Happy Monday! We’re experiencing a bunch of NEW things on this trip. In my last post, I created a 5-senses portrait, but really, I could do that over and over again! I’ll just add a few new photos this time. The photos above and below are of Hoi An, Vietnam. Hoi An is a UNESCO heritage site because the town is a well-preserved example of a Southeast Asian trading port from the 15th to 19th century that remains largely intact. They have lantern festivals every month (which we will just miss), but every night there are lantern boats out on the river.
This is at Ba Na Hills. It’s a pretty iconic bridge in the area! It’s on top of a mountain. People get here by cable car, and as you go up the mountain, you go up into the clouds/fog! Pretty cool!
I’ve lost track of how many temples and pagodas we’ve visited! All are ornately beautiful!
As you all know, I adore experiencing NEW things and learning NEW things. Traveling sure is the best way to do that! I hope you have a terrific day and get to learn or do something NEW today too!
I often listen to Gretchen Rubin’s podcast (link HERE). She and her sister chat about a lot of different things. Sometimes, Gretchen talks about doing a 5-senses portrait of someone or something, and that makes her more fully appreciate it. Here is a link of Gretchen’s 5-senses portrait of her dog, Barnaby (link HERE). I decided I’d do a 5-senses portrait of our trip to Vietnam. Here goes:
SMELLING:
The incense burning at the entrances to many of the temples; The street vendors cooking various foods; The stench of garbage that hasn’t been taken care of; The smell of the ocean surf.
SEEING:
The chaotic driving in Hanoi was SO interesting to watch! They don’t have many traffic signals. The drivers just go where they need to go! Whether it’s turning left into a mass of traffic, or weaving back and forth between vehicles and motorbikes, the system seems to work. We only saw one accident. And there are so many motorbikes! I’m hoping to prepare a collage soon of all the crazy things we saw people carry on their motorbikes. Stay tuned for that, haha!
Of course, seeing the rock formations in Halong Bay was also highlight (see this post), and riding in a bamboo boat through those rock formations and through a small arch/cave was great fun!
TASTING:
Pho, spring rolls, lots of fresh seafood, lots of fresh fruit and delicious soups.
TOUCHING:
A fish massage! We stopped at a little village on Cat Ba Island and we dipped our feet into a small pool of water and fish sucked on our feet! What a freaky feeling! That was a NEW experience for me. Apparently, the fish like to suck the dead skin off the bottom of your feet. Ha! I didn’t get any photos of my feet, but here are my brother-in-law’s feet with the fish having a feast!
While visiting a Buddhist temple, I missed a step and came crashing to the ground. I sprained my ankle, pretty badly. So my ankle was very tender to the touch for a few days. This was me lounging by the pool the next day, trying to baby it! Ouch!!!
HEARING:
The sound of the Vietnamese language and lots of honking horns!
So I’ve tried something NEW and created this 5-senses portrait today! I hope you have a terrific day and do or learn something NEW today too!
And hello from Halong Bay, Vietnam. We’ve loved cruising around these awesome rock formations! So pretty. Here are a few more photos (the number of photos on my phone from just the last few days is insane). Vietnam is a NEW country to us, and we’ll be visiting many more NEW locations on this trip.
Have a terrific day, and I hope you get to do or learn something NEW today too!
Happy Friday! It’s been a while since I joined in on a photo challenge. So, when I saw this week’s #362 Sports, Sporting Events, and Fun Games challenge at Wandering Dawgs, I thought of a fun event we recently attended and wanted to join the challenge. This baseball game was played at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. The players dressed up in vintage baseball uniforms and played with rules from 1867. That means NO baseball mitts (they weren’t invented yet), and many other slight variations from current baseball rules. It was a lot of fun!
And other miscellaneous NEW experiences:
Thanks to reading Travel Means Life, I was “in the know” when we saw several Quilt Gardens in Indiana.
Then, in Genesee County, New York, spotting quilt blocks on barns, houses, or sheds etc. is a thing! There is even a website about it {HERE}. Are there any other quilt related I-Spy-type hunts that I don’t know about??? :o)
And lastly, I thought I’d list the random museums we’ve visited in the last few weeks….just so you know that we do more than hike to waterfalls and visit national parks, haha!
We’ve visited:
Jell-O museum! (Did you know there’s such a place?!?)
The Corning Glass Museum
The Safe Haven Holocaust Museum
The Detroit Art Museum
The world’s largest Christmas store! (Bronner’s)
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Town of Stafford’s Historical Museum
The George Eastman Museum and House Tour
I think that’s enough for now. I gotta go research more NEW things to do, see, or learn about! Have a great day!
We recently visited our 28th (out of 63) National Park. We explored Indiana Dunes National Park. The weather was perfect. The crowds were small. Yay!
I’m not sure if drones are permitted at this national park (probably not), but there are some impressive photos posted online which were taken from above at some point. Here are a few of mine taken from ground-level. Maybe I should look into getting a drone, haha! (????)
35 more parks to go!
I hope you have a lovely day and learn or do something NEW today!
I thought it was time for another A-Z list of all the little miscellaneous NEW things I’ve been learning or experiencing. My first one was back in 2023, (how time flies!). I got the prompts from Deb’s World. Here goes:
Admiring: this beautiful fountain and the lovely gardens at Buxton Park. We spent a night in Indianola, Iowa, and after dinner, noticed a lovely park, so we got out and walked around. Now that’s my kind of after-dinner walk! It was very lovely. I took lots of photos of the flowers and this beautiful fountain. Then I changed the photo into a watercolor painting using the Waterlogue app on my phone.
Becoming: more adept at setting up and taking down our 5th wheel RV (named Stebi = Spending ThE Boys Inheritance). In the past, hubby has done the vast majority of the outside work, and I’ve taken care of the inside. However, I’ve helped out more with the outside lately. It’s a process! I haven’t touched the sewer hose yet, and I don’t plan to!!! :o)
Curious: about Narwhals. I just recently learned about them. How did I not know about this fascinating species earlier?! Do I live under a rock?!
Delighted: by these fun fishing poles my friend gave us for a retirement gift. She knows we’re not really big on fishing, but fishing is symbolic of retirement, right?! Aren’t they SO adorable?!
Excited: to visit NEW places and meet NEW people on our 4-ish month RV trip.
Feeling: like I’m gonna really miss my one-year-old granddaughter while we’re gone!
Going: to take an online landscape design course and maybe an online Master Gardener course. Any good recommendations?
Helping: the victims of the devastating Texas floods by donating to relief funds.
Imploring: people on both sides of the political aisle to “just get along”!
Joking: with my son, whose middle name is Geoff, by sending him this hilarious SNL clip!
Knowing: that computer algorithms feed me certain content, often one-sided content, is concerning. Any good ideas on how to remedy that?
Loving: it when we see awesome sunsets! This was taken in Laramie, Wyoming. I’ve never been to Laramie before. Well, I guess I’ve driven past it, but never stayed there. I love it when the sky says goodnight in such a spectacular way!
Making: my art journal needs to become a priority. Doing art in an RV might be challenging, but I brought a few supplies. Wish me luck!!
Next: phase of our life is beginning! Bring on the Golden Years! It’s gonna be GREAT!
Observing: the world’s largest train yard from the observation deck of the Golden Spike Tower in North Platte, Nebraska. The train yard is 8 miles long and about 2 miles wide.
Posting: more often (hopefully), because retirement = more time (again, hopefully). ;o)
Questioning: why my computer keeps spazzing out! Agh!
Reading: My NEW reading challenge is to read a book set in each of these time periods: Pre-1200, 1300-1499, 1500-1699, 1700-1799, 1800-1899, 1900-1919, 1920-1939, 1940-1959, 1960-1979, 1980-1999, 2000-present, the future. I found this “When Are You Reading” challenge HERE.
Staying: and traveling in our 5th Wheel full-time until about November. We’re thankful our son can keep tabs on our home for us while we’re gone! I’ve told neighbors to text me if the lawn isn’t mowed or if the weeds in the flower beds get out of control. Haha!
Trying: to remember that we’re actually retired folk now. Haha! This vacation we’re on is permanent!
Understanding: Spanish isn’t really getting any easier for me. I’ve been doing Duolingo for over 3 years, but I think I need a real, live tutor. Will that happen any time soon? Not so sure!
Viewing: fireworks from the soccer stadium. It was great because the entire family was able to attend the game together. Getting schedules to align like that rarely happens. Fun night!
Welcoming: the NEW technology of Starlink for our travel necessities!
X (Our choice): Extra hard finding a laundry mat in certain areas!
Yes: to playing MORE pickleball and racquetball!
Z (Our choice): People watching is a joy! Watching the young man on the riding lawn mower dance and jive to the music (I’m assuming) on his earbuds brought a smile to my face!
Whew! That was kind of time-consuming! But I’ll appreciate looking back at this post in a few years.
I hope you all have a great week and do or learn something NEW! Take care!
Read all books by a certain author (I think my best shot at doing this is reading all of Susan Meissner’s books).
Travel challenges:
I already have my travel challenges ongoing. Visiting 100 waterfalls and all of the National Parks. We’ll be doing quite a bit of traveling this year, so I’m sure it will be easy to add to these lists, but here are a few marked for this year:
Visit Acadia NP, New River Gorge NP, Indiana Dunes NP, Cuyahoga Valley NP, Shenandoah NP and Gateway Arch NP.
And of course, visiting Iguazu Falls is happening this year. Yay!
Physical challenges:
Do another (or multiple) 30-day steps challenge (might be easy as we’re hiking to waterfalls!).
Do a 30-day yoga challenge
Ride on 20 (NEW-to-you) bike trails.
And lastly, what am I into???
Junk journals and art journals! I LOVE looking on Pinterest at creative art journals and watching videos about making junk journals. I’ve got one of each started (one art journal and one junk journal). My plan is for the junk journal to be vintage looking and I’ll be answering questions from a book my son gave me a few years ago called, “Tell me your story, MOM”. The art journal will be more vibrant and I will do some decoupage, watercolor, digital art, and other types of art. I created all of the images in this post with AI (Midjourney). I will use the image above as a focal point in one of my collages. That might seem like cheating, but anything goes in my journals, haha!
That’s it for my 2025 plans. My interests might change next week and I might be into something totally NEW and different! I’ll let you know. Maybe sometime I should do a blogging challenge and try to update this site a bit more regularly, haha! Anyway, I hope you have a fantastic day and that you get to learn or do something NEW today! Take care!
I promised to post a few more photos of the beautiful scenery we saw while visiting Glacier National Park. We thought if we visited after Labor Day, there would be fewer people. Well….if that was fewer people, I’d hate to go in peak season!!! Wowza, that’s a popular place! Maybe everyone had the same idea as we did?!?
A trip isn’t successful without shooting some tree art:
Our next trip isn’t until December. Can I survive??? :o)
Have a terrific day and I hope you do or learn something NEW today!
It’s update time! I get to cross Glacier National Park off our National Parks bucket list and add multiple waterfalls to my 100 Waterfalls Bucket List.
We visited Glacier National Park last week. We were thrilled to see the northern lights while we were there! We had a terrific time hiking and biking, eating huckleberry pie, huckleberry ice cream and huckleberry bear claw pastries! The weather in the 60s was perfect hiking weather. It was an excellent week!
I officially added 3 waterfalls to my waterfall bucket list, but we saw multiple random waterfalls. For instance, while driving on Going to the Sun Road, we saw water pouring over rocks several times.
Here’s my official three:
Baring Falls:
St Mary Falls (someone needs to remove that random log that obstructs the view, right! :o):
And here’s Virginia Falls:
I’ll post more photos of the beautiful scenery of Glacier National Park in the next few days.
Here’s the updated NP list. 26 down, 37 to go!
LIST OF US NATIONAL PARKS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (63 total)
Acadia National Park {done}
Arches National Park {done}
Badlands National Park
Big Bend National Park
Biscayne National Park {done}
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park {done}
Bryce Canyon National Park {done}
Canyonlands National Park {done}
Capitol Reef National Park {done}
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Channel Islands National Park
Congaree National Park
Crater Lake National Park
Cuyahoga Valley National Park
Death Valley National Park {done}
Denali National Park and Preserve
Dry Tortugas National Park
Everglades National Park {done}
Gates of the Arctic National Park
Gateway Arch National Park
Glacier National Park {done}
Glacier Bay National Park
Grand Canyon National Park {done}
Grand Teton National Park {done}
Great Basin National Park {done}
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Great Smoky Mountains National Park {done}
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Haleakala National Park
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park {done}
Hot Springs National Park
Indiana Dunes National Park
Isle Royale National Park
Joshua Tree National Park {done}
Katmai National Park and Preserve
Kenai Fjords National Park
Kings Canyon National Park {done}
Kobuk Valley National Park
Lake Clark National Park
Lassen Volcanic National Park {done}
Mammoth Cave National Park
Mesa Verde National Park {done}
Mount Rainier National Park
National Park of American Samoa
New River Gorge National Park
North Cascades National Park
Olympic National Park
Petrified Forest National Park
Pinnacles National Park
Redwood National Park {done}
Rocky Mountain National Park {done}
Saguaro National Park {done}
Sequoia National Park {done}
Shenandoah National Park
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Virgin Islands National Park
Voyageurs National Park
White Sands National Park
Wind Cave National Park
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
Yellowstone National Park {done}
Yosemite National Park {done}
Zion National Park {done}
Have a great day! I hope you do or learn something NEW today!
Happy Monday! It’s high time I posted (cuz it’s been over a month!) Yikes! I remember thinking if I paid for WordPress instead of having ads on my site, that would lead me to post regularly…to make it “worth” it! How’s that working for me?? I clearly need to be more intentional!
Nevertheless, here I am, and here’s some miscellany to share:
We had a family get-together and rode ATVs to this beautiful waterfall. So I’ll update my 100 Waterfall Bucket List!
Speaking of waterfalls…my ultimate bucket list waterfall to see is Iguazu Falls, and it WILL happen! We’ve booked our trip for early next year! I’m SO excited. Here are some Google images of Iguazu Falls:
Even more exciting is that I’m finally a Grandma! Yay! I haven’t asked permission to post any photos, so that will have to wait.
Here’s what I’ve been reading lately. And when I say “reading” I mean mostly listening to (on commutes to work)! My yearly GoodReads challenge is 75 books and I’m on track to reach that challenge. I’ve read some really good books this year. I’ve never really wanted to read everything from any particular author before, but I’ve decided I’ll read all of Susan Meissner’s books. Wish me luck…there are about 30. If I get tired of them, I’ll abandon that idea! :o)
That’s probably enough miscellany for now. The other stuff is too boring to share (the depressing process of getting decking bids…why is trex decking SO expensive?!) Travel planning is fun, but it’s hard to wait…I just wanna GO GO GO! The fires are making air quality not great. But I’m loving the beautiful summer flowers everywhere! I think I’ll go for a bike ride and enjoy the lovely yards in my area.
Have a great day! I hope you do or learn something NEW today!
Explore Newness 