Check out my blog posts for a good laugh, trip inspirations, travel tips and more. The blogs feature active, outdoor adventure vacation destinations with a focus on mountain biking, hiking, and golfing. Start your outdoor and adventure vacation planning here.
Michigan is often called the Great Lake state, and its residents try to selfishly hog the accolades of all five of the amazing inland seas of freshwater. The reality, Michigan is great and is bordered by four of the five: Lake Michigan, Superior, Huron, and Erie. Only...
The Holmes & Watson Beerventure quest continues. Admittedly after hitting the 100 mark, the next phase seemed daunting. Michigan craft breweries pop up like springtime morels and it seems improbable to make a dent in visiting the almost 300 in the Great Lake...
We started our trip on a reverse red eye flight, going from east to west from the Great Lakes to the desert. To reverse means to go the opposite way or to flip-flop. We did all of those things this trip to Tucson. We reversed time zones, embraced an opposite climate...
Families evolve and go through changes. I have an ex husband. I didn’t keep the last name but thankfully kept the sisters. Though we do not see each other very often, the sister-in-law relationship has remained in tact. I recently reunited with two of the Orr sisters,...
Christmas on the road usually brings some unique experiences. The sign said Bikers Welcome at Rumors Sports Bar & Grill and was open on Christmas. We were the wrong kind of biker but we went in anyway for a late dinner. As cigarette smoke drifted around in this...
It was Kim’s 50th birthday. She wanted to go the Alps. A trip was born that brought six friends together for a tour around Munich, revelry at Oktoberfest and epic hikes/bikes in the Bavarian Alps on the German/Austrian border. Looking back, the adventure revolved...
BACKpacking = Strap 30 pounds to your back and go hike/camp in the woods. BIKEpacking = Strap equal amount of poundage to either you and your bike and pedal into the woods. Sounds like an easy transition right? Except for the gear that needs to fit in exceptionally...
A pint of craft beer is on average 200 - 250 calories. So there’s a pork chop in every beer, perhaps a club sandwich as a point of measurement. Despite the caloric intake, the Holmes & Watson Bike and Beerventures churn on. There is no chance we are going back to...
At the Upper River Road trailhead, the kiosk noted that the Red Bridge was closed to both cars and hikers. We set off hopeful an alternate would be available. A hard-hat clad worker informed us that hikers are not allowed to walk the beams that connected the bridge...
It's 75 miles across Lake Michigan aboard the Lake Express car ferry, Muskegon to Milwaukee. Often nicknamed the vomit comet, perhaps unfairly, as I have always had pleasant crossing experiences and missing Chicago traffic makes me want to skip like a kid through...
I returned for the third time to the land of tea, toasties and talent. Everyone’s heard of River Dance but perhaps never tried the Liver Dance Tour in Ireland. When one of my travel mates suggested a trip goal to visit 25 pubs in a week, the tour became aptly named...
The Arizona sun continues to call to me home. The state of my birth will always hold a special place in my heart plus I finally got to share it with the other half! Watson was pleased with both the hot temps in the Sonoran/Phoenix desert and the rocky trails that...
The population of the state of Wyoming is just under 500,000 people. Most of the crew that convened for a ski trip at Jackson Hole hail from Grand Rapids, Michigan’s second largest city pushing near the 1 million mark. The comparison shows just how much space the...
Many of us can relate to Clark Griswold’s tirade in the National Lampoon movie. He turns to his wife with eyes bulging, How can it get any worse? Look around Ellen, we’re on the threshold of hell! Holiday commercialism, family interaction, logistics, shopping and...
There are plenty of above 50 temps left in October (possibly November) to get on the bike and pedal this fall. My rule, although not scientific, is sound advice on when/how/where to bike. If it’s 45 degrees, it will feel like 40 on your road bike with more speed and...
Adventures in healthcare gave way to a trip to Oregon. Two weeks ago, the thought of josh getting on a plane was unthinkable. An ER visit followed by a spinal injection had him feeling spry one week to departure. My teeter totter ride went from an attempted, yet...
Crash is Josh’s nickname. He’s the more adventurous rider willing to push speed and limits. I am the one who ended up in a creek ditch thrown six-feet down. I was shocked after the bike and me laid to rest in a pile of brush and branch, blood oozing from various...
Most people tell me they don’t travel because of time and money. My gut tells me the real problem is defining what constitutes travel. What is it? What’s considered a vacation and where do you have to go to find a break from the routine? Not far as it turns out. I...
I’ve been single since 1999, 17 years have passed since my divorce and the end of my marriage. I’d been in/out of relationships, navigating borders to stay safe from being disappointed and betrayed again but mostly just living life, not fixated on finding a soulmate....
Back in July, our beer research in Michigan totaled 30 visits of 205 breweries in the state. See Beercation in the Mitten blog. It’s now Dec. 1st, Josh and I have more progress to report traversing the Mitten in search of good suds. Our tally stands at 47 of 205, up...
A U.P. wedding was bookended by two epic days on two wheels, a successful waterfall hunt, Lake Superior views and visits to craft breweries. Josh’s friends, Leah & Chris tied the knot at Messiah Lutheran in downtown Marquette on a sunny Saturday afternoon in...
It was 5:15 p.m. on a brilliantly hot August day. There was a line of cars waiting to enter one of the U.S’s most visited National Parks. We added two more to the thousands already gaping at giant Sequoias, 1000-foot falls and domed towers of granite. Enter Yosemite...
We like to bike. We believe in earning our drink. We both like to drink craft beer. We live 30 miles west of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Michigan’s third coast is a perfect beer and bike playground. Beer sales are on the rise in Michigan and the Brewers Association shows...
So, why New Mexico? It’s one of the last three to complete my quest to visit all 50 states in the union. What’s missing: Washington State (because a Seattle-airport hop to Alaska does not count), then there’s Hawaii. Just two more to go to complete one of my travel...