"There's gold in them thar hills." According to folklore, in 1849, from the steps of the Lumpkin County Courthouse, a Dahlonega, Georgia mint assayer, Dr. M.F. Stephenson, yelled to the townspeople, "There's gold in them thar hills." He wanted to keep people looking for gold in Georgia, rather than leaving for California. We found some "gold" in the Flint Hills of Kansas during a recent golfing excursion. But the gold was in the form of wildflowers - not minerals.  At a senior golf tournament Randy played in this summer, some of his golfing companions talked about playing the Waba ..read more

  Our trip to and from the national parks was mainly filled with driving - two days each way. We did listen to audio books, and I took several photos from the passenger seat, zipping along at 80 MPH as the flatlands of our part of Kansas transitioned to hills and then mountains. At the beginning, I admit I was getting kind of "itchy" about my lack of quality photos.  But then I saw a road sign, saying that the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument was coming up. It didn't take a lot of convincing for Randy to stop to stretch our legs and to take a break from the car. It is ..read more

I know that millions of people have likely taken photos of the Moulton Barns at the Grand Tetons. It's one of the iconic scenes featured on calendars and marketing materials. But that didn't keep me from wanting to get my own photos of the barn.  When we had arrived in the Grand Tetons the evening before, it was hazy and overcast. We had been to the Grand Tetons in 2011, and I remembered the beautiful blue skies framing the craggy, snow capped mountains.  A favorite photo from our 2011 trip Jenny Lake in 2011 Taken after riding the ski lift in 2011 And o ..read more

Summer television reruns aren't my favorite. I keep seeing the ads for the new season, and I'm looking forward to more choices for evening television viewing. (We are not in a prime location for streaming, so I'm limited to the "million" or so channels from my Dish Network. Yes, I know that's ironic, coming from someone who grew up with four TV stations - ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. My, how times have changed!) Anyway, we had a "rerun" to Yellowstone during our trip. I had someone ask me why we'd want to go back. There were several factors. Even though we'd spent 12 hours in Yellowstone in 2011, w ..read more

  There were traffic jams in Yellowstone National Park. It wasn't caused by bumper-to-bumper commuters on their way to a big city job.  Instead, the traffic snarls were caused by wildlife sightings. On our first evening at Yellowstone, we could tell that something ahead was creating a traffic jam. From the Yellowstone guide handed out at the entrance: "Do not stop your vehicle in the road or stand in the roadway. Do not block any portion of the road with tripods, chairs or other objects. Do not block the free flow of traffic." Let's just say there were plenty of rule breakers when wi ..read more

  Alex, the Caddy A caddy is not something that Randy usually has on a golf course. It's not a feature at the Stafford Country Club ... or anywhere else he's played. He has a "cheerleader" on occasion - if I look up from my book at the right time. As I texted the kids: "Dad is living the dream. His golf game today includes a caddy named Alex." At the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course, the caddy was a requirement. (So was the gratuity that came at the end of the golf round.) They have a gated course and your name has to be on the list. (I'm convinced that's so another employee can meet ..read more

  O Canada! After we left Glacier National Park, our adventure included a brief foray across the Montana-Canadian border. In anticipation of our summer trip, we had renewed our passports. We got our first passports in 2010. At the time, Randy was a board members for the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers, and a fellow board member suggested we have passports ready, just in case there was an opportunity for a trade mission or international meeting.  There was not. The 2010 passports sat unused in the bank safety deposit box until they expired. Extensive travel doesn't mix with farmi ..read more

  Probably my favorite photo from the Two Medicine area and one of my favorites from the trip. It was a BEARY good day.   We were on the way to Glacier's Two Medicine Valley when we fulfilled one of Randy's bucket list items: We saw a BEAR! Unfortunately, I don't have photographic evidence. You'll just have to take our word for it.  While we Kansans are used to seeing deer in ditches along our roadways, seeing a BEAR was just a bit surreal. We were just driving along at 65 MPH, and there was a black bear in the ditch. We looked at each other in disbelief. We cons ..read more

  It was a little like a ride into the past. Since 1933, Red Buses have been part of the transportation system at Glacier National Park. The Red Bus Tour was Randy's favorite things in Glacier - probably because he didn't have to do the driving and was free to gawk around as much as he wanted. The buses have an oak frame which support their bodies. Don was our driver, and we were assigned the No. 106 bus. The Red Bus tours provide an iconic and historic way to explore the park. Roe Emery (1875-1953) was one of two principals behind the creation of Glacier’s iconic Red Buses. Emery and W ..read more

“Wander here a whole summer, if you can.  Thousands of God's wild blessings will search you  and soak you as if your were a sponge,  and the big days will go uncounted." -- Naturalist John Muir It appears the world has concluded that Muir knew what he was talking about. These days, visitors to Glacier need reservations for most of the park's most popular places. During Covid, visitors flocked to national parks. It still gave people a place to travel, but they were able to accomplish social distancing. Evidently, the word got out that our nation's National Parks truly are nation ..read more