I hate to admit this, but I didn’t know where Grand Teton National Park was located. I thought it was more in the eastern part of the U.S. so I was surprised when I began researching a visit to Yellowstone to see Grand Teton National Park just south of Yellowstone. Obviously we needed to visit there as well. Since we flew into Bozeman, Montana, it was quite a trip down to Jackson Hole, which is at the southern end of…
Tranquil Moments at Lakewold Gardens in Tacoma
During COVID when many travel opportunities shut down, visiting gardens remained possible. Most years I might only visit a garden two or three times a year. Not during COVID. With so many other sites and activities shut down, gardens became a tranquil place to visit. The Lakewold Gardens in Tacoma, Washington was one of our options. Like many other gardens in the Puget Sound area, this garden started out as a personal garden which later became a public garden. The…
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Facing the Challenges of World Travel
When I began this blog over a year ago, my intent was to encourage people to explore our world. For me traveling is the best way to learn about the cultures and peoples of our very diverse world. While we can read about places and peoples in books, see travel shows on TV, or watch documentaries or movies from different locations, nothing compares to actually being in a place. Places are more than what we see. They are smells and…
Encountering Starbucks Throughout the World
I did not grow up in a coffee drinking family. My parents seldom drank any. They were much more likely to drink tea. In fact, as my father grew older, he would always have a pitcher of iced tea in the refrigerator. Coffee was just not part of our life. Shortly after college I moved to the Dominican Republic for four years. There I began to have some exposure to coffee. The Dominicans would serve coffee in small demitasse cups…
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Discovering Sunrise at Mt. Rainier in Washington
There were thin, high clouds in the sky as we left our home to visit Mt. Rainier. It looked to be a perfect day for a return visit to Mt. Rainier National Park. It had been two years since our last visit. This time we were going to a part of the park we had never visited before, Sunrise. The Sunrise area is on the northeast side of the park. There are three main parts to the Sunrise region. First…
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Mt. Rainier Plays Peek-A-Boo For A Day
While the Space Needle is the iconic sight for Seattle, Mt. Rainier is the icon for the state of Washington. In fact, despite Washington having many mountains, locals often refer to it as simply, “the mountain.” If you can get the Space Needle and Mt. Rainier in the same picture, then you really have a classic Washington picture. Unfortunately Mt. Rainier is not always as visible as we would like. The areas infamous rainy days often hides it from view.…
The Fundamental Skill of Map Reading
If you have paid much attention to travel news in the last few months, you know this has been a year for road trips. With world travel still closed, and the close quarters of an airplane making people nervous, folks have stayed closer to home. Road trips to the rescue. However, to successfully navigate that road trip one needs a very important element, a map. Map reading is a skill that has been lost in some ways today. Much like…
Trails to Conquer East of Seattle (Updated 2024)
For many people vacation can be a time for indulging in things they normally might avoid. To keep that from being a problem exercise should be a part of one’s vacation plans. The Seattle area is blessed with many great trails to use. Walkers, bikers, and roller bladers have a number of options to choose from east of Lake Washington. Most of these trails were once railroad corridors that have been converted to trails. Whether you are a resident or…
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“The Blessing” Around the World, Part 2
Six weeks ago I shared with you how the song “The Blessing” has become an international phenomenon. Just a few months after its release, virtual choirs around the world were recording the song as a way to bless their countries during our worldwide pandemic. As the pandemic has continued, so has the creation of new videos. Since my post six weeks ago, I have often searched YouTube and discovered even more renditions of the song. Virtual choirs, solo artists, worship…
My First Year as a Travel Blogger
Yes, it was exactly a year ago on July 29th that I posted my first blog post, “Why Travel?” It’s been a journey ever since. I thought I’d take this anniversary to share about my first year of blogging. When I retired from teaching last June, I knew I needed to have something to do to help keep me occupied. Being a middle school English teacher for 21 years, I had worked to teach my students how to write. I…