I was trying to find a place on the south gulf coast, originally looking between Sarasota to Captiva/Sanibel, even as far south as Naples and Marco Island, but everything was outrageously expensive. I’m not paying $10K for a month rental or $2000 for a simple private room in a home. So I kept moving my search north up the coast until I found someplace that looked clean and was a bit more affordable. I originally just wanted a place to…
I read an article about the Legacy Museum when it open in 2018 and thought, if I’m ever in Montgomery, I will have to visit this. Sounds amazing. I had actually forgotten where exactly the museum was and what it was called, just remembered “equal justice”. So with time between bookings I searched on equal justice museum and found the correct information for the Legacy Museum and Memorial in Montgomery. I was just going to plan a day or two…
I had a gap in my bookings because I was hoping to attend the inauguration of the first female executive – KAMALA!! – but, of course, public tickets were cancelled due to COVID late December. I pulled out my 1000 Places to Visit Before You Die and found Amelia Island. It also makes the Top 10 US Islands ranking by Condé Nast Readers Choice Awards. One interesting historical note is that Amelia Island is the only location in the US…
I knew after visiting for a day last winter, I wanted to spend more time in Charleston. After my stay in Asheville, I continued south to Charleston. I couldn’t find any place I liked and was affordable in downtown but I found a place in North Charleston. It was a nice neighborhood, up by the lovely Park Circle and just a block and a half from lots of restaurants, bars, stores on Montague and Spruill. It was a great neighborhood…
I finally made it over to Congaree National Park, just south of Columbia for a day. It’s a little less than a 2 hour drive. I’ve been checking the weather and the NPS Congaree current conditions regularly because the trails have been flooded. I had a perfect day, high 50s, brightly sunny and below flood stage so drove over Thursday the 14th. I stopped at the visitor center to talk to one of the rangers/volunteers about the trails and the conditions,…
Like in the Finger Lakes, there is much to do in the Asheville area. Asheville has a great arts district and many galleries downtown, nice city parks and trails, great historic buildings, and many wonderful restaurants and breweries. I really enjoyed my time here. The city can keep you busy but if you get bored, you can head to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Pisgah National Forest, or take a long drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. There are…
I only spent a half day at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, driving over from Asheville. It’s definitely not the best season for a visit but we still had a nice afternoon. I had spent a week here in 1993, taking my daughter on our first vacation since I had got out of the Army, home from West Germany, and started my new job. After a couple of years, I finally had a few dollars left over between paychecks so…
My parents took my sisters and me to many of the national parks on our family vacations. I took my daughter to a couple dozen over the years, as well, from Acadia to Zion. She and her husband just took 18 months to visit the 59 parks in the states. I am trying to visit as many as possible as I wander the country; not just the main parks but historical sites, national battlefields, trails, and many of the other…
I have wanted to visit Gettysburg for years. I almost added it to the Washington DC, Chesapeake, Philadelphia trip I took with my daughter, Alex, in 1998. She enjoyed touring the White House, visiting both the Washington and Lincoln monuments, and seeing the Constitution and Declaration in the Archives. We went to the Air & Space Museum for a few hours, where we saw the moon lander and moon rocks. She even thought it was fun to tour the Philadelphia…
I’ve heard a lot about the Finger Lakes region of New York over the years but other than a visit with my family to Watkins Glen as a child I’ve not visited the area. I thought it would be an excellent start to my year of travel and October would be perfect weather. When I looked for a place to stay, searching on “Finger Lakes” in Booking and AirBNB and VRBO, almost too many options came up. It’s a large…