Retire In Style Blog Too

Columbia River Near Arlington, Oregon image by b I have already written about our trip home from Arizona last spring. This picture is one of my favorites from this trip. I love windmills and stop to take pictures anytime we see them along the horizon. That is not the information I want to share with you today. For those of you that love to write a travel blog, you know that pictures are an integral part of the whole when you tell a story. Blogger has a wonderful picture loading function that really does make it so easy. Many times though, I want to use the pictures I have saved on my flickr site (torristravels). It saves the time it takes to go through over a thousand images to find just the right one. Last night I was adding a couple of pictures when I discovered a HTML function on my flickr account that allows me to add a a picture by copying the code and then just inserting it into my blog (click on Edit HTML just above your post page, add code from flickr and go back to c...

Image by pondskipper via Flickr River Place on the Willamette River is located very close to the core of the city. Portland is one of those beautiful places that reflects its location. Bridge Town is the nickname locals have chosen for this little gem of a big city. The downtown area faces the Willamette River. A wall built to protect the city from the ebb and flow of the Pacific Ocean tides allows Naval Vessels to dock on Tom McCall Waterfront Park during the Rose Festival . Bridges open to allow tall sailing vessels approach the city and locals use the waters for water skiing, fishing and pleasure boating . Marina Fish House at River Place (floating) Image by Barbara Torris iphone This last Saturday my husband drove downtown for dinner. We had chosen a restaurant in River Place before hand so we were not faced with all the choices for dining once we arrived. It was not the best restaurant I have ever eaten at but the location....WOW!! We sat outside on the sidewalk so...

I recieved an email the other day from a person with very good intentions. It was a letter written with another persons interpretation of H.R. 3200, the health care initiative. It is being circulated in the Catholic community so be careful if you get one of these letters. I am selecting just one line to give you an idea as to the tone of the letter: Page 425 Lines 22-25, 426 Lines 1-3: Govt provides approved list of end of life resources, guiding you in death. (assisted suicide) It was the assisted suicide comment that caught my attention. FYI If you are a talk show host follower you might need to know if you don't already that the "death panel" part of the health care initiative being discussed in congress actually was an opportunity for doctors to discuss your Advance Care Document. And it was set up in such a way that doctors could do this with you every 5 years. The wording went like this: SEC. 1233. ADVANCE CARE PLANNING CONSULTATION. 16 (a) MEDICARE.— 17 (1)...

Moonrise over the RV resort 2008 iphone How to Sell a Motor Home in the know information (from a RANK amateur ) We have sold our motor home, a golf cart, given away a refrigerator, sold a park model and donated a pick up load of books to the library...all with in the last year. The things we gave away were things we absolutely could not sell. Believe me we tried. We sold the RV by putting a listing on Craigs List...with almost no information!!! It said simply 35' RV for sale NADA price...$55000 . We had two calls in one day. I have had it on Craigs list with a complete description forever and NOTHING!!! Very interesting. We sold the golf cart in one hour. I may sell my husband...we are on a roll! The books were just a truck load of memories so we did not miss them...not yet. The refrigerator was older than God so we figured all we needed was for it to find a good home. The park model went to a 80 something woman that loved it...and we had bought another for the same ...

It Was As Big As a Car...Great White Shark in Oregon Posted using ShareThis

Image by chad davis via Flickr I mentioned the other day that I learned to travel independently by taking tours. It occurred to me that even a retired teacher could do what I did and get their trip free. You hear what I said....FREE. My husband was a principal at a small school in eastern Oregon and he felt that the students needed a chance to "see the world" and at a reasonable price. So he proposed the idea to me that he would see if he could get a group of students together, find a tour company for students and I would accompany them as a chaperon . Not only would the student get to see the world...so would I. Now I had never been on an airplane ever. A huge city was Portland, Oregon or Boise, ID. I was an innocent in the travel world. But I was game. The short version of what turned out to be a great adventure is we did it . I went alone the first time with eight students and the wife of a teacher that needed to get away for a while. She was my ninth "st...

Magazine Recommendation I have a new favorite magazine...it's for women that are 40+! So here is the deal...my old "old" is now my new "young"! (or something like that!) That is why I love More magazine. It is designed for women who are over forty ("Celebrating 40+" is the byline). The articles are pertinent to my life style even though I am in my late 60s and are a very good read. In a recent edition Phyllis Le Chat wrote an article called " How Not to Act Old...RAVE ". And boy did she RAVE with gusto about a subject I find interesting!!! We all tend to do this once in a while, rave that is...even those of us that are guilty of some of the sins she described. We don't "keep going" at the grocery store and tend to block the aisles while we try to find the right hair dye color, we don't text with our thumbs and well, we probably all still leave voice mails. Most of us wear watches and if we leave it at home, aren...

People's Square Shanghai, People Republic of China Guided Tour vs Independent Travel??? FYI... Nomadic Matt posted a blog about a guided tour company called Contiki Holidays. The article, Would You Contiki ? , targeted travel mode choices, specifically back packing vs a tour company. He pointed out that we need to beware of tour companies claims that they are cheaper than independent travel. Back packing is probably not going to be my mode of travel. But I still find independent travel to be inexpensive and...well...independent. Here is where I add the caveat. I have traveled with a tour company and it was just the perfect thing at the time. I was innocent and inexperienced. It would not have worked for me to travel independently in anyway. But, after doing the tour thing a couple of times on the east coast, I learned how to do it myself. A little research and a lot of common sense has allowed me to travel in a some exotic places. So don't get rid of the travel pam...