Mel

ARIZONA REVIEW: WHY GO; WHAT TO DO & SEE October 2023 and many times in the past Arizona is another one of those places that has changed quite a bit from my first visits back in the early 2000s. I focused this latest visit on seeing natural beauty rather than focusing on meditation and breath […]

NEW MEXICO REVIEW: WHY GO; WHAT TO DO & SEE September 2023 and many times in the past Most of my past memories of New Mexico center on Santa Fe, a place I found abundant in the things I love, coffee, great spicy food, mountains to hike, and a European shoe store with walkable stylish

June 2023 My sister’s mother-in-law told me that Idaho reminded her of California forty years ago.  I definitely see the comparison as it felt very California like driving from Jackson, WY to Craters of the Moon and then Ketchum.  Perhaps this somewhat sameness is why Sun Valley and Ketchum did not speak to me the

June 2023 This was my third trip to Wyoming. I seem to stick to Yellowstone, the Tetons and Jackson/Jackson Hole and would put these on the must visit list to everyone, at least Yellowstone and the Tetons. The weather can be unpredictable and I have ended up hiking as the snow fell and the temperature

June 2023 I made the nine hour, quite boring drive east along Highway 2 from North Dakota to Glacier National Park.  Being Montana I expected to drive along or through the mountains but turns out this area is mostly flat and sprinkled with towns which look forgotten.  Like South Dakota, this is another drive passing

May 2023 I was not sure what to expect in South Dakota.  As I drove in from the south through the Rosebud Indian Reservation on my way to Badlands National Park, the poverty was apparent in the small commercial areas with shuttered buildings interspersed among the truly striking green, green grass that I understand covers

May 2023 Like Kentucky, I spent little time here and only visited the southwest corner of the state so I have limited ability to comment other than to say the weather is harsh.  My arrival was greeted with a small tornado that struck while I stopped for gas shortly after arriving in the state in

May 2023 My main reason to go to Nebraska was to see where my dad grew up. We never went there growing up as my dad had no desire to return. He only went one time later in life to attend the funeral of his favorite aunt.  I did not find a lot of reasons

May 2023 Iowa is pretty in a rolling hills and greenery kind of way, at least the part I drove through.  I understand there are also some very flat parts with lots of corn.  I toured only part of the state, stopping only in Mason City to check out the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright