I Want to Be Traveling

I've taken a couple little road trips this year, but with my husband's kidney issues I feel like life has been put on hold right now. I really want to travel, and hopefully when the weather eventually gets better I'll get somewhere.  Its killing me not to be able to plan a summer journey. I am itching and ready to pack my bags and head out someplace far away on this planet.
There are just so many great places to explore and visit on this planet.

So today, some armchair travel dreaming.

My top 25 travel INTERNATIONAL list. 

(Oh yes, the titles are links to the web pages I snagged the photos from.)

1-Newfoundland

2-Sicily

3-Greenland and Iceland

Photo is of Greenland.

4-The Azores

5-Madrid and Spain

6-Portugal

7-Greece and the Greek Islands

8-Morocco

9-Krakow and the rest of Poland

10-Scotland

11-Venice

12-A Biology Tour of England
Eagle Pub

Also I really want to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London
And I can't forget Cornwall, Bath, York...etc.

13-Brittany and Normandy area of France
Well anywhere in France

14-Australia
(Yes, that is a weird site to gather a photo from!)

15-Japan

16-Vancouver, BC

17-New Zealand

18-Montreal, Canada

19-Croatia and the Balkans

20-South Africa

21-Estonia and the Baltic States

22-Scandinavia

23-Chili and Argentina

24-Belgium and the Netherlands

25-Some Ancient Sites

Mayan temples, Machu Pichu, Ankor Wat, Stone Hedge...not sticking to one place.
Of course, I not against going just about any place, and there are a lot of places I'd love to go to that didn't get put on this list.
I mean, these are my top choices, but how you put everything into one short list?
I am always discovering new places to go to, so this list seems to change as life goes on.
But this  list was a lot of fun to compose.
Wahoo!

Now I'm excited to do a USA version.

Hope you enjoyed the views as much as I did and
Thanks for stopping by.

A Travel List-for the Fun of It

Where you go depends on where you've been. I've seen  people on  travel blogs do up a list of where they've been.
This is a for me post. If you don't like to read other people's list, this is not a post for you!

Where they want to go next!

Thought I'd do my own list. Where I have been.

For the fun of it.

Childhood- with 2 very unadvenurous parents
we never went anywhere!

NYC, Lake George and Adirondacks, NY

drove through Vermont-though we never did anything but go to Santa's Land

summer vacations in New Hampshire & Maine (wild adventures at my aunt and uncle's ocean side cabin with the 2 seater outhouse),
also a big school trip to Acadia National Park
going to the beaches in Rhode Island as a teenager
Nana taking me to Washington DC, riding the bus through Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware

Grew up in Massachusetts

visited the Cape with the girls and Martha's Vineyard

taking visiting relatives to Western Mass.

going to Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada

College and my twenties-
young, broke, starting out
hanging out with friends and having a blast

college and then living for a three more years in Maine,

A trip to visit my friend who was in college in Knoxville, Tennessee
Going back to Washington DC twice
Driving through Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland (we stayed in Maryland one of those DC trips)

Also took train though Ohio and then 

visited Indiana, Illinois
St. Louis
and stayed with my aunt

Hanging out with my friend Lorrie in Rhode Island
having drinks in Newport while the America's Cup Race was going on

St Thomas and St. John Virgin Islands, US-my honeymoon

Nana and I went to Sweden (Stockholm, Ornskaldvik, Upsalla) for 3 weeks and stayed with extended family

Copenhagen, Denmark

College spring break road trip to Florida (Daytona, Orlando)

stopped in Georgia (Savannah), DC and Philadelphia on the way home

also drove through Virginia and North and South Carolina

the honey and I took a vacation to San Francisco, Yosemite-California and

Lake Tahoe and into Nevada
took a school vacation road trip with a teacher friend to Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania

Live in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire
took the ferry and went to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket
did some more New Hampshire traveling
also did a lot of traveling around Maine while going to college there

Thirties-new home owner, husband out of work, a baby, responsibility

NYC with my friends for a girls weekend

Washington DC (x2) with the hubby and daughter staying in

northern Virginia

New York-Niagara Falls and Ontario, Canada around the falls

Binghamton, NY when Dave had a job interview there

Cape Cod, Masachusetts-out to the tip of the cape with our bikes

several Maine adventures like camping in Acadia and white water rafting

Drove through Vermont and visited the Burlington area (x2) on our summer vacation/Dave's work trips

Lived in New Hampshire and did some traveling around the state

a weekend on some friend's sailboat in Mystic, Connecticut
Family Disney vacation to Florida

Forties-time to start going -my daughter's older, money is a little better, decided if I didn't make the time and effort to go, I would never go 

 winter family vacation in the San Diego, CA area with a walk into Tijuana, Mexico,
NYC with my family
and NYC with my friend for a girl's weekend

summer family vacation to Quebec City, Quebec, Canada with  a few little side adventures

National Parks and our first cowboy western adventure to Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado

First European trip to Rome, Florence, Naples, Italy &

Vatican City

Another family vacation to Florida-Orlando

Adult party food weekend to New Orleans, Louisiana

Science teacher convention in Dallas, Texas, and

Philadelphia, PA  and

Atlanta, Georgia.
Family weekend adventure to Philadelphia and New Jerrsey

more Maine trips

Live in New Hampshire

Family trip to Las Vegas, Nevada and then off to

Utah (Zion and Bryce)

Northern Arizona (Grand Canyon, Lake Meade) to do National Parks

London (x2) for family vacations

a Paris family vacation

Dublin, eastern Ireland & 

Northern Ireland family vacation

The I wam turning 50 and Katie is going graduate vacation to Barcelona,

Southern France

Northeast Coastal Spain

a teacher convention in Chicago and adding in in a a couple day girls trip before that begins

another National park adventure to Northerrn California (San Francisco to Oregon) &

Oregon
visiting my friend in Raleigh, North Carolina

Fifties to now (since I'm still in my fifties)-realizing I need to go!:

a cultural immersion program 10 days in Costa Rica (Osa Peninsula, San Jose)

Dave and I travel to Glacier National Park and Idaho, Montana, Washington State and then
off to the Canadian Rockies in

Alberta and British Columbia, Canada

Dave and I spend a winter week in Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona

We also spent a winter week in Death Valley, CA and then into 

Las Vegas, NV

a week with my friend Vicky and her husband in Taos, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, New Mexico (x2)

another family National Park trip to Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah
and another family vacation to coastal Pacific Northwest-Washington and Oregon

more Maine adventures
 New Hampshire (live) and travel and also lots of boating adventures too,
explore more of Massachuetts,
 Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut

a week at the outer banks of North Carolina and then a few other little side trips

There's still so many places I want to go!

I want to start doing some more international adventures too.

I look at this list and think I've hardly gone anywhere compared to some people.

Makes me wish I had more time and more cash so I could just GO!

What a great way to approach life.

(and add a little love in their too)

Fish

Been working on  a book with some of my travel photos from last summer's journey to the Pacific Northwest.  These fish photos inspired me.

As Monty Python would say, now for something completely different.

I know, fish. In college I worked for the Maine Cooperative Fisheries for a few years as a lab assistant. It was a fun job, though I decided research was not for me. Its one of the reason's I am a teacher now.

I've been teaching a 91/2 week course of zoology at school and we're just about ready to talk about fish.

I think fish are pretty cool.

Weird, bizarre-no not me (well maybe) but the fish.

Icky! But what a pattern.

Maybe I like fish because I am a Pieces. If you believe in any of that.

Or maybe I like fish because I am a biology geek. 

Whatever. We all like something that might make people roll their eyes at us.

Have a great day!

Around the World in 80 Places

The other day I posted my travel bucket list. Hey, its good to have goals, right?
Then I stopped at the grocery store and saw one of these Life Magazine travel editions, which I am a total sucker for. This was title- Around the World in 80 Places.
So I picked it up and then decided I was going to do another travel list post. This time, around the world in 80 places I have been.

Hope you're not sick of these lists.

BUT

its also good to meet goals.

SOOOO

My travel bucket list...

the 80 places I have been - cross offs.

Here's those travel goals I've actually accomplished!

1-Viewed the Presidents  and visited Mount Rushmore
2- I've seen wolves in the wild in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
3-Spent a summer afternoon on a deserted beach at Ocracoke, NC
4-Had a delicious dinner in a French cafe to celebrate my 50th birthday
5- Visited Provence, France- even if we only made it into Avignon its still Provence
6-Spent a day in Barcelona doing a Gaudi study
7- Took a group tour by myself (well with the group but not with my family or friends) to Costa Rica
8-Had a nice vacation with my daughter and husband before she graduated from college
9-Saw Death Valley and it wasn't as death-like as I thought it would be (it was actually beautiful)
10-Took the drive out to Monument Valley-amazing
11-Went to the San Diego zoo
12-Climb the ladders down into the ruins of Mesa Verde National Park and climbed up at Bandelier National Monument
13-Watched the sunrise at the Grand Canyon
14-Went to the top level of the Eiffel Tower
15-Saw the crowds applaud the fire and police forces marching in the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade in 2002 (The first after 9/11)
16-Visited the Colliseum in Rome (one of my first wow- I am really here moments)
17-Saw the casts in Pompeii- the left over remains of the people and animals who died in the eruption
18-Stood next to the huge handed model of David in Florence
19-Drove on the wrong side of the road in Ireland- using a stick!
20-Walked the gorgeous beaches of the Cape Cod National Seashore
21- Saw New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountains before he broke free
22-Saw the Northern Lights off of Acadia National Park
23-Climbed down to take the boat out on Crater Lake, and even more so, climbed up in 95 degree weather and lots of mosquitoes
24-Heard an awesome lecture about the Battle of the Litttle Big Horn at that National Monument
25-Had the most delicious prime rib meal ever at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
26-Take my dog and family for walks on York Beach, York, Maine
27-Was a tourist in my adopted hometown, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
28-Saw the Red Sox play in Boston, MA
29- Watched the nautilis flash lights at me at the New England Aquarium.
30- Visited the Field Museum and the Aquarium in Chicago, IL. They are both pretty wow for Museums.
31- Got a back room tour of the Peabody Museum at Yale University. get to see what they have in those storage drawers.
32-Saw the Christmas tree at Fannueil Hall in Boston, MA
33-Get to visit the little CDC Museum in Atlanta Georgia. (center for disease control- ok, I am a geek).
34- Also got to sample exotic flavors of Coke products at World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta.
35- Had the world's BEST mug (ok 2 mugs) of fresh hot coco in Costa Rica.
36-Watched dolphins jump out of the water in Costa Rica.
37-Swam in the warmest ocean water- Costa Rica.
38-Saw almost full 24 hours of daylight-22 light and a couple of hours of dusk- in Sweden.
39-Lost my sandal at Torrey Pines in San Diego and then found it there the next day!!! (Soggy wet but right in the parking lot where it fell out of the car)
40-Got a blue carnation through customs that my hubby bought me in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada at a delicious French restaurant. It looked so fake, and I forgot about it, when the customs man ask me if I had food, fruit or flowers, I said no, and we breezed right through customs.

HALF WAY THERE and STILL CRUZING!

41-Had a Hurricane drink in New Orleans!
42-Changed elevations more time in in one day-from  about 7,000 feet abvoe sea level to below sea level in Death Valley, California.
43- Came to love the saying "Mind the Gap" after riding the Tube in London
44-Ordered food in a MacDonalds in Figueres, Spain where no one spoke English and I didn't speak Spanish.
45-Got to listen to Dave talking about Dollyworld-not Dollywood in Tennessee but at the Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain. (Cool museum too).
46-Discovered by accident a giant archelogical dig in Spain.
47-Returned to the same place to visit, 2 years in a row, by myself- to visit friends, in Taos, New Mexico
48-Worst experience- when dave got the stomach flu in Tucson, Arizona
49-Used perfect basic French to get a hotel room in Nimes, France
50-Saw the artic ice from the window of a plane, flying home from Ireland in February
51-Drove to Daytona Beach, Florida, in college from Orono, Maine. My longest road trip.
52- Most visited national park- and a favorite too- Acadia National Park, Maine
53- Saw the most wild bears- Glacier National Park and into Banff and then Jasper National Parks in Canada (along with other wildlife)
54- Saw Bill Clinton jog into the white house and throw a ball for his dog, Washington, DC
55-Got to ride in the front seat of a Jaguar at 11:45 pm down the curviest road in the world, Lombard St. , San Francisco.
56-Only (so far) ER room while traveling- San Francisco (hope it is the first and only too)
57- Only fainting on a plane- hope this is also the last time too- British Airways coming home from London to Boston
58-Visited the original Hard Rock in London
59-Favorite old church ever visited- Westminster Abbey, London (all dark, damp and regal)
60-Most visited city-other than local- I think Washington, DC- like 5 times. Maybe 6-can't keep track. NYC is a close, very close, second.
61-Least favorite city I ever visited- Dallas, Texas. (But I will admit, I didn't have a car and that kind of left me stuck in town. Sorry if you are from Dallas. Book Depository was cool though.)
62-Thought I wasn't going to make a flight- Denver Airport.
63-Had the airline drive us through the back way so we could catch a flight- London Heathrow
64-Longest train trip-Worcester to Matoon, Illinois and then back a week later. Thought would be interesting and was very boring train trip- the Chunnel between England and France. Pretty train trip- The Durango and Silverton railway in Colorado.
65-Tackiest but fun stop- Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota.
66-Shortest trip to a foreign country-walking into Tijuana, Mexico when Katie was 10.  Dave said squeeze my hand when you are ready to leave (this was after being there for about 3 minutes) and she squeezed. So we left.
67-Coolest hike, the Narrows in Zion National Park
68-Loved those Redwoods in California and the Sequoia in Yosemite. So tall and wide.
69- Snorkeling in St. John, US virgin Island is one amazing view.
70-Most iconic thing to see, watching Old Faithful erupt in Yellowstone.

10 to GO-Wow- this isn't even hard.

71-Gorgeous but hair raising ride-Highway 15 from Ourey to Durango, Colorado
72-Although it didn't impress me, the whole viewing of the Mona Lisa is impressive.  She is so small but so many people are there to see her.
73-Boating on summer weekends-cruising down the Piscataqua River between New Hampshire and Maine- is a trip I have done many times and always discover something new
74-Favorite local-ish art museum, the Peabody Essex in Salem, Massachusetts.
75-I wet my feet in a receding Lake Mead.
76- I tried to salsa dance in the night in Costa Rica and tried to folk dance in Sweden.
77-I went into a hot river mixed with a cold river in Yellowstone National Park.
78-I river rafted in northwest Maine. It was scary!!! Class 5 rapids!
79-I rode on a train which went onto a ferry (the whole train) on a trip between Copenhagen, Denmark and Stockholm, Sweden.
80-I lived with local families in Stockholm and Ornskaldvik, Sweden and also Porto Jimenez, Costa Rica.

Wow- that wasn't difficult.
Expected it to be a bit more tricky.

I must say- one good thing for me about this list, is I appreciate all I have done. Wow.  When it sometimes feel like you're always looking at the same old scenery, a list like this reminds you it is a pretty amazing journey.
Thanks for stopping by.

Bucket Listing-Again!

Today is me working my brain.

Thought I needed another list post!  Its been quite awhile- for me.

I am a lister!

I love writing these things.

So today's list-

my travel bucket list.

These are not in any particular order

(Can you tell I wish I didn't have to go to work and that I could take a trip right now in May.  I haven't taken a trip in May since 1985 when I was shortly out of college, not teaching for a year, and went to Sweden for 3 weeks to visit and meet some of my slightly distant relatives.

My first trip to Europe.

OK

Get me back on track.

Here's my list. I want to ...

1-go to Newfoundland and see puffins and icebergs and the Viking settlement ruins

2-go to Montreal-oui Go someplace to practice my terrible French. It won't get better if I don't practice though.

3-Take a Slovenia and Croatia road trip

4-see Venice before it sinks.

5- go to the Greek Islands and watch the sun rise or set on a blue ocean against the white cliffs and buildings

6-walk the Camino de Santiago in Spain

(and take in Madrid and Seville while I am at it)

7-see the lavender blooming in southern France

8-drive the Ring Road in Iceland

9-travel to another continent- I've been to 2- North America and Europe.

10-Drive to Alaska and go north of the Arctic Circle

11-Hike the volcanoes in Hawaii

12-Drive down the middle of the US to the states I haven't visited

13-rent a house on the outer banks of North Carolina and lounge on the beach all week

14-Visit Poland

15-sail in a Norwegian Fjord

16-see a wild kangaroo in Australia

17-rent a house in Portugal and explore the countryside and buy some cool tiles

18-spend some time in the Azores

19-go on an African photo safari

20-See some walls-Hadrian's wall, the Great Wall of China, the Great Barrier Reef

21-See wild orcas in Puget Sound (maybe this summer!)

22-Go to every US National Park that I haven't yet been to.

23-Visit Mont St. Michel in France

24-Have a delicious dinner in Charleston, South Carolina

25-See the flowers blooming at the Biltmore Estate and the cherry blossoms in Washington, DC

26-visit the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National History museum in London

27-See the University of Maine play in the Frozen Four final hockey playoff and win-in person!
28- See the Gaudi cathedral -the Sagrada Familia -finished.I've seen it unfinished!
29- Rent a house with a pool and lounge for a week in Palm Springs.
30- go to New York City at Christmas time and window shop-the window displays are suppose to be magnificent.
31-Go on an art retreat.
32-Take a literary trip. Visit Emily Dickinson's home in Amherst, Massachusetts.  Mark Twain's home in Hartford, CT. Or I could make it an arty trip and visit homes of artists.
33-go on adventures, big and small-boy isn't that a broad answer, but when I write these bucket lists it only makes me think of about 100 places and thing I want to go to and try. And then there are all the things I haven't thought of or even knew existed.
Life is a grand journey, isn't it?

Where would you like to go?

Upcoming Journeys-Part 2

My word of the year was GO.

My plan this year is to GO someplace every month.

Hockey trips mostly at this time of year,

but not at the end of this month.

I am going to the land of adobe buildings with blue trim

and lots of chilis.

I am going to New Mexico!
 I love it. 

Its going to a place that is far away culturally from life here in New England.

I love it!!!!!

 Working on my travel journal. Reading my travel books.

Just getting ready to go.

These are all photos I took last year when I went.
Not usual for me to go back to a place so soon, but I want to go back.
I have more to discover.
Three more weeks of work until its vacation time!

Do you have any plans to go?

Upcoming Journeys-part 1

We're almost into February.

Where is time flying?

I've gt a couple of journeys coming up next month.

For a short weekend adventure, I'm traveling north to my alma mater.

We've got a hockey game to go see!

Lets hope this time a puck doesn't find its way into my eye last it did last weekend.

http://fat-emma.blogspot.com/2014/01/aggresively-icing.html

I don't get back here very often- its 3 1/2 hours away in the middle of no where, but I do look forward to visiting, going to get pizza and beer at my old haunts, a little memory visit.

Still a couple of weeks out, but I am looking forward to a break and a change of scenery.

And I hope, I get to see a BIG win too.

We're getting close to playoff time.

I will admit, having this hockey obsession

makes the cold winter go faster.

Need something to get me out of the house other than work.

I could spend a lot more studio time

but all art and no play makes Erika a dull girl.

Oh man, that was bad.

Can you tell its early in the day?

Well I'm off to spend the day with my new classes.

Thanks for stopping by.