Maya, Dixie, and Max cooling off in the lake of Island Pond, Vermont
Maya is still learning how to swim – awkwardly
Max LOVES retrieving balls – ashore and in the water
Maya, relaxing in the sand
Did I mention that Max is eager to play ball, all…the…time?
Practice makes perfect!
Wet and cooled off, but done playing with the ball
Just because I love sunsets, with or without dogs…
Until next time…
This is my contribution to this week’s (mostly) Wordless Wednesday.
We spotted a groundhog in the back yard.
Keeping an eye on her flock.
A family with five adolescents… and more individuals in the front yard. So cute!
Maya smells the groundhogs. They hide in tunnels behind the rocks of the retaining walls.
A couple of weeks ago, I shared some of our human encounters in Florida this past winter. Mark and I (and Maya) enjoy meeting old and new friends, but when it comes to my personal happiness level, animal observations and interactions – especially in the wild – always make me smile! Here are some of the creatures we came across on our walks.
Gopher tortoise
Jellyfish on the beach in Marineland
A lot has been said – and written – about this recent pandemic and its affects. I shared a few posts about it myself, here (how it influenced our lifestyle in mid-March), here (what we still managed to squeeze in, sightseeing-wise), here (in relation to our expenses), and here is where I left off on April 1st.
(Click on photos to enlarge or hover over them for captions.)
Self-isolation Take One
After a few hits and misses at several parks and boondocking spots and a failed week-long hotel splurge in Hilton Head, we checked out our “last resort” in decent weather: the free campground at Santee Coastal Reserve in South Carolina. The entrance road was serene and welcoming, but we didn’t settle – mentally or physically – until we arrived without any “No camping due to COVID-19” signs blocking our progress.
The campground was quiet and peaceful. No amenities, which means no restrooms, water, electricity, sewer, or trash. Pack it in, pack it out. That might have been the reason why this place was still open – the workers weren’t at risk cleaning facilities. We found a roomy, relatively private campsite with sun for the solar panels and shade for the camper, a picnic table, and a fire ring.
After three unusually rainy and/or cold winters out west in our 19ft camper van, Zesty, we had one objective for this last season: be warm. The only place in the lower 48s to assure that: Florida. Southern Florida. Since Mark and I always “bring” weird weather wherever we go, something would be amiss in the Sunshine State this winter as well. Firstly, Sunshine State is a misnomer better suited for California or Arizona, as the skies have been mostly cloudy (except on the days I take photos :-)). Secondly, we regularly had 40-degree weather (5 degrees Celsius) in January and, skipping spring all together, upper eighties from March on. Unseasonably hot.
Here’s what we’ve been up to the last three months…
(Hover over the photos to read the captions or click to enlarge.)
January 2020
The new year and new decade couldn’t have started better. After work and a bit of sightseeing in Kentucky, we drove to Florida to celebrate the arrival of 2020 with good sailing friends in Marineland. Even Maya liked her week-long visit to their refurbished catamaran, Sauvage. We were invited by a business owner in St. Augustine, who welcomed us with open arms and spoiled us with splendid company, food, and promises. Good times!
Join us for one of our walks near the Lake Panasoffkee Water Management District (WMD) campground, where we stayed for ten days – without ever seeing the lake. 🙂 The cows occupied the field two days before we left.
Our free campground for ten days!
Oh, hello!
For the last five years, Mark needed to return to Massachusetts in January for doctor visits. Sometimes, I joined him. Not that I wanted to (who prefers to be in the Boston area in the middle of winter?) but because it was my only solution. Other times, I stayed at a house sit. This year, because of our lovely dog, there was no way out. Maya and I would remain in Zesty for those five days.
Mark and I have pretty much been together 24/7 since the day we became a couple in December 2004. Despite our compatibility, I’m quite independent and truly, utterly adore time alone. In the past, I treasured spurts of me-time on visits to Belgium (which didn’t happen in 2019), a few solo days in California, or evenings apart during Mark’s job at Amazon. Still, I’d never been alone in our camper van for more than 11 hours. So how did that work out last January?
Continue readingEvery six months for the last five years, Mark had to return to Boston, Massachusetts. No matter where we found ourselves in the world, this was a priority. In the summers, I’d usually join him, but in the winter time, I’d rather not. I’d stay at a house sit by myself whenever possible. Last year, I ended up joining him in January, because all else failed. I wrote about that in my post “The Desperate House Sitter“. This year, having Maya, we better found a solution for me to remain in Florida!
Usually, we don’t plan where we go, how we get there, or where we stay. We use iOverlander when it’s time to find a place to camp and boondock based on what we find. We rarely stay longer than a night anywhere, mostly because these places – especially on the East Coast of the US – aren’t often comfortable or private. The exception was Osceola National Forest in Florida, where we spent almost a week at the Hog Pen Landing primitive campground mid-January, after a hectic start of the new year.
If it wasn’t for an interesting job opportunity, Mark and I would never have considered visiting Kentucky. Yet, upon reading what the state has to offer and actually driving through its attractive countryside, we discovered beauty from rolling hills to majestic buildings and from famous events to dark, long caves. We are not alone in our positive findings; we kept hearing about surprising discoveries other campers and visitors made as well.
(Scroll over the image to read captions or click to enlarge.)
As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we thought we’d have time to explore the area during our seven-week job commitment, but the night schedule was too exhausting to venture far on our one full day off. That being said, we found a few fun hikes around lakes near Campbellsville and saved the other attractions until the Amazon job was finished. We actually planned to head south as quickly as possible, that December 25th, but unseasonably warm weather made these Kentucky stops possible.
Continue readingIf you are a regular reader, you will probably remember most of our journey through 2019. If you are new to our site, I invite you to browse and click around a bit for stories and photos about our past adventures. The links in this post give you a glimpse into some of those experiences.
Driving part of historic route 66, AZ
January
Mark and I explored the Borrego Springs area in the California desert, flew to Newburyport, Massachusetts to see doctors, friends, and family, and did a short repeat house sit in San Diego.
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