Jackson, Wyoming – June 8, 2016 Then there were the Grand Tetons. Floating down the Snake River, which was still turbid and swollen with snow melt, we called out jokingly about “rapids” ahead. It was calm enough to eat our lunches on board. I don’t think we even got wet, and I regretted leaving my Nikon on the bus. The young, jagged peaks of the Grand Tetons were…
Yellowstone – a world apart
June 7, 2016June 7, 2016 – Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone National Park Who would think four days (so far) on a bus would be so exhausting? Here we are in Yellowstone National Park, it is 8:49 p.m. and still light outside, and we really just want to go to bed. The last two days have been spent touring Yellowstone. We entered dramatically through Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance and…
A view from the top of that hill
June 5, 2016Sunday, June 5, 2016 – Billings, Montana Probably no other scene of American history is more embedded in my psyche than Custer’s Last Stand. It’s a mythic story that has intrigued me since I read a children’s biography of George Armstrong Custer – no doubt a sanitized version of his life and what actually happened on June 25, 1876. Over the decades, my knowledge of the Battle of…
Saturday, June 4 – Rapid City, South Dakota Today was a day trip out of Rapid City to visit the Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills. It was our first trip together as a group of 48, and I detected a lot of New York accents as we passed ponderosa pines and quaking aspen trees. Was my stereotype coming true? The Crazy Horse Monument…
Friday, June 3 – Rapid City, South Dakota One of the reasons we decided to launch this blog was to chronicle our “adventures” in the year that I turn 60 and Sue turns 70. We are now at the beginning of one of those adventures, having made it to Rapid City, South Dakota, for our first ever bus tour. It is a Caravan Tours expedition to Mount Rushmore,…
Standing on a street corner in Charlotte’s Fourth Ward at 5:15 a.m., a Jeep Cherokee comes rolling by slowly. I had just deposited an empty wine bottle in a recycling container, so I figured I was the one who seemed suspicious. The driver rolls down his window and asks, “Are you Lindsay?” He showed me his smart phone with Lindsay’s name and picture on it. That’s when I…
If God were trying to tell me something, would I know? If God were reassuring me or challenging me, would I notice? I ask for the grace to be free of my own preoccupations and be open to what God is saying to me. – From the Sacred Space meditations We are into the second week of Lent, and I am fasting from Facebook and commenting on social media. Every…
When we first thought about retirement, I envisioned living on a golf course in South Carolina. We took golf vacations to Myrtle Beach, Kiawah Island and Jekyll Island. We actually watched golf on TV. We probably visited North and South Carolina 10 times. That’s where we saw ourselves. A few things happened since then. Sue was never really into golf. I intentionally gave up golf, even though I enjoy…
When you travel to a place like Pike Place Market in Seattle, you morph into a foodie if you weren’t one already. Not only is there the famous fish market where they gleefully torment tourists and toss huge fish around, there are the smaller famous places like Ellenos Real Greek Yogurt, Pike Place Chowder, Storyville Coffee and The Crumpet Shop. Yes, crumpets. We had thought of them as a…
The last time I saw my mom, she didn’t know who I was. I flew to Texas to visit her because the end was near, and she was more interested in watching “NCIS” than in chatting with her daughter during what I knew would be the final visit. In her nursing home room, there was a yellow sticky on a wall with the word “Delaware” written on it. Before she had totally forgotten…
One of my chronic New Year’s resolutions inevitably has to do with the Bible and reading more of it. If you live in Delaware, one of your resolutions should be to visit the Saint John’s Bible exhibit at the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover. In Dover through March 27, it is this breathtaking mixture of calligraphy, dazzling gold-leaf illuminations, inspirational images, Benedictine theology, worship, love for the Word…