Journeys with Eileen Diane

Road Trip: Western Washington to Mt Rushmore ….. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, Montana

May 28, 2019May 25, 2019Journeys with EileenDiane

Sixty-five miles east of Billings, heading toward Mt Rushmore, a terrific stop is Little Bighorn Battlefield. Park rangers at the Visitor Center readily answer your questions. The Museum has very informative exhibits and a very good collection of books, including Stephen Ambrose’s “Crazy Horse and Custer”.

Leaving the visitor center, as you walk toward Last Stand Hill and the 7^th Cavalry Memorial and then the Indian Memorial, you can feel the history all about you. Gaze about and sense what happened here in June, 1876. Think of what victory and defeat meant. Drive about Battlefield Road, following the map from the visitor center to get an idea of the size of the battlefield, stopping at Memorial Markers.

Savor your journeys.

Visitor Center

National Cemetery

Indian Memorial

Last Stand Hill

7th Cavalry Memorial

7th Cavalry Memorial

Indian Memorial

Road Trip: Western Washington to Mt Rushmore ….. Missoula, Montana

May 26, 2019May 25, 2019Journeys with EileenDiane

I’ve always wanted to visit Mt Rushmore and recently thought why not visit now? I planned to travel prior to Memorial Weekend (as both road trip travel and Mt Rushmore will be very crowded in the summer months) and waited until the snow season was over (or almost over) in South Dakota and Wyoming.

My route from western Washington was very direct, via the I-90 interstate. First stop: Missoula, Montana. Very glad I decided to break up my trip here. It’s a beautiful area, the weather was sunny, nice parks, and two super book stores to explore (a future post). There is a fabulous coffee stand (Copper Mountain Coffee) and a great restaurant (The Stone of Accord) near the hotel (a future post). Yes, I would definitely return to further explore this gorgeous “Big Sky” area.

Savor your journeys.

Copper Mountain Coffee — Fabulous

Caras Park

Clark Fork River

Caras Park

Surfing on the river

Lewis & Clark ino

Caras Park

Lunch at the Black Cat Cafe

A Favorite Bookstore: Barnes & Noble, Silverdale, WA

May 11, 2019May 11, 2019Journeys with EileenDiane

As much as I love local, independent booksellers, I also love Barnes & Noble, especially their fabulous store in Silverdale. Enjoy the photos below ….

Knowledgeable staff with great customer service
Comfortable surroundings, including a Starbuck’s café
Terrific selection of books, all genres, with ample room to browse
Marvelous assortment of games, magazines, puzzles, gifts, socks, calendars, journals, cards, cd’s, dvd’s
A beautiful children’s section where they have readings and special events
You can order online to have books delivered to the store for pickup
Check out their membership program for discounts on books, dvd’s, cd’s
Join their mailing list to learn about special events

Let me share a few favorite quotes about books:

There is no friend as loyal as a book. –Ernest Hemingway

There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all. –Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. –Haruki Murakami

Some books leave us free and some books make us free. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once. –C.S. Lewis

Savor your journeys as you explore our incredible world.

New Realeases as you enter

Gifts

Photos ~ Early Spring ~ Gig Harbor, WA

May 5, 2019May 4, 2019Journeys with EileenDiane

On a clear day, you can see Mt. Ranier

The Wonder of Flight

April 26, 2019April 25, 2019Journeys with EileenDiane

Reveries on a plane …

Gaze out the window as it taxis past other planes …

Wondering which destinations, near and far, are their final journey’s end …

Musing what a marvel flight is…to soar above the clouds…

Never get blasé about flying …
Gorgeous day…sunny….wait our turn to take off from Sea-Tac Airport…
Soar into the clouds…Puget Sound sparkling …Cascade & Olympics Mountains gleaming…ferries scurrying to and fro…

Fellow passengers gaze out windows or read or nap…
Love a window seat on daytime flights… also night, especially when clear …
We sail past snow capped mountains…
Below us, a marvelous patchwork quilt…snow…mountains…towns…roads thru the mountains…infinite beauty….

Clouds…above the clouds….what do you see when you gaze at clouds?
Ideal place to meditate, dream, gaze in wonder…at the magnificence

Think of prior journeys … and plan your next journey…

Savor your journeys…

Magical formations

What do you see?

Flying over USA (east to west)

Twilight

Sunset, flying east to west

Above the clouds

What do you see?

Nearing LAX

LA from the air

Rome Airport – 1980s

Favorite Travel Photos

April 19, 2019April 18, 2019Journeys with EileenDiane

Photography is the art of capturing something fleeting; holding something which cannot be held; time made still.

Cannon Beach, OR

Oregon Coast

Palos Verdes, California

Hermosa Beach, CA

Ocean Grove, NJ

Blue Ridge Mountains, NC

Great Smoky Natl Park, TN

Glacier National Park, MT

Denali National Park, Alaska

Sunrise, Myrtle Beach, SC

Orcas Island, WA

Mt Ranier, WA

Charleston, SC

Paris

St Malo, France

Rome

Venice, Italy

Chamonix, France

Katmandu, Nepal

Japan

Travel Memoir ~ NYC ~ Operation Sail, July 4, 2000

April 16, 2019April 15, 2019Journeys with EileenDiane

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Travel Memoir ~ NYC

Travel Memoir ~ Photos ~ Manhattan, NYC

Travel Memoir ~ Central Park, NYC

Travel Memoir ~ Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC

Travel Memoir ~ NYC

April 12, 2019April 10, 2019Journeys with EileenDiane

Growing up in NYC, I knew that I lived in a very special place. While I have moved to the west coast, I enjoy my visits to this very unique city and yes, I am still a Yankees fan (Mets also!) and love listening to Frank Sinatra’s recording of “New York, New York” (pronounced Neu Yawk).

Let me share some of my memories and should your journeys take you to New York, New York, you will also have incredible memories which will last a lifetime.

The Twin Towers, including cocktails and fabulous brunches at Windows on the World Restaurant … a part of me will never be the same because of 9/11
Walking all about Manhattan, from east side to west side, downtown by the water, up 5^th Ave to the Museums, etc
Central Park, beautiful any time of year
Rockefeller Center, especially memorable at Christmas
Circle Line boat about Manhattan
The Staten Island ferry
Broadway shows (check out TKS for tickets, waiting in line, not knowing if you will get tickets for the show you want)
Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade
Lincoln Center
St Patrick’s Day Parade and then going to a fabulous Irish Pub, lots of laughs
Discovering your favorite Italian restaurants (best Italian food outside of Italy)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (always a must visit)
The Natural History Museum and Planetarium
The Museum of Modern Art
Nearby beaches including Jones Beach, Long Beach, the Hamptons and the Jersey shore
Katz’s Jewish Deli on Houston (pronounced Howston)
Macy’s and Bloomingdales and Lord & Taylor
Local shops and restaurants on the upper West Side
Macy’s July 4^th Fireworks
Walking along the restaurant row area, picking a spot, before going to a Broadway show (terrific memories of Becco Italian Restaurant)
Studio 54 and Xenon discos
Top of the 6’s (Fifth Ave), when it was a restaurant, with a great view
Fifth Ave at dusk
Walking over the Brooklyn Bridge
Off Broadway shows
Shakespeare in the Park
Late night restaurants, including great dessert places … mouth watering
Water taxi to Hoboken, NJ for terrific Italian food
Terrific Greek restaurants in Astoria
Best bakeries …