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A Life Less Ordinary

Category: Hiking (page 11 of 12)

Hiking to Tannery Falls

August 15, 2016 / / 15 Comments
Sign at the park entrance, a few miles off Route 2 (Mohawk Trail)

Sign at the park entrance, a few miles off Route 2 (Mohawk Trail)

A few months ago, I did some research about interesting sites in our current area of the Berkshire Mountains in Western Massachusetts. Tannery Falls in Savoy Mountain State Forest seemed like a great afternoon excursion. Especially after driving by the State Forest sign on Route 2 – also called the Mohawk Trail – frequently when running errands in North Adams, I moved the trip higher on my list of “Things I want to do before we leave Heath”.

Hail to the Sunrise
Mohawk park at the edge of Charlemont, the closest “town” to Heath
Our low-to-the-ground Prius in the Charlemont area

Mark and I decided to make the trip to Tannery Falls the day after we attended the annual reggae festival in Charlemont. Continue reading

The Art of Being Flexible (and Realistic)

August 1, 2016 / / 7 Comments

One of the greatest perks about house and pet sitting in different states (or countries) is that you can explore new areas at will. If you decide to take on longer term sits, like us, these explorations can be done in-depth with destinations galore for weekends away. Mark and I only have about one month left of our 4.5-month house sit in Heath, MA and I feel that we are running out of time for my “to visit” list. Of course, this list is so extensive that it is humanly impossible to actually do it all, unless we could devote ourselves to our roaming ways every single day of the week, which we can’t, because of our business.

Town Hall in Great Barrington

Town Hall in Great Barrington

I had a few “to do” things planned for our weekend in SW Massachusetts: climbing two mountains, Mt. Everett (partly) and Monument Mountain (wholly), strolling around two historical towns, Stockbridge and Great Barrington, hiking to three sets of waterfalls, Bash Bish Falls, Bear Rock and the cascades of Race Brook, visiting Guilder Pond and driving back from Great Barrington to Lee on a scenic road, before heading home on Sunday. Oh, and as a back-up or if we had extra time, I had more waterfall destinations up my sleeve.

View from Mt. Everett

View over the Berkshires

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WW – Details on a Walk to a Viewpoint: Morning Dew

July 20, 2016 / / 15 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. I hope you enjoy them.

My theme “Details” for this week comes from The Daily Post. From the moment I saw the prompt, this photo came to mind. I rarely take photos of details. Maybe I should in the future?

Morning dew

Morning dew

The walk to the lookout revealed this view (the details all blurred together :-)):

On top of Takaka Hill, South Island, New Zealand

On top of Takaka Hill, South Island, New Zealand

Or was it this view (where all details are pushed out of sight)? I can’t quite remember…

Another view from Takaka Hill

Another view from Takaka Hill

Do you prefer photographing landscapes, wildlife, portraits or details? Or, anything that strikes your fancy (but mostly nice views), like me?

(Super) Natural Wonders around Us

July 18, 2016 / / 24 Comments

Hoosac Tunnel

“We have to look for ghosts in the Hoosac Tunnel while we are in this area,” Mark said, out of the blue, during one of our drives to North Adams, the closest real city to us, about 40 minutes away. As we climbed Whitcomb Hill and mentally prepared for the steep descend, I gave him a puzzled look, “Ghosts? Where?” “Have you never heard of the haunted Hoosac Tunnel?” he asked. How would I? I am not familiar with local legends and folklore anywhere, let alone in Massachusetts. Of course, the notion peaked my curiosity. How could it not?  So, yesterday, I added the tunnel to our sightseeing itinerary.

Approaching Hoosac Tunnel from the east

Approaching Hoosac Tunnel from the east

The digging of the 4.75 mile Hoosac Tunnel in the Berkshire Hills started in 1851 and wasn’t finished until 1875. At its completion, the railroad tunnel was the longest in North America and the second longest in the world, after the Mont Cenis Tunnel in the French Alps. To this day, it remains the longest active transportation tunnel (for freight) east of the Rocky Mountains and operates without a schedule. The building of the tunnel, however, was a nightmare of blood, sweat and tears. Continue reading

Climbing Mount Greylock… the Easy Way

July 4, 2016 / / 22 Comments

Ever since we arrived in Heath, MA to do this five month house sit, Mark has been interested in climbing the biggest mountain of the state, which is located an hour drive away. Usually I’m the first one to partake in any exciting hike or adventure, but ascending a 3500ft (1067 m) mountain is not in the cards anymore for me. Many times in the past, when scaling smaller hills and mountains, my “Sure, let’s do it! I’ll just walk at my own pace.” turned into tough, steep climbs with loads of sweat, many breaks and a guaranteed headache. Turning 40 is no joke!

Entering the mountain park

Entering the mountain park

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A Weekend of Camping and Hiking in Vermont; and a Visit Beyond

June 20, 2016 / / 14 Comments

I can’t quite remember the last time Mark and I went camping for pleasure, as in when we really wanted to go camping. My recollections go back ten years ago or so, when our dogs, the Grand Canyon and loads of insect bites were part of the experience. I mention the “for pleasure” part, because the previous time we seriously camped was for two months in 2007, when a tent and a car were all we owned, so camping was our lifestyle. It wasn’t necessarily our preferred way to live, but the cheapest option in between other adventures. We had just moved out of our truck camper and were in the process of searching and eventually buying our sailboat.

Trying to set up the tent at home - check. All parts are present.

Trying to set up the tent at home – check. All parts are present.

The tent we had for ages was finally traded for some local handicrafts in the San Blas Islands, Panama, a few years ago and a new tent recently became ours through a promotion online. It was time to test it out in earnest. Continue reading

Visit to Northampton, MA

June 13, 2016 / / 18 Comments

One of the big advantages of a house and pet sitting lifestyle is that you have the chance to live in different places with every assignment. While we primarily prefer longer term sits for our own comfort, sense of settling in and being able to concentrate on work projects without having to move constantly, we also enjoy being immersed in a new area and having plenty of opportunity and time to explore its surroundings during the weekends.

Recently, our temporary dog Jenny needed new food from a pet food store quite a drive from here.  Dave’s Soda and Pet City (interesting name for a pet food store) has a location in the city of Northampton, where other chores could be accomplished, and where neither of us had been before. We decided to combine the necessary with the pleasant and explored the college town around noon on a Saturday.

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Walk through Luik/Liège/Lüttich in Belgium

June 7, 2016 / / 13 Comments

On my final day in Belgium, I did not pack my bags, raid the grocery store for chocolate and pay a last visit to my 96-year-old grandma, like I usually do. I had squeezed all that into the previous day. No, this year, my final day was spent with my mom, going on a daytrip to Luik by train.

Luik might be better known as Liège, since it is located in Wallonia, the French-speaking part of Belgium. The Germans of our country call it Lüttich. Yes, we have three official languages in this tiny country, none of which is English. This can cause some confusion with visitors, who have no idea that these three names actually are the same city.

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A Fun-filled Memorial Day Weekend

June 2, 2016 / / 18 Comments

I’ve mentioned before that one of the nicest things about the A-Z Blogging Challenge was meeting a bunch of interesting people online through stories and comments. That I would actually meet one of these blogging travelers in person a month later came as an unexpected bonus!

The second half of April, I discovered Jaye and Dan’s blog “Life Afloat”, where she writes about her minimalistic life on their 33’ sailboat Cinderella. I learned that, over the summer, she and her husband would crew on the tall ship El Galeon a second time. This life-size replica of a Spanish galleon would pull into Newburyport over Memorial Day weekend. And the rest was history as they say…

With our tour guides Jaye and Dan

With our “off duty” tour guides Jaye and Dan in front of the tall ship El Galeon

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Wordless Wednesday – To Fence or Not to Fence?

May 25, 2016 / / 7 Comments
Gate in the countryside

Gate in the Belgian countryside

Here are other Wordless Wednesday submissions.

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