Travel – Page 5 – Thoughts From The Passenger Seat

2023, family, life, Travel

Wild Wild West

Posted on October 22, 2023October 22, 2023 by nancyb422

We were in Fort Collins, Colorado in early September for a family wedding. Because it was on Sunday evening, we decided to stay an extra day and fly home on Tuesday.

At one of the events for the wedding, someone mentioned they drove up to Laramie Wyoming to visit the Wyoming Territorial Prison! It was an hour away and all we had was time.

Once we said goodbye to everyone at the air bnb we shared with family, we headed out. When we got to Laramie we looked online for a restaurant for breakfast.

The remains of Sausage & Biscuits and our pretty inexpensive bill

Accomplice Beer Company in downtown Laramie is a bar / restaurant / brewery. No beers for us but we cozied up to the bar and had a delicious breakfast.

The Wyoming Territorial Prison was surprisingly close to town. In its prime it was probably a long way from town!

They have a welcome center to buy tickets and of course a variety of gifts to purchase! We knew we’d be back after our self-guided tour.

The first building was the wardens house and it was decorated for the era it was used.

Around the grounds were carriages that were used during the time of the prison

I’m sure some prisoners reminisced about robbing one of these!

Inside the prison, we walked through the two floors and throughout there was information about the rooms and the prisoners who were held there. The most famous prisoner was Butch Cassidy. His story is a little different than the movie!

After going through the prison, we walked through the prison yard and over to a building their used to make brooms for sale. We had a lot of these brooms in our home growing up and of course, we had to buy one to bring home! We had to get creative to get in in the suitcase but it survived!

On our way home we were just amazed at the wide open land and the clouds! The clouds were so huge and they looked close enough to touch. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of them!

We didn’t really notice on the way up to Laramie, but on the way back we were also amazed by the changing landscape between Wyoming and Colorado. It’s fun to watch it unfold through the miles.

We were excited to add Wyoming to our list of states visited but we’d like to explore more! Someday…!

2023, life, Memories, Travel

Hiking in the Lake George Region

Posted on October 14, 2023October 14, 2023 by nancyb422

My husband and I spent a week in Lake George in August. We brought our boat and stayed in a 1950s type resort about a mile or 2 north of downtown Lake George.

Our second hike of the week was at the Cook Mountain Preserve out of Ticonderoga.

We (I) always make a point to find someplace to hike because I really love to hike. But we (I) always manage to get lost! This trip was no exception because we got sort of lost finding the trailhead! First we drove to the “destination” but it was far past the trailhead. So we backtracked and you couldn’t really see the trailhead from that direction so we turned around again! We found it on the third try.

I made sure we signed the book and the time we started out just in case we disappeared on the trail! The trailhead had a map posted as well as maps to take with you (done, still managed to get lost).

The trail started out fairly flat but once it started on the Ridges Trail it was fairly steep – 680 feet over a 1/2 mile – then more gradually to the views. We had our hiking poles and I’m glad we did! The trails were clear so there wasn’t much climbing over and under.

We got to the Lake George view and were a little disappointed! I thought we’d have more of a view and I had to really walk around to find a good view. We sat for a bit and had a snack and then moved on to the Vermont view.

I spotted the flag on top of the mountain and remembered a trip to Fort Ticonderoga we took on the motorcycle. We never went to Mount Independence but I know we saw it from the Fort. This was definitely the better view.

We were pretty tired by the time we were done and stopped at this general store for lunch which was delicious! The owners were really nice too!

Overall, a great day in the Lake George Region.

2023, life, thoughts, Writing

Pain or Pleasure?

Posted on September 26, 2023September 26, 2023 by nancyb422

What could you do more of?

First, my mind always jumps to business when I think about what I do. Second, my mind always jumps to what I think I’m not doing as well as I “should” do. I really have to shift my thinking on a regular basis to realize, it’s not all about the business and what I’m doing already, is pretty good.

So, for me, the questions is what would I LIKE to do more of and that answer is – work out. Yes, I truly enjoy working out. I look forward to getting up in the morning and using my Peloton Bike+ to do strength workouts and ride. I also have the option of Yoga and barre classes and stretching. I put together different classes the night before for 30-50 minutes of work and get started after my morning coffee. If I didn’t have to go to the office, I would work out longer!

There has always been something so rewarding for moving my body. I used to ride my bike outdoors a lot from when I was a kid on through college. When I moved out to California, I had a fancy road bike and my husband, his friends, and I would traverse the hills and canyons of the East Bay and Sonoma County. Unfortunately, the move to Connecticut and ridiculously terrifying drivers stopped that!

I enjoy running and over the years did that pretty frequently outdoors as well. I’ve started up again on the Peloton Treadmill but outdoors has been walking workouts. I entered one benefit run during 2020 but only because it was during COVID so they had to do it on your own! I’m “not ready” to enter any runs and do it with <gasp> people.

When we were in Colorado earlier this month, we road the vast trail system in Fort Collins, and took hikes in Boulder and Fort Collins. It felt so incredible and I really felt in my element.

Yeah, I wish I could do more of all THAT.

2023, Goals, Music, Travel

Renewed Inspiration

Posted on August 13, 2023August 13, 2023 by nancyb422

A conversation with a taxi driver in Lake George NY has prompted me to sit down at my piano and start playing again. Sounds strange right? Here’s how it happened….

We needed a ride from Bolton Landing back to our resort cabin on Friday after we dropped our truck and trailer at the marina. We would spend the day on the lake and then take the boat out of the water to head home on Saturday. We were going to wait for the trolley but given the “well, yeah the schedule says 9am, but you never know”, we got from the gatekeeper at the Sagamore Hotel, we decided to pay the $45 one way. Not the end of the world. It is about a 20 mile ride after all. Next time we’ll definitely find a place to stay that either has a launch or is very close to a marina!

So anyway, we got into the cab, me in the front because my husband wouldn’t be able to hear him anyway (left ear has less hearing than the right!). We started talking, “where you from, trolleys, subways, NYC, travel, California, East Bay and finally, Tower of Power! Evidently he lived in California and saw then in their heyday as did my husband.

We started talking music and instruments and he is a guitar player. He and his friend enjoy playing along to music and recording themselves. He asked if we played any instruments and I said I played the piano but after 5 years of lessons I stopped and I haven’t really found myself playing very much.

He talked about how much he enjoyed playing and how the time went by when he did and how relaxing it was. I realized he was absolutely right! When I sat at the piano, working out a song, or even a section, everything else fell away. I didn’t think of anything going on around me.

When we reached our resort, I thanked him for the conversation and told him he inspired me to start playing the piano again. When I took it up in 2017, it was never to become perfect at it, but to enjoy learning and hearing what I could accomplish. I needed to be reminded and I have a Lake George cab driver to thank for that.

2023, life, Writing

Heading to Morocco!

Posted on July 29, 2023July 29, 2023 by nancyb422

If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go?

Since I already have a trip to Morocco in my sights for next year, I would use them to go there.

I’d upgrade to First Class!

2023, Goals, life, Travel, Writing

Big Dreams!

Posted on July 26, 2023July 26, 2023 by nancyb422

What are your future travel plans?

My husband and I like to travel and we like to think about and plan our trips.

We were busy last year and early this year traveling for fun and family illness and we were both a little burnt out on air travel! We’ll be heading into the next state for a week next month at a lakeside cabin resort and towing our fishing boat. Simple plans!

But! We do have big travel plans to make for a trip to Morocco next late April/early May! My cousin and her husband own a Riad in Fez that I want to visit so much. She is the daughter of my first cousin and we hosted a couple of family get together when they traveled to the US. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen them but I enjoy following their daughter on Instagram.

Have you been there? If you have some highlights be sure and let me know in the comments!