading back to the house, it was brighter, but the lights were still on and I could see the sky brightening.
A short time later, my husband called me outside to come look at the sunrise –
During the mid-summer, the sun is rising farther to the left behind the trees, so this time of year is always a treat to see it rising.
The day progressed to another sunny and warm one. I don’t know how long it will last so I’m taking advantage of it and taking an afternoon walk when I leave work for the day.
Thoughts From The Passenger Seat 