What's in a name?

Why "3 Fun Facts"?

My husband, Bill, is an educator, and cannot help but find teachable moments anywhere, anytime.  Whenever we would travel, attend an event, or even go to an amusement park, Bill would tell us all that we had to learn "3 Fun Facts" to share at dinner.  The kids and I learned to roll with it and could easily come up with fun facts by dinnertime.  They were not always momentous, sometimes repetitive, and frequently inaccurate, but hey, we had our 3 Fun Facts.
             
                                                                  

However, when family and friends were sucked into included in our learning moments, they would obsessively stress over their facts.  You could see the sweat starting to bead up on their foreheads.  Will this count as a fact?  Will I remember this information at dinner?  Are my facts going to be fact checked?  Do I need a backup fact in case someone steals my fact?  It was like studying for a final exam that would determine the course of their lives.

I remember one family trip to the Newport Aquarium many, many years ago.  As we were walking through the front gate Bill told everyone to be sure and have their "3 Fun Facts" ready to recite at dinner. The kids and I took the assignment in stride, no big deal. The panic within the rest of the family (especially the adults) was palpable and made for some very interesting "facts" at dinner.  For example, my brother's contribution included "the line at the ticket booth is much shorter at 3pm than at 9am", my nephew shared "never travel anywhere with a teacher", and my sister-in-law added a commentary on the size of Keiko's dork (of "Free Willy" fame).  Oh my!




Bill knew that he had finally won the family over when several years later my brother and sister-in-law while traveling in Mexico sent us a postcard that included their three fun facts at the bottom of the card.  Bill's work is done.  Thank you very much.
 
So here are my 3 Fun Facts for today:

1.  Creating and embedding a map on this blog is not intuitively obvious.
2.  3 Fun Facts has had 8 page views.
3.  The correct terminology for a whale's private parts is dork.

Who, What, When, Where, Why

The Who

My name is Peggy and I will be your guide through these escapades adventures.  I am joined by my husband, Bill, who is the driver extraordinaire and photographer.  We are recently retired and looking for ways to spend our children's inheritance.  

Our goofball golden retriever, Marley, will join us on many of our voyages.  This is Marley on his 3rd birthday which everyone knows is 21 in dog years.
 

The What

Our motorhome is a 2012 29.2 A.C.E. built by Thor Industries. It is the "evolution" between a Class A and a Class C motorhome, or so the marketing brochure claims.

It is a huge step up from our 1991 Lance camper which we shared with 2 children.  As the years went by, the kids got bigger and the camper seemed to shrink. 

We have now become "those people" we used to laugh at envy in the campgrounds.  You know the ones, an older couple in a ginormous motorhome with all the comforts of home while we crammed 4 people into a 24 square foot tin can on the back of a pickup truck.

The When 

Anytime the mood strikes us.  That is the beauty and freedom of being retired!  We do not plan on full-timing, but to borrow a term from another blog, we plan on being "anytimers".  We are currently planning a 6-8 week trip to the Pacific Northwest beginning in mid April, but in the meantime we are headed to Pismo Beach next week to enjoy the sand, surf and clam chowder.

The Where

Anywhere the mood takes us.  Over that last several years we have traveled within the United States and abroad.  My Our retirement plan includes visiting all 58 National Parks, traveling in Europe, exploring Machu Picchu, and wherever else my our fancy takes us.

The Why

Because we can!  I've created this blog to allow family and friends to join our travel adventures. So jump on board and check out the view from my seat.