Travel

Max is ready to head out to sea...

At least it looks that way from the map.  I am planning, or at least pointing in a direction I want to go next so I decided to map out where I've been the past three years.  It's a very low-tech mapping process, but it gave me an idea of where I've been and where I would like to visit next. The route with the Blue arrows is the one I took in 2008, Purple for 2009 and this year is in Red.  I've covered most of the states but noticed a big hole in the Midwest.  Not that I avoided Arkansas, Oklahoma or Kansas, it's just that I didn't head in that direction for some reason.  I am currently in the New England area and as you can see, I've covered a lot of ground here.  The fall season is just amazing!  It's exactly what you see in all of the magazines depicting fall, except you get to wake up and see all of the beautiful color wherever you go each day.  I love it. Soon I will be headed South.  A lot of people ask me what my route is or where I am ...

I think the extent of Bingo Hall advertising is word of mouth or a sign near the street saying "BINGO" with the date and time.  If I am lucky, I will drive by an area with a sign and it will happen to be the same day so I could go that night.  However, it doesn't always happen that way. I looked online for some Bingo halls and sometimes, you never know what you will get.  As it turned out, I learned my lesson by going to what seemed to be a bingo night turned out to be a men's only member club where they haven't had a bingo game in years.  I know this since I certainly stood out when I arrived.  Since there wasn't a game, I politely asked if I could enter and take a few pictures and I was politely declined.  I didn't give up the search for a legitimate bingo night in the area.  I found the Knights of Columbus hall in Norwood and it was a welcome sight.  Everyone there was nice to me and allowed me to take their photograph.  Only a few people ...

The other day I had my mind set on catching a train into Boston to walk around the city and take pictures of what I came across.  I even had it on my goal list! As you might have read with my update blog, I was standing on the wrong tracks, on the wrong side so ultimately, I watched the train come and go. Since that was the last train for a while, I decided to do something different.  I took out my handy Roadside America iphone app and came across an attraction called the Museum of Bad Art.  Perfect, I thought! I followed the directions from the app and it took me to an old movie theatre in town.  As I walked in, there was a man standing there with a puzzled look on his face. I suspect since it was in the middle of the day and there weren't any movies showing for a long time.  I asked him where the museum was.  He said, "museum?" I said, "um..yes, the one with the bad art..."  He smiled and said, "oh, it's down there...enjoy!" I looked across the...

I don't believe in "bucket lists."  When someone says that they have an activity on their bucket list, that means that they would love to do it but don't really want to plan it or push themselves to do what it takes to accomplish the goal.  Because really, there is no guarantee that we will live long enough to have the time to do all it is we would like to do if there isn't some sort of planning involved.  To me, a bucket list is the to do list that never gets completed and will die with you.  Because most of the time, it's in your head anyway and not written down. There is something to writing your goals down.  I didn't want to at first, but once I did, I felt accountable to complete them.  On top of that, I posted them here on the blog so every now and then I will get reminders asking where I stand on certain goals. If you have a blog or facebook, I would challenge you to post your goals to hold yourself accountable for them.  You will be amazed on h...

When I decide to go somewhere, Max usually gives me his input to let me know that he would like to go to a place where there's a beach.  I think the beach is his favorite place to be, next to a dog park.  Last year, we went to several dog parks in different states which was always an adventure.  He especially loved the dog parks in Albuquerque and Provincetown.  His favorite beaches on his journey has been Orange Beach in Alabama and the Cape Cod National Seashore.  Each one goes on for miles and if he's lucky, if it's allowed, and there isn't anyone around, he gets to be off leash. These photographs are from a day at the beach in Cape Cod.  It was an especially windy day but Max didn't mind even though he was low to the ground with the sand blowing in his face.  He's on to me with the camera, though.  Each time I get it out to take a photograph, he usually looks the other way. We will be heading to the Southeast part of the country soon.  I ...

I tend to get bored easily.  I am not one of the many people that can grab a book and sit on a beach and read all day.  I am excited to report that I have read two more books from beginning to end to complete my, "5 books from start to finish" goal this year. Another goal of mine that wasn't on the list was to put together art boxes from the photographs I've been taking with my iphone on this journey.  I am happy to say that I completed this goal.  Sometimes I get ideas in my head that I have to follow through and complete before I obsess too much about them.  This project was one of those ideas. Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE to take photographs with the other cameras I have and will continue to upload portraits, events and landscapes to my photography site , but there is something about the iphone hipstamatic app that I just love. I had these 4x4 photographs printed on archival paper and I mounted them on 4x4 wood blocks after I hand sanded them and applied ...

I have always loved the cape and I still do. I spent some time at the tip of the cape in a little community called Provincetown.  Each town on the cape has its own distinctive personality and charm and there is something special about every community you come across.  I didn't get to spend as much time here as I did last September, but it was special just the same.  There really is something for everyone on the cape. Most of the days were rainy when I was visiting but I took advantage of the clear breaks when they came.  I took Max for a spin in his trailer, walked along the beach, went to the bark park, strolled around commercial street and soaked in the sights.  I didn't take as many photographs as I did last year, but these are a few taken with the three cameras I have with me.  I did pretty much the same as I did a year ago. Sometimes I like to set the timer on my camera and jump around on the beach to entertain myself.  It's actually quite the...