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A Life Less Ordinary

Category: Nature (page 11 of 19)

IWSG Writing Update March 2019 – My Road to Publication Step 2: Submitting to Agents

March 6, 2019 / / 51 Comments

Every first Wednesday of the month, the IWSG (Insecure Writer’s Support Group) engages writers to share their fears, thoughts, progress, struggles, excitement, encouragement, or anything really, about their writing.

This amazing, supportive group of writers was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh. Today, the co-hosts are Fundy Blue, Beverly Stowe McClure, Erika Beebe, and Lisa Buie-Collard. Feel free to swing by their sites and see what they’re up to.

My book progress

Last month, I decided to share my personal road to publication, starting with the non-fiction book proposal. You can read that post here. Such a proposal is needed to pitch a memoir to an agent or publisher. I’m pursuing the traditional publishing route first, since one can “always self-publish later.” Continue reading

California Desert Escape

January 13, 2019 / / 55 Comments

What do you do when you feel like you’re overstaying your welcome at a friend’s house in San Diego (and you have a husband antsy to return to nature and could use a little break from memoir work yourself)? You pack up, jump in your camper van, and head into the California desert for a couple of days. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is huge. You opt for the Borrego Springs area as an initiation to this region since you don’t have much time.

Zesty on desert roads

You boondock in solitude and under a million stars.

Hawk Canyon
First use of my selfie stick! 🙂
Spotting another Westy! Her name is Thistle and we chatted with the owners until nightfall.
Quiet spot in the desert
Sunrise in the desert

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The Yeasty Beasty Experience

December 19, 2018 / / 57 Comments

Today, I would like to introduce you to an incredible couple, who we are happy to call close friends. Some of our best friends are the ones we met when living on the road or on the water; there’s nothing like hanging out with kindred spirits, or visiting them again during our travels.

Our first “international” party on Irie happened in Green Turtle Cay, Abacos, Bahamas
It’s here that we met Tom
Irie anchored in Green Turtle Cay in 2008
Cute settlement of Green Turtle

Mark and I met Tom in Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas, in 2008. He was sailing his sturdy little Ellida and would meet up with his girlfriend further down the Caribbean island chain. In St. Martin, we caught up with him and Karmen, who is a chiropractor and aspiring photographer. Her traits came in handy, as Mark was suffering from a bad back one year and he and I had a romantic plan the next year.  Continue reading

Our Oregon Trail

November 23, 2018 / / 46 Comments

When Mark and I crossed the border into Oregon mid-October, we were welcomed with blue skies and friendly smiles. A tad different from the Olympic Peninsula. An Indian summer had arrived and the outdoors was calling. Before heading into nature again, Mark and I stopped in Portland. We met up with a dear friend we had last seen in Luperon, Dominican Republic, ten years ago. It was another reunion that will make it into a separate blog. As a matter of fact, we reconnected with three sets of friends in this state. I ought to dedicate my next post to all the beautiful friendships we experienced while on the road these last four months.

Portland

The biggest, most vibrant city in Oregon is not its capital. That honor belongs to Salem, which we would visit with friends later on. In Portland, we succumbed to urban camping. We had read about a 24-hour parking lot in the funky Alberta neighborhood, NE of the city center, where one could “settle” for $1.50 a day. This small piece of land, the size of a parking spot, became our home for a couple of days.

Our home base for a couple of days

We explored the popular bar and restaurant scene of Alberta on foot.

Fall in Portland
Funky stores
Food trucks are popular
There are many of them, throughout the neighborhood
Art is a part of this area as well.
We loved the colors and the vibe of this neighborhood

We rode our bikes across the Willamette River into the city center to soak up the vibe along the waterfront park (with its many homeless people), downtown and in Washington park.

This bridge is my favorite and the one we took with our bikes. There is a separate lane for bikers and pedestrians.
Downtown Portland
Old and new coexist
Pioneer Courthouse Square
Mark and I spotted and used an all gender restroom for the first time. It was a bit more complicated, but oh-so making sense to have all the facilities in one room.
One of the statues dispersed throughout downtown
Quite a few bridges cross the Willamette River into downtown Portland.
Time for another lunch with a view
Taking the bikes into Washington Park and its famous rose garden
Happy Halloween!
Of course, we had to check out world-renowned Powell’s book store.
Floors and floors of books (an entire city block) are overwhelming, to say the least.

And then, we had three days left, before we would meet good friends in Monmouth, near Salem. The city life (and its noise) wasn’t very accommodating to our wallets and ears, so east we headed in our camper van, towards the town of Hood River.

The Columbia River Delta

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The Olympic Peninsula, Washington

November 15, 2018 / / 39 Comments

When Mark and I were “done” with Vancouver Island in Canada, the beginning of October, we faced a dilemma: taking the ferry through the San Juan Islands and visit Seattle, or hop on the older alternative and discover the Olympic Peninsula. Since you read the title of this blog post, you know what we decided.

The Olympic Peninsula is a relatively large, remote and “forgotten” appendix in the Northwest of the state Washington. It’s well-known for its rain, rainforest, lush surroundings, and more rain. So, we knew what to expect, when we took Zesty for a spin through this fertile and moss-covered region. The highlight of the area is Olympic National Park, for which our annual national park pass came in handy again. There is a big circular route around this huge wilderness playground, but since we were heading south, we had to choose between the east or the west side. The western road offered more access roads into the park, but the eastern route offered a detour to Port Townsend, a town we’d heard nice things about. We doubted ever coming back this way, so found a solution.

Sail loft
Marina – this town is very boat-oriented
Waterfront
“Skyline” of Port Townsend
Lots of historic buildings in town
Stroll through town…
Buildings from a bygone era
Old tobacco advertisement on the wall
… and along the waterfront. Whidbey Island lies across the channel.
Historic downtown

Port Townsend

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Van Life on Van Island – Part II: The Sunny Spell

October 30, 2018 / / 55 Comments

Mark and I have been exploring and living in our camper van Zesty full-time since the end of July 2018. Last week, I wrote a blog (with tons of photos) about arriving in Canada, early September, and our first ten or so days on Vancouver Island. The rain was omnipresent, but we managed to have a wonderful time. When the sky cleared, Mark and I left Campbell River (see my Bears vs. Salmon post for one of our highlights in Canada) to explore a more remote and cooler part of the island – the north – before tracing the East Coast all the way to its southern point.

To read the photo captions, hover your mouse over the images, tap them once, or click to make them larger.

Sayward

Few travelers venture north of Campbell River, where island communities are smaller and hardier. It’s colder and wetter up there, so we tried to take advantage of the few sunny days in the forecast. We stopped at the town of Sayward, anticipating to spend the night there at a free campground. Upon discovering that our resource, iOverlander, was wrong – there is a fee to dry camp in town – we checked out the inviting waterfront and moved on to spend the night elsewhere.

City Park in Sayward
Sayward Harbor
Beautiful view across the Discovery Channel
Logging is big business on the island
The logs are sorted and organized with this tiny boat

The logging industry is huge on Vancouver Island. Continue reading

Van Life on Van Island – Part I: The Rainy Spell

October 24, 2018 / / 49 Comments

Whistler Moments

From the moment we entered Canada, it started raining. Well, not quite. Before the deluge, we managed to fit a trip to Whistler in with our friend Rachel, whom we met in the South Pacific sailing. Her sister generously offered the three of us a night in her time-share there, so we didn’t have to be in a hurry. Talk about a luxury experience for us. The room was more than adequate, comfortable and modern; Whistler itself was a fun resort town to walk through, eat and window shop. The highlight to me, as always, was nature and what it had to offer. That “last” sunny day provided us with beautiful waterfalls, enjoyable hiking trails and good company!

Shannon Falls
Picnic lunch with Rachel on the way to Whistler
Mark and I on the suspension bridge on the Train Wreck Trail
Rachel on the suspension bridge on the Train Wreck Trail
Brandywine Falls – one of my all-time favorites
A train derailed close to this spot. Some of the cars were moved deeper in the forest, where they became art exhibits.
All the cars found here now sport graffiti.
Zombies in the train wreck!
The Winter Olympics took place in Whistler in 2010.
Town center of Whistler
The Olympic rings in town
Viewpoint along the way back to Vancouver

Vancouver in the Rain

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The Quinsam River Salmon Hatchery – Bears vs. Salmon

October 19, 2018 / / 43 Comments

Salmon return to their home waters, upstream, to spawn and die. That’s about all Mark and I knew about these fish and the “salmon run” when autumn approached. Other than their meat being expensive and tasty, especially smoked.

During our stay on Vancouver Island in September, we learned that it was soon to be the height of the Pink Salmon run. There are five different wild Pacific salmon species in this part of the world: Chinook, Sockeye, Coho, Chum, and Pink.

When we hiked along rivers, we peered into the crystal-clear waters, expecting hundreds of fish leap against the stream and up waterfalls. It wasn’t quite like that, but we did see a couple of salmon attempt this amazing feat. They were immediately swept back downstream to rest up and try again. Capturing them on camera was an even more challenging feat.

Nymph Falls
Nymph Falls, where we saw a few salmon jump the rapids

We heard about a fish hatchery in Qualicum Beach and decided to check it out, mid-September. Continue reading

North Cascades National Park, Washington

October 11, 2018 / / 53 Comments

After our whirlwind visit to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Mark and I wished to explore Glacier National Park in Montana. My intention was to then continue our trip into Canada: Waterton Lakes NP, Banff and Jasper NPs, and saying a quick “hello” to our friends Sue and Dave in Calgary, before heading west to Vancouver and Vancouver Island.  I write “my intention”, because we never plan much in advance, and this whole itinerary might have been a tad ambitious, as summer was already ending this far north. Why was that a surprise to me?

Upon doing research online about Glacier National Park, we discovered that massive forest fires raged on the western edge of the park. This was the preferred side for us to enter, because it offered spectacular views, contained free camping, the distance was doable, and it made most sense for our route north. But, the western entrance was closed. We decided to skip this park altogether and drove westwards within the United States, choosing North Cascades National Park as our new destination in Washington state.

Liberty Bell Mountain, seen from Washington Pass overlook
View into the valley we just drove through
Approaching the main part of North Cascades National Park
Diablo Lake from above
Diablo Lake viewpoint, along WA-20

The Logistics

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Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA

September 26, 2018 / / 46 Comments

Not yet

The draw of Yellowstone – so close now – was strong and yet, hesitation arose, because we knew it would be busy, tourist-wise and sightsee-wise, after an already active period in Grand Teton National Park. There is a spot of “no-man’s land” between the two parks. It’s called John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway and we found a beautiful free campsite there. The reported mosquitoes in the reviews of this place were absent, the surroundings peaceful, and our site even had a picnic table, vault toilet, fire ring and multiple trees to hang a clothesline for laundry. We stayed two nights.

Zesty at his free campsite
Cloud reflection at sunset
“Our” river at dusk
Doing laundry in the icy river
A day to catch up on chores

Why Yellowstone?

Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the US and is one of the most popular.  If there are two US parks people in Belgium have heard about, it’s this one and the Grand Canyon. I don’t know any visitor who hasn’t raved about the place. Images of geysers, colorful pools, bison, and bears urged me to put this destination on my “list for the future” over a decade ago, when the park didn’t make it on my RV itinerary on the way to Alaska.

In front of one of the beautiful pools

First impressions

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