Well, we have had a wonderful time on our Midwest sojourn so far. Sunday morning, we left Holland, Michigan and started our trek down to Indiana. Now, the point of our trip was to get to know the Midwest – its people, towns and countryside. Well, you cannot get a good feel for a place if you stay on a busy highway, so we took rural routes which led us past small towns and beautiful countryside.
Below are some photos and observations from the past couple of days…
As we drove through Michigan, we went through a tiny town that didn’t have any place to stop off and eat, except for this little ice cream parlor. So, we decided to indulge ourselves and order ice cream cones. We each ordered a small size ice cream. Imagine our surprise when they handed us a cone with 3 scoops of ice cream!!! Now I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t seem ‘small’ to me.
It was overcast and a bit cold, but the view from our bed and breakfast was just beautiful.
As we ate breakfast, we saw the Amish farmer who lived next door, out in his fields along with his 6 draft horses. Most Amish do not use power equipment for farming, so horses are necessary.
This old Amish farmer is fertilizing his field the old-fashioned way….with rotted manure from his cows.
His son was working hard too. They will be planting corn in this field.
The quilts are beautiful and you can buy them in town or at some Amish farms themselves.
Many residents are impatient for spring to arrive as you can see from the sign.
We visited this Amish farm to see their toy woodworking shop.
Isn’t this a pretty bed for flowers?
What is it about 3 scoops of ice cream in this area?
I must admit that I am in love with Whoopie Pies. I had my first one last fall when I visited Amish country in Pennsylvania. I haven’t had one since, but I told myself that if I saw any in Indiana Amish country, that I would get one. I confess that I have been eating one while I am writing this….
Corn harvested last fall that is fed to the livestock.
I just love these beautiful Magnolia trees.
Sheep and horses share the field at this Amish farm. Monday seemed to be the day for doing the wash. You could see Amish clothes hanging out on the line.
The Amish could be found in your regular stores. You did have to be careful where you stepped in parking lots and streets, just in case the horses left a little ‘surprise’.
We had a marvelous time. The Amish community in Indiana is not as conservative as the one in Pennsylvania and as a result, you interact much more with each other.
THE OTHER EVENING, AS MY MOTHER AND I RETURNED TO OUR BED AND BREAKFAST, OUR HOST (A NON-AMISH WOMAN), HAD 3 OLDER AMISH WOMEN OVER AND THEY WERE WATCHING A TAPE OF THE ROYAL WEDDING.
IT WAS JUST SUCH A GREAT SCENE AND THEY WERE REALLY ENJOYING THEMSELVES VERY MUCH.
On our way out of Amish country, we stopped by an old-time pharmacy with a lunch counter in the back. My mother and I ate our lunch there surrounded by the local Amish and Mennonite people.
When I come away from visiting Amish country, I am struck at their simple way of life, their hard work and how they appreciate the little things in life.
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We are off to our next stops in Central Indiana and then heading over to Springfield, Illinois.
We are having a great time!
Vegetable Harvest With Some Little Helpers….
Vegetable GardeningIn my last post, I showed you how my vegetable garden had gone crazy growing a multitude of different vegetables. I had the remainder of my winter vegetables ready to harvest as well as pull out.
So over the weekend, I put my kids to work helping me in the garden.
First off, I had to pull out our spinach and lettuce plants that we had enjoyed eating since last October. You know, it is so hard to have to buy lettuce in the supermarket when I have gotten used to getting it from my own backyard 🙂
Old spinach growing in front of my garlic plants.
I love how easy it is to pull them out.
My winter vegetables
We collected all of the lettuce and spinach that we pulled and gave it to my mother for her compost pile. It is really embarrassing that I do not compost, but I have plans to start.
Now for the fun part….my son Kai got in the garden and started to pull out our garlic.
It is harder than it looks, but he got it out.
Then it was my daughter, Ruthie’s turn. I think this was our largest garlic.
We were almost done, but my daughter Rachele pulled out the last few.
Now it was time to start pulling out the green onions.
You know what? This is the absolutely the best part of having a vegetable garden – harvesting your vegetables and figuring out how you are going to prepare them.
I checked my cherry tomato plant and found some delicious tomatoes for our salad.
As we were harvesting our vegetables, my mother stopped by with some extra bush bean plants that she had left over after planting her vegetable garden, so now I had something to put in my newly bare areas.
It was a wonderful Saturday and I got to spend the afternoon with all of my kids, including my four daughters.
My youngest daughter, Gracie, tried to smile but couldn’t because she had 6 teeth pulled the day before and her mouth was a bit swollen. By the way, she did great and is a real trooper. Thank you for your thoughtful comments 🙂
Okay, so back to my vegetables. I will let the garlic cure for 4 – 6 weeks in a cool, dark place before using. Thankfully, my green onions are ready to use right now. I think my homemade salsa sounds good right about now, don’t you?
Vegetable Garden Gone Crazy…
AZ Plant LadyWell, it’s official….my vegetable garden has gone crazy. When I left for my trip to the Midwest at the end of April, it was nice and somewhat neat. My winter lettuce, spinach, green onions and garlic were doing well and my newly planted corn, cucumbers, gourds, tomatoes and sunflowers were coming up nicely.
I came home 10 days later to this sight….
My vegetable garden has gone crazy
My sunflowers were reaching over 7 feet tall and my corn, to the right, was not far behind.
My garlic leaves were starting to droop and fall over, indicating that I can harvest them soon.
My spinach and lettuce both began to ‘bolt’ and start to form flowers, so it was time for them to leave the garden.
My gourd has started to escape the garden, which is fine with me because it can’t crowd my other plants.
I think gourd plants have interesting flowers, don’t you? They open at night and moths are frequent pollinators.
I am hoping for some gourds this year that I can turn into bird houses.
I just love how sunflowers face the rising sun.
I plan on harvesting a few seed heads for the family and the rest we will feed to the birds.
My Alyssum and Oxalis that I planted as companion plants in my vegetable garden are still blooming. Soon the Alyssum will dry up with the heat of our desert summer and I will pull it out.
My tomatoes are enjoying being planted next to my Bachelor’s Button. I just love their vibrant blue color. They are going to seed and I am collecting it so that I can replant them next fall.
The first set of corn that I planted have corn cobs growing. I can almost taste my roasted corn on the cob in a few weeks 🙂
I have to spend some time the next couple of days harvesting my garlic and green onions as well as pulling out my spent spinach and lettuce.
Now, I am off to my local big box store for shade cloth for my tomatoes, which will survive the summer heat if they have some shade. Temperatures are forecast into the 80’s this week, but it is never to early to get ready for the triple digits.
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I hope you all have a wonderful week!
May To-Do List….Are You Ready For Summer?
AZ Plant LadyLow Desert Gardens, Beavertail Prickly Pear and Globe Mallow
Right now, I am sitting here in front of my computer, trying to think of an interesting and helpful subject for this post, which will be published tomorrow (Saturday).
Unlike other times when I sit down to write, I don’t have much time to spend on writing today because my youngest daughter, Gracie, needs a little extra TLC. You see, she had 6 teeth pulled by the oral surgeon. Right now she is sitting in our family room, with a mouth full of gauze, watching some of her favorite shows – SpongeBob and Phineas & Ferb.
Low Desert Gardens
So, as I was trying to figure out what to write about, I realized that I haven’t really put together a monthly “To-Do” list for low-desert gardens for my blog. The funny thing is, is that I write one for a major online publication every month. And so, I will borrow some from that along with some ‘extra’ tips thrown in.
So, are you ready?
1. If you haven’t already done so, adjust your irrigation system to make sure that your plants are being watered deeply. Trees should be watered to a depth of 3 ft, shrubs 18″ – 2 ft. and perennials and groundcovers to at least 1 ft in depth. May is one of our driest months of the year, so plants do become quite ‘thirsty’.
2. Make sure that your potted plants are shaded for the hot, afternoon sun. A plant’s root system is actually hotter when planted in a pot then in the ground, and the sun’s heat can actually ‘cook’ the roots of a potted plant.
Citrus Tree
3. Apply fertilizer to your Citrus tree if you have not already done so this spring. Be sure to water your citrus trees before and after applying fertilizer. Citrus require 3 applications of fertilizer per year – the first in February or March, the second in May and the third in August of September.
4. Prune back any frost-damaged branches from trees and shrubs if they have not leafed out yet. Chances are that if they have not started producing new growth, then they probably never will.
‘Double Delight’ Roses
5. Apply your last application of fertilizer to your roses this month. Roses need more water than many of your other plants, so be sure that they are receiving enough water. Roses slow down in the summer and become somewhat dormant due to the heat, so they should not be fertilized. You can start fertilizing them again in September.
White Vinca
6. Take out your winter annuals (Petunias, Geraniums, Pansies, Alyssum, Snapdragons, etc.) and replace with summer-loving annuals such as Celosia, Red or Blue Salvia, Vinca or Portulaca. Believe it or not, Lantana also makes a great container plant.
7. Avoid pruning your Citrus trees and Roses at this time. Citrus should be pruned in March. Their bark is extremely susceptible to sunburn, so paint any areas that are exposed to the sun with 2 parts white latex paint mixed with 1 part water OR you can use a paint specially formulated for Citrus. The upper foliage of Roses does become sunburned in the summer and you may be tempted to remove the sunburned growth, but don’t. The sunburned, upper foliage actually helps to shield the lower growth from the sun.
Well, I think that is enough to keep you busy for the month of May. I will post more ‘To-Do’ tips next month.
Right now, I have to go and take the gauze out of Gracie’s mouth 🙂
A Spring Time Walk, Continued….
AZ Plant LadyI love taking walks in the spring outdoors. All too soon, summer will be here and walks will have to happen in the early morning hours before the heat of the day arrives. I suppose that I could always take a walk inside of our local air-conditioned mall, but I think that would get expensive after a while, don’t you?
Besides, I would miss the natural beauty outdoors….
So, let us continue our walk with my husband and my two twin nephews – Danny and Dean….
My Favorite trees starting to bloom
My favorite trees are starting to bloom right now. Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) is a deciduous tree and from spring through fall, they are covered with beautiful pink flowers.
I have 4 of them in my garden. They are thornless and are a small to medium sized tree.
We passed by another kind of my favorite plants, Angelita Daisies (Tetraneuris acaulis). But, these definitely need a ‘haircut’. Just grab a bunch of flowers in your hand and clip them back using hand pruners. Soon, they will be covered with bright yellow flowers.
Red Yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) is a wonderful succulent for the garden. The bottom, looks grass but the leaves are actually succulent. In spring, gorgeous coral-colored flowers are produced.
Maintenance is super easy. Just clip back the flowers once they have died.
Here is a closer view of their gorgeous flowers….
Aren’t they beautiful?
My Favorite trees
Okay, here is another not so pretty photo.
You can see that this Evergreen Elm tree provides great shade, but the grass does not grow underneath it. This is a very common problem for grassy areas underneath trees that provide heavy shade such as Pine trees, Carob, etc.
The most common warm-season grass grown in the desert Southwest is bermuda grass, which does not tolerate shade very well. It need full sun to look its best.
So what can you do?
Unfortunately, there is not a warm-season grass that will grow in heavy shade. But, you can plant shade-tolerant groundcovers, perennials or even succulents in the area instead such as Agave desmettiana, Autumn Sage, Yellow Bulbine, Santa Barbara Daisy, Justicia spicigera or Bat-faced Cuphea.
Okay, this looks like a whole post in and of itself that I will address sometime in the future in more detail 🙂
So, we were almost at the end of our walk and walking by my front garden and I saw one of my favorite perennial plants…
This Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata) partially hides our water meter, but does not obstruct the meter reader’s ability to look inside.
You want to know something else? I didn’t plant this Desert Marigold. It is a volunteer. Over 11 years ago, I planted two Desert Marigolds in my garden and then let their seed spread naturally. I have about 7 of them scattered throughout my garden right now.
So, I hope you enjoyed our ‘walk’.
I think Dean enjoyed it more then Danny….who fell asleep 😉
Signs of Spring All Around…..
A Morning Walk With 2 Special Guests….
az plant lady familyI absolutely love this time of year. The weather is gorgeous and everything is in bloom. Although the afternoons can get a little hot, the mornings are still cool and a perfect time for a walk through the neighborhood.
Now before we leave on our walk, I almost always bring my camera with me, because you never know what you might see. Today, along with my husband, I brought 2 special guests with me….
Meet my twin nephews, Dean and Danny.
They are now over 7 months old and ready for an adventure.
So lets get started, shall we?
Frost-Damaged Queen Palm
The first thing that I took a photo is of my neighbor’s frost-damaged Queen Palm. With the deep freeze we experienced last winter, most of the Queen Palms in our area were hit hard.
Thankfully, my neighbor is not pruning off the frost damaged fronds yet. You see, all palms need the ‘food’ that the fronds produce and the frost damaged fronds are still green at the base. So, if yours look like this one, leave the frost-damaged fronds alone until they fall off naturally.
Bush Morning Glory
The beautiful gray foliage of Bush Morning Glory (Convolvulus cneorum) make it a great groundcover. Earlier in March they were all covered with bell-shaped blossoms. There are just a few flowers left now…
Australian Bottle Tree
We pass by an Australian Bottle tree (Brachychiton populneus) that is in full flower.
We had one of these beautiful trees in my front garden in Southern California, where I grew up. I used to imagine that the flowers were fairy caps and that the fairies would hide during the daytime.
Although I live in the desert, there are not too many people who grow cactus in their front gardens in my neighborhood.
There is however, one house that has lots of it and my kids call it the “Cactus House”. Their Prickly Pear cactus is in full bloom and bees can hardly get enough of the pollen.
Sadly, not all that we saw was beautiful. Ficus trees are extremely popular in my neighborhood and they got hit hard by the frost. Most of them are coming back though.
It is a good idea to wait until the end of May before pruning any remaining frost-damaged branches since they may still be alive. At that time, if the branches have no green leaves, then it is probably dead and you can prune them back to live growth.
Okay, here is another rather ugly photo, but in just a couple of weeks, this pruned back Gold Lantana will be covered with green.
You can prune back most frost-damaged shrubs and perennials very far. This Lantana is not even 6 inches tall. At first glance, it may appear dead, but at the bottom of the picture, you can see tiny green leaves appearing.
I guess it the horticulturist in me, but along with the beautiful, I tend to look at the ugly as well. Thankfully, with gardening ‘ugliness’ is usually short-lived. I can’t wait until everything is in full bloom!
Come join us for ‘Part Two’ of our spring time walk later this week….
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It is so nice to be back home from my Midwest road trip. My mother and I had a wonderful time, but it is so good to be home. I think the best part was walking off the plane and seeing my husband waiting with a bouquet of flowers 🙂
Got Frost-Damaged Plants? How and When to Prune…
Tom Sawyer, Route 66 and an Unexpected Stop
Road TripFor those of you who have been nice enough to follow my adventures on our Midwest road trip, this will be my last post.
Our last two places that we visited were Hannibal, Missouri where Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) grew up and lastly, Carthage, Missouri, which is located on Route 66 and was the home of my great-great grandparents.
Our first night in Hannibal was cold and rainy. Thankfully, we woke up to a beautiful, sunny day.
Viewing the Mississippi River from our hotel room.
The Mississippi River was beautiful to see.
Can you see the riverboat?
The levee that protected the town from flooding were quite tall.
The town was very charming.
They had a master garden, which consisted of a vegetable garden.
They also had a butterfly garden.
Isn’t this a cute border made up of small terra-cotta pots?
I enjoyed walking through this garden and it was obvious that a lot of time and care had been spent on it.
Statue of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn
Getting ready to whitewash the fence, just like Tom Sawyer.
Our unexpected stop was in Kansas. We were only about 10 miles from the border, so we decided to venture into Kansas and see what there was to see. It turns out there is a famous Union Civil War fort in Ft. Scott. It is a national park and we enjoyed exploring.
Behind the fort, there was a small garden. Most of what was growing was a variety of herbs. But, it was the blooming irises that caught my eye…
Aren’t they beautiful?
You know what? I really like iris and I think I will grow some in my own garden next spring.
Okay, you may be wondering what I am doing in a cemetery. Well, this is where my great-great grandparents are buried. They settled in a town on Route 66 called Carthage. We were able to find their grave and it was a really wonderful way to end our Midwest road trip.
At the cemetery, I noticed a gravestone that had a Peony bush planted next to it. Believe it or not, I have never seen a real Peony bush before. They do not grow in the desert. The flowers were so beautiful and fragrant.
Well, by the time you read this, I will soon be on my way to the Springfield, Missouri airport. I had a fabulous time traveling with my mother and discovering all sorts of neat things about the Midwest. One thing that I discovered, is how much that I don’t know – but I do love learning about new things.
Thank you for ‘traveling’ along with me. I cannot wait to see my husband and kids when I arrive home tomorrow 🙂
Indiana, Illinois and Abe Lincoln
Road TripI wish I could share with you personally, how wonderful our trip has been so far. I have enjoyed the natural beauty, the towns and the people of the Midwest.
To date, we have traveled from Michigan, Indiana and now we are in Springfield, Illinois.
We spent our morning in the darling town of Noblesville, which is some 20+ miles north of Indianapolis. The historic downtown is absolutely thriving and we had a great time shopping and eating 😉
We stopped by this nursery, called ‘The Mustard Seed’. The owner and I had a great time talking about plants and surprisingly, I was able to help him identify a plant he had that he had no idea what it was. My mother bought a very unique bird house.
Town of Noblesville
Each of the historic buildings had a plaque on the outside, telling the history of the building. All of the buildings dated from the 1800’s.
Did I mention that they had great shopping?
I love this idea….
The Noblesville courthouse.
The food has been amazing and I will really have to hit the gym as soon as I get home 😉
The beginning of Route 66 is in Illinois. I am used to seeing the west side of Route 66 🙂
Believe it or not….Abraham Lincoln is not buried in Washington DC. He is buried in this cemetery in Springfield, Illinois. The tomb is huge.
I realize that it looks like my mother and I are ‘picking’ Lincoln’s nose. But, we are actually rubbing it for good luck. At least that was what we were told to do. So many people rub it that his nose is much shinier then the rest of his face.
I have been enjoying the beauty of all of the flowering trees.
Lincoln is buried beneath this large tombstone.
We later visited the Lincoln Museum and Presidential Library in downtown Springfield, IL
The museum had wonderful displays. There were quite a few school children visiting this day.
My mother decided to ‘talk’ to John Wilkes Booth. The historical characters were quite realistic looking even though they were not living.
The first family
This is the neighborhood where Lincoln and his wife raised his family.
Abraham Lincoln’s house.
Even though I was fortunate enough to visit Washington DC last fall and learn about Abraham Lincoln, I was pleasantly surprised to find out much more that I did not know about Lincoln.
So far, we have not experienced any rain. We have had sunny or cloudy days with some wind from time to time.
Our next stop is Hannibal, Missouri where Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) grew up.
‘Talk’ to you soon!
Greetings From Amish Country…
Road TripWell, we have had a wonderful time on our Midwest sojourn so far. Sunday morning, we left Holland, Michigan and started our trek down to Indiana. Now, the point of our trip was to get to know the Midwest – its people, towns and countryside. Well, you cannot get a good feel for a place if you stay on a busy highway, so we took rural routes which led us past small towns and beautiful countryside.
Below are some photos and observations from the past couple of days…
As we drove through Michigan, we went through a tiny town that didn’t have any place to stop off and eat, except for this little ice cream parlor. So, we decided to indulge ourselves and order ice cream cones. We each ordered a small size ice cream. Imagine our surprise when they handed us a cone with 3 scoops of ice cream!!! Now I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t seem ‘small’ to me.
It was overcast and a bit cold, but the view from our bed and breakfast was just beautiful.
As we ate breakfast, we saw the Amish farmer who lived next door, out in his fields along with his 6 draft horses. Most Amish do not use power equipment for farming, so horses are necessary.
This old Amish farmer is fertilizing his field the old-fashioned way….with rotted manure from his cows.
His son was working hard too. They will be planting corn in this field.
The quilts are beautiful and you can buy them in town or at some Amish farms themselves.
Many residents are impatient for spring to arrive as you can see from the sign.
We visited this Amish farm to see their toy woodworking shop.
Isn’t this a pretty bed for flowers?
What is it about 3 scoops of ice cream in this area?
I must admit that I am in love with Whoopie Pies. I had my first one last fall when I visited Amish country in Pennsylvania. I haven’t had one since, but I told myself that if I saw any in Indiana Amish country, that I would get one. I confess that I have been eating one while I am writing this….
Corn harvested last fall that is fed to the livestock.
I just love these beautiful Magnolia trees.
Sheep and horses share the field at this Amish farm. Monday seemed to be the day for doing the wash. You could see Amish clothes hanging out on the line.
The Amish could be found in your regular stores. You did have to be careful where you stepped in parking lots and streets, just in case the horses left a little ‘surprise’.
We had a marvelous time. The Amish community in Indiana is not as conservative as the one in Pennsylvania and as a result, you interact much more with each other.
THE OTHER EVENING, AS MY MOTHER AND I RETURNED TO OUR BED AND BREAKFAST, OUR HOST (A NON-AMISH WOMAN), HAD 3 OLDER AMISH WOMEN OVER AND THEY WERE WATCHING A TAPE OF THE ROYAL WEDDING.
IT WAS JUST SUCH A GREAT SCENE AND THEY WERE REALLY ENJOYING THEMSELVES VERY MUCH.
On our way out of Amish country, we stopped by an old-time pharmacy with a lunch counter in the back. My mother and I ate our lunch there surrounded by the local Amish and Mennonite people.
When I come away from visiting Amish country, I am struck at their simple way of life, their hard work and how they appreciate the little things in life.
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We are off to our next stops in Central Indiana and then heading over to Springfield, Illinois.
We are having a great time!
Greetings From the West Coast…
Road Trip…of Michigan.
You know what? I was raised on the West Coast – of California, that is. I had never visited any of the Great Lakes before. It has been a wonderful treat visiting the West Coast of Michigan.
My mother and I are in the midst of a Midwest road trip. We have not really spent any time in this area and want to get to know it better. So on Friday, we boarded an airplane from Phoenix to Grand Rapids, Michigan.
As we got off the plane, it was a bit of a shock because the trees were leafless and the weather was cold. It was like winter back home.
We spent our first two nights in Holland, Michigan, which is a Dutch settlement and home to Hope College.
Our first full day was spent going to a tulip farm, visiting the coastal town of South Haven and then back to Holland to explore the downtown area.
Holland, Michigan
The tulips, daffodils and hyacinths were just beautiful.
I don’t see many (okay any) tulips where I live and I just love their vibrant colors.
I do love daffodils, and they do grow where I live, thankfully.
The fragrance of the Hyacinths was just intoxicating and I just love the color blue in the garden, don’t you?
The gardens were just beautiful. They also had bison on the property, which I thought was kind of unusual. They sold bison meat in the garden store (I passed on the meat).
There was a Dutch shop next to the garden that we explored…
There was a huge display of Delft porcelain as well as wooden shoes…
They aren’t as comfortable as my mother’s regular shoes.
Our next stop was about 25 miles south at the town of South Haven. It was a lovely sort of beach town and the downtown was a great place to shop.
It was a very blustery day and a storm was blowing in. But, the beach was beautiful.
The store owners were more then ready for spring to arrive and it has been unusually cold for this time of year.
They had quite a few chocolate shops and we walked into three of them, smelled the delicious fragrance of chocolate and then left before we were tempted to buy anything.
That is until we walked into the Chocolate Cafe…
We were ready to leave without buying anything until we saw this…
A six-layer chocolate cake.
Now believe it or not, we didn’t eat a slice of this cake, but it certainly made us want to give into our craving for sweets. So we bought a large muffin and split it between the two of us 😉
We had a lovely day of shopping, but the storm clouds started to approach so we decided to leave and head back for Holland.
Holland, Michigan
Once back in Holland, we made a stop at the Holland Museum, which was having a Dr. Seuss exhibition.
The walls were painted in red and white stripes like the “Cat in the Hat’s” hat.
We had a lovely time in Holland and the surrounding area. Our next stop will be in Amish country in Indiana, which we will reach by driving through small towns in lower Michigan.
Our fun was just beginning. Our next stop…Amish Country.
Roadtrip….
az plant lady family, Road TripI am leaving. Actually, by the time you are reading this, I will be on my way to the airport with my mother. We are going on a road trip together – just the two of us.
My bags are packed. I’ve filled the pantry and refrigerator with groceries for my husband who will be taking over the cooking duties while I am gone. I have my ‘to do’ list on the refrigerator as well, reminding my husband and kids to water the vegetable garden and roses. So, I am ready to go.
You know what? I have never been on a trip with just my mom. We have traveled together to quite a few places. When I was six, we went to San Francisco with my grandmother, cousins and aunts. At the age of 12, my mother, aunt and cousin boarded an Amtrak train in Los Angeles and traveled across the country to New York City and ventured through the eastern states.
2003 Oxford, England in front of C.S. Lewis’ house (I’m second from the right in the back).
In 2001, we visited Ireland and Great Britain with my dad, my husband and kids. We went back to Great Britain in 2003 with our extended family of 39, including six-week old twins.
My mother, me, Gracie, my husband and my sister-in-law in Alaska.
The extended family had so much fun in Great Britain together that we all went on a cruise of Alaska in 2004.
October 2010 in Washington DC.
This last year, my mom and my entire family went on a road trip up along the east coast. It was so much fun.
So, where are we going? Well, the two of us have visited the Northwest, the Northeast, the South and we live in the Southwest. But, we have never spent much time in the Midwest.
Technically, we have both been there before, but a one-day layover in Chicago and an Amtrak train through the Midwest states, just does not really let you experience the area.
So, we decided to really experience the Midwest. Now, while we wish that we could visit all the states in the Midwest, we only have so much time. So we have decided on the following route…
View Larger Map
We are both looking forward to our trip. We like to travel and explore. We are avoiding most big cities, except for airports for our flights in and out. Our hotels are booked, but other then that, we have no agenda, but to experience the Midwest.
Hopefully, we will be able to avoid tornadoes, torrential rain and high winds that they have been experiencing lately 🙂
I do plan to blog as we are traveling, so if you like, you can follow along. I cannot say that I will have any specific gardening content during that time, but I will probably take pictures of attractive gardens and plants that I will share.
Oh well, I have to start packing, which will be surprisingly easy since I don’t have to pack up my kids as well 😉
‘Talk’ to you all next time from the road…..
Greetings From the West Coast…