Category Archives: travel

04.25.21
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So the thing about lists

I wasn’t quite sure how to start this one out…perhaps something like this: During an afternoon Zoom chat group, the topic of lists came up and I said quite innocently that I don’t make lists. The group got very quiet…one person shyly spoke up and said, “you are truly living life on the edge!”

That’s not how it played out but my blog, my story!

The thing about lists. Pretty much every person I know has a system of lists. The lists left on the counter and checked off with the task completed. The list that is made and never looked at again. The grocery list. The getting ready for a trip list. My question to you list makers is….what happens when you depend solely on the list. A list takes fear away about forgetting something…something you need, something you have to do. Check…its on the list.

So what happens when you depend on that list and no longer use just your memory….what happens if you don’t write undergarments on the list before a big trip. You mark everything off the list and must vacation commando? What happens if you don’t write toilet paper on the list and end up not thinking about the need for toilet paper while at the store because it wasn’t on the list?

I look at those list makers in my inner circle and I just shake my head at the risks they are taking.

I, obviously, am quite confident and secure with the fact that there is no evidence left to betray my memory.

Until next time….

10.01.19
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Gloucester, Mass…Glawster

The oldest seaport in the United States…Gloucester shares the land point with Rockport. We are at that point of the vacation where we are ready to head home….still enjoying the sites but less zealous…..

We stayed overnight in an out of the way hotel…the Sea Lion. It was quiet and outdated and comfortably simple.

My main agenda was visiting the fisherman’s Memorial but then we were intrigued with the the rest of it.

There is just a different feel in a village like this in comparison with the Midwest. We especially loved the city hall and the ship cupola on the top of the weather vane.

During this trip to the east/northeast, I’ve been very aware of the melting pot of different cultures, different accents and languages! I was especially aware of a different drummer that Mainers dance to as opposed to the Midwest. #gratitude for the experience and gratitude for the “living in the moment” lessons I’ve been practicing and used during the complications during the first part of the trip.

We are vegging now in a beautiful suite in a burb outside of Boston, Gotta love Orbitz rewards…

09.30.19
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Northeast Harbor and Producer Dick Wolf

The trip to Pemaquid lighthouse was my favorite day until we made the Northeast Harbor our 2 day home. Northeast Harbor is on Desert Island which is also home to Acadia and Bar Harbor. We drove through Bar Harbor…it was beautiful…packed with tourists from two cruise ships in the harbor. It was unbelievably busy. Just north of Bar Harbor proper is the main entrance to Acadia.

And our view of the harbor

We took a 3 hour cruise around the islands…set foot on working lobster island…cranberry. Learned a lot about lobster catching….fascinating!

Lots of “famous” aka stinkin’ wealthy people have summer homes in the area..Martha Stewart, the Sears family, the Godiva Chocolate family, Lands End….and Tv producer, Dick Wolf and his 3 boats

Shockingly this $40 million dollar house was among the cottages along the water

Here’s some random scenery pictures….

And I swear this dude looked familiar

09.29.19
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What the Maine coast looks like…granite

We took a day trip away from the hustle and bustle of Boothbay Harbor…over to Pemaquid Lighthouse…

The travel time consuming aspect of the Maine Coast is driving down into each peninsula or Island to see things shore related. But also these little side trips south give you the opportunity to slow down and relax as you drive through little villages. The speed limit is often 20-35.

The lighthouse and maritime museum was enjoyable. I could not go clear to the top of this one, (which obviously wasn’t very high) as I got to the place of stepping from the iron ladder into the tiny room with 6 other people I couldn’t do it. But, as I started wandering outside I was enveloped by this.

It was one of those places I could have stayed all day! Breathtaking! The granite lines the walls along the highways and lines the coasts and cliffs. Similar but so different from the rock formations in Missouri and other places we have visited.

Maine is the Pine Tree State. There are those too!

09.28.19
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….for a few minutes I lost trust in humanity

After the whale watching expedition….(picture) I was just content knowing I was going to be off the boat in a few minutes, we went to a restaurant nearby…see my across body purse there….Apparently I took it off in the restaurant when I dug out my “no interest for a year”discover card and left it in the booth. I didn’t miss it until the afternoon of the next day. Only thing missing was my wallet, $40, drivers license and my bone conductive ear phones. But my total disappointment was in humanity…the next customer..or the next didn’t take what they wanted and give it to the restaurant or waitress…more likely they hiked it in the trash can. That fact is what was the most horrible detail for me…the inhumanity!

The second picture is a lighthouse way out there..we also saw the little red house that the Wizard of Oz’ Wicked Witch of the west summered in on the peninsula…according to the guide, her family still owns it.

And the last picture I took because were I ever to go back to Boothbay Harbor…I would try to stay in this B&B. Boothbay was a little too busy for us…it was beautiful but the village contained way too many tourist shops. It was a beautiful introduction to Maine!

09.25.19
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She suggested I ask my guides for one more sign

Cats fed yesterday morning around 7…suitcases in our car…He started the car and the low tire pressure light was on. UGH…so we decided to take the loner car to the airport for our trip to Maine. I didn’t really want to drive it and leave it in economy parking for the week…I seriously have no idea why that concerned me. Traffic generally sucked at 7AM so we kind of traveled across country rather than taking interstate highways for our hour long commute. We got to Independence and the tire pressure light went on in the loaner car! WHAT.!?! Sure enough, he had to change the tire because of a sidewall blowout…WHAT?!?!

You know those stories about people missing a plane and the plane later crashed? I was totally freaked out knowing that I needed to listen to my intuition which seemed to be screaming STOP. I called my daughter and she told me to ask my spirit guides for one more sign….I did!

Since we were driving on a donut, we decided to leave the car at some friends house and use Uber to take us the rest of the way. He and I decided that if an Uber wasn’t available that would be our sign. A great guy named Richard in a red car answered our UBER call.

WHEW Ok.

……..and then there is TSA. As a back story…. I’ve packed Norwex powder laundry detergent on every trip I’ve taken including at least two international flights and it has never been an issue…no one has even asked me about it. Until TSA in Kansas City working the Delta airline. They held my luggage….they needed to go through it because of half a small bag of laundry detergent. I had a full pat down…then they had to use their super squirrel sheets to find contaminants in my backpack and my suitcase…she told me if they found a contaminant (otherwise known as laundry detergent) they would need to have the explosives unit come in to investigate. WHAT?!?! Well, of course it was laundry detergent and it wasn’t in my bags nor my shoes nor my cellphone after the second scan!

We didn’t listen to the third warning. We are in Maine.

Until next time…..

10.27.17
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What are you thinking about?

Him:  farming, angus, fields

Me:  when we get home, I can get the laundry done today and back in the camper before he takes it to be winterized Monday, should I strip the bed when we get home or wait until spring so they will be clean, sure wish I would have frozen some water yesterday so the food in the coolers will be okay…I guess if the frozen veg thaw too much I can just toss them.  Holy crap there are a lot of dead armadillos…used to only see them further south…see them around KC now..what on earth would cause them to go north and why are they all dead.

Are we normal?

09.30.17
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Not all who Wander…..

I wish I had asked my dad why he moved two hours away from his family in the 40s.  If you knew my dad, you would understand that he was a homebody for the most part…didn’t particularly need or want friends…at least in the years he was my dad.  We took 2 week family vacations from the time I was about 8.  I think he really enjoyed the destination but getting there always exhausted him…driving, driving overnighting in Mom and pop motels…he followed the highway and I don’t think he would have considered seeing a road and saying…hmm I wonder where that road goes.  He didn’t do it so I assume it didn’t cross his mind.  I always felt his mother and I were the most important to him…and our poodle named Edie.  I assume my mother figured in to the equation?  He was married to her for almost 50 years.

I always wonder if those family vacations were the impetus for my love for traveling and taking the road less traveled.

I know when I arrive at that place I was meant to visit, I’m overwhelmed with the feeling of “I could live here”. I’m not sure “what” all comes together to recognize soul comfort but it is something.  I felt it when we found this house in a small town south of Kansas City.  I have never felt more content in my own skin…with that being said….I still find myself traveling to different states and be awashed with the feeling.  At this age and because of my grandchildren, I don’t want to uproot my life and move on but the comfort when I find one of these pillows of comfort for my soul manifests in freedom and peacefulness.

Until next time…..

08.02.17
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……and on the topic of traveling alone

On my trip to Des Moines on Tuesday, I was in a really strange place.  My spirit felt free yet I was letting fear seep in about the upcoming chest X-ray.  I always listen to my music playlist when I’m in the car alone so I decided to crank it up and and fly.  THIS was the first song to come up in my shuffle.  Re-affirming that we all should be living like we are dying!

I, actually, love a solo road trip.  My energy has to take a backseat to no one.  I can listen to all of my own music and I can listen to it loud.   So I can sing along loud!   I think it is important to have a playlist of your very favorite songs and they should include songs that make you want to dance, songs that make you cry, songs that bring back happy memories and songs that bring back memories of someone and always, always some type of anthem songs.  I include Rachel Platten and Katy Perry.

I love to drive fast….ahem….always using the speed limit as a “guideline”.  I always get attached to a car ahead of me that is going the exact same speed I am.  I always wonder if they know I’m back there and if they know we are connected.  

Traveling solo gives me the freedom to think.  Thoughts that are often lost in the hussle of daily life….and clarity to let your subconcious mind figure things out.

But the best is coming home to where I belong!

I encourage you to listen to this Tim McGraw song….even if country is not your style….listen to the words!

Until next time…..