Thankful Me

  "Petrified Forest National Park" states the sign in the parking lot of the visitor's center My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. The name of Petrified Forest National Park gives away its main attraction: the acres upon acres of fossilized logs, remnants of an ancient forest. From the visitor's center, a short trail leads guests on a path to some of the biggest trees. One of the logs has been named "Old Faithful," because it is to Petrified National Park what the Old Faithful geyser is to Yellowstone National Park. Albert Einstein and his wife had their photo taken in front of the petrified Old Faithful in 1931, and the park encourages visitors now to snap a selfie at the same location. My husband John and I stand in front of the 35-foot-long "Old Faithful," a pe...

  Ferns and tall evergreen trees line a creek in Olympic National Park My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Olympic National Park in Washington. Having grown up on the western side of Oregon, lush green moderate climates always make me feel at home, and the damp Olympic National Park is no exception. Although visiting a temperate rain forest sounds exotic, my daughter learned (to her disappointment decades ago) that monkeys and parrots do not make the Olympic National Park their home. However, quite a few Roosevelt elk, North America's largest type of elk, reside in the Olympic National Park. A couple of large Roosevelt elk stand among the ferns and trees Not only are the elk large there, but some of the world's largest trees are found in the Olympic National Park.  My husband stands at the base of the world's largest spruce tree. ...

  A green roadside sign reads "Entering Navajo Nation." An advertising sign next to it says, "Indian Ruins Tillamook Milkshakes 1 Mile." (Having grown up in Oregon, the Tillamook reference makes me smile, as Tillamook is certainly not located in the Navajo Nation. Tillamook does, however, make good ice cream!) My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures—some pre-retirement, some post. Today’s location: Navajo Nation.   The first tribal park we stopped at was one that checked off a bucket-list item that I had had since childhood—well before the phrase “bucket-list” was even coined: Four Corners Monument Navajo Tribal Park. Four Corners is just as described: the place where the four corners of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. Who says that I can’t be two (or four!) places at once! The April day we visited was windy and cold, but probably kept the crowds down and made it...

The minaret at the Hassan II Mosque is decorated with green tiles My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures—some pre-retirement, some post. Today’s location: Morocco.  After a transatlantic cruise, our flight back to the United States from Barcelona had an 18-hour layover in Casablanca. We were flying on Royal Air Maroc, and I had seen online that the airline would provide lodging for long layovers. We decided to believe that, and so we went to Morocco without a hotel reservation. Sure enough, the airline did give us a hotel voucher, and provided transportation to the hotel as well. Had it not worked out, we would have figured something out (maybe sleeping in the airport?) but we were sure glad the airline made the arrangements for us. Our 18-hour layover actually became a 19-hour layover, because we just happened to arrive the night before the clocks turned back an hour. Although Morocco does not ...

  La Sagrada Familia (still unfinished) stands behind a pond in Barcelona, Spain My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: La Sagrada Familia, in Barcelona, Spain. (Yes, I realize that using this for "L" is the same as using anything with the word "the" in front of it for "T," but I'm claiming writer's prerogative. Besides, La Sagrada Familia is really cool!) We took a cruise that ended in Barcelona, Spain, and we had some time between disembarkation and needing to get to the airport, so we took a cab to go see La Sagrada Familia, the basilica that Antoni Gaudi poured his heart and soul into designing. (Fortunately we had read to buy tickets online ahead of time, as entrance at the door is not guaranteed without advance tickets.) Construction started in 1882 and, according to our guide, will be finished in eigh...

  The view from a car driving along Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys: the road disappears on the horizon, and water is on both sides of the road My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: the [Florida] Keys. Driving the Florida Keys was something I had wanted to do since childhood. I don't remember exactly where I first heard about the Overseas Highway--perhaps in a Childcraft Encyclopedia or in the Weekly Reader--but the idea of a highway going over water intrigued me. I was curious if the actual experience would match with my mental image. The answer was, yes, at least for the span of the Seven Mile Bridge. The highway goes through the keys (islands) as well, so that part of the drive seems like any other road on land.  We started our trip down the keys with a snorkeling trip off of Key Largo with Silent World Dive Center . I would defin...