Wander Life
Wonder Life

Photographs, artwork and gifts!

Welcome!

Thank you for joining us here at Wander Life Wonder Life.

Here you will find photography taken from our trips to National Parks, State Parks, local beaches and international cities. For ease of navigation and finding what your interested in, the menu bar at the top is split into states and countries plus it breaks down different locations in the boxes below in the “News” section. We currently sell prints, canvasses, cups, mouse pads and one of my favorite: acrylic photos. We are looking into expanding our line for some of our products to metal prints, tapestries, blankets, bags and T-shirts. But give me some time to vet these out, I want to make sure these products will be able to show the beauty of the place off to its advantage!

Never let your memories out weigh your dreams!

The Beauty of Life is seen through the Rays of a broken prism! RPM

To love something is to not care if the person is rich or poor but to care more about the person’s dreams. Care as much as they do so that you drive those dreams into the endzone and achieve the goals! RPM

Just a fact in Life: Life isn’t easy, as nothing worth achieving will ever be easy. But we find what makes it worth the fight for us. It could be a person or a dream but it brings a desire, a fire if you will, to keep driving forward and do what we need to for what we love.

Here is THE NEWS

Germany

We stayed at two places in Germany: Trier and Munich before driving to Salzburg, but visited out from there. The photo to the right is of Porta Nigra in Trier, Germany. It was named this by the Romans for the dark stones. Trier is very beautiful! It has old Roman bath ruins, and for all the non history lovers, that’s a complex not just a bathroom or tub. But more of that on the German page. LOL Trier also has beautiful restaurants, houses and markets decorated with flowers all close to vineyards the grow the grapes for Reisling. My favorite all time wine!

After Trier, We hit Munich. Of course we visited the Hofbrauhaus. Who doesn’t? LOL But we also visited three castles: Neuschwanstein castle, Hohenschwangau Castle and Linderhof. So a bit of history: Ludwig grew up in Hohenschwangau castle. Its beautiful inside in a much more homey setting if I can call a castle homey. But I say this because of the use of wood for decoration, and the fact that this was obviously much less for show and more for actual comfort. However, Ludwig got into an arguement with his mom and that’s what started him building Neuschwanstein Castle right across the way. When I went they were restoring this castle so I don’t have the best pictures because of this. Linderhof was absolutely stunning. Inside and out! The grounds were perfectly manicured gardens but on the inside, the castle was spectacular. Its too much for my own personal taste. I have always preferred more subdued decorating (except in paintings) but here this castle was gilded! They don’t allow pictures of the inside but it is magnificent!

Belgium and Beerseel Castle

In 2017, We flew into Belgium, drove to Germany and Austria, then flew back out of Belgium. Just a bit of history for Beerseel: it was started about the year 1300 and went through numerous wars and had to be repaired after being besieged and sacked. This was a functional military castle up until the 1600s when military achievements outpaced the castle’s protections. From then on, the castle just functioned as a home. The castle was abandoned and left to deteriorate during the 1800s. But since the early 1920s, restoration efforts have rebuilt the towers and done quite a bit of excavation inside the castle and the surrounding grounds. The castle is a great showcase for what a working castle would be like from the early time period, complete with ramparts, spiral stairs and shallow fireplaces. I bet it was a very colorful place to be back in its hay day (though cold), complete with the hall decorated and the hustle bustle of the people who lived and worked there. Belgium and Beerseel are both beautiful but my pictures, I feel, don’t do them justice. It was an extremely cloudy/ rainy day and I couldn’t take the time to adjust the lighting while taking my pictures since I was chasing after a 6 year old with pent up energy after a long plane ride.

Beerseel Castle

The pictures from Germany and Austria plus the stories from the visit will be coming soon.

View from our Airbnb

I loved our AirBnb! It was really cute, had great views, a fire pit, well equipped kitchen and they kept it well stocked with coffee! Anyone who knows me, knows how much I enjoy waking up and drinking 2 cups every morning. And watching the view change as the sunset becomes night was great! However, I need to keep in mind while writing this, that not everyone is as short as I am. Just a funny story from years ago that always makes me laugh at myself because who doesn’t make faux pas when they get back into the dating world? I brought my ex to my house for the first time and he was much taller than I was. In walking him into my house, I walked through my dining room/ office but never turned the chandelier on. When I first bought the house, the room was used as a dining room with my dining table and chairs directly under the chandelier but when my late husband went into the hospital and subsequently never came home, I shifted the room into my office, never to be used as a dining room again. I moved my dining table over to a corner, put my piano in the room and the chandelier was still free hanging in the center of the room. I can walk right under this quite easily but when I brought my ex over, I never turned the lights on in the room (because why? I navigate my house like the back of my hand! LOL) But this was his first time visiting and he had no idea how low this chandelier hung… and walked right into it! Poor guy! But since then and the fact my son is now taller than I am. I do take notice of quarters where height might cause issues. The bed here is quite comfortable but you have to climb a ladder to an “attic” with very low roof lines. Like I said: cute! You can listen to the coyotes chirping outside at night, the wind blowing during storms and its great if you want to get away. But not if your super tall.

This trip, I was searching for something new to visit in the Smoky Mountains since over my many many trips, I thought I had visited everything except one hike. So I asked one of the rangers where they would visit and she recommended this hike pictured to the right and below. As many times as I have been to this NP, I never realized how much more it had to offer than was on the regular maps. Similarly to Glacier, there are more than one point of interest, more than one way to enter and experience the park. On this trip, I drove a little further north, taking Rt 321 to Porters Creek trail and walked that trail for about a mile and a half till I saw this waterfall. You can see the telltales of where the rivers overflowed during Hurricane Helene, if you know where to look but the wild flowers are blooming and the place is recovering!

The Lost Sea was a recommendation from one of my friends and coworkers. She had gone there with her husband years ago. It is a great experience! The color of the water and the history are great! But don’t plan on swimming!

This is my second time ever coming to Ruby Falls and its as beautiful as I remember it from years ago. What I didn’t remember was the history of how the falls were discovered. The guy who discovered the falls in 1930, Leo Lambert initially wanted to be able to access Lookout Mountain cave. So he got help from investors to start drilling into the mountain from the top, to get access to the cave. This drilling took weeks, till they hit a void in the rock and air rushed over them. Lambert then crawled with some of his group for 17hours in a tunnel that was only 18 inches deep through the tunnel that would lead them into discovering an underground river, formations and a beautiful waterfall. Leo named the waterfall after his wife, Ruby. The falls are absolutely beautiful, with the changing colors reflecting the pool and the falls. Plus they have lit up many of the geological formations and the tour route.

Rock Island State park has been on my radar for several months from the pictures that I have seen on social media. The place is quite beautiful with so many waterfalls all over the park. There are several hikes to be able to see the falls, some easy to walk such as the one to the view below. But there is also the strenuous one to get to the multiple cascades as in the picture to the right. You follow some steep stairs down, to a gang plank, them to ropes tied to cross the many spots over the steams right under these falls. It gives you great views of the falls, and very wet shoes! Another great way that you can view multiple falls is to kayak up the river and get awesome views. This was the pictures I had seen on social media but there’s no place to rent kayaks, You must bring your own. And be sure to have safety vests, the rapids look strong in many areas!

The smokies are blooming with wild flowers!

My yard is in bloom and smells of Jasmine and honeysuckle

As I do every year, I have added a couple more perennials to my garden along with starting all the baby seeds for the veggies to go into this years’ garden in my greenhouse. I bet you didn’t know that Rosemary blooms in the spring time? I’ve had my rosemary bush for about 10 years now, even moved with it. It’s now close to 3 feet tall and I use it every holiday to get clippings from for cooking. These are two of the flowers, the new peonies will take a few years to hit full bloom. Check out more in the Flower Child page!