travel
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Arizona Cactus: Morning Walks
I cannot help myself: each time I have visited Arizona (now 3 times in 5 years I think), I have to take pictures of cacti! I am not sure what it is about them that I find so cool and interesting. Maybe it is just the newness, the originality: when you live where there are only hardwoods and pine trees, a cactus is exotic! I enjoy my morning walks at home, but morning walks in Arizona are even more fun. Apart from all of the cool cacti, yard decorations are unique and then my favorite, bunnies and quails abound! We even saw some coyotes on our last walk! This year…
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Heard Museum: American Indian Art
The two highlights of this summer have been my family trip to New York and my solo trip to Arizona to visit Jodie and her husband. I have know Jodie for years through her blog, we met once at the airport before my visit last year, and this was my second visit to her home. Jodie and her husband are great hosts, and we had a great time visiting, eating and exploring the area! My flight arrived in Phoenix around 9 am and we headed to the Heard Museum from the airport! We first took a set of blog pictures (coming on the blog soon!) before waiting for a museum…
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A Day in NYC with Kids
I typically have our vacations pretty well planned out, but for this vacation, I had a list of possibilities and chose and adapted our schedule with visiting with my father in law and wake up time of the rest of the family. So while I really wanted to leave for NYC earlier, we didn’t get to the train station till 10 AM which put us in the city around 12:30 since we took the train from Port Jefferson and took a subway from Penn Station to Central Park. In the past, I had a great fold out map of the city and I really wished I had it this time:…
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Port Jefferson, Long Island, NY
My father in law has lived on Long Island as a monk in an Orthodox Monastery for probably the last 18 years or so. We used to visit frequently when our oldest was younger, but actually had not gone back to NY in the past 13 years. This year was the year and I am already thinking a short trip at Christmas might be nice! We visited with him, but also visited Long Island showing the boys some of the places we had visited in the past and discovering new spots. We’ve visited Port Jefferson before, but we had never taken the ferry there. It goes to Connecticut and back…
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Port Jefferson: Long Island Museum
Even though we have visited Long Island a few times, we actually have never visited the LI Museum. As it turned out, they were between exhibits in the main museum areas and doing some renovating, so only the Carriage museum was open to the public. Because the whole museum was not available, the entrance fee was waived. The carriage museum shares the history of transportation before the automobile. The carriages are house in a large building which has 3 floors. Most if not all are real carriages and vehicles that were donated to the museums. They are not replicas. I found that to be really neat as often items, larger…
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A Day In Montauk, NY
Our first full day outing took us to Montauk, a small town at East end of Long Island. It is know for fishing and its state parks as well as this 1796 lighthouse which houses a museum that includes documents signed by George Washington who commissioned the light house in 1792. Since it was foggy, you could not see far, but I loved how everything was shrouded in the fog. It was very windy at the top of the lighthouse which is a short 137 steps. The lighthouse was the first in NY and is the 4th oldest working lighthouse in the country. The light flashes every 5 seconds and…
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Beauty in Spring
While I do not like pollen and how it takes over our lives for a few weeks mid to late March here in Georgia, I do love the beauty that springs brings as well as the days with mild temperatures and blue skies. I took some time last month to take pictures of the beauty around us because the blooms do not last long. I learned something new this year, there are 2 types of wisteria. One is native to Georgia and one is an invasive species. I am not sure which this one is, but I was so glad to be able to take a picture of some blooms…
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A trip downtown Nashville, TN
Planning a trip with family is a little different than planning a trip I would like to take with girlfriends. With that in mind, my visit to Nashville included things that I would everyone would like, including the hubby and children. I probably would have liked to visit the trendy murals, shops and restaurants, but settled for visiting places that the kids would be interested in. The Parthenon I thought this would interest the boys as it is a large structure, they know a little bit about Greek history from school and the building and sculpture are quite impressive. Quick Stop by Opryland I really would have liked to go…
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A Visit to Franklin, TN
We stayed in a hotel in Cool Spring, TN for spring break which is just 10-15 minutes from Franklin, TN. What a cute little town! The area around Franklin is lush and green with beautiful pastures and fences and rolling hills. The town itself boasts a nice square and boutiques and several restaurants. We first found a place for coffee which led us to the Factory. The Factory used to be a furniture factory, but now houses trendy shops and restaurants. We stopped for coffee, but returned for lunch. The sculpture outside was really neat, so I had to share it here. We passed by that evening after dinner and…
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Nashville Zoo
A couple of weeks ago, we took a little mini spring break trip to the Nashville area. It is only a 3 hour drive and the boys had never been. One of the things I knew we wanted to visit was the Nashville zoo. We first stopped for lunch at an all vegan restaurant called the Sunflower Cafe which was 12 minutes from the zoo. I enjoyed my selection (a “chicken Caesar” wrap) and took some pictures of my bright outfit in front (I will be sharing my outfit in a post on Friday). Of course, spring break was a cooler week than usual with our first day just around…