Category: Road Trip

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

Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 215 – Planes, Trains and Automobiles – and the places they take us.

Posted in Alaska, Road Trip, RVing, TravelTagged , , , , , , 27 Comments

The journey not the arrival matters

T. S. Eliot

John from Journeys with JohnBo has challenged us to focus on our journeys and the modes of transportation that got us there.

I am grateful for all the many places that planes, trains, automobiles, trucks, ships, boats, ferries, and buses have taken me. I have been fortunate to see most of the United States, several Canadian provinces, parts of Mexico, several European countries and several Caribbean countries.

For this challenge, I am focusing on our two journeys to Alaska. Our first visit to Alaska was in 2013 when we traveled from Georgia to Alaska and back towing our fifth wheel. Henry drove the truck 14,454 miles during our 106 days on the road.

We just returned from our long awaited second trip to Alaska. This time we flew to Anchorage and rode a bus to Seward to board the cruise ship Viking Orion for a 10 day cruise to Vancouver. We traveled in luxury and saw several new places we couldn’t visit by road.

Below you can see the two major modes of transportation from our two different Alaska journeys. Both journeys were spectacular with amazing landscapes and lots of wildlife.

While our truck was our main mode of transportation on our first Alaska adventure, we had to take a couple of ferries to get where we wanted to go.

We took the truck and RV on the Alaska Ferry from Skagway to Haines
This small ferry took us from Dawson City, Yukon, across the Yukon River to the Top of the World Highway

There were places our truck couldn’t take us so we took a plane ride and landed on a glacier, took a ride on the Alaska Railroad, and took three amazing wildlife cruises.

This year, after two cancellations, we finally were able to take our Alaska cruise the end of August. Our journey involved planes, moving sidewalks in the airports, a beautiful ship, an Uber, sightseeing buses, a tender ride, two wildlife cruises, and lots of walking. It was wonderful seeing Alaska from the water. We really enjoyed returning to places we loved the first time as well as seeing places that were new to us.

Stay tuned for more from our latest Alaska adventure!

Many thanks to John of Journeys with Johnbo for his Lens-Artists Challenge #215 – Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #180 – Favorite Images of 2021

Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Photography, Road Trip, SunsetTagged , , , , , 31 Comments

I am grateful that in 2021 we were able to take a few road trips and get together with friends and family more than we could in 2020. The header photo is my favorite because we had such a fun day celebrating my birthday at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom.

January and February found me experimenting with closeups in my back yard, taking early morning walks on the beach, and enjoying the camellias in my garden.

In March we enjoyed a short road trip to Florida and a visit to Flannary O’Connor’s home Andalusia in Milledgeville, Georgia. A Brown Pelican in Cedar Key and a Peacock at Andalusia were my favorite images from those trips.

Spring flowers were spectacular in April.

May was a special month with a Mother’s Day weekend trip to visit our daughter’s family for the first time in over a year. I enjoyed her backyard garden and the wildflowers on a Mother’s Day walk beside a peaceful pond.

In June we made another road trip to Orlando to celebrate my birthday. A birthday lunch with a view of animals at Walt Disney Worlds Animal Kingdom Lodge was the highlight of the week.

In July and August the flowers in the garden attracted butterflies and bees and a Roseate Spoonbill made several appearances in the creek.

The rest of the year was filled with sunflowers, ospreys, beautiful mornings and spectacular sunsets.

There were also a few non photo worthy events in 2021. Among other things we survived a major remodel of a 1980’s bathroom, enjoyed a visit from my brother and his wife, celebrated a family Thanksgiving at home, cheered on one of our granddaughters at several sporting events, and enjoyed spending time with friends again.

Many thanks to Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine and Amy for another year of Lens-Artists Challenges. In 2022 we welcome three new hosts Sofia, Anne and John. I’m looking to forward to finding out what challenges they come up with this year.

Wishing you health, happiness, and much joy in 2022!

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #158 – Along Back Country Roads

Posted in Photography, Road Trip, TravelTagged , , , , , , , , , 158 Comments

I am honored to be guest hosting this week’s Lens-Artists photo challenge. As I pondered what topic to choose for the challenge I thought about how many of us are happy to be able to travel again. For this challenge I am asking you to show us your images that show your interpretation of going along a back country road. It can be a road where you walk, go for a bike ride, take a scenic drive, go off-roading in a jeep or four wheeler, or a road you take to get somewhere.

To me, a back country road can be any road that’s off the beaten track. The road can be paved, gravel or dirt. It can be one that takes you through farmland, desert, forests, quaint small towns, or in the middle of nowhere. It may even be one with quirky roadside attractions or funny signs you see along the way.

When we go on a road trip we enjoy getting off the main highways for a more scenic drive. Recently, we have even started avoiding interstate highways altogether. The header photo at the top of the page was taken on the Dalton Highway north of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Have you ever driven by a dirt road and wondered where it went? That’s just what we did one time when taking a scenic drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. We couldn’t resist turning on the road in the first image below. I don’t remember where we ended up but the beautiful stream shown in the second image ran beside the road.

Sometimes the only way to get where we want to go is on a dirt or gravel road. These next three images are examples of some we have taken in our adventures.

The Great River Road in Arkansas follows the Mississippi River
Top of the World Highway in Yukon Territory, Canada
A steep dirt and gravel road to Cataloochee Valley in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in North Carolina

On a recent trip to Orlando, we traveled over 1,000 miles without driving on an interstate or major highway. It was heaven not dealing with semis or drivers passing us like it was the Daytona 500.

The roads were paved, two lane roads with little traffic. There were some fun things to see as we drove along.

Bison farm near Darien, Georgia
Woodbine Fire Museum and Antique Shop on Highway 17 in Woodbine, Georgia
Businesses just outside the Ocala National Forest, Florida
I wondered where this road went in the Ocala National Forest
Lunch was delicious at this popular local restaurant in Salt Springs, Florida

I’m honored to be one of the guest hosts for the month of July while Tina, Ann-Christine, Patti and Amy took the month off.

In your post, please include a link to my original post and use the Lens-Artists tag so everyone can find your post in the WordPress reader. Be sure to check out the first three guest hosted challenges.

John Steiner of Journeys with JohnBo – On the Water

Anne Sandler of Slow Shutter Speed – Black and White

Bert and Rusha Sams of Oh the Places we see – Getting Away

Next week on July 31, please visit Ana Campo of Anvica’s Gallery for her challenge – “Postcards.”

I’m looking forward to seeing where your back country roads have taken you!