National Monuments: Hidden Gems to Discover

During these last few years of COVID anxiety, National Parks have been more popular than ever as people try to avoid crowds and stay outside. Previously I have shared about the ones that I have been able to visit, and you can find those posts here. In March I shared about the lesser known National Historical Parks. Today I want to focus on another list of possible places to visit this summer, National Monuments. If you hear monument, you might…

Seaside or Cannon Beach, Which Place is Best for You?

I mentioned in my previous blog post that my wife’s parents once owned a home in Cannon Beach, Oregon, and we visited them frequently. We became pretty familiar with Cannon Beach over the years. Once they sold their home, we went down less frequently. Now, however, when we do go down, we stay in Seaside which is about ten minutes north of Cannon Beach. Despite the fact that the towns are fairly close to each other, they are different in…

Astoria, Gateway to the Oregon Coast

At one time my wife’s parents owned a home in Cannon Beach, Oregon. Our children were in elementary school then, and we would go down to visit two or three times a year. Of course to get there we had to pass through the town of Astoria, and that’s what we did, we passed right on by. Occasionally we would drive up to wander through some antique stores, but for the most part we were unimpressed. It had been a…

My Impressions of Five US National Parks

There are 63 National Parks in the United States with the newest one in West Virginia added in just the last few years. How many can you name? Don’t feel bad, I can’t name that many either. However, I have been to 19 of them over the years. Some of them I have visited recently and have shared about my visits in this blog. You can peruse those articles in the index under National Parks. I have not shared about…

Travel Inspiration: Movies, TV, and Books

Where do you find travel inspiration? What makes you think, “I want to go there!”? Is it a picture in a magazine or hearing about your friend’s experience? Is it reading a travel blog or seeing some scenic location in a movie? Have you ever been inspired by a book or story? I have, and it’s a great way to gain inspiration for travel. If you think that people are not inspired to travel by such things consider the influence…