Keith and Pete

King Louis the XIV had his garden at Versailles, and Pearl Fryar has his Topiary Garden. Paris France and Bishopville South Carolina are about as opposite as you could imagine. And the motives behind creating gardens such as these, are as different as those two men. But wandering through this little altered garden was as awe inspiring as the hundreds of acres of carved foliage in Versailles. Of course, not as grand, and not as famous, but impressive. Pearl Fryar has been pruning and clipping and watering the plants surrounding his home since 1981. The results are other worldly. A couple of hours into a seven hour drive to spend Thanksgiving with family, we needed to step out of the car and stretch our legs. Just so happened that such a stop coincided with Mr. Fryar's ... read more

Tiny friendly peaceful Round Pond The secret to the peacefulness - "Muscongus Bay is one of those rare finds - a body of ocean water that is well protected and not really on the way to anywhere else." this was found on a kayak tour advertisement. Lobster boats chug in circles all day, but other than that, it was quiet. From our porch high on a hill, we kept watch on our end of the bay for a little seal. Every now and then he would poke his head up between the lobster pot markers. It was the perfect activity for relaxing Maine is the northern most state on the eastern seaboard. But not until a comment made by a friend of the family's, when she learned that we were from North Carolina, did I realize ... read more

Although looking forward to our trip, we didn't give it a whole lot of thought as to exactly what we would find in Maine. We were invited to spend time with some family up there, and figured it would be a good reason to also see Bar Harbor. The dates snuck up on us and by the time we realized it was time to pack our bags, we were making our descent to the small airport. A friendly passenger was filling us in on where to eat and what to see, when the clouds gave way to a body of water dotted with islands. They are The Porcupines Islands in Frenchman Bay. The small airport is staffed with welcoming personel, bringing to mind the bare-bones airport in Marsh Harbor Bahama. As we drove off to find ... read more

If you are familiar with the bloggers on this site, you will know that when most of them return home from their world trip, they take time to recall the adventure, and write a summary of the best moments, or their most recommended sites. And many of the entries are quite creative. I had planned on attempting just that- but since we landed back on American soil, we haven't slowed down, and I haven't had time to blog! Maybe a retrospective will come later... One much anticipated aspect of being home has been to be with our children and family. So off we go to the Mid-west, the land of "ten thousand lakes" Minnesota, to visit our daughter, who no longer lives in our little town, but, has flown-the-coop, up north, to the big city. This ... read more

Another train ride into Antibes, France. This is the final leg of our Mediterranean trip. It is the French Riviera, but there are no crowds and no suntans. Traveling during the off season is perfect, if you don't like crowds. Places like this are sun havens, even at this time of year in Europe, and it is what we appreciated. One day was spent staying in Antibes just to walk around the tip of the Cap d'Antibes peninsula. It is a dramatic public coastline with gates that must be leading from luxurious mansions on the other side of the walls. All along the 6 mile walk we ran into others perched on the rocks resting with their dogs or having a bite of lunch. The path abruptly turns into the woods, and we later learned that ... read more