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What a Wonderful World (An #AtoZChallenge Post): F is for Falkland Islands

  The view of Port Stanley from the water. Christ Church Cathedral stands as the tallest building. My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Falkland Islands. I'm old enough to remember the war in the Falklands, but being able to learn more about it while on the island made it really come to life to me. The population of the Falkland Islands is only around 3500 people. (The sheep and penguin population is higher that that, I think.) The islanders overwhelmingly favor their designation as a British Overseas Territory. To wake up one morning to foreign troops taking over their little island must have been quite a shock! With British help, the war was over relatively soon, but 74 days of occupation had to have felt much longer at the time.  There is an excellent museum in Stanley (the Falkland Islands only town) that is a must-see. A short film g...
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Ten Things of Thankful: Catching Up on the Past Few Weeks

A yellow and red tulip pops up out of the ground It's been a few weeks since I've written a Ten Things of Thankful post, but as always, my lack of participation does not indicate a lack of gratitude. Let me try to catch up a bit: 1. I'm thankful for my grandchildren, who were able to come and stay with us during their spring break. We had so much fun! We had our own early Easter celebration by dyeing eggs and having an Easter egg hunt. We read stories--so many stories--together. We played games. We visited John's parents. We cooked and baked. We visited indoor playgrounds. We worshipped together. We attended a church social. I loved hearing the kids playing on the piano and trumpet. I'm probably forgetting things, but trust me, we had a full, busy, fun week! Youngest granddaughter shows off the blue princess dress up costume 2. I'm thankful for adventure. On our way to pick up the grandchildren, John and I stopped at Death Valley National Park. On the way home a...

What a Wonderful World (An #AtoZChallenge): E is for Everglades National Park

  The sun rises on the horizon at the glamping campground at Everglades National Park My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Everglades National Park. I think I was expecting the everglades to be a vast, dark swampland, with tall trees dripping with hanging moss, but that isn't what I found. As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, Everglades National Park has vast areas of low-growing grasses and shrubs. Yes, there is water--lots of shallow water--but the swamplands are not dark and scary, but rather filled with sunshine and lots of water birds and other critters.  To be honest, Everglades National Park is one of the largest national parks, and we did not explore all of the over 1.5 million acres, so perhaps there is a dark, scary swamp, but that wasn't our experience. We chose to stay in a glamping tent. It had a comforta...

What a Wonderful World (An #AtoZChallenge Post): D is for Death Valley National Park

  A sign in the desert reads, "Death Valley National Park Homeland of the Timbisha Shoshone" My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement some post. Today's location: Death Valley National Park. I've lived many years in desert climates. I'm familiar with the phrase, "but it's a dry heat." Because desert climates are not my favorite, Death Valley National Park was not at the top of my travel bucket list, but I wasn't going to turn down an opportunity to see it, either. I must say, it exceeded my expectations.  After stopping by the Furnace Creek Visitor's Center, we drove to Badwater Basin, the lowest spot in North America, at 282 feet below sea level. (As an aside, is it any wonder that I wasn't drawn to this particular national park, with names like "Death Valley" "Furnace Creek" and "Badwater Basin"?) The ...

What a Wonderful World (An #AtoZChallenge Post): C is for Chile

  The Chilean flag (red rectangle on bottom, white rectangle on top right, with blue square with white star on top left) flies at Fort Bulnes. My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Chile.  I recognize that an entire country can't be adequately addressed in one blog post, but at least it isn't as egregious as trying to cover a whole continent. (Oh, wait, I did that 2 days ago in A is for Antarctica!) I will continue to use poetic license as I attempt to blog my way through the alphabet, and trust that the reader will understand these posts are not intended to provide in-depth analysis, but simply a short summary of some of my observations in the various places we visited.  Now, where were we? Our first stop on our tour was Fort Bulnes, which was established to protect Chilean interest in the Strait of Magellan and to help colonize the ...

What a Wonderful World (An #AtoZChallenge Post): B is for Biscayne National Park

  The front of an orange kayak enters into a waterway lined with mangroves at Biscayne National Park My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My#AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Biscayne National Park in Florida, USA.  Though Biscayne National Park is located in Florida, it would be more accurate to say that it is in the waters off Florida, as 95 percent of the park is in Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. We knew that when we visited, we would want to be on the water, so we signed up for a kayak tour of the mangroves through the Biscayne National Park Institute. We met our guide, Daniel, at the Dante Fascell Visitor's Center, just as the winds started picking up. Daniel told us that he had some concerns about the weather, but if we wanted to give kayaking a try, he would be willing to take us out, as long as we understood that he might need to cancel our trip at any time. The...

What a Wonderful World (An #AtoZChallenge Post): A is for Antarctica

  A snowy view of Antarctica from a cruise ship balcony My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My #AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Antarctica! A traveler who had previously been to Antarctica described it as "Alaska on steroids," and I have to agree with that assessment. Glaciers and icebergs were everywhere. Though on board a large cruise ship, the feeling of isolation from society was almost palpable, and combined with the vastness of the waters and land, brought to mind the line from the hymn How Great Thou Art: "Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. . . . " A flat-topped iceberg sports two cave-like formations near the water's edge Other icebergs, like this one, had jagged points rising up to the sky The large cruise ship gives a sense of scale to the iceberg that towers over it The clear water gives a p...