A Year of Book Recommendations

The wonderful women of my book club and I reviewed forty books this fall. We slimmed them down to our top picks for the next twelve months. I thought I’d share our many hours of work with val’s road readers. The genres include: fiction, non-fiction, memoir, and fantasy. I’ve included brief summaries of the books as well as the... read more

Witches Drinking Tea

Halloween is the time of the year when I get to re-post one of my favorite photos. These expression on the faces of these ladies never gets old. Makes me want to shout “Booyah!” Hope your Halloween is full of sweet... read more

In Praise of the Firemen of Fallen Leaf Lake

On a recent road trip to the Lake Tahoe area, my daughter and I stopped in Fallen Leaf Lake in search of a highly-recommended waterfall. The only way in is a windy one lane road. It took twenty minutes to drive five miles, and I prayed the entire time that no one would come the other way. We arrived safely and parked near the general store. The... read more

Baltic Sea Cruise

Awake at 3:30 this morning with jetlag, I have ample time to blog about a wonderful cruise on Viking’s ocean liner, The Star. The journey started in Norway and ended in Stockholm. We traveled with our dear friends from northern California who we’d been on a river cruise with a few years ago. Our husbands were a bit leery of traveling with 900... read more

Girls Weekend In Austin

The annual trip this year took us to Austin, Texas. As the resident tour guide, Barb took us to some of her favorite places and some new ones as well. On most of our excursions, the red granite dome of the capitol building was a welcome sight. You may think that July is a hot month to visit Texas. You are right. We were warmed by triple digit... read more