Roaming About

A Life Less Ordinary

Category: Places (page 21 of 25)

Things to See in the Northern Gold Country

January 16, 2017 / / 28 Comments

When Mark and I stayed in Rocklin, California for a three-month house and pet sit assignment, we took advantage of the nice weekends to explore the region a bit. Located in the northern part of the Central Valley, Rocklin lies in close proximity to California’s northern gold country, an area that became famous during the 1849 gold rush. Waves of immigrants, now known as the 49ers, were attracted by the rich soils, containing gold and other minerals, and moved to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada to work in the gold mines. Appropriately named State Route 49 is the primary north-south highway through Gold Country, along which many historic mining communities can be visited.

Nevada City street scene

Auburn

Barely a half an hour drive from us, Auburn was easily accessible for a visit. The main attractions in town are Old Town, the Gold Rush Museum and Placer County Courthouse, which also contains the Historical Museum. After a quick glimpse of town, we preferred the excellent hiking opportunities in Auburn State Recreation Park.

Community garden for veterans

Grass Valley Continue reading

Then and Now – Sunset

December 16, 2016 / / 27 Comments

I am sticking with my Friday “Then and Now” theme for a few more weeks, since I am having fun with it. I wonder whether these amazing and interesting skies would fit into Cee’s Odd Ball category for photography? While sunsets are beautiful, they do create some odd shapes and colors into the sky. 🙂

When you live on the water for eight years, there are numerous sunsets to enjoy. The best of them occur when there is a clear view of the horizon, in my opinion. In October, I posted one of my favorite sunset photos and here is another small selection of the – yes, you can believe it – hundreds of sunset photos I took or witnessed over the years.

Grenada, Caribbean – 2009-2011

Martinique, Caribbean  – 2010 Continue reading

Then and Now – My Birthday

December 2, 2016 / / 36 Comments

Last week, Donna from Retirement Reflections suggested I do a “Then and Now” post about my birthday. While the thought had crossed my mind, I was hesitant to pursue it, because I thought I could do something bigger with that topic than “just” a blog post. See, a little while back, I played with the brief idea to make my variety of birthdays a thread in the memoir I am writing, or at least incorporate my last decade into an article, “Sailing through My Thirties” or something like that. As always with most of my genius ideas, not much ever happens with them. So, why not turn the thought into a blog? Some parts will still make it into my book, so I can’t reveal any juicy details or you won’t buy it. 🙂 The photos will not be able to make it into the memoir,  so… here are some birthday galleries!

30 – Monterrey, California, USA

My birthday in 2005 was a bit stressful and exciting at the same time, since our sailboat F/Our Choice/s (on which we were living) was getting hauled out of the water in the morning and undergoing an inspection to be sold. Or not… We spent part of the afternoon in the amazing aquarium and went out to dinner. We both love Monterrey, especially the wildlife, like sea otters swimming by the boat.

31 – Belize, Central America

Continue reading

Then and Now – Fall

November 18, 2016 / / 23 Comments

Now that Mark and I have been house and pet sitting throughout the US for over a year, we often think back about then, when we were still full-time cruisers on Irie. I am hoping to post a few photos about the difference in lifestyle, views and perspective the coming months. For this one, I was inspired by Terri’s blog link-up Seasonal Sensations – Autumn Leaves.

Autumn in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (2009)

Autumn in Venezuela (2011) Continue reading

Wordless Wednesday – Tiny

November 16, 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 “tiny“.

Bahamian sloop against a giant cruise ship in Nassau

Bahamian sloop against a giant cruise ship in Nassau

When you compare local boats to cruise ships, they look tiny. When you climb to the top of a hill or mountain, things down below are tiny. Continue reading

Sunny Sacramento

November 14, 2016 / / 29 Comments
Horse and carriage with "new Sacramento" in the background

Horse and carriage with “new Sacramento” in the background

Mark and I drove across the country and temporarily moved to California to enjoy a warmer winter than last year in New England. So far, we cannot complain. It is not as hot here as in Southern California or Florida (or French Polynesia :-)), but the 70 degree daytime temperatures (20s Celsius) have been very pleasant.

Because it will get colder and rainier soon, we take advantage of the sunny days by going on long walks and hikes with Herk (the cute rescue dog we are currently caring for), even during the week. Continue reading

Wordless Wednesday – Chaos

November 9, 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.  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 “chaos“.

While I feel chaos is about to ensue in the US (and the world), I will not dwell on that. From a travel-perspective, chaos to me means border crossings and local markets. I don’t recall any happy memories from border crossings in Central America or Southeast Asia, which are busy, loud, hot and overwhelming. Visiting markets, with their vibrant colors, diversity in local produce and determined buyers and sellers, is much more fun!

Chaos near the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Chaos near the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic

Continue reading

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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