Blogs from Mount Pocono, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States, North America

When September arrives there seems to be a yearning to wonder. I didn’t follow the birds this year, I did the opposite. The coast of Maine and Nova Scotia has been calling me for a few years now so this is the year that it will happen, or not. My niece, Margie, was able to join me in the 3rd week of Sept so that determined the date of departure. I left Sept 20 at 9:15 am and headed for I 84. I continued on 84 into Mass. Then 495 connecting to 95. The roads were all interstates and in fine condition and I even lucked out with the lack of hectic traffic. I must digress a bit. When I left home, there were some trees just starting to change from green to a gray rust ... read more

Here I am in the middle of winter, I asked Pete when did we move to Alaska. This winter sure has lived up to it's name. There has been consistent snow. Practically since October. Beautiful as it is. and Greatful, it's not like the blizzard in 94. But man I need some warm summer sun and a breezy day of humidty, ya know and I don't mean snow. Summer I long for you. I miss your warmth and brightness. I miss your aroma, lilacs and mint. I desire your freshness, your green leaves and buzzing bees. I need to be outside. Sure I could go outside now. Freezing isn't my kinda of environment. I feel inspired in the spring. Lazy like a hybernating groundhog in winter. I sure hope when Punxetowny Phil wakes up he decides ... read more

We have a whole day between our Italy/Greece tour and the upcoming British Isles tour. It's not even enough time to reset my Circadian Rhythms and my internal clock. But it's a good thing that I fell asleep rather early and rose in the early dawn because we have a lot to do before leaving for JFK tomorrow. First on the list of to-do's was to get Zeta from the kennel. After almost three weeks it was nice to know the dog still recognized me. Too bad she wasn't any smarter after all that time at Dog Camp. Fortunately Zeta did not suffer one of her usual bouts with carsickness. After driving her home, it was time for Gail and I to cash in some bonds to subsidize Tyler's upcoming tuition. That's why we got them ... read more

The mad rush for Philadelphia International Airport began as soon as Gail and Cassie got out of school. Grandma Phoebe had already joined us from South Carolina and we were meeting Tyler’s girlfriend, Gen, at the airport. My careful internet research paid off as we had no problems getting to PHL. That’s saying a lot too during snow season in the Pocono Mountains. Parking was a breeze. We were whisked from long term parking to the front door of the airport in a roomy bus. Since we like to check-in early, we had no lines to worry about being there 3 hours early. When we got to the check-in agent, the first words out of his mouth were “Would you be interested in volunteering for Denied Boarding Compensation…?” Before he could finish, Gail and I ... read more

Planning After visiting Europe five times in the last four years as members of these group tours, it was with very eager anticipation that we started planning a Christmas trip to what we consider the “coolest” country in Europe. We decided that my recently widowed Mother-in-Law would make a great traveling companion. We really wanted to have my son’s college girlfriend join us too. I began working on our itinerary as soon as we returned from London in August. I was working within rather stringent time restraints because Cassie, Tyler and Gail could only travel during their Christmas break. They were going to be off from 23 December until 2 January. In addition to that rather short time period, I feared that everything (stores, museums, castles, parks, salt mines, restaurants) would be closed on Christmas and ... read more