Being around water is one of those things I do not get tired of. It doesn’t matter if it’s the ocean, a spring, or a river they all call to me. I have about as much chance of keeping my feet dry when near a puddle as a 3-year-old. Don’t judge – you know rock hopping across a stream is great fun, and as long as you don’t hurt yourself (or your camera/phone!) falling in is all part of the fun.

Living in Florida for several years gave me the opportunity to get some great ocean photos; there is really nothing quite like the Keys if you are a fan of the bluest blue waters. One thing Florida beaches don’t have is dramatic rocky beaches. Unless, of course, you can find a place like Blowing Rock Preserve. It’s amazing!

I was super excited to see and photograph the water rushing up through holes in the rocks. I didn’t give a thought about timing, when I went it was a bit overcast but I was only in the area for a few days so I was going to go see it regardless. What I also didn’t think about was if it was low or high tide. I accidentally went at low tide, and I was glad that I did. Especially since I had another day to catch it at high tide when you get to actually see the blowing rocks blowing.

Because it was low tide I was able to walk between the water and the rocks. There were parts where I had to wade through the water, but of course, that just added to the appeal. There was just one thing I didn’t love about it. After winding through several kind of tight squeezes where I was bumping against the rocks on both sides I realized that there were kind of white-translucent bug-slug-shrimp things all over said rocks in some places. I did get a lot more careful about what I touched after seeing those.

I already decided after the first day that I wanted to do a series of photos of this place, it’s just too dramatic not to. But going during high tide on the second day sealed the deal. If you happen to visit Blowing Rock try to go on a weekday and right before the highest of the high tide, that is when the splashing is at its highest. Pretty spectacular!

So far I’ve only worked on one of these photos, I’m sharing a super chopped ‘creation of’ video below. I will have to perfect the art of making a quick editing video. I certainly don’t quite have it down yet, but it gives you an idea of how I spent last the week. These pictures take quite a lot of time! I’m hoping to start completing a piece a week, but as one of the full-time employed I may have to modify that goal a bit.

Massacre Falls Trail is about 5 and a half miles out and back with a waterfall as the turnaround point. Mind you, this is an Arizona waterfall in the desert, so if you want to see water actually flowing you have to go after a good rain, or maybe after a lot of snow up north? When we hiked it there was a bit of water, but not as much as I’ve seen in some pictures. Either way, it’s well worth the hike.

The mile or two of road before the trailhead is dirt, not bad but I wouldn’t want to drive it after a good rain. Depending on what you are driving of course. We had intended to do this hike the week before, but the parking area was full and there were a couple of rangers there directing people (it was SO busy) who suggested we go a couple more miles down the road to a different trailhead. This time we got there silly early. Being in Arizona while working on Eastern time does have some advantages.

The walk up the fall is beautiful. I was lucky enough to do it in March ’23, during what read is a super bloom. The desert is much greener and full of flowers than normal!

This trail is pretty moderate most of the way, but there are a couple of parts where you have to watch your step to avoid a fall due to gravelly slopes. There were a few places where we would have lost the trail if we had not downloaded the All Trails map, or if there hadn’t been plenty of people there to tell us where the trail was.

When you get to the waterfall there is a nice secluded feeling (with a bunch of other people) area to sit and rest or have a snack before heading back. Even if the waterfall wasn’t flowing at all this trail is well worth the hike. Check out this view!

One of the major things I wanted to do while in Arizona is to hike in the Superstition Wilderness. Lost Dutchman State Park is in the Superstitions, and since we got the Arizona State Park pass as soon as we got here we’ve been able to do lots of hiking there.

The very first trail we decided to do was Siphon Draw Trail, and to go beyond that to Flatiron. Spoiler alert: we did not make it to Flatiron and I went and bought some trail runners the very next day. Take from that what you will. You’re right.

There are signs pointing you to Siphon Draw Trail from the parking lot. It’s an easy walk to the trailhead, once you get there it starts going up and just keeps going. The first third(ish) is a deceptively gradual-looking incline. I say deceptively because it doesn’t look all that steep, but my heart rate certainly went up. It’s a very rocky trail, not for the weak ankled.

The trail does get a little challenging on the way up, but nothing too bad. There were a couple of places where hands have to be used to get up/down.

I’m not going to lie, I really had no idea what Flatiron or Siphon Draw was when we decided to give it a go. I didn’t even really know that Siphon Draw was a thing. Turns out it’s a really, really cool thing. Towards the end, the trail gets a bit harder to follow, but we had the map downloaded from All Trails and there were plenty of other people around to follow. Then the trail opens up and you are basically in a huge bowl made of stone. When I went there was a trail of water going down the rocks and a narrow but tall and rough-looking waterfall. Truly worth the hike.

The trail to this point was pretty tiring but really fun, so I expected to keep going to Flatiron. I got a little nervous as I got closer and saw that after this point it looks to be extremely steep, all rock, and hands needed but I still intended to go.

Then I started walking on the rock and found that my couple of years old, waterproof, super amazing hiking boots seemed to have little traction left and my feet were slipping on the rocks even when dry. I sat near the bottom of the waterfall, pouted, and tried to decide whether or not I should keep going. I do NOT like to start up a trail and turn around.

While sitting there I was (of course) also people watching. There were a couple of guys that had camped up on Flatiron and were resting before heading the rest of the way down the trail. Obviously, they knew what they were doing if they hiked to the top and camped out there. They started to head back and one of them slipped right near where I was sitting and fell so hard that his walking stick, which was as thick as my forearm and looked to be pretty solid wood, snapped in half.

That was the end of my decision making process, I decided instantly to get back down the mountain while the getting was good. I was disappointed in myself but knew trying to go further would be a wee bit more of a challenge than I was up for at the moment.

I was convinced on this trip to finally break down and get a pair of Altra trail runners. The grippier shoes would have made the smooth rocks a lot less slippery. I’ve since tried them on a number of very wet rocks (and walking up a rocky stream or two) I’d say they would have made a difference. Unfortunately, I’m not going to get back to this trail during this stay in Arizona, but it’s going on my list of have to get back to conquers. It’s actually the only one on that list at the moment.

We waited a little too long to start planning where we would stay at the beginning of our 2023 trip. Yes, it was my fault; I didn’t think it was a big deal.

We knew we were heading to Arizona and that this year, instead of moving to a different state every three weeks we’d stay in one and see more of it. Three weeks in one place is not a bad amount of time to explore the area, but it certainly isn’t enough time to explore a state. By the time we started looking for a place to book, and there weren’t any. Not in Arizona, and not in Florida (where we were while planning). Well, except for in Yuma. There were a couple of RV places we could get in Yuma.

I was raised in Arizona, and I do not ever remember anyone saying they were going to visit Yuma. I couldn’t even think of anything to do there. We looked it up on YouTube and the only thing that came up was a park and an old jail. But, not like we had a choice so it was off to Yuma for three weeks.

We didn’t make it to Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park, though we intended to go. We did make it to the East and West Wetlands. Honestly, I don’t know where one ended and the other began (or for sure if they are even next to each other), but they have a great trail. It winds along the Colorado River, switching from dirt hiking trails to sidewalks through parks full of people. Keep walking long enough and you’ll pass the jail, Colorado River State Historic Park, and wander downtown.

As far as I could tell downtown was one strip of shopping, restaurants, and bars. I’m not a big shopper, but the stores here are really interesting and fun to wander through. We did just that, then had an Italian dinner and walked back to the van in the wetland park. It turned out to be a really fun night and there was a lot more to do than we had the time for. Walking back in the dark between where the shops and people were and the desolate road back to the park felt a little shady though.

While in Yuma we went across the state border to California and boondocked in the Imperial Sand Dunes. I really wanted to get some good pictures of the dunes and I figured if we stayed the night we could get some pictures at dawn with great light.

I did a great deal of preparing, and even cut up peppers and onions for chili so we could just throw dinner together quickly and easily. Too bad I forgot a pan, bowls, and all utensils. Fortunately, there is a store right before the park that has just about anything you might need. We were also able to pick up a park pass while there.

We picked a spot in the wilderness area, took a walk around, and spent the evening in camping mode. The moon was full and there was no need to use a light when walking around at night. We only saw one car out there well before we decided on a place to stop for the night; we had the world to ourselves. And the animals. There were SO many different animal tracks.

The next day we went off on the hunt for the perfect dune pictures. Easy, right? Well. It turns out that the night before they had a Star Wars viewing. Parts of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi were filmed here after all. Between that and the typical weekend ATV activity, we couldn’t find an unmarked dune anywhere. It was still an amazing place to be though!

We left amazed at the beauty of the place but kind of disappointed we weren’t able to get the pictures we were looking for. But. Before leaving we talked to someone who said to come back on a Wednesday when there would be a lot fewer people, and the constant breeze would have had a chance to clean up a bit. Always talk to the locals!

It turns out that across the road from the ranger station (I don’t know if it was technically a ranger station, but close enough) you can walk on the dunes and take pictures to your heart’s content. Walking on the dunes is a bit of a workout, every step up involves slipping back down at least half as far as you just stepped up. I wore beach shoes and they filled with sand so fast that I finally got tired of stopping to dump them out and just took them off and walked barefoot. It’s really fun and the dunes are so different from anywhere else that you kind of feel like you are hiking on another planet (hence the Star Wars filming).

I did get some great pictures that I think I can use for some artwork, now I just have to put aside some time for editing and painting. Soon!

I was one of those kids that was absolutely obsessed with horses. More than the average childhood obsession. I had horse wallpaper, an entire wall full of Breyer horses and horse books, posters, anything you could think of, except for an actual horse. Of course, I had the Misty of Chincoteague books.

We’re currently staying in Virginia Landing RV Campground, which is about an hour from the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. First, guess how many times we’ve been there. Nope, more than that. In the two weeks we’ve been here we’ve probably gone 6 or 7 times. Plus, one drive to the Maryland side of the park just to be complete.

To be fair, this campground is literally in the middle of nowhere, it’s a 20-minute drive each way to the nearest anything, which is a gas station. They have wine and snacks, which is good because the nearest grocer is another 10 minutes. Honestly, the place is so nice I don’t care; if I need a tomato for my salad I’m just going to go without.

Anyways, the point was that an hour’s drive isn’t a big deal around here. Unless you factor in gas prices, but I’m trying my very best to ignore that factor.

We’ve walked various trails several times, and at different parts of the day. From my experience, the best way to see the horses is from the water, regardless of the time. We took a kayak tour in the morning and were able to get as close as I’d want to get to wild horses. That afternoon we took a pontoon boat tour and saw a different herd of horses from a bit further away. We signed up for both tours as a package deal. Both were fun, my favorite was the kayak tour but I’m partial to kayaking.

Of course, horses aren’t the only wildlife in the park, they’re just the best and hardest to find. We also saw a few deer, a ton of rabbits that have really cool coats, and grey fox squirrels which I’d never heard of but are really cool looking.

In addition to taking a few hundred pictures of the same 20 or 30 horses, I was able to get some great salt marsh pictures that I’m going to play with and see if I can abstract a bit. It’s one of those situations where I know I want to do something with the photographs, but I don’t know what that may be yet. Works for me, the process of figuring it out is the fun part.

It’s been a minute, and a lot has changed but a lot has stayed the same.

A couple of months ago I was visiting someone in Virginia, near Harper’s Ferry. We decided to hike on the Appalachian Trail a few times while there, and on one of those trips, we hiked into Harper’s Ferry. A cute little town that caters to through-hikers and tourists alike. Not really related to my story, but it is a great place to visit.

Here’s a look into my typical thought process that no one asked for, and no one wants, but here we are. Kind of like constant squirrel moments that I sometimes act on.

While hiking I started talking about how I had spent a lot of time in the past trying to figure out a way to take time enough time off work to through-hike the trail. It wasn’t intended to happen for a while as I have kids and pets and responsibilities, but it was a fun thought exercise. I started trying to think how to do it again, (I can’t afford to), then thought about working while hiking (not even a possibility, it would take years and the internet isn’t even available on a lot of the trail).

Then I thought it would be fun to stay in different towns along the trail, hiking on weekends, and working during the week. Sounds super appealing and there are sites that cater to people who stay in a place a month or two and then move on, they supply apartments with everything included and short terms. I looked into it, holy crap it’s expensive. Like a pretty big mortgage expensive.

By now my mind was no longer on through-hiking the Appalachian Trail, it was on to traveling the country and staying in each place long enough to explore the area. I have a blog devoted to touristing in Florida (thetouristlifestyle.com) and I had talked about staying in popular towns in Florida long enough to see more sites in the past. So no huge jump. But although I am lucky enough to have a remote job that would allow me the flexibility of working from anywhere with good internet I still kept hitting walls as to how to do it.

But wait. How about I buy a travel trailer and live in it for a year? My adult sons could watch the house and dogs and cats and bunnies (the dogs love the kids more anyways) and I recently sold my car, so a trailer would just replace that payment. My other half has a van that we’ve been working on building in for the past year, he could use it as an office during the day and I could work in the trailer so we could each work in peace.

Sound good? I thought so too so I went and bought a trailer when I got back from Virginia. We got a Thousand Trail subscription, started booking places, and added the final touches to the van (air conditioning). My oldest son’s lease ended in December, so he moved in and we moved out of the house and into the RV on January first. I’m writing this at a picnic table in an RV resort in Crystal River, Florida. We decided to stay in Florida for a couple of months before slowly heading up to Maine. There are a bunch of places around here I’ve been wanting to explore, so here we go.

Does anyone in the world make affordable workout pants with an actual pocket in them big enough for a phone? I used to have yoga pants with a key pocket in them, but I still had to hold my phone if I want to take it to track my runs or just in case of emergency.  Actually, why lie, I just like to track every run, bike ride, and even paddleboarding lately just  because.

Anyways, Level Up VR asked me if I’d like to try a running belt at no cost in exchange for an honest review and I decided it would be fun to try.  I have to admit though, I wasn’t too excited about it because I don’t like wearing anything (besides clothes) I don’t have to, I don’t even wear a watch and only rarely wear jewelry because things on me tend to annoy me. But how are you going to know if you don’t try?  And I COULD use a place to carry things.

I tried it the first time on a run, I just put my phone and a key in the belt. I was a little concerned that the GPS wouldn’t track correct through the water resistant material, but all was good.  As I mentioned, I was concerned about comfort but I actually FORGOT I was wearing it!  That’s just about the definition of comfort if you ask me.

I’ve also worn it hiking and cycling, and although cycling is a completely different  range of movements I again forgot I was wearing it.  That time I tested it’s limits a bit more, I had not only my phone but also a cord and portable charger in the pocket.  I’m not saying I tried playing Pokemon Go with it, I’m just saying if I had it would have worked. And had room to spare.  🙂

One other feature it has that’s pretty nice is a line of lights that you can set to blink slow or fast or just stay on.  I live in an area with a strangely large number of horrible drivers, so an added safety feature like that is always appreciated.

The folks at Level Up were kind enough to give me a 50% off code for anyone interested in purchasing the belt, you can find it on Amazon here and the code is RCE5FGY8. If you try it let me know what you think!

I was just looking back, and it seems I have not been to a Bourbon & Brew Fest.  Highly strange, I love all of Big City Event’s festivals, but it seems this one always came up after I had committed to something else.  Not this year!

This year instead of the traditional festival they are having a bourbon tasting. There will be over 40 kinds of bourbons to try and it’s all in Tampa this Saturday from 5pm – 10pm.

Now I gotta admit I love a really good bourbon over ice, but also flavors amuse me greatly. There will be Jim Beam Maple Whiskey (hell ya!) and this:

Now, I doubt they will have bourbon cream floats at the tasting, but I will be trying the Brown Jug Bourbon Cream no matter what they mix it with. Or don’t mix it with. Enough said.

Besides the opportunity to taste all kinds of bourbon there will, of course, be some brews AND moonshine.

Oh, and don’t forget the music. All country all the time.

So, to be honest I’m not exactly a good ole country girl. Or anything other kind of country. But I love pretty much all live music, and who doesn’t love this?

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLWDxh8NBOo]
I am so going to buy a cowboy hat before Saturday!

Go here for all the important info including prices, what you can and can’t bring and such. The Grand Tasting is at Armature Works on Tampa’s Riverwalk. Have I said enough times yet how much I love Riverwalk?  Probably not.

After you do that, how about a chance to win a pair of General Admission tickets?  Just let me know if you are a year round country fan or a fan of convenience (like me) and if you’ve listened to any of the bands that will be at the tasting!  Also, use the Rafflecopter link so I know who you are:
Enter HERE!!!

I received two VIP tickets to The Bourbon & Brew Grand Tasting 2015 in exchange for writing a review and a giveaway. As always, my opinions are all mine.

I became a vegetarian when I was 17, 28 whole years ago.  Way back then when the dinosaurs were still around the only thing you could find when out to eat was a side salad (iceberg lettuce, 2 cherry tomatoes, croutons, please hold the bacon bits. Um, I said hold the bacon bits…). Fast food joints equaled Taco Bell bean burritos or french fries. They did not do salad.

Back then when I went to McDonald’s and asked for a burger no burger extra veggies 90% of the time I got a blank stare or outright not being nice laughter. Mostly at McDonald’s, still don’t go there anymore. Probably why I still curse too much to this day.

Fast forward to today and I can eat pretty much anywhere besides Cracker Barrel (bacon in the green beans!) or Apple Bees. But as a person who hasn’t ate (eaten? I can’t decide) meat in so long that if I do on accident it’s the equivalent of food poisoning, I sometimes have to ask if there is some kind of meat broth or lard (I love Mexican food) in things and I hate to do it because I don’t want to be a pain.

So you cannot even imagine how excited I was that there were enough vegan restaurants in Asheville to eat at a different one every night of the week.  Not even just vegetarian, vegan!

By far one of the best dining out experiences I have had was at Plant. I decided since I was living large and all that I would go all in and try the raw Lasagna Cruda. I haven’t really tried raw meals before, but all the more reason to try it when someone else is not cooking, right? I only tried it because it was in my I’m-on-vacation-screw-it-I’ll-try-anything mood, but it was one of he most amazing restaurant meals I can even remember. Live herbed almond cheese and kale & pecan pesto almost kept me from trying this, but they ended up being the best part. My definition of restaurant food worth the drive /  money is something that would take me all day to make myself (and still wouldn’t taste as good) and this definitely fit the bill.

Bad picture but it was the kind of place where taking pictures at all seemed kind of over the top. Just trust me.

My partner in crime had the Seitan Chile Co Queso and that was pretty dang amazing too. We actually started the whole thing off with fried plantains drizzled in some undefinable not too hot hot sauce that made me want to eat there every day.

The second night we went to the Laughing Seed Cafe. This was the night after hiking over 8 hours, and in all honesty I think I was leaning against the wall eating half asleep. I took no pictures, ate part of the East West Quesadilla, and basically zombied through what was probably a great meal. All I really remember was they had an amazing bar drink with ginger in it and my partner in crime had a dinner with tofu (neither of our favorites) that was absolutely amazing. Low Country Rollups which was a BBQ sauced wrap that has inspired me to try making something somewhat similar. We shall see.

I don’t know of any restaurants near me like these. There is The Cider Press Cafe out in St. Pete, but it’s fairly far from me so I haven’t tried it yet. Probably eventually.

Do you have any great vegan or vegetarian / vegan restaurants near you? If so where are you, I want to go!

I mentioned yesterday that I am going to be writing all week about my trip to North Carolina last week.  Ya, it was just a weekend trip but lots happened.

As seems to be our way (in spite of not being at ALL morning people) we were up and out before it was officially morning.  Of course the mandatory stop was made for coffee, then we hit the road.  Which happened to be a dark road at that hour so we didn’t see much.

Anyways, about the time we hit Georgia it started to be light enough to read the billboards.  Holy crap, Georgia has a lot of billboards.  Just saying.  And apparently, though there are pictures of peaches everywhere they have NO PEACHES. I don’t care what time of year it is, the one time I’ve ever been in Georgia shouldn’t they have been selling peaches by the roadside?  It could have been canned peaches, I would have been ok with that if they also had can openers. But no.  Then, the welcome center that they had been advertising for about a million miles that I was so looking forward to being welcomed at was closed.  Really?  That’s not very southern hospitable is it?

Sorry, squirrel moment.  Back to the billboards.  Many of them were advertising wineries.  I love wineries!  Too bad it was 9am.  The frog winery (that’s not the exact name, but there was something about a frog in it) didn’t open ’till like 11.  Dang! We saw another billboard for Horse Creek Bistro and Winery and decided to stop whether they were open or not. After all, doesn’t bistro mean food?  And it was breakfast time.

Sadly, it was also closed.  How could it be so hard to find an open winery at 9am? Didn’t anyone care we were on vacation?  Actually, someone did.  A gentleman pulled into the parking lot and invited us in, although they were not officially open for a while.  Since they weren’t open there was no food, but you know what he did offer us?  A wine tasting. Score!  And one of the wines, Traveler, was peach flavored!  Not cloying juicy peach, just a hint and it was wonderful. That man single handedly saved our drive through Georgia.

So, if you happen to be driving up the I75 past exit 41 be certain to stop in and try a sampling.  It was only $5 for 5 samples and a very nice, thick wine glass.  I’ll still break it but it may last a couple of months. Try Traveler and Jockey, they were both wonderful.

We did finally stop and eat actual food in Georgia, at some Mexican food restaurant.  I don’t believe I will ever eat Mexican food in Georgia again.  They didn’t even have peach salsa, which I was just certain they would.  So sad.