I’ve never envied the rich and famous (okay, maybe a little—who doesn’t). But that didn’t stop me from taking a boat tour to view their homes around Miami. I’d never even heard of Star Island or Fisher Island, the places the tour company promised I would see. Fisher Island is the wealthiest zip code in the United States. With no roads, only invited guests and staff are allowed entrance via boat or air. The place is a little town for rich people. According to Google, Oprah Win

I wasn’t actually abducted by aliens, but I did visit the UFO museum in Roswell, New Mexico. An adventure that threw me into another world . . . An alien world. Any business that caters to tourists gets into the act. The gas stations and travel plazas all sell UFO shirts and alien tattoos. I found this license plate at a travel plaza hundreds of miles from Roswell. Everyone wants to make a buck. The cute downtown area near the museum is decked out for alien-viewing tourists—e

Bathroom art continues to amaze me. I wrote about this in an earlier blog, but I’m always on the lookout for new displays. My friend has a typical American home, but her bathroom is like a tropical beach party, complete with colorful birds. She decorated the room in honor of her three adopted daughters from Haiti. It brings a little of the island home. I’ve lived in homes with some crazy bathrooms—nothing meaningful and fun like that. And definitely not by choice. One was a f

I’m going to the beach next month, an unusual occurrence for this mountain girl. But what should I wear? It’s not a question of vanity, but of sunburn. I’m a red-headed Irish girl, which makes me like a vampire. There is a popular meme about the Irish girl on the beach, like a ghost in the white sand. As a young girl, my sister and I discovered a product called suntan oil (SPF 2). We covered our bodies in the stuff and tried to tan. It didn’t go well. As a teen, I laid in the

Modestly priced hotels usually include hot breakfast, free wi-fi, parking, and an onsite, coin-op washing machine. Why do the fancy hotels insist on charging extra for basic amenities? The nicer the hotel, the more add-on fees. What is a resort fee anyway? I have no interest in a fridge full of high priced mini-bar food. What I need is a place to keep restaurant leftovers and the stuff from the cooler. I’m not referring to cheap hotels with holes on the walls, stained carpets

Happy Thanksgiving. I couldn’t think of any fun Thanksgiving themed topics, so I’ve written this blog instead. Besides, sometimes you need a break from the hoopla and the family . . . and the expectations. In our orderly industrialized society, it is easiest to put everyone in the same little box. The assembly line forces conformity. I can’t tell you the number of times my son has had to scrape the cheese off of his hamburger because we left the drive-thru without checking th