American Horticultural Society Reciprocal Garden Network

[Photo Credit: American Horticultural Society]

A few months ago, I posted about the Botanical Gardens we might like to visit during our trip.  This week, while working on a list of activities for our three days in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the Garvan Woodlands Gardens made this list for one of the afternoons.  We had spent an afternoon at Callaway Gardens in November and remarked then how much we'd like to visit there in different seasons, and from their website, the Garvan Woodlands Gardens reminded me of Callaway.

While on their website, I saw information about a Reciprocal Garden Network which piqued my interest.  Much like a zoo membership where you can use your membership at one zoo to visit another, the American Horticultural Society offers a Reciprocal Garden Network Program which includes over 360 gardens across the U.S.  Several of the gardens we had identified previously are part of the RGN as well as one in our hometown and several on our radar for our Edges of Florida 2025 adventure.  The cost of membership is $35/one person or $50/two people.  Entry fees for the Garvan Woodlands Garden is $25/person ($20 if we purchase online), so we were already going to spend about the cost of membership for a single afternoon visit.  

So if you're interested, check out the participating gardens in the Reciprocal Garden Network to see if there are any near you or places you might be going.  The thing about gardens is you can visit multiple times a year and have a different experience based on what's in bloom or in season.  I'm already thinking about posting with my favorite Instagram hashtag:  #flowersmakemehappy!

~ Cindy D.

State Park Passes

We recently purchased our new Florida State Parks annual family pass that allows us to enjoy any of the state's parks for the year.  We've been getting one each year for the last several years as we have enjoyed exploring more of our state's natural areas and just being outdoors.  With most state parks having a "car load" entry fee of $6, we only have to visit a Florida state park 10 times to get our money's worth.  (Normally the family pass is $120 but we got it while it was on a special for a few months at the end of 2023.)  Even if we don't end up using it that often, we don't mind the contribution to the state park system because we know the fees are used for upkeep and improvements.

As we began planning our Middle States trip, you may recall that we spent a lot of time looking at National Parks and historical sites to incorporate into our itinerary.  And as those places began building a framework, we also started looking into the state park systems of the 17 states we will visit.  For most states, we may visit one or two on our journey - we're even staying at the lodge at Quartz Mountain State Park in Oklahoma - so a park pass doesn't make a lot of financial sense.  But as we'll be in Michigan for most of a week and have opportunity to visit several of their state parks, we opted to go ahead and order a non-resident "recreation passport" to use while there.  Michigan has a daily rate of $11 for non-resident entry into their state parks, but they also offer an annual pass for non-residents for $40.  We know we have three days we will visit a state park in Michigan, so rather than having to hassle with $11/day, it makes sense to get the annual pass.  And just as we feel about "not getting our money's worth" from our Florida state park pass, we are okay with supporting Michigan's state park system by over-paying for our park entry.

Checking out the state park system when traveling is a great way to add some scenic stops into a trip.  Whether it's to have a place for a picnic lunch, stretch your legs, exercise your kids, or just breathe in the great outdoors, see if there's a state park between you and your destination.  Below are links to the state park systems for the states we'll be traveling through.  Maybe they'll inspire you!  And if you have visited any of the state parks in these states, let us know which one(s) you'd stop at again.  If it's near enough to our route, we may just take a break and see it for ourselves!

• Georgia
• Alabama
• Mississippi
• Arkansas
• Oklahoma
• Kansas
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• Iowa
• Minnesota
• Wisconsin
• Michigan
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Tennessee

And not to worry, fans of Florida's state parks - when our Middle States journey is over, this space will be dedicated to our Edges of Florida trip, coming in February 2025.  Our preliminary itinerary is chock full of Florida State Parks!

~ Cindy D.

Tweaking the itinerary (Rochester, MN - Waupaca, WI)

We knew it was risky making some plans in early to mid-May in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and upper Michigan.  Our first casualty is the Mighty Mississippi River Boat Tour in Winona, Minnesota.  Watching their season opening weekend the last two years, we thought we would be going through Winona on opening weekend for 2024, but alas, the calendar has slipped so they don't open their season until the weekend after we expect to go through.  We were looking forward to taking boat tours at various points along the course of the Mississippi River; hopefully the other locations further south and later in the month will not suffer the same fate.  

We'll be traveling from Rochester, Minnesota, to Waupaca, Wisconsin, so it's back to the map to see if there's anything we might want to do in between.  If you have any suggestions, please let us know in the comments!

~ Cindy D.

Lodging Reservations? Check!

 We made the last of our lodging reservations yesterday for the Big Cedar Cabins & RV Park in Hodgen, Oklahoma.  This campground site is near the Talimena National Scenic Byway through the Ouachita National Forest.  We'll spend the night there after leaving Hot Springs before trekking across Oklahoma for a few days.  We had placed ourselves on the list for 2024 reservations and I had a note to follow up with them in January.  This was the last one we needed to confirm.  

~ Cindy D.

Winter Weather

I joined a few local-area Facebook groups as part of our planning process.  One of them is for Dodge City, Kansas. I was particularly interested in Dodge City's Facebook group as we'll be there for my 60th birthday, so I hoped to learn more about the city where I'll be entering my next decade.  What I found out this week as they experienced a blizzard is that there are a lot of wonderfully helpful and compassionate people who live there.  The employees at one of the meat packing plants were stranded at the plant amidst the onset of the blizzard.  And people were stuck in snowdrifts off the side of the road where they ended up sliding to avoid head-on collisions with other vehicles.  People were worried about family members they hadn't heard from, and others were at home with no electricity or heat with babies with no way to get warm.  There were posts in the Facebook group asking for help, but there were more with offers to help in ways that meant something - a truck with a wench, a ride to a shelter, a message passed to say hey, your dad is with us and he's okay.  The folks in Dodge City came together to take care of each other in a time of crisis.  For many, it was their first time in blizzard conditions, and the people in the group helped first, then educated (but not in that negative Facebooky way people have) so the next time they'll be ready.  Of course there were some reports of how some tried to take advantage of others in need, but for the most part, the tone was positive.  

I wanted to share that because it had me thinking about the weather for our trip.  We're going places we've not been before, and until recently haven't really paid attention to regarding weather conditions.  So we've been tuning into the national weather more lately, and I'm always excited when I see one of our destinations on the map as it means I am getting my bearings for our itinerary.  But being that it is the middle of January, the temperature readings definitely make me glad we'll be traveling in the spring rather than winter!  

And just so you'll have an idea of what the temperatures are in the middle of the U.S., here's the high and low temperatures for today, Sunday, January 14, 2024, in some of the places we'll be spending a night or two.  We've already been advised to pack some winter clothes because winter isn't over in Michigan until it decides to be - no matter what the calendar may say.

And once we are home, I'll probably update this post with the summertime highs and lows and lament the fact that it's so much cooler than our home in Florida!

~ Cindy D.

P.S. DH's surgery went well this week; he is recovering as expected. Thank you for all the prayers and concern on his behalf.  We are thankful that he was able to have it done with time to heal and be ready to travel! 

Travelosophy on a T-Shirt

I love a good t-shirt - especially ones that are from places we've been or express my interests, so I was delighted to find these two on a clearance sale at Kohls.  I think they perfectly describe how I feel about retirement and the travel days ahead!

Take the Scenic Route!  That's exactly what we have planned for our Middle States itinerary!  I've studied the maps and routes and if a highway / byway has the word "scenic" in it, you can bet we'll be on it!  We actually started taking the scenic route more several years ago when we wanted to avoid interstate traffic when traveling to visit DH's parents in Kentucky.  We cruised through Georgia on U.S. 27 with barely another car in sight and marveled at the wide-open spaces around.  (Although we did lament the lack of cell phone service in parts of rural Georgia.)  The only time the scenic route was a problem was when our sons (probably age 5 or 6) changed the voice on our GPS to Mandarin while DH was refueling.  He was still dependent on the GPS for a few tricky turn offs - eek!  But no worries about that now with GPS and map apps on our phones, plus I'll have back-up driving instructions in case we hit a dead-zone.  We do know that we'll have to work with our map apps to not try to route us to the "quickest" way from place to place.  

Do you have a map app that you really love that's not Google Maps or Waze?

Some souls are made to travel!  This t-shirt really spoke to me because that's exactly how I feel!  Maybe because my parents loaded me into the car as a very young infant and took me across several states to visit family.  Maybe because I've always had a bit of wanderlust. I'm really blessed that DH and I both enjoy traveling and we love doing it together!  This spring we will celebrate our 32nd wedding anniversary; we did a little traveling together before we were married and I think we were both so relieved that we traveled well together because if not, that could have been a deal-breaker!  And over the years as we've traveled together pre-kids, with kids, and now again just us, we have evolved in what makes a trip successful.  For us, it's letting me do the planning!  You know how some people are just really really good gift-givers?  That's how I like to think about my role in travel planning for us - finding those places to visit and things to do that are just the thing that turns a stop from pretty cool to the best day ever!  That doesn't mean I don't make some mis-steps along the way (don't ask my family about the Denver airport at 3 AM), but we learn and adapt and keep on going!  I think if we couldn't travel, it would take a bit to figure out what we are meant to do.  (This is also why I'm glad I wasn't quite eligible to retire when COVID restrictions limited / prohibited traveling - that would have been an especially miserable period of time.)

Maybe when I'm older or become unable to travel, I'll take our t-shirts from places and have someone help me make a travel-quilt from them.  But for now, who has time for that? I've got places to go and t-shirts to collect!

~ Cindy D.

THIS year!

Happy New Year, friends!  We hope you had an enjoyable holiday season and are ready for an adventure-filled 2024 wherever that may take you!  We are so excited to not have to say "when we travel next year" because our Middle States trip is THIS YEAR!

We have some things to get through before we go.  First of all, DH has surgery next week with recovery predicted at 4-6 weeks before he can have full activity.  And then there will be some lingering issues we'll have to navigate around, but we're preparing for how to best accommodate those needs.  Thankfully he is in overall good general health so we expect things to go well, but we do appreciate any prayers offered on his behalf.

And then there's the business of getting me actually retired!  I've been #practicingretirement for most of the last year, but now we're down to the wire where I have to actually get things ready to hand off tasks at work and make sure all my paperwork has the i's dotted and the t's crossed and the right signatures in the right spaces.  And oh yeah, let's not forget getting the post-retirement health insurance squared away.

We had a bit of a practice run in December as we spent the month at St. George Island, so we had to handle logistics of taking care of business remotely - things like making sure the bills are paid, mail is handled (although I don't know why we bothered to try to have the mail held as it didn't work this time - ggrrr), and staying in touch with family and friends.  We also had a couple of there-and-back-in-a-day trips for DH's pre-surgical visits which confirmed that we have made the right decision to not try to go too many miles in any one given day.

So while we're ticking off the days until we can start actively preparing to go, keep me distracted by sharing what your travel plans are for 2024!  

~ Cindy D.