As most of you know, I am on a National Park hunt, and as I am moving about the country, I am finding exceptional historic parks and monuments under the National Park Service. One of them is the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park, a group of four missions built by the Spanish in the 1700s with labor from Indigenous South Texans. They also constructed a fifth mission, which is in the middle of downtown San Antonio that is not part of the National Park. We know this one as the Alamo. It is a privilege to be walking through…

Louisiana. Where do I start with my adventure to Louisiana? I guess my adventure started with researching National Parks in the state. Did you know there is a National Park and National Park Visitor Center in the French Quarter in New Orleans? The French Quarter, and the Mardi Gras, has always intrigued me, but I had only seen it in movies or shows. The architecture, and street musicians, and jazz, and art, and horse drawn carriages… And the cemeteries… I had to go, though I missed Mardi Gras by a couple of weeks. I’m really glad I went, but honestly,…

And the journey begins. I left Minnesota just over a week ago and, honestly, I don’t miss the cold at all!! Though the variety of weather I experienced the month I was there was a typical Minnesota winter/spring – about 19 below when I arrived to nearly 50 degrees about three weeks later, to a snow storm about 4 days before I left. Weather was neurotic! My first destination was Missouri, where I spent a few days with my high school friend, Laurie. She has a small homestead in the Ozarks in southern Missouri near the Arkansas border where she…

While visiting Big Cypress National Preserve I got lost in the woods. Figuratively. I found out about Big Cypress while at Biscayne National Park and decided I had to visit before I headed back to Orlando. It was going to be a quick visit, so I decided to drive the 24-mile loop road, stopping just at places of interest. Two hours later, I wasn’t even half way. There was too many things to stop and see! I got lost in the woods! One of my first stops I was the only vehicle in site either direction. Stepping from the car,…

What is it about water that draws a man? (Man meaning human.) I once created a book ruminating on that question for my mother-in-law who lived on a lake. It is a question with as many unique answers as there are humans. For me, the answer is simple: freedom, sustenance and support. There is a freedom I feel when in the water, freedom of movement, and freedom from stress. And the whole body gentle pressure seems to align everything. Then there is the sustenance, not only for the physical need of water, but also the power of its beauty and…

I never imagined I would end up having lunch with horses. I mean, I didn’t get up that morning thinking I would be eating with them. Packing my backpack to catch the ferry to Cumberland Island National Seashore I was hoping to see them, but who would have thought? I had been trying to visit Cumberland Island for the last couple of months, but during the government shutdown in November the ferry to the island, as well as the visitor center, was shut down. I finally made it the weekend after Christmas. The fog and mist formed an envelope around…