Category: Uncategorized

Maine Sep 2026

Mother Daughter Maine Trip September 2026

Madeline and Eileen took a week long trip to the Maine coast to celebrate her 30th Bday.  Mom’s idea and Madeline went for it!  Eileen had been to Maine 8 yrs ago to see fall colors but Maine was new for Madeline.
We flew out of Milwaukee convenient to the airport 10 min drive!  We flew Delta on a small jet (20) rows thru NYC (JFK & LaGuardia).  We both enjoyed the roomier seating and on time (even early) schedules.  Madeline rented a Turo 2022 Prius that got 50 MPG and gas was $4.45 so our frugal ways were rewarded. 
Our itinerary was 6 nights so we chose Portland, Camden and Bar Harbor as our locales. 
Portland
Landed Saturday afternoon to fine weather and found a cool ‘hood with lots of breweries and had a tasting of GF beer.  Checked into the Percy Inn which is located in West End, area of town with many restaurants and bars.  Walked around the corner and had good ramen and sushi.  We are good at sharing food so we have more variety. 
Sunday we walked our ‘hood for an hour before the rain started.  Many large older homes with great architecture.  We drove to Light Head park with iconic lighthouse setting even in the grey weather.  We had our raincoats and large umbrella.  Drove to Freeport to see LL Bean outlet.  Dinner at Street & Co, fantastic sole and tuna fish dinners in cave like setting.  Found Fore restaurant where we ate back in 2018, cool brick walkways with no cars.
Monday we walked by the Port then drove to Camden.  Stops along the way include Bath (big ship building town) and Wicasset. 
Camden
Drove to Camden Hills SP and hiked Mt. Battie, good climb with some bouldering and terrific views on clear day.  Met Kip Kircher for dinner in downtown, he’s at a woodworking camp for 9 months.  Blackberry Inn was our B&B with twin beds yay and excellent breakfast, a find!  Met 2 nice gals who introduced Madeline to Tess/Van (her daughter/SIL) that live in BayView so Madeline has new friends to lookup.  Tuesday we hit gorgeous Camden library (part museum) and took an Eco boat tour that educated us on lobster fishing and local sealife.  Drove to Rockland for a Thai takeout dinner picnic style by their harbor. 
Acadia
Visitor Center stop to board bus to Jordan Pond for a nice hike around the lake, some bouldering and plank walking.  Dinner at Lompoc café with local beer.  Thursday we did a 4 hour fat tire e-bike tour with Ian, nice loop around the park with interesting info.  Dinner at Havana a Cuban restaurant (Obama ate there) excellent mussels, halibut and steak. Hiked a tough rock path at Sand Beach to arrive at lovely view on east side of park.
Friday we made the trek back to Portland for late evening flight.  Madeline was my driver, porter and companion and we only squabbled a few times   Very memorable trip for both of us! 
Eileen got up early Saturday am to drive to Madison for UW football game in the Mike Tressel suite with her pickleball buddies.  Super fun event with tailgate, day drinking and yakking.  Totally spent after a week of big fun and partying! 

Photos here.

April 2026 Zion

Day 1, made it to Flagstaff, April 10. Fun town, lots of folks out and about downtown.
Day 2, April 11, a long drive to Zion. Took hwy89 most of the way. Crossed over the Lake Powell dam, stopped for a few pictures there. Then onward, still on 89, thru Kanab, to where Hwy 9 peeled off west, thru the Park, to Rockville where our airbnb was. Just the drive thru the east entrance to Zion, thru Springdale and then Rockville was spectacular.

April 12. First full day in Zion. We moved around, took the shuttle bus, got on, got off. Great weather, lots of photos. Dinner in Springdale that night.

April 13. Rain and clouds in the morning. We took the shuttle to the end and walked towards the Narrows until the foot path ended, leaving intrepid hikers to wade up river.

After that we headed home, reversing our route out of the park on Hwy 9. Going in the opposite direction opened up a whole new angle of looking at the rocks.

At Kanab, we goofed, missed the turn to hwy89, ended up on hwy 89A. This route was much less traveled. Much much more desolate. We saw spectacular rock formations on the way to where 89A joined back up with 89.

At first we figured to overnight in Flagstaff, but got a 2nd wind a did the drive back to Tucson in a single day.

Click here for pictures.

Croatia September 2025

(Click links to view photo galleries, which appear in a separate tab. Close that tab and you should find yourself back on this page.)

This trip started in Dubrovnik, within the walls of the Old City.

After a few nights there, our group gathered for our Pedal and Sea week of “sailing” and biking. (Our boat, the Voyage, sported three tall, white masts that I’m fairly certain have never hoisted a sail.) What follows are boat and pedal photo galleries “by day.” Most photos originated from my iPhone15, some from Eileen’s, and I also borrowed liberally from photos posted in the WhatsApp boat group.

Day 1, September 06. Getting settled in the boat, meeting fellow travelers, and a guided tour of the Old City. The first thing we learned is that the chance of our boat being right next to the dock was generally slim. Throughout the trip, multiple boats would sidle up sideways at a docking site and tie together. It was routine to walk through as many as five boats to reach ours. (Click here.).

Day 2, September 07. Our first day of sailing and our first of five bike rides. Mjet and Korcula Islands. 31km pedal. (All rides were on islands.) This is where the crew really earned their keep. 30 bikes stored down in the hold, all of them had to be hoisted out. We all inherited ownership of our bike batteries, which we charged up at night in our rooms. At the end of the day, all the bikes, back in the hold. Antonio had to unlock each battery with its own key. He had a very large set of keys! (Click here.)

Day 3, September 08. Korčula. 61km. (Click here.)

Day 4, September 09. Hvar and Brac Islands. 31km pedal. (Click here.)

Day 5, September 10. Island of Brač. 23km kpedal. (Click here.)

Day 6, September 11, Island of Brač (2nd time). 29km pedal. (Click here.)

Day 7, September 12, Split and Trogir, no biking. (Click here.)

Sept 13:In Troger. Last morning, early checkout. (Click here.)

Thus ends the week of Pedal and Sea

A final few days in Split. Nikolas Tesla. Perusic. (Click here.)

Half a day hiking around Plitvice National Park, home of waterfalls. Crowded! (Click here.)

Three days in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Flew out from there to Frankfurt, then home. (Click here.)