Happy Halloween! Trunk or Treat has been a tradition for us at our church event for several years. You can see some of Laura’s past creations here and here.
For this year, Laura decided to go with our recent experiences, so that our trunk was a trip to the Panama Canal!
Because this event was at our church, and because our trip to Panama was a church trip, we thought that most people would get the connection. We did have lots and lots of visitors from the neighborhood around our church building who probably did not get the connection, but most everyone knows what the Panama Canal is, so we figured it would be just fine.
Looking out over the waterfall down below at Cummins Falls State Park in Tennessee during our Tennessee Waterfalls trip.
It is difficult to judge the height of these waterfalls, but this one is 75 feet tall, which to me is a pretty good size, because, as I have mentioned before, we don’t have waterfalls of any size near where we live. You can at times access the base of the falls. However, it requires a permit, strenuous hiking, wading through water, and climbing and crossing slippery rocks. Besides all of that, the gorge trail was closed on the day that we were there because of all the rain that had come through before our visit. But that is okay, because we still enjoyed the view from the overlook.
Water rushes over the tallest waterfall at Burgess Falls State Park in Tennessee, as seen during our Tennessee Waterfalls trip.
Burgess Falls was the first of four Tennessee State Parks that we visited on our Waterfalls trip, and it was worth the visit. We walked along the trail that runs alongside the appropriately-named Falling Water River. Could there be a better name for a river with waterfalls? I can’t think of one. Maybe Waterfall River, but that does not sound as good as Falling Water River.
Happy birthday to my lovely wife Laura, seen here at the North Shore on the island of Oʻahu during our 2023 Hawaiʻi Trip.
Birthdays are always worth celebrating, especially for someone as special as Laura is to me. Here’s hoping this is the start of another wonderful trip around the sun!
During our October 2023 trip to Florida, we took a day to visit Blue Spring State Park. We packed a picnic lunch and set out to see what we could find. We were not disappointed!
When we arrived, we were greeted by this large live oak tree, with a palm tree growing in the middle of it. And lots of Spanish moss all around, of course. What a cool find! And this was just in the parking lot. We were hoping that meant that there were more good things to come.
Waves crash upon the shore at Lori Wilson Park in Cocoa Beach, Florida. And yes, that is Laura out in the waves.
During our October 2023 Florida trip, Laura and I spent a day at Cocoa Beach, one of our favorite places to spend a day. For most of the day it was cloudy and slightly cool, but that did not keep us from getting in the water, and it did not keep us from enjoying our day.
Continuing in the great tradition of Laura’s Trunk or Treat ideas (see past ideas here), Laura dressed as a pirate complete with a pirate ship this year for our church’s fall festival. It was a great success!
We have done some traveling this year, and those travels have taken us to both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Putting those together, one thought ran through my mind:
From Atlantic to Pacific, Gee the traffic is terrific!
“Home for the Holidays” by Al Stillman and Robert Allen
(Made famous by Perry Como and the Carpenters, among others)
The sun sets past the lagoon and ocean near the Disney resort of Aulani on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, as seen during our June 2023 visit.
As you may know from reading the trip report, we went for a walk just about every evening that we were there. Part of that was to work off some of the calories we had eaten (do vacation calories even count?), part of that was to unwind from the day (not that we were stressed, but it is always good to relax at the end of the day), and part of that was to enjoy the beautiful scenery and sunsets. And as you might imagine, photos were taken on most of those nights, too. Not quite every night, but most of them.
