Hi! My name is Len. I mostly travel around North Carolina. There is so much to see and do here. I like small mountain towns, beaches, and the occasional tourist destination. I hope to share some of these experiences here. Whenever I am out of town and traveling I try to find unique food.
Oh, I almost always have my German Shepherd with me, too, so most of my travels are pet friendly.
In February 2020, before Coronavirus caused chaos and shut everything down, I was able to spend the month in Florida. Most of the month was spent in Amelia Island (I'll be writing about that more extensively soon), but I had always wanted to see Tampa. The family & I went to Tampa for a couple of days and checked it out. We visited Tampa, downtown, the Riverwalk, the Bay and Clearwater. Clearwater chaos I didn't spend enough time in Clearwater to be an expert on the city. My daughter was fighting a cold and after a couple of hours on the beach she wanted to get back to the hotel in Tampa Bay. We did spend a few hours on the beach. The water was indeed clear. It was the clearest oceanwater I had ever seen. ... read more
I live in North Carolina, but occasionally travel to the Adirondack region of New York. That's where I spent my summers as a kid, and it's a great place to cool off and escape the extremely hot summers in the south. On my last trip from NY back to NC I decided to visit the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. Parking. I pulled in to Philly and quickly discovered that what I heard was true. There's basically nowhere to park. I currently live in a small town in North Carolina and drive a heavy duty Dodge 2500 with the big crew cab and a long bed. The truck is around 25' long and takes up 1.5 parking spaces. I can pretty much go wherever I'd like with ease and even pull up close to businesses. In ... read more
I have been visiting Topsail Island for 12 or 13 years now since my buddy Darryl began allowing me to utilize his beautiful oceanfront home. It is on North Shore Drive and sits right on the water. Other than surviving the occasional storm, it is really a great spot to be. You can hear the ocean while inside and then you step out you are in the sand. I went to Topsail Island early this year because I head the Chopper Bluefish were biting. I have been waiting to catch one of these fish for over a decade. The Choppers, aka Chompers, usually do not show up until the water temperatures are just right. This is usually in May. When they do pass through, they may not come to the coast. When they do come to ... read more
I travel around North Carolina a lot. There is just a ton to do here. My dog goes everywhere with me. My dog is a fairly well behaved German Shepherd. The Piedmont Central North Carolina is known as the piedmont region. Here dogs are sort of accepted. There are plenty of dog parks in the cities. Some establishments, such as pet stores, allow canines. Working dogs are allowed pretty much anywhere. In rural settings, people bring their dogs to the hardware stores, such as Lowe's or Home Depot, although this doesn't happen in larger cities such as Raleigh or Charlotte. Dogs are found on all major hiking trails and most people pick up after their dog. The coast I go up and down the outer banks, and all along the coast. My favorite place is Topsail ... read more
Every year I venture from central North Carolina up into the mountains to check out the leaves.The leaves were supposed to be pretty good in 2015. My friend Ricky predicted on his blog the 2015 leaf season would be a colorful one. Out of nowhere we had a ton of rain and wind and unfortunately, it wasn't that great, nor was the apple season."Romantic Asheville" posts updates on their blog here: fall leaves in Asheville. I kept an eye on that site, which is updated often, and somehow towards the end of October, life just got busy.I finally escaped reality on October 28, 2016, and headed to the mountains. Honey Bear CampgroundI am a very last minute person, so I tried to book a hotel in Boone. I usually stay at the Holiday Inn Express in ... read more
