travel Tag

headin’ down to the bayou

There’s a Cajun in my life, so we’re heading down to where crawfish is a main food group, and hot sauce is believed to be the only condiment needed.

ROAD TRIP!

After a night in the tent at the Jellystone Campground (HA! Yes, for real) where the bathroom and shower doors were on lockdown, we stopped for breakfast feeling nice n’ greasy at the Georgia Express Diner:

BLR Breakfast

…where couldn’t wait to take a bite:

Breakfast inTthe South

“Y’alls” were swirling around this place like the Tasmanian devil on his fastest day, and we were out the door filled with pancakes, cheesy-egg biscuits, omelette’s, grits, toast, and too much coffee for $12.89:

Breakfast in The South

Our waitress fully fit the southern stereotype, sweet as pie as you’d imagine. Mornings like these I absolutely love; The randomness on the road and connecting with strangers hearing their stories in a place unfamiliar.

Tent camping, cheap diner breakfast, and learning about how other people live. Ahhh…travel.

How do you find adventure?

#RoadTrip #Georgia #Diner

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wish i was here right now

Blue Lollipop Road

I took this photo in the Caribbean during December. It’s now February 25th and I’m thinking next year we should save our time in the tropics for this month! (Why do I always forget how long February feels each winter?)

As the south freaks out about the impending couple inches of snow we are supposed to get tonight, I’m channeling the warmth I felt from this blue-striped beach chair I sat in a couple months ago.

Spring, we love you. Please come see us soon!

What beach are you daydreaming of during the winter chill?

#SendMeToTheTropics #BLROnTheBeach #ToesInTheSand

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a giggle a day keeps the doctor away

Sisters are awesome. Nature is awesome. Colorado is awesome.

We pretend to be serious:

Fort Collins Sister Time

..but it is all just a front for our jackassery:

Fort Collins Sister Time

Yeah. I just made up a word. That is awesome too.

Love you sister! So fun.

My Blue Lollipop Road is spending time with people I love.

Where’s your road?
(Send me a photo: Diane(@)bluelollipoproad.com and I will post it here.)

#LifeOnTheBlueLollipopRoad #WildInTheWest #Sisters

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it’s officially blr play it forward week!

Friday kicks off BLR Play It Forward 2014! Another radio interview on WBTN 1370AM Radio at 5:30PM tomorrow (Tuesday 7/12/14) listen on AM radio or online to learn more about the weekend so you can join in the fun! Schedule of Events:

Play Forward- Give Back

How do you play Forward and give back?

#BLR #Community #PlayForwardGiveBack

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ever feel like no one is listening?

I do.

Then again- I also believe and agree with the following:

“Good things happen to those who hustle.” 

~Anais Nin

Sometimes I feel like I am barking up a bare tree, knocking on empty doors, and shouting from the wrong rooftops with all this…I want Blue Lollipop Road to provide travel scholarships to young people in financial need so they have a chance to see outside their small world into a bigger one for educational, self-empowerment purposes, stuff. I push and push and push, and occasionally I manage to squeeze one drop of blood out of a stone that should be drowning in the red stuff.

I’m frustrated.

Over the years, I’ve felt disappointed and pissed off at people, the world- everything. Then I think of these two girls who’ve been gone nearly 20 years now, that inspire me to be thankful for every day I have, and that trip to Germany I scraped babysitting money together for, in 1994. I think of how that summer rocked my world, changed my life forever, and how I promised to never forget it. I look at this I’ve had branded on my left wrist- that I put there for many reasons, but mostly as an additional reminder of what kind of life I want to live, and legacy I want to leave:

Blue Lollipop Road tattoo

…and all of these above things keep me hustling through these times that feel like there’s nothing but a brick wall in front of me, and that no one out there really gives a shit.

I need help to make The Blue Lollipop Road Memorial Scholarship grow. I need help getting people to listen.

Even with my tried and true efforts, I somehow have not hit my stride/done whatever I need to do to be magical/what’s best and smartest to get this all to go boom, but I sure want to and I’m not afraid to work even  harder than I already have. I hate asking for help more than anything, but I’m tired of trekking this train alone, scraping by with pennies in the BLR bank account, and being in debt personally, piecing together random work- so I don’t have to take a 9 to 5 gig that on one hand could provide me with steady income, but on the other, suck me dry of energy, hours, and momentum required to make this as big and as awesome as I know it can be.

Maybe “reality” really does, bite- but at almost 36 years old, I’m still hoping not.

The mission of Blue Lollipop Road is to encourage a commitment to an active lifestyle and to support travel for education and self-empowerment. I’m on a mission, people! Can anybody out there help me…please?

I’m going to keep hustling. Who’s with me?

#WorkThatMatters #Travel #CryForHelp

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queen city to music city

Windows down, warm and sunny on the road is my perfect kind of day, so naturally the drive from Charlotte to Nashville in the green nature gorgeousness made me very happy yesterday. I highly recommend the 6.5 hour trek to anyone who hasn’t been through Western, NC/Smoky Mountains.

One little hiccup though, was that my malfunction indicator lamp came on in my trusty little Civic:

BLR-Mobile has a boo boo

My car is my constant and these lights never come on so I was worried for a few seconds there. Thankfully at this point nothing seems to be wrong. (It’s a Honda and I never go without AAA so I’m not afraid to keep on trekking.) This light can come on if something as simple as your gas cap isn’t screwed on tight enough. I made stop into an Advance Auto Parts and had them hook up a code reader just in case to make sure I was good to go and nothing seemed alarming so I kept moving! 183k plus and counting.

It was near 90 degrees, so when I stopped outside Asheville, at one of those gas/McDonald’s stations to fuel up the BLR-Mobile, I went inside to grab a diet coke with lemon. (Always a craving on a hot day.) The young kid behind the counter handed me a cup and winked as I pulled out my money to pay, shaking his head and offering “Have a nice day!”

Why thank you, young one. I promise to pay it forward:

McDonald's Diet Coke

A full tank of gas, full diet coke, and full water cup and I was on my way through this beautiful scene:

Great Smokey Mountains

…and drove through sunset as I rolled into Nashville:

Sunset outside Nashville

Sunset outside Nashville

Not too shabby for a bug-splattered windshield.

There’s nothing like a Great America Road Trip. If you’ve never just jumped in the car for a few days with no plan- do it. It will change your life.

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