Welcome back to a slightly belated monthly update post! Fall is in full swing here in North Carolina and I'm loving it. It's the best time of year here. I've spent a lot of time enjoying the cooler mornings by sitting on the back porch drinking coffee and reading while watching the backyard wildlife.  Between the porch-sitting, the occasional bike ride in the woods, and the Netflix-watching, my schedule is pretty full these days.  During September, we have been busy planning and booking a lot of travel for 2022. That takes up a lot of time too. Hopefully these travel plans work out b ..read more

After leaving Frisco, Colorado in Part 2 of our Great USA Road Trip, we drove several hours to Montrose, Colorado where we spent two nights. While there, we visited Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I thought this canyon was more impressive than the Grand Canyon in Arizona, however this park is the least popular National Park in all of Colorado!  On our travel day between Montrose, Colorado and Cortez, Colorado, we went on two hikes in Ouray, Colorado. The first was to Cascade Falls where I got to climb behind the waterfall! After that, we crossed to the other side of Ouray ..read more

Denver marked the start of our "real" summer vacation. We visited the Red Rocks Amphitheatre just outside Denver.  After leaving Denver, we headed up the mountains into the Rocky Mountain National Park. Inside the park, we hiked to Bear Lake, Nymph Lake, and Dream Lake. We couldn't quite make it all the way up the mountainside to Emerald Lake due to altitude sickness and fatigue. In the late afternoon, we drove through the Rocky Mountain National Park along the Trail Ridge Road.  We spent the night after Rocky Mountain National Park in Grand Lake, Colorado. Then we drove two hours to ..read more

When planning our big summer road trip in the Western United States, we considered flying straight to Denver and starting our adventures there in the rocky Mountains. Or should we drive across the Midwest and stop to see whatever we can along the way? We chose the latter route. Our family took a few extra days to explore parts of the country that we might not necessarily visit as destinations in and of themselves. We spent three days driving across the country to Topeka, Kansas. Along the way, we stopped for sightseeing in Charleston, West Virginia and St. Louis. We also got some great barbequ ..read more

How is it September already? Summer break is over and all our kids have been back in school for a couple of weeks now. We are more than two thirds of the way through 2021 already! Where did all the time go? The biggest news of the month is that our oldest kid is officially a college student. The college expenses have started on a very small scale with textbook purchases (read on to find out more details!). It's strange to have the kids back in school after the past eighteen months of virtual schooling at home. So far so good - everyone is staying healthy!  We're settling back in to home a ..read more

Welcome back to Root of Good! We arrived in Raleigh two weeks ago after spending most of the summer driving cross country for our road trip. I can't believe summer is almost over! One of our kids starts college half time in one week and all three will commence regular classes in two weeks. When they said "time flies when you're having fun", they didn't lie!  We've spent the past two weeks getting situated in Raleigh and relaxing after a busy but fun summer vacation. So far it looks like all the kids will be attending class in person this fall. For us adults, that means we will have a lot ..read more

Here we are turning the page on our calendar to July. We've spent most of the last month traveling across the USA from North Carolina to California. As this post goes live, we'll be waking up not too far from the Pacific Ocean. Soon we will turn back east and head toward home during the month of July. So far, so good, but there were a few hiccups along the way (read on for more details).  We just finished a one week stay in Las Vegas where we were finally able to relax and sleep late for several days straight. Such a nice break after being on the move for several weeks in a row. The next ..read more

It was another busy month here in the Root of Good household. We have been busy with final preparations for our seven week road trip across the USA. I think we are ready to go. Two of our kids are completely done with school for the year. Our third kid will be logging into class from the road for a few days (if the cell signal holds up!) This May brought us the best North Carolina weather I can remember in a long time. Very mild days, with some chilly temps mixed in. We got to enjoy the outdoors in comfort! The humidity just showed up in the past couple of days, so that's a sign it's time for ..read more

How does every month fly by so fast? Is it really May already?! I'm going to hit the pause button for a minute and reflect on the last month.  It was a very busy month for us. The kids had spring break in early April with lots of fun times with their friends. Then we enjoyed a relatively normal Easter family gathering this year since almost everyone is vaccinated now. We closed out the month with a birthday party for our son.  Nice weather means more time outdoors enjoying this fine spring weather. The pollen finally abated toward the end of the month too. Right now, we're busy plann ..read more

Well folks, here we are in April. It's no longer winter but it's not quite summer yet. Maybe we'll enjoy a little bit of spring before the heat sets in? Right now we're suffering through the horrible intermediate phase of "pollen season" here in North Carolina. It lasts a week or two. Everything is covered in a thick layer of yellow pollen. It billows through the air in thick clouds, turning the sky green. I'm just glad I can wear a mask outside and not look ridiculous any longer! The main consolation is that it will rain eventually and wash all the pollen away. Our kids just enjoyed almost tw ..read more