Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Category: Places (page 19 of 23)

Autumn Weekend at Lake Tahoe

October 31, 2016 / / 22 Comments

One of the exciting things about our life as house and pet sitters, other than living in comfortable houses for free, being in the company of the most amazing dogs and experiencing different neighborhoods, is the opportunity we have to explore different areas of the United States. Wherever you live in this country, there are always a lot of places to go for a hike or impressive sites to discover within driving distance.

Lake Tahoe seen from the town of South Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe seen from the town of South Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe, located on the border of California and Nevada is the third deepest lake in North America. It has a remarkable water clarity and is surrounded by boulders, sand and snow-capped mountains. To say it is picturesque is stating the obvious. Continue reading

Truro (Cape Cod), MA: September 24th – September 30th, 2016

October 28, 2016 / / 14 Comments

“I’ve always wanted to visit Cape Cod,” I say to Mark, “I can’t believe I have never been there in all these years of our residence being in Massachusetts!”

“You are not missing much,” Mark replies, “It is busy, built-up, touristy and the beaches are fair compared to what we have been used to all these years.” He doesn’t mention that he has only been partway up the Cape.

“Well, I’d like to see it for myself one day and I think, with our plans of going to California in a month, we have to go soon, because who knows when we will be back on the East Coast,” I add.

“You can’t be serious,” Mark continues, clearly thinking I am losing my mind with all the plans we have coming up already, “We seriously do not have time for another excursion this month and we couldn’t afford a weekend on the Cape anyway.”

And that is the end of the discussion. He is right. It is the beginning of September and we have just wrapped up our four-and-a-half-month house sit in Heath. All our stuff is spread out in the room of our home base in Newburyport, where Mark’s parents are happy to have us around for a bit. We have doctor visits scheduled, errands to run, friends and family to catch up with and a five-day vacation to look forward to…

Every day, I get house sitting notifications in my inbox from the sites we have signed up and paid for. None of them look very interesting or promising, so I delete them. One day, when sitting in the waiting room of the oncology department at Dana Farber, a particular listing grabs my attention: a one-week house sit in Truro, Cape Cod, with one dog, the last week in September. Perfect! “Listen to this…” I read the description to Mark, “And, it is the last part of the month. We don’t have much planned then.”

“Sure,” he gives in, “Write them an email and we will see what comes of it. They will probably get a lot of applications, because it is on Cape Cod.”

Within 24 hours, I have written the owner, she replied, we had a conversation over Skype and Mark and I are “hired”! We were going to Cape Cod and hoped the weather would be as pleasant as it usually is that time of the year.

Continue reading

Wordless Wednesday – Shine

October 26, 2016 / / 10 Comments

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays.  Also, I can’t manage “completely wordless”, but I’ll try my best at “almost wordless”. 🙂

I have archived thousands of photos over the years and can’t easily pick what to post, so I use the weekly prompt of the Daily Post to inspire my Wordless Wednesdays. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “shine“.

This week’s theme is a toughie. I didn’t immediately recall a photo I could use, other than sunshine images.  And if there is one topic that sailors have heaps of photos of, it is sunsets. Yet, shine conjures up more than just sunshine. When I stumbled upon this photo, I knew it was the right candidate. 🙂

Motu Aito, Raiatea, French Polynesia

Motu Aito, Raiatea, French Polynesia

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Driving across the USA – East to West via I-80

October 21, 2016 / / 35 Comments
View near Big Cottonwood Canyon, Utah

Utah

After four days of attending the Annapolis Boat Show as vendors, Mark and I left the East Coast on Columbus Day (Monday, October 10th) in an attempt to cross the country at a fast pace. We were pretty exhausted when we started our trip at 7am, but were assured that sitting on our bum would be the main activity for the week to come. Fortunately, the owners of our new house sit in Northern California managed to postpone their departure with a day, which gave us five days to cover 2800 miles/4500 km. Google Maps predicted that that would take about 40 hours in perfect conditions, but with road work, accidents and some traffic congestion, it took much longer. By the time the Annapolis Sailboat Show came to an end that Monday, we had already reached Chicago! We were very happy with our bonus day on the road, which made it possible to reach Rocklin, CA late afternoon on Friday.

Day 1: Annapolis, MD – Joliet, IL (730 miles/1175 km) Continue reading

Wordless Wednesday – Local

October 18, 2016 / / 17 Comments

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays.  Also, I can’t manage “completely wordless”, but I’ll try my best at “almost wordless”. 🙂

I have archived thousands of photos over the years and can’t easily pick what to post, so I use the weekly prompt of the Daily Post to inspire my Wordless Wednesdays. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “local“.

Since Mark and I don’t own or rent a house, our location changes with every trip we make or house sit we take. Therefore what’s local to us depends on which place we call home for the time being. For over a decade we have been roaming about, by truck camper, by sailboat and by car. “Local” has been areas in Belgium, Mexico, Central America, Texas, Maryland, the Bahamas, the Caribbean islands, Panama, the Galapagos, most archipelagos of French Polynesia, New England, and now Northern California. Home is, literally, where we are. This website and my older It’s Irie website have an incredible amount of photos of our ever changing backyard. Here are a few of them:

The post office in the Belgian town, Lokeren, where I last lived
Typical square in Flamish cities, this one is in Bruges
Our favorite bakery in my home town
Fresh bread is very important to us, Belgians!
Wetlands near my parents’ house, my favorite place to walk when I am there

Continue reading

Wordless Wednesday – H2O

October 12, 2016 / / 14 Comments

I have decided to post photos of past travels in general and our eight year sailing adventure on SV Irie in particular for Wordless Wednesdays.  Also, I can’t manage completely “wordless”, but I try my best at “almost wordless”. 🙂

Since I have archived thousands of photos over the years and can’t easily pick what to post, I use the weekly prompt of the Daily Post to inspire my Wordless Wednesdays. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “H2O“.

Water = life. To most first world citizens, water is a wide-spread commodity, a convenience that does not require a lot of thought. When Mark and I were traveling the world on our sailboat, salt water was everywhere and fresh water was precious. Continue reading

Two More Driving Tours in Acadia NP, Maine

October 3, 2016 / / 8 Comments

Birch Harbor on Schoodic Peninsula

The last couple of weeks have been very busy with plenty of distractions, so I feel like I have to move on to new adventures soon and finish up my string of Acadia posts. On day 1 of our five-day vacation in the national park, Mark and I went on a reconnaissance of the Park Loop Road to get our bearings. Day 2 had us biking the carriage roads of the park, and day 5 offered some great views on a very challenging hike, called the Precipice Trail.

Day 3, a Sunday, was expected to be rainy. Rather than sit in the tent all day and be uncomfortable, we decided to explore a different part of Acadia NP by car. Continue reading

Cape Cod Adventure – Towns, Beaches, and Lighthouses

September 30, 2016 / / 14 Comments

I am interrupting my Acadia broadcasts with an unexpected development: Mark and I recently stumbled upon a six-day house and pet sitting assignment in Truro, Cape Cod. We couldn’t resist applying and within 24 hours, we secured “the job”. The timing was perfect: we didn’t have much planned at our home base the last week of September and, usually, this is one of the best times of the year to visit the Cape. We also, coincidentally, happened to be asked to babysit our twin nieces, right over the bridge onto Cape Cod on Friday, so we had a decent start on Saturday, September 24th, to explore the sights between there and Truro. It was a bit chilly, but the sun was out. And of that, we took full advantage! Continue reading

Hiking the Precipice Trail in Acadia NP, Maine

September 28, 2016 / / 19 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I briefly featured parts of this hike for the Daily Post theme “edge”. Mark and I chose to hike the very strenuous Precipice Trail on the last morning of our five-day vacation in Acadia National Park for two reasons: it promised to be a sunny day, so the views would be amazing (they were!) and we could rest up afterwards in the car on the long drive home (we did!). The trail was one of the toughest hikes we have ever done, but all the sweat and effort led to a fun climb and a reward of incredible views.

The Precipice Trail climbs along and up the steep cliffs all the way to the top
Start of the Precipice Trail
The trail only consists of rocks
Still a long way to go
Long legs help to scale the rocks
A bit up the mountain, the views open up
Scrambling up the boulder field
Up, under and over the rocks

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Biking the Carriage Roads in Acadia NP, Maine

September 26, 2016 / / 17 Comments

 

Mark, not on a castle, but on a carriage road bridge

Mark, not on a castle, but on a carriage road bridge

There is a lot to see and do in Acadia National Park. Without the “distraction” of work and internet, I was amazed at how much one can pack into a five-day vacation! After a little reconnaissance of the park on our first day, we decided to rent bikes on the second one. For $25 per bike per day, we each picked a suitable model of the ones presented in the store and soon thereafter, we were proud bike owners for the day. Our starting point was the town center of Bar Harbor and our goal was to ride the park’s carriage roads. I expected a very relaxing day, coasting along flat roads. I was wrong.

Biking the carriage roads
Biking under the Park Loop Road
Taking photos is a good excuse to hop off my bike…
Riding along Jordan Pond
Bridge over the Park Loop Road

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