Tag Archives: bikes
An Ode to the Home of Vidalia Onions
To paraphrase Shakespeare, would an onion by any other name taste as sweet?We think not, since most onions are hardly sweet at all. So what’s in a name? Vidalia, Vidalia, wherefore art thou Vidalia?
The only way to know for sure was to go directly to the… CONTINUE READING >>
It’s Cherry Blossom Time in Japan!
In another of what seem to be unbelievable bits of good timing we have encountered in our travels, we hit Japan right at the peak of the cherry blossoms blooming.At our first stop, Nagasaki, we were enthralled by the flowering trees all around The Atomic Bomb Museum. They helped add a quiet touch to the somber site advocating peace near the epicenter of… CONTINUE READING >>
Man o’ Manatees
January is manatee mania month in Florida. There is no better time of year to see – and swim with (yes!) – these gentle giants in The Sunshine State, and Floridians go all out to show off the endangered sea cows, including throwing a festival or two.
Did someone say festival? No way we would miss that!
During the winter the… CONTINUE READING >>
The Long and the Shorts of It All
When women get to be “of a certain age” questions of appropriateness inevitably rear their ugly heads. I think I have squarely hit that certain age. With a vengeance.My questions of appropriateness have actually turned into a LIST of questions of appropriateness:
Should I stop wearing shorts?
What about sleeveless blouses?
Is my hair too long?
When should I stop dying it?
Should I do something about my wrinkles? The shorts quandary is a tough one for me. It’s on the top… CONTINUE READING >>
Little Rock / Big Gem
Join us on a rip-roarin’ tour of Little Rock, Arkansas!We visited the Clinton Presidential Library, hit the Big Dam Bridge, witnessed history at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site and ate avocado popcycles at the River Market!
Then, we mounted Segways and … CONTINUE READING >>
A Quick Trip to (and Overeating in) Colonia, Uruguay
Like most travelers, we enjoy putting another notch on our suitcase handle by adding to our list of visited countries.We found this remarkably easy to do while in Buenos Aires, just hop on a ferry across the river to Uruguay. The delightful town of Colonia del Sacramento lies on the other side of the Río de la Plata, so after a forty-five minute ride on the Buquebus, we were adding a stamp to our… CONTINUE READING >>
Two Sainte Maries
The phrase border town will not usually conjure up an image of anything remotely resembling the two Sault Sainte Maries (the Sault portion is pronounced Soo) that lie across from each other where Michigan’s Upper Peninsula meets Ontario.There is a distinct lack of cacti, dust and adobe, but that’s not to say there isn’t plenty to provide for a different type of… CONTINUE READING >>
Glamour + Camping = Glamping on the California Coast
Your GypsyNesters take a Glamping adventure of a lifetime up California’s Pacific Coast Highway!Follow us from Santa Monica to Santa Barbara to Beverly Hills – yes – Beverly Hills, as we discover what the Glamping Life is all about!… CONTINUE READING >>
California Road Trip!
We headed up the California Coast – GypsyNester style – finding the wildest, wackiest and most ginormous stuff along the Pacific Coast Highway… CONTINUE READING >>
America’s Other West Coast
Who knew America has two West Coasts? Well now we do, after discovering Florida’s hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline facing west onto the Gulf of Mexico.Sometimes called The Sunset Coast, most of it is much less crowded than the… CONTINUE READING >>
Meet Bigfoot’s Florida Cousin!
Skunk Apes are omnivores, with the ability to climb and make beds out of leafy branches, there are an estimated 7 – 9 of them in the Everglades, they like alligator caves, smell like rotten eggs, and they love lima beans. Skunk Apes lead a nomadic, hunter/gatherer existence, have a good memory and exceptional hearing.We had to find one for ourselves, so we headed deep into the Florida Everglades… CONTINUE READING >>
In Search of Skunk Ape
Your GypsyNesters go deep into the Florida Everglades, miles from any signs of civilization, in search of the elusive Skunk Ape and found some … CONTINUE READING >>
Life’s a Beach
Life’s a beach. In Florida that little pun takes on some real meaning. Of The Sunshine State’s twelve hundred miles of coastline, over half is covered by beautiful sandy beaches.We are big fans of the seashore, so much so that we spent almost a decade on a… CONTINUE READING >>
Florida Biking, Beaching, Birding & Beasting
The sand in Florida is packed down hard enough that we rode our bikes on the beach! Wow, Florida has a lot of wildlife… CONTINUE READING >>
Manatee Time
Florida’s west coast is a manatee Mecca.
At least a dozen manatees began their leisurely evening swim out to the open water – passing right under our bridge! We gasped as we saw mama manatees with their calves in… CONTINUE READING >>
A Town Standing on Stilts
There is something about driving to the very tip of a place, the end of the line, land’s end, that we can’t resist. It’s kind of like climbing a mountain for us, we do it because it’s there. In Louisiana that point where State Highway 1 hits the water is Grand Isle.Building a road across this expanse of wetland took extensive… CONTINUE READING >>
Savannah Squared
Savannah is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. Or at least we didn’t. But the city is gorgeous and the pace slow, so it seemed like a perfect place to take a little bicycle tour.We did know that Forrest Gump waited for his bus somewhere in… CONTINUE READING >>
Factor’s Walk, Savannah, Georgia
Factor’s Walk is a hidden alleyway is where cotton merchants, called factors, transacted their business in the days when cotton was king. A series of stairways, bridges and catwalks access hidden doorways, connected by narrow streets paved with the ballast stones brought in by the trade ships coming in from Europe. In the 1800s, this was the Wall Street of cotton… CONTINUE READING >>Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Ed(isto Island)
Our adventure through the Sea Islands continues with a mysterious “mound of mystery,” a secretive gathering of the world’s richest men and a home built by the Undersheriff of Herefordshire in 1743, basically out of trash. It still… CONTINUE READING >>Do the Charleston!
Without a destination in mind other than south to bug out of the snow, we headed for the coastal “Lowcountry” and discovered one of America’s most interesting cities.
Something stood out to us as we pedaled around – many homes had odd doors facing the street leading to outside porches. Having never seen such before, we dubbed them “porch doors,” and tossed around quite a few theories as to why they existed before finding out their true function. Known as “hospitality doors,” these portals were a way of communicating… CONTINUE READING >>
Free Money!
We started walking a few years ago while we were still living on St. Croix and the last chick was still in the nest. A lot of our planning for the post child raising years was done while ambulating along the roads and shores of that beautiful island.It was good for us and good for our relationship. We also inadvertently stumbled upon something else.
One day while we were walking to the grocery store, Veronica looked down on the side of the road and, lo and behold, a five was laying there. A few more steps and there was a… CONTINUE READING >>
Time Traveling with the Amish
Where Indiana meets Michigan, Michiana as it’s known, time travel is possible. Here in the Land o’ Goshen, the Amish have settled and continue a lifestyle reminiscent of hundreds of years ago, placing merit on humility and hard work.Elkhart County, Indiana has the second largest population of Amish in America. More than a religion, this is a way of life. The shunning of technology is not from an idea that new things are inherently bad, it comes from the drive to always remain humble.
We wondered how folks in Amish Country tame a wild hair and, after following a few leads, enrolled ourselves in a Dutch oven cooking class. It turned out to be quite the… CONTINUE READING >>
Gales of Galveston
From the moment we crossed on to Galveston Island, Texas, Glen Campbell’s voice was stuck in our heads. We didn’t even know the words past “Galveston, Oh Galveston,” but that didn’t stop the tape loop in our craniums. Once we found our campground and parked BAMF, we got to Googling and found a copy of the song to relieve our brains. Thank you “The Glen Campbell Good Time Hour” YouTube page!Jimmy Webb wrote the song during a visit to the island, conjuring up the story – a Spanish-American War soldier dreaming of his girl back home in Galveston – while sitting… CONTINUE READING >>
Marfa My Dear
We found ourselves in the middle-of-nowhere West Texas and discovered some WEIRD stuff!The mysterious Marfa Ghost Lights (fact or fiction?), strange pig like creatures (with a little nursing baby!) and a really, REALLY strange work of art.
Join us on the journey into weird and wonderful West Texas…CONTINUE READING >>
Peering at the Pier in Santa Monica
Have you ever wondered where Route 66 ends?Rather than dumping travelers into the Pacific Ocean, Santa Monica offered a better solution – a pleasure pier.
The pier is actually two... CONTINUE READING >>
On a Mission in San Antonio
There are two things we’ve known about San Antone since childhood. Davy Crockett, whether played by Fess Parker or John Wayne fought at the Alamo there, and Charley Pride wanted to know if anybody was goin’ there. Seemed like we should learn more about Texas’ second-largest city, so we had our mission, should we decide to accept it.And mission… CONTINUE READING >>
