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Saturday, April 30, 2016

Bountiful Baskets - Fresh food at home!

When we are not wandering, we are looking for ways to enjoy home. One of my favorites is participating in the local Bountiful Baskets Co-Op. For a very small fee we can have an awesome haul of fresh fruits and vegetables! This photo is of our baskets this week (it is two contributions worth). They come to our area every two weeks. We can have a regular basket or upgrade to an all organic basket. They also offer great add-ons! This week we also got 8 lbs of mangos! It's a fun way to add fruits and vegetables to our diet and the basket ingredients help decide what's for dinner. Check them out for your area! www.bountifulbaskets.org

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Great Reno Balloon Races 2013

Each year in early September Reno plays host to the largest FREE Hot Air Balloon event in the world. With over 120,000 spectators in attendance each year, the Great Reno Balloon Race is by far one of the best special events in the Reno Tahoe Area.  This year will be the 35th Anniversary of the race and surely one you wont want to miss. 

Make sure that you get up early, brave the traffic and get a seat on the field for The Glow Show, Dawn Patrol and Mass Ascension.  Each one is accompanied by wonderful music and an even better announcer.  It has never failed to bring tears to my eyes. A wonderful experience!  This is one event that brings out the masses.  Everyone from families, youth groups, college kids, and anyone 1-100.  Totally worth the 4:30 alarm clock on a weekend!

A few notes/reminders:
Parking can be tricky.  The area around Rancho San Rafael is all residential.  Get there early to get a good spot, or pony up the $15 to park in the lot. 

Wear good shoes. Even if you are in the lot, be ready to walk. It's okay for handicap access, but sometimes uneven pebbled paths can be tricky for those in a wheel chair for with a walker.  

Bring a blanket and warm beverage.  The summer nights/early mornings in Nevada are chilly and laying in an open field at 5:00 a.m. can get down right cold.  The event does host vendors that offer breakfast items and drinks, but the lines can be long and are usually cash-only.

Restroom Facilities.  Simply a line of port-a-potties that always seem to have a lengthy queuing line.  Just pay attention to your "little's" especially. The wait can be up to 5-10 minutes.

Please check out their website for more information and upcoming dates:
www.RenoBalloon.com

Thanks to our Friend Javi for the amazing soundtrack.
"Fairlight"
Nave Artificial, Musician and Composer
YouTube - Nave Artificial

Friday, April 22, 2016

National Park Week

In honor of National Park Week,‬ here is a shot of us cooling off under the bridge at the Pioneer Yosemite History Center. Great day, great park, great trip! 

This was just one wonderful stop in our trip.  It was fun to look at all the different buildings and watch the horse carriage rides bounce along the trail.  We watched an actual blacksmith make beautiful items from horseshoes.  Some that would make an excellent addition to our home. It was very hot that day and we wandered down to the river to cool off with our toes in the water.  


It was certainly worth the trip off the main path of the park! Much less crowded and a neat introduction of the pioneers to Jillian.


Check out the Pioneer History Center HERE

Big Island, Hawaii - November 25-30, 2009

It’s hard to go back in time and remember all of the amazing parts of a vacation, but I am going to start in 2009 with our Hawaii trip.

We decided to head out for a long Thanksgiving weekend. As we flew into the big Island we were all looking out the plane windows and the kids behind us said “we’re landing on a brownie!” If you have ever flown into Hawaii, you know what they were talking about! We stayed at the Royal Kona and the hotel was great! Nice big room with a view of the bay that the Iron Man Athletes swim in. 

We spent 4 days exploring the Big Island.  We experienced Volcanoes, Black Sand Beaches, Sea Turtles, a Dinner Cruise, Shopping, Thanksgiving with purple potatoes, an amazing Luau, the Akaka Waterfall, the Mauna Loa plant, Greenwell Farms coffee plantation, a helicopter ride, and the best beach side coffee shop ever!

I don’t know if we’ll ever get back, but I like to think that we made a connection that Thanksgiving Holiday and made memories that neither of us will likely forget.

SLIDESHOW SOUNDTRACK - "Fantastic Wind"
Instrumental music composed by: Nave Artificial, Musician and Composer

Welcome!

Hey! We are Doug, Erica and Jillian!

Normal people getting our second chance at love and life. We are inspired by travel, addicted to country music from the 70's, 80's and 90's and love good food and beer. We don't get to venture out as much as we'd like and were pretty limited in how far we can go... for now. Retirement comes in a few short years and full freedom comes in a little over ten. Until then, we will adventure out as far and as much as we can! 

We are not professional travelers, photographers or writers so please be patient with us. We are simply living life as full as we can! We have a little traveler that is as enthusiastic and adorable as you can get! So sit back with your favorite Alabama song, a good beer, and take an adventure with us!