You can get there from here

The 4 a.m. chirp of my cell phone alarm was a harsh wake-up call compared to the usual gotta-go meanderings of Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle. But our beloved rescue mutt was nowhere to be found in the Little Bitty in the Syracuse city neighborhood of Eastwood, dropped off the previous night at the north…

Drink, eat and be merry

To every Family Reunion there must come the Group Meal. When the destination for the vacation is a locale where nobody in the gang resides, that adds to the inherent challenges. Who likes what type of food? What time does everybody prefer to eat? (Don’t forget to factor in the time zones everybody involved started…

What’s in store for us today?

I’ve joked about the T-shirt-iness of the downtown stretch of Estes Park. Surely, the shop owners have set up racks of Rocky Mountain-loving wear daring you to plunk down your 20 bucks and call it your own. What tourist town doesn’t? Truth be known, on the grand scale of Where I’ve Been, this destination for…

A whole lot of mentoring will be goin’ on

The members of the Syracuse Sunshine Rotary Club are getting fired up. It’s not the biggest organization going, this 20-or-so-member philanthropic club. But, oh, they have big dreams for a festival they’ve cooked up for Aug. 15 at Kellish Hill Farms in Manlius, just a bit to the southeast of the city. It’s a music…

Three-Day Quote Challenge: Harry Bosch

Knock-knock, said Susanne Valenti’s post. Who’s there, I replied. Why, it’s the Three-Day Quote Challenge … Or something like that. You can find the new blogger in the WordPress universe here. Orange you glad you nominated me, Susanne? In my second time through the quote game, I decided to go with words uttered in novels…

Feeling at home in the blue cottage

First-timers that we were, my dear wife Karen, daughter Elisabeth, boyfriend George Three and I did not know what to expect out of anything in Estes Park. When we pulled the rented SUV into the short, weed-filled driveway of the blue cottage with the white 330 on Virginia Drive a little before check-in time that…

Three-Day Quote Challenge: Leo King

My call of action for the Three-Day Quote Challenge came from Susanne Valenti. Make sure to check out the new blogger on the WordPress block. Thank you, Susanne. I’m going with quotes from literary characters from novelists dear to my heart. Relatable souls. In day two I dip into the lexicon of the protagnist of…

Everything appears to be on the up at Rocky Mountain National Park’s Alpine Ridge Trail

No Rocky Mountains, no Estes Park. No kidding. Our days in the still-quaint but bustling Colorado village for my dear wife Karen’s Family Reunion were dominated by the looming peaks that make up the Rocky Mountain National Park. In fact, even walking along the tourist-trap T-shirt shops, the window-treatments trumpeted the fact that this year…

Three-Day Quote Challenge: Frank Bascombe

Susanne Valenti tapped me on the shoulder yesterday for the Three-Day Quote Challenge. She’s a new blogger on the WordPress block, and I liked what what I clicked over and saw. Why yes, and thank you, Susanne. The last time around this quote game, I chose lyrics from a few of my favorite songs. To…

And the valley below

We could not let me dear wife Karen’e five-day Family Reunion in Estes Park go by without heading the rented SUV back up the mountain to that pull-off on Route 36 with the big rock sign and panoramic view. Yet the two times we drove past the majestic point going back down toward the village…