There are adventures that you choose, and there are adventures that are forced upon you. We have been in Texas for the last few days near Austin, in the town of Round Rock enjoying a long overdue visit with family. Today as we were hiking a rather friendly, though rocky trail with my brother Mike and his wife Kathy, Jeannie slipped on an algae-covered rock as we crossed a dry-ish creek bed. To make a long story short, she broke her wrist. When the x-ray technician says “You really did it good,” you know it’s not really good.

Jeannie and I were in Texas to visit family when she fell and broke her wrist. We originally were to have all gotten together south of Saint Augustine in the same condominium that my parents had rented every summer for several years. Several generations of immediate family and relatives would gather at the “Four Winds” condos for a week of sun, fun, food, beach, pool, and fellowship. I always referred to it as FooBeach.

We traveled to Sheboygan, Wisconsin to visit Jeannie’s side of the family. Though technically they are her relatives, I have always been treated as one of the family, and in spite of being a Southern foreigner I happily call them my family as well. Her mom and dad were both born in Sheboygan, and grew up there. Several generations have raised their families here, but Jeannie’s family was different. Gene, her dad, decided to join the Navy, and that took him and Marilyn, his new wife, away. Though they were stationed in several places across the US and as far…

Singing frogs rejoice in the joy of the day’s rain. Cool mountain evening. Night in the mountains, sitting in the evening air fireflies dance about. Then, the next day on the trails ... the Fungi!

Ah, North Carolina, especially the western mountains. Cool, moist and green. This third leg of our pre-European tour was to the Asheville area of North Carolina to spend time with friends from junior college days and their significant others, and some former neighbors. Of course, both of the guys are named Mark. The best thing about good friends is that regardless of the amount of time that has passed, you pick up where you left off. So it was with the friends on this trip.

We returned to Florida not because we were tired of living in Europe, but primarily because winter was approaching. The experience of cold weather from last winter in France and Italy was still somewhat fresh in our memories so off to sunny Florida we went. Our choice of transportation for the return was a trans-Atlantic cruise that took 13 days, eight of which were in the open ocean. Someone asked “If you had known ahead of time exactly what this cruise would be like, would you have chosen to travel this way?” The short answer would be “yes”, although I’m…

Life back in Florida has been pretty comfortable: walks on the beach, visits with friends, and falling easily back into some old routines. The weather that was warm when we first arrived has turned chilly, slowing us down a little. At least the mosquitoes have slowed down too.

This visit “home” is quickly coming to an end. Regretfully we haven’t been able to visit everyone we wanted to see, though we have been able to spend time with many friends. There have been so many distractions. Visits with Jeannie’s dad have been a priority. His health is declining yet he has generally been in good spirits; and while his strength has left him, his sense of humor is still strong. While we were in New Smyrna Beach, we traveled short distances up and down the coast. As related in an earlier post, we went north to Saint Augustine.…

So here we are, scrambling. It is less than two weeks, um, one week, um, a few days before we depart on the next leg of our adventures and we are ready. As we have expressed before, we always try to keep looking forward. Though we don’t like leaving our families, friends, and familiar surroundings, our sights are set on distant shores, and we are excited. This time we are beginning in Ireland, the Emerald Isle. We will arrive in Dublin 02 March 2016 and explore the city for several days before heading to Killarney where we will have an…

Our time in Canada had come to a close, and we boarded a plane for our return to the USA. We were heading to Sheboygan, Wisconsin for a visit with Jeannie’s side of the family.

Goals are good, so mine is to pack lighter for this trip. Yes, easy to say, not so easy to do.

Our 2018 adventures will begin March 29, and we’ll travel to three countries. We’ll start in Verona, Italy and then Croatia and Slovenia, where my (Jeannie's) dad’s side of the family came from.

When we returned to Florida last year we had enjoyed a beautiful spring in France and the Cotswolds of England with its delightfully cool summer before returning to familiar surroundings.

When we first began our Slow Nomad travels in 2014, we estimated that we would travel for a while. But, we hadn’t counted on a global pandemic.

Jeannie’s birthday was coming up and she wanted a change of view. So we found a place on Florida’s northeast coast about half-way between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach. It was a perfect place to enjoy nature and avoid any crowds … and celebrate a birthday.

Circle-B-Bar Reserve is a huge tract of protected land in Polk County, Florida. With many miles of well-maintained trails, a large, alligator-inhabited lake, an amazing amount of bird life, and massive live oak trees, and big, old cypress trees a great place to spend a few hours … or days.

Botanical gardens and parks, small and large, have always been major elements of our travels. They are usually uncrowded, quiet, and filled with beauty; perfect qualities for escaping concerns and worries. They are always changing, and thus they are dependably fascinating – they are filled with life.

Chattanooga has often been mentioned as a city to visit, and we were surprised how many people sang the praises of this historic Southern town. Well, the praises were all well-deserved.

We knew practically nothing about the Finger Lakes region of western New York and we knew even less about the town of Canandaigua, where we chose to hang out for three weeks. But it was a good choice!

Hammondsport, New York, situated at the southern end of Keuka Lake, is a charming, quiet town with a population of fewer than 1,000 residents. Who knew it was an epicenter of aviation.

As I understand, New York state has many waterfalls. However, when most people think of a waterfall in New York, they usually think of Niagara Falls, ... but the truth is there are so many waterfalls in the Finger Lakes region, we never made it to Niagara.

In 2023, we made three trips to visit several longtime friends. This post is from the first of those trips. Our Long-time cycling friends Steve and Debi invited us to try out their newly acquired condo in Keystone, Colorado. It’s mostly photographs, enjoy.

I grew up around salt marshes, and the smell alone evokes vivid memories, with a soundtrack from 1969. We made a long overdue visit to North-East Florida to the home of Rich and Patti whose home is situated along the Nassau River and its labyrinth of salt marshes.

After Harry, Mary, and their daughters Sierra and Liz moved to Lexington, Kentucky, we began promising to visit. Just after Halloween proved to be a good time to finally go.