When I travel toward the east coast, I am looking for new places to explore and then to finally land a visit with family and friends. I love being on the move seeing new things and looking for new birds for my eBird life list.

I did arrive at one my sister’s home. She has alpacas. Unfortunately the weather was not to cooperate for a good shearing day while I was visiting. It would have been interesting to see the process … but rain forced a reschedule with the shearers. I know it is a tremendous amount of work and wet alpaca fiber would be a nightmare. My sisters also have their usual cats and dogs animals, but the latest addition is this energetic puppy:

Always fun to visit with my sisters, a brother-in-law, and a long time friend who joined us for dinner. So many things to talk about! Where do the years go? Who can remember all the activities we did while also working full-time? Are we all enjoying retirement and how do we each do it? Lots of discussion.

While visiting my mom, there also were many things to talk about. Older citizens have a perspective worth listening to and discussing as we look to the future. My mom was a traveler in her younger days and we always count the number of countries outside of the USA that we have visited. Maybe I just edged her out this year. It fascinates me to see that my mom loves mountaineering films. Now she has to watch Free Solo! I met up with neighbors and my mom’s friends; also enjoyed some meals out. Appreciated a visit from a nephew. I was also encouraging my mom to view You Tube art lessons. We watched this video probably four times and then saw this basic instruction to draw a rose:

I’ll continue my travel and visit other friends in upstate NY before I head to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Miles to go before I sleep or head home.