Hey everybody 👋 this is the second post about our 17 days in the Brookwood village in Surrey. Picked up two 'blind date' books at the Paper Moon bookshop in Guildford and went to Stoke Park where I got to jump right in. I cannot say enough good things about Kristin Hannah's story telling. This was a very engaging book about one family'...

This is a focus post about Painshill landscape garden. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 The Painshill 18th century landscape garden was created between 1738 and 1773, by the Hon. Charles Hamilton. Inspired by landscape paintings and his Grand Tours across Europe, he created a sequence of breathtaking and surprising...

Hey everybody 👋 we hope you are staying cool, avoiding fire smoke, and enjoying your summer, wherever you are. We drove east from Pylle to Surrey (about 30 miles west of London) on July 11th. 🚙 You could see Stonehenge from the motorway but we didn't stop as we had a trip planned there a few weeks later. 🗓 We stayed in Guildford for a ...

Hey everybody, we made it back to England. 🏴 We arrived in London on July 3rd and spent the night at an airport hotel to get acclimated. We picked up this cute Mini and headed 2 hours west to Somerset to reunite with Lara and Alfie (Welsh Springer Spaniels) in their 500+ year old stone home. We sat for them last August and were excited...

Hey everybody 👋 This is a short post about several visits at the end of June. We feel so lucky to have you all in our lives so thank you for making time for us (even if it is short). ❤ We left Detroit on 6/24 and flew to Philadelphia (state 1). We stayed a few days for me to do some genealogical research on my father's mother's family....

This is a focus post about a visit to the Muskegon Museum of Art on 6/23, the Detroit Institute of Art on 6/24, and the Josephine Ford Sculpture Garden on 6/24. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 Twister Again by Alice Aycock (inspired by ‘Tornado Over Kansas,’ by John Steuart Curry) Tornado Over Kansas by John Steua...

Hey everybody 👋 I am waaaaay behind on posting so am just gonna include photos in this one. This is a focus post about our visit to the Dale Chihuly show at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids on 6/22. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. Baskets Venetians Persians Ikebana Glass on Glass Seaforms Fax Wall 📠 Orange Hornet Chan...

This is Part Two of our week in Muskegon. We saw the collegiate league Clippers play ball on June 20th at historic Marsh Field. ⚾ The next day was gorgeous so we were back at the beach. 🏖 We took a drive north of Muskegon along the coast. 🚙 Chris and Wayne stopped by Lori's house on their back from Manistee to their home in Battle Cree...

Hey everybody 👋 We drove to Hastings, Nebraska on 6/11 to celebrate Steve's mom's life with family and friends (she passed away last December). I was honored to have her in my life for 40 years. Most of it was from afar so we talked on the phone often. This is one of my favorite photos of her. Miss you M! ❤ Got to catch up with Amy S ....

We made it back to LAX on June 1st. We took our customary walk over to In-N-Out to see the planes land and have a bite. 🍔 After a few days adjusting, we drove out to Indio to see our friend, Chris. So dry and hot! 🥵 We had a good tour of the La Quinta museum. 🖼 Saw some classic Dorothea Lange photos. 📸 Had to get over to Shield's for d...

We headed back to Melbourne from Adelaide on May 27th and took 3 days to drive along the coast. Part of the journey was along the Great Ocean Road. 🚙 We stopped first at Mount Lofty just outside Adelaide. As we rounded the corner up in the hills, the fog descended. We took a short hike to experience it. 🥾 The fall colors were still the...

Hey everybody, I am waaaaay behind on blog posts. Today is June 18th and we are back in the US (Muskegon, MI right now) but this is from a visit while we were in Adelaide in late May. It is a focus post about our visit to the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA). If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 The Life of Stars,...

This is a focus post about the aboriginal art galleries at the SA Museum. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 The South Australian Museum is responsible for the largest and most comprehensive collection of Australian Aboriginal cultural material in the world, and works with Aboriginal people to bring the collection's ...

More about our stay in Adelaide ... We enjoyed an interesting mass transit option during our stay - the O-Bahn. 🚐 The O-Bahn Busway is a guided busway that is part of the bus rapid transit system servicing the northeastern suburbs of Adelaide. The O-Bahn system was conceived by Daimler-Benz to enable buses to avoid traffic congestion b...

Forgot to send this one before the Adelaide posts - we stayed in Hahndorf on May 17th. We arrived on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and could not believe how many people were there! Most of them were on their way home by 6pm so we had more of it to ourselves by the time we left on Monday. It was definitely a weekend getaway for many in t...

We left Che in Seville on may 16th and made our way northeast to Adelaide (stopped in Horsham for a night). 🚙 From Experience Adelaide: Originally called Tarntanya (red kangaroo place) by the Kaurna people, the original custodians of the land, Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia (approximately 1.3 million people) and was fi...

This is a focus post about the Healesville Sanctuary near Seville, Victoria. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 We took a guided tour to learn more about their rehabilitation and conservation efforts. So many new friends to make! We became members and visited twice but there was still more to see. 👀 Hello ibis (aka b...

We were in our final week of pet sitting with Che so we took in more local sights. Those eucalyptus trees .... man ..... 💪 More roos out at dusk on our Mt Lofty hike. 🥾 Saw a wombat (aka ground koala (aka tree wombat))! Terrible photo so added a stock one too (looked freshly bathed in the stock photo). 🤩 More roos at the golf course ne...

More fall gardens! We were greeted by enormous gum/eucalyptus at Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden. 🪾 Native rhododendron in bloom. ⁕ The jewel of the visit was the replica of London's 2013 Chelsea Flower Show winner, the Australian Native Garden. The Chelsea Australian Native Garden was the first ever Australian entry to win the prestig...

Hey everybody, I am sending this on 5/10 in the US so Happy Mother's Day to all those celebrate - hope you have a wonderful day! 🤗 Thank you for following our travels. We have been so damn lucky over the last three years and it has been wonderful to see many of you along the way. We miss Boulder and our friends & family very much but w...

This is a SHORT focus post about a small art exhibit we saw in Warburton. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 Ali Griffin is a multidisciplinary artist based on Wurundjeri Country in Victoria, Australia. With over two decades of experience in advertising and design, she adeptly translates complex briefs into compellin...

Hey everybody 👋 We had a rainy day so decided to go to the movies. It was early on a Saturday so chose The Magic Faraway Tree just for fun. It was entertaining and watching it with a theater full of young children really made it special. Their laughter added to the whole experience so I highly recommend seeing it in a similar manner if...

Hey everybody 👋 You probably already knew this but I did not - Australia has six states and several territories (only the Northern Territory shown here). Our visits in April - May were limited to Victoria and South Australia. We left the pet sit in Frankston South on April 18th and drove north a few hours to Seville (stress on first sy...

This is a focus post about the McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery near Frankston. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 We enjoyed a lovely day at this sculpture park which included over 100 pieces. Tree of Life by Phil Price 2012 This was our favorite - it was 10m / 33ft tall and moved so well on the breezy day we wer...

This is a focus post about the Australian Sand Sculpting Championships. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 The rules of the competition and it was more carving than building a sand sculpture. I thought that I took photos of each sculpture's description but I didn't so I can't offer more than photos in this post. They...

We left Melbourne on April 10th and picked up a rental car to drive to a pet sit in Frankston South (house in red circle). We watched Frankie (dog) and Tinka (cat) while their family went on holiday to Lord Howe Island. 🏝 Tinka loved the sun and Frankie was more of a loner who enjoyed her crate time. 👋 Our hosts left us a snack basket ...

This is a focus post about a street art tour. If that doesn't sound interesting, I would skip it. 👋 We booked 'An Insider's Walk' street art tour with David as our guide: Melbourne reveals itself differently when you walk with an artist. David sees layers where others see surfaces – stories imprinted in bluestone, centuries buried bene...

This is the second and final post about our trip to Melbourne. 🇦🇺 We checked out Pan Asia night at the Queen Victoria Market on April 8th. 👀 This dad was warming up the dance floor. 🕺🏻 The Melbourne Comedy Festival was in full swing and we got some tickets to see Kitty Flanagan. We enjoyed her on the law office sitcom (Fisk). The stand...

🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 🇦🇺 We flew from Auckland to Melbourne / Naarm on Saturday April 4th. The state of Victoria had made mass transit free (due to high gas prices) so many folks decided to enjoy the city for the school holidays (the first 2 weeks of April). 🚊 We enjoyed a lovely lunch along the Yarra River on Easter Sunday. ⛱ Funny story ...

We flew from Nelson to Wellington and then had a bumpy ride into New Plymouth. Always happy to see the black sand beach and our favorite bike bridge. 🤩 Susan and Brent hosted us (and their friends Cathy and Fred) for a delicious dinner. Susan was holding Lola who was part crocodile. Snap! 🐊 Sweet Daisy was much more friendly. 🐾 A beaut...