My recent trip to Prince Edward Island with four of my granddaughters proved just how perfect Amtrak train travel is for grandparents traveling with grandkids. I call it GRAMtrakking. No, you can't take a train to PEI. It is an island, after all, and although there...

I kind of fell into this trip at the last minute, without my usual preparations. I did - and didn't - necessarily want to do it. Did, because I always enjoy taking trips with my grandkids and didn't, because I had just returned from a 12-day somewhat rigorous trip...

Just when I thought things couldn't get any more "exciting" (i.e. - stressful) in the week leading up to our trip, one of my granddaughters fell off our back deck onto the lower deck, resulting in a scratched up face and bloody nose, a concussion, a sprained right...

What is this? Actually, it could be just about anything. When you are traveling - or even if you are just planning a trip - so many things can happen to throw a monkey wrench into your best-laid plans. These things can test your patience, your problem-solving...

What Baby Boomer doesn't know at least the refrain from Nat King Cole's rendition of "Get Your Kicks on Rt. 66"? Rt. 66. The "Mother Road." Neon signs, mom-and-pop motels, offbeat and quirky over-sized roadside attractions. Growing up in the 50s and 60s, I...

In August of 2020, I had a marvelous trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada, planned with my 12-year-old granddaughter - which COVID totally torpedoed, of course. As disappointed as I was about not getting to go to PEI, I was determined that she and I come up with...

My hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, is often described as a charming little burgh with a bit of a New England flavor. In the center of town is a completely natural waterfall tumbling over a broad shale shelf. Some say the name comes from the fact that Native Americans in the area were “chagrined” when they came to that...

Success! My long-desired skip-gen family legacy trip finally happens, and it is a “Mary Poppins” experience: practically perfect in every way! I am blessed by having six grandchildren living in the same city with me. The other three live seven hours/400 miles away. Because they live in Pennsylvania and my husband and I live in Michigan,…

In just a few months’ time, everything – especially travel – looks very different, doesn’t it? There’s plenty of speculation going around, but then, that’s about all we have right now. It’s interesting to read articles trying to predict what the future will look like in different sectors of our economy. The internet is rife…

Most people are familiar with the story of Pandora, who unfortunately unleashed all kinds of evils into the world, including sickness and death, when she lifted the lid from a gifted box. Many people don’t know, however, that one thing was left in the box before she quickly closed it again: hope. So why am…