I'm just trying to walk myself home.
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Shenandoah National Park A little over two years ago, (before the pandemic was even a whisper) Taido and I drove to Pennsylvania to attend the wedding of a dear friend. On the way there, we took a slight detour to take in the sights of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. It was early April …
Learning to Smell Again after losing my sense of taste and smell from Covid. It’s been three months since my Covid test came back positive. In an attempt to write about the experience of having Coronavirus, I have been reviewing my journals. And dear goodness, there were some dark moments in there. I don’t think …
Maybe you were “supposed” to be somewhere else right now, but instead you are at working from home or doing school from home, or you are doing a job where you have to wear a mask all the time. Probably, in some way, your life has changed drastically over the last several months. Something is …
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about the self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. -Wikipedia I’ve been reading and thinking lately about the idea of pilgrimage. I love to go for a walk, but …
Snapshots of Burgos, Spain. or The End of the Journey. This post is from the end of our walk from Logrono to Burgos, Spain. You can read more posts from this walk, or from other Camino trips. In my longtime obsession with the Camino, I have read quite a bit about the different cities that you …
Atapuerca to Burgos 19 kilometers. Day 7 on The Camino. Or We Made It! Let’s Have A PARTY and Eat All The Things. This post is our trip log from Atapuerca to Burgos. You can read more posts from this walk, or from other Camino trips. We got up and packed fast, walking out …
Villafranca to Atapuerca. 18 kilometers. Day 6 on The Camino. Or Remember That One Time We Slept In A Barn. This post is our trip log from Villafranca to Atapuerca. You can read more posts from this walk, or from other Camino trips. One of the reasons our albergue in Villafranca was full, besides …
Belorado to Villafranca Montes de Oca. 12 kilometers. Day 5 on The Camino. Or We Walked In The Snow But This Day Was Still My Favorite. This post is our trip log from Belorado to Villafranca Montes de Oca. You can read more posts from this walk, or from other Camino trips. We got out …
Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado. 22 kilometers. Day 4 on The Camino. Or Thank God It’s Not Raining. This post is our trip log from Santo Domingo to Belorado. You can read more posts from this walk, or from other Camino trips. We had a little coffee and breakfast before starting out around …
Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. 21 kilometers. Day 3 on The Camino. Or We Only Thought It Was Raining Yesterday. This post is our trip log from Najera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. You can read more posts from this walk, or from other Camino trips. We had decided at dinner the …
Navarrete to Najera. 18 kilometers, Day 2 on The Camino Or It rained and then the sun came out. This post is our trip log from Navarrete to Najera. You can read more posts from this walk, or from other Camino trips. Some nights of sleep are so bad that you are just relieved to wake …
Logrono to Navarrete. At 12 kilometers, Day 1 on The Camino could also be titled: Let’s Ease Into This, Shall We? We didn’t wake up early in Logrono. It was probably around 10am when we walked out of our little flat in Logrono and stepped onto the Camino. We knew we were starting with a …
Camino Beginnings or How You Know It’s Time to Go For A Long Walk in Spain The Camino de Santiago. It’s one of my favorite trails in the world. Not necessarily because of its beauty (though it is beautiful), but (and I realize how cheesy this sounds) what I really love is the Spirit of the …
Riverboat Cruise on the Mississippi River In October, my mom and aunt came to visit while Simon was still on Fall Break from school. And we all four took a ride on a short riverboat cruise. We boarded the Riverboat Twilight early one morning, while the sun was still rising. My Aunt Jeanne had told …
Michigan Fall Break So another Chino fall break highlight was heading to Michigan for our first time ever. (Check another state off of your list Simon!) We drove over on Saturday morning and after a quick picnic lunch (from Blackberry Market, of course), we went exploring. We hiked several trails where the forest floor turned …
A Visit to The Home of The Beloved Saint Francis of Assisi What can I say about Assisi? I hardly know where to begin. Maybe it’s best to start with the ending. As I left the convent in Assisi, the same nun who welcomed me in, took hold of my face and kissed me twice, …
Snapshots of Orvieto, Italy I WISH you could have heard me in the car when I got my first glimpses of Orvieto coming into view! “OH MY LORD, you have got to be kidding me!” I actually pulled the car over. (Because it’s just me and I can do that if I want.) The whole …
Snapshots of a A Walk to Civita di Bagnoregio, an ancient hilltown in Italy reachable only by a pedestrian bridge. So 2500 years ago, some very ingenious folks (Etruscans) built this city on top of a hill. Hill towns are a common theme in my travels around Italy, but Civita is special because you can …
Lake Bolsena: Driving tour around the lake from Montefiascone After enjoying the view of Lago di Bolsena (Lake Bolsena) from our hilltop town of Montefiascone, we decided to take a day to get closer to the water. We could not have had a more gorgeous day, so we took our time driving all the way …
Snapshots of Montefiascone a hilltop town in Italy overlooking Lago de Bolsena (Lake Bolsena). Here are a few highlights from my first days in Italy: Squeals of delight upon seeing dear friends. A room in a hilltop monastery with a view of the valley below. Wisteria-lined roads. The ancient town fortress of Montefiascone. Following cobblestone …