The last time I saw my cousins who live on Long Island was back in 1983 when my mother, brother, and sister flew from L.A. to N.Y. to attend my cousin's wedding. The last time George and I saw some of his cousins who live on Long Island was back in 1988 when they flew from N.Y. to L.A. to attend our wedding. One of the main reasons that we decided to go on this journey was to visit family; family that we haven’t seen in a very long time and family whom...

My mother loved New England in the fall. She was born and raised in the area; New York and Vermont to be exact. After my mother married, she moved to southern CA. This is where I was born and this is where she raised her children. It was during Christmas time that she tried to duplicate the winters that she loved so much growing up back east. She bought a flocked-white tree for many years when I was young and strung up delicate blue lights. She adorned it with...

Philadelphia is famous for their cheese steaks. When we were in New Jersey we went over to Philadelphia and we got our Phillie cheese steaks at Tony Lukes. At Tony Lukes I wasn't a big fan of the cheese steaks. Everyone else liked it. But the worst thing about it is that they didn’t have any onions. The bread was really good because it didn’t get soggy and it was lightly toasted. Other people might have liked it more than me because they were scar...

Thank goodness my sister-in-law warned us about the parkways in NY. The directions she gave us were great. We were driving north from New Jersey and she kept us on the interstates and off the parkways. Although she drives a practical, NY size compact car herself, she had heard an outrageous story in the news about a man with a sailboat who did not heed or see the signs telling him that "No commercial trucks, RVs, or busses" are allowed on the parkways. I can de...

Wal-Mart-It's everywhere! For better or worse, for richer or poorer.  We just stopped in the Wal-Mart in Mt. Julia, TN, and it is almost the exact replica of the Wal-Mart in Mt. Vernon, WA. No matter what region of the country you are in you can locate a Wal-Mart off of an Interstate Highway.Wal-Mart stores and the U.S. Interstate system are two entities that exist in every major city in every state in the U.S. Both entities have other commonalities as wel...