Houston to Maine

 May 28, 2026

We are finally on the road again after a hiatus of seven months.  Circumstances determined our destination, so no matter the price of gas, we need to be in Maine by May 30 to inter my sister's cremains next to her husband's in Fairfield, Maine.  We are carrying her with us in our van so her son doesn't have to bring her on the plane.  If you knew my sister, Patty, you would know she is laughing in Heaven about being in an Amazon delivery box.  

After a stop to hike to the oldest active geocache in Louisiana, we made a visit to the Delta Music Museum in Ferriday, LA - famous cousins Mickey Gilley and Jerry Lee Lewis were featured.

For the Memorial Day weekend, we chose a campground in Nantahala National Forest in far western North Carolina.  Rain, rain, rain, so we decamped two days early and headed to Charlotte, NC.

Brian owned some of the Foxfire books during our college years.

We were surprised to learn they were started by students and teachers in

Mountain City, Georgia.

towering rhododendron at our campsite

I am traveling with small scattering urns containing two younger sisters.

Overlook in Nantahala National Forest, NC

We are now "Dambo Troll hunters" after finding them in Minnesota and Colorado last year.

The one in Austin, TX burned down a few weeks ago. This one in Charlotte is pretty new.

Thomas Dambo builds his trolls with reclaimed lumber, wood scraps, and tree limbs.

Brian's size 14 shoes next to Pete's

"Metalmorphosis" in Charlotte, a rotating sculpture that was disassembled

for repairs when we were there in 2017 - it was working this time

From Charlotte, we drove toward Mt. Airy and paid a quick visit to "Mayberry."  Nearby is the cemetery where Eng and Chang Bunker (famous Siamese twins) are buried.

On Memorial Day, we stopped at an old country cemetery where veterans from all wars, including the French and Indian War in the 1750s are interred.  An excellent place to pay respects to veterans.

As we left North Carolina and approached Roanoke, VA we decided to drive 110 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway and disperse some ashes of both of my sisters, Kathy and Patty.

two sisters side-by-side

a quick hike to lichen-covered boulders, Blue Ridge Parkway

Rhododendrons

Just as we were leaving the northern terminus of the Parkway, a black bear bounded across the road in front of us.  We entered Shenandoah National Park at Rockfish Gap.  A campsite was waiting for us at Big Meadows Campground.  FDR visited there to see the work being done by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Foggy morning as we left so we didn't visit the CCC exhibit.  As we drove the next 10 miles of Skyline Drive, we were watchful for crepuscular animals and saw deer standing in the road in 5 different places and many wild turkeys.

views from Skyline Drive, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

The next long day of driving ended at Minnewaska State Park in the Catskills.  We detoured to Mt. Tremper to see the world's largest kaleidoscope built inside an abandoned grain silo.  A unique audio-visual experience unfolded inside.

This kaleidoscope in the gift shop was large enough to stick my head and phone inside to

view the dazzling reflections.

After leaving the kaleidoscope in New York, we drove across southern Vermont and made a stop in Bennington to pay respects to Robert Frost.

Very old headstones near the entrance, Mr. Frost was down the hill in the newer section

Poet Laureate of Vermont

" I had a lover's quarrel with the world."

This stop reminded me of the Robert Frost poetry walk we came across in Vermont 11 years ago.

Then it was on across New Hampshire to await the family members who would join us for the interment.

A Promise Kept

 March 2026

    Once again, we sojourned to New Mexico with a grandchild.  Three years ago, we took our first grandchild on a Spring Break trip when he turned 10 years old.  We promised the other two that they would get the same trip, so we repeated the route with the middle grandchild in 2024.  This time it was our granddaughter's turn.  (In fact, when we returned from our last long trip in October, the first thing she said to me was, "You remember that you are taking me on a trip when I am 10?")  We fulfilled the promise last week.

    We made a repeat stop at The Coming King Sculpture Prayer Garden in Kerrville, TX.  Each time we stop, we leave a new rock with a family member's name.  This time it was another of my sisters who died 6 weeks ago.

Ready for adventure before the sun rose

Beautiful flowers in the sculpture garden

    Then the long drive across west Texas on I-10.  Obligatory stop in Fort Stockton to see "Paisano Pete".

We love to find interesting murals.  Here are two in Fort Stockton.

    On the second day, we arrived at Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  A family in the campsite next to ours had a girl of Araceli's age, so they entertained each other quite well.  We spent time with them at our next campground in New Mexico, too.  Serendipity!

Guadalupe Peak, highest point in Texas.

We are so glad we hiked to the top in our (much) younger days.

Any road trip with your Kissell grandparents includes geocaching.  

She was always ready to jump out of the van and join the search.

Day 3: New Mexico

finding a geocache on a train engine

Unfortunately, the petting zoo was not open.

I am not sure who displayed more curiosity, the animal or the human.

Oliver Lee Memorial State Park near Alamogordo, NM

I love this view of the Sacramentio Mountains from the campground.

World's largest pistachio in Alamogordo

And the main attraction for a kid is . . .

. . . and even more fun when you make a new friend in the dunes.

new friends and a cookout with two other families (with s'mores)

It was a tiring day!

A few more stops before returning to Texas . . .

quick visit to the lava fields of Valley of Fires Recreation Area near Carrizozo

Smokey Bear Historical Park, Capitan, NM

Smokey's gravesite

Last year, Brian and I passed through Abilene, TX - "Storybook Capital of America".

We decided to visit the sculpture gardens again with Araceli.

pointing to Charlotte in her web - TERRIFIC!

For our last night of this trip, we rented a yurt at Abilene State Park - a first for all three of us.

More CCC-built structures in a Texas state park

Two more stops

annual Texas Geocaching Challenge in Taylor

 event "logbook" was an inflatable duck

We ended the trip a day early and made it home for Logan's birthday.

We are now grandparents of a teenager!

Final thoughts:

    We made this trip three times in three years.  I strongly suspect that we will never visit Guadalupe Mountains NP or White Sands NP again.  After visiting these parks with our children and now our grandchildren, we will seek out new places to explore as long as we can travel.  We are planning to leave in late May for our next big journey, joining my nephew and others, to inter my sister's ashes next to her husband's in Maine.

    It is our fervent hope that we have instilled in our grandchildren an appreciation for our public lands and that they will continue to explore them in future years.

Brian's review:

    We are home from our final “grandchild 10-year-old road trip”, so I decided to write something to add to our blog. I will leave the details to Kris, and just give my overall impressions. 

    When we decided to create this tradition, we had no idea what to expect.  We planned on offering the same experiences on each trip, but knowing that each child is different, we knew that we would not do the very same things each time

.    It was good that they didn’t share with each other what they did, because they couldn’t be disappointed if something didn’t go as planned.

    You learn a lot about a person - no matter their size - when you spend seven full days with them!  We love sharing some of our experiences with them, and hopefully creating memories with them. We try to celebrate the big and little things with them..

    I am so glad that we were able to fulfill the promise we made to them three years ago. Unfortunately, the energy of a ten year old is not contagious, so it was a bit harder each trip we took, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything!