Plane, Train, Automobile, or Armchair

Is your soul filled with wanderlust?  Are you most content at home?  Do you travel the world?  Do local experiences give you what you need?  Does your mind do the wandering for you, across photos, books, websites, stories read and heard?

Me?  I'm not a big traveller, though I did journey out of the area more before having kidlets.  I married a homebody who is quite content to enjoy the nest.  And while we (or I) still take some jaunts around California, traveling isn't something we're partaking a whole lot in right now.

Thankfully, my Four Musketeers and especially my brother, like to travel and fill my head with their out of area adventures.  Wanderlust and my brother are very well acquainted with each other.  Sometime back I shared just a bit from his summer trek up to Mt. Everest Base Camp and if I can convince him to let me, I'd love to share some of his other travels across the continents.

In the meantime, in addition to the well travelled loved ones in my life, guess where I've turned to, filling my eyes with magical locales and destinations?  If you said that place where many of us just can't stop clicking 'See More Pins' one more time, Pinterest, you hit the mark.

I keep two boards primarily geared towards this new armchair travelling:  Dreamy Destinations and Favorite Places and Spaces.  The first are places that peak my interest or are simply beautiful; the second, are places or approximations of spaces I've been.

These boards actually began as something else entirely.  They began as visual inspiration to use when I write, fiction and/or memoir.  Having a photograph to spark a memory or as a jumping point for a scene can put an entirely different spin on words click clacked out across the keyboard.

And now?  I use my boards for both writing inspiration and the ever fabulous, entirely inexpensive armchair travelling.  One of these days, I'll get to some of the destinations on my list, but in the meantime, just one more reason to read tales in exotic locales, wander the web, listen to friends' adventures, and keep pinning!

When Julia travels to Burma to search for her missing lawyer father, she discovers much more than she expected. Join From Left to Write on February 1 and read posts inspired by the book,  The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker.


As a member of From Left to Write, I received a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

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#iPPP - Who's Tower Is It?

Give my brother a couple of free airline tickets and he's off...most recently, to Chicago.  He emailed me a pic that he took with his iPhone of the Water Tower.

Actually, he emailed his niece, my daughter, the picture because it reminded him of Rapunzel's tower from the movie Tangled.

She looked at it. Turned her head to the side a bit. And I asked her if it looked her current favorite princess' tower.

She shook her head.

She's an incredibly specific child.

I turned it upside down, so it would be fat at the top, skinny on the bottom - like Rapunzel's tower - to see if that helped.

Still shaking her head. She disappeared for a minute and came back carrying the movie cover to school her ol' Mom on what Rapunzel's tower really looks like. When school was over, she told me it's not the tower, but she still liked it.

Truthfully, I think she'd like anything from her favorite uncle!




Though I finally have my own fancy schmancy smartphone, I couldn't resist sharing the imaginations of a fun loving uncle and his niece...and it was actually taken with an iPhone making it a perfect chance to finally link up with #iPPP for the first time! :>

Also linking up with some rockin' awesome Wordful/ish Wednesday peeps!  Seven Clown Circus, Parenting by Dummies, Project Alicia, Live and Love...Out Loud, Angry Julie Monday

I {heart} Fort Bragg: SITS Day Two

Its Day Two of SITS Back 2 Blogging event and today, we've been asked to "Re-upload a post you wish more people had read and explain why it was important to you."  

I wrote & posted Where I Wish I Was in June, 2009 when my blog was quite the youngin' at a whopping four months of age.  At that time, I was predominantly posting papercrafts, specifically, stamped cards.  So, this was one of the few non crafty posts that I had shared at that point.

Why is it important to me?  Fort Bragg is somewhere I love to go.  In fact, there is NO WHERE that I relax quite as fast as I do when Hubby & I drive into town.  Hubby & I have celebrated most of our anniversaries there.  Many bits of our wonderful Fort Bragg anniversaries remind us of our fantastic honeymoon in Seattle, Friday Harbor, Victoria & Vancouver.

Hope you enjoy taking a quick blogging trip to Fort Bragg with me as I stroll down memory lane! :>

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Every year for our anniversary, hubby and I take off to Fort Bragg on the northern California coast. We absolutely love it there. I'm one of those people that has a hard time shutting off my brain and whenever I arrive in Fort Bragg, it always amazes me just how quickly I completely let go and relax! But, can you blame me?

This is the view, looking to the left, from the deck off of our room at the Beachcomber Motel. Sigh. Gorgeous panoramic views, fresh ocean air, and sleeping with the door partially open at night (yes, there's a security bar!)....its like heaven, to me.

Thanks to this lovely economy that so many of us are experiencing right now, we have made the decision to not go this year. Booooo!! Boooo!! The pricey projects around the house that need to be done will thank us for the decision, but I'm not too thrilled about being a responsible grown up right about now. Hmph! Thank you for indulging me in my pout for just a moment. Now, I'll move on! :>

I love this large single tree that I always watch (and take a gazillion pictures of every year) the sun slowly set behind. Each year we come back we always notice which limbs have crashed down below. These pics are from our 2007 trip. Somehow I forgot my camera in 2008 and so the only pics I have are from a disposable and are not on the computer.

In 2007, we lost our sitter, my Mom, at the last minute due to a family gathering and so we brought the kidlets with us and made it into a little family vacation. Consequently, we altered some of our activities that we usually do to accommodate young kidlets interests and patience levels.

Each year we gallery hop through Fort Bragg and Mendocino in search of a new piece of original art to give as our anniversary gift to each other. That particular year, we knew the kids would not be up to a long gallery hop, so we only visited about four or five. We also took them to the toy store, an ice cream cone after dinner, and a walk through town to eat it.

In the morning, after breakfast, we took the kidlets to what is always our last stop on the Sunday of our annual trip, Glass Beach. Our son had a blast climbing the rocks, checking out the sea critters, and looking for drift wood, cool rocks, and sea glass. While the larger pieces of glass have all been picked over through the years, there is a ton of little colorful pieces of ocean washed and smoothed glass all over the beach. And when the tide is out, there are great tide pools.....lots of sea weed to walk through, but wonderful treasures to look at!

You can see sea anemones, mussels, limpets, jelly fish, and a crab or two. Do you see him? If you can't, enlarge the pic by clicking on it. Say "Hi, Mr.Crab!!"

What? Are you coming to see us? Coming to say 'hello'? Hi Mr.Crab! Come closer, I want a better picture...please? Oh no, after this pic, he'd had enough and quickly scurried below the water.

Fort Bragg, Mendocino, and most of the northern California coastline is just a dream and I feel fortunate to live so close by. I know we'll make it out to the coast a few times this year and I really look forward to our next trip to Fort Bragg. Where are you looking forward to visiting soon?

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Some thanks to shout out to Standards of Excellence, Westar Kitchen and Bath, and Florida Builder Appliances for sponsoring the Back 2 Blogging event put on by SITS!  And of course, Electrolux's Thelma & Louise are mighty beauties that will go to a blogger participating in this event! :>

So, over a year later, into fall rather than summer, I still ask again, where are you looking forward to visiting soon?

At home, I'm looking forward to visiting with family and friends who will be visiting two weekends in a row for a kidlet's birthday.  And after that, I'm looking forward to visiting my friend Jenn to celebrate her birthday! 

Your turn!  Looking forward to hearing what's coming up for you! :>

Mt. Everest {Hello}

"He's here! He's here!! HE'S HERE!!!!" the kidlets cried out while jumping up and down when the doorbell rang.

It was my brother, stopping by to say 'hi' a few days after returning from his summer trek. He's one who loves to travel and hearing his stories & seeing his pictures lets me travel to distant lands vicariously.

Sooo...where was he off to this summer??

China.  Nepal.  Everest.

Gokyo Lake

After flying into Shanghai, China, seeing some old friends (from when he used to live there), he took a thirty hour train ride to Chengdu, China, then on to Kathmandu, Nepal and after a week there, he flew to Lukla to begin the three week trek to the Mt. Everest Base Camp.

He mentioned that its a twelve day trek, but he and his guide stopped in villages along the way to spend time with locals....I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of those stories when we can spend more time together.

Gorak Shep

This is the last stop before continuing on to Everest Base Camp.  Wave 'Hi' to the clouds!

Mt. Everest Base Camp

Despite the shape of his feet upon arrival (and yes, you're glad I'm not posting that picture!!!), he made it and enjoyed the journey, the experience, the beauty of the environment around him, and the once in a lifetime opportunity!

I'm really looking forward to hearing more of his tales as I know he has many more to share with us.

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Because its (almost!) Friday and because this visit from my baby brother, after his summer trek, was Fabulous, and because I giggled out loud when I read her blog for the first time, I'm linking up!






And of course, its always fun to meet new peeps & make new friends (Watch out! I'm about two seconds from busting out some Girl Scout songs now....Make new friends, but keep the old, One is silver and the other gold......I warned ya!! :>)





 

Where I Wish I Was!

Every year for our anniversary, hubby and I take off to Fort Bragg on the northern California coast. We absolutely love it there. I'm one of those people that has a hard time shutting off my brain and whenever I arrive in Fort Bragg, it always amazes me just how quickly I completely let go and relax! But, can you blame me? This is the view, looking to the left, from the deck off of our room at the Beachcomber Motel. Sigh. Gorgeous panoramic views, fresh ocean air, and sleeping with the door partially open at night (yes, there's a security bar!)....its like heaven, to me.

Thanks to this lovely economy that so many of us are experiencing right now, we have made the decision to not go this year. Booooo!! Boooo!! The pricey projects around the house that need to be done will thank us for the decision, but I'm not too thrilled about being a responsible grown up right about now. Hmph! Thank you for indulging me in my pout for just a moment. Now, I'll move on! :>

I love this large single tree that I always watch (and take a gazillion pictures of every year) the sun slowly set behind. Each year we come back we always notice which limbs have crashed down below. These pics are from our 2007 trip. Somehow I forgot my camera in 2008 and so the only pics I have are from a disposable and are not on the computer.

In 2007, we lost our sitter, my Mom, at the last minute due to a family gathering and so we brought the kidlets with us and made it into a little family vacation. Consequently, we altered some of our activities that we usually do to accommodate young kidlets interests and patience levels. Each year we gallery hop through Fort Bragg and Mendocino in search of a new piece of original art to give as our anniversary gift to each other. That particular year, we knew the kids would not be up to a long gallery hop, so we only visited about four or five. We also took them to the toy store, an ice cream cone after dinner, and a walk through town to eat it.

In the morning, after breakfast, we took the kidlets to what is always our last stop on the Sunday of our annual trip, Glass Beach. Our son had a blast climbing the rocks, checking out the sea critters, and looking for drift wood, cool rocks, and sea glass. While the larger pieces of glass from the old closed glass factory nearby have all been picked over through the years, there is a ton of little colorful pieces of ocean washed and smoothed glass all over the beach. And when the tide is out, there are great tide pools.....lots of sea weed to walk through, but wonderful treasures to look at!

You can see sea anemones, mussels, limpets, jelly fish, and a crab or two. Do you see him? If you can't, enlarge the pic by clicking on it. Say "Hi, Mr.Crab!!"

What? Are you coming to see us? Coming to say 'hello'? Hi Mr.Crab! Come closer, I want a better picture...please? Oh no, after this pic, he'd had enough and quickly scurried below the water.

Fort Bragg, Mendocino, and most of the northern California coastline is just a dream and I feel fortunate to live so close by. I know we'll make it out to the coast a few times this year and I really look forward to our next trip to Fort Bragg. Where are you looking forward to visiting soon?