Arkansas has long been one of our favorite states, not least because it’s the home of Philip’s look-alike, Bill Clinton. This trip included time spent in the Ozark Mountains, a multi-state region that includes Arkansas and Missouri. (Ozark also the name of a GREAT show on Netflix, but I digress.) Hawksbill Crag, just outside Ponca, is...
The Lucky Charm continues westward to Kentucky, with two ominous-sounding hiking obstacles in two different locations. This state clearly favors skinny people, with two separate narrow hiking passes: Fat Man’s Squeeze and Fat Man’s Pass. Our first destination was Natural Bridge State Resort Park in the Red River Gorge area. The Natural...
Heading southward through Ohio, we encountered a series of things that could only be described as “ODD”! A seven-story building that ants would love, the old prison where a popular 1994 movie was filmed, a museum devoted to a common office supply item, and a mysterious flying creature wreaking havok in a small town …. all so very odd...
Cuyahoga Valley, Cleveland, and Canton kept us rockin’ and rollin’ through the Labor Day weekend with beloved visitors, daughter Sarah and son-in-law Sean. Rockin’ on a train and at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, and rollin’ on a bike ride through Cuyahoga Valley National Park, to be specific! Cuyahoga Valley is a strange little National...
Pennsylvania: Our scant 48 hours on the edge of the Allegheny National Forest found us in Bradford, an industrial city where the world-famous Zippo Lighters and Case Knives are manufactured. The Case/Zippo Museum is reached via a drive with fourteen huge Zippo lighter streetlights leading to the building. Over the entrance, a 40-foot lighter and huge three...
Leaving New Hampshire, the Lucky Charm headed to Watkins Glen, New York, and its gorgeous gorges! Even better, we had a visit from family … daughter Kelsey came to play! This is the land of gorges, and waterfalls, and sloping shorelines, and luscious rolling farm fields cascading down to a series of lakes called the Finger Lakes. The Finger...
There is no better place to “Live Free” than New Hampshire’s White Mountains, with soaring mountain ranges, glacier-carved valleys, lakes and rivers, and natural attractions galore. This is the “best of the best” of New Hampshire! We visited two of the beautiful “notches” (deep narrow valleys through the mountain ranges) in this area, Crawford Notch and...
Ahhhh, Portland Maine: a whirlwind of savoring all the city had to offer (A LOT), thanks in large part to Phoenix-expat-and-now-Portland-resident-friend Sue, who took multiple days to welcome us and direct us to all the good stuff! What can you expect in Portland, Maine? +++++++++++++++++ Iconic Lighthouses by the Dozen Portland Head Light, Maine’s...
Middle of summer, middle of this trip, middle of Maine! “Midcoast Maine” is consistently listed as a Top Ten Destination in travel guides and websites. It’s a conglomeration of rugged, rocky coasts, picturesque fishing harbors, and marinas stuffed with pleasure boats and sailing schooners. Here is a photo journey through some of our favorite...
Ahhhhhhcadia National Park … a Lucky Charm bucket-list destination since Day One! Acadia was the first National Park created east of the Mississippi, and so so so very different from Western NP’s, with its rugged precipices along the Atlantic coastline, cobble beaches, and salty sea air. We’ve been practicing “vertical...