• Travel

    Weekend in North Alabama

    February 23, 2021 - By 

    I’ve been sharing with you the little adventure Rob and I had up to North Alabama. I wanted to pull it all together in one place and include some other details of the trip. Oneonta Friday night, we stopped in Oneonta because I had been looking for places to eat. Swamp Tails looked right up our alley. Family owned Cajun cuisine, yes please! UPDATE: Swamp Tails is now closed 🙁 We started the meal with Boudreaux’s Boudin Balls. Best I’ve had outside of Louisiana. I had the Catfish Plate. Rob had Shrimp Po Boy with a side of Crawfish Etouffee.…

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    Natural Bridge Park – Alabama

    February 16, 2021 - By 

    Here we are again for another Travel Tuesday post! We’re continuing to explore a little bit of North Alabama with some time in Huntsville and Cullman. For this post we ventured out to Natural Bridge Park which is about an hour drive from Cullman. County Rd 314 Natural Bridge, AL The Natural Bridge formation, which dates back about 200 million years, is 60 ft (18.3 m) high and 148 feet (45 m) long. It’s composed of sandstone and iron ore, which are both sedimentary rock. This bridge is the longest natural bridge east of the Rocky Mountains in North America.…

  • Travel

    Ave Maria Grotto in Cullman, AL

    February 9, 2021 - By 

    Today I’m continuing on with another old travel post. After leaving Huntsville we needed to head home, but wanted to make the most of our day. We drove over to Cullman, AL, which is about an hour south of Huntsville. We have been to Cullman several times, but have never stopped to see the Ave Maria Grotto. If you’re ever in Cullman, this is a must see! 4 acres in an old quarry on the grounds of St. Bernard Abbey covered in 125 miniature reproductions of some of the most famous religious structures in the world like the St. Peter’s…

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    Green Mountain Nature Trail in Huntsville, AL

    February 2, 2021 - By 

    Today I’m covering another travel post from my archives that never got written about. Last week I wrote about Two Must-Sees in Huntsville, AL for Taphophiles Today I’m sharing a little about a beautiful park and hiking trail called Green Mountain Nature Trail a.k.a. Madison County Nature Trail. 5000 Nature Trail Rd SE Huntsville, AL 35803 If you enjoy getting out in undisturbed nature this is a spot for you to see if ever in the Huntsville, AL area. The 1.5 mile loop around the 6-acre Sky lake is beautiful and quiet. There are additional side trails that branch from…

  • Travel

    Two Must-Sees in Huntsville, AL for Taphophiles

    January 26, 2021 - By 

    Here we are again for another ‘catch up’ travel post since we’re not traveling much because of COVID. A few years ago Rob and I went up to Huntsville, AL for a wedding. We spent the weekend there and made it into a mini-vacation. While we were there I had a couple spots I wanted to check out because I guess I’m a Taphophile. Admittedly, I had to google ‘nickname for people who love cemeteries’ and found this: In the last few years, I’ve become quite interested in checking out really old or unique cemeteries. When researching what to do…

  • Travel

    After Christmas Getaway 2020

    January 7, 2021 - By 

    The Monday after Christmas we got up and headed out to Inlet Beach near Panama City Beach, FL. We make a little detour on the way down to our favorite sausage store, Conecuh. If you’ve never had Conecuh, you are totally missing out. It is made in Evergreen, AL and I think most of the Southeastern states have stores that carry it. They have a special Christmas Hot sausage that has red and green peppers in it and it is spicy! We got several of those and a few other things. We also got some Conecuh bacon to try since…

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    Exploring North Colorado & South Wyoming

    December 15, 2020 - By 

    I’m continuing with my COVID – no travel – catch up on my previous travel posts – post! Ha! If that makes any sense. So in my last travel post, Rob and I drove from Pikes Peak to Avon, Colorado. 39°38’5.53″ N 106°31’28.03″ W – (Map #1) For this post you will find the GPS coordinates that are linked so that you can see the exact location that most pictures are taken. You can also click on the numbers on the interactive map below: On this last full day of this trip we traveled from Avon through Vail, Colorado passing…

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    Scenic Drive from Pikes Peak to Avon, CO

    November 24, 2020 - By 

    Happy Travel Tuesday, ya’ll! I’m continuing to share from when Rob and I were in Colorado for a work conference. This was an epic day. Rob finished up with his conference that morning, we booked it over to Pikes Peak, which you can read about >>> Pros and Cons of Driving up Pikes Peak. Up until November 2017, you had the choice to drive or ride the Cog Railway up. However that have since been renovating the Cog Railway and it looks like it will open back up in 2021! More Sight Seeing in Colorado Springs, CO My camera (Canon…

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    More Sight Seeing in Colorado Springs, CO

    November 3, 2020 - By 

    Today I’m continuing on with my posts about our Colorado Trip. All the posts from this trip will be here>>>>Colorado Trip Another day to explore on my own, while Rob was in his conference. This is the gorgeous view of Cheyenne Mountain as I left the hotel. As I was driving to my 1st destination I was stopped at a light on Nevada Avenue. I was able to snap this pic of The Great Pumpkin, which is a 1500 lb. statue. After some research, I found that it’s made out of 90% recycled materials. Regardless of the time of year,…

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    Hiking and Driving – Colorado Springs, CO

    October 27, 2020 - By 

    Again, here we are. Still in COVID times. Not traveling. Blah blah blah. I’m taking advantage of this time to continue to catch up on travel posts! Today I’m continuing our trip to Colorado Springs. Rob was there for a conference. I was there for fun and relaxation. After getting up, eating breakfast with Rob at the conference, I headed out for a little adventure. I decided to hike part of the Columbine Trail. I parked at the Middle Columbine Trail and started hiking up. I could hear a stream across the road and saw an airplane overhead. I didn’t…

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    6 Reasons Why I Love Coors Field {Colorado Rockies}

    October 20, 2020 - By 

    When Rob and I first visited Coors Field it was in April, Opening Weekend. It was a cool and breezy April day, but you could totally feel the excitement in the air. We were excited to be in Denver and to be marking another baseball stadium off our list! Coors Field is tucked right smack in the middle of Denver’s lower downtown area. This has been the home of the Colorado Rockies since 1995 and has been at the top of the attendance list ever since. Rob and I both loved Coors Field for many reasons. 1.While this is now…

  • Travel

    Last Day in New York

    September 29, 2020 - By 

    This will be my last post about our New York/Ontario trip. If you’d like to read the other posts from this trip click here>>> New York/Ontario Trip On our last day in New York, we got up and decided to explore Buffalo some more before heading back to Rochester to catch our flight home. We went to Canalside which is pretty area that runs along the Buffalo River. There were lots of people there kayaking and enjoying the beautiful day. The “World’s Largest Rubber Duck” found a home on the Buffalo River for a few days, which obviously was quite…

  • Travel

    Niagara Falls and Beyond

    September 22, 2020 - By 

    If you missed my first post where we traveled to Toronto, Ontario, Canada from Rochester, NY and our adventures that day check this post out first >>> Toronto, Ontario, Canada We got up the next morning and wanted a nice breakfast. We wound up going to Evviva, which was a trendy little spot, where we enjoyed a couple breakfast sandwiches, OJ, and of course, a bottle of Canada Dry. From there, we walked the city and then drove the city before making our way over to Niagra Falls for the rest of the day. Here’s some more pics of the…

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    Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    September 15, 2020 - By 

    Today I’m continuing to talk about what we did on our Rochester, NY trip. This was our 3rd day. However, we got up ate breakfast at the hotel and drove about 3 hours across the border to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Yeah, so I love old bridges and I always take pictures of them. There’s usually nothing special about them, just interesting landmarks. This was taken in Gasport, NY at 43°11’43.518″ N 78°35’38.208″ W New York apples are so good! There was pretty long line to cross over the border at Queenston Bridge, but it moved decently fast. We were starting…

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    Rochester, NY | Trip Report Day 2

    August 11, 2020 - By 

    Today I’m sharing with you our Day 2 of our Rochester, NY trip. That morning I dropped Rob off at his training and headed on over to the Erie Canal. We were there the night before, but it was getting dark. So I was anxious to see it more in the daytime. That morning it was pretty foggy and overcast, which made for some interesting photos. The Erie Canal is a canal in New York, United States that is part of the east–west, cross-state route of the New York State Canal System, which was built to create a navigable water…

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    Visit to the Eastman Museum [Rochester, NY]

    August 4, 2020 - By 

    Visit to the Eastman Museum [Rochester, NY] - If you're ever in Rochester, New York and you love beautiful homes, gardens and history, the George Eastman House is a must see! George Eastman is the founder of Kodak Films, so not only is this his former home, it's also home to the International Museum of Photography and Film (world's oldest museum dedicated to photography).

  • Travel

    St. Simons Island Trip – Part 2

    July 28, 2020 - By 

    Last week I shared the 1st part of our St. Trip with you. Click to read that>>>>St. Simons Island Trip-Part 1 Today’s post covers the 2nd half of the trip from Wednesday through Saturday when we head home. Wednesday So after a pretty tiring day in Savannah, on Wednesday we decided to stick around St. Simons. Rob and I ventured out while the boys stayed back at the condo. We stopped by Gascoigne Bluff Park. As you can see this is another gorgeous spot with Live Oaks and Spanish Moss. What you don’t see in the pic is the 9…

  • Thinking of a trip to St. Simons Island Trip soon? Check out this post to see what to do not only in St. Simons but what day trips you can take from there!
    Travel

    St. Simons Island Trip – Part 1

    July 21, 2020 - By 

    Saturday Earlier this summer we were itching for a change of scenery and decided to take a week off and go on a vacation. With Drew starting classes right before the 4th of July, we determined that the week before that would be good. This ended up being Drew’s graduation trip. No, it’s not NYC, but it was better than nothing! We got up early Saturday morning and headed over to St. Simons Island, Georgia. We stopped in Dawson, GA at Mark’s Melon Patch (8580 Albany Highway Dawson, Georgia 39842) for some peaches. I enjoyed their Sunflowers and Zinnias so…

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    Mountain West Trip: Denver, CO

    June 23, 2020 - By 

    Thank you for following along on our Mountain West Trip. This is the last post for this trip. Today I am talking about what we did the last day in half, all of which was spent in and around Denver, CO. We had a few things on our list for Denver. First two things were Denver Mint and Coors Brewing Company. The Denver Mint wasn’t doing tours that day for some reason, so we headed over to Coors Brewing Company for a tour. It’s $10 for non-Colorado residents ($5 if you live in CO) and it includes a full tour,…

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    Mountain West Trip: Roadtrip from Vernal, UT to Denver, CO

    June 16, 2020 - By 

    Today we’re continuing on our Mountain West Trip that I’ve been sharing. Click >>> Mountain West Trip 2019 Posts to see more from this trip. As we drove through Vernal, I snapped a few more pics as we headed to Jenson, UT. Our first stop was Dinosaur National Monument. Since the boys are older, they weren’t super thrilled about it. I enjoyed it, because the teacher in me still geeks out over this kind of fun stuff. Exhibits at the Quarry Visitor Center introduce the variety of resources and places to explore within the monument. The Quarry Visitor Center is…