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USA National Parks East Tour
  • Where are Paul and Donna
  • Donna Gruhn

USA National Parks East Tour

Over Christmas break we will be traveling to visit Keara, Eli, and Ozzy our grandson in Indiana. Once we have completed all the holiday festivities we are traveling out and east towards Florida and plan to visit 9 or 10 of our National Parks. Read more
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  • Trip start
    December 21, 2024
    USA National Parks East Tour
    Our home in East Windsor CT
    A kiss for love and luck.Good-bye Connecticut. See you in four weeks. Just crossed over into New York.State #3. We are pedal to the metal.

    Day 1 - On the road again!

    December 21, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 28 °F

    We left our home in East Windsor, CT at 10:45 AM. Our plan is to drive to Richfield, OH today.

    1:30 just crossed into Pennsylvania

    We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in Richfield Ohio around 8:00 pmRead more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 2 - Breakfast at the Holiday Inn

    December 22, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 16 °F

    It is Sunday morning … I got up around 7:00 went to the Holiday Inn lobby for breakfast, journalling, and a quick sketch in my sketchbook. I have been missing drawing everyday. I am going to try to get at least one drawing of something in the book everyday. As well, as to be sure to take pics, and do my FindPenquins as we adventure on our 10 National Parks East Tour 2024-25.

    Today, we will be heading out to The Cuyahoga Valley National Park. This will be park #1 of the 10 we hope to visit these next four weeks.

    It was this time last year we were boarding the Viking Neptune for our World Cruise - our mode of travel is our new 2025 Mazda CX-70 which we love. It’s Donna’s car - after years of driving the 2001 CRV it was time. We love this car for traveling.

    We are excited about the adventures of the unknown ahead for us. We have a vey flexible schedule with a basic itinerary. Today is Cuyahoga Valley.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 2: Cuyahoga Valley National Park

    December 22, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 21 °F

    Yes, Donna and I have successfully completed our Junior Ranger Badge for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. You will have to thumb through all the pics to see the swearing in ceremony.

    The park focuses on the Erie Canal. We hiked the pathway alongside the canal. I couldn’t help but play over and over again the song I learned in Miss Brodie’s music class in sixth grade. “I knew a mule her name was Sal, fifteen miles on the Erie Canal …”

    We saw remnants of locks, the Boston Mill store, with the old gas station, and hiked our way carefully down and up the snow covered steps to see Brandywine Falls. The two ski resorts were making snow and people were on the mountain.

    The weather was great. Sunny, no wind, while in the mid-thirties we could not have asked for a nicer snow melt covered day.

    The park rangers continue to be amazing. Warm, friendly, and very helpful suggesting to us places to see - we go over the map and mark it up with them - and then we go through our Jr. Ranger Book and complete what we can in the Information Center - then we create a plan to head out and get to the places we need to see to complete our book and just experience the wonders.

    As Donna and I explore the National Parks - Having the Senior Pass is GREAT! We have paid thousands of dollars in taxes over the years - we feel like our money went to support these parks and the people who work there to keep them in good condition.

    Also, the variety of the parks is wonderful. None of them are the same. They each have their own personality and character.

    Please enjoy the pictures, go to the end to see the Paul & Donna swearing in ceremony. The parks are know a safer and nicer place with Rangers Paul & Donna on the job!    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour
    Ozzy on the move
    Hotel Lobby Holiday InnOzzy & GrampyOzzy & Keara

    Day 3: Travel day to Lafayette, IN

    December 23, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 23 °F

    Hopefully, the next 5 to 6 hours will be uneventful travel day. We get a quick breakfast in the hotel lobby. We will fill up the gas tank and go.

    We are excited to see Keara, Eli, and Ozzy.

    So, in Viking Neptune World Cruise speak “It’s a sea day.” If you have been there you will understand the humor.

    4:00 PM We made it safely to Lafayette where we jumped right into playing with Oscar Thomas Wilson aka “Ozzy.” I found an app for the phone which makes animal noises. We crawled on the floor - Ozzy crawls faster than Grampy.

    We had some nice homemade chicken soup, put Ozzy to bed, and spent time getting caught up on everything.

    The next couple of days are family days - Keara’s birthday is Christmas Eve, then Christmas Day activities.

    We have a nice airBNB walking distance to the kids home makes it easy.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 4: Morning Coffee

    December 24, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 34 °F

    In general, most days, I get out of bed before Donna. Make my morning coffee, do FindPenguin’s, my personal journal, and if so inspired I try to sketch.

    The sun wakes up later in the morning here in Western Indiana than in Connecticut almost by an hour we are about 15-20 min drive into the next time zone.

    This morning I learned another lesson on improvisation - Since the bed is in the adjoining room (Donna still sleeping) and the overhead kitchen light is too bright. The little rechargeable flashlight I carry works fine.

    Coffee is made - I am enjoying the stillness of the morning.

    We will be here with the kids for three days. Then head out to Park #2 - St. Louis Gateway Arch - Friday morning. This is when the adventure takes on its own personality. We have driven to Lafayette many times - so easy-peezy. There will be lots of unknowns to explore and experience for the following three weeks.

    Improvisation and still learning how to pack minimalistic are key thoughts on my mind today. It’s way too easy to pack too much.

    I hope everyone enjoys their Christmas holiday with family, friends, or just the stillness of being on your own.

    It is my hope to get at least one FindPenguin’s post in a day - mainly as a check in. I am sure more Ozzy pictures will find their way here.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 4: Happy Birthday Keara

    December 24, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 41 °F

    Hard to believe your little girl become’s a thirty-something … We went out for a birthday Sushi dinner. The weather was not too pleasant so we headed back home. Later in the day the kids brought Ozzy to our AirBNB in the little red wagon. Sorry no pictures of the birthday girl to share - but always have more of the grandson. It was basically a low key day.Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 5: Rocking Horse Project

    December 25, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 37 °F

    One of our visits to Indiana 2023 we brought home with us an old wooden rocker which has been in Eli’s family for 83 years. Eli used it as a child, Eli’s mom, and Eli’s grandfather who was born in 1941.

    Donna brought it home and has been restoring it to pass it on to the next generation - Ozzy Wilson.

    It looks great, countless hours of work, several coats or Black, Red, and Stain then all topped off with several coats of poly to protect it. On the bottom of the seat Donna added the 83 years provenance.

    We brought it over to Ozzy on Christmas morning.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 5: Christmas Day with family.

    December 25, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 37 °F

    All families have their traditions — One of our Christmas traditions is Eggs Benedict for Christmas breakfast. We enjoyed our Christmas breakfast, hanging around the Christmas tree, playing with Ozzy.

    Later in the day Eli’s parents John & Lisa stopped by with Christmas treats and we had a light Christmas meal ….

    A nice low key day — a good time was had by all.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 6: Indianapolis Zoo

    December 26, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    We spent the day after Christmas with the kids - took a ride to the Indianapolis Zoo - It is really a nice Zoo. Because of the season many animals were not out and about. It was just nice to walk around look at everything and enjoy the day.Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 7: Our Adventure Continues — Uggggh!

    December 27, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    Our plan was to get up early and head from Lafayette to get to St. Louis by 1:00 PM and do the Arch Tram at 3:00 (we had tickets). But, instead we both work up with a bad stomach bug. We were like Roller Derby players rushing to get to the bathroom. We were sick.

    We did leave about 10:00 AM still under the weather, with hopes that we will get better. Not so lucky. Donna really got the worst of it. We finally made it to the hotel und 4:00PM.

    The picture is the Gateway Arch from our Hotel window. Donna and I went directly to bed - we felt horrible. About 6:00pm I got up and went to the lobby to work on homework I had due this evening for an Art History II class I am taking. Then I went back to bed.

    It stinks to be sick, but when you are traveling it is even worst. We are in St. Louis locked up in our room, trying to recover.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 8: Getting better, Not Great, Better

    December 28, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 46 °F

    Last night we were up hourly. Just felt totally wiped out. I got up around 7:00am to get a waffle in the breakfast area. Donna slept in. While having breakfast I got caught up on my FindPenguins posts. Brought Donna a banana.

    We are both up now. Feeling better - just not great.

    The plan was to visit the Arch yesterday, then take off this morning toward Hot Springs Arkansas. When I checked in yesterday I knew that wasn’t going to happen. So, I booked us for a second night. We will see how we feel maybe later today we can visit the Arch … if not today then on Sunday before we leave. Our health is important and we don’t want to push ourselves seeing something so cool, and not feeling well enough to enjoy it.

    Donna just commented “She’s got now energy.” I feel the same, I am not sick like yesterday, just no energy. We are on the road to recovery.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 8: Still on the mends

    December 28, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    It’s Saturday, we are still not at 100%. We wanted some soup the hotel only had “Spicy” Ramen - Not good choice given our current condition. About a 4 block walk is a city fast food restaurant called “Snarf’s”. We split a turkey sandwich and had some minestrone soup. Nothing to right home about, but, it was okay.

    I walked Donna back to the hotel.

    There were several homeless people on the route and their begging for $$ and trying to get into our faces (a bit) does make a person feel very uncomfortable. We got to the hotel with no real issue. We have seen homelessness and poverty all over the world. We continue to struggle with what is our role in helping the poor? If we took all of our investment money, everything we own and gave it to the poor - The poverty issue would not be solved - and we would be poor.

    We worked hard to be able to enjoy the luxury of travel. We are enjoying the fruits of our labors, well deserved. I just don’t know where the right balance is.

    We did wash some clothes…. There’s an App for that! …. I hadn’t see this before — I had to download the “PayRange” app and then load $25.00 on it. So, I could do a $3.00 load of laundry. I guess we will be ready for the next time. It does make it easier.

    After dropping Donna safely off at the hotel, I headed to the Arch. First, I want to get our Arch Tram tickets exchanged for Sunday morning (with no problems), and more important picked up two Jr. Ranger booklets so we could start filling them out and seeing what we needed to do to earn our Jr. Ranger Badges for the Gateway Arch.

    Pretty much the rest of the day was low key in the hotel room. We hopes to get to visit the Gateway Arch on Sunday. We are a couple of days behind our initial planned schedule but there is built in wiggle room for this very reason.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 9: Gateway Arch - At the top

    December 29, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 48 °F

    After a couple of days of being under the weather, we finally felt well enough to make it to the Gateway Arch. Yet another example of the variety of amazing things our country has to offer.

    Every National Park we visit is unique; when asked which one is our favorite, you can’t easily pick just one. I do wish we had more time to stay at each park to really dig in deeper to see everything each park offers. We just scratch the surface. This is why doing the Jr. Ranger Badges is a helpful activity. It directs you to key points and things to learn about in the park you are visiting.

    Last year, off the cost of Cozumel, Mexico inside a submarine, I got to kiss my wife 105 feet under the ocean. Today, I kissed her 633 feet above the ground at he top of the Gateway Arch.

    The design of the tram cars is a mechanical feat. Also, they built the arch with enough space to create a way to transport people to the top - but they didn’t have a plan on how they would do it. Very interesting details in the museum on the whole history and process of building this iconic symbol.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 9: We are Gateway Arch Jr. Ranger’s

    December 29, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    This is the hardest Junior Ranger Badge we have ever had to earn. Even the ranger agreed. They are planning on redoing the booklet so it is not as hard. But, we did complete it! The museum is wonderful. We learned a lot about the role of St. Louis, slavery, racism, and how Christianity driven politics made it illegal for Native American’s to keep their own religion. Les’t we forget we were founded on the principle of “Freedom of speech and religion”.

    As we left the Arch I took some fun parting photos.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 9: Mini Golf Tournament Continues

    December 29, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    After making it to the top of the Gateway Arch and earning our Jr. Ranger Badges, I was ready to continue on our journey and get out of St. Louis.

    Donna suggested mini golf - at that moment in time - I wasn’t in the mood for it. We did pack our putters in the car when we left home. I just wasn’t in the mood. We do like to try to get mini golf in every state we visit. She found a place about 20 minutes outside the city called Aloha Mini Golf.

    We did a round of 18 holes - it was nice to be out of the city, the weather was great. It was a needed stretch of fresh air …. After the game we headed on our way to Hot Springs Arkansas. We have a 6 to 7 hour drive ahead of us.

    Please do note the final score. I don’t always do so well.

    #alohaminigolf    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 9: On the Road Again

    December 29, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    Today is a long travel day the goal is to get to from the National Arch in Missouri to a hotel in Hot Spring Arkansas for the night.

    Only in Missouri - watch the videos!

    The weather and travel was uneventful. We like uneventful when driving. Please enjoy some snaps from out the car window.Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 10: Breakfast Hot Springs, Arkansas

    December 30, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 48 °F

    It’s 7:40 AM - I am up in the breakfast lobby having my morning waffle & coffee. Donna is still in bed - our normal routine.

    Donna drove from the Gateway Arch to the Arkansas border. After filling the tank I drove us into Hot Springs, we got in about 8:45 - Drove around the city just to see where the visitor center was and get our bearings.

    We pulled over, on Expedia found a Hilton Home2 suite for under $120 (You can get cheaper hotels in the area, but this one is very nice) — It was 5 miles outside of town with a nice lake view from there 4th floor. Back in the days when I was consulting this would have made an excellent home base for a long stay. Queen size bed - and pull out couch (for the kids) tons of space and moveable work surfaces tables, etc. I am sorry to my Neptune friends this was three times the size of our room on Neptune. I would recommend this hotel to any one. https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/hotcaht-home2-…

    I think our plan is to do the basic Hot Spring’s tour and then head out towards Mammoth Caves - if we had more time I think we would stay another night - need to make up for the extended stay in St. Louis. But, we are okay. It is great to be feeling much better.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 10: Hot Springs National Park

    December 30, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 50 °F

    We really enjoyed our day at the Hot Spring National Park in Arkansas. We took a tour with Ranger Lissa Allen. She knew her stuff and gave us a great tour. The water coming out of the pipes throughout the city was so hot. The buildings very early 20th century design with Art Deco flare.

    What is interesting is that many of the treatments of the Hot Springs back in the late 1800’s and 1900’s are the forerunners to a “Spa Day” today. People were afraid to go to hospitals back then. You went to the hospital to die. You go to the bath houses to feel better, even if they just help relieve the symptoms you felt better for a while.

    Money, power, control, male dominance, racism, social disparities continue be a strong part of our history in America even here at the Hot Springs. As we hear these stories we can’t help but ask “When will we ever learn?”    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 10: New Hot Springs Junior Ranger's

    December 30, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    Continuing our goal to earn our Junior Ranger badges at every park. Ranger Lissa Allen swore us in after we completed all the tasks in our booklet.

    The last photo is a picture of the tour on top of Hot Springs Lookout Mountain. It was too overcast - not worth going to the top. However, the 3 mile drive on the one-way mountain road is very pleasant.Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 10: Hot Springs Beer!!!!!

    December 30, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    The Hot Springs National Park is the ONLY park to have its own brewery. The Superior Bathhouse is a pub like environment, with GREAT smash hamburgers and craft brew beer. We did a small flight of 4 beers. For $40 they have a the full flight which had we not been driving we would have enjoyed flying through those various flavors.

    The beer is made with the Hot Springs mineral water. There is a richness of flavor unlike other beers with this beer. If you are a Craft Beer person this is a must add to you list of places to go.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 10: Mini Golf in Arkansas

    December 30, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 64 °F

    Donna found a mini golf place as we were heading out of Hot Springs towards Mammoth Caves. It was a typical “fun park” with different things to do. Donna won this round! Then we were on our way, driving through Tennesse, towards Mammoth National Park. We landed in Cave City late at night and got a room.Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 11: Mammoth Caves (1:3)

    December 31, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 50 °F

    We enjoyed a full day at Mammoth Cave National Park. We could not get tickets online, the website said it was fully booked. However, the park was not overly busy at all and we were able to get tickets to two cave tours easily. Also, on the bus ride to one of the caves a gentleman said, that the website had it marked as fully booked for the last three months, and they arrived very early to get their tickets.

    The caves are a mysterious place. You are 330 feet under ground inside a mountain. Miles and miles of caves cover a huge area. It was very peaceful and spooky at the same time.

    It is hard to imagine the early people touring the caves without all the path ways we got to walk. Our Ranger guide was excellent very passionate and knowledgeable about the caves and the history. He made the tour very interesting.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 11: Mammoth Caves (3:3)

    December 31, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌬 45 °F

    So, many of you know I have kissed Donna 633 feet above the ground in the Gateway Arch, and have kissed her 105 feet below sea level in a submarine, this events of passion have been well documented. Today, it was 330 feet below the earth’s surface we shared a quick kiss.

    After a day of spelunking we got to the hotel and welcomed in the New Year 2025 with some Pinot Grigio.    Read more

  • USA National Parks East Tour

    Day 12: Georgia - Doggies & Birthplace

    January 1 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    Last night we made it into Georgia. Stayed at an Avid Hotel in Ringgold, GA. Rooms are small, but everything is up-to-date, modern and clean. This is a travel through hotel. We a had decent typical hotel breakfast and then we had a day of driving to get through Georgia.

    Donna had two stops she wanted to make.

    First, to meet Kat, at Airsongs Angel’s a Vizsla rescue in Georgia. Kat and Ray were very welcoming and we got to learn more about the rescue program they run. We got to meet and play with many of the dogs they care for.

    From there we headed to Turner Air Force Base in Albany Georgia. Donna was born there when her father was station there back in 1960. The Air Force Base has long been shut down and is now a Miller Brewery factory. Paul decided, against Donna’s better judgement to go down the street marked “Private Property.” It gave an eerie feeling, as we might imagine ghost planes taking off and landing on what once might have been the runway.

    When we got to the gate, we turned around and headed on our way. It was dark and getting late.    Read more

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