Living In Beauty

This seven-chapter series about our 9-month Civil Rights Trail RV road trip – an official NPS trail launched in 2017 with more than 100 sites of interest in several dozen locations across the United States – has come to an end. Until our Civil Rights Trail Series began, our subscriber numbers always increased with every post. The big shocker is hundreds of followers canceled their Living in Beauty subscription during this series! Perplexing? Yes. Humbling? Yes. Fortunately, you are still here and we value your interest in our journey all the more. We encountered disturbing revelations and uncomfortable truths on every RV stop along The Civil Rights Trail. Yet, our faith in America is renewed! The post Civil Rights Trail – Chapter Seven: Final Thoughts appeared first on Living In Beauty.

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” - A.A. Milne, creator and author of Winnie The Pooh Some of the world's greatest stories involve bridges. Building bridges... capturing bridges... crossing bridges... and lighting them afire. For better and worse, bridges establish challenging and sometimes incompatible connections. "Burning Bridges" can mean a bad decision made in haste or it can mean a deliberate act of self-renewal. Every bridge crossing is an epochal moment, a promise to transport you into the future. Beauty and the Beast are our Bridge to Adventure, our Boredom Evacuation Plan. The post All The Bridges I Have Known appeared first on Living In Beauty.

In the late 1960's in California, I lived near the beach. Beaches were a place to chill, play volleyball and wax your board. But the song "Galveston" introduced me to a completely different idea where the beach was a place of poetry, mystery and romance, a beach you must see to believe. Galveston Island State Park is 'on-the-way' to nowhere but Galveston, a barrier island at sea level with only three roads into and out of the 27-mile long island. Click the "Continue Reading" button below to read about this beautiful and magical place. The post Campground Review: Galveston Island State Park – Galveston Island, Texas appeared first on Living In Beauty.

The art of biscuit making is a tender process where contrasting ingredients are gently coaxed into an improbable friendship. No two biscuits are exactly alike, but a good biscuit is something you can give yourself wholly to, even while eyeing the next one. Satisfaction is elusive. There's always plenty and never enough. Yeah, I'm talking about The Blues. The Blues sweet-talks electrifying joy and benumbed pain into a soul-satisfying concoction and lays it all out on the table. Come and get it. Blues and biscuits. No one does it better than "King Biscuit" in Helena Arkansas, one of the best Blues festivals in the world. The post All Hail The Good King Biscuit! appeared first on Living In Beauty.

What took us so long to BRP? Well before before Day One of this Airstream adventure – in response to one of our earliest posts, Tell The Beaubeauxs Where To Geaux – Living in Beauty followers have advised us to visit the BRP: Blue Ridge Parkway. Then, for more than seven years, we drove over the BRP, under the BRP and around the BRP, until... Bingo. We finally hit the target and gave the Blue Ridge Parkway the full focus of our attention for the entire month of July. At last, we understand why the popular Blue Ridge Parkway is called “America's Favorite Drive." Don't ask if we saw this or that, just ask us how it made us feel to be there. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a vacation for the senses, a re-boot for the ol' neurotransmitters– The post Sweet Surrender

Dad was born in 1919 into a Louisiana factory-working family who barely made ends meet. He joined the navy on his 18th birthday. Back in the 1950's and 60's, a kid could run loose in Louisiana while visiting relatives throughout the state. Even in New Orleans, I was allowed to go anywhere I wanted except Bourbon Street because my Aunt Marie said, "You stay outta dat mess young man!" A few years ago while passing through Louisiana after a major storm, we pinned Lake Charles on the Living in Beauty list of places we like to explore. Even in that beat up condition, the region peaked our curiosity. Our research turned up Sam Houston Jones State Park. The post Campground Review: Sam Houston Jones State Park – Lake Charles, Louisiana appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. calls Montgomery, Alabama, "The Epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement" in his book, The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song. In 1955, Martin Luther King Jr. was the pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery when, Rosa Parks , just down the street, refused to surrender her seat on the bus to a white passenger. Rosa Parks bravery – in response to the brutal murder of Emmett Till three months' earlier – activated the Civil Rights Movement. With so much to learn and see in the Montgomery area, we easily filled two weeks with sightseeing, museums, restaurants and lectures. Here we will share our visits to The Legacy Museum, National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Rosa Parks Museum, Freedom Rides Museum, Civil Rights Memorial and Center, Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge, the Capitol Building, and the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. The post Civil Rights Trail – Chapter Six: Montgomery, Alabama – The Epicenter of The Movement appeared first on Living In Beauty.

We recently shared the post, The Magic of Number Nine, our completion of 8 years of full-time travel and the start of our 9th year. Today is another milestone: 3,000 days on the road, as we live in Beauty. This big day conjuncts with my 70th birthday. Yep, I've hit the big seven-o today, October 4th! How has traveling 3,000 days changed us? Click the "Continue Reading" button below to read about our renewed faith in humanity, respect for culture, admiration of the landscape, and appreciation for American languages and dialects. The post 3,000 Days on the Road appeared first on Living In Beauty.

We could be in New Orleans right now. Journaling our travels is like a two-fer. First, we get to go there, and later while creating the blog, we kind of get to go there again to say a proper goodbye. But, whenever we think about New Orleans, it's not about closure, it's about planning our next stay. Something keeps calling us back to The Big Easy. Each time we return we feel more like locals with a better understanding and appreciation for the cuisine, the music, and the most unique cultural history in America. The post Civil Rights Trail – Chapter 5: New Orleans appeared first on Living In Beauty.

We're here! We're ok! You haven't heard from us in a while, but that's because we've been out adventuring. Oh boy, have we been adventuring – but more about that later. For the next few ... however long it takes ... I will be handling the blog solo. That's right, Living in Beauty will be the "Jim Show" until Carmen writes a first draft of her screenplay. Living in Beauty isn't just sun-kissed scampering these days. We've been busy. Beauty is serving as Carmen's writing retreat and my comfort station following a short stint as a camp host. As we age, we don't want to lose the feeling that every day is a deeper plunge into beauty in every color and dimension, for as far as the eye can see ... The post Olly Olly Oxen Free appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Today we start our 9th year traveling full-time in our 2001 30' Airstream. Grooving on numbers and designing colorful infographics based on analysis is my thing – not so much for Carmen. Every Living in Beauty Anniversary, she steps aside as I release the pretty shiny numbers. Even if you don't like numbers, you can depend on them. I mean it doesn't seem that long ago since we left Fiddler's Cove on a beautiful summer day in 2016 ... .. and here we are, still Out There in 2024, wrapping up 8 years of freedom of movement, living wherever we want whenever we want. A lifestyle widely known as "Living The Dream," which we call Living in Beauty. We're looking forward to a fantastic and adventurous, yet slower and more immersive 9th year. But, today, we're looking back at what we've already experienced in our first 8 years of full-time travel. The post The Magic of Number Nine appeared first on Living In Beauty.

"What's the most amazing place you've ever seen?" We're asked this question so often we should print the answer on our t-shirts. We always respond with something impressive: "The Canadian Rockies," "Autumn in Vermont," "Yukon," "Denali," "The Outer Banks," "The Upper Peninsula," or "Canyonlands!" And, with all sincerity, any one (or every single one) of those responses is true. But, in the course of a passing conversation, it's way too blunt to surrender the most complete and truthful answer: "The most amazing place on Earth is ... right here, right now." If nature can explain the universe and our place in it, then Cane Creek Park served us well for our two week maximum stay. The post Campground Review: Cane Creek Park, Waxhaw, North Carolina appeared first on Living In Beauty.

In honor of the upcoming Juneteenth National Independence Day, we are publishing our latest blog post on our Civil Rights Trail journey in the deep South. As we drove north toward Mound Bayou, on our way to the King Biscuit Blues Festival, we expected to visit a Museum, but we soon discovered that the entire town is a museum. If you've ever heard of Mound Bayou, then you are the exception. Former slaves, left to their own resources, built a city that actually thrived all the way into the Civil Rights era... in Mississippi. Mound Bayou is a remarkable story of Brothers – the Davis brothers and the Montgomery brothers, who knew each other almost intimately, whose children played together and studied together, yet shared nothing in common as they worked side-by-side to opposite ends. This is a story for our time. The post Civil Rights Trail – Chapter Four: Mound Bayou, Mississippi appeared first on Living In Beauty.

"So, what's it like to live in an Airstream?" The answer to that question changes about every two weeks. The short answer is, "It's magical." We just released a short documentary about living in Beauty, pursuing moments that add up to dreams. The post A Day in Beauty appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Merging onto The Blues Trail from the Civil Rights Trail and the Emmett Till Memorial was effortless, and necessary. We've heard that when life gets heavy, The Blues can soothe woes. It was almost Opening Day of the annual Clarksdale Juke Joint Festival, and we needed to blow off some steam. The post Civil Rights Trail – Chapter Three: Juke Joint Festival – Clarksdale, Mississippi appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Our Civil Rights Trail tour began with the Emmett Till Memorial – a good place to start, for several reasons. First, the murder of Emmett Till launched the Civil Rights movement. Second, our destination for the night, The Emmett Till Intrepid Center was a scenic Sunday drive from Dad's house in Decatur, Mississippi. Third, it was Spring – the most beautiful season in Mississippi – when it is customary to reflect on new beginnings, redemption, and reconciliation – these are ideal conditions to immerse in the life-and-death story of Emmett Till. The post Civil Rights Trail – Chapter Two: Emmett Till appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Every year of Living in Beauty is memorable and different. Some years are spectacular and adventurous from start to finish. Other years are simply focused on relaxing color and scenery, or romance and celebration. Spring, Summer, and Autumn '23 on The Civil Rights Trail with side trips through The Great Smoky Mountains and The Blue Ridge was definitely our happiest year on the road. I understand if you think I misspoke. How on earth can nine months of immersion into the story of a people's bloody struggle to restore and maintain their lives, dignity, faith, and patriotism, against all odds, be a happy thing? Honestly, we're still trying to figure that out. The post Civil Rights Trail – Chapter One: Introduction appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Pitching a tent on Christmas Eve under the stars is an old tradition we picked up from a family of refugees. You've heard the story. In a time of war and occupation – a man and his pregnant wife – are forced to travel long-distance on foot to register. Arriving to their destination the woman falls into labor and every room in the city is occupied. Giving birth in the street is not an option because cars haven't been invented yet. Seeing their distress, a lovely hotel manager says, “Don't worry, be happy” and directs the refugees to a nearby stable. It's an old story we see playing out every day as people are caught up or drawn into miserable situations. But dwelling on the socio-political details behind the holy-family's hardships – and without looking further than the obvious religious message – misses the key point which is: Eventually, everything's gonna be alright. Celebrating our 8th Christmas traveling full-time, we share a message of joy and peace with you, our followers. The post 8 Christmases in Beauty appeared first on Living In Beauty.

"When we first started out, it was a very good beer. It was a very good beer for nomadic types On soft summer nights. We'd try specialty flights paired with pub food bites, In our very First Year." - Adapted from Frank Sinatra's "It was a Very Good Year" We brake for microbreweries. Locally owned breweries are a safe place to enjoy the ancient elixir and make new friends. The neighborhood brewery is an unofficial visitor information center. Most are owned and operated by long-term residents who name the brews after the local lore, claims to fame and natural wonders. People love to talk about their hometown - especially over a beer. Over a beer, people are more likely to open up and share their deepest insider secrets about the best places to see, eat and shop. Here is a list and photos of the 259 breweries we have visited since we started traveling full-time in July 2016. The post It Was A Very Good Beer appeared first on Living In Beauty.

When passing through, some places are too beautiful to leave ... so, sometimes we stay. Thanks to Harvest Hosts – a membership club for complimentary overnight camping based on a European model – RV travel is experiencing a resurgence of hospitality not seen since the bygone era of the American Auto Park of the 1920's-to-50's. Resourceful Americans are catching onto the advantage of mobility, prying loose from residential stagnation and the housing crisis to reclaim the open road. That's why safe, legal and beautiful RV parking is in high demand. Harvest Hosts, modeled on the ancient system of mutually beneficial commerce, is like a secret portal to adventure. The post Harvest Hosts – One Night Delights appeared first on Living In Beauty.

There are two campgrounds near downtown San Diego where we love to stay. One is the private luxury resort, Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay, and the other is an inland county campground, Sweetwater Summit Regional Park. These two RV parks are as different as Cape Cod and Big Bend. That's largely due to the chameleonic character of San Diego where the scenery changes about every five miles. One park is on San Diego Bay and the other is inland, at the foot of Mother Miguel Mountain on The Sweetwater River. The Sweetwater Summit Regional Park and Campground is set within nearly 1,000 acres of Sweetwater Valley on permanently preserved open space, surrounded by a metropolitan area. This Campground is a gold nugget for RVers looking for scenic, tranquil, private and clean no-hassle accommodations with easy freeway access to downtown San Diego. The post Campground Review – Sweetwater Summit, Bonita, California appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Most tourists take two weeks to see Alaska. That's a mind-bender for we slow travel enthusiasts. From down here in the lower 48 – as we look back on our 246 day trek with two-months in Alaska – it all seems like a whirlwind two-week expedition. Where did the time go? Is Alaska's mysterious energy threshold a portal to another dimension? Or was it all a dream? Of course, Alaska is really up there, I know ... because I found the notes we we took, the notes I wish someone had shared with us before we set out. So, here is our open book of the details – things we learned which you may find interesting, or even serve you as you plan your own unique overland adventure to the 49th State. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Final Chapter: Lessons Learned appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Our Alaska overland adventure, beginning in San Diego, had finally come to an end - but endings don't come fast in Alaska. The adventure isn't really over until you reach the lower 48, almost 2,000 miles away. It's like that time you hiked up to Half Dome and looked down into the valley from the summit and realized you were only halfway home and it was getting dark. It felt like the finish line kept moving farther and farther away. This part of the trip would be a push. Weather predictions of snow and rough weather snapped the whip. We gave ourselves ten days. With plenty of sleep and down time, we should make it back safely. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 20: South to the Lower 48 appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Hi, this is Jim with the annual report. I will be brief and to the point. Today, we wrap up our 7th year of full-time travel. Tomorrow we enter our 8th year on the road. It's been an amazing 7 years. You, our 8,535 followers, guide us, discover and rediscover with us. So, we want to say thank you for being a part of this journey. Click "Read more this post" for the details. The post Launching Year 8! appeared first on Living In Beauty.

If we were young, we'd probably sugar-sprinkle our Alaska exit saying, "We'll be back." But as we pulled out of Chena Hot Springs we weren't whipping up any comeback sauce. We knew the score. There would be no reprise of our Alaska overland tour. We had a wonderful adventure, but the floods, fires, rain, and bad roads wore us out. We were tired. The time had come to find a dignified exit while dealing with the fact that Alaska won't miss us at all. The scenery on our four-day, 686-mile journey toward Haines was agonizingly beautiful. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 19: Tok to Haines appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Alaska's growing season may be short, but the flowers are worth the wait. Fanciful late summer plumage soothed our nerves as our frontal lobes surged with executive processes. We were playing Russian roulette with the weather. It was almost September, and we had yet to complete our sightseeing goals. Cooler weather had chased off the bugs, but every morning we cautiously inspected the mountains for signs of Termination Dust. We were lonely tourists. Daylight hours had shortened and campgrounds were preparing to close for the season. Yet, here we were, juggling the details of nomadic life in a strange land as we continued, Northbound. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 18: North Pole to Chena Hot Springs appeared first on Living In Beauty.

We are all born with a mountain in our heart. Call it passion, ambition or soul – this mountain compels us to rise. Even before taking first steps, your tiny arms stretch toward something in the far distance. This mountain of longing is not in your imagination. It's bigger than that. You can't always see it but you know it's there. You see the signs. The mountain is a comfort. It's your pivot point, your base camp. Read more about our visit to the highest mountain in North America... Denali. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 17: Denali appeared first on Living In Beauty.

After a full year of preparation and months of travel, Alaska was almost finished. For us, at least. In Victoria, we left summer comforts behind for a solo North Country expedition. Due to our age and the physical demands of the journey, we knew this would be our first and last road trip to this latitude. If you're following our story you know this journey is not a piece o'cake. Nevertheless, the pullouts are full of Olive Garden patrons – some on motorcycles, some with walkers – and they're not coming all this way for The Bingo Trail. Neither old age or the Alaska highway is for sissies. But, all things considered, viewing glaciers from inside a warm and cozy RV helps you to forget about Volkswagen sized pot-holes, wet weather and limp imported lettuce. It truly is The Great American road trip. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 16: Whittier to Talkeetna appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Atmosphere is way over our heads. We can't tell a cirrocumulus from a stratus, but we know what we like. A good cloud show is a thing to behold. I was hooked from the moment Mama first laid me down outside on a blanket, face up. In Alaska, the sky is the Greatest Show on Earth, and clouds are the elephant parade, dominating every scene.  Beauty and The Beast is like a cloud passing through, trailing a silver lining. In Alaska, the drive is the destination. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 15: Kenai Peninsula appeared first on Living In Beauty.

It was time to come clean. Pulling out of Valdez, heading toward Anchorage (in the rain, as always) my sore tooth throbbed to the rhythm of the windshield wipers. “I have a toothache.” The rig swerved slightly on the wet road as Jim turned to look at me. “How bad?” he asked. “Pretty bad. Root canal bad, feels like.” “Since when?” “I almost told you in Dawson City so we could turn around and go back to Whitehorse, but then I remembered the fires closed the road.” “So, you're in pain all this time?” “Well, you know …” The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 14: Glacier View to Anchorage appeared first on Living In Beauty.

She always said it in threes, with a soft Italian accent, “Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.” First, she'd gasp, Ah!,” and then slowly, “Bee-yoo-tee-fuuul, …" with a little squeak on the yoo part. Forty years ago, I figured her for a centenarian, but looking back from the mature side of my life, she was probably an healthy seventy-five to eighty-year-old. She wore sturdy shoes and a thick black coat which even on hot days was buttoned up to the neck. Her corneas ran low on blue, yet her vision was sharp and her movements spry. Every day, around mid-morning, she walked into our bookstore and went directly for the spinning wire rack of scenic photographic cards. We called her The Beautiful Lady. I think about The Beautiful Lady as we travel with Beauty and The Beast, our Airstream travel trailer and Ram truck. Like the cards in the rack, most places we visit are curated – selected, protected. Designated, beautiful. The post Beautiful World, Beautiful Country, Beautiful Life appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Alaska, land of myth and mystery. It's Shangri–la, Xanadu and Tír na nÓg. It's Through the Looking Glass ... Where The Crawdads Sing, The Fortress of Solitude, and Beyond The Wall. Before the cruise ships found it, getting to Alaska was a heroes journey of purpose and destiny – a trek that required talent, experience and superior genes. Getting there and back is like dancing on stairs. Romanticize Alaska and she will break your heart. Idealize her and she will out you as a fool. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 13: Tok to Valdez appeared first on Living In Beauty.

"You are a catastrophist." Ruth, my editor friend, wearing a "I am silently correcting your grammar" T-shirt, captured and labeled me with the benign efficiency of a seasoned naturalist before tightening the lid on a killing jar. She's good! Touché, shoe-fits, call'm-like-ya-see 'em. I accept the characterization. In fact it's my favorite emoji

Long dusty roads. Midnight sun. Thick wildfire smoke. Rivers rising to the breaking point. Cell signal outages. Moose crash hot zones. Every morning we untangled our weary bones from the mosquito net ... to resume the ongoing discussion, "Should we turn back?" The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 11: Yukon appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Overwhelmed with after-school hunger, I stuck my finger into the contents of the electric mixer and landed on the other side of the kitchen, suffering shock by mashed potatoes. Stunned, I lay on the floor, hoping the surge from the ungrounded mixer would manifest my body with super powers. Fifty-five years later a similar thing happened when our investment advisor pitched the idea of early retirement in an RV. The jolt of enlightenment didn't send me flying across the room, but every nerve stood at attention as synapses fired warning shots across my frontal lobe. Emergent powers rushed to the surface. Our money man had opened up a path we'd never seen. Could the house-free, financially independent, border-blind, semi-retired, mobile American life be the retirement-hack we'd been longing for? Open-ended camping with no scheduled return date. What do you even call that? Forever Camping! The post Rx: Forever Camping appeared first on Living In Beauty.

The Alaska Highway was born to be a military supply route but it grew up to be a story-teller. This unforeseen attribute – like an E-ticket ride at Disneyland – had us riveted from Mile-0. Built for war, this 1,187 mile (1,910 km) road opened to the public in 1948. Since then, driving to Alaska is a surefire epochal adventure for any traveller who is up for a dense narrative with beaucoup twists and turns. Every overlander comes away with a unique life-altering experience, but not always the one they intended. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 10: The Alaska Highway appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Pop! We both heard it, the sound of someone opening a bottle of bubbly in the next hotel room. But we were not in a hotel. We were driving the Beast up a scorched highway in the Mojave desert with Beauty in tow. "Blowout! Pull over!," I shouted. Jim slowed down, activated the emergency lights and showed back, “There's no room!” The post Blips and Bubbles appeared first on Living In Beauty.

The beauty of driving overland to Alaska is getting there. Like Heaven Tramps tripping along from glory to glory, each new leg of the journey prepared us for the next pearly gate. I once saw this ad: "Seventh Heaven Travel - because the urge to go to a better place is older than Moses." The lively brochure went on to explain that heavens 1 to 6 aren't chopped liver either. We traveled north through British Columbia crossing over land and sea from one sublime realm to another saying, "Pinch me," at every turn. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 9: Victoria to Mackenzie appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Hello, Victoria Transported by ferry across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Port Angeles, we arrived to Inner Harbor within 90 minutes. While waiting in line at Customs, I called my sister, Deborah, who reminded me of her honeymoon road trip from San Diego to Victoria with film star, David Miller in 1975. "Pardon me if it slipped my mind, but you do realize that was almost fifty years ago," I said. Then, I asked her what we should do in Victoria. "Ride the ferries to the islands," she suggested. Then, all pumped up for the usual Canada wave through, we donned our masks as instructed and pulled up to the inspection kiosk. Why did Living in Beauty cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca?  The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 8: Victoria, British Columbia appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Today we are celebrating our 6th "On-the-Road" Anniversary (2,191 days). Tomorrow starts our 7th year. Journeying overland to Alaska at our own pace, taking side-roads, detours, and changing plans as we go along, would be a disaster without our magic-kit of digital resources. RVing for recreation, and the Forever Camping lifestyle are experiencing a renaissance. National, State, County, and City Parks are updating their reservation tools and camping resources. Travel apps are being introduced at an astounding rate. Ever since we set out in July 2016, Living in Beauty followers ask us: "How do you pick your locations and what websites and Apps do you use?" As our Thank You to our followers and friends we are opening up our magic kit of digital trip-planning strategies. We believe in sharing. Everyone deserves to be Out There. So, voila … The Living in Beauty Bag o' Tricks The post Rver’s Bag o’ Tricks appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Captain Kirk or Jean Luke Picard? Vienna Sausages or Spam? Alligator or Bear attack? Lively debate eases the frustration of road closures, detours and delays due to flooding and wildfires as we journey to Alaska. It's a silly mental exercise, but the conversation shortens the drive and relaxes Pico. Disney World or a hot air balloon ride? The Loneliest Highway or Route 66? The Odd Couple or The Mary Tyler Moore Show? Respect your opponent – no falsities or absurdities – hold your position even if assigned by coin toss. Next topic is winner's choice. Our minds work in opposition so the game is about discovery not entrenching differences. There are no wrong answers, but some are better than others. The Strait of Juan de Fuca was fake news, its existence shrouded in mystery for 200 years. Of course, it was there the whole time. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 7: The Strait of Juan de Fuca appeared first on Living In Beauty.

As we move north toward Alaska, we never know what we will be up against. Conditions are rarely what the guides project. Currently, we are dealing with flooded campgrounds due to the early Spring melt. Entering southern Oregon in early March, we were prepared for harsh weather but not the thrashing we took. The Oregon coast drew us in from California and spewed us out upon Washington, our bones stripped clean of any ideation that this wild, romantic land was ever intended for mere men. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 6: The Oregon Coast appeared first on Living In Beauty.

The dream of going to Alaska is almost instinctual, a kind of migration that is reborn within each new generation. My folks made the drive without a cell phone. Using public pay phones they checked in once a week from Out There. Now, with the Canadian border reopened after a two-year closure, we expect to share the Alcan Highway with a record-breaking number of senior retirees, their RV's packed tight with puffy coats, woolen underwear and touques, whatever it takes to meet the Alaska of their imaginations. We're in the Alaska state of mind, on our way to a land that humans will never tame to submission, one that tests the resilience of man and beast. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 5: San Francisco to Eureka appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Magnificent bridges, beautiful public gardens, the oldest Chinatown in North America, an old island prison, and we don't know a soul who lives there. That's all we had on San Francisco. We figured The City would be cold, foggy, crowded and expensive. Not so. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 4: Santa Cruz to San Francisco appeared first on Living In Beauty.

We said goodbye to Morro Bay and continued our journey north toward Alaska. Traveling along the fringes of California we tied up loose ends - stopped to admire places we neglected in our youth and skipped past some old favorites. Paso Robles - Castroville - Santa Cruz The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 3: Morro Bay to Santa Cruz appeared first on Living In Beauty.

The challenge is Time and Distance. Perception can be deceiving, a mystery, unsolved. Turning back is a natural instinct. But a steady focus on the goal closes the distance. By late January we realized how much sense it makes to fly or cruise to Alaska. Someday we may do that. But, if this overland journey is to be as much about going to Alaska as being in Alaska, then we will approach The Great North with all the tremor of a sixth-grader asking for a dance at the cotillion, employing as many short slow deliberate steps as possible. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 2: Malibu to Morro Bay appeared first on Living In Beauty.

On our way at last! Since the moment we met Beauty in 2015, our thoughts turned to an overland journey to Alaska, a place we've never been. But, as new inductees to RV travel, we took a four-year pause for research and outfitting before daring the challenge. "In due time" was our motto. With many advisors and consultants on hand, in the end it is Jim's determination, forecasting and exquisite attention to detail which keeps our Alaska vision and progress on course. Every two weeks we will report the high points, mishaps and discoveries. The post Airstreaming to Alaska – Chapter 1: San Diego to Malibu appeared first on Living In Beauty.

"What's an RV resort?" is one of the most discussed topics on RV forums. Seems any park with hook-ups boasts the word "resort." Opinions range widely but everyone can agree: "you know when you see one." From what we've seen, Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay is the definition of a true RV resort. The southernmost shore of the San Diego Bay is our home base – a place to surrender into the arms of our hometown and repatriate in the idyllic comforts of the Baja California / San Diego lifestyle. Like the gray whales, we return annually to this enchanting corner of the earth – Chula Vista, our strategic base of operations – to recharge our Living in Beauty energy.  There are several RV parks throughout San Diego County, but Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay is our newest sanctuary where we come to wrap-up a year's worth of intense travel and dream up ideas for the next Living in Beauty adventure. The post Campground Review – Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay, Chula Vista, California appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Over 2,000 days ago, we set out on an adventure to experience beauty, to capture the breaths of the journey, the whispered moments, the tingling feeling you get in that instant when the sun rises and the mountains cast long shadows reaching for miles. Other than Beauty and The Beast, this blog is our only real estate, the "X" in The Cloud where we hoard our long-winded treasure. Whenever the cellular gods provide even a sliver of a signal, we reach into cyberspace to gather our memories and assemble them into a portrait of our experience. Problem is, in the most beautiful places, the cell signals mostly suck. The Living In Beauty blog is almost five months behind and we are currently heading north into cellular deserts. At this rate, a year from now we'll be a year behind. We need a montage to put the squeeze on Old Man Time. The post Fast Forward appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Jim wanted balloons. As if anything can embellish an idyllic New Mexico sky, every year on Jim's birthday week, hundreds of hot-air balloons punctuate the stunning Albuquerque landscape. In 2020 we had loose plans to attend the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, but the pandemic grounded the event for the first time since it began in 1972, Jim's High School graduation year. Time Flies, the official theme for 2021, peaked Jim's enthusiasm. He would celebrate his 67th birthday at Fiesta regardless of travel hurdles and reservation complications and the risk of infection as the new variant released its latest offspring into the population. But the major hurdle, was me. The post Birthday Balloons appeared first on Living In Beauty.

Barbecue is technology that does not border on religion: it is religion. That's not far-fetched. The first barbecue in biblical history ignited a blood war between brothers. To escalate a situation, show up with a dead animal, a grill, and fire starter. Differing opinions about the orthodoxy of all three items and arguments about how to employ them will commence shortly. Barbecue also brings out the best in people. See, there's that religion thing again. If, by the time the carcass hits the grill, feelings are not irreparably damaged or knives drawn, then all anxiety will suddenly and mysteriously subside as if lithium has been released into the atmosphere. Music, beer and horseshoes will emerge from car trunks, and the kids who are not teething will cease to cry. The post Fire & Bones: Kansas City Barbeque appeared first on Living In Beauty.