Prisoner of Hopes

Tag: connection

  • Canyons in Navajo Country: Rural Road Trip

    Sometimes a place calls to me with no rhyme or reason. Canyon de Chelly has jumped off the map for a number of years. It is off the main highways and requires a multi-hour detour through rugged landscape. Deep in Navajo country, the canyon has remained illusive. You have to mean to go there. It…

  • Albuquerque Botanical: Rural Road Trips

    The Albuquerque Botanical Garden is an unexpected delight. The grounds are immaculate. It is a shady oasis in a desert landscape. As we walk among the trees by a large lake, I am refreshed. It is nice to visit the desert, but I am a hillbilly girl who loves the forest. This will have to…

  • Birthday Special: Rural Road Trip

    My mother in law (who is likely reading this) just had a birthday. This year she insisted on taking all of her children and spouses out for fried chicken. In her world (and mine) family is everything. On her ninetieth birthday, all she wanted was a trip to a beautiful nearby state park with her…

  • Heading Home

    It is a strange sensation when you have lived in a temporary home for awhile and it is time to leave. Our retirement plans include seeing the world, one rental house at a time. For this month, we have made our residence near the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is a no man’s…

  • Ceide Fields: Travel Goals Ireland

    Once in awhile, I find myself in a place that feels timeless. I could be anywhere at all. Time stands still between the Earth and sky. At Ceide Fields near Glenurla, County Mayo, it is easy to forget modernity in favor of a simpler life. It is cold and the wind coming off the Irish…

  • Return to the Holy Waters: Travel Goals Ireland

    It felt like returning to the scene of an accident. Earlier in our Irish adventure we visited St. Patrick’s well, but on the way there, we accidentally hit a curb and had a flat tire. We made it to the well and parked, but it took hours to get help. Budget rental car, from whom…

  • Stairway to Heaven: Travel Goals Ireland

    Today we take an iconic hike in Ireland. The “stairway to heaven” or cuilcagh boardwalk trail is in county Fermanagh. It is just over the border into Northern Ireland and about twenty minutes from our rented farmhouse. I have been waiting to do this hike the whole trip. I waited until our kids arrived because…

  • Donegal Drive: Travel Goals Ireland

    My favorite days in Ireland are unplanned ramblings. We know we want to spend time in Donegal, but it is more of a general idea than a plan. We say goodbye to the sheep standing in the driveway and head out along rural roads. We wander remote one lane roads until we find a lovely…

  • Enniskillen: Travel Goals Ireland

    Some days despite my research, we reach a place and it is nothing like I anticipated. Enniskillen was busy. And it was raining…..again. All roads converged near Enniskillen castle and we struggled to find a place to park. We tried two different lots including one that merged with a school pick up line. I’m pretty…

  • Glenveigh: Travel Goals Ireland

    James Bond is on my mind as I drive through County Donegal to reach Glenveigh National Park. It is eerily foggy as we wind through the hills. When I checked the map earlier this morning, it looked like a straightforward drive on the highway to Letterkenny and onward to Glenview. Now my husband is navigating.…