History comes to life in Hillsborough, North Carolina

Hillsborough, North Carolina, is a small city on the banks of the Eno River. It lies between Greensboro and Raleigh and is about 40 miles south of the Virginia State Line. It’s a great place to spend the day. We just happened to find ourselves there this last Saturday. Terry had a Basketball Coaches meeting at Eno River Academy and I was just tagging along. While he was in his meeting, I drove into Hillsborough and did some exploring. I found a lot of cool things in this small Southern town! The biggest surprise was the “Red Coats”!

Riverwalk

The Riverwalk is a boardwalk trail along the Eno River which stretches between Gold Park and River Park. It is great for a leisurely stroll, jogging, or walking your dog! It is a 3.1-mile loop trail, the boardwalk has handrails and benches all along the trail. It’s nice and wide so many people can be walking together and it makes it easy for the jogger to get by.

Two Parks on trail — **Choice of two parks in opposite directions**

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The Modern Zoo and Wildlife Conservation

42 Comments / Places to see / Cathy

Zoos of the United States series

The zoos of today are nothing like they were 20 years ago! Zoos of yesterday were run like family attractions, with animals that were barely cared for and no thoughts about tomorrow. Today, in my opinion, the main focus is on the welfare of their animals and conservation efforts.

Wildlife Conservation is the practice of protecting wild species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services and protecting biological diversity.

The Zookeepers of today are also different, they are more caring and some get very attached to the animals under their care, even calling them by name. One famous Zookeeper that comes to mind is Jack Hanna. He was director of the Columbus zoo from 1978-1992 and remains director emeritus today. No doubt you have seen him on TV, he has hosted 3 different shows; Jack Hanna’s “Animal Adventures“(1993-2008), Jack Hanna’s “Into the Wild“(since 2007), and Jack Hanna’s “Wild Countdown“(since 2011). Lately, I have also been watching, “The Secret Life of the Zoo“, on the Animal Planet channel. It shows a different side of the zoo. The zookeepers seem to really care about the animals under their care and try to make sure they are happy and healthy. This is one of the main reasons for my post today is to help you see zoos in a new light.

Lion is on top of rocks — **The modern zoo is focused on wildlife conservation**

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My Journey to Becoming a Blogger

67 Comments / Life / Cathy

First Seven Months

Wow! What a journey this has been! How did it all begin? My husband received an email about a Free 5 -day course about how to start a money-making blog. The email was from It’s a Lovely Life, he said to me, “Why don’t you sign up for this”, so, I did. Being a blogger had never crossed my mind before that. I had been an insurance agent, mostly in customer service, for most of my adult life. When I met Terry in 2011, I was living about 55 miles away from him. When we married in 2012, I moved into his house. That meant that I was now “retired” from the insurance business. I was living 55 miles away from where I had called home for over 10 years. All my friends were there, but I was starting a new life, in a new city. I was pretty lost for a while. I began doing small jobs like; selling on eBay, helping Terry with his non-profit business, and being an Uber driver. It always seemed like I had too much time on my hands and I wasn’t happy about that. I wanted something to do that would make a difference and that I could be proud of.

Taking the 5-day online course

I figured that I didn’t have anything to lose by taking the 5-day online course, “Start a money-making blog”.

I started the online course in April 2019. I didn’t understand it all and I didn’t always complete the assignment each day. It took me a little longer than 5 days to absorb all the information. After I finished the 5-day course, I was given more free information with “WP fast Launch“. The wealth of information I received with “WP fast Launch” got me the rest of the way with topics like;

How to start your blog with WordPress
Initial set-up with Bluehost
Working with Themes
Working with Posts, Pages, and Categories
Working with Menus in WordPress
WordPress Editor
Media, Photos & Videos
Widgets
Users & comments
Plugins
How to Launch

*This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you*

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Top 8 Favorite Travel Destinations of 2019

49 Comments / Travel / Cathy

As we look back on 2019, we think about some of our favorite travel destinations. We love to travel, so that is always the highlight of our year. The year 2019 was not our best travel year. We had several trips that were by necessity and not by choice. Even so, we ALWAYS make the most of our travel time! In March and April, we took road trips to Wisconsin, first to pick up my Mom’s car and tow it back to North Carolina and the second time, to pick up our new Travel Trailer and haul that back to North Carolina. These trips were not our favorite but we did enjoy the time away from home and the time together. The summer is a time when my husband Terry goes on Mission trips through his ministry, Christian Adventurers so we rarely take our vacations in the summer. I did go on one of these mission trips last summer, it was to Georgia and I really enjoyed it! Seeing my husband in his element, doing his thing, makes me very happy and I fall in love with him all over again! But, I digress, my post is about our favorite travel destinations of 2019. Our biggest vacation/road trip was in September, and then we ended the year with a little “getaway” for my birthday in December.

8 Favorite Destinations

Camping in Lynchburg Virginia
Blue Ridge Parkway – Virginia
Greensboro Science Center
Great Bend Park/Haw River
Starved Rock State Park & Lodge, Oglesby, Illinois
Two Rivers, Wisconsin
Lambeau Field Tour, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Dillsboro, North Carolina

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