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Category: North Carolina

What I Did & Spent on a Solo Weekend in Asheville & the Great Smoky Mountains

I really, really needed this trip. I needed to get out of town, to put on my pack and walk into the woods. I needed to spend a few hours in the car, music up and windows down. I needed to be alone in the woods, to take myself to dinner, to drink new beers, […]

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Bitty Bits, Queen of Bitlandia ||| 3/31/11 – 6/26/ Bitty Bits, Queen of Bitlandia ||| 3/31/11 - 6/26/26To the orange and white menace who licked my toes, growled at my friends & taught me how to be a cat mom:Thank you for teaching me about boundaries & about yelling to be heard over the nonsense. Thank you for loudly and consistently always letting me know where I stood, for being a brave and fearless guard cat. I’ll miss being screamed at for walking past you in the hall upstairs. I’ll miss your bad attitude and the way you loved to head butt my feet. I’ll miss your slow motion snuggles, the way you’d creep into my lap to purr and drool until you’d had enough. In the end you growled and growled some more. We argued like always until the vet helped you relax and all that remained was a tiny peaceful purr felt as your head rested in my hand, the same hand you used to fit in when you were itty bitty.I’m not sure if you returned to the depths of hell to great your master, or if you popped upstairs to snuggle your good friend Luke Lou D. Lou. Still, I hope wherever you are, the sunbeams are plentiful, the visitors few & the boxes abundant.
Today I decided that today can alternatively be ca Today I decided that today can alternatively be called DIY Daughters Day for the girls with messy relationships with their fathers.This week, I:- went to the river- built a cabinet for the van - went bouldering for the first time in a long time - finished Shrinking (♥️)- finished reading Buckeye (4.75/5)- ate late night cake with my cousin - paid a lot of money for my cat to have a bunch of teeth removed - starting writing in my journal again Currently, I’m:- reading Brawler by Lauren Groff - packing for another week away for work - thinking I need to watch that Widow’s Bay show - listening to the Avett Brothers #weeklyreset #lately
I’ve traveled thousands of miles alone. It’s one o I’ve traveled thousands of miles alone. It’s one of my favorite things.Nowhere I’ve ever been has made it as easy as Finland did.You’re not an anomaly as a solo female traveler in Finland. Showing up anywhere alone feels normal, expected even. You can book a table for one at some of the best restaurants in Helsinki, a thing you can’t do in so many other cities. Being alone, in Finland, is just easy.
This week I reset my life. Turns out, being out o This week I reset my life.Turns out, being out of the country for 16 days is exhausting. Still, I’m exceptionally thankful I was able to visit Finland & experience Normandy again. This week, I:- came home & finally ran into a pilot I know along the way - handed out a few goodies I got in Finland, including licorice & meat paste- had a great lunch at Morty’s with a good friend - spent time with one of my nieces - prepped the stock tank pool & went for a small-sized soak - saw some good cats - went on many early-morning dog walks Currently, I’m:- watching Shrinking- still reading Buckeye - building van cabinets- pretty pleased with the bird life in my backyard
I thought my last trip to Normandy would be my one I thought my last trip to Normandy would be my one and only — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But there I was again, back in France, back in Normandy and back on that beach.My time there started at the Château de Vouilly with public affairs professionals and new friends, including one who gave me an exceptional gift: an image he captured of 29th ID historic reenactors on the beach. I also watched my friends, peers and leaders explore Normandy — the beach, the headstones at the Normandy American Cemetery, and the return of more than 20 WWII veterans to France, including one making his first trip back at age 107.At 6:30 a.m. on June 6, we marked the sacrifice of the Bedford Boys, those 19 men who perished in the surf and sand, men from the same place I was born. We celebrated a reenlistment and a promotion, supported a few more ceremonies and then I took a longtime friend, newly arrived in Normandy, to see the sights he hadn’t yet seen.We visited the Normandy American Cemetery and found the still-missing Hoback brother on the Wall of the Missing. We visited the German dead and noted the stark contrast between the cemeteries, and remembered that those buried there, though the enemy, were so often just young boys doing what their nation required of them.Finally, we ended in Saint-Lô to honor Maj. Thomas Howie, the Major of Saint-Lô. Shortly after promising “See you in St. Lô,” Howie was killed by shrapnel. The next day, when his men entered the devastated city, his flag-draped body was carried on the hood of the lead jeep, fulfilling his promise and making him the first American into the liberated city. We know these stories because of the war correspondents who told them — Andy Rooney, Ernie Pyle, Robert Capa, Ernest Hemingway, Walter Cronkite and so many more, whose words and images were sent from Château de Vouilly where I’d started my week. To stand in those places again — as someone born in Bedford, as the granddaughter of a WWII veteran who came ashore on Omaha Beach D+6, as a Soldier and as a public affairs professional — was an exceptional part of this final chapter of my military career.

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