Snow falls each year before we leave Central Oregon for the winter. Usually a light dusting that doesn't last. It's a lovely reminder of what we once enjoyed. However, I put my cross-country skis in a garage sale before I moved to Central Oregon in 1999, knowing my husband Harry Taylor and I would be spending our winters in Mexico. When I started searching for answers to why we are called snowbirds, I ran across the lyrics of Anne Murray's song, as well as an encyclopedia section on the Junco, or snowbird, relative of the finches. Slate-colored Juncos breed in northern evergreen forests of Canada and the United States, and are found as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. Canadians and Americans have been heading south for decades, if not centuries, to escape the cold sting of winter. You need only drive on Oregon Highway 97 from late September through December to see the migration of cars and RVs heading south. My how these houses on the road have grown as many snowbirds now are full timers. Snowbirds Unlimited: Tales from the Restless Traveler merely scratches the surface of a lifetime of travel at home and abroad, by air, land or sea, coupled with ten years of documenting portions of that travel in published columns and articles. Many interesting, exotic and wonderful destinations are missing from this book due to the space limitations. This is a pick up and put down book, much like my previous collection of published columns in Mother of Eight Survives Population Explosion: Just Between Us Column Selections. Although the days of family-travel slide shows in the living room have passed, we now have social networking to share our enthusiastic reports and photos online. And, if some of us are fortunate enough to do what I am doing, and readers are interested enough to buy the books we still can share our adventures.
About the Author: Snowbirds Unlimited: Tales from the Restless Traveler merely scratches the surface of a lifetime of travel at home and abroad. Experiences and perceptions are adapted from ten years of published travel articles, and five years writing a column under the same title as this book. The days of family-travel slide shows in the living room have passed, and we now have social networking to share our enthusiastic reports and photos online. And, if some of us are fortunate enough to do what I am doing - we still can share the adventures. Snow falls each year before we leave Central Oregon for the winter. Usually a light dusting that doesn't last. While searching for answers to why we are called snowbirds, I found lyrics from Anne Murray's song "So, little snowbird, take me with you when you go to that land of gentle breezes where the peaceful waters flow..." This is Marilyn McDonald's fourth self-published, print-on-demand book. Previous books are: Little Girl Lost; Mother of Eight Survives Population Explosion; and Alert the Media: How the American Indian Movement used the Mass Media. She has hundreds of published articles and stories to her credit since 1967. She earned a BS from Portland State University and an MA in Communications from the University of Portland. Marilyn and her retired U.S. Air Force husband Harry Taylor are at home in Oregon or San Felipe, Mexico.