
Cold, extremely windy, cloud speckled skies greeted me in, or maybe followed me to, Lovell, Wyoming, my stepping off area to the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. I booked a hotel for two nights, and prayed the weather would cooperate when I would be driving up to the canyon ridge. I woke up to a colder, gray, cloudy morning, which actually turned out to be a good hiking day. The wind had died down a little, but I decided to spend the first day checking out an historic ranch site and hike a canyon that didn’t take me up into…

Have you ever visited a place that is strikingly white everywhere you turn? White Sands National Park in New Mexico is just such a place. But I had the privilege to witness it both in storms and in sun. White Sands National Park was a National Monument for 86 years, and was designated a National Park in 2019. It protects the world’s largest gypsum dune field, with its 275-square-miles of glistening wave-like dunes of white gypsum sand and unique plant and animal life. Interesting that gypsum is actually selenite crystals that have been broken down by wind and weather. Selenite…

My life is exploding with change, a glorious firework of freedom and the unknown in front of me! As I approached the sale of my home in mid July, everything felt just a little bit off, though heading in the right direction. The adventure actually began the week before the closing with a bike trip in the Black Hills of South Dakota. I joined my girls, Joy, Robin and Sarah, on an unforgettable excursion with the plan to bike 109 miles of the George S. Mickelson Trail, beginning in Deadwood. Through planning, we knew the first 16 miles or so…
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