Time to go, after five years!
A sad goodbye…
There was a garbage can next to the car. 🙂
Roaming About
A Life Less Ordinary
Category: Wordless Wednesday (page 2 of 6)
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
Pelican at rest
Snowy egret waiting for a fish hand-out
This heron was a fisherman’s best friends
Resting osprey
Osprey in flight
My “lucky” osprey shot
The World’s Largest Axe
There it is… it’s big.
Zesty and the axe
Maya and the axe
The Nicest Brewery on Our Journey
Continue readingFor the last month, Mark, Maya, and I stayed with my in-laws in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where we have a comfortable room above their garage. The summer is the time for us to deal with doctor’s visits, catch up with friends and family, and get work done. Here are a few glimpses of our recent “sedentary” life.
Maya feels right at home on the porch
Visits from the twins – playing with grandma and her hose on a hot day
Cera and Lily showing off yoga poses
Lily put her bow on Maya
Three months ago, Mark and I visited the Madonna Inn, which is a vintage hotel in San Luis Obispo (SLO), CA. Built and ran by the legendary businessman Alex Madonna, it has kept its fascinating late-fifties decor. Ready to travel back in time?
Sign along the highway
Main lodge
The bakery section is famous for its cakes.
Boots and bar stools
Restaurant area – yes, it was before Christmas
Little alleys and shops everywhere inside.
Banquet/dining room
Pink dominates!
The owner and builder Alex Madonna
The wine cellar
Women’s bathroom
Men’s bathroom
The history of this unique establishment can be found here.
This is my contribution for Wordless Wednesday.
Have you ever visited or stayed in a place like the Madonna Inn?
In Newburyport, Massachusetts
In San Diego, California
Spot the seven differences. 🙂
This post is my contribution for this week’s Wordless Wednesday.
I have not touched ice skates since I was a teenager. How about you? Do you ice skate these days? Indoors or outdoors? Only in winter or all year long?
It’s been a while since I combined a Wordless Wednesday blog with the weekly prompt of the Daily Post. Since my week has been incredibly busy and I don’t have time for a regular post, I decided to share some photos with you. This week’s Daily Post photography theme is “liquid“. As many of you know, Mark and I lived, sailed, and worked on our 35’ catamaran Irie for eight years, so it will be no surprise that my liquid of choice is water.
As I’m working daily on my memoir, the memories of our experiences aboard Irie are fresh. Welcome to a visual of that period of my life!
The Galapagos Islands
My favorite activity is interacting with and observing wildlife in their natural surroundings. The Galapagos delivered!
All we had to do was look over the side of our boat…
Penguin swimming around our boat
Sea lion swimming by our boat
… or jump in the water.
Snorkeling with eagle rays
Snorkeling with sea lions
Snorkeling with turtles
French Polynesia
Some readers might remember that when Mark and I did a one-month house sit in Santa Fe last summer, every Saturday morning, we would jump in Zesty for a weekend away. We visited a national park or interesting attraction in the area. It was our first prolonged time in New Mexico, and the state has a lot to offer. Due to the windy weather, among other things, we haven’t been able to go on weekend trips this time around. Luckily, we are here for two months, so stay tuned!
Mark and I passed by Galisteo – and its cute church – to cut off part of the trail and pick it up closer to home
A few days ago, we went for a Sunday drive, to follow the Turquoise Trail, a scenic byway between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The route is named after the turquoise gemstones that used to be mined in this area, and is 54 miles long. While we’ve seen more impressive landscapes on road trips, the stops along the trail were worthwhile.
Cerillos
Cerrillos is an old mining town…
… resembling a ghost town
The two bars are the busiest places in town
The church is scenic
The movie Young Guns was filmed here
Madrid Continue reading
Mark and I never had the amount of money or the required connections to ever go behind the scenes of anything. That was until we reconnected with our friend Amy this past winter. As a recently graduated zoologist and no-nonsense environmentalist, she has friends in the right places, namely the renowned San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. So, on our last weekend house and pet sitting in San Diego, California, she treated us to a return visit at the Safari Park, where we came up-close with tigers and elephants, and learned a bunch more about those species and the zoo’s conservation efforts.
The two tiger cubs we first saw in November 2017 had grown substantially!
The “mother” of all tigers
The tigers take turns at the exhibits, and rest, eat and are given “enrichments” (like toys and smells) in their “chambers” when not outside.
One of the cubs was seized during a border smuggling attempt from Mexico, and the other was brought from Washington, D.C., to provide companionship.
Almost every day, Mark and I walked Elvis and Frida to and around Liberty Station for an hour-long outing. When we returned via Trader Joe’s to pick up a few groceries, we passed signs for “Rock Church”, and observed a building named “The School of Rock”. Once, our little getaway took place on a Sunday morning. Crowds of people – rows and rows of them on the sidewalks – made their way to the church. Traffic control was in place and notices in the supermarkets’ parking lots warned against stationing your car there to attend Sunday service. Our curiosity was peaked! Especially when someone mentioned that the “rock” had nothing to do with the building material, but with a rock concert.
Full parking lots and driveways near the stores
Traffic control
Front of the Rock Church at Liberty Station on Point Loma, San Diego
Church hall
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