Sony Alpha A7 II

The sun gives its last light of the day as it sets over the Pacific Ocean, as seen at Ko Olina Lagoons on the island of Oʻahu during our 2023 Hawaiʻi Trip.

A nighttime view of the Makaʻala, or main lobby area, of the Disney resort of Aulani on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, from our 2023 Hawaiʻi trip.

The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC was built as a memorial to Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States. We visited the Jefferson Memorial during our July 2023 Virginia and Washington, DC trip. Inside the dome of the Jefferson Memorial, a statue of Thomas Jefferson is surrounded by quotes from some of his writings. Like him or not, it is difficult to deny his place in American History. He did, after all, write the Declaration of Independence, among other things. And he was the third United States president, after George Washington and John Adams. He is the guy on the nickel1. Plus, you might recognize him as one of the giant faces on Mount Rushmore, too.

Beginning in the late 1800s, bathhouses were constructed in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to take advantage of the natural hot springs and their healing properties. Some of those bathhouses survive today along what is known as Bathhouse Row. We got to see them during our February 2024 visit to Hot Springs. The bathhouses are pictured here from north to south, as we walked from The Arlington Hotel. Superior Bathhouse was built in 1916 and is the smallest of the bathhouses. Its red brick facade and green window trim make it eye-catching, even on a rainy day1.

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.

You may remember that we visted the Lincoln-Douglas debate site in Jonesboro, Illinois, and we have also visited the debate site at Quincy. Continuing our quest to visit all of the Lincoln-Douglas debate sites 1, we also stopped at the Lincoln-Douglas debate site in Charleston, Illinois, which included a small museum. The Charleston debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas was held on September 18, 1858, just three days after the Jonesboro debate. There were around 12,000 people in attendance. The area that was at one time filled with 12,000 people is now a quiet corner of the area fairgrounds, and we were the only ones there when we stopped in.

The sun sets behind palm trees at Ko Olina Lagoons on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, as seen during our 2023 Hawaiʻi trip. It is another month, which means another Hawaiʻi sunset photo. Maybe I have not been posting one a month, but it feels like it.1 Maybe it will become a regular thing, or maybe not.

During our visit to Hot Springs, Arkansas in early February 2024, we went for a hike on some of the trails of Hot Springs National Park. Our hike was actually a bit unplanned. We knew we wanted to try to find some trails, but we came upon them in an unexpected way. Once we had checked in and put our stuff in our hotel room at the Arlington Hotel, we were going to go look around the hotel and then walk down the street. Laura looked down to the far end of the hallway where our room was, which was on the 7th floor, and said, “That looks like the pool!” So we walked to the end of the hall, and sure enough, there was a walkway to the pool, which was built into the side of the mountain behind the hotel. Once we got out there, I said, “Those look like trails!” So we walked on past the pool, and we suddenly found ourselves on the trails of Hot Springs National Park, as the park land is just behind the Arlington Hotel.

We spent a weekend in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in February 2024. We were there for a church marriage retreat, and we did spend some time exploring Hot Springs National Park. It was a fun weekend full of interesting things! During our weekend, we stayed at the historic Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs, right at the edge of the National Park area. The Arlington was an interesting place to stay, and we enjoyed our time there. Here are a few photos from our visit.

The sun sets over the Ko Olina Lagoons near the Disney resort of Aulani on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi during our 2023 Hawaiʻi Trip. When I was compiling photos for the trip report, I purposefully left out some of the sunset photos that I had taken. If you have already read the report, you know that there were lots of sunset photos in the report. But I took lots more photos than I could include in the report, so I thought it would be a good idea to share some of them from time to time, because the photos can definitely stand on their own.