Travel Bucket List 2021

One of my favorite hobbies besides reading and writing is traveling. I always look forward to at least one yearly trip with the family, and due to COVID 2020 meant no summer trip in the Pehote household ( we did squeeze in a Vegas trip in late February of 2020 for a gymnastics meet....just before the world shut down). I have been itching to travel and decided to pull the trigger and book a summer trip that can be canceled if necessary. I honestly hope with continued vaccine use travel will be possible.

My philosophy on travel is simple, try not to keep repeating the same trips over and over. I get it, Vegas is great, Orland is great (for some....), but there is so much to see in this country alone, not to mention the entire world, that I try to spread my travels around so I (and my family) can share new experiences.

I have been very lucky when it comes to travel. My father worked for the airline growing up, so we did get to experience some great family vacations. I have also been able to travel for work with some school trips to locations such as New York City, Washington D.C., England, Scotland, Spain, and France. I also do not mind driving long distances, so road trips are never out of the question.

How about some travel photos?

Paris, April 2018

The Original KFC, Summer 2018

Inauguration Day, 2017

Surviving the Punta Cana Death Scare, Summer 2019

Maui, Summer 2017

Toledo...Spain, not Ohio April 2018

So, while I have been able to enjoy some trips, and maybe in a future post I will rank my favorite vacations....for this post I want to share my top five trips that have yet to take place. These are the places/trips I need to take before my time is up on planet Earth. Here we go, in no particular order:

Moscow/Saint Petersburg Russia: The current and former capital of Russia are both on my list and really count as one trip. The history and culture is very interesting to me.
Italy: Not sure how I want to knock out Italy. Maybe a Mediterranean cruise that ends in Rome? Then spend some time checking out the rest of the country? I am not a big "cruise" guy, but to be fair I have never been on one either.
Germany: I was in Germany for a quick second, the Frankfurt Airport. I enjoyed a pretzel and coffee and waited for my flight to Madrid. I would love to spend more time in Germany.
A cross-country Amtrak train trip, with sleeper car: My dad and I had one of these booked years ago on the California Zephyr to visit my sister in Reno. Then she up and moved to Phoenix before the trip and we had to cancel. I am not sure which line I want to take, the Empire Builder to Seattle is tempting as well....but I do want to try out one of these long train trips out of Union Station in Chicago.
Montana: I kept going back and forth between Montana and Alaska....and I guess if I do not do the Mediterranean cruise for Italy I can shift this back to Alaska and do a cruise there. I really want to visit the Northwest and experience the natural beauty. Find a beautiful lodge near Glacier National Park and enjoy some hikes in nature.

So there are five trips I plan to complete sometime in the future. I think they are all "doable." I could probably combine number two and number three into one trip to be honest. Do you have a "Travel Bucket List?" Where do you want to go?

Your Own Personal Library Catalog

So, how many of you have remember using an old style, card catalog? You know, you want to find a book in your local library, so you pull out the long drawers flipping through cards. Well those days are long gone of course (thankfully) and nearly all libraries use an electronic catalog system to keep track of their collections. Many of the school districts in Wayne County are using a system developed by Follett . It is a great system for school age children and prepares them for many of the advanced catalogs available in public and university libraries. Catalog software is quite expensive and really impractical for home libraries. Some book lovers may create their own spreadsheet or database to keep track of their books, however there is a great (free) tool online to not only catalog your books, but also meet and communicate with other book lovers online. The site librarything.com is a wonderful site that lets you catalog your own home library. Think of it as a "Facebook

A Little R & R

I decided to take a little R & R before things get crazy with back to school. I wanted to spend some time with my family for these final weeks of summer, so I decided a break from writing was in order. A trip to Kalahari and fun times with friends and family made August fly by. So, what does school year 2014 bring for me? Quite a bit, as always: Back to teaching two courses at Wayne County Community College. Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings I head to Northline Road to teach college level English. I really love this second job! Tuesday, I start my 17th year at O.A. Carlson High School. While public education continues to face challenges, there is no other job for me at this time. I love my co-workers and students. Gibraltar is a great place to work. I will be running my kids all over as usual. Gymnastics, religious education, flag football (which I coach as well), and others events "to be determined." I would not have it any other way. I love watch

What are Some of Your Favorite Books

I love this question. Of course, I do not think I could ever answer a question like "what is your favorite book?" I need to be able to list at least a few titles. I was speaking with another parent during my son's gymnastic class this past Monday. We were both reading the same book and we spent much of the time talking about the book we were reading and other books we enjoy. It was really a great conversation for a book geek like myself. It was also nice because the individual I was speaking with was a classmate of mine from back in the day at good old Carlson High School. The question came up as to what were some of my favorite books, and I had to step back and think for a minute. My taste in books varies all over the place (much like my taste in music, but that is another story). For the purpose of this entry I throw out five of my favorites (in no particular order) and why I enjoy them. Of course, a list of favorites could be much longer as I could write fore

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