Round and round and round she goes and where the Blogging Boomer Carnival stops this week is Life Two! As usual, our intriguing group of boomers have much to say about a variety of things – from fashion to politics – so why not hop on board the merry-go-round and join in the fun. Surf [...]
Blogging Boomers Carnival #129 At Life Two
Hole In The Donut Nominated For Travel Blog Award – Help Me Win!
I’ve just been notified that Hole In The Donut has once again been nominated for a “Love This Site” Award in the travel blog category at Divine Caroline. I was nominated last year as well and placed 10th; this year I’d love to be in the top three. To vote for Hole In The Donut [...]
Cherokee, North Carolina Is More Than Phony Teepees and Taiwan Trinkets
Phony teepees, gold panning operations, and stores overflowing with “Indian” souvenirs stamped “Made in Taiwan” dominate the main street in Cherokee, North Carolina. On the sidewalks, performers with not a whit of Indian blood don garish costumes and perform steps bearing little resemblance to actual Cherokee ceremonial dance. In a shopping center parking lot, kids [...]
Tucked into the northwest corner of Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Cades Cove is one of very few places in the entire national park system where nature and human history mingle. Cherokees were the first to discover this relatively flat valley between mountains; they camped in the Cove for weeks or months at a time, [...]
Blogging Boomers Carnival #128 At The Boomer Chronicles
It’s time again. This week’s host for our Blogging Boomers Carnival, The Boomer Chronicles, has provided a great review of subjects currenty being discussed by our fascinating group of boomers – everything from fashion to politics. There’s a little something for everyone. Check it out and enjoy!
The Shaker Plea – Please Don’t Remember Me As A Chair
Lil stood with eyes lowered and hands demurely clasped as spectators filed into the Meeting House. When everyone was seated on the simple wooden benches running down either side of the hall, she looked up and began to sing: “Welcome, welcome, one and all.”
One of several interpretive guides at Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, Lil [...]
Gatlinburg, Tennessee Suffers From Multiple Personality Syndrome
If I wanted to stuff my face with Karamel Korn and funnel cakes, have my photo taken while sitting in the Dukes of Hazard General Lee car, play a round of putt putt golf in the world’s most interactive black light golf course, or attend any one of a dozen honky-tonk song and dance shows, [...]
Step inside a mall in San Diego and you might just as easily be walking through a Philadelphia shopping center. Likewise, many cities around the country are so similar that I often have to stop and remind myself where I am. But every once in a while I visit a city that stands out from [...]
Blogging Boomers Carnival #127 At Midlife Crisis Queen
Calling all boomers. Check out the issues being discussed on this week’s Blogging Boomers Carnival. Our special host, Laura Lee at Midlife Crisis Queen, is standing in for our regualrly scheduled host, who is on vacation this week. And a mighty fine stand-in she is. Laura Lee provides a succinct review of each of our [...]
My Love Affair With Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton Hotel
The seeds of my love affair with Chicago’s Palmer House were sown back in 1969. An anxious and giddy teenager, I was thrilled that the famous hotel had been chosen for my senior prom. I vividly recall stepping into the opulent lobby, with its Tiffany 24-karat gold chandeliers, majestic “Winged Angels†(the largest bronze statues [...]
After years of working 70 hours a week at jobs I detested, I felt like the proverbial "hole in the donut" - solid on the outside, but empty on the inside. Searching for meaning in my life, I abandoned my successful but unsatisfying career and set out on a six-month solo backpacking trip around the world to pursue my true passions of travel, writing, and photography. 
















