Americans are sooooo stressed out these days. Yeah, things are kind of tough. So let’s take a moment to meditate on some peaceful scenes of our beautiful country.
Tag Archive 'Wisconsin'
Wisconsin Lakes: Your Results May Vary
Posted in Outdoors on Feb 1st, 2010
A few months ago, our new BFF Chris Brown looked at some old travel ads I posted and wondered, “Who counted all these lakes in Wisconsin and Michigan? This was three years before the first satellite was launched, how can they be so precise with those lake numbers? And even if they are sure, [...]
Travelers Roasting by an Open Fire
Posted in Accommodations on Dec 10th, 2009
I’m a big fan of the fireplace. If my hotel room has a fireplace, I make time to sit in front of it no matter how much seeing and doing I’ve done all day. Forget Jacuzzi tubs. They take forever to fill and sound like an idling jet-engine. Go for the fireplace instead.
When I travel [...]
Handmade in the United States: A Gift Guide (From MT to WY)
Posted in Uncategorized on Dec 8th, 2009
You still haven’t finished your shopping?* What am I going to do with you? Well, get to it. Here, handmade goods from or about or somehow just having to do with states from Montana on through to Wyoming. (Hankering for the AL to MO set? I got your back.)
Montana: Hmmm, I may need to read [...]
A Fresh Take on U.S. Travel
Posted in Uncategorized on Nov 24th, 2009
Some days, it feels like we’re all overthinking travel. So, with my nieces in town for Thanksgiving, I decided to get nine-year-old S.’s fresher-than-most (in several different yet usually charming ways) and back-to-basics take on travel in the U.S. Her sister, six-year-old J., was kind enough to contribute the artwork. She was paid in pretzels.
So, [...]
Vintage Americana (The Drinking Kind)
Posted in Dining on Nov 2nd, 2009
Flyover America is getting ever-so ever-so with the wine. Wineries are as ubiquitous as spas these days across the country. They’re in the most unexpected places.
Texas is the fifth largest wine producer in the country. Close to my home, Grapevine, Texas has eight wineries. They’re all over the Hill Country. I’ve done a Lubbock wine [...]
I’m an artsy-craftsy kind of person. I like to knit and sew and if you sit me down at a table with crafting supplies, I can usually come up with something. And around this time of year, I tend to spend a lot of time crafting this or that, to give as gifts.
Sure wish I [...]
Autumn in Wisconsin
Posted in Outdoors on Oct 22nd, 2009
I’ve been goofing around in Door County, Wisconsin this week, getting a good dose of autumn everything—colors, weather, pumpkins, apples, autumnal scarecrows-and-sheaves-of-wheat displays. Good golly, it’s everything you want autumn to be–so perfect, it’s hokey. Wonderfully so. Here, take a look:
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Be Kind to the Human Bean
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 12th, 2009
Though my competition was on the young side, they were aggressive. So, to get the attention of the free sample guy at the Jelly Belly warehouse tour store in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, I pulled out the big guns: the beer-ordering skills I honed back in college. At 5′3″ and cute, but not bartender-stopping cute, it [...]
Lining Up Happy
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 6th, 2009
Since writing about author Gretchen Rubin and her upcoming book The Happiness Project, I’ve been a now-and-again reader of her blog. A read of it today turned up a post about keeping a non-journal of one liners about happy times. Rubin writes: “Studies show that recalling happy times helps boost happiness in the present.” OK, [...]
