Category: Road Trip

A Look Back at 2023

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, Road Trip, WildlifeTagged , , , , 26 Comments

Our year was filled with some wandering, some quality time at home, and good times with family and friends.

January

A week long getaway to the Florida Gulf Coast was just what we needed to start the year. The week was filled with beautiful sunrises, bird watching, swimming with manatees, and a Mermaid show at Weeki Watchee Springs State Park.

February

February was a quiet month at home with porch sitting when the weather was nice, a trip to the Ships of the Sea Museum in Savannah with friends, attending the Livestrong program two days a week, and watching the camellias bloom.

March

We stayed home for the month. The azaleas were blooming and the days were filled with St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations with the Junkanoo band from the Bahamas.

April

We took a road trip to do some wandering in middle Georgia, enjoyed the spring flowers in our garden, and watched a few backyard birds.

May

We celebrated Henry’s birthday at a Savannah Bananas game and made a trip to Virginia to visit family.

June

We celebrated my birthday with a road trip to Orlando where we had a delicious birthday lunch at Sanaa at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and spent a day at the Animal Kingdom theme park.

July

July brought a gorgeous full moon, a double rainbow and a trip to the Georgia mountains to celebrate our anniversary.

August

The weather was hot but the flowers in the garden were blooming at home. We made another trip to middle Georgia where we wandered around Butterflies and Blooms in the Briar Patch.

September

There were walks on the beach and gorgeous sunrises.

Tybee Island Sunrise

October

I made a trip to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Back at home we wandered around Ft. Pulaski National Monument one day.

November

We flew to Ft. Lauderdale to begin our long awaited Panama Canal and Central America Cruise. Watch for another post about this adventure coming soon.

December

We celebrated the holidays with friends and family at home. Some mornings I woke up to a brilliant orange sky at sunrise.

Coastal Georgia Sunrise

There were also many events with no photos to share. In March I completed a three month Livestrong program for cancer survivors at our local YMCA and I still continue to stay fit with water aerobics and other classes at the gym. We had some long delayed home home improvements taken care of. We cheered on our 13 year old granddaughter at a few middle school volleyball and basketball games. We were safe and dry in our home as we watched and heard the rain and wind from hurricane Idelia passed by in August.

Wandering Dawgs celebrated 10 years of blogging in March. I appreciate all of you who read and follow my posts. I’m looking forward to keep this up for a while.

Wishing you good health, happiness and much joy in 2024!

Shared with Terri’s Sunday Stills

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #260 – Overlooked

Posted in Photography, Road Trip, TravelTagged , , , 18 Comments

For this challenge our guest host Janet from This, That and the Other Thing.has asked us to “share photos of something you normally overlook or something you think other people would overlook.”

It’s not the Destination, It’s the Journey

Ralph Waldo Emerson

During all our years of wandering Henry and I have traveled the back roads to discover places that many travelers overlook. When planning a road trip we try to find interesting and fun things to do in between our major destinations. We’ve discovered delightful small towns and during our camping days went miles out of our way to camp in a campground with a beautiful view.

In 2009 we made an RV trip that took us through Iowa. There were two places on our Bucket List in Iowa that I’m sure many travelers overlook. Both of the destinations had movie themes.

The first was the Field of Dreams Movie Site near Dyersville, Iowa where the movie with the same name was filmed. It was magical being there standing in the cornfield, walking around the bases, and imagining Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other ball players coming out of the cornfield to play baseball. I posted more about our visit here.

Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville, Iowa
It was easy to imagine the players coming out of the corn to play ball

We were traveling in our RV and couldn’t find an RV park close to Dyersville. I searched all around the area before I found a Corps of Engineers park on the Mississippi River in Petosi, Wisconsin across the river from Iowa. We love camping close to bodies of water so it was perfect for us. If we hadn’t wanted to see the Field of Dreams we would have never discovered the Good Old Potosi Brewery or the Grotto we passed as we drove from the campground to the Field of Dreams.

Good Old Potosi Beer
Grotto in Dickeyville, Wisconsin

Our second Iowa destination was the town of Winterset. Not only is Winterset the setting for the movie “Bridges of Madison County” but it is also the birthplace of John Wayne.

We didn’t have as much trouble finding a place to stay there. We stayed in our first ever city campground and we loved it. We set up the camper, put our payment in an envelope, and dropped the envelope in a drop box. The park was nice and the location was perfect for exploring the covered bridges and John Wayne’s birthplace.

Roseman Covered Bridge, Madison County, Iowa
John Wayne’s birthplace in Winterset, Iowa

Flash forward to 2013 when we took our RV to Alaska from Georgia. We loved every place we went but our favorite place was Haines, a small waterfront town. The view from our campsite was spectacular, the people in Haines were friendly, the scenery and wildlife were amazing, and we loved the laid back atmosphere there. Where else can you visit the Hammer Museum and eat fresh Dungeness Crabs straight from the boat?

To reach Haines by road travelers drive south on the long, scenic Haines Highway from the Yukon Territory in Canada before entering Alaska. Most RV’ers we met had been to Skagway but overlooked Haines because of the driving distance between the two towns. We opted to take the one hour trip by Alaska Ferry from Skagway to Haines. I’ll be forever grateful to the guy from Anchorage who was camped next to us in Skagway and suggested we look into the Ferry. We were sad to leave Haines but enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we drove north on the Haines Highway to continue our Alaska adventure.

This is the view from our campground in Haines
We saw many Bald Eagles while in Haines. This one was at Chilcoot Lake State Park, Haines, AK

Sometimes in our travels we like to go for scenic drives and if we see a gravel road that looks interesting, we’ll drive on the road just to see where it goes. We stumbled upon this view of the Crazy Horse Monument when we took a turn on a gravel road in Custer State Park in South Dakota

View of Crazy Horse Monument from the top of the Coolidge Overlook in Custer State Park

We’ve discovered many more overlooked destinations in our travels. There are many great places along the way if you can just take the time to look around.

Many thanks to guest host Janet of This, That and The Other Thing for the challenge Lens-Artists Challenge #260 – Overlooked

June – At Home and another Road Trip

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We started the month of June at home. The above image was taken one afternoon just before one of the frequent thunderstorms.

June 1 marked the beginning of my summer water aerobics classes at a pool near our house. It was nice getting into the routine of working out in the pool with friends. At home, the birds and other critters in our yard kept us entertained.

Father’s Day and Birthday Road Trip

Our recent trip to Florida started on Father’s Day weekend. We stayed off the Interstates and headed south on back roads of Georgia and Florida. On our way south we stopped in Folkston, Georgia to visit the Okefenokee National Wildlife before continuing to Florida the next day. The Swamp Island Drive and walk on the Chessar Island Boardwalk were a great way to start our trip.

A Week in Lake Buena Vista, Florida

The next day we drove on back roads to our destination in Lake Buena vista near Orlando and Disney World. The weather was typical June Florida weather – pleasant mornings, hot the rest of the day, and daily thunderstorms. Our condo with a screened in porch was a fun place to relax and do nothing. There were several pools and restaurants to enjoy at the resort. Most days we stayed around the resort and the farthest we drove was about 16 miles to one of our destinations.

I celebrated my birthday a few days early with lunch at the Sanaa restaurant at Kadani Village at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge. The restaurant serves delicious food and overlooks a savanna with giraffes, zebras, impalas, wildebeest, East African Crowned Crane and other animals.

Our original plan for the week was to hang out at the resort, go out to eat a few times, and enjoy the pools. We’ve been to Disney World many times over the years but had never been to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. On the spur of the moment we decided to spend a day there.

The first thing we saw when we walked through the gates was the Tree of Life which features carvings of more than 300 animals.

We wandered around the park and went on two trails to view some of the animals. Gorillas, a Komodo Dragon, colorful birds, tigers (we saw them sleeping but I couldn’t get a picture), hippos, and water buffalo were a few of the animals we saw.

There wasn’t enough time to see everything but it was a fun day.

A Night on the St. John’s River

On our way home we spent a night next the the St. John’s River in Palatka. We enjoyed a great seafood lunch beside the river, walked along the river walk in front of our hotel, and I woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the river before we started north to our home in Georgia.

On our way home we stopped in Darien for some fresh Georgia seafood at Mud Cat Charlie’s at Two Way Fish camp on the Altamaha River.

Books

I loved “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingslayer. This Pulitzer Prize winning novel is a page turner that takes place in Appalachia in southwest Virginia. I also read two more of the Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny.

Shared with Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share and What’s Been on your calendar?

May Road Trips and Other Adventures

Posted in Celebration, Entertainment, Road Trip, Sporting EventsTagged , , , , , 20 Comments

This May our wandering took us to the countryside in Georgia, to a baseball game, on a road trip to Virginia, and around our own neighborhood.

Georgia road trip

Our first trip was to the Georgia countryside. On the way to our destination we discovered a new to us barbeque restaurant in Portal where we tried their pulled pork and fantastic spare ribs. We enjoyed our time in the country where the wildflowers were blooming and the trees were showing off their new green leaves. We fed carrots to my brothers donkeys, walked in the woods, and had a fun visit with our 12 year old granddaughter.

Celebrating Henry’s birthday at a Savannah Bananas game

The Savannah Bananas sell out every home game so when I had an opportunity to buy two tickets for a game on Henry’s birthday I jumped at the chance.

We saw the team owner Jesse Cole outside the stadium so of course we stopped to meet him. Henry shook his hand, he posed for a photo with us, and wished Henry a happy birthday. The Bananas play a different kind of baseball called Banana Ball. It has different rules than regular baseball and the night is filled with entertainment during and between the innings. We were laughing and entertained the entire night.

Wandering Dawgs meet owner Jesse Cole
The team mascot Split
Never a boring moment at a Bananas game
Historic Grayson Stadium

Around my Neighborhood

Flowers were blooming all around our neighborhood and in our own backyard. The header image is one of the gorgeous white blooms I captured one morning as I walked by the giant Magnolia tree in a neighbor’s yard.

In our backyard the Painted Buntings fed at my bird feeder almost every day. The resident lizard likes to hang out on the railing on our back deck.

Road Trip to Virginia

We traveled to Virginia to visit our daughter’s family for Memorial Day weekend. We spent the first night in a motel and had a nice visit with my cousin and his wife when we met them for lunch at a Cracker Barrel by the interstate before continuing on to our daughter’s house.

Being with our daughter and her family was the highlight of the trip. The weather was overcast, chilly and sometimes raining but we didn’t let the weather spoil our visit.

It was wonderful to see our Grandson who just finished his first year of college and our Granddaughter who just finished her junior year of high school. My daughter and I enjoyed a trip to the local farmer’s market where I picked up a frozen smoked trout to bring home and she brought home some beautiful fresh produce. Later that day we drove into the mountains, had lunch in the small town of Floyd, and took a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Chateau Morrisette Winery.

Books

Our Book Club book for May was “The Measure” by Nikki Erlich. It was a very interesting and thought provoking story.

I also enjoyed reading “No Plan B”, the latest Jack Reacher book by Lee Child and “Still Life” by Louise Penney.

Shared with Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share

April in the Rear View Mirror

Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, Road TripTagged , , 15 Comments

Here’s what happened in my world in April, 2023.

Month of the Military Child

I can’t let April go by without mentioning that April is the Month of the Military Child. Military children are also sometimes called Brats. I am proud to be a United States Air Force Brat.

Trip to the Country

After what seems like a long, cold winter we took a short road trip to the country in early April. We couldn’t go by the Georgia Football Barn Sign on Georgia Highway 15 in Tennile with stopping to snap a few photos. The trees were just beginning to display their green leaves. We spotted a few deer and wild turkeys but I wasn’t able to capture a photo.

Flowers

I was happy to see that these plants survived the freeze we had around Christmas.

Backyard Birds

Painted Buntings and other birds started appearing at my backyard bird feeder and in the surrounding salt marsh. The hummingbirds are also here but so far I haven’t been able to get a photo of them.

Books

Our Book Club book for April was “The Blessing of the Celtic Curse”, the first in the Saints of Savannah series. The author, Leigh Ebberwein was our guest at our April meeting. We all loved the book and enjoyed hearing her stories about writing the book.

I also enjoyed reading “Remarkable Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt, “My Sisters Grave” by Robert Dugoni and “Still Life” by Louise Penney.

Shared with Natalie’s Weekend Coffee Share