Once again, I’ve been having trouble writing. Between the hurricane and the election, this has been a challenging several months. Every year, the folks at Merriam-Webster choose a Word of the Year. Can you guess the word for 2024? It was “Polarization.” Given the state of our nation, that’s not surprising. But it is disturbing. […]
Author Archive for Laurel (AKA chickadee)
Dear Friends, We are safe. Thank you, everyone, for your texts and emails and phone calls. We are buoyed by your support and concern. We’ve tried to respond, but our communication with the outside world has been minimal. We have no internet, with no ETA. (I’m sending this from the parking lot of our internet […]
Hey! It’s been a while. I hope all of you are doing well. I didn’t mean to take a such a long hiatus from blogging. But after more than 10 years of blogging and 375 posts, I apparently needed a break. More than anything, I needed time to settle in to our new life in […]
In early February, we spent a week in central Florida, which is best known as the home of Disneyworld and dozens of other theme parks. We did none of that. Instead, we kayaked one of our favorite rivers, explored nearby charming small towns, and visited a state park that provides refuge for more than a […]
The last half of January, we parked ourselves at a delightful Airbnb in Largo. No, not Key Largo, which everyone has heard of. This Largo is on the central Gulf Coast of Florida, in the Tampa Bay Area. How did we choose Largo? At some point last year when we were deciding where to go […]
On January 3rd, we packed up our Subaru, loaded our bikes and the cat, and headed south for the winter. We learned some valuable lessons last year after transitioning from RV travel to traveling via Airbnb. We learned to read between the lines in Airbnb listings so that we don’t end up with a dump. […]
Earlier this week, we were sitting sit in front of our cozy fireplace, enjoying the warmth and comfort of our tiny house. I turned to Eric and said, “This is finally beginning to feel like home. Do you feel it, too?” He nodded, and said, “I love our little house.” In case you’re wondering, Magnolia […]
I‘m taking a quick break from painting our cabinets to make note that we are, indeed, still here. It has been a crazy, stressful few weeks—with some truly delightful moments. Everything is fine now. But it has been kind of a bumpy ride. Eric had some worrisome heart palpitations that because of his history, required […]
And suddenly, it’s the last day of June. For the past month, we’ve been immersed in decision-making for the myriad of details involved in a home build. But despite our dithering over which toilet to get, it appears that we’re still on target to move into our home by mid-August. Along with researching stuff and […]
We arrived in Flat Rock, North Carolina three weeks ago, where we’ve embarked on the adventure of overseeing the construction of our tiny home. We’ve been busy adjusting to tiny home life in a tiny home community in a town that we previously had only briefly visited. It’s a good thing I always quickly forget […]
Welcome to our blog!
If you enjoy hiking, biking, kayaking, birding, art, music, quirky towns, good food, and good friends—you'll enjoy traveling with us. Join us as we explore the backroads of North America—we love company and comments!