We just arrived in North Florida for two months of semi-tropical adventures interspersed with family time, mostly focused on helping my elderly parents. Wish us luck, I’m suspecting we’re going to need it. My recollections of our last winter with my folks are still fresh in my memory, and I’m feeling a bit apprehensive, to […]
Author Archive for Laurel (AKA chickadee) – Page 11
I‘m finding it extraordinarily difficult to write this post. We won’t be returning to Lopez Island next summer, and it’s causing us grief in more than one way. On a spiritual and emotional level, we’re going to sorely miss the beauty of the island, the satisfying work of teaching the interpretive programs, and our delightful […]
Last year was the first time we took the northern route across the country. Although we had our doubts about traveling through the Midwest and the Plains, it’s a trip we would happily repeat. I’ve already written quite a bit about our experiences, but as I wrap up our spring and early summer travels, I […]
We’re in the mountains of West Texas, where it’s currently 22 degrees and the landscape is decorated with hoar frost. It is REALLY cold, but it looks very festive. I know that January 1st only has as much meaning as we ascribe to it. Nonetheless, there’s something about the dawning of another year that always […]
Yellowstone National Park is one of the most beautiful places we’ve found in our travels. And it’s certainly one of the most thrilling. Where else can you stroll on boardwalks over colorful hot pools and geysers and encounter traffic jams caused by bison and bears? Our last visit to Yellowstone was in the fall of […]
One of the things I love most about our full time travels is discovering places we would otherwise never visit. We plan our journeys starting with a rough outline of things we want to see, and then connect the dots with mystery stops along our routes. More often than not, those unknown places turn out […]
In the northeast corner of Wyoming’s rolling prairies a pillar of ancient lava rises more than 800 feet above an ocean of Ponderosa pines. Throughout the centuries, the mysterious monolith has captured the imaginations of the tribes of the Great Plains, president Teddy Roosevelt, and filmmaker Steven Spielberg, among many others. In early June, we […]
We’ve been fulltime travelers for five-and-a-half years now. Every year, we circle back to our hometown in southern Oregon for a few weeks to ready ourselves for another year of travel. No matter how organized we think we are, it’s always a tornado of activity: various appointments, projects on our trailer, maintenance on our home, […]
Talk about being in the right place at the right time. We arrived in Custer, South Dakota in early June, the day before a Volksmarch. This was the result of pure luck, not excellent planning. But we know a good opportunity when it’s staring us in the face. In this case, it was the enormous […]
Traveling along I-90 in South Dakota, sweeping vistas of grasslands dominate the countryside. But just three miles from the interstate near the tiny town of Interior, an otherworldly landscape of craggy spires pierce the sky and colorful mounds of rock rise from the prairie. This was our first visit to Badlands National Park, and we […]
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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!