Tag: adventure

adventure in the Kentucky bend

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Summer was over.  Our carefree days were about to end.  Soon all of the busyness of the season would return.  School, sports, activities, meetings; all would fill our days.  But we had time for one last road trip.  One last trip to explore and discover.  One last trip together with no need to rush.

We choose one of the most out of the way places we could find for our adventure.  A place so difficult to  get to that it is isolated from its own state and, as of the 2000 census, only has 17 people living in it.  This area is called Kentucky Bend and, while it is part of Kentucky, it does not touch Kentucky at all and the only way to enter it is by one rural road.

The bend is a notch that was created from a tight loop of the Mississippi River which surrounds three sides of the bend.  The bend is tucked entirely into Missouri except for the bottom, which is connected to Tennessee and the only way into the area.  Not a single part of the Kentucky Bend actually touches Kentucky!

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fall in the adirondacks

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 The past couple weeks have been beautiful in Tennessee!  Sunny and warm with beautiful colors.  It’s amazing how you can see the color of the trees change day to day!  I was reminded of a post I wrote a few years ago about fall in my favorite place- the Adirondacks.  It is below.

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the loneliest place in new jersey

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Our destination was Cape May. With its Victorian homes, seafood, long stretches of beaches, and lots and lots of people; it’s hard to get more New Jersey than Cape May. But our first stop was a place that was quite the opposite: quiet and abandoned and lonely. The town was Shell Pile, NJ.

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the road trip…with kids…and two run ins with the police

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The road trip. It’s everyone’s dream; a topic of movies and songs and books. A summer must-do. We all have such a romantic view of it. Driving down back roads to never-before seen sights, singing your favorite songs, meeting new people, and trying the local food- what can be better?

But, reality is often very different! Especially with kids!

I had to go back to New Jersey for a few days. My husband stayed home, so it was just me and my three youngest kids (my oldest son was at camp). A road trip to New Jersey! This could be fun…well, define “fun”.

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moving to nashville

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It was time for a change; something different. It’s so easy to get stuck in a rut, letting life go by doing the same things in the same place. It was time to break free.

So we have moved to Nashville! It’s the result of a year plus of research and planning. It should just be a better quality of life all around.

But moving is never easy! It can be a pain and has definitely been for us. We’re more or less settled in now, or at least as much as you can be in a tiny apartment (our house hasn’t sold yet- know anyone who wants a great house in N NJ?). It’s what happened leading up to the move that was…um…an adventure.
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the polar vortex vs spring

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Hope was in the air this weekend!  You could feel it, hope that this winter might actually come to an end. 

Today I went for a run.  Sunny and 50 degrees felt amazing after so many weeks of freezing temperatures.  It has been a long time since I have run outside.  Cold, snow, and salted roads make it difficult.  But today I got outside.  No hat or gloves; nothing more than a pair of running pants and a shirt.

I ran on roads gray and slippery with salt.  The snow, despite 4 days above freezing, is still over a foot deep, but there was still a feel of spring.  A hope that, soon, things will change.  The sun shone brightly and as I ran I tipped my face towards it, loving the feel of warmth on my face.  Such a foreign feeling!  Birds flew overhead, a groundhog hopped about the snow, and I even saw a bug.  I ran so happy, feeling as though I had just been released from a prison.  Spring!  I remember you!

But, it’s come to an end. Continue reading “the polar vortex vs spring” →

what do totem poles and cat statues and dragons have to do with the amish?

Posted in Home, PennsylvaniaTagged , , , , , , 3 Comments

“I am not a tourist”.  This is my main statement in the About section of this blog.  I prefer to dig deep and really get to know a location.  Look beyond the chain restaurants and gift shops that pop up in well traveled places.  Travel to any natural wonder in America and next to it you’ll find mini golf and go carts and ice cream stands.  It’s as if the beauty of the Grand Canyon is not enough.  We need man-made forced fun to truly be entertained.
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Yet no place is more bizarre to me in its relationship with tourism than Lancaster, PA…Amish Country. 
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the indian cave

Posted in About, New JerseyTagged , , , , , , 3 Comments

In the early 1900’s archaeologists surveyed a small cave known as the Fairy Hole.  In it they found pottery pieces, flint, and arrow heads; evidence that the cave was once used by the Lenape Indians.  The Lenape were the native people who lived in Northwest New Jersey.  The cave is thought to have been used as a resting spot for the Lenape as they traveled or hunted.  It is also in close proximity to several burial sites, so it could also have been a religiously important site. Continue reading “the indian cave” →

back to reality or (I hope) how to avoid it

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Well, it’s Monday and it’s truly back to reality.  The holidays and vacation are over.  This year they seemed to stretch out forever thanks to a longer than usual break from school, vacation days, and a snowstorm. Winter Storm Hercules.  That was the name given to Friday’s storm.  It left our world covered in a blanket of white and, by Saturday, the sun was glistening off the snow like a thousand diamonds.    The sky was a crystal clear blue; the kind of clear that you can only get on cold winter days and the picture it created was a whitewashed world where anything is possible.  I was ready to move into 2014 holding onto that viewpoint.  Yes 2014 will contain many highs and lows, things that I cannot even imagine right now, but the blank clean slate before me held the magic of possibility.

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But today rain has washed away the snow and the promise of the coldest temperatures in decades has everyone talking.  Continue reading “back to reality or (I hope) how to avoid it” →

adventure on snake hill

Posted in Home, New JerseyTagged , , , , , , , 2 Comments

The space between Christmas and New Years was gloriously empty! Nothing on the calendar, just empty days waiting to be filled.  So I decided it was time to take the kids on a little adventure.   But, our outing ended up with a little more adventure than I attended it to!

Secaucus, New Jersey.  Located in Hudson County just miles from New York City, it’s not exactly the wilderness.  Yet it is located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, a large area of wetlands.  Our destination was not the marshes that surrounded the town nor one of the factories that we passed.  Our destination was Snake Hill (aka Laurel Hill or Graffiti Hill or Fraternity Rock), a massive hill of diabase rock jutting 150 feet into the sky from the banks of the Hackensack River.  It’s a familiar sight to anyone who travels the NJ turnpike as it protrudes out over the eastern spur of the turnpike.

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