How We Found All of Australia’s Bizarre Animals in One Place

Quick, what’s the first thing that comes to mind about Australia?

Bet it involves animals, and likely some strange ones at that, right?

It was for us, and we bet we found some you've never heard of!... CONTINUE READING >>

Follow us here too!: Facebook - Twitter - YouTube - Google+ - Pinterest - Instagram - StumbleUpon - RSS

Using our Empty Nest Egg - and the Mecca of Fiberglass Ginormous Stuff!

Where did you live when you were first starting out? I'll bet it wasn't quite the Taj Mahal.
Our first place was a one bedroom, former screened-in porch that had all the weather proofing of the average wiffle ball. It was a veritable private zoo of insect vermin -- and we were glad to have it. We were proud and happy to be on our own.

 Who are we to deny our offspring those same pleasures?... CONTINUE READING >>

Also on GypsyNester.com this week:

A Fiberglass Menagerie - the Mecca of Roadside Ginormous Stuff

Ever wonder where they came from? So did we!

Nothing lifts the spirits while traveling through America quite like the sight of a fiberglass colossus looming in the distance. On a summertime roadtrip, through the shimmering heat from the highway, a form begins to take shape...

 A sky-scraping Abe Lincoln, a Paul Bunyan the size of a small office building, a life-sized brontosaurus or a fish that could swallow an airliner -- all have great power to inspire, or at least attract... CONTINUE READING >>

Follow us here too!: Facebook - Twitter - YouTube - Google+ - Pinterest - Instagram - StumbleUpon - RSS

Feeding Hungry Crocodiles & The Train to Machu Picchu

Is anyone really crazy enough to lure sixteen feet of teeth and muscle out of the water with a chicken leg?

Yes. We are.

Perhaps we're not as crazy or brave (stupid?) as we are making ourselves out to be since we barely had time to think about it.

But is it any less insane because... CONTINUE READING >> 



Also on GypsyNester.com this week:

Our days of hiking four days over rough terrain are probably behind us, so attempting The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu was out. Luckily, there is another alternative.

Several trains a day run on the second highest railroad in the world, after the Qinghai–Tibet Railway.... CONTINUE READING >> 


Follow us here too!: Facebook - Twitter - YouTube - Google+ - Pinterest - Instagram - StumbleUpon - RSS

Our Philosophy - Celebrating Life After Kids

When Veronica and I began to think about our life after raising kids one of the first things we did was Google "empty nesters."

We wanted to see if anyone else was looking at this the same way that we were. With a feeling of “isn’t it great that the kids have moved out, and we'll have life to ourselves again?" To be untethered and free. To wander the globe. To be GypsyNesters instead of empty-nesters.

But no, just about everything we could find was lamenting how terrible it is that the kids aren't around anymore. Even worse, the biggest item on the first page we clicked into was an enormous ad for an... CONTINUE READING >> 

 Follow us here too!: Facebook - Twitter - YouTube - Google+ - Pinterest - StumbleUpon - RSS

Two Sainte Maries

The phrase border town will not usually conjure up an image of anything remotely resembling the two Sault Sainte Maries (the Sault portion is pronounced Soo) that lie across from each other where Michigan's Upper Peninsula meets Ontario. There is a distinct lack of cacti, dust and adobe, but that's not to say there isn't plenty to provide for a different type of... CONTINUE READING >>

 Follow us here too!: Facebook - Twitter - YouTube - Google+ - Pinterest - StumbleUpon - RSS

‘Hog Wild in Punxsutawney

Are they crazy about groundhogs in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania? You betcha. The place is lousy with them.


Groundhogs adorn homes and businesses like the Baby Jesus does at Christmastime in most other places. We landed in the “Weather Capital of the World” in mid-December and found the good people of “Punxy” also know how to inflate a holiday decoration -- and park it next to a giant fiberglass woodchuck. Not counting groundhogs (real, wooden, fiberglass, bronze, or welded metal) the town of... CONTINUE READING >>

Boomerang "Kids"

Today's column was just plain disturbing. It involved a mother who is a newly retired homeowner with an outstanding mortgage. Unless she was the CEO of a major publicly traded corporation, this lady is on a whopper of a fixed income. Now get this—she has two butthole sons, aged 22 and 24, living in her home and she has asked them to pitch in and pay $30 a week. “Stressed-Out Mom” says that they are now “ranting and raving and calling her a bad ...read more

Life After Kids

When Veronica and I began to think about our life after raising kids one of the first things we did was Google "empty nesters." We wanted to see if anyone else was looking at this the same way that we were. With a feeling of “isn’t it great that the kids have moved out, and we'll have life to ourselves again?" To be untethered and free. To wander the globe. To be GypsyNesters instead of empty-nesters.

But no, just about everything we could find was lamenting how terrible it is that the kids aren't around anymore. Even worse, the biggest item on the first page we clicked into was an enormous ad for an ...read more

San Diego, Padre

San Diego could have a massive inferiority complex, being overshadowed by its giant neighbor to the north -- like a redheaded stepchild, but it doesn't. No need to -- the beauty and attractions have so much to offer.

We discovered San Diego while driving down from that sprawling metropolis above, our buddy Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo found it by sailing up from Mexico.

Although Portuguese by birth, Johnny C. was working for Spain on a find-a-shortcut-to... read more

Dale Ertel, Reptile Wrangler

 Winding through the “crooked and steep” roads of the Ozarks near Berryville, Arkansas, it would have been easy to miss the intriguing and very colorful hand painted sign on the side of the road, but Veronica caught a glimpse of it. “Did that sign say Snake World?”
Lucky for us, Dale Ertel was standing in the front yard of the dilapidated dwelling that houses the exhibition. Dale and his family originally cohabitated... read more

‘Hog Wild in Punxsutawney

Are they crazy about groundhogs in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania? You betcha. The place is lousy with them.

Groundhogs adorn homes and businesses like the Baby Jesus does at Christmastime in most other places. We landed in the “Weather Capital of the World” in mid-December and found the good people of “Punxy” also know how to inflate a holiday decoration -- and park it next to a giant fiberglass woodchuck. Not counting groundhogs (real, wooden, fiberglass, bronze, or welded metal) the town of... read more

Boomerang "Kids"

 Today's column was just plain disturbing. It involved a mother who is a newly retired homeowner with an outstanding mortgage. Unless she was the CEO of a major publicly traded corporation, this lady is on a whopper of a fixed income.

Now get this—she has two butthole sons, aged 22 and 24, living in her home and she has asked them to pitch in and pay $30 a week. “Stressed-Out Mom” says that they are now “ranting and raving and calling her a bad mother.” She goes on to ask if she is being unreasonable. What?

Kick those pot-smoking, Cartoon Network-watching, little punks out of your...read more

Life After Kids

When Veronica and I began to think about our life after raising kids one of the first things we did was Google "empty nesters." We wanted to see if anyone else was looking at this the same way that we were. With a feeling of “isn’t it great that the kids have moved out, and we'll have life to ourselves again?"  To be untethered and free. To wander the globe. To be GypsyNesters instead of empty-nesters.

But no, just about everything we could find was lamenting how terrible it is that the kids aren't around anymore. Even worse, the biggest item on the first page we clicked into was an enormous ad for an Alzheimer’s patch.

Holy crap! We just finished raising our kids, we’re not ...read more