road stories
Dear world,
I have been on a whirlwind of travel these two weeks! I think that you should start addressing me as journeyto, Jr. Hah!
First of all, I drove up I-75 with Mom to go visit relatives in Michigan. We stopped in Atlanta to have lunch with Lori (luluraine) and kids, which was lovely.
Then we continued to the new Creation Museum near Cincinnati and spent several hours investigating there. You can see pictures of the place, along with my comments, here on Facebook.
In Michigan, Mom and I stayed with two aunts and a cousin at one of the aunt's house on a lake. It was some neat relaxing girl time, but you also know how girls can get on each other's nerves sometimes. We had to get out from time to time. One day, my aunt, cousin, Mom, and I went into the nearby small town and checked out the health food offerings.
We also went to a couple of quilt stores, which my aunt and mom are fond of. Cousin Katrina and I were fond of sitting around, talking to each other, and taking pictures of different fabrics next to each other.
One of my favorite activities back at the house was walking around the lake. It's 3-4 miles, and all of it lovely. Beautiful houses, beautiful trees, beautiful lake, and beautiful Michigan cool air!
Here's a shot taken from the far end of the lake. One of the houses way down at the end there is my aunt's.
Something I enjoyed for the first time was birdwatching. I believe these are purple martins in the picture. There was a good telescope at the house, and we found that it was possible to put a camera up to the eyepiece and take decent pictures. Quite fun!
This picture is of my cousin Katrina playing with one of her friend's parrots. His name is Elliot, and he's doing the "Superman" trick. Oh boy, that bird sure thought he was special! Talking and singing and doing "Superman" right and left!
And lastly, here's a shot from the Atlanta airport. I flew home alone, in order to be at work for an event on Saturday night -- hah, I ended up not being able to make it anyway! God has a plan. Anyway, in Atlanta, I went down to the tunnels and walked for a good amount of time. Ended up doing 2-1/2 miles and 12 flights of stairs. It was so nice to stretch between flights.
Oh! Also at the Atlanta airport, I saw Hugh Laurie, you know, from House! Yes!
Once I arrived in Orlando, I went straight to the agreed-upon meeting place where my Dad was to pick me up. After an hour of waiting, I realized that he wasn't coming and so I took my very first taxi ride since I was six years old. As we were driving, though, I noticed what looked like my dad's Ranger two cars ahead of us! I asked the taxi driver to try to catch up, and sure enough, it was Dad. We honked and waved until he pulled over, and then Dad drove me the rest of the way home. Weird!
If you want to see more pictures and comments from the Michigan trip, once again, they're over on Facebook.
Then on Wednesday afternoon, I drove down to the Naples Beach Resort & Golf Club to spend a little time with my Mom and Dad, who were there for a convention. I took all sorts of back roads to get there, going through so many small towns that I barely knew existed -- yet I know that they were booming at one time, back in the day when Orlando was barely even a stagecoach stop!
We walked on the beach that night. Miles and miles, actually, Mom and I measured the distance by driving it on Thursday morning! My knees and ankles are killing me!
On Thursday, Mom and I drove around and gawked at the incredible architecture of Gulfshore Boulevard. Some fancy houses there! Also, we went to two art museums and visited the historic fishing pier. Michael called to say he loves me, and that was wierd, very wierd.
I decided to drive home via Alligator Alley through the Everglades -- one of those things I wanted to do just because it was there! Lots of nature, lots of imagination going. Beautiful drive. Long drive. It was 120 miles of the "Sea of Grass" until I hit civilization, and gas at $3.15 a gallon. Thank God I filled up before that drive!
Oh, I passed a sugar refinery out there. It stunk so badly! Like a compost pile, almost. Eww.
When I hit South Bay, on Lake Okechobee, that's when the driving stopped being interesting and I zoned out. Too bad that there were still three hours of driving left. Well, I'm home safe. Thank God.
On both the trips, Gerry was there in my inbox to encourage me. I hope he enjoyed the traveling as well as I did. I wonder what's next. The Caribbean, maybe? There's a possible opportunity to go there for work. I will pray towards that happening. I love trips!
I have been on a whirlwind of travel these two weeks! I think that you should start addressing me as journeyto, Jr. Hah!
First of all, I drove up I-75 with Mom to go visit relatives in Michigan. We stopped in Atlanta to have lunch with Lori (luluraine) and kids, which was lovely.
Then we continued to the new Creation Museum near Cincinnati and spent several hours investigating there. You can see pictures of the place, along with my comments, here on Facebook.
In Michigan, Mom and I stayed with two aunts and a cousin at one of the aunt's house on a lake. It was some neat relaxing girl time, but you also know how girls can get on each other's nerves sometimes. We had to get out from time to time. One day, my aunt, cousin, Mom, and I went into the nearby small town and checked out the health food offerings.
We also went to a couple of quilt stores, which my aunt and mom are fond of. Cousin Katrina and I were fond of sitting around, talking to each other, and taking pictures of different fabrics next to each other.
One of my favorite activities back at the house was walking around the lake. It's 3-4 miles, and all of it lovely. Beautiful houses, beautiful trees, beautiful lake, and beautiful Michigan cool air!
Here's a shot taken from the far end of the lake. One of the houses way down at the end there is my aunt's.
Something I enjoyed for the first time was birdwatching. I believe these are purple martins in the picture. There was a good telescope at the house, and we found that it was possible to put a camera up to the eyepiece and take decent pictures. Quite fun!
This picture is of my cousin Katrina playing with one of her friend's parrots. His name is Elliot, and he's doing the "Superman" trick. Oh boy, that bird sure thought he was special! Talking and singing and doing "Superman" right and left!
And lastly, here's a shot from the Atlanta airport. I flew home alone, in order to be at work for an event on Saturday night -- hah, I ended up not being able to make it anyway! God has a plan. Anyway, in Atlanta, I went down to the tunnels and walked for a good amount of time. Ended up doing 2-1/2 miles and 12 flights of stairs. It was so nice to stretch between flights.
Oh! Also at the Atlanta airport, I saw Hugh Laurie, you know, from House! Yes!
Once I arrived in Orlando, I went straight to the agreed-upon meeting place where my Dad was to pick me up. After an hour of waiting, I realized that he wasn't coming and so I took my very first taxi ride since I was six years old. As we were driving, though, I noticed what looked like my dad's Ranger two cars ahead of us! I asked the taxi driver to try to catch up, and sure enough, it was Dad. We honked and waved until he pulled over, and then Dad drove me the rest of the way home. Weird!
If you want to see more pictures and comments from the Michigan trip, once again, they're over on Facebook.
Then on Wednesday afternoon, I drove down to the Naples Beach Resort & Golf Club to spend a little time with my Mom and Dad, who were there for a convention. I took all sorts of back roads to get there, going through so many small towns that I barely knew existed -- yet I know that they were booming at one time, back in the day when Orlando was barely even a stagecoach stop!
We walked on the beach that night. Miles and miles, actually, Mom and I measured the distance by driving it on Thursday morning! My knees and ankles are killing me!
On Thursday, Mom and I drove around and gawked at the incredible architecture of Gulfshore Boulevard. Some fancy houses there! Also, we went to two art museums and visited the historic fishing pier. Michael called to say he loves me, and that was wierd, very wierd.
I decided to drive home via Alligator Alley through the Everglades -- one of those things I wanted to do just because it was there! Lots of nature, lots of imagination going. Beautiful drive. Long drive. It was 120 miles of the "Sea of Grass" until I hit civilization, and gas at $3.15 a gallon. Thank God I filled up before that drive!
Oh, I passed a sugar refinery out there. It stunk so badly! Like a compost pile, almost. Eww.
When I hit South Bay, on Lake Okechobee, that's when the driving stopped being interesting and I zoned out. Too bad that there were still three hours of driving left. Well, I'm home safe. Thank God.
On both the trips, Gerry was there in my inbox to encourage me. I hope he enjoyed the traveling as well as I did. I wonder what's next. The Caribbean, maybe? There's a possible opportunity to go there for work. I will pray towards that happening. I love trips!