Category: travel

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4th Friday Retirement Adventures – August

Retirement officially began four weeks ago, and there are both upsides (travel in the RV) and downsides (having to replace a wheel – not a tire – on the RV) to this new chapter. At the beginning of my first week off, I used a green spiral notebook like the one in the image above to make a list of all the things I wanted to do — something enjoyable each week, blending in some new hobbies and routines as well.

Here are some things I’ve enjoyed in my first official four weeks of retirement, as teachers and students have returned to school (#1-7 I blogged about two weeks ago):

1. Mahjong 101

2. Rag Quilting

3. Morning Walking

4. Yoga

5. Friends of the Library Book Fair –

6. Local Bookstore Book Club

7. Summer Reading Poetry Book Club

The past couple of weeks have included two getaways in the Wayfarer along with a few other new endeavors. Everyone kept asking what I would do in retirement, and I’m so eager to share the ways I’m enjoying it! I have 100 things on my list…..so I continue sharing the list:

8. Postcard Poetry Fest – I signed up to send at least 31 postcards out to those who joined the Postcard Poetry Fest 2026. I have written over 31 original poems and have mailed them to my assigned recipients. It has been exciting receiving postcards from all around the world – many with original works of art on them by the artists. I’ll share the postcards I mailed and many of the ones I received in the coming months.

9. Wayfaring to FDR for camping….and…..10. Wayfaring to Margaritaville for a concert – We went to our favorite nearby state campground for a weekend on a remote campsite and enjoyed the fun and frustration of an unplanned hike. The following weekend, we took the Wayfarer to Lake Lanier to camp at Margaritaville RV Resort and saw the Eagles tribute band The Long Run. We rented a golf cart to get to the venue, and we learned the next morning that Boo Radley is not a candidate for riding in the golf cart because he cannot mind his own damn business and loses his mind and acts a fool.

11. Mahjong 102 and Free Play – I added a new segment of learning Mahjongg by attending the second course of lessons and engaged in an evening of open play at the McDonough Truett’s Restaurant with my friend Christian. We are riding around places meeting new friends and sharing the joys of “going Mahjongg.” I won my first game last Friday, and Christian swept all three games the night we drove over to McDonough.

12. Zinnia Arrangement – my sister-in-law who grows zinnias has brought me several batches, and I love arranging and rearranging them in my mother’s pitchers. I received an extra-special arrangement when I checked the mail last week. My friend Glenda Funk from Idaho created a watercolor painting of zinnias when I wrote a poem about them, and she framed the print with my poem as a retirement gift, along with a gorgeous boho blanket from Natural Life, a really cool pen and toothbrush holder, and a bracelet from Thailand – and the most heartfelt card ever! I shed tears of joy opening it, thinking of my friend who is so giving and has been suffering such pain in her leg lately. These are treasures I will cherish – so personal and meaningful.

13. Fabric Postcards – I’ve been working on creating fabric postcards for Postcard Poetry Fest for the next round. I sent out a few to see how they would hold up in the mail, and my small group of Stafford Challenge writers all received them and they held up fine.

14. Porch Sitting – I’ve enjoyed late morning coffee with my sister-in-law Bethany and an evening visit with my friend Jayne, who brought me a retirement t-shirt gift. Porch sitting and visiting is a great way to adjust pacing.

15. Lounge Pants Spree – I ordered lounge pants for each day of the week so that at least I could change into clean pajamas each day, but I ended up keeping only one set. I’ll add them more gradually so I can be sure of the fit instead of ordering online. My writing friend Margaret is changing my thinking, though. She says she replaced loungewear with activewear, and perhaps I should consider the same. There are some yoga pants that do not fit quite as tight as leggings, and those would work for me better than the tighter fit.

16. Novel Writing with Nick – I met a friend and fellow writer in Eastman, a couple hours south of here, to go through the first round of edits for the unfinished book left by my father that we are co-authoring. We look forward to bringing this novel to print in the coming months.

17. Kindred Spirits Book Club – I have a Goodreads personal goal of 60 books this year – – (it’s fitting….it’s the year of 60)…..and my Kindred Spirits sisters (missing one of us in the photo below who are the regulars) and I met at our local coffee shop to discuss the August selection: Dear Debbie by Freida McFadden. Our book choice for September is The Sideways Life of Denny Voss. Currently, I’m finishing Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth and I can’t turn the pages fast enough to see what happens next.

18. Barnes and Noble Virtual Book Club – I was looking for a way that my daughter in Nevada and I could connect in a book club, so we participated in the reading of a Brazilian thriller author’s latest book, The Secret Dinner. We downloaded the book on a Tuesday and had 48 hours to read it before the Barns and Noble Monday Mystery event. It’s definitely a great way to participate with family readers across the miles. The novel was disturbing in its subject matter, but reading outside the comfort zone is what readers do sometimes.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be busy. One excursion that we will take this weekend will likely be one of my favorites of all time….. (hint: It will take place in Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday night).

Art borrowed from a Facebook posting

Retirement II Haiku

it’s a fresh chapter

new adventures, living strong

~ sing love like Dolly!

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Resfeber

Humorist Erma Bombeck titled one of her books When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It’s Time To Go Home. It’s a compilation of hilarious travel essays and global anecdotes. We haven’t been anywhere far away since I’ve retired, and already I look like my passport photo. It was renewal time, and while we don’t have any definite plans yet to visit Iceland or Ireland or even Canada, we like to keep our options open just in case the opportunity arises. My brother and sister-in-law took a Viking cruise out of Amsterdam down through French Wine Country a couple of Augusts ago, and they’ve been urging us to consider a river cruise. My heart leans toward Iceland or some Scandinavian place where I have to bundle up like a real Viking just to breathe the air and can go inside to cozy up by a rip-roaring fire.

Sometimes, the dream is as exciting as the reality. There is a word for this: resfeber. It’s a Swedish noun that refers to the feelings of all the excitement of travel before it ever begins. If I ever write a travel book, it will have this word somewhere in the title or subtitle.

I’m feeling sparks of resfeber this week because when our latest Georgia Magazine came out, I did what I always do: I thumbed to the section of upcoming events throughout the state and discovered that The Long Run, an Eagles tribute band, would be performing at Lake Lanier in Buford, Georgia on August 22. I snapped up two tickets and reserved a lake spot campsite at Margaritaville so we can drive the Wayfarer up on Saturday and take our Schnoodles to a new place we’ve never camped, full of all-different smells for them to enjoy. I do think that this is what they love most about being camping dogs – – taking in the world through their noses.

Next, I’ll make sure our Eagles t-shirts are clean and ready to wear. We got matching ones when we flew out to see them perform at The Sphere in Las Vegas this past February. We’ll wear those to see the tribute band.

Resfeber.

I might just spend the day planning a trip.

resfeber takes hold

I open my Road Trippers

app and start planning…..

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August Open Write Day 3 of 3 with Joanne Emery: Deep in Nature

Our host today for the third and final day of the August Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com is Joanne Emery, who inspires us to write poems about being deep in nature and the sensory and inner feelings associated with it. You can read her full prompt, and the poems of others, here. My poem today will follow the photos of our trail walk we took on Saturday.

Over the weekend, we took our two four-legged sons Boo Radley and Ollie to F. D. Roosevelt State Park for a quick getaway in the Wayfarer. While there, we took a hike along Mountain Creek Trail, and even though it was hot, the shade provided a respite from the extreme temperatures and the heat advisory in effect.

We like to start the day at the top of the mountain with a picnic breakfast overlooking the valley below Pine Mountain. Where many campers cook full breakfasts on outdoor kitchens, we like to take the easy route and buy coffee and muffins at the registration center and find a picnic table. The boys expect bites of blueberry muffin, and sometimes we cave in to their pressure.

The hike begins with Briar and Boo Radley in the lead, and Ollie and I follow. We make sure they stay on leashes in case we encounter other critters – human, canine, or reptilian, or other – on the trails. On Saturday, we did not meet or pass one other person. In fact, the trail was eerily silent of birdsong, traffic, voices, and even rustling of leaves in the wind.

The different types of mushrooms are always fascinating to me, including this one that is a shelf/bracket fungus that is either turkey tail or a lookalike. We also saw several patches of bright orange colored chicken of the woods and oyster mushrooms as well.

F. D. Roosevelt State Park has a naturalist who offers foraging classes on occasion when mushrooms are bountiful, and I have always wanted to attend the session and learn more about mushrooms and their benefits. I would still be reluctant to eat a wild mushroom, but I’d love to learn more about them.

Getting across the bridges is always interesting. Boo Radley hesitates and sometimes decides to go around the side. Ollie never hesitates and always turns around to be sure I made it across safely once he’s on the other side (how your dog tells you you’re old without telling you you’re old). Even though they’re schnoodles, they have the sense of adventure of sled dogs sometimes – they put themselves in four-wheel drive and pull us along.

They like to play in the streams, and as long as the water is running clear, we let them. On Saturday, they took drinks and walked around to cool off when we took a short break to let them play in the creek.

The natural ferns speak to me in whispers of my mother, reminding me I’m fortunate not to have crippling anxiety, my father echoing her: stress is a killer, I can hear him say. But not in these woods, not on this trail, not deep in nature. Nature heals.

I’m surprised I remembered the fairy tree door, but I knew when I reached the top of one hill that it would be on the other side. Sure enough, it was there, protecting the forest treasures inside – fairies, woodland critters, swag for those who take one and leave one.

And I kept watching for signs of fall in all the heat. Here and there, dotting the trail, were red or yellow leaves. I picked up several fallen acorns and put them in my pocket. I reflected on yesterday’s post about Noah and his wife, and the hope God sends in leaves. Yes, my answer is clear: God does still send hope in leaves. Ask and ye shall receive.

On Mountain Creek Nature Trail, Saturday August 15

Boo Radley leads

Ollie follows

four-wheel drive kicks in

along the trail

splashing in creeks

crossing bridges

inhaling fresh air

underfoot crunch of pine needles

and acorns giving us

out-of-office peace

resetting the focus

to the moment

with each step

deeper and deeper

into the woods

red leaves bringing

the hope of autumn

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Overlooking Albuquerque

As we completed half of Route 66 in the summer of 2023, we took the Sandia Peak Tramway to the top of the mountain to get an aerial view of Albuquerque. We’d decided to fly into Chicago and home from Albuquerque, having rented a car with my husband’s brother and sister in law to complete a little more than half the journey that summer.

From this vista, you can see the entire city of Albuquerque and surrounding areas. It’s a magnificent view of the west, and I highly recommend it.

Sandia Peak Tramway

Albuquerque’s peak

(you can almost touch the clouds)

Sandia Tramway

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The Big Texan Steakhouse – Amarillo, Texas

Another great stop on our Route 66 trip was The Big Texan Steakhouse in Amarillo, Texas. It’s one of those places where you can get a free meal if you can eat a ton of food in a certain amount of time. We didn’t attempt that, but I can testify to the delicious food and the western atmosphere of the place. Plus, their gift shop has some of the best Route 66 souvenirs we found between Chicago and Albuquerque!

The Big Texan

Big Texan Steakhouse

don’t overstuff yourself, though,

on a long car ride!

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Denver 2026

In Denver

Colorful street bulls

Denver’s Union Station trains

Mile High city sights