• Travel

    Mountain West Trip:Day in Yellowstone-Part 1

    May 2, 2020 - By 

    If you missed my first few posts from our Mountain West Trip you can see those listed here. This post is from the 1st half of our epic day in Yellowstone with so many amazing sights, which means so many pictures to share. From traffic jams caused by bison crossing the road to geysers and hot springs. In this post, I’ve added some GPS coordinates and linked them to Google Maps. I kinda wished I’d done that previous travel posts, but never thought it would be that important. My Canon EOS 6D DSLR Camera has a built in GPS which…

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    Mountain West Trip:In & Around Casper, WY

    April 2, 2020 - By 

    This is another post from our Mountain West Trip. Day 3 we got up and Drew was in charge of showing us around Casper. First we drove up to the top of Casper Mountain. We saw this Coyote as we drove. Up on top of Casper Mountain is a small Ski Resort called Hogadon Basin Ski Area. Of course since it was summer it was closed, but it still beautiful up there. Beautiful views Before leaving the mountain we explored the other side, which has an Archery Range. Then Drew showed us where he was living and we got to…

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    Mountain West Trip:Wyoming Road Trip

    February 28, 2020 - By 

    This post is continuation of our big Mountain West Trip we did. Here’s the first post in case you missed it>>>Mountain West Trip – Colorado Springs We got up that morning and checked out of our hotel in Castle Rock and headed to Wyoming, with romantic country music sang by a good Romantic country music songwriter playing in our car for a fun trip! Our final destination for that day was Casper, WY, where Drew has been since May. While I was so anxious to see him, I was excited to see more of Wyoming and explore it a little…

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    Mountain West Trip:Colorado Springs

    January 29, 2020 - By 

    Our older son, Drew, was in Wyoming for an internship for the summer so we planned a trip to the Mountain West; Colorado, Wyoming, Utah in early July of last year. We flew out on a Wednesday evening and landed in Denver, CO, got our rental car drove to Castle Rock, CO where we had a hotel for the night. Comfort Suites Castle Rock 4755 Castleton Way, Castle Rock, CO 80109 The next morning we got up and drove to Pikes Peak. Alex wasn’t with us when we went a few years ago, so we knew this was a must…

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    Pacific NorthWest Trip Page

    January 22, 2020 - By 

    This is the landing page for our Pacific Northwest Trip, where we traveled the Washington Coast, Seattle, Part of the Oregon Coast, Cannon Beach, Ecola State Park, Portland, and more! (Click on any of the pics below to see related post.)

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    Pacific NW Trip: Grand Floral Parade & More

    January 19, 2020 - By 

    When planning this trip and knowing that the Rose Festival would be going on we structured it so we’d be in Portland at the right time. We decided that since we were here during the Grand Floral Parade that we needed to go. I was glad we did. It was also Fleet Week, which is always a sight to see. We were hoping to get over to ships after the parade to get a tour of one of the US Naval Ships but we missed it by a few minutes. So instead we walked up to the near by bridge…

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    Pacific NW Trip: Exploring Oregon Coast

    December 20, 2019 - By 

    In this post, I’m continuing to share about trip to the Pacific Northwest. This is the day we spent on the Oregon Coast, which is always my favorite. We first drove out to Cannon Beach. There’s several lots where you can park for a small fee as well as free street parking, which is what we ended up doing. After we parked we looked up on the internet to see when low tide was, because if you want to look for sea urchins and star fish you need to plan ahead. Luckily for us, low tide was about to occur…

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    Gatlinburg Fun & Soccer Tourney

    December 13, 2019 - By 

    In early December we headed off to Gatlinburg for a soccer tournament. Follow your team’s journey with the detailed match reports by SportScore. Friday Friday we worked half a day and then went and check Alex out of school. Came home and loaded the car and picked up #5 to try and make it to Gatlinburg in time for their Christmas Parade. Our friends, the Farrows were there with their younger son, so we met up with them at the parade. Here I am with Julia. I loved that they had a car that looked like the one from Christmas…

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    Pacific NW Trip: UW Tour & Mt. Rainier NP

    December 11, 2019 - By 

    University of Washington Tour The last day in Seattle began with a tour of the University of Washington that was done for the conference attendees and their families. Walking the campus, I loved the mixture of —style and new modern buildings. Here you see Gerberding Hall (GRB) on the right and Suzzallo Library, which are both Collegiate Gothic style of architecture that is so beautiful. This library is probably the most iconic building on campus. This is the Graduate Reading Room, which takes up the entire western side of the library at 250 ft.long, 52 ft. wide, with a 65-ft.…

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    Trip to Kentucky & Ohio

    October 30, 2019 - By 

    This is a really long post, but I decided to include everything in this one post because I’m desperately trying to get caught up on all these travel posts. Rob had a conference in Covington, KY, which I tagged along for to add a couple more states to my bucket list. Saturday Saturday we left after Alex’s soccer game and headed to the airport. Flying above the clouds and seeing the sun go down. We flew into Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG).  They had some really cool skeletal replicas, but we were in a hurry so I just snapped a…

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    Pacific Northwest Trip: Seattle Sightseeing

    August 31, 2019 - By 

    If you missed my first 3 posts from our Pacific Northwest trip, here’s the links to those: – Pacific NW Trip: Quinault Rainforest to Olympic National Park – Pacific NW Trip: Seattle Mariners Game and the Waterfront – Pacific Northwest Trip: Sightseeing in Seattle We took the hotel shuttle to the Seattle Center, where we stopped the day before, but Alex wanted to play on the playground some more. As I mentioned in my last post, the Seattle Center is a really interesting place. The playground is like nothing I’ve seen before. On one side is the colorful and oddly…

  • NYC Day 3
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    New York City Day 3

    May 28, 2019 - By 

    If you missed my first 2 posts about our trip to New York at Christmas click —> New York City Day 1 New York City Day 2 Saturday, December 22nd Saturday after finishing off the eggs and bacon we headed out towards Central Park. The night before we had walked a little bit of it in the dark, so I was happy to get to explore it in the day light. This street performer was unique and attracted quite a few onlookers. Although, I’m not sure he made much money. The bubbles he made with the rope were huge. I…

  • New York City Day 2
    Travel

    New York City Day 2

    May 21, 2019 - By 

    If you missed my first post about our 1st Day in New York at Christmas click —> New York City Day 1 Friday, December 21st Friday morning started off early as we wanted to get down to 1211 Avenue of the Americas to see if the hosts of Fox News Show Fox and Friends would come out and talk to us. However, it was a dreary day and rain was in the forecast. We got there and it started drizzling and then it started raining harder, but we stood there for over an hour or maybe it was 2. We…

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    Sight-seeing in D.C. Day 2

    February 15, 2019 - By 

    Here is the last post for our time in Washington, DC. Metro ride to start off the morning. Riding the elevator inside the Metro station Walking from the Metro to the Air and Space Museum Long line at the Museum that Sunday morning, but it went fast. I really enjoyed going to this museum mainly because my Grandparents took me here when we did our DC trip. However, the boys weren’t huge fans of the place and if I would have thought of it sooner we would have left and gone to the National Museum of American History instead. Live…

  • Site-Seeing Washington, DC
    Travel

    Sight-seeing in D.C. Day 1

    February 2, 2019 - By 

    Continuing my posts from our D.C. trip. If you missed the last post about this trip you can click: SAAM & National Portrait Gallery DC After a good breakfast at the hotel, we took the Metro to Arlington Cemetery. This place gets me every time. Just the sheer number of white marble headstones is breathtaking. If you decide to visit Arlington Cemetery, be prepared to go through security similar to airport security to enter. We were there early so the line wasn’t long. We followed the signs first to the Kennedy Memorial. The Kennedy Memorial and burial site for John…

  • Smithsonian American Art Museum & National Portrait Gallery - D.C.
    Travel

    SAAM & National Portrait Gallery – D.C.

    October 18, 2018 - By 

    My last day of being on my own before Rob was done with his conference and the kids flew into join us, I had decided I wanted to check out the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) & National Portrait Gallery (NPG). I took the Metro in and after a short walk from the Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter Station Metro stop, I was there. This museum is massive. Somehow I didn’t get a map when I went in, but I managed to see everything I wanted to see and more. Half of the building the SAAM and the other half is the…

  • Afternoon in Washington, DC
    Travel

    Afternoon in Washington, DC

    October 2, 2018 - By 

    Here’s another post from our trip to DC. After having lunch with Rob and some folks from the conference back at the Gaylord, I made my way over to the metro station. I decided on using the Anacostia, because it was going to be cheaper and faster than the one closest to National Harbor. However, what I wasn’t aware of was that parking is not where the actual station is that shows up on the map. So after nervously figuring out that situation with some help from the Metro employees, I made my way on to the correct train and…

  • Morning in Old Town Alexandria, VA
    Travel

    Morning in Old Town Alexandria, VA

    September 27, 2018 - By 

    Today I’m continuing my posts from our DC Trip. Rob’s first full day at the conference, I decided to do something that wasn’t on my list of must does so that I could get back to the hotel for lunch (since it was included in the guest fee that we paid.) I drove over to Old Town Alexandria, VA. I didn’t have anything specific I wanted to see or do, but you know I just enjoy driving to a place, walking around, taking pictures, and exploring. I’ve always heard that Old Town Alexandria is such a lovely place so I…

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    Fun Day in National Harbor, MD

    August 28, 2018 - By 

    It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about our Boston to Washington Trip. Here’s the last post in case you missed it: Philly to Maryland So Day 4, we woke up in our hotel that we stayed in for the next several days, the National Harbor Gaylord Hotel, which is where Rob’s work conference was being held. He had a meeting that morning and since I didn’t think I’d have enough time to go out and come back and meet him for lunch. I made the decision to just walk around the Gaylord and relax. Inside the atrium area of the…

  • Vacationing in the Mountains of North Carolina
    Travel

    Vacationing in the North Carolina Mountains

    August 10, 2018 - By 

    Mountains, waterfalls, and serene views were calling our names for 4th of July this year. You may recall that we had an annual 4th of July mountain trip tradition going for a while (2010 2011 2012 2013), but we have done other things the last few years. Saturday We got up early Saturday morning, hit D Square donuts on our way out of town for a little sugar, and then got on the road. Our first planned stop was Tallulah Gorge, but we saw signs for great views at the Tallulah Point Overlook, which is basically a tourist trap. They…