The Wandering Disciple

San Antonio Texas:  We got up at zero dark thirty to kick off our Spring Break vacation to Texas.  For this week long vacation we will be departing Tampa International Airport and visiting San Antonio and Austin.  This trip marks our first trip to Texas as well as our farthest west adventure so far. Our trip got started early with a trip north to Tampa and our 6:30 flight on Southwest Airlines.  We were flying on Southwest Flight 1226 non-stop to Austin.  We got to the airport early and breezed through TSA screening.  While we waited for our flight to board, we ate breakfast at Burger 21 on Airside C. We boarded our 5-year old Boeing 737-800 for our on-time departure west to Texas.  The early morning pre-dawn flight had the sunrise chasing us across the Gulf of Mexico.  The flight to Austin was smooth until we reach east Texas and strong cold front.  The turbulence was fun and despite almost zero visibility we landed safely at Austin-Bergstr...

Fairfield Glades, Tennessee:  For those of you who know me or follow the site, you know we love the mountains.  I have spent my 23 year career working in public safety in Florida and as that career winds down, I am looking forward to retiring to the mountains.  I grew up in Lebanon, Pennsylvania and moved to Florida when I graduated high school because I hated working in the months of cold and snow.  I decided to work in reverse, work in Florida and then return north when I retire and won't have to work in the cold.   As the time gets closer, we are starting to take trips to explore small towns to find that perfect fit.  We are leaning towards Tennessee but trying to narrow down the right spot.  We recently toured Sevierville and English Mountain.  On this trip we are headed to Crossville and Fairfield Glades. We hit the road bright and early at zero dark thirty for our trip north. From our home, we have about an eleven hour drive.  We ...

Greensboro, North Carolina: We have been planning a fall road trip to the Smoky Mountains for a couple months, however in the past few weeks our plans have taken a turn.  While we are still headed north to check out the fall foliage, our plans have migrated from Tennessee to neighboring North Carolina.  While don't get me wrong we love the Smokies, we decided to focus on some new towns and chose to visit central North Carolina. We planned on hitting the road at zero dark thirty, however with the excitement of the trip no one got much sleep so we ended up leaving even earlier.  We pulled out of the drive way at 1:30 am and headed north to North Carolina.  We drove under the cover of darkness until we stopped for breakfast outside Savannah, Georgia.  On road trips, we typically skip chain restaurants with the exception of travel days.  Since it was Sunday, our usual favorite of Chick-fil-a was not an option, so we settled on Huddle House in Savannah.  M...

High atop the Drury Inn and Suites in downtown New Orleans is a rooftop oasis.  Because of limited land on ground levels in big cities, hotels like this choose to turn their rooftops into pool decks, bars/lounges and many other amenities for their visitors.  Having the pool on the roof allows you to enjoy a relaxing dip in the water under the backdrop of the Big Easy from high above the city streets. (Photo: November 23, 2017)