November 28, 2010 by Pat Bean
Over the rainbow -- photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.” Lyman Frank Baum
Dorothy's red slippers
When I drove through Kansas, it felt like one big corn field. The rich, green stalks actually did look “as high as an elephant’s eye,” as Curly sang in “Oklahoma.” Occasionally, however, the corn would give way to other sights, one being the Wizard of Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas.
Located on Highway 99 (also known as the Road to Oz) 40 miles west of Topeka, the small and quaint museum is dedicated to all things Oz. There was no way I was going to pass it by without stopping.
I wonder if Scarecrow is standing in a Kansas corn field. -- Photo by Pat Bean
In addition to the Oz memorabilia and exhibits, admittedly some quite cheesy, the museum features a theater where one can see the original Oz starting Judy Garland, along with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson’s “Wiz” version.
Since I love corn, I found the museum a pleasant way to wile away a couple of hours. The experience would go better, I think, with a kid or two in tow – but then I’m enough of a kid at heart that it didn’t matter.
On my way out, I bought a yellow brick for my daughter’s personal “Magic Garden.” I thought she would get a kick out of the gift – the cost of which benefited the museum – and she did.
Posted in Nature, Travel | Tagged Highway 99, Kansas corn fields, museum, Road to Oz, Wamego, what to do in Kansas, Wizard of Oz | 1 Comment »
November 27, 2010 by Pat Bean
My dream vehicle when I was a working journalist. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“The everyday kindness of the back roads more than makes up for the acts of greed in the headlines.” Charles Kuralt
The first time I saw an “On the Road” television segment with Charles Kuralt, I knew that was the kind of journalist I wanted to be. I partially achieved that goal in my 37 years as a journalist with the stories I wrote about interesting upbeat people and aspects of a nature, along of course with my coverage of ditty-gritty city council and crime news.
I even got, albeit rarely, to go on the road to cover stories for my newspaper. But I never had the freedom to take it to his level – to travel cross-country in an RV and write only what pleased me.
Today, however, that’s exactly what I do. And it pleases me greatly to tell you about the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, outside of Detroit. It offers so much more than just the progression of the automobile down through the years.
Life used to move at a slower pace, and you can experience it at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. -- Photo by Pat Bean
One can wander through Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park Laboratory and imagine the excitement exuded when that first light bulb cast its glow. Or marvel at the dreams of fanciful flight Orville and Wilbur shared while working at their Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop. You can visit the home where Noah Webster wrote America’s first dictionary and walk through the first Ford Motor Home factory.
I almost wept when I viewed the sleek black Lincoln in which President John F. Kennedy lost his life in on that fateful November day in 1963. The vehicle represented a loss of innocence for my generation.
Thankfully, my tears, if I had shed them, would only have been of joy when I saw the next vehicle that moved me. It was the “On the Road” RV. If there is a heaven, and former free-spirited TV journalist happens to be looking down, I hope he realizes how much he inspired one lone female traveler.
Thank you Charles Kuralt for crystallizing my dreams.
Posted in Nature, Travel | Tagged Charles Kuralt, Henry Ford Museum, Kennedy's Lincoln, Menlo Park, Michigan, on the road, RV travel, Things to do in Dearborn, Thomas Edison, Wright Brothers | 6 Comments »
November 26, 2010 by Pat Bean
Mesa Falls, complete with rainbow, was my reward for divorcing my planned driving route. -- Photo Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“Establishing goals is all right if you don’t let them deprive you of interesting detours.” — Doug Larson
It was the best of times without any worse. Maggie and I were peacefully driving the Teton Scenic Byway (Highway 20) west out of Yellowstone and past Henry’s Lake when we came upon a fork in the road.
Taking Robert Frost’s advice, we zigged to take the one less traveled, which was the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway (Highway 47). We would hook up again down the road with Highway 20 but only after stops and short hikes for spectacular views of Mesa Falls.
I usually travel with a plan, but thankfully am willing to divorce it at my slightest whim. To be willing to follow my example is the best advice I can offer my fellow travelers this day.
Posted in Nature, Travel | Tagged Highway 20, Highway 47, Idaho scene byways, Idaho waterfalls, mesa falls, Mesa Falls scenic byway, RV travel, Teton Scenic Byway, travel advice | 1 Comment »
November 25, 2010 by Pat Bean
I'm thankful for hiking trails. Pictured above is the Franconia Notch Flume Trail in New Hampshire. -- Photo by Pat Bean
100 Things for which I’m Thankful – In No Particular Order
- Belly laughs
- The sound of rain pinging on my RV roof
- Family, which these days include five awesome children, 15 delightful grandchildren and three perfect great grandchildren.
- My black cocker spaniel, Maggie, who curls up with me on cold nights.
- Rich African coffee heavily laced with cream
- Scenic byways
- Cool nights that let me snuggle beneath a soft quilt
- Good health – and hope I can say this for many more years
- Hearty hugs from people who mean it
- A good massage from a woman with magic fingers
- Being a writer
- My association with the women of Story Circle Network
- A good haircut
- Scenic hiking trails
- Achievements of my kids, grandkids and friends
- My zest for life
- Walking barefoot on a sandy beach
- Learning something new
- The flash of sun illuminating the tail feathers of an overhead red-tailed hawk
- Hot baths
- My new Kindle
- Ibuprofen for strained muscles
- Discovering a new author I like
- Taking a grandchild on their first roller coaster ride
- Watching fall redress the trees
- Van Gogh paintings
- Butterflies
- My computer and the Internet
- Maggie’s quirky personality
- Rainbows
- Living in America where a woman can safely travel alone
- Sunrises and sunsets
- Funky, dangling earrings that belie my age
- Bra-less days
- Summers not spent in Texas
- Good memories of my mother
- Old friends and new friends
- A field of wildflowers
- Reese”s peanut butter cups
- The wind blowing through my hair
- My daily walks with Maggie
- Hot soup on a cold day
- A wee-morning hours chatter with a long-time girlfriend over Jack Daniels and coke.
- A daughter-in-law guardian angel who keeps track of my travels, forwards my mail and supplies me with my favorite coffee
- The honking of geese as they fly overhead
- Lake reflections
- Family meals eaten around a table
- My curiosity
- Comfortable shoes
- America, the beautiful
- Clean showers in RV parks
- Electricity
- My bicycle
- People who care deeply about something
- The wolf’s return to Yellowstone
- The journey between destinations
- A comfortable bed and a perfect pillow
- WordPress for hosting this blog
- New white sox
- Water in all its forms
- Scented candles
- A sky full of stars
- Glasses that allow me to read
- Pleasant surprises
- An honest politician
- Birdwatching with my birdwatching son
- Evenings spent around a campfire
- Good Sam emergency services
- A Jack in the Box chocolate shake, which I only discovered this year
- Nice and Easy, No. 99 – so I can forever be a blonde
- Coyote howls
- Wrinkle-free clothing
- Gentle dentists
- My independence
- The fragrant scent of a blooming gardenia bush, which always reminds me of my grandmother
- The diversity I find in people watching
- Large, gnarly live oak trees
- Audible books
- Maps
- A good editor
- Books with satisfying endings
- The strong women of the past who fought so I could vote
- A cup of Earl Grey tea
- The color turquoise
- Boat rides
- Antibiotics and vaccinations
- Smiles
- A frisky squirrel in a tree outside my RV
- Guided trolley tours
- My point and shoot digital camera
- Washers and dryers
- Blank journals
- A shady RV camp site beside a small lake
- A hearty 11 a.m. breakfast for lunch
- The music of a humpback whale
- Stained glass windows
- That there are still plenty of birds to add to my life list
- Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman Hear Me Roar”
- The family computer nerds who get the bugs out of my laptop
- Readers of my blog
Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel | Tagged Franconia Notch, New Hampshire, Thankfulness, Thanksgiving | 3 Comments »
November 24, 2010 by Pat Bean
Prophetstown State Park in Battle Ground, Indiana, was me and Maggie's peaceful and scenic home for three days. Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“We need the tonic of wildness, to wade sometimes in marshes where the bittern and the meadow-hen lurk, and hear the booming of the snipe: to smell the whispering sedge where only some wilder and more solitary fowl builds her nest, and the mink crawls with its belly close to the ground.” — Henry David Thoreau
Prophetstown State Park
This peaceful Indiana park is named for Shawnee Indian leader Tenskwatawa (the Prophet) and his brother, Temcumseh, who established a village here in the early 1800s. Located near where the Walbash and the Tippecanoe rivers join, it was my Indiana home for three days.
Volunteer hosts in my previous campground had recommended it after Maggie, my friendly four-legged traveling companion, and I stopped to visit with them on one of our morning walks. I always tell people where I’m headed and ask for recommendations. This had been a great one.
Harrison, on his second attempt to become president, used the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too,” and held a huge campaign rally in Battle Ground to implant the idea that he was the man who won the war against the Indians.
Meadow wildflowers, such as these wild geranium, colored me and Maggie's walks. Photo by Pat Bean
The ploy was successful and Harrison became this country’s ninth president. Thirty-two days later he died of pneumonia and John Tyler became our 10th president.
As I looked out over the awesome meadow where Mother Nature had woven her magic, I was saddened to think of the blood that had fallen on land that now looked so peaceful.
Not only did the park look out over a breathtaking meadow full of purple, pink and yellow wildflowers, I was sitting on top of history. The park is located in Battle Ground, Indiana, where William Henry Harrison defeated the two Shawnee brothers who had threatened revenge on the settlers for taking their land, hence the town’s name.
Posted in Nature, Travel | Tagged Battle Ground, Indiana state parks, meadows, Prophetstown State Park, RV travel, Shawnee Indians, state parks, Tippecanoe and Tyler too, Wildflowers | Leave a Comment »
November 22, 2010 by Pat Bean
Surprise discover of a Marlin Perkins statue in a small Carthage, Missouri, park. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“If we are strong, and have faith in life and its richness of surprises, and hold the rudder steadily in our hands. I am sure we will sail into quiet and pleasant waters for our old age.” — Freya Stark
Marlin Perkins
When you’re on the road, you know you’re going to visit the Mount Rushmores and the Niagara Falls. Perhaps, like me, you even do a little bit of research about these great places beforehand to enhance your understanding and enjoyment.
These mega-star travel sites, the Grand Canyons and the Old Faithfuls, are – and should be – musts on bucket lists. But it’s the little surprises along the way that give meaning to my journeys.
In Carthage, Missouri, one of these surprises was a statue in a small park. I asked my traveling companion, a single female traveler like myself whom I had hooked up with for the day’s outing at the Red Barn RV Park, whom the statue honored. She didn’t know, but she was as curious as I was to know the answer. So we stopped.
Nothing could have delighted me more than to discover the statue was Marlin Perkins. This gentle man’s exotic animal adventures on TV’s Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom back in the 1960s and early ’70s had fed both my love of nature and my wanderlust. A native of Carthage, Perkins was among the first to bring exotic wildlife into America’s living rooms.
The bronze statue of Perkins, created by Carthage artists Bob Tommey and Bill Snow, has him kneeling with a giant pair of binoculars in his hand. As a birder whose binoculars are never far from hand, I felt a renewed kinship with this man who loved and worked to protect nature and all that exists in it.
May I always remember to allows take time in my traveling schedule for such surprises.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel | Tagged Marlin Perkins, Missouri, parks in Carthage, Red Barn RV Park, rv parks, RV travel, surprises, Things to do in Carthage, wild kingdom | Leave a Comment »
November 21, 2010 by Pat Bean
Painted Wall of the Colorado's Black Canyon of the Gunnison with the Gunnison River flowing below. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“As we become curators of our own contentment on the Simple Abundance path… we learn to savor the small with a grateful heart.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach –
Black Canyon of the Gunnison
While visitors to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park may be awed by the deep narrow chasm carved by the Gunnison River below them – I certainly was – I didn’t forget to look right in front of my nose. I’m always amazed at Mother Nature’s more delicate landscape paintings, be it a single purple flower or a massive canvas of lichen, twigs, grasses, rocks soil and leaves.
I stayed in the park’s South Rim Campground, which has electrical hookups and is adjacent to a mile-long rim trail with excellent views of the canyon. Maggie and I encountered deer, squirrels and a marmot on our walks, while red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures flew above us.
I found the landscape of rocks and foilage painted by Mother Nature as awesome as the mighty canyon. -- Photo by Pat Bean
We even got a brief glimpse of a peregrine falcon flying in the canyon beneath us. Once nearly extinct, this speediest of birds has made a magnificent comeback.
Another hike took me along the canyon floor for a rendezvous with a boat, and a ride through the canyon, past a waterfall, on a ranger-led tour. Writing now about this visit to the park two years ago makes me want to go back.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel | Tagged Birds, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Colorado parks, Colorado RV campgrounds, Colorado wildlife, deer, Gunnison River, little things, marmot, Painted Wall, peregrine falcon, ranger tours, red-tailed hawk, turkey vulture | Leave a Comment »
November 20, 2010 by Pat Bean
An anhinga drying its wings. You'll be sure to see this bird along the Anhinga Trail. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“There are no other Everglades in the world … Nothing anywhere else is like them … the racing free saltness and sweetness of the their massive winds, under the dazzling blue heights of space …. The miracle of the light pours over the green and brown expanse of saw grass and of water, shining and slow-moving below … It is a river of grass.” — Marjory Stoneman Douglas, The Everglades: River of Grass, 1947
Turtles and a comorant face off for space along the trail. -- Photo by Pat Bean
The 0.8 mile boardwalk trail is named for the anhinga, a waterbird that swims with only its long neck and head above water. This can give it the appearance of a snake about to strike, hence it’s nickname snakebird. We saw plenty of these birds along the trail, but many other birds as well.
If you go, be sure and stay on the trail. There are more than birds that call this area of the Everglades home.
Beware the jaws that snatch. Photo by Pat Bean
Everglades National Park
Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel | Tagged alligators, Anhinga Trail, cormorant, Everglades, Florida birds, Florida trails, Florida wildlife, national park, turtles | 2 Comments »
November 19, 2010 by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.” — Aristotle
The floating log that first I saw morphed into a magnificent moose. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Wassamki Springs, Scarborough, Maine
A revolving scenic landscape as a front yard is one of the best things about living in a home on wheels. Between lakes, mountains, red rocks, forests, wildflowers and visiting wildlife, it would be hard to pick one of nature’s gardens as my favorite view. But the one that riveted my attention at Wasssamki Springs Campground in Scarborough, Maine, on a September morning is certainly one I will never forget.
At first I thought it was just a log floating in the misty lake beside which my RV was parked. But as the object came closer it grew antlers, large ones that spread out across the top of its head. The huge moose ended its swim on a spit of sand just about 30 yards away from my front door.
Then, casually, ignoring several of us campers who had stepped out of our motorhomes for a better look, it lumbered through the campground and then into the forest behind us.
Maggie’s preference for sleeping in caused her miss the event. She only woke as I returned inside. She wagged her tail at the smile on my face, then clearly informed me she was ready for her morning walk now.
Posted in Nature, Travel | Tagged Maine RV parks, moose, nature's garden, RV travel, Scarborough, Travels With Maggie, Wassamki Springs | Leave a Comment »
November 18, 2010 by Pat Bean
Natural Falls -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
“To be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring — these are some of the rewards of the simple life. — John Burroughs
Natural Falls State Park
The 1974 movie version of “Where the Red Fern Grows,” the story of the love between a boy and his dogs, was shot here where this 77-foot waterfall flows year-round. Trails take you both above and below this scenic Ozarks’ spot, which is located near where Cherokees were forcibly marched during the infamous Trail of Tears in the 1830s.
I viewed it on a hot late spring day and relished the coolness that radiated from its flow.
The park is located off Highway 412, six miles west of Siloam Springs, and has excellent full hook-up sites for RVs. If you can, plan to stay awhile.
Posted in Birds, Nature, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged highway 412, John Burroughs, Natural Falls State Park, Oklahoma, Ozarks, RV travel, waterfalls, Where the Red Fern Grows | 3 Comments »
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