• National Parks - New York

    Fort Stanwix National Monument

    June 17, 2024 - By 

    My husband and I are crazy. I mean, he’s mostly sane, it’s really just me that’s crazy. But he has put up with me and my nutso ideas for almost forty years, so that’s really on him at this point. But I digress. The latest crazy thing that we have decided to do is to visit all 63 of the National Parks. Which, you know, cool! We’ll be empty nesters soon and we’ll need to do something with our time. But then that kinda morphed into visiting all of the National Parks and all of the other sites in the…

  • Other Travels

    Lake Ontario Lighthouses: Selkirk & Tibbets Point

    June 25, 2023 - By 

    A few weeks back, we Marriners continued our summer of lighthouse excursions. This time we headed north, and it was a gorgeous day for a road trip. Our first stop was in Port Ontario, NY, at the Salmon River Lighthouse, which just about everybody calls the Selkirk Lighthouse. Built in 1838, this gorgeous light sits at the mouth of the Salmon River (hence the official name). This lighthouse is privately owned, but the owners are fine with people walking around the property and taking pictures. I was completely charmed by the stonework on the house, and that red tower. A…

  • Other Travels

    Lake Ontario Lighthouses: Sodus, NY

    June 18, 2023 - By 

    After our trip to Maine and the lovely lighthouses we saw there, Vance and I started thinking about the lighthouses closer to home. I think we kind of take them for granted, seeing as we live so close to Lake Ontario and they’re kind of just there? I mean, we find ourselves in Oswego a lot, and the West Pierhead Lighthouse is something we see all the time, and we never think about how special it is to live so close to such a piece of history. So, in search of a family activity for the summer, we decided to…

  • Other Travels

    A Maine Getaway

    June 15, 2023 - By 

    Last month the hubs and I took a trip to Maine to celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary. It’s a place we’ve been before and have enjoyed, so it seemed perfect for a long weekend getaway. And I always insist on a quick car selfie before we depart on a trip. This trip was a big deal for me, because it was the first time I had left New York State since before Covid. In fact, I had not been more than a ninety-minute drive from my house since December of 2019. As much as I really didn’t enjoy our years…