India has been on my list of trips for awhile but what finally made me decide to go was a Hindu celebration held in St. Augustine in April. I loved the color and joy I witnessed. I told one of the participants about my travel list and was given prayer beads and enthusiastic encouragement to …
Author: The Autonomous Traveler
My life has been metamorphosis from a shy, scared little girl to an adventurous woman who travels the world by herself. I am a grandmother and a retired teacher who is a lifelong learner with a degree in the social sciences. My trips are opportunities to directly experience the wonders of world in order to understand what unites us all and, as a result, to better understand myself.
Lies in Paris
It was a “someday’’ experience. “Someday I will go to Paris and it will be warm and sunny and it will be perfect.” And as I glided along the Seine, it was. I smiled, not a young artificially enhanced smile, perfected with caps and chemical whiteners. My grin, weathered by too many sweets and the …
Vermont, A Work Of Art
"You use a glass mirror to see your face, you use works of art to see your soul." -George Bernard Shaw. I leisurely drove through Vermont last week...Bennington, Manchester, Burlington, North Hero. I had escaped some bad weather in Connecticut and Massachusetts and my days in Vermont …
It’s All About the Math-Hiking in the Adirondacks
One day when I was 46, I decided to hike all 46 of The High Peaks of the Adirondacks. I tend to live out my life in headlines, always proclaiming a new interest with passion and bursts of wild enthusiasm. So 46 at 46! The coincidence had a certain mystical quality to it and I …
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An Army Base as a Community Unifier-Fort Drum, New York
For many of us civilian citizens who live around Fort Drum, an army base in northern New York State, this military reservation looks pretty mysterious and remote. We are familiar with the Army helicopters and jets, are used to the booms of practice maneuvers, and are no longer surprised by the red glow of flares …
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My Favorite Adventure-Barcelona, Spain and Antoni Gaudi
I choose my yearly adventures in strange ways. I chose Barcelona (almost embarrassed to admit it) because I saw this city on an episode of "The Bachelorette". It looked interesting and I wanted a change from the sometimes dark and ancient history of some of my previous trips. I really had no idea that this …
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Hints for Women Travelers #6-The Devil is in the Details
Try not to be picky. Please don't evaluative every little detail of your trip. Think globally, life is a movie not a snapshot. Over the course of my life, I have come to realize that joy is enormous and being joyless makes us small. Joy is about getting out of ourselves, being with people, trying …
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Traveling to the Past and Learning about The Present
My trips sometimes don't have objectives. I hear or read about a place and curiosity pushes me there. That's how I got to Lily Dale, the Spiritualist Camp, in western New York State which was founded in 1848. I treated the experience with a lot skepticism and wandered through the little colony of houses with …
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Fitness Training for Old Age
Me, March 2018 Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida Eleven years ago I had back pain. I think it was psychosomatic. I was mad at myself for staying too long in a relationship that wasn't working. Once I got the man out of my head, the back pain was gone. Two years ago, I developed pains in …
A North Country Love Affair
Author's note: Since I wrote this piece a few years ago, I have to confess, The North Country and I now have an open relationship. I go to Florida during the winter months. But this is home, my base camp and I always return. I'm here now. Unfortunately, the weatherman is predicting ice and sleet for …
The Autonomous Traveler 