These are blog posts by or about both of us.
Click on the photos to make them larger. [AFG_gallery id=’5′] We had Lincoln for the day. It is a joy to be able to see things from her perspective. She laughs all the time and makes us laugh. In fact, she has not cried at all the past couple of times we have babysat, other than for 15-30 seconds as her mom is leaving. We try to limit…
We are trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our lives. Frankly, we are all over the map as we discuss if and where we should move, where we should travel, what activities should we undertake, how much I should work, and other weighty questions in the year I turn 60 and Sue turns 70. There is a rather panicked sense that we need…
Salt Lake City – June 9, 2016 Our journey ended in Salt Lake City’s Temple Square with a Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal, including a full orchestra. When in town, they rehearse on Thursdays. It was a thrilling experience that punctuated how varied this bus tour was – even though one of our group expressed a desire for more “show tunes.” We left Jackson at 8 a.m. and wound…
Jackson, Wyoming – June 8, 2016 Then there were the Grand Tetons. Floating down the Snake River, which was still turbid and swollen with snow melt, we called out jokingly about “rapids” ahead. It was calm enough to eat our lunches on board. I don’t think we even got wet, and I regretted leaving my Nikon on the bus. The young, jagged peaks of the Grand Tetons were…
June 7, 2016 – Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone National Park Who would think four days (so far) on a bus would be so exhausting? Here we are in Yellowstone National Park, it is 8:49 p.m. and still light outside, and we really just want to go to bed. The last two days have been spent touring Yellowstone. We entered dramatically through Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance and…
Sunday, June 5, 2016 – Billings, Montana Probably no other scene of American history is more embedded in my psyche than Custer’s Last Stand. It’s a mythic story that has intrigued me since I read a children’s biography of George Armstrong Custer – no doubt a sanitized version of his life and what actually happened on June 25, 1876. Over the decades, my knowledge of the Battle of…
Saturday, June 4 – Rapid City, South Dakota Today was a day trip out of Rapid City to visit the Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills. It was our first trip together as a group of 48, and I detected a lot of New York accents as we passed ponderosa pines and quaking aspen trees. Was my stereotype coming true? The Crazy Horse Monument…
Friday, June 3 – Rapid City, South Dakota One of the reasons we decided to launch this blog was to chronicle our “adventures” in the year that I turn 60 and Sue turns 70. We are now at the beginning of one of those adventures, having made it to Rapid City, South Dakota, for our first ever bus tour. It is a Caravan Tours expedition to Mount Rushmore,…
If God were trying to tell me something, would I know? If God were reassuring me or challenging me, would I notice? I ask for the grace to be free of my own preoccupations and be open to what God is saying to me. – From the Sacred Space meditations We are into the second week of Lent, and I am fasting from Facebook and commenting on social media. Every…
When we first thought about retirement, I envisioned living on a golf course in South Carolina. We took golf vacations to Myrtle Beach, Kiawah Island and Jekyll Island. We actually watched golf on TV. We probably visited North and South Carolina 10 times. That’s where we saw ourselves. A few things happened since then. Sue was never really into golf. I intentionally gave up golf, even though I enjoy…
In our quest to eat as local as possible, even in the wintertime, I have discovered Mule Run Farms, on Bowman Road north of Milford. They are very friendly and sell locally grown beef, pork, turkey and chicken – and goat. In fact, you have to walk past the goats to get into the retail store. I did not let that deter me from buying some goat meat and putting…