Miscellaneous Monday…NEW stuff i gotta share

Happy Monday!

As I mentioned yesterday, we recently traveled to North Carolina and I learned some NEW miscellaneous stuff while we were there. So, of course, I gotta share!

We were chatting with a local, and she mentioned the Brown Mountain Lights. She was saying her husband has seen them twice, but she’s never seen them. I had never even heard of them! Apparently, the mysterious Brown Mountain Lights have been appearing in the Linville Gorge area of North Carolina for hundreds of years. No one can explain them. Here’s a website with more info: CarolinaCountry.com. My great-grandfather lived in Linville in the late nineteenth century, so I’m curious to know if he ever saw them! Maybe you’ve heard of them if you saw the movie Alien Abduction. And here’s an interesting YouTube video about them.

The next miscellaneous NEW thing I learned in Asheville was how oddly shaped a lawn bowling ball is! It is very cool that the city of Asheville has provided a lawn bowling green in their public park. You don’t see that every day! One of the players at the park noticed our interest in the game and came over to explain and show us the balls they use. Let’s just say they aren’t perfectly round. The game is similar to bocce {i think}, but there are obviously some differences. If you’re interested, here’s a site that explains the game {HERE}.

This is the bowling green in Asheville’s Carrier Park, which has a fun history of its own. It’s a former speedway turned into a public park!

Oh, the miscellaneous NEW things you learn when you get away from your own neighborhood!

I’m not sure of the author of this quote…but I luv it!

“The best education you’ll get is traveling. Nothing teaches you more than exploring the world and accumulating experiences.”

Have a great day today! Do or learn something NEW!

NEW updates to my waterfalls bucket list

Happy Sunday!

Well, October passed in a blink, right!?! We had a blast the last week of October. We traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, and saw the beautiful fall colors in the area right at their peak! How lucky was that? Some areas, like in the Great Smoky National Park were past peak, but around Asheville the colors were GORGEOUS!

We hiked almost every day and saw multiple waterfalls. So, today I updated my Waterfalls Bucket List. We added 11 to the list, just from this trip, and we barely scratched the surface of NC Waterfalls!

Our hikes were spectacular! Perfect weather for hiking and check out these colors:

Another waterfall…

I’ll probably share more pics in a few days if I get around to it.

If you Google “Best places to visit in the fall”, Asheville NC is top of the list. I definitely agree, Google!!!

Have a great day. Do or learn something NEW!

a NEW note to self…

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Note to self…Always plan a road trip (traveling north) toward the end of September each and every year!

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We traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming last weekend and the colors were gorgeous!  The best views seemed to be at spots that we couldn’t really stop and take photos…but the beauty is fondly stored in my memory instead of my camera’s memory.

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The dinner and show at Bar J Wranglers in Jackson was excellent too.  A friend recommended it to me, years ago, and I’m happy we finally got to go.

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Road trips are the best for taking in all of the beautiful fall scenery.  If any of you have a recommended itinerary for next fall’s trip, let me know! Have a great day! Do or learn or see something NEW!

Miscellaneous Monday…NEW stuff i gotta share

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Happy Monday!

We’ve just returned from a week or so of traveling and now it’s time to update my “100 Waterfall Bucket List“! The photo above is of Hog’s Back Falls in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  We also saw Rideau Falls in Ottawa and Montmorency Falls near Quebec City. I really LOVE waterfalls!

AND…funny thing…I recently read this article “The Most Jaw Dropping Waterfalls in all 50 states”  and it lists the waterfall in front of the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada as that state’s best waterfall!  I understand that Nevada is the driest state and they probably don’t have any natural waterfalls.  I’ve been to the Mirage Hotel’s waterfall.  Can I count it?….Should I count it as one of my 100?  Let me know what you think! :o)

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{Rideau Falls, Ottawa, Canada}

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{Montmorency Falls, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada}

Have a great day!  Do something NEW…maybe work on a NEW bucket list?!?

 

 

 

a NEW thematic bucket list

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I love, loVE, LOVE waterfalls, so I’m gonna keep track of the ones I visit and try to cross off a bucket list of visiting 100 waterfalls. I’ve gotta get busy! Just so I don’t get overwhelmed, I’ll list the three I “plan-to-go-to next” at the top. So, here we go:

**Havsupi Falls, Arizona

**Burney Falls, Shasta County, California

**Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan

  1. Dunn’s River Falls, Jamaica {done}
  2. Minnehaha Falls, Minnesota {done}
  3. Multnomah Falls, Oregon {done}
  4. American Falls, Niagara, New York {done}
  5. Bridal Veil Falls, Niagara, New York {done}
  6. Horseshoe Falls, Niagara, New York {done}
  7. Bridal Veil Falls, Provo, Utah{done}
  8. Akaka Falls in Hilo, Hawaii {done}
  9. Emerald Pools Waterfall, Zion National Park, Utah {done}
  10. Horsetail Falls, Alpine, Utah{done}
  11. Cascade Falls, Brianhead, Utah{done}
  12. Upper Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park {done}
  13. Lower Yellowstone Falls, Yellowstone National Park {done}
  14. Snoqualmie Falls, Seattle, Washington {done}
  15. Kanarraville Falls, Kanarraville, Utah {done}
  16. Toquerville, Falls, Toquerville, UT {done}
  17. Shoshone Falls, Twin Falls, ID {done}
  18. Twin Falls, ID {done}
  19. St. Anthony Falls, Minneapolis, MN {done}
  20. Hog’s Back Falls, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada {done}
  21. Rideau Falls, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada {done}
  22. Montmorency Falls, Quebec, Canada {done}
  23. Upper Mesa Falls, Idaho {done}
  24. Lower Mesa Falls, Idaho {done}
  25. Talcott Falls, New York {done}
  26. Pixley Falls, New York {done}
  27. Stewart Falls, Sundance, UT {done}
  28. Battle Creek Fall, Pleasant Grove, UT {done}
  29. Yosemite Falls, Yosemite National Park, CA {done}
  30. Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite National Park, CA {done}
  31. Vernal Falls, Yosemite National Park, CA {done}
  32. Nevada Falls, Yosemite National Park, CA {done}
  33. Lower Calf Creek Falls, Escalante, UT {done}
  34. Grizzly Falls, Kings Canyon, CA {done}
  35. Box Canyon Springs Waterfall, Wendell, ID {done}
  36. Bullion Falls, Marysvale, UT {done}
  37. High Falls, Dupont State Forest, North Carolina {done}
  38. Triple Falls, Dupont State Forest, North Carolina {done}
  39. Linville Falls, North Carolina {done}
  40. Pearson’s Falls, Polk County, North Carolina {done}
  41. Hickory Nut Falls, North Carolina {done}
  42. Mingo Falls, North Carolina {done}
  43. Tom Branch Falls, North Carolina {done}
  44. Juneywhank Falls, North Carolina {done}
  45. Indian Creek Falls, North Carolina {done}
  46. Soco Falls, North Carolina {done}
  47. Whitewater Falls, North Carolina {done}
  48. Bowen Falls, New Zealand {done}

a NEW photo and NEW recipes to try

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Happy Tuesday!

How do you you like these pasta “curtains” from this pastry shop in Portovenere Italy? I thought it was clever! I loved snapping photos of the every-day nuances of each of the countries we visited.  I should have remembered to take more pics of PEOPLE in our group though!

So now I’m in the mood for pasta! Here’s some recipes I want to try soon:

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo Stuffed Shells because we LOVE broccoli at our house!

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Cream Cucumber Pasta Salad because a co-worker gave us some fresh cuks that we need to use up, and this looks so fresh and yummy!

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AND, I need to make some manicotti because it freezes well for those nights I need a quick dinner.  But I think I’ll try cooking it in the crock pot.  What if I had some in the freezer and then just stuck them in the crock pot in the a.m. before work?  I’ll let you know how that turns out! 🙂

Crockpot No-Boil Manicotti

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Have a great day!  Do or COOK something NEW!

The NEWness Explorer is BACK…

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HELLO again, Blogland!  I took an unplanned 9-month break from blogging, but I’m back!  Things have settled down (at least for the moment), and I’m excited to document the upcoming NEW things I plan to be doing or learning about!

I started this site on 5 September 2012, so I gave myself a deadline to ‘get-back-at-it’ as of TODAY, 5 September 2017!

The main reason I was MIA was because of a huge work-related project I had to work on, but “regular life” got in the way too.  Some fun stuff though…

We went on a trip of a life-time to Europe this summer (pic above of one of the hotel’s we stayed at).  We cruised around the Mediterranean (Spain, Italy, France) and then hopped back over to England to visit our ancestral stomping grounds. The entire trip was fabulous! I’ll probably share some more pics from the trip in upcoming posts.

We worked on a couple of NEW house projects…we tore out a wall in our workout room and stuck a sauna in there so the door would face the bathroom (and therefore be accessible to the shower), and re-did the workout room including a ballet barre.  My hubby teases me and asks if I use the “bar-A” for my workouts.  Well, YES, today I did a HIP HOP BARRE WORKOUT! Thank you very much! :o)  The plan is to finish up the room with mirrors behind the ‘Bar-A’, …still need to get a bid for those.

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A LOT of time went into planning a summer camp for teenage girls from our church.  It was time-consuming, but also fun and rewarding…and the girls will probably always remember getting totally rained AND hailed on!

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And I FINALLY started on my “Secret Garden” that I posted plans about way back in May of 2014!   My hubby made this arbor that I LOVE, and little by little, I’m adding plants – but it still has a long, long, LONG way to go!

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So! That’s {some} of what I’ve been up to.  I’m looking forward to catching up with many of the blogs I follow as well as get great ideas for NEW things to do or learn from YOU!

Have a great day! Try to do or learn something NEW today!

Wednesday’s What’s NEW with YOU? (a tagging experience)

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I’ve decided I’ll post a tagging experience every Wednesday, because I’d like to hear more about ‘What’s NEW with YOU’! I get to learn what’s NEW from sites I follow, but I’d like to know something NEW from other people who YOU follow (who I haven’t gotten acquainted with yet). And I figured maybe you would too.

So, If you’d like to participate, here’s what to do:

  • Write a post about something NEW you learned, or something you tried, did, experienced etc., and also include something NEW you learned about from another site you follow (be sure to link to the other site as well).
  • Please tag your post with “what’s-NEW?”  (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
  • Link (Pingback) your post to this post. That way, I can post all the great NEW stuff going on the following Wednesday for everyone to see.
  • Have fun realizing all the NEW things you do or learn!

Here’s mine for today:  I’m starting a NEW tagging experience on my blog every Wednesday, Oh! but you already knew that. Haha! What I’ve learned from another blog I follow: I’m learning very interesting things about the UK.  I’m traveling there next May, so I’m on the look out for everything possibly related. Here’s a wonderfully interesting post about London Pride, Pashley Garden, Ticehurst, UK at The Travel Lady in Her Shoes blog.  I would LOVE to visit those gardens when we go! The Travel Lady in Her Shoes has many, many other great posts as well!

Have a great day! Do or learn something NEW! And I hope you join this NEW tagging experience! :o)