Thanks to our new-found friends Larry and Catherine Duchesne from Alberta, Canada, we planned a trip with them to Wakulla Springs State Park to see the Lodge and take a boat tour on the Wakulla River. The Springs are one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs in the world and provide an area for …
Our stay at Gulf Island National Seashore was limited to 14 days by National Park rules so we traveled East, exploring the Florida Panhandle. Beachfront parks are in short supply at this time of year so we stayed at Rocky Bayou State Park for a few days, next to a State Aquatic Preserve and appreciated the …
Florida’s ‘Emerald Coast’, so named because of the greenish sea color near to its white sandy beaches, is the South shore of Florida’s ‘Panhandle’. We picked the area for a lazy few weeks of warmer weather and sunshine while we waited for the weather further North to entice us homewards. It delivered as promised, …
The origins of this nickname for New Orleans are many and varied. We settled for it as being descriptive of the laid-back lifestyle in contrast to New York, “The Big Apple”. Founded by the French in 1718, handed to the Spanish in 1763, back to the French briefly in 1803 before becoming part of …
We were looking forward to spending time in South-West Louisiana for a number of reasons. Firstly, we have a liking for Cajun music and were interested in listening to and finding out more about Zydeco. Secondly, we both enjoyed reading the Detective Dave Robicheaux series of books about New Iberia by James Lee Burke. …
We headed north toward Dallas, Texas to visit my niece Sami and her husband John in the small town of Grapevine. Sami and John were married this past March in a private ceremony conducted by Sami’s cousin, Rabbi K’vod Wieder. The newlyweds recently moved from La Jolla, CA because of a job opportunity for Sami. We were …
When people speak about Texas Big Country, it’s not an understatement. The filling station (below) and attached store blew our minds. It was just so Big! We couldn’t imagine how these stalls would be filled up, but they were. About Lindon Baines Johnson (LBJ) Since the 60s, I wanted to see and understand the …
Having explored the rest of Big Bend area, we allocated a week to Big Bend National Park. It was well worth it. We stayed in two campgrounds, Chisos Basin and, when the temperatures dropped below freezing, breaking records for the Park, we moved to a lower altitude at the Rio Grande Village campground. The Rio Grande …
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah . . . We traveled to Big Bend, Texas a week before Christmas and Chanukah. However, because we are publishing this post on the 25th, we want to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday! Lots of hugs from us both. Alpine, Fort Davis and Terlingua Our ultimate destination was Big Bend National Park but some Texans …
Dog Canyon We found Oliver Lee Memorial State Park as our home base for exploring the White Sands area. The park was tucked into the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains, East of the White Sands National Monument and at the entrance to ‘Dog Canyon’, an area first settled in 1885 by a Frenchmen F. …
The Bosque del Apache Wildlife Refuge, South of Albuquerque NM, is run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . It is an amazing place! It serves as a stopping off or wintering point for migrating birds traveling South in the Fall or North in the Spring. It’s located just South of a funky …
We both had visited Santa Fe several years ago and enjoyed the town very much so we picked it as our resting spot over the Thanksgiving weekend. This year Colin’s 72nd birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day and so what better celebration than dining at Santa Fe’s best (Asian) Indian Restaurant ‘Raaga’. The food, service, …
New Mexico’s largest city offered us some interesting places to visit. We stayed in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains off the ‘Turquoise Trail’ route to Santa Fe within easy reach of Albuquerque. National Museum of Nuclear Science and History This was a ‘must’ for us as we both have backgrounds in Nuclear Medicine …