Yesterday I took Rider to the dentist and he is gonna be looking for work. Three teeth need to come out and it is not gonna be cheap. But, it’s what we do and I had already set aside some money to take care of it.

The vet’s office had these way cool “Van Gogh-style” art prints on the wall. “The Starry Night” is one of my favorite paintings and this one is based on that painting. Ironically, the cat looks like a cat I had years ago named Bob. They had them all over the waiting area, some with cats, others with dogs.

🗺️📍

Whenever I am driving I am always looking for places to stop and see on the way or later, and yesterday was no different. I saw several interesting places that I saved in my Maps for a future visit. I also look at different maps when I plan to return to see if there is anything else within a reasonable distance to go see. I do the same with places I see online or on TV.

To help reduce clutter in my phone, once I go someplace that I think I either won’t return to or can remember directions to easily find again I delete the place from my Maps since I do not need it any longer. I don’t really keep many “Favorites” – I need something more easily searched. Besides, if they are favorites I probably already know how to get there!

I break my sorting into different “Guides”. I will have one for each country outside the US, and go by states in the US; this way I only have the places I will visit. I break them down into things like “Washington – Food”, “Washington – Things to Do”, etc. In Canada & Europe I have them set up under a country plus the appropriate category since .

For both Canada & Europe I have all airports, trains, buses, etc. in a country “Transit” Guide since they are all in the same category plus most will be used with another in the same Guide. In the US I will do these by state.

I just got a new updated road atlas so I can look at places on there. I really prefer a paper map to look at for ideas & planning, but using satnav guidance is the only way to get most places. With a paper map you can big-picture your trip much easier.

🛻

I was hoping to get out today for an adventure but it is cold, gray & snowing. I’ll just stay in & relax. The weather will be much better the next several days so I will take advantage of that. In the off-season, some places I want to go to are very touristy & popular so those are “weekday” trips while the smaller sites are pretty much good for any day.

Of course, when tourist season hits the big places like Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP & such are stupid busy since they are also seasonal openings. Most of those places I have already been to so I have no real need to go back, however you can still find pockets of those places that are not overcrowded. Those I would go back to if I can avoid the masses.

In Rocky Mountain NP in Colorado, I always noticed that the crowds cane into Estes Park & went to the Park, drove up to the summit and turned around. I always found the west side much less crowded. From what I remember about driving Going-to-the-Sun Road I would imagine it is the same for Glacier NP.

That is about it for today.