Category Archives: travel

Winter 2024/2025 Update

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Hey there… long time since I’ve written a blog here. I appreciate encouragement from a loyal long-time reader to write an update.

Since I last posted, I began enjoying being a citizen of Canada.

Immediately on hearing the tragic results of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election, I went back to my Canadian home in Southern Ontario to figure out next steps in my life.

Since I am retired, I can travel freely and stay as long as I want outside the oUS (once-united states.) I say “once” because I clearly remember in my younger days, the U.S. was united, or more united, than it became during the first term of the self-centered egomaniac asshat who got re-elected when the oUS lost its ever-lovin’ mind on November 5, 2024.

Now, division, extreme hatefulness, and negativity rule the day.

I escaped to a country that is…
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Awesome Road Trip

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North America experienced a total solar eclipse on Monday 8 April, 2024.

I was considering flying somewhere to see full totality, but on advice from pros I trust, I decided not to pay for an airline ticket, hotel rooms, and so forth in case cloud cover made it a bust.

However, a close friend is such an eclipse enthusiast, we decided to wait until the Friday before to review weather information. We spoke that morning and decided it looked potentially good enough to take a road trip toward Ohio or Indiana.

My buddy picked me up on Sunday morning, and we…
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Photos from the Canadian Rockies

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While I was on the trip-of-a-lifetime in the Canadian Rockies one month ago, I took well over 2,400 photos. Many were duplicates using different settings of my camera and from different angles and directions.

I teamed up with two professionals as guides to help me learn how and get the most out of the features of my Canon 80D DSLR.

Since I returned home, between volunteering gigs and routine stuff around the house and community (and rides on my Harley), I culled, cropped, and edited my photos.

Editing these photos took …
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Canada Rockies

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I enjoyed one of the best visits to Canada I’ve ever had. Now that I am back home, caught up on the laundry, restocked my fridge, and took care of other things I had to do, I thought I would show you where I was and what I did.

I have visited every province and territory in Canada during my working career. My husband and I enjoyed celebrating a long-delayed honeymoon in Toronto in 2019.

I returned after the pandemic restrictions were lifted last year to the Canadian Maritimes.

This year, I ventured to the west and spent most of my time in the province of Alberta. What a stunning and scenic place!

My trip began with a return to …
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Which Boots to Bring on a Trip to Canada?

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I have the great fortune to be planning a two-week trip to Western Canada in July. The tour will begin in Vancouver, then a train will take me to Jasper. There I will transfer to a small group that will go on a photo tour in the Canadian Rockies, and includes Lake Louise and Banff. The tour will end in Calgary where I have tickets to attend and watch two days of the Calgary Stampede — described as “the greatest outdoor show on Earth.”

I have a “boot dilemma” on what boots to wear while viewing this event that perhaps my readers can help me with.

Three pairs from my cowboy boot collection are staring me in the face. Each pair is screaming, “wear us! wear us!”

Here are my conditions of wear, and three choices:
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Catching Up

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I know I have not written on this blog in quite some time. Since I last wrote on March 17 (almost two months ago!), I have completed two trips, and have four more trips planned this year (Los Angeles, Canadian Rockies, Arizona’s biker highways, and winter holidays in Puerto Rico.)

I spent three weeks in Puerto Rico in April. One week for fun, one week for “work,” and another week attending and speaking at a conference. The “fun” part of this journey was not as much fun because someone I had invited to join me was unable to come. I felt let down, but made the best of it.

I visited my friends, swam in the Caribbean Sea with my husband’s spirit at our favorite secluded beach, and tolerated daily interruptions for virtual meetings that seemed to interrupt my free time right in the middle of each day.

While I am retired, I consider my participation on academic and professional groups that I lead and on which I am heavily engaged as “work.” Constant meetings, tons of email, writing papers, and preparing presentations were soul-sucking.

I returned home during the last week of April with a medical …
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Volunteer Work and Travel

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Now that I am retired and have completed renovations to my home to make it comfortable and safe, I have more time to do things I enjoy. I also have re-emerged from my deep well of grief over the loss of my husband. I still think of him fondly every day.

But I have a life to live and while I am still upright, I intend to do so.

2023 sees me being active with serving my community and soon will see me on airplanes, Harleys, trains, and roadways.

When I am at home (that is, not traveling), I keep busy by…
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Soul Restoration

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I spent time in my favorite place in the world during the winter holidays: western Puerto Rico, my home away from home.

I had a difficult time getting there with flight delays and rebooking, but I got there, albeit 8 hours late.

Unfortunately, no one cares any more about protecting others from Covid with no masking or distancing. Though I always wore a mask, it was not enough to protect me. Two days after arrival, I developed symptoms of Covid-19 and tested positive.

If there is an upside, my symptoms were very mild with only a runny nose, achy-all-over feeling, and fatigue. But no fever, coughing, or worse.

I credit being so well-vaccinated, including the bivalent booster, that I did not need medical treatment and my symptoms abated in just three days. The last day of symptoms was Christmas day, so I wasn’t able to join friends for a holiday dinner and stayed “home” and binge-watched Netflix.

On recovering, I began to explore. My first…
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