Our own Lake Gregory provided a beautiful misty setting as our walking group set out this morning.

Greetings!

A group of friends has formed a walking-round-Lake Gregory club that meets on Fridays. A 3-mile gentle trek takes us through some awesome scenery and provides a great workout. We talk the entire way sharing our week, our plans, and our schemes for making the world a better place. We pass fishermen and women, dog walkers, and joggers. It never fails that someone will mention the beauty that we observe, the pastoral scenes, the nature to appreciate in our own backyard. Yes, we talk about our next destination or event that takes us off our mountain, but we agree that we are blessed to live a mile high above the sea, ensconced in a forest that provides ever-changing vistas, challenges, and delights.

Greetings!

I recently visited the Mission Inn in nearby Riverside, CA. What an amazing place! Truly, you feel as if you have been magically transported to an exotic European palazzo.  There is so much history in the property and beauty to behold (not to mention the yummy food in their restaurants or the fabulous services in their spa.)
Check out their website The Mission Inn
And better yet, visit it for yourself. Waking up in one of these exquisite rooms, you just shake your head and repeat…”I am a princess, I am a princess.”

Travel is about moments…
Meeting a young entrepreneurial woman selling her sea salt herbs and olive oil soaps in the Dubrovnik market place…chatting with a young Egyptian teen at the foot of the Great Pyramid in Cairo… trekking through the ruins at Ephesus touching the ancient stones…strolling the quaint back alleys and canals of Burano, Italy, finding an elderly woman creating her lace masterpieces.
These are some of my favorite travel moments forever etched in my memory. Moments so powerful that I feel my life is changed and enhanced. This is what travel does for us. It makes us better humans and connects us to our fellow man.

I call my business “Picture Yourself Traveling” for two reasons. I want people to experience this wonderful world and have a vision of themselves exploring the places that they have dreamed about. I want them to see themselves in that gondola, or gazing down on Machu Picchu or snowboarding the Alps!

My first career took place in the classroom teaching my students about our world. Now, I help people get out and discover the world for themselves!

This is the perfect career for me. I get to combine my love of travel, photography and writing while exploring new destinations. The Redlands Daily Facts has published several of my articles and photographs recounting my experiences in Italy, Egypt, Alaska and New York.

The travel process is multi-faceted…first the excitement, anticipation and research, then the actual experience and journey, and lastly, reliving the moments through photos and journals. Picturing it all over again – priceless!

These days it is certainly easy to search, compare and book travel on line. Most everyone knows how to do it. What a travel agent can do for you is make sure that there are no glitches on your well-earned vacation and get the best deal for you. A travel agent can make inquires, do the research, and take the time to make sure that your trip is hassle-free.