Picking a Destination

Posted on March 21, 2014March 21, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Anyone who has been following this blog for any time knows that my travel goal is to visit all 50 states and not just as a layover on the way to someplace else. No I want to spend quality time in each state.

I was watching a travel channel program today and it hit my why I have such a problem with that goal. I mean , really, I set it. Why should it be such a difficult thing to work toward? The reason, because each state has so much to share. You just aren’t finished with a state with one vacation. Each state needs time to get to know it. Like a person… you don’t get to know someone by sharing a drink at a cocktail party.

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been to Florida. I don’t always spend the time at Disney either. That’s a nice visit but not a priority for me.

But as I watched them talk about the Coral Castle in Homestead, FL I realized that I’m not done with Florida yet.

I haven’t ben to the Coral Castle, or the Miami Zoo.

I want to return to the Everglades and explore it in a lot more depth.

I haven’t spent any time in the northern part of the state or Panhandle and only touched on the sights in St. Augustine.

I’ve been to Hawaii twice but really want to get back there again. I haven’t been to Maui or taken the “Fast Ferry” between islands. I need to snorkel off Molokai and see Kilauea pour lava into the sea at night.

I can’t forget Alaska. My first visit was on a cruise ship . A nice trip but too tame for my taste. I want to set up a “base camp” maybe in Anchorage and explore out from there. I want to visit Fairbanks and see- no not just see-the northern lights, but photograph them.

One of the best trips I’ve done was with my sister to South Dakota but we didn’t get to see a pow wow or visit Sturgis or many other old west towns and there’s the whole eastern side of the state.

It’s hard to turn away from unfinished business. Every state I’ve visited needs a return visit to finish the exploration started on that first visit but if I always do that I’ll never get to the rest of the states. What a huge amazing country we live in!

A Plan for Getting There

Posted on March 20, 2014March 20, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Now that the activities for Tennessee are planned and my time off approved I have to make sure I can get there. I’ve been watching the airfares and they are all over the place. Up one day and down the next!

I think it’s time to commit. Southwest doesn’t fly to Knoxville, the closest airport. There are a couple of nice flights and connections but they are out of Logan and I avoid Boston and Logan airport like crazy. I’d drive to Hartford, CT first!

Finally I found a flight from Providence to Knoxville for under $400.00. Yup $380.00 to be exact for round trip so I grabbed it. I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night either! The flight leaves at 9:23 am. There’s a layover in Washington D. C. so I’ll have time for lunch then arrive in Knoxville just before 3pm where I have a rental car reserved.

I can’t check into the resort until after 4pm so this works out perfect because MapQuest puts the drive from Knoxville to Gatlinburg at 59 minutes.

The return trip wasn’t quite as perfect but still not bad. Check out is 10 AM but my flight isn’t until 6pm so I’ll have the whole day to poke around in, take my time driving to Knoxville and finish up sight-seeing. Even with such a late flight and a layover in Washington again, I will still be in Providence by 11:30 and home by midnight.

The cat sitter is lined up and ready to go. She’ll make 2 visits everyday except the first day when I’ll only need her to stop in for the afternoon. My kitties will be in good hands.

It’s so nice to have everything in place…and paid for. I love paying for everything ahead of time. Then I don’t have to count pennies while I’m away.

Now I just have to make myself relax and wait for the big day to roll around. 🙂

Photo of the week ~11

Posted on March 19, 2014March 19, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The week 11 tallies are in. The Photo of the Week with the most hits, likes, shares and/or comments is Wildlife at Oliver Mills (feral kitten) with a total of 31 points.

To order prints click here: http://dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com/p161572686/h333ce73a#h333ce73a

Finally a Sunny Day

Posted on March 18, 2014March 18, 2014 by Dusty Roads

Take full advantage of it, a sunny, blue sky day high 50’s maybe even 60’s. Of course it rained the next day but still it’s a taste of things to come. That was last Tuesday.

I couldn’t waste a day like that so I decided to go exploring. You’d think after all the years I’ve been “exploring” that I’d have found everyplace but not so. Last summer I heard about a place in Wrentham, MA that I just have to find.

It’s not an Audubon Sanctuary and most of my sources just scratch their heads. Maybe they are really just keeping it to themselves?

Anyway I poked around on the internet and finally found a brief reference to Wrentham Conservation. That was it. I dug and poked some more and finally got a street, That was enough. It was supposed to be off RT 140 on the left so I’d just follow RT 140 until I found it. Sounds good right?

I passed through Norton, MA . I stopped in Foxboro because I spotted a pretty , white church steeple. I just love those white New England Church Steeples especially when I can get an angle without tons of utility lines blocking the view.

After my brief photo stop I moved on past the Foxboro office. As I approached the northern side of Foxboro I stopped at a DQ Restaurant for a $5.00 lunch special. A price like that’s better than McDonald’s. Then back on RT 140, still looking.

Finally I found the left turn I was looking for. The road soon split. The right hand fork went to a Quarry and a Sand and Gravel company. The right fork meandered past nice homes on a lake. Of course the lake is still frozen right now but I bet it’s pretty there in summer.

At the end of the road was a DPW building and there was a worker by a truck. I pulled in and started to ask him about the area and he knew right away. I’d just gone a little too far. He was really enthused about the location. He said it was marshy and loaded with beaver and Great Blue Herons.

I turned around and found the cut off. Hard to believe Wrentham still has so much snow. The trail dipped down a little hill but I was in sneakers and the hill was ice and packed snow. I was sliding with every step. Rather than break my neck I decided that it would be better to wait a little longer. Let spring thaw a little more and return with boots and hiking stick because by then it won’t be snow and ice, it will be mud!