I have a few hours in London still before we get in a car and travel three hours to Christchurch, on the southern coast of England. I received a tip last night about a church on the other side of London Bridge that was damaged in the Great London Fire and WW I or II. No steeple, a bit overgrown but one can walk through it. Sounds photogenic and interesting!
Read MoreLondon Day 2 - Today I set out on my own! Can’t wait to stroll the banks of the river and finally find my way to the Tate Modern! I wake and look out the window to see fog. And rain. And absolutely nothing else. Yikes. Oh well, I will figure it out.
Read MoreAnd so it begins. After weeks of planning flights (not me), scheduling meetings (also not me) and booking hotels and restaurants (Now THIS is me!!!!) the Wilkins World Tour 2018 begins! We pull out of the driveway promptly at 1:45pm on Saturday, Feb. 17.
Read MoreToday we travel from Cleveland to Bradford Pa., our first stop, if you remember, when we started this whirlwind trip 23 days ago. Only 156 miles today. A stroll in the park!
Read MoreOmaha to Cleveland - it's gonna be a long day ahead. At least 13 hours on the road. It is 5 degrees and bone-chilling COLD. I won't even address taking Jack out for his morning walk.
Read MoreIt is morning in Denver, CO. and it is cold. But Jack the dog is hungry and needs a walk, and it is my turn. Again. I feed the happy puppy, wait 20 minutes to make sure he has a sense of urgency and off we go to the grassy knoll as directed by the hotel staff. We head a few blocks, and he is a little put-off by city traffic and onlookers.
Read MoreIt is Tuesday morning, January 2. Time to leave Jackson Hole and start the long trip homeward. Though I am ready to leave, I remind myself that this vacation is not yet over, as we have the road trip home to look forward to. And I AM looking forward to it! Not sure about Jack, but there is a lot of country left to see, we are taking a different route home, and spending more time doing it. Bring it on! Jack will just have to deal.
Read MoreJan. 1st. Happy New Year! We are staying this last day in Jackson Hole to ski, thinking that everyone else is leaving and we will have the place to ourselves. Our thinking is correct.
Read MoreWe wake up on Dec. 31, 2017 to another day of no snow after a forecast of a blizzard. This blizzard has dodged us for three days now. Oh well, I am ok with that. We skied yesterday and it was lovely but crowded due to the holidays. I quit early to meet with a friend and her two boys, both under 4 and loaded with energy!
Read MoreWe are in Jackson Hole Resort at Teton Village. We beat the storm. Yay us! We will wake up at an epic ski resort, slope-side, with major snow coming down! Room service! Fireplaces! Powder snow (I can't ski powder snow, but I can totally do fireplaces and room service). What a winter wonderland!
Read MoreThe time has come to leave Montana and head to Jackson Hole/Teton Village, WY. We are traveling a day early due to weather forecasts of impending snow to the tune of 12 - 18" plus high winds. Gotta beat that storm! We leave Montana on Thursday, Dec. 28. My younger brother and my oldest son's birthday. The roads in Kalispell, MT. are already slick and travel is slow. We are in no rush.
Read MoreOh Whitefish, why do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 1. Great restaurants (my bellwether). 2. Great shops. And I kinda hate shopping. 3. The vibe. It always comes down to the vibe. 4. TONS of outdoor sports, including Whitefish Mountain Ski Resort (known to the locals as Big Mountain), summer on Whitefish Lake, and one of the crown jewels of the National Park system, Glacier National Park plus soooo much more.
Read MoreOne of our favoite destinations in the Flathead Valley is Bigfork, MT. It is situated about 25 minutes south of Kalispell at the northernmost tip of Flathead Lake. Flathead Lake, by the way, is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. It measures 57 miles from north to south and encompasses 192 square miles in surface area. No joke. It's big.
Read MoreWhen we are in Montana, our home base is Kalispell, MT. Called "the Gateway City to Glacier National Park", Kalispell sits in the Flathead Valley, and is home to a little over 22,000 residents and even more cows and horses. At least it feels that way. Pretty sure it's a fact.
Read MoreSaturday morning and it is the final leg of the drive to Kalispell, MT. We leave Rapid City relatively early after walking Jack through the park for a final time. We gas up and hit Route 212 to connect with Interstate 90 once more. Within a short period of time we are in Montana. There is still a good 11 hour drive in front of us, though -- we are in the southeast corner of Montana, and Kalispell is in the northwest corner. Time to move.
Read MoreLa Crosse, WI turned out to be a fabulous stop, now on to Rapid City, South Dakota! We cross the bridge over the Mississippi River from Wisconsin to Minnesota and start a 10 hour day of driving. After yesterday's epic 14 hour drive, we took it a bit easy on ourselves today. Still lots of ground to cover on this grey day. AND I FINALLY GET TO DRIVE!!! Probably because our route takes us 10 hours on Route 90. No turns, no navigation, almost due west the whole way. I couldn't possibly screw this up ;-)
Read MoreOur little cabin in Bradford, PA is solidly in our rear-view mirror, as today is a big driving day. As in a 13 hour driving day. We will cover 5 states today, with La Crosse, Wisconsin as our final destination. We leave Bradford and within 10 minutes are back in NY state. There is some lake effect snow as we hug the Lake Erie coast, but the roads are clear and we are making good time. And the windshield wiper fluid is, well, fluid.
Read More"It will be fun", he said... "It will be an adventure", he said.... Truth be told, a part of me believed him. Truth be told, the only reason we are driving is that he wanted to bring our dog to Montana. And he did not want to put our dog in the cargo hold of a plane. Now ME, he would stuff in the cargo hold in a split second, but not his baby, Jack the dog... so after some convincing, I agreed.
Read More
