founding fathers

Uncategorized Jul 23, 2024

At last, we came to Mt. Rushmore, a monument of such proportion that it doesn’t seem quite real, even as you stand before it.  On this crystalline June afternoon, we arrived in time to hear the house band tuning up for their patriotic program, presented nightly at 9 PM all summer until...

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bison or buffalo?

Uncategorized Jul 16, 2024

On day four of our cross-country trip, we were headed toward one of our main destinations, Mt. Rushmore.  But something that I love about traveling with my daughter is her aptitude for discovering interesting restaurants and unexpected attractions.  At this point of our journey, she...

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mormon crickets

Uncategorized Jul 10, 2024

On day two of our cross-country trip, we left Las Vegas and drove through the Virgin River gorge in a small corner of Arizona before heading into Utah.  Beyond the red rock formations there lay an unexpected attraction:  Mormon crickets.

We stopped in Meadow, Utah for a pitstop where...

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visiting vegas

Uncategorized Jul 02, 2024

June 10, early morning:  we had started driving cross-country, and our first night was spent in Las Vegas at a hotel the size of a small city.  New York is celebrated in song as the city that never sleeps.  But Vegas could just as easily be described that way.  Passing through...

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what fifty years of marriage looks like

Uncategorized Jun 25, 2024

Last week I began the story of how we found ourselves with a bonus vacation in Windsor at the end of a harrowing travel day.  And I mentioned The Long Walk, which is a straight paved path that stretches from the doors of Windsor Castle for over two and a half miles.  No bicycles or cars...

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bonus vacation

Uncategorized Jun 19, 2024

Our trip was almost over.  We rose early and had a taxi take us to Amsterdam’s airport, which rivals any airport I’ve ever seen for size and confusion.  It isn’t the Dutch language of the signage that is a problem…English is almost a first language for most of...

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van gogh paints a bridge

Uncategorized Jun 11, 2024

One of my “bucket list” items for our stay in Amsterdam was to visit the Anne Frank Museum, but I missed the window of opportunity to get my tickets.  Every Tuesday tickets go on sale for six weeks hence, and you can only buy them on line.  You mustn’t dally if you...

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watching for windmills

Uncategorized Jun 04, 2024

As the sun rose on our last full day aboard our cruise ship, I peeked out of the window to find that we had crossed into the Netherlands during the night.  Here the landscape was once again flat, but it didn’t feel like the river of the first few days.  The scenery along this...

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castles on the rhine

Uncategorized May 28, 2024

When I booked our Rhine River cruise, I think I expected scenic vistas of snow-topped mountains and Sleeping Beauty Castles.  What we got for the first few days was flat countryside resembling the American Midwest, and industrial ports-of-call surrounded by warehouses and factories. ...

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romantic strasbourg

Uncategorized May 22, 2024

When I was planning our wedding in 1974, I dreamed of carrying a bouquet of lilacs and lilies-of-the-valley.  However, I was assured that it would be too costly, and since our wedding was tiny, I opted for a corsage instead.

Strasbourg, France is a city full of romance.  On the Saturday...

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