This one is going to be deep people, buckle in. I am not a religious person. There I’ve said it. Those of you who know me already know this. I was born and raised in New Orleans, the Irish/Italian Southern epicenter of the Roman Catholic Church, so of course I was raised Catholic. Christened, communion, confirmed, All girl Catholic High School, the whole nine yards. I quit practicing my faith in my late 20’s for reasons that are personal to me, and I now refer to myself as a “recovering Catholic” I do consider myself a spiritual person, just not very religious. Now don’t misunderstand me, I do not denounce God, I believe Jesus walked the earth as man, and there are certain aspects of Catholicism that I am proud of. It’s strict dedication to traditions, it’s place and influence in writing history, the story of the Nativity, and oh yeah, those Saints, Catholics unlike other religions, pray to Saints. You know like Saint blah, blah, the Patron Saint of blah, blah. So if you have a specific request, you have a go to person. That feeds to the control freak in me. Having a more direct line of communication. But as far as the rest of it, I just never really got the whole thing. So many questions. Questions that can’t be proven go against every grain of the scientific, evolutionist, Darwinism side of me. When we look at our Travel pictures, my deeply religious, Southern Baptist, very well traveled mother in law will shout “How beautiful, God is so great!” And I’m thinking “it’s cause of tectonic plates” So here I sit, just spiritual.

Now having said ALL that. It should be no surprise, that I don’t routinely pray. I don’t disagree with prayer, I just feel in light of my beliefs, it just seems well…hypocritical. So Instead I will wish you positive thoughts and energy. Frankly, I don’t know if I ever felt comfortable praying, asking for personal things always seemed selfish to me. So I could never really do it. It was never comfortable for me. Now don’t get me wrong, there have been times in life, I’ve found myself in an empty church, sitting in a pew, asking for the right path. (Even recently) I almost envy those little prayer chains you see on Facebook where people request prayer warriors and 200 people respond immediately, and here I am with my positive thoughts and energy! Even then, for someone else, I can’t bring myself to do it. The hypocrisy guilt creeps in.

Last night however, I had an epiphany, I came across this Facebook page that a friend shared and it shook me to my core. It’s a page about a mother watching her beautiful 8 year old daughter slowly, painfully being taken away by an inoperable brain tumor. The story is devastating to say the least, but the thing that shook me the most, was in her update posts, was her ability to usher these beautiful prayers to God, not about please change this situation, don’t take my baby, but about thankfulness, strength, ending suffering, gratefulness for time, and they just flowed so effortlessly that you could feel the power in them. They were like a rhythmic poetry, I was shook, and moved to tears. Then it hit me, I don’t know how to pray like that. It’s not about the motion or the words, it’s about coming from the deepest parts of your soul. I don’t know if I can do that. I have friends that have suffered so much loss in their lifetime they should be bitter and angry. But they’re not, they are rooted more than ever in their Faith, I am in awe of them. I have friends that have defected from their religions for a more spiritual path, and are so enlightened I actually gain energy from them. I am in awe of them as well.

So my newest, deepest, most personal journey begins. How to pray. Not for a job, or a house, or things, but for strength, forgiveness, healing. The things that repair the soul. I want it to flow like poetry, effortlessly, not for me, but for everyone else around me who in that moment needs to feel it in their soul too.

I’m going to need some guidance!

Jesus, Buddha, Shiva, Lord, Mother Nature, one of you please take the wheel!

M

The sun has been out for 2 day’s now. But I can tell you first hand, there is something ominous hanging in the air. I can’t quite put my finger on it. I think for me, it’s the thought that things where I live, are seemingly normal, except for limited stock at groceries, limited hours at businesses and restaurants, very limited gas, and so on. The things you kind of expect after a major hurricane. I’m still trying to process, how, Mother Nature spared my neighborhood and home. We literally are surrounded by major bodies of water, Clear Lake a block away, Galveston Bay 2 miles away, and a water access bayou about 500 ft in front of my house. We should be under water. The fact that Mother Nature spared us, I am eternally grateful.

It is surreal to me, that less than 10 miles away, there are still people being pulled out of their homes by boat, as bayous continue to rise, government offices and services are still offline, there is a chemical plant in Crosby, Tx who’s product is exploding uncontrolled because the power went out, and the storage temperature can’t be maintained, so it just continues to randomly explode. Now the refineries being offline is beginning to be felt in Dallas, as a gas shortage is underway. People are fighting in the streets and the police are having to patrol gas stations. This my friends is only the beginning. It is going to continue to snowball.

Mother Nature has sent us a warning. A wake up call if you will. We are unprepared. We are a dependent society. She has sent us a warning to let us know, we can’t afford to be divided, we couldn’t handle the civil war on the horizon, as the media continue to fuel the fire to divide us. Our infrastructure couldn’t handle it. Our lives as we know it would be over. We’re struggling to overcome the aftermath of 1 storm. I can’t imagine why as a society we continue down the path we’re on and self inflict this way of living as a near future permanently on ourselves. She’s screaming loud and clear, “just stop!”

We need to walk out into the streets and love thy neighbor, hug thy brother, irregardless of your politics. We’re all just fragile humans dependent on this infrastructure we’ve created. We need to take care of each other. Those are human beings being pulled out of that water, and off those rooftops. Not whites, blacks, Asians, Indians, Hispanics, gays, lesbians, transgenders, just human beings.

Put down your politics people. The temper tantrums need to stop. We won’t survive the breakdown of our modern society. We need to remember Harvey.

Stay safe.

M

Hello from Houston. (Kemah to be exact) Here we are in day 5 of the history making #Harvey. My husband and I have chosen to ride out the storm in our home. No worries, we didn’t take a direct hit, and our house is raised 15 feet off the ground. Our neighborhood is relatively high, and we have been fortunate with minimal water. I have friends however, who have not been as fortunate. This has been a storm of biblical proportions to say the least. This, however, is not our first rodeo. We have both grown up on the Gulf Coast and weathered our share of hurricanes over the years. I am actually a Katrina transplant. Having said that, my husband and I know a thing or two about hurricane preparedness. In fact, we are both of the school that says, “if you’re going to live on the Gulf Coast, you live prepared 365!” Now I think our kids understand why we live in Sam’s and Costco!

This brings me to the moral of today’s blog. If you want a firsthand look at the breakdown of society in any catastrophic situation, ride out a hurricane…It all starts with food.

Just about all grocery stores, fast food restaurants, gas stations, (even Walmart) have been closed for the past 2 day’s. That’s right, 2 WHOLE DAYS. Today is the first day Grocers have reopened, most everything else is still closed. Let me describe the mayhem of people not being prepared.

I ventured out because I needed some bananas and yogurt, and I’m freaking stir crazy! My local Randall’s parking lot was packed. I walk in to people rolling out with baskets full of bottled water and other items (really you’re buying water now? It’s day 5) Then I see the line, wrapped through to the back of the store through produce all the way to the seafood counter to checkout! OH HELL NO! But now my curiosity has the best of me, so I continue through the store, surprisingly the produce section doesn’t look touched (shocker) The meat section, completely wiped out, junk food aisle, wiped…milk, gone, water and soda, gone, toilet paper, gone, beer, yep you guessed it! This was the theme at 3 stores, one of them had a line just to get in! Total infrastructure breakdown. I hope all of these people now realize, the food they scrambled to get, and the ones grabbing crumbs off the shelves of what’s left, know how to ration, cause guess what? There aren’t any trucks getting through anytime soon to restock! Yes the breakdown of society starts with food!

So the moral of the story is prepare, over prepare, and grow your own if you can! Or just get the Hell out of Dodge.

The end.

Of all the beautiful places we have traveled, Yosemite continues to be my favorite. It’s majesty and beauty will leave you awestruck, there aren’t enough adjectives to describe it. If you’ve never thought of putting it on your bucket list, get out a pen and add it to the top right now. Just go! We’ve had the pleasure of visiting a few times over the years, The first was a day trip on the Harley, with a short hike to Bridalveil Falls.  It was summer, so all I can say is thank goodness we were on the bike, cause can you say Crowds! I can do a whole blog post just on traveling to national parks in the summer, but we’ll save that for later.

The second trip we went with the boys and hiked Upper Yosemite Falls. This is where I got bit by the hiking bug, and addicted to the high you get from it! But please, allow me to educate you for a moment. To someone who was born in the Deep South, and has no clue what “elevation” is about, this in hind site was probably not the best idea for a maiden hike higher than a curb. When you read the hike details on the hiking map legend,  it goes something like this…A 3.5 mile, 2700 ft. elevation gain, 6,526ft elevation, moderate, approx 3-5 hours round trip (this estimation includes the lower hike to Columbia Rock) Now, in my mind, I’m thinking “I walk way more than that up and down ” The Avenue” for a parade during Mardi Gras season” piece of cake right? Could. Not. Have. Been. More. Wrong!

What the hiking map legend should have said was…”Hey cowboy, this is 135 switchbacks on a steep ass incline, it’s rocky and uneven and is going to make your lungs feel like they are going to explode, your legs will feel like shaky little toothpicks, there are no bathrooms along the way, you will cry (which I did 3 times) It’s 7.2 miles ROUND TRIP, it will take your couch potato butt 10 hours, so bring a headlamp (which I didn’t), you will want to quit at least 10 times, (which I did) and oh, ohhhhh let’s talk about the blisters you will get on the tips of all 10 of your toes on the hike back down! Not to mention every good intentioned hiker on their way down that passes you  is going to tell you “not much farther” and “almost there” for encouragement because they see the twisted anguish on your face!” These are LIES, all lies! Yep, that’s what it should of said.

We went for it. 8am, myself, my husband and our two young, physically fit 19 and 24 year old sons, one a Marine. And yes, everything that I stated above the map legend should have said, I did. (Plus one other thing I won’t mention) For this I thank God for my husband. For every meltdown he would simply take me by my shoulders, turn me around to look over the valley, and say “but look how far you’ve come.” That would be all I needed to hear for the voice in my head to kick in and say “if you quit this, you’ll quit everything” and I would start moving with new fueled determination. (For about 5 switchbacks, then this process would repeat itself) We did finally reach the top. It was absolutely breathtaking and worth every tear, ache, pain, bruise and blister. We finished at 6pm. 10 hours later! And guess what? Without a doubt I would do it again in a heartbeat. What I wasn’t prepared for was the week long high that I got from it afterward. I totally get why people live to do this. Half Dome, you’re next!

We went back this year on our road trip out to California during the Winter. We got lucky one day, and the main road had reopened after a snowstorm and some mudslides. On a side note, if you are ever traveling in elevations during Winter or Fall, always, always, check the road conditions on the local transportation website, or if you are heading to a national park, check the park website. This is the difference in a wasted day of travel, and detouring to see something else. Yosemite is usually hard to access in the winter because the main roads close without a moments notice, simply because the weather can change without a moments notice. (Mother Nature is fickle that way) and tire chains are required. They will fine you and turn you around if you don’t have them. Resulting in more wasted travel time. If you live in an area where you would get struck by lighting before ever using tire chains, you can rent them. I’m so glad we were able to make it in to the park on this trip. It was one of those unplanned, unexpected surprises I talk about! Yosemite in Winter is beyond beautiful.

Getting there is pretty straight forward. You can fly into San Francisco, Oakland, or Sacramento. It’s about 200 or so miles, and 3.5 hours depending on which area you’re coming from.  Once you reach the main entrance, it’s another 26 miles to the valley floor. There is no limit of photo ops along the way. You’ll want to make lodging accommodations inside the park, there are a number of choices from 5 star (Majestic Yosemite hotel) to tent camping. We stayed in Curry Village, which are really affordable tent cabins, it’s not as awful as sleeping on the ground, but they do have bear lockers outside each one so you can lock up your food and toiletries. Yep toiletries, evidently bears will try anything once! The shower situation is communal, but I think slightly roughing it is part of the experience.  Whichever way you decide, it books up fast, so plan accordingly. There are hotels and lodging in the Yosemite area, Groveland is about 30 minutes away and another 30 once you’re in the park. I would recommend at least 2-3 full days in the park. Research which works best for you.

The best time to visit is in the Spring, crowds aren’t at an optimum yet. Summertime in the park is super crowded, if this is the only opportunity you have to visit, allow extra time for traffic and crowds, and definitely utilize the park buses. The weather in Spring is great for hiking, (always layer) it will be chilly at night. You will still have to check road conditions, some roads don’t open till May for the season, and there can be Spring storms. I can’t stress enough to always check road conditions. I hope this was helpful, I hope you take your family and go! It will be one of the best vacations ever! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love, adventure and safe travels.

M

I made this my first blog post, because…well because I love this picture! It was taken at Bodega Head in Ca. a few years ago, it’s framed in my hallway and for me, it sums up our travel adventures thus far to date. A random blue velvet chair on a beach. We just stumbled upon this great photo op with so many untold stories. How did it get there? Who did this chair belong to? Why was it there?

This has been the theme of so many of our travels, from stumbling across a group of guys cooking up some fresh caught abolone in a parking lot (they were cooking it with bacon, so I was all about it) and were generous enough to ask us to join them! To backpacking Rome, with no plan and just a map, is the best way for us to roll! I know the thought of this causes instant anxiety for some, but for us it has always been serendipitous. And luckily, this form of nilly willy, no plan, choose a direction and go, fits both of our personalities!

It has however, on occasion, caused a hiccup, (or two) mostly when I, Miss Nilly Willy No Plan (and no research) have been on Pinterest and Instagram too many times before a trip. And I use those cool pics as my tour guide! Sometimes they work out, but mostly they don’t!  Hence the birth of this blog. I decided that I had been duped for the last time, by misinformation and some cool pictures taken from an humanly impossible angle, with a special $3,000 camera lens. Since we are on the road so much, I would choose some locations that have become uber popular since the birth of social media and “debunk” their claims of beauty and spiritual experience! Meaning, I will let you know what’s really up! Is it 80 miles out of the way? Is it on private property, Native American land, do you need a permit, or require a 10 mile hike once you get there? Yes, these are real obstacles we have encountered more times than not. It’s sort of a public service, that I intend to use to save you travel time, gas, money, and mostly your sanity, and unnecessary meltdowns on the side of a cliff or mountain, which yes I have had, and my husband has had to talk me down from! Not pretty!

So, having said ALL of that, I will begin. I will also take requests, if there is somewhere you are planning on traveling to and have questions, please ask. If it’s somewhere we have had the pleasure of traveling to, I will tell you everything we know, If not, I have the fortune of having one of the most well, and world traveled Mother in laws on the planet! (I’m looking at you Granny G!) and am not above picking her brain for all the info we need. I hope you will find this helpful, and at the very least, enjoy some entertaining travel adventures. (Yes this stuff actually happens to us.)

Love, adventure and safe travels,

M.

(p.s. patience on this blog thing. It literally took me 4 hours to get this much)