to celebrate our 22nd (plus one week) anniversary, derek and i shipped the kids off to the grandlidboms and had a little staycation in ye olde winston-salem. we made an attempt to do things in town that we have never really done. try new restaurants. etc. our first stop was reynolda gardens. i have driven […]
museum
mothers day weekend with the middle kid.

a few weeks before mother’s day, unsure of what i wanted to do to celebrate myself (and the birthing of three children), i was poking around some state parks to see what camping options were available. much to my surprise, gorges state park had one last campsite opening, so i snagged the reservation, not really […]
july of 2024 miscellany and things.

we arrrived home in ws/nc, from our slightly too long michigan trip, on july third. just in time for the dog days of summer. after spending all of june complaining about not bringing enough cold weather clothes and bundling up for all of our excursions, you’d think we wouldn’t complain, but man, it was hot. […]
madison, wisconsin.

a few years back, on our epic last hurrah summer road trip, we camped so so close to madison, wisconsin. but, the timing of our travels and plans and reservations didn’t leave us any time to actually explore the city. this time, though, we made it happen. but first. on our way into town. a […]
A.E. Seaman Mineral Museum

our last notable excursion whilst on the keweenaw peninsula was a visit to the AE seaman mineral museum. we had read good things about it, but we hesitant to drag the kids to a rock museum. but, since the weather was pretty blah, it seemed like the perfect activity. it was a great opportunity to […]
copper peninsula coastal tour

with everyone well rested, and the weather fully cooperating, it was a good day to take a drive along the coast of the copper peninsula, stopping for any and all landmarks, epic views, and cool or weird (or both) spots. first up. a roadside waterfall. then. the jam lady. this is filed under cool and […]
a day in marquette

we capped off our first week’s stay in the upper peninsula with a day in the college town of marquette. technically, we had already been there, thanks to a rainy first day in town that saw us hit up the movies and do a little shopping. but, on this day, we had a few outdoor […]
other world.

our travels from hocking hills to michigan took us through columbus ohio, where derek discovered the other world immersive art experience. it seemed similar to, though not quite as thought out and crazy cool as, meow wolf in santa fe. but first. we fueled up. then it was time to get weird. the outside of […]
the wild center.ADK adventure #4.

after a couple of absolutely beautiful days, the scattered rains started back up again, so on our fourth day in the adirondacks, we opted for an indoor-ish activity. but first. before any folks in either of our respective families were even awake, this road life mom friend and i snuck out for a coffee, and […]
adirondack experience

on our way to our next adirondack lodge, we stopped at the adirondack experience, a cool museum with tons of exhibits about the history and culture of the adirondacks. the first exhibit that we visited detailed how people traveled there over the years (and cleared all the snow)… of course we spent some time at […]