Star Trek or Star Wars? Does it matter? A good space story always captures the imagination. And now, with private companies entering the space race, getting further into space seems even more possible. As with most of the world, I've long had an interest in NASA since watching the moon landing, and hearing Neil Armstrong's famous words. I was a teenager on my first visit to Cape Canaveral and took my own children back to the Kennedy Space Center years later. This year I visited Space Continue reading
13 February 2018 
The Business of Death
February 13, 2018 By Leave a Comment
"'Tis impossible to be sure of any thing but Death and Taxes," The Cobbler of Preston by Christopher Bullock (1716) The first funeral I attended without my family was for a schoolmate during high school. As I walked into the viewing room, I heard the wailing. His mother was hugging every person individually and each recipient would hold her upright as she was crushed by waves of grief. Along with her wailing, she would shake her head and mutter statements of disbelief and sadness. I'd never Continue reading
31 December 2017 
Ghosts of the Past
December 31, 2017 By Leave a Comment
While standing in your present, you can't possibly know who will impact you in the future or whether you will have an effect on those who have just come into your life. Only when you look backwards can you see the strands that tie you together. In 1992, my husband and I built a house an hour and a half north of Toronto in Wasaga Beach. Work was scarce in that area, so I took a job for a few months as a service advisor at the local Toyota dealership in Barrie, Ontario. I became friends with Continue reading
21 October 2017 
The Places in Between
October 21, 2017 By Leave a Comment
When I started my full-time journey, I wanted to experience every square mile of this continent. I wanted to travel a bit, stay a month, travel up the road a few hundred miles and stay a month more. My plan hasn't quite worked for a variety of reasons, but I have traversed amazing locations and seen bucket-list beauty. The high profile destinations either made me gasp with joy or stand quiet in wonder, but there were many places in between that had the same effect. Places of wonderment that Continue reading
20 October 2017 
Alabama Gulf State Park
October 20, 2017 By Leave a Comment
The problem with following your heart is lack of planning. Planning is important when you're 50 feet long from stem to stern and can't turn around just anywhere. I was also getting very low on gas and had no idea how far it was into the Gulf State Park. The road seemed to go on forever, Left Turn. Right turn. Left Turn. Right Turn. Left Turn.... There's the Gulf of Mexico! As soon as I pulled up to the office, I knew this wasn't any ordinary State Park. Along with the usual camp Continue reading
21 September 2017 
Outta My Head
September 21, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Sweet Home Alabama, Where the skies are so blue… I had no plans to stop in Alabama, I wanted to get to Texas and thought I’d do a quick stopover the first night in a Walmart parking lot somewhere and then maybe check out a campground for a week near Mississippi’s Lake Pontchartrain. New Orleans is one of my favorite cities to visit, but on this trip I would bypass it, even though the lake is nearby. As I was driving the nearly empty weekend freeways, I saw a sign for the Alabama Gulf Continue reading
29 June 2017 
Resolving to Have FUN!
June 29, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Sue came to visit me a couple of days after my boys went back to Michigan. We planned to spend the rest of the holidays on the beach and celebrate the incoming New Year together. For those of you who don't know Sue, she gifted Caesar to us, and I learned how smart and manipulative standard poodles can be! I wish he was still around to travel with me. Unfortunately, the weather stopped cooperating that week and the temperatures were not conducive to sunscreen and swimwear, but we found other Continue reading
27 June 2017 
The Beach at Panama City Beach
June 27, 2017 By Leave a Comment
When I first arrived in Panama City Beach I knew I would have lots of time on my hands to walk the beach, write, and relax…. after my daily allotment of work. In my mind, I'd already put myself on the beach with my computer working from my sandy, sunny office location. Think about that… sand and sun… known by their more realistic names: grit and glare. It was a nice dream. I worked on the beach all of twice, and instead took my breaks there. I'd walk from my campsite across the road and Continue reading
25 June 2017 
The Front Porch
June 25, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Occasionally, I'd take myself out for dinner, usually after a long workday. One place I returned to several times, was recommended by a local. The food was good, and on nights they had live music, that was good too. I wasn't uncomfortable dining or having a drink solo, because the staff actually talked to me when I pulled up a barstool. I took my kids for burgers while they were in town and when Sue came to visit we spent New Year's Eve there. She got to watch her football game which Continue reading
29 May 2017 
I’m Dreaming of an Expectation Free Christmas
May 29, 2017 By 2 Comments
When you grow up in an area with four seasons, as I did, there are things you expect to do at certain times of the year. When I was a child, summers meant a couple of weeks camping in Northern Ontario among the lush forests and Canadian Shield rocks and lakes. All our Halloween costumes were loose in case it was cold the night we went Trick or Treating, and the Easter bunny always brought us chocolate, which we promptly ate for breakfast. My brothers and I expected these things. It was a Continue reading
1 May 2017 
Raccoon River Campground in Panama City Beach
May 1, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Sometimes the best laid plans get thrown out the window, and such was the case with an expected visit by Shawna and Alf to Richmond, VA. I was looking forward to seeing them for a quick one night stopover while they were enroute to a camping vacation on the Eastern Seaboard in North Carolina. They had their sights set on sandy beaches and nothing else mattered. Until Matthew. Hurricane Matthew roared up the Florida coast, dropped record rainfall, flooding North Carolina, causing road closures Continue reading
14 April 2017 
Crazy
April 14, 2017 By 28 Comments
I hadn’t decided if I’d lost my mind. I needed time to determine that and so far, there hadn’t been any. I left Richmond, Virginia, on Thanksgiving and was officially addressless. And single. At 51. Now I was driving south to the Florida Panhandle with visions of sitting on the beach trying to establish my current state of mind. I made two stops on the way down to visit relocated friends from a time that seemed forever ago when I think back to being married, while simultaneously feeling Continue reading
10 December 2016 
Fresh Squeezed Love
December 10, 2016 By Leave a Comment
During my drive south, I passed a family on the side of the road. Their car was pulled over, doors wide open to a fallowed field where it's previous inhabitants were dancing, jumping, and waving their arms. Dad was looking on with a face that radiated happiness at the pure joy he was seeing through his children. At first I thought they must be city dwellers experiencing their first visit to the country... touching the land from which their food is grown. Then I realized, we had just passed Continue reading
6 May 2016 
Traveling Leaves You Speechless…
May 6, 2016 By Leave a Comment
...Then turns you into a storyteller. Continue reading
17 October 2015 
60 Interesting Facts About Michigan
October 17, 2015 By Leave a Comment
This came to me via email from my wonderful Commerce neighbor, Karen. I had saved it as a draft but never published it. Since I'm heading to Michigan to see my boys today, I thought it was an appropriate piece to share. Detroit is known as the car capital of the world. Alpena is the home of the world's largest cement plant. Rogers City boasts the world's largest limestone quarry. Elsie is the home of the world's largest registered Holstein dairy herd. Michigan Continue reading
14 October 2015 
Kayaking in Alligator River National Refuge
October 14, 2015 By Leave a Comment
I love kayaking, gliding along in the water so close to the surface, without the noise of engines is so peaceful. I especially love how that allows me to come face-to-face with wildlife. Today, that wildlife could be alligators! When Coastal Kayak called early Thursday morning to confirm a tour to Alligator River that afternoon, I was ecstatic! They wouldn't take people for kayak tours amongst alligators if some of their tourists were eaten.... right? We met DJ, our guide in Kill Devil Continue reading
13 October 2015 
Pea Island
October 13, 2015 By Leave a Comment
A short drive over a long bridge took us to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge known for its abundance of waterfowl. We took a short hike over to the beach area. The land had obviously been under water during the storm as the sand was still very wet and, in places, quicksand-like. I'm glad I still have my flip flop and that James was there to pull me out! There were an abundance of shells.... more than I've ever seen on a beach in one place. It seemed to be a favorite fishing Continue reading
12 October 2015 
Bodie Island Light Station
October 12, 2015 By Leave a Comment
The Outer Banks were notorious for shipwrecks and pirates. Turned out it was a great place to hide for those who knew how to travel the waters. Several lighthouses were erected to help direct captains through or past the challenging shoals of the area. At the northern-most end of the Cape Hatteras Seashore is Bodie Island Lighthouse, well recognized with its black and white design. We paid our $8 fee for the privilege of being able to climb the 200 stairs to the top. Tours are well Continue reading
11 October 2015 
Swirling in Sea Foam
October 11, 2015 By Leave a Comment
What many guests will appreciate about staying at the Sea Foam Motel is the convenience of being able to walk to so many services! Restaurants, Tanger Outlet Mall, souvenirs, convenience store, recreational activities and Jennette's Pier which was a fabulous backdrop for our pictures. We hiked along the beach well past the pier, cameras in hand. I was particularly enamored with the sea foam! The motel name seemed even more fitting. I'd seen foamy water before but this foam was more Continue reading
10 October 2015 
OBX Escape
October 10, 2015 By Leave a Comment
What I love about living in Richmond Virginia is that in a short few hours you can entirely change your view. A couple of nights away from normalcy is often the best prescription for what ails you and a beach view is equivalent to vitamins by intravenous. We were specifically looking for something affordable that overlooked the beach. Something that rivaled everything we love about the Sea Vista Motel at Topsail Beach. But closer. Easier to escape for a couple of days when we needed it. We Continue reading
