Wax Beans /  by Dave Hileman

A summer staple in my house growing up. I was fine with green or yellow beans, tasted the same to me. This is at a famers’ market in Clermont, Florida.

Meet a Real Cowboy /  by Dave Hileman

This man has actually riden the range, worked off a horse to round up cattle in the spring and much more that I thought was only done long ago. He now works for the NPS at the Korr Ranch in Montana, a NPS property that was given to the park service intact after being a working ranch (once with 3 million acres) for more than 100 years. It is simply an amazing place. The newest building if I recall correctly was about 1902 but most of the ranch buildings dated from the 1870s. A must stop if you are near Glacier or Yellowstone.

Colonial Williamsburg /  by Dave Hileman

Mostly called CW by the locals, it is a wonderful place to catch a glimpse of the history of what made this country unique. This is just a fence and one out building from dozens of 18th century homes and businesses.

Real Pebble Beach /  by Dave Hileman

Not the golf course, of course, but a pebble beach in the midst of a rock outcropping where you can only go at low tide along the shore of Acadia National Park. Just look at the colors!

Serious Sign /  by Dave Hileman

This is located on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Monument. We are talking a 40 plus story building, no elevator, no escalators and you are walking in sand. Be careful.

The Grand Hotel /  by Dave Hileman

They welcome you here to America’s Longest Front Porch. The experience when we were here was free and you could enjoy the view from the porch, now you pay $20 for the privilege. Of course, it is free with your $900 a night room! From the web site:

Since 1887, Grand Hotel beckons guests to a time where old-world meets new charm. Experience the tradition of Afternoon Tea in the Parlor, dressing up for dinner, nightly dancing to the sounds of a live orchestra, and sitting in a rocking chair on the world’s longest porch overlooking the Straits of Mackinac.

Discover the rich history and tastefully preserved architecture of this National Historic Landmark, while enjoying the hotel’s modern amenities and unsurpassed service. Slow time and spend time, in the relaxed atmosphere of Mackinac Island, voted “Best Island in the Continental U.S.” at the Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards.

Welcome to Grand Hotel, where past meets the present.

The walk to the Grand Hotel

Stratford Hall /  by Dave Hileman

Stratford Hall is a gem of both architecture and history. You owe it to yourself to visit this remarkable place in Virginia. From the web site:

Stratford Hall, located in Westmoreland County, Virginia, brings together people from around the world to experience two-thousand acres of natural and human history, preserved and presented so that we can all learn from the courageous struggles of our ancestors, taking inspiration both from what they endured and what they accomplished. 

Established by Thomas Lee in the 1730s, Stratford Hall is one of the great houses of American history. An important part of the Stratford Hall experience is an opportunity to learn about the courage and leadership of Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee as they signed the Declaration of Independence, and with their family, helped give birth to the United States of America. Visitors can also learn about other Lee family members, like Hannah Lee Corbin an outspoken thinker and one of our nation’s earliest known proponents of voting rights for women. And they can learn about the birth and early years of Robert E. Lee, who rose to become superintendent of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, a leader of the armies of the Confederacy, and president of Washington College. There are few places in America where people can travel down small, rural roads to arrive at a vast site that preserves so many aspects of early-American life, from the fields that were worked by enslaved Africans to the waters of the rivers that fueled trade, to the ground, which still yields secrets about the people and animals that lived before.