Life's Been Good To Us So Far!

Yup, we are flying “calm air” to Churchill . There’s our little plane that had about half its seats stacked high with boxes strapped to them. I think only about 15 passengers When we first started planning this trip, Brant’s primary goal was to see the northern lights. As we approached the date over the…
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When we first started planning this trip, Brant’s primary goal was to see the northern lights. As we approached the date over the past several weeks, heavy cloud cover was predicted, perhaps even rain. At one point we even considered cancelling the trip as it was a pricey adventure to be sitting in a hotel room. Fortunately most of it was nonrefundable.

Our friends dropped us off at the airport in Toronto where we took a quick flight to Winnipeg… or Winterpeg as my friend calls it. There were no connections to Churchill so we dropped off our luggage to overnight at the airport hotel and ubered into the city to check out the WAG museum followed by some great Thai food.

The plan was to fly there (pricey) then take the overnight train with sleeper back. The sleepers were bunk beds and were the 21 st place we have stayed overnight on this trip. Definitely the smallest space we’ve stayed in, but we were thankful to get them and could have easily auctioned them off for triple what we paid.

I would not say Churchill is beautiful. It is flat with lots of shades of brown. There are infrequent clumps of fir trees fighting for their life. Most of the buildings look like prefab things they have plopped down on the permafrost. So without a doubt this place benefited the most of any town we’ve ever seen by having a mural program . Apparently artists came from all over a few years ago. Hope they did it in on a warm summer day as it’s hard to paint when you are shivering.

Of course we weren’t here for the landscape. We were here for the northern lights. And a bonus, polar bears.

We arrived at just the start of the season. Polar bear season that is. This is why: the regional polar bears (about 600 of them) come ashore as the ice melts in the summer then they just wander out amongst the wilderness to wait for cold weather to freeze up the bay again. Hopefully they’ve fattened up on about 50 seals over the course of fall, winter and spring so they can just laze around for a couple months while they wait for it to freeze again.

There is complex geography as to why the bears all gather here. This shallow spot in Hudson Bay also has lower salinity thus due to a large river flowing into it thus allowing it to freeze faster. You can understand why the polar bears chose this spot to gather but it’s a little murkier why humans chose it.

There is a port there but it’s currently not being used (and I assume can only be used a short time of the year). It was used for grain transport in the past. (They did tell us a small cruise ship came in from Greenland recently). During the Cold War it was a busy place with lots of missiles pointed at the northeast. It’s also an area that is doing/has done lots of research. For example, studies on the northern lights to find a way to use them to hide radio transmission of messages. A marine research area studies salinity, freezing and how to best continue shipping routes.

We were here for 3 nights but we got nearly 4 days because of departure/arrival times. One day we just relaxed, walked a bit in town, checked out gift shops… necessary to have these days in a long trip… and doing stuff here was very expensive! Plus, it was actually a bit unnerving to walk around. Especially after dark. There was a 10 PM curfew and no walking allowed along the coast (due to risk of bears this time of year).

Our first day 3 of us piled into the 4 by 4 with a guide. Then Thomas drove us slowly around gravel roads all day long… about 8 am til 5. Honestly a bit tedious and cold with the window often open, but we had some great conversations with Thomas a Norwegian with a masters in environmental toxicology who spends his spare time doing oil paintings of wildlife in the tundra. He’s had many jobs but I thought the most unique was being a bear guard while people doing work out on the tundra. His paintings are remarkably realistic… look up Thomas Taylor’s artwork.

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We feel incredibly LUCKY that we got an amazing night of northern lights. It was dense clouds all day but suddenly they dissipated at about 9pm. We had signed up for a northern lights tour that calls you if the lights come out. There is no charge if the lights don’t come out or you can opt out (if you decide it’s too cold). They called at 9 and about the same time one of our “polar bear colleague “ from earlier in the day kindly texted us to go outside now! We did and moments later our van rolled into the parking lot.

There is something a bit disconcerting about watching the dancing northern lights knowing we are standing outside in the dark in the same spots we saw polar bears earlier that day. We were thankful to have guide who had us stay in the car while he grabbed his rifle and checked the area. (He also kept scanning with a flashlight).

For me (and I think for Brant as well), watching the Northern lights was one of the best travel experiences of my life, but I can’t quite explain why. This mass of swirling light and color popping up all over the sky just seemed so unbelievable, so ever changing and surprising . It was as though the sky was trying to speak to us. I know that sounds odd but being out there under the dancing lights you could see why this had such meaning to the First Nations people. Honestly it made me want to dance. It was also nice to share it with group from Sri Lanka, Israel, India and Canada …. And for all of us to feel so moved by it together ( even the guide).

We have always had a rule to not eat at the same restaurant twice while on vacation. In this town there were 4 open restaurants. We quickly decided one was our favorite and proceeded to eat there 4 times! This is also a place where lots of groups come. People often stay just one day. There was even an RV group that gathers from all over the US in the peace garden in North or South Dakota . The convoy of RVS (19 this year) then proceeds to drive all the way to Thompson, Canada. There they take a chartered flight the rest of the way to Churchill. My kind of RVing, you stay in a hotel! There is no road going all the way to Churchill. You can only get there via train, or plane.

I asked the woman who picked us up at the airport what keeps her there. She quickly answered that it was the kindness and support of the people that makes her want to stay. Her shoe broke on their first day and 3 people came from the community with offers of shoes. There is no shoe store here. The people here did seem extraordinarily friendly and helpful. Even the tourists seemed much nicer than your average tourist here. People were here were not to take on some epic hike, it was all about being here in this unique place to watch the northern lights and see the bears. I think that attracts a remarkably easy going group of folks willing to bob around in a 4 by 4 for many hours, but so very excited when a bear is sighted . I guess it’s because it’s not about your personal achievement but what you happened to be lucky enough to see. Simultaneously everyone is trying to help everyone have a good experience…by pointing out wildlife, sharing warm clothes, texting when the lights come out, insisting the short people get in front when viewing. And with all that driving about, there was lots of good conversation. Much of the conversation is about protecting all these precious resources.

We always feel we’ve lead a bit of a boring life but have enjoyed hearing the adventures of many. We met very few US citizens but many who had immigrated from other countries and were determined to see everything in the northern hemisphere . People come from all over the world to experience this unique place. One young man I think from India was so very excited to be watching the northern lights (as we all were), he said there is nothing more Canadian than this! I did not correct him, but in truth I have yet to meet a Canadian (until now) that has been to Churchill.

That said, it is a bit creepy to walk around town. There is a 10pm curfew because the bear patrol goes off duty at 10. One of our guides told us he once came out his front door quickly to go a couple doors down to a neighbors for a drink. At that moment a bear patrol vehicle whipped around the corner blowing the horn and flashing lights. He thought it was a friend joking with him until he turned around to see a big polar bear less than 30 feet away.

Just like a big fluffy dog he had found some hunk of plastic to chew on. Sad but he looked he was enjoying it.

Another day we went on a tundra buggy with a viewing platform for another 8 hour day. Early in the day we saw:

This was early in the season so there was not huge numbers of bears, but also there were a lot less tourists. There are 600 polar bears making there way here. After driving around for quite a while the driver (yes slightly tedious) returned to our trio. Mom saw us and decided it was time to cross the river with her cubs and check us out. Windows were gently opened and we tried our best to be quiet. They showed no fear…. Sauntering right up and around our truck.

A perfect end to the day. Well except it wasn’t the end. We had just the right amount of time to have a nice dinner then grab our luggage and get ferried to the train station (a short walk but would hate to lose my luggage to a polar bear). At the train station after greeting all the people we had met on various tours/restaurants on the trip, we were taken to our tiny sleeper car.

Almost forgot:

Here are a couple pics of polar bears that we missed seeing on our “day off “ but one of our polar bear colleagues was kind enough to share:

We had a backpack of snacks and beverages (because we had heard food was very limited). The trip is 48 hours. Yes that is correct 48 hours. It is 48 hours because it’s a long way which is made longer by stopping at every little town. For example we picked up fish at one town and delivered it to another.

In Shetland everyone talked about whether you should fly or ferry… here people discussed whether you should take train or fly.

Lots of beautiful leaves:

Though at 45 hours we felt quite ready to get off the train. We were done with “chilling”. So one more night in Winnipeg then a flight to Calgary. Once in Calgary just 3.5 hours to Cabo San Lucas. Yet another reason there are so many Canadians come to LB.

We had been gone for 2 months and realized just how much we had missed little giggling kids zipping around in stores. It was even funny when the cow plodded out in front of our car on the main highway. The town was sleepy and slow when we left in August but the restaurants have reopened and construction was moving along and of course, lots of sand in the street from the storm. Once again, we have returned home to a jungle thankful that the plants seem pretty happy and we have a shady oasis!

Brant took this video and none of is zoomed. The lights filled the sky. Toward the end you can see a little bit of the “dancing”

Good to be home for tacos and margaritas!

This has been the driving portion of our nearly 2 month trip. So lucky I am to be with a guy who patiently zips along for hours at a time with no complaints. It is a time in the trip that you hope for boredom as the alternative is generally of a car problem solving nature. And lucky to have a friend who patiently sits in the back seat deleting photos while waiting for the next coffee stop.

As navigator my job is often to find a picnic spot not too far off the road preferably scenic with bathrooms. Well 2/3 isn’t too bad:

Sokokis Lake was more than worth the wait. Nice to spend a couple days exploring especially when one day is a brilliant blue sunny day as the foliage begins to turn

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The first day was gray cold drizzly rain. It was a typical fall day coupled with a drive through towns and countryside that gave me Deja vu. And sometimes a deep sense of sadness, as I remembered moments with my brothers so long ago. California is where I think I will always feel my deepest connection, Mexico is my beautiful ocean playground and New England is somehow still my home.

We didn’t have long enough to bask in the sun but we will be back! Next stop was Cooperstown, home of the baseball hall of fame and museum. The museum was much more interesting than the sport itself and without the tacky music! I learned lots of baseball trivia and even got to practice my Spanish in the Latino exhibit. It was great people watching (and eavesdropping). Truly my favorite part was watching the joy and excitement in people’s faces (especially the old folks which was surprisingly the majority) as they saw an exhibit on their favorite player. Sometimes the chatter of statistics was harder to follow than the spanish placards. Overall I thought Cooperstown was very pricey and a bit odd. A fun stop but one night was plenty.

Next stop… Niagara Falls.

Lucky for us we got a wonderful room with truly spectacular view of the falls (part luck, part Marriott card and price). Honestly I could have spent the day in our room.

It is also lucky for Americans that the person who designed Central Park convinced the US to buy 100s of acres around the falls. Regardless it is still a bit shocking to see these majestic falls next to skyscrapers and casinos.

Our friends chipped in with lots of recommendations which could have taken days to do but honestly after 2 nights we were ready to move on. Lots of other stuff to come back to see though. I would like to ride the rapids.

As always surprising to take a hike and leave most of the folks behind… just forest and rushing river.

So glad we did that boat ride, the not just mist but drenching waterfall spray. I went to Niagara Falls when I was very young and so wanted to do it. How fortunate to get the opportunity to come back and get wet!

We also went to Niagara on the Lake which was a surprisingly busy spot. I could see why our Michigan friends say how the Great Lakes are like an ocean (though like is a matter of degree), but oddly the very best PEI mussels of the trip was at a restaurant in the typical cutesy town. We had a nice tasting stop at a winery where we got a couple bottles but regret not getting a case of red for our friends. Earlier in the trip I had ice wine so skipped the liqueur wine but was surprised at the quality of one of the reds.

Yet again kind friends picked us up. It is hard to believe that we have been traveling for about 6 weeks and we were still right on schedule. This time we dropped off our faithful Ford escape we had rented in Quebec City about 2 weeks earlier and were promptly picked up by our Los Barriles friends in Oakville. Great to get some shopping done, a little sightseeing, play pickle ball and ping pong, meet family and of course lots of great food and conversation in Oakville. Fun to learn some history at a local museum, especially learning about Canada’s role in the underground railroad. (It’s not the first time we have looked foolish and cruel to other countries). Then we left for another beautiful cabin next to another beautiful lake. It is interesting in this trip to get to be in 2 family cabins where 2 people spent their childhood (And both lovingly renovated over the years).Both of those folks grew up to be kind and caring yet very self sufficient folks…. Maybe this is “lake effect” …. And I thought that was just snow?

Our trip has had great variety (though not as crazy as the combo of Italy and Iceland). While both our “lake friends” had a million things they offered to do we reassured that our greatest gift was being together and soaking up the beauty of the lakes. We promised to come back for the other 950,000 activities. So glad we made it in time for the tent yarn sale and even more glad that another LB friend who also lives in Oakville has offered to drive my yarn purchases to LB! Wow… I should have bought more!

We have delayed our friends from Thanksgiving prep and close down for Mexico long enough. Once again we leave thankful for wonderful friends. Time to head for the original inspiration for this entire trip. It’s about time!

Love having posts to remind me later of our trips but when we stay with friends I don’t want to overstep privacy boundaries. I do however want to say that I still can’t believe that since retirement we have met so many fun, kind, and helpful friends. I have heard that your world shrinks after you retire. It seems to be the opposite for us. Certainly the people we have met world wide have made us feel a bit better about the world.

Our friends picked us up at the airport and took us to their ski town of Saint-Saveur. It’s a just the right sized cute town with nearby slopes. I’d wanted to see Montreal and a hop on hop off bus gave us a pleasant way to check it out. Our guide was not the best but he consistently advised us it was a “clean and safe city”. Good to know!

In Shingle Springs we had Apple hill, and we have now seen the French Canadian counterpart. A beautiful day to zip through wineries and Apple orchards in a convertible. Definitely an age reversing activity.

We have heard from many that we would like Quebec and they were right. Even better, to have a French Canadian at the wheel kindly picking up another friend at the airport (5 minutes after her arrival) then all 5 of us headed to the city. Yes, the city does feel European but with much wider streets. (It’s probably safer and cleaner too)

From Quebec City, after a quick stop at the Montmorency Falls,we headed down the Gaspecie peninsula. I grew up in a family that mainly camped but we got the occasional treat of the cabin with paper thin walls, just enough for a bed and a cooktop handy for heating up the spaghetti-os ((which you could generally do while sitting on the edge of the bed). I loved those cottages and was thrilled to find we had one for the night. A little cube of a place a few feet from the beach. So tiny that our bed was stuck against the wall. In the middle of the night my cheek brushed the wall and was so icy cold it woke me. If my tongue was sticking out it would have stuck to it! I loved it.

The next day we hiked in a national park. We took the ranger recommended hike and along the way got lots of advice regarding the hike in French (at least I think it was advice). Actually people seemed pretty bilingual but I hated to tell them I only spoke English after they had given a 5 minute explanation in French .

It was interesting how we abruptly crossed switched back to English in Prince Edward Island. Also the coffee and croissants were not as good on the English side. Canadians are proud that they have created a fairly bilingual nation. They should be. We all decided it was fun but slightly confusing.

On PEI we stayed in a cute place. A little cabin with its own beach where we dug up clams! Tasty steamers which I got pretty much to myself because of my chicken friends.

We were happy we managed to fit in a visit with friends with a property just across the bay from where we were staying … a 15 minute kayak if it hadn’t been getting windy.

Sadly Fiona (hurricane) toppled thousands of mainly diseased firs all over the island. After some clean up our friends are replacing the forest (with a group of foresters) who are replanting with a widely divergent group of native trees. It will be a healthy happy forest built to withstand hurricanes. Given our thorough soaking at the fairy pools we plan to come back in 50 years to check it out.

We also were able to find Maryanne’s cousin’s land. Made for a nice hike that would never have been realized without the efficiency of texting with family.

We spent one day of beach hopping…. Always my favorite. The beaches while beautiful were red sand so a bit hard to adjust a persistent “red tide”.

Brant chatted with a man in a judo suit on the beach that had just finished his daily one hour waist high walk in the water. (They were talking about the music he was listening to while water walking). After they finished talking about the music he was playing, he suggested we have lunch at the Blue Mussel (especially given our 35 percent discount). He was born and raised on PEI and recently retired from being a forester. Like so often we hear from Canadians, he would like to explore the Baja someday. I’m still not exactly sure why he wears his his judo suit to walk waist deep in the water. Maybe it scares off most people from chatting with him. Not us! Actually he as a forester was tremendously knowledgeable about the area.

We all enjoyed PEI. I don’t think I’d come during summer season as I suspect the place would be packed. It’s a big island so you drive long distances if you wish to explore. It has a different feel from Nova Scotia and certainly Newfoundland. It’s a peaceful pleasant place. A place I’d come back to kayak and walk and dig clams.

Many many thanks to our Montreal friends who (in the dark due to a delay) picked up our jet lagged bodies at the airport and proceeded to give us a truly wonderful tour of their home. It is a tremendous gift to have the time and resources to be able to be able to travel. It is an even greater gift to have friends to share it with!

As always we are just bumbling along, leaving keys in an unlocked car (because we think that’s what they said to do), taking turns eating lunch at a sea shack (excellent Cullen skink), and jumping in a van whenever everyone else does… having no idea if it’s taking us to the ferry. I laughed in the face of the rain gods (saying how lucky we had been with our weather) and it’s been intermittently raining ever since. It was one of those wonderful ferries you can wander all over and wishing it was longer ride. But then we arrived:

… we read a message saying the taxi driver (previously arranged) had cancelled and the ferry told us the last bus was gone for the day… and I called the cab on a business card and he profusely apologized saying he could not come and I do mean profusely! BUT suddenly the ferry guy (who was aware of our predicament ) yelled, hey there’s a bus! Well actually it was a van fitted to seat 8 … seats facing each other. We learned that it was also the school bus from the bicyclist who had left his soggy tent in favor of circling the island all day in the little “bus”. We “swapped buses” at the “airport” and an hour later arrived a short walk from our hotel. It did not feel short. Yes, it was pelting rain in 40 mph winds but it did not hail and it only cost about 3 lbs. apiece. We arranged a taxi back to the airport.

We couldn’t quite figure out why this fairly large hotel was out there in the middle of nowhere. We realized we were not going to get our beach day after lots of 19,000 step days and settled in for a day of reading, writing and knitting.

Fortunately the food and drink was pretty good and the people were very friendly and curious about this couple from Mexico that was unattached to any tour group that was just hanging out at the hotel. We enjoyed learning about the island and even though the accent was a challenge it didn’t stop anyone from chatting with us.

It’s rare that flying makes me nervous, but that morning as the cab driver hydroplaned into the airport (or maybe he was airborne in the gale force winds) we were both a little nervous. At least Brant didn’t have to put up with those strange signs that say, “oncoming traffic will be in the middle of the road” that we saw in Skye but still when you see the propellers tied down…

The agents hustled out to the plane in small groups due to the “Hebridean” weather. Honestly it was not that bad…and Glasgow was just a bumpy hour away. This time we got a great cab driver who then picked us up the next morning. I’m thinking most of Scotland leaves for warmer climes in the winter and she gave us lots of ideas on where to go. In return, I sent her our vrbo listing and she promised us pics of Malta when she heads there shortly. l love WhatsApp.

We only had an afternoon so we decided to do the hop on the hop on hop off bus…a great way to get a glimpse of the city. It was a mix of so many things… very different from Edinburgh. We both thought it could be a fun place to live for a while.

Now time for our Canadian half of our trip… a long day of travel but that is what books, blogs and knitting are for! Cheers. (Funny how they always say cheers here … I like it!)

The train to Loch “Lockasomething” was an easy walk from our hotel (as was the bus). Uncrowded, comfortable (well except for sitting in someone’s reserved seats initially ) and a beautiful ride there.

We arrived to be picked up by Donda who delivered us to our Air bnb in Portree. We talked him into stopping for lunch where I plunked straight into a “tourist hole”. I asked him to clarify what went into making haggis. This precipitated a look of horror on Donda’s face as he explained that the sweet little animal haggis is what makes haggis of course! We spent the remainder of the trip working out the details of capturing haggi from the hills of Sky. He had all the answers. When he said part of the road was closed in a landslide, I said, “I bet you lost quite a few haggis in that slide”. Without hesitation Donda answered, “oh no, Haggis are quite smart and scampered off well before the slide, not a one lost their life”. Later Brant emailed Donda and I will try to insert his reply. Perhaps you had to be there and hear it in the sing song Scottish accent but I’m still laughing. Donda was a retired engineer who grew up in Skye which he left but returned to raise his family.

HERE IS DONDA’s REPLY TO BRANT’S QUESTION REGARDING TRANSPORT…. And people say I can’t stay on the subject:

For goodness sake, Brant, have a bit of respect. Hagii (plural – better explain that as you seem to be a bit slow on the uptake), anyway, there is an amnesty on haggis hunting on the sabbath so the cute little creatures are allowed to roam freely. It’s nice to watch them on a sunny Sunday afternoon as they joyously circumnavigate a hill, with the clockwise brigade slightly above their counterclockwise companions (or vice versa on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month) just like a circular metro system, laughing and “singing” to one another. On that note, Brant, if there’s one thing about this trip to Scotland, you’re going to go back across the Pond a wiser, and hopefully stronger, man.On the second topic of your message, …. …….

All the best, 

Donda

Our air bnb was not quite ready but gave us the chance to meet Hazel and her daughter Ophelia. She advised us she was working hard in order to to be able to return to Grenada. She advised us that the island had been completely destroyed by a hurricane and thus had to leave Grenada. We were hoping this wasn’t foreshadowing for LB. It was a perfect spot… easy walk to town with a washer and dryer! But as always with the litany of figuring out appliances, heating and electrical.

The town of Portree is nice but filled with hordes of Patagonia/North Face clad folks ready for a long hike and a pub. We lucked into a boat ride out to see eagles etc and followed up with fish and chips and hot cocoa.

The next day we hopped ( and continued to hop on and off for the next 9 hours) on a bus. We had a clever tour guide driver (think Southwest flight attendant with a thick Scottish accent).

Stevie (our guide) also refused to play traditional Scottish music and instead played well known Scottish musicians. I had no idea… KT Tunstall, Gerre Rafferty…on and on. It really was a perfect tour as we got fairly lengthy stops allowing us to hike at each spot.

I know this because I was only 400 steps short of 20,000 steps.

The castles are kind of tricky. This had some sort of structure in the 1300s then in 1400s a tower was built. The rest was gradually added on. Then lots of remodeling in the 1900s. This one had many acres of beautiful gardens.

The pubs were packed at the end of the day, but we managed to find a cash only Japanese restaurant that we shared with an 18 year old Chilean who was solo hosteling his way through Scotland before starting “uni”. Perhaps it’s because we knew he was from Santiago but he reminded us of Fran (our exchange student )a bit. Was wonderful chatting with him over ramen ( and just like Fran he was disappointed there was no sushi)

On our “day off” we had a delicious lunch at a pub (easier to get in while the north facers are out rock climbing). Brant did extensive research and discovered a car repair and rental a short walk from our house that we could rent for 24 hours then drop it off at the ferry on the way to our next destination. My theory is that they fíx your car and if you don’t pick it up they rent it out. I was a wee worried when they asked if Brant had experience driving in Scotland. He said Shetland and they laughed.

Skye is one of those places that I think everyone has seen photos of. I am not sure why we insist on going to see these places in person… or at least I wish everyone else would stop going except me, but as John Muir said (who by the way is Scottish) “get in the bucket!” Meaning that it does not take long to loose all the people and feel as though you have the vast space all to yourself.

We found that it was easy to lose the people once you headed off on a trail. I would love to come back and do more hiking, concentrating on each area for a full day.

The animal for Scotland is the unicorn and I can see why. A unicorn matches perfectly with all its rainbows and magical scenery. Just a few more pics:

Brant did a great job of driving. I loved how locals gave him a quick… toot..toot to say thank you. At least I think that’s what they were saying. Would we come back? I would love to. Way more to explore and a beautiful place to relax in a seaside Croft.

Our cab driver who came to Inverness 30 years ago from Poland, gave us a quick run down of the city of Inverness with all the usual: too expensive, growing too fast but a good healthcare system etc. He had a trip planned to visit his wife’s family in Detroit Michigan. Then they were going to drive from Michigan to Miami Florida to visit family. Hmmm Covid may have been lucky for him!

We had no real plans for our 2 nights in Inverness and a group bus tour did not appeal to us . So while we lunched at the Victorian Market, I decided to ask the group of women sitting next to us and were clearly locals what we should do. Almost immediately she said we should do a bus trip to Ullapool! Everyone agreed wholeheartedly. They went on to plan the rest of our day and filled us with all the details on how to do it. I thought the Market would be a rip off tourist lunch but it turns out everyone eats there. Great food… Brant had a venison burger and I had a falafel salad. The women next to me owns a vegan restaurant in Scotland and said the booth at the market was very well known. It was food and drink from everywhere and the clientele was equally diverse.

Inverness was a nice town but a clash to the senses after remote Shetland. And many tourists…. At least compared to Shetland .

So off we went to Ullapool in a spacious comfortable bus with a blissfully quiet driver through surprisingly mountainous scenery. oh so tempting to ask for a photo stop.

Brant questioned the wisdom of getting dropped off in a small town for 8 hours with no real plans. I think he especially felt that way after the 20 something hotel clerk said, “why Ullapool? it’s soooo boring … absolutely nothing to do. “(Scots like the word absolutely).

We started with the hike up the hill of Ullapool which at 300 meters felt more like a small mountain. . It started in a residential neighborhood but quickly became a fern carpeted fir forest then turned to rock studded heather fields. As on all our hikes we met dog breeds we have never heard of… German Quail dog on this hike.

After that it was a terrific lunch at the highly recommended sea shack which I thought would be fish and chips but was actually gourmet seafood served outside. I’m glad we ate there because since then when we tell Scots we went To Ullapool they ask: “did you eat at the sea shack?”. So then a museum in yet another abandoned church, a bookstore, ice cream (tablet flavored), gin tasting with yet another Scot who has visited Mexico. She loved the food and wants to go back for more …. And what do you know? Time to board the bus with no time to read or knit. A perfectly pleasant visit just an hour and a wee bit back to Inverness. (They say wee bit a lot too).

The Shetland Islands are comprised of 100 islands (Scotland in total has about 900), but only 16 are inhabited. Few can be reached by plane and most can’t be approached by boat much of the year. After watching the surf on a windy day we could understand why.

We arrived in the large town of Lerwick enroute to our next stop. Brant handled the roundabout expertly and without foul language. We quickly realized that everything was closed in Lerwick on Sunday…except for grocery stores, a food truck, a a museum and a bar. That’s pretty much all we needed so it worked out fine.

This might look familiar to those who have watched “Shetland”. The first photo I believe is the home of Jimmy Pérez in the show. Our take away from the series is that it is always raining or gray in Shetland and they have lots and lots of murders. We found neither to be true.

This is the view from the excellent and free museum in downtown Lerwick.

I would like to find out if anyone has found these tinned treasures. I am sure I am misunderstanding something here but seems like you are sending more plastic into the ocean. On the other hand,glass bottles never seemed too kind for beachgoers feet. The museum did a nice job with the history of Scotland. It was more culture based rather than simply religion based.

After Lerwick we were on our way to our next stop. We had lots of difficulty choosing just how far north we wanted to go but we knew it would require ferries to a great deal further north. It did not seem wise to put ferries between you and the airport when catching an early morning flight so we chose Reawik, a small community. No restaurants or stores but there was a marina and a little campground.

There was this at the marina

It had books, jigsaw puzzles, games, movies and music …and a tote box filled with fresh eggs to the far left.

This is the driveway to the home built in 1854 that we stayed for 3 nights. They never locked any of their doors nor were there any locks to be locked. After watching Shetland that was a little worrisome. Brant got a good test of his single track driving skills as we arrived just as everyone was leaving the annual flower show that apparently all of Shetland attends. We wondered where everyone was in Lerwick.

The hosts made terrific breakfasts every morning. Though Brant questioned the wisdom of smoked mackerel …in a beautiful salad that included an avocado for the Mexicans, it really was delicious. Deb, the owner and chef baked us daily treats as well and sent us to the airport with egg salad sandwiches. Before there bnb, they owned a fish smoking business. They shipped fish all over the world…to Santa Monica and Singapore…from their pretty small shop in super tiny Reawik. (at Christmas they had a max of 38 employees, the rest of the year it was 4 or 5).

They also helped provide us with daily travel advice. While Shetland is a beautiful place, there are few signs for trailheads or pretty much anything but “passing places” signs, only a few restaurants with unique hours and shops that only open if you are in the mood to shop and reach out to them on WhatsApp.

The weather app predicted wind. It seemed windy to me with 40 mph gusts but we were advised this was just a ‘gentle breeze’ compared to their truly windy days. In fact, the rental car sticker on the window warned us to open car doors carefully so as to avoid losing your door.

They had names for the rock formations , not sure what the name of this one was.

All the hiking makes for big appetites so when you did luck into finding a restaurant we found great food. Cullen Skink was everywhere….a creamy smoked fish potato soup. The mussels came straight from the ocean there. Excellent breads and surprisingly many vegan options on every menu. And of course, melt in your mouth salmon.

We were there in Shetland about 3 weeks before wool week. They were frenetic with preparations but happy to stop and tell funny wool week stories. They said it was ABSOLUTELY MAD during wool week. In case you haven’t heard of it, this is the week knitters/weavers come from all over the world (one thousand of them) to take classes, visit farms to watch and learn dying and spinning. They say it’s impossible to eat out without a reservation. Yes, with only a dozen restaurants on the island and nine of them in Lerwick I can see how this could be a problem. But we did not say that.

The woman above is making a handcranked sock. It’s a special type of loom that cost 3,000 pounds. I bought a pair and I’m sure she will pay it off in one wool week. Note Brant in background with the dog trying to convince him to play.

The dog, Sydney, won then relentlessly chased the toy (40x?). He is a breed called a working cocker spaniel and is known for his unstoppable energy. The sock lady (they actually call her that) was so thankful for Brant’s workout. I guess Sydney“works for the sock lady” keeping bored husbands busy while the wives shop…clever.

People always say that it is the people of a place that are the most important part of your trip. I don’t agree, I am happy to put up with some grouchy jerks in order to be in a beautiful place…especially if they have good food. That said, I really loved the people we met in Shetland (all over Scotland but especially Shetland). They were warm and friendly, but let you have your space. Clearly, they were very proud of the beautiful but somewhat quirky place they lived. They seemed to get a bit flustered if they felt they weren’t taking care of you fast enough….we kept finding ourselves telling them we were in no hurry. Best of all, they had a terrific sense of humor. And they knew it, once you started laughing they were unstoppable. I also loved that people were very open about US politics. . Dave said it best when he said “you’ve had such an amazing country….why would you screw it up like this now?” Most people just teased us about our current politics (lots of it when not among the well trained tourist spots)but I think Dave was truly frightened and completely puzzled (he watched the us news and commentators every night). Smart guy….especially if he didn’t really hide the McCallums. (see below re: Mcallums)

One morning, we hiked out to this broch and due to our weak pathfinding abilities we walked 7 instead of 5 miles. While some are true trails here many are just point yourself in the right direction trails. I think that actually you can always find some sort of trail but sometimes it’s just more fun to walk wherever. I loved that.

Yes, I really was that warm and did need a sun visor that day. The rocks were challenging but the steep hill in front of the room leading to the broch was even more challenging. On that beautiful day we saw only one other couple all day on the trail.

Every evening was different. The clouds made for some beautiful and prolonged sunset drama.

We were lucky to have plenty of these spots so I could get out and take pics:

Brant became expert at spotting them and gently gliding our Picanto brand car into them at a moments notice (as a giant hay truck zipped around the car or if i shouted, “jesus rays”)

Best of all was having a place where we could wander out into the fields of heather ….

Then return to our cozy parlor and bedroom for egg scramble dinner (goat cheese, pea shoots, kale, and prosciutto cooked on an induction single burner in the kitchen/bathroom combo) because the nearest restaurant was an hour away…. And because it was actually very nice!

Then VERY BEST OF ALL…Debbie (who by the way grew up a few miles from where I lived in Pompano Beach Florida) told us there was a chance for northern lights because it was so clear and she would definitely wake us if it happened. I’m not sure why she was awake herself but Debbie came through with a soft knock on our door and told us to get up and look out our bay window…..

It looked like very eerie mist swirling around. The color happens when you take the pics.

We headed back down the island to the airport early one morning with a big bag of sandwiches from Debbie. It was in all honesty far more beautiful than I expected. Debbie says that islanders downplay the beauty and complain about the weather so as to decrease the number of visitors. For the most part I think it’s working. I truly loved it here and was sad to leave for Inverness. I will attempt to add a couple more pics at the end…one with welcome advice…..

Don’t be sheepish, ewe need to go! (say the guys that make wool week possible)

Just a couple more pics. Hope you can see the face in rocks below….off to Inverness!

A remarkably pleasant propeller plane flight to Sumburgh Airport at the tip of the Shetland Islands. We had taken the air tram to the airport the night before…inexpensive and simple… the tram literally across the street from our hotel. We stayed at an airport hotel and just dragged our luggage via sidewalk to the airport in the morning. I worry that any day little Martha (my $14.99 luggage made by Martha Stewart) is going to flip off a wheel. She has been pretty amazing for many years.

We got a pretty tiny car, great for the pretty tiny roads but not so great for Brant’s not so tiny knees.

Our first home was a short drive from the airport and extremely close to perfection. It really felt like home. I easily could have spent a couple days reading on the couch. It has been dream since I was about 9 years old. My friend wanted to go and get a Shetland pony but I just wanted to see it. (We liked looking through National Geographic together).The weather said 4 days of rain so we rushed out to explore before it started raining. Apparently weather apps can’t be trusted here as there was never any significant rain.

Note there are 2 fences, one is turquoise and the other in the distance is purple. Behind the purple fence are SHETLAND PONIES! And if you were to turn around 180 degrees you would be watching the surf.

The house was on a sea cliff overlooking the crashing surf. We knew it was my kind of house when we saw that nearly all the finishes were in teal, turquoise and purple. They even had a teal whisk!

The place was golf course green everywhere, and the sheep keep it manicured to velvet.

The beaches made me think of home….until I remembered I was in thermals and a down puffy jacket while the locals wore shorts.

One evening, we walked across this sand ‘bridge’ (which disappears in the winter) to a beautiful island covered with sheep and crumbling ruins. We looked back across the beach and on the far right people were going out to swim then jumping into a beachside sauna.

We found a visitor center where they had a cafe. I believe it was the only place for lunch within an hours drive. There were perhaps 2 or 3 other people that wandered in, while the staff (which I think was 3 high school boys under the command of a frazzled woman) prepared for arrival of a tour. They thought it was hilarious that I didn’t know what a tattie was (a potato). A jewelry shop nearby sold rings for several thousands of dollars and hand woven scarves were several hundred dollars. Truly beautiful stuff but a bit pricey I thought, Cruise ship shoppers?

Here is the map in the visitor center with visitor stickers from all over the world. (Zoom in to note we are the first Baja visitors). It appears that the majority of visitors to Shetland come from quick stops from cruise ships that come into the one large town (Lerwick). We saw few people everywhere we went. We had whole trails and beaches (and thankfully roads) to ourselves at times. That said many of the locals complained that the influx of tourists was hard on the island and they didn’t have the infrastructure to support them. We are not exactly sure where they were hiding all these tourists. I agree they have little infrastructure. We only saw a hotel in one town, there were very, very few stores or restaurants and the vast majority of roads were single lane with 2 way traffic (fortunately with lots of “passing places”.

There is a no no trespassing rule in Scotland. Our understanding is that you can pretty much walk anywhere anytime. It’s okay to just open a gate and walk out to the beach anywhere. This is the Croft museum located a couple hundred yards up the road from the home we rented. That’s the rule we followed when we arrived after closing time. We just opened the gate, greeted the Shetland pony then wandered around until our guilty consciences made us leave.

It was kind of Jane at Sumburgh Head to tell us about this Saturday morning bread sale at this former church. They had wonderful bread, coffee, tea and a bit of a weekly garage sale. It was a nice spot for the local community to gather at the tables surrounding the bread. She was right that it gave us an opportunity to see and be with the community. It’s clear they are a very “close knit” (literelly and figuratively) group that seemed very warm and caring.

One day we drove out to this area and decided perhaps we should check out the “Shetland Pony experience”. Why not? We went to kids day at the US Open…might as well continue with the theme. Well, as it turns out you must book in advance which turns out to be true for many stores and restaurants here as well)….perhaps a cruise ship thing but instead we wandered down a path to this Caribbean like beach.

The picture above was when the sun was in the clouds and below is when the sun poked through. The Shetland residents repeatedly told us it was clearly a miracle it did not rain during the week we were there. The in and out of the sun made me have to take many duplicates…with and without sun but never in the rain!

We did seem however to be frequently a bit off on our timing. This is where a ferry takes you to the island of Mousa which is the location of the world’s largest broch except on Saturdays.

While we saw few formal gardens there were lots of little pockets of flowers….cornflowers, daisies, and poppies were common.

It is completely untrue that I wanted to go to the Shetland Islands just so I could pet a pony but since doing so (several times) I think it would be a perfectly acceptable reason for going there. They are clearly very bright …ponies with an attitude who love getting their head scratched. I want one!

Will end the southern part of our trip to Shetland with a few more pics and the hope we can return again someday.

First stop Sioux Falls to establish our medical care. It was remarkably efficient…though I think we perplexed them…especially when they asked us where we parked and we told them we walked. We used a combination of uber and then a very pleasant several mile walk across the city. Made sense to us!

Last year we enjoyed the outdoor free concert next to the falls so we went again. Again we did another pleasant couple of miles walk downtown from our hotel with an uber return. And once again so no other “walkers”. Guess you can call us regulars now! Sioux Falls has a nice downtown and while it seems (in my opinion) to lack the vibrancy of other downtowns it seems to be growing in its restaurants and other activities.

This is the singer for the Claudette’s (the second band)…check them out on Facebook…Jazz/Amy Winehouse sound.

Other than the strange cab driver who tried to impress us with his extensive knowledge of Greek mythology (actually following us into the hotel lobby and insisting on carrying our luggage) while chatting away…for another 15 minutes, people were very nice and helpful. Hard to believe that there is a county in South Dakota that voted greater than 90 percent for Trump. Of course, I should mention that the cab driver also made multiple mistakes with his Greek mythology repertoire and overcharged us about double. We also met a group of college students from Mexico City who were there in Sioux Falls…they were staying with families in the area and seemed to be enjoying it.

We also walked through a very interesting veterans memorial (it was interesting because the plaques described exactly why the veteran received awards…wow). It was very informative but we found this statue to be particularly sad:

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Lots of wars…and no signs of slowing down, perhaps even accelerating in frequency and definitely in killing power.

So as we solemnly walked through the park and talked about this, we heard a sudden boom, then one after another, 3 F16s took off within a minute? Had no idea a base was nearby. Very odd timing…kind of eerie. We were the only ones in the park. Where is everyone in Sioux Falls at 5pm?

We were excited to get to attend Kids Day at Flushing Meadows.

And we were even more excited when this guy showed up to play a few practice games. Yup that’s Alcaraz. Never realized both feet come off the ground when he serves. Did I mention that that all the stadiums, music, meet and greets etc were free? Not the Honey Deuce cocktails though, they wanted 23 dollars for those. This was in the Arthur Ashe Stadium. Most of the time you could get front row seating because New Yorkers apparently do not tolerate the full sun on the fronts rows.

Big kids at kids day. After watching several other remarkably agile top seeded players, Maris guided us through the US open crazy crowded streets to excellent dim sum.

Leave it to me to order chicken feet. They were good….sort of.

We appreciate Maris and Gabe’s successful efforts to entertain us on our quick 2 night visit. They stuffed us with delicious burgers etc in their new backyard patio…. A perfect meal to lull us to sleep on our red eye flight to Edinburgh. Well the whiskey and unisom helped too.

The garden (even though full view is blocked by fence) in the back of their brownstone is too pretty not to include. So many beautiful gardens this time of year in nyc

This is the second time we have stayed in this air bnb just 5 minutes from their apartment. We visited on a beautiful sunny weekend and loved the energy of the neighborhood.

They live in an old neighborhood streets lined with brownstones….but enough coffee shops and restaurants to keep it busy. Here’s hoping a new mayor may help find ways to keep it affordable. Off to Edinburgh…..

We were thinking Edinburgh was pretty chill and uncrowded until we got to the royal mile. Clearly everyone in the city that day was walking there. I thought maybe red eye fatigue was exaggerating the numbers in my head but I think the photo proves otherwise. I also think that day was busier than others. Yes, lots of bagpipe music, piano, guitarists, flame throwers etc. interestingly we didn’t run into a lot of American tourists. At one restaurant we met a couple from Saudi Arabia on our right and Chinese family on our left. we also met a young woman from South Korea who had taken the train up from Manchester before starting her 3 or maybe 6 month English course. Her English already seemed very good!

Brant kind of blended in to the buildings here on Victoria street. Not sure what clan this is?(referring to his plaid shirt)

This is a difficult city to convey in pics. There was lot of “Harry Potteresque “ architecture mixed with the serious typical old British Isles city architecture and then that mix of modern stuff stuck in the odd gaps. An easy city to walk, though 18,000 steps after a red eye is pushing it.

Here is a great example. This is the hotel we stayed in. Notice the glass windows attached to it on either side? This beautiful old building was encompassed by a giant glass playhouse. Our room sat on the top of the playhouse looking over the city. A great mix of old and new…loved it. Below you can see the perfect morning spot—or evening whiskey spot.

I hope you can zoom in on these pics. This is Dovecote Studios. You can go up to the observation balcony and watch these weavers. Hundreds and hundreds of balls of yarn. Fascinating painstaking work to make these tapestries…Brant suggested that it could become tedious.

By the way…this was free, but I did pay to go to see (in same studio):

…the IKEA magical print exhibit! Brant opted out of this one but I loved learning the history of textiles at IKEA. I will admit that I was the only one who was in this entire, quite large exhibit. I was tempted to grab some fabric.

We were sorry to have missed the FRINGE festival (actually arrived on last day.) It’s a month long festival of movies, performances, plays and concerts…..pretty much all indie stuff. The city was covered with posters announcing the events of the world’s largest performing arts festival. This year 2.6 million tickets were sold to the various events and we are proud to say we bought 2. While we decided we could not handle a play about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates set to Shakespeare’s Hamlet just 4 hours after our red eye flight, we did listen to an excellent Joni Mitchell impersonator. Little Green made me cry as always and Brant pointed out this is most likely the closest I will ever get to my dream of wandering into a bar and finding Joni strumming her guitar.

I could drink a case of you! … with her dulcimer. She spoke with Joni’s voice (using actual sentences from her interviews) and accent but broke character at the end. As it turns out she has a very British accent and lives in LA. Maybe I just dreamed all this…

We generally avoid bus tours but who can resist 12 hours on a bus to get to see the hairy coos? We decided to just let a little bus take us to Glencoe (our real goal) and 4 million other stops. Sadly we could not sit next to each other because I ran back to room to get a forgotten something and got stuck in elevator. This was very sad because we did not get a window seat but at least we made it! We question if this was best use of time, but we got to see a lot for a reasonable price. I had some whiskey ice cream that was so good. I could have eaten a gallon of it but I wouldn’t have been on my feet…strong stuff.

There is a 97 mile foot path that goes through this area. There are services to move your luggage room to room. Definitely would love to go back and do this.

At last, a new Loch Ness monster siting!

Part of our bus ride was a boat ride on the Loch Ness. I kept waiting for an inflatable Loch Ness monster to pop up out of the lake, but….no they were cheaper and more clever. They just put stickers on the window.

And this would be the hairy coo! This crazy cow ate about 10 carrots from our bus alone.

There were in fact a few honks!

A friend recommended seeing the Rosslyn Chapel so we hopped on the city bus and thanks to all those amazing apps found a place for lunch and walked a bit to it. They began building the chapel in 1446 and it took about 40 years to nearly complete when for the usual variety of reasons it was abandoned….the usual my religion is better than yours plus my soldiers chop off heads better for gods work than yours excuse. I would like to think it is popular because of the remarkable stonework… like stone carved into lace, but another reason for its popularity is that the chapel was an important of the book, Da Vinci Code. We arrived when the power was out so they said we could only look at the outside then look through doors into the dark. The power came back on, so we got to see it both ways and I thought that the chapel lit up with 100s of candles would have been best of all.

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Check out the pillar, someone (who will remain nameless) accidentally took a non flash interior photo (not allowed) and shared it with me. The person who carved that was beheaded for his hard work because he was an apprentice and it made his boss look bad who could not figure how to do it. Yup don’t make your boss look bad.

We liked how the city often had monuments of writers and scientists rather than just military leaders. We did not realize that the physician who discovered and introduced aseptic technique was from here (Lister, MD) or that chloroform was invented here. We learned all this at the Surgeons Museum. Of course after looking at 2 floors of preserved specimens we needed a drink, so we went here: (we could not bring ourselves to taking our pic in front of it and I believe it is the oldest bar in the city)

Edinburgh was an easy city to navigate, less expensive than NYC, people were always friendly and helpful. At times it seemed more like a very big town rather than a city. You could definitely see how the architecture of the city inspired Harry Potter. I took so many pictures of architecture that I will end with some photos of the architecture.

off to the Shetland Islands!

Happy New Year! We are currently going through the tedium of shuttering up before we head out on the annual bucket list trip. It really does feel like it’s end of a year in August and a new beginning. Every August I find myself making resolutions for October and regretting those not resolved while cheering on our newest accomplishments.

That’s a pitaya bloom. We unburied this cactus from a cloud of brush. Hopefully we can make pitaya margaritas someday.

..and I continue work on cactus photography technique

We have had a few firsts, like our first bunch of bananas (which sadly did not ripen), but our first pineapple was amazingly sweet.

Looks like I have a new collage feature. Have not quite figured how to use but I am practicing for Scotland. Next collage might be 5 glasses of scotch. could some folks let me know if they are able to see the collages? It’s unclear to me if it can be seen on all devices.

While we are enjoying finding the new stuff, the truth is we have settled into a pleasant rhythm of the year. A couple months of pickleball, sup, snorkel and dinners with friends followed by a couple weeks of summer camp (curso de verano) followed by a scramble of trip planning and house closure.

So 120 kids spend close to 3 weeks doing art, swimming, soccer, basketball, literature, learning English, doing boat trips, arroyo field trips and learning about the dog/cat spaying program. It is hot and none of this is done in the air conditioning. The kids are driven to locations all over town. Seriously amazing how this is pulled off every year. It ends with a showcasing of their swimming skills followed by a reef swim where each kid is given a snorkel and mask…followed by pizza by the pool. It’s all free thanks to many donations and the organization by East Cape and the DIF. It is an incredibly exhausting couple weeksand a little scary to kick those kids one by one out to our reef, but so darn joyful to watch their excitement.

This is our third year to help with summer camp…let’s see if we have the energy for another year!

Another tradition I want to continue is my perfect beach birthdays. This is our second year at Los Colibrís Casitas and this year we got to share it with our daughter….a wonderful birthday week. The Pacific side is much cooler—-perfect at the end of June.

…sat on the beach watching crashing surf sometimes with crashing surfers

….while sipping flowery drinks

…or drinking French roast on the deck….with my 2 favorite people

(Just checking….everybody can see the mouth and the nose right?)

And while I think I would prefer a truckload of peaches….

Of course everything changes and some traditions end. Lazy Daze closed their doors a couple weeks ago (WAIT just A MINUTE, THEY HAVE NO DOORS!). It’s been a place to always take the company so we can show how very cool it is to live by the beach. It was hard to beat the frat style margaritas (as M called them which means lots of cheap tasty tequila), the best onion rings and French fries in town. And the fully deep fried chile rellenos, no longer easy to find in our health conscious world, has just become that much harder to find. It was a meeting place, a friendly hangout, a place where you could let the toddlers run around in the sand throwing ring toss while you sipped a cold one with your pickleball buddies or your fishing buddies….you get the idea… and best of all it was on a spectacular beach.

The last day of Lazy Daze party was fun, funny and bittersweet. At last we got to place our bets on chickenshit bingo. Despite owning 4 of of those squares we did not win…but we did have fun trying to make the rooster poop on the right spot!

Paul says, “But where will we go now”

And of course plenty of dancing with Pink’s mother-in-law

I continued to work on improving my sourdough baking skills. This is going to be another lifelong pursuit along with studying Spanish. I am better at baking though.

A bread with a view! We now can buy bread flour in Mexico but this was my first loaf in banneton from Amazon. Actually a colander works pretty well too!

As the last of the 6 monthers (as we refer to them) leave, the fishing tournament season starts in full swing with lots of fishing folks filling the town. We haven’t gotten brave or skilled enough to plunk a few thousand down (or a few hundred depending on the tournament) to join a team, but we had fun at 3 tournaments this year. At El Cardonal, a small town, we watched the boats bringing in their catch while we sipped cold drinks (made to order for book money) under our umbrellas with the same group who recommended this to us last year. It raises money for the local school (very little school funding here).

A new tournament has started just down the beach from us. I think this will continue to be a favorite….

…..as long as they serving free barbacoa fish and sashimi!

It doesn’t get much fresher than this.

In the category of new things unlikely to luck into again, we were (sort of ) invited to the Bisby Banquet. This is one of the biggest tournaments in the Baja attracting teams from all over. It is BIG prize money, 600,000 usd (ha we thought that was pesos) for best marlin, but you wouldn’t feel too bad to get second place at 300,000 dollars. Third prize is a bit of come down at 9,000 usd. (The Cabo tournament is even bigger prizes). Imagine how you would feel if you caught a 700 lb marlin and did your best to race in with it but sadly on arrival the scales were closed and the first place winner instead was a 400 lb marlin. We watched the story told onstage that night. I have to say they were incredibly good sports and graciously accepted a bottle of tequila as a consolation prize for a record breaking but not prize winning marlin. We sat with the director and organizers of the tournament. It was a great evening of great food and drink, but the best part was watching the excitement, emotion, fatigue and a bit of inebriation…ending with a fantastic fireworks show over our heads. We certainly didn’t belong with this class of fishermen but they were welcoming and we learned so much. THEY talked about giving one guy the job throwing a line out to tempt the sharks to his line of tasty shark morsels to keep the sharks from attacking the prize fish they were bringing in…really that’s a job?

I believe one of our resolutions last year was to not put off doing projects until last minute. We tried by staying busy with installing solar panels, delegating upholstery, getting new appliances throughout the year but yet as we leave a new garden is going in, a new washer dryer arrives for the condo in a couple days etc etc. it seems a bit easier to find people to work this time of year or maybe we just have more time to find them but sadly I think this may be a hard habit to change.

So here is to investing more time in art (specifically oil painting and sketch), improving my mah jong skills, playing more cribbage at restaurants, speaking more Spanish and learning to listen. Brant has invested much time in the community with Rotary over the past year as president (yup his year ended in June—-see what I mean about the new year starting now?). Now more time for chess, fishing, pickleball for him….

So Cheers y salud y Happy New Year to everyone! Here’s to another year of fun, learning new stuff and most of all spending time with family and friends. Stay tuned for faraway lands ….but first, will the washer/dryer fit on the deck this Friday…will they actually deliver it? , will they be able to cut enough reeds at the next full moon for our fence 9wjat is it with this full moon stuff?)….and most importantly will the ocean be flat enough for one more sup ride of the year?

…and I apologize, there is a new operating system for WordPress and I can not go back and fix mistakes….yet….another a new thing to learn!

As I’ve said before, our visitors inspire us to take time off from chores and explore. We have been wanting to go to San Miguel for years, and so very glad our friend Tricia arranged a stay at her friends really amazing zero lot home (calling it an apartment does not do it justice). Given the reasonable flights within Mexico, we are so glad it worked for Tricia to stop in for a little visit on our way to SMA.

Sadly San MIguel has no ocean (or maybe happily so it’s not further overrun with tourists.) Thus, it was important to work in a BEACH DAY before our departure. It did not seem wise to tow a trailer over a mountain ridge then rattling down a roller coaster dirt road with 2 kayaks on it. It did, however, seem wise to have sharp eyed friends follow that trailer so they can jump out and grab that paddle when it flies out. Sadly for them no firm bets were made as to what was going to fly out and when…next time.

We also questioned the wisdom of spending the day at the beach when we should have been packing but we did not want to disappoint Trafford (jeje). It was a perfect day of snorkeling, floating in the crystal clear water, and kayaking on a beach that we had all to ourselves. When I heard Heather shout “WHALES!”…I shouted to Tricia, who was holding on to the side of my kayak, “I’ve gotta go!” and left Tricia to swim back to shore. (She’s a good swimmer.) While I never got close enough to fear a Job recreation, I got close enough to see the enormous size and grace of the whale. A definite top 5 in kayak moments….made it worth every rattle. Next time I want to explore the pocket beach that Brant found on his explore of the coast via kayak

We knew the majority of folks would be gone when we returned from San Miguel so we dragged out our beach day by yet another tasty lunch at Las Terrazas. I have never figured out how they calmly and smilingly serve up lunch for 15 people that just wander in with no reservations.

For some reason I had a hard time getting excited about this trip. I think it’s because I had read that the city had been destroyed by an influx of American tourists that had spoiled the ambiance . Perhaps it’s because we come from what is probably the most gringo town in all of the Baja, but I did not feel that way. In fact there seemed to be a a lot of Mexican tourists far out numbering the pale appearing tourists. Downtown Oaxaca seemed at times to have more gringo tourists than San Miguel (though neither seemed overwhelmed with US tourists at the time we were there). I guess the difference is that so many went to San Miguel for the sleepy solitude of a quaint Mexican town and clearly now its a place sought after for its excellent food, music, art and architecture….now beautifully presented. While LB has definitely expanded, the beach (our reason for coming here) remains pretty pristine (though now with red tides on occasion…hmmm)and empty EXCEPT FOR SEMANA SANTA. SO glad Tricia got to experience it with us. The beach is covered with campers and throughout most of the day there is music. Some bands have elaborate stages and light shows. Finally, the volleyball tournament returned which had been absent since COVID.

I also thought perhaps it would be just like the recently visited Oaxaca, but it certainly was not. The architecture, geography and the people all seemed surprisingly different. Nor did it seem like Guanujautu (see other blog) … a beautiful city a short distance from San Miguel. So much like any large country, there is great variety (but always there are tortillas). We did not explore Querétaro but learned from the driver that its a town filled with industry and the largest shopping mall in Mexico. Later I read how they are working hard to strengthen trade agreements with the EU. You can even take a direct flight from Querétaro to Madrid (one of it’s trade partners).

We flew directly 🙂 into Queretaro with a driver waiting for us with a correctly spelled name (always a pleasant surprise)! Our driver had excellent English and had lived in the US for many years as well as Canada, but had opted for San Miguel for partial retirement. An hour and a half later (after a brief grocery store stop where we team shopped for supplies) we arrived at our spacious and beautiful San Miguel home.

Sometimes you really feel the need to book tours and adventures but this was a perfect week of just relying on others recommendations on where to explore, eat and listen to music. Our steps rarely went below 10,000 …the hills and cobblestones should have given us a bonus 5,000/day…so we earned all those drinks and dinners. The reasonable prices further inspired second drinks and desserts. Many thanks to all who added to our list.

It’s a very photogenic place that is just so easy to enjoy. The whole city glows in the golden hour. And we did meet ex pats (otherwise known as immigrants), many who have lived in San Miguel for many years, Some who were torn between choosing city vs ocean in Mexico (might do a house trade with those folks). It was nice to see the expats were still out enjoying the city… cacao mesquite coffees, live music most nights, painting classes, spanish classes…. We even heard it’s becoming a pickleball place. And a nice surprise when we ran into our neighbors (yes LB neighbors) who were visiting SMA! A small world for sure.

I look forward to coming back again, but no plans yet to leave my crystal clear ocean here in LB. I suspect we visited at the perfect time. Cool in the morning and the evening but hot midafternoon, providing us with a daily siesta excuse. And best of all, we were there I suspect when there were not too many of “us” to spoil the ambiance. An interesting sentiment to ponder, isn’t it?

…but worth it to lose your shoes if you can sip a glass of wine while watching the sun set over the city.

We have returned to early summer LB. The town is transitioning back to a Mexican town for the summer. I know this because a truck was fishtailing down the main road towards me at what seemed like 100 mph. I was worried he was trying outrun authorities as I could see flashing blue lights in the distance, but no, it was just the arrival of racers from Ensenada (apparently a 7 day race). The flashing blue lights were the police stationed at the arroyo to somehow aid in making this safe. I also know this because the whole town seems more calm and quiet…except for the fishtailing buggies blasting down the main road). Not sure about the safety aspect of these guys zooming through town but the kids (which includes lots of grown men) sure do love it. Best of all, and the reason we came here in the first place, the ocean is warming and flattening to summer perfection. It’s nice to so easily be able fly to a city with great music, entertainment, food, shopping and beautiful architecture. While it’s easy to blame the smart businessmen for making our town too palatable for gringos to live here (the gringo stores with beautiful veggies and imported US products), I am thankful for the hot weather that drives people back across the border and gives the town back to the Mexicans for a few months. Actually, gringo that I am, I really like having those vegetables! And no longer do our friends need to bring us Miracle whip or French roast coffee……

This guy is about 1.5 hours later that the truck I encountered at the first of my day. Though I suspect they have delayed time starts, this was a very different style from the other guy. Remember though: ITS ABOUT THE JOURNEY!!

And now just a couple extra pics for the scrapbook….

Time for our LB rooftop sunset! Adios para ahora

It’s April again and still finding new stuff most every day but also delighting in the rhythm of life. I say that because I just found 3 pairs of cardinals in one of our orange trees as i sipped my coffee.

This year we decided to go to Carnaval in La Paz. Besides the fact it happened to fall right on Brant’s birthday, we needed to check out a float that the Rotary Club helped to sponsor. And a couple of adventurous friends joined us on the quest.

We came well prepared for the fact that our hotel room had a balcony that hung right over the street of the parade. We could see one of the 5 stages from our balcony as well a birdseye view of the parade. Unlike the Macy’s parade in New York we suspect our room was discounted (and available) because it was on this route! Regardless it was a beautiful place to celebrate. The hotel even provided multiple packages of ear plugs!

Just like in the US growth of plants seems to slow during February and March (especially the desert plants), but mid march without a drop of water stuff starts to grow. This year we are having lots of firsts: our first banana, coconut and pineapple (grown from a Chapito’s top).

Sadly stuff dies. We learned about a mold impacting trees in the area with the sad loss of 2 of our trees. It came here via an infected oak tree smuggled in from California. Unfortunately the trees here have no natural defense. So as tempting as it is…don’t do it!

For a year nearly every day I look in that pineapple for a bloom…so excited to see it at last.

And just as exciting to see the banana bloom.

Just noticed my chica sapote has a dozen fruit on it (mamey).

The 2 trees we lost were natives…each about 80 years old but planting a date palm is supposedly safe. Tune in next year.

So the “season” is winding down with folks leaving daily for the cooler climes. By the end of May there will be lots more time to float in the pool and read a good book.

So today we celebrate over 43 years of marriage…and close to 50 together. So easy it is to take this all for granted. So easy it is to forget to thank the guy who puts up with woman that paints 8 sample colors before choosing who then he puts up with my meltdown when the painter decides to just go rogue with color (yes the whole house and no I never forget these things). But more importantly, how lucky I am to be with a guy who still loves to explore and adventure together—yet he also so happy to spend the day doing health screenings at a local school today. (A nice way to allow kids to be less fearful of medical stuff while catching a few important diagnoses). So here’s to the guy who was really more obsessed with making this all happen than I was! So so many details….paperwork, planning, billing, building, repairing….and of course the repairing will always be there. So lucky to be with a guy who can fix just about anything. And here’s to hoping there will be even less to fix next year and even more time for being in the water and hiking in the hills. After a few years here we get better at laughing at stuff that used to make me “meltdown”, but during that time we never stopped loving this beautiful place we live….nor tire of finding new adventures. A quick walk out to the beach generally calms me down….so this blog is to thank that guy for sharing it with me and making it happen and not being afraid to take a chance.

They say everything changes but hoping we can hold onto this beautiful ocean sitting right next to the magical desert and the mountains for many lifetimes. And so very happy to be sharing this magical place with the guy who magically walked around the corner just when I needed directions… 48 years ago.

Brant and I love that we live in a place that is fun to visit. Even if we get to be boring company there is always a beautiful beach out there. That said we had terrific holidays with family and friends. So what do you do when the last group leaves for the airport? You head to Oaxaca!

Pleasantly tired from the holidays but not wanting to miss the opportunity to visit Sally in her happy place, and to be at Jose Herrera Gallego’s gallery opening, the 3 art loving women headed out. How often does one get to hang out and paint with so many great artists? And even more important, we got to see a place through the eyes of the artists who love Oaxaca. And I was with 2 friends that never tire of taking beautiful pics, sketching/painting, and wandering (well they might get a little tired of wandering).

We thought/knew we would leave regretting we could not see more, but even more surprised by how many things we did. And how much variety, seemingly easily done (thanks to help from our Oaxaca friends) and all at a very reasonable price.

We took a unique money saving approach by spending a night in Monterey. I had read there is a great river walk in Monterey but alas only time for dinner then an early flight. So fortunate to have friends pick us up at the airport in Oaxaca and whisk us a way to a village in the foothills where we stayed in a place that was too perfect because we wanted to stay there and soak in the beauty and peacefulness of the place.

I say that because the pictures on the web did not convey the intricate beauty of the place. It had great attention to detail….art everywhere…paintings, sculptures, textiles…not to mention gardens that were clearly built by an artist. I believe they teach immersion Spanish classes and I think this would be a perfect spot. After class you could wander the little town and practice…mandatory practice as not much english is spoken here.

We took a side trip to the town of El Tule. I believe the town is most famous for its giant cedar tree. See stats below. We lucked into a guided tour of the town with a gringo who moved there from Canada with his wife a few years ago (Kitimat friends of Heather). Interesting to hear their story and how they now host artists….sculpturing, painters and many musicians at their home and offer the workshops and home concerts to others. The best part was the icy ice cream in tropical flavors—-some that even I didn’t know (a rarity for me).

It’s a special feeling when an artist drives up from Oaxaca to do a painting session with you. Again it was an artist that had been to Los Barriles in the past and Sally managed to work in a couple sessions. It’s always fun (and helpful) to see someone’s approach…even if you don’t always agree.

One day we took a van up to the mountains to visit friends of Sally’s and to a place called Hierve del Agua. We stopped at a market in Tla de Matamoros to pick up some flowers and supplies for the family we were visiting. After a tasty lunch—-especially the hot chocalate made from scratch. Then back in the van to travel to tall mountains without snow lines….trees up to the very top!

Oaxaca was a wonderful city to wander in….even when your shoes fall apart. And we certainly did feel we missed seeing so much—-BUT WE SAW SO MUCH !!! Most definitely a place to come to…several times.

Some have asked if we would consider moving there. I could definitely come here and stay a few weeks, but the reason to be here in Mexico is for me is that beautiful ocean. And the truth is we have gotten used to playing a little pickleball here. And of course, lots of terrific friends…so no we wouldn’t move there unless it becomes too financially prudent to do so. And I bet we would love living there…as long as I got to take the 5 hour bus ride to the beach a few times a year. There is something very mystical about Oaxaca. Staying 20 minutes out of the city in the hills deepened that feeling. There is a combination of European architecture from the 1500s combined with the artistry of the Zapotecs all nestled into steep mountains, desert and lots of agave plantations. A very difficult place to capture in pictures because it is most definitely beautiful but also so different that it strikes you as odd at times. (A new highway has been made that takes what was a 15 hour drive over the mountains to the coast into a 4.5 hour drive through tunnels to Bahia de Huatulco which we visited with Maris about 25 years ago…another spectacular set of beaches).

I hesitated to use this picture because somehow it feels intrusive but in these days that seem a bit dark for many of us I could not resist sharing the beauty of this picture. A moment of love and kindness; and a friendship that will always exist….regardless of space and time.

PS…Super Bowl Sunday finally gave me the time to finish this!

Time for another Christmas Card Blog that sadly won’t be set to music as Brant did for so many years, but it does instantly become part of our running blog aka our digital photo album. Some traditions change…

I went back and reviewed my old Christmas entries in an effort to not be too repetitive. Life here definitely has a rhythm. And, please note that I will only update you from October 2024 on as you can just scroll back as far as you’d like. (Our trip to Portugal and France was best ever!)

This is our third Christmas to celebrate in our home here in Los Barriles (possibly fourth but not sure I count the first year). Our third Christmas without the stress of getting back to work….and yes, we are still not missing it.

After last year’s late season hurricane, we did not rush to get the storm shutters off our house after our gluttonous trip. (For this trip I lost 5 lbs in preparation for it and gained 7 pounds along the way, pregaming at its best. )It was nice to come back and rejoin friends eager to play pickleball, paddle and swim…post gaming it?

It was a summer with only minimal rain and very hot days so our backyard was not quite as green. It was exciting to get back and see our completed palapa. (Once again we broke the rule of always being present for construction but for once it seemed to work out ok….and thanks to the friend who took care of paying him).

I was excited to have my new Mar Y Sol SUP at the ready for the witches paddle. (I now have a house based and condo based SUP—what every girl needs). Sadly though, we are wise witches and opted for a beach walk when the waves and winds came up.

As always we have met many new friends of friends. October and November are our favorite months here and they always seem to attract those who love this beautiful ocean.

It’s hard to resist a good trip with friends…and why should we? We got to explore Playa Cerritos and I loved getting the chance to do some boogie boarding. The power of the ocean is amazing. To feel the waves yank me into the shore has a wonderful sense of freedom and you are reminded of the power of the earth.

While I have been able to fit in more time for art, Brant has been very busy with Rotary. This will need to be it’s own blog entry at the end of the year as there is far too much to discuss. The Taste of East Cape was a great success that we hope will pay off with a new playground, soccer field lights etc.

And while Brant was busy putting the finishing details on the Taste, I attended the wedding of one of Maris’ college roommates in Austin, Texas. I so love seeing her roommates “grow up”. It is special to see the bonds they have formed. We enjoyed getting to know them as they made their way through Berkeley and are now so happy to see them maintaining those relationships even from a distance and even as they pursue different paths. We have had the opportunity over the past couple of years to reconnect with our old college friends and it’s just amazing how easy it is to pick up where the conversation left off. I think shared values insure a lifetime of friendship. I feel sure it will be the same for Maris….definitely a resolution to be made and tradition to be kept.

As always there are many projects around the house. I am too lazy to find all the before and after pics so just come down and check it out. There are new gates, palapas, fountains and as always much painting.

This year the winter solstice was not as exciting a program but the effigy was beautiful and the sentiment remains the same. An evening to think about new beginnings and renewal. And a perfect event for my tie dye tshirt from Huey’s in Memphis. The namesake for our cat and our former favorite hangout back in college ( a perfect gift from Maris).

In the category of life moving along too fast, Sarah and EB and Maris and Gabe all came to LB for Christmas. SO very good to have everyone together. We know it’s getting more difficult for Sarah and EB to travel and Gabe and Maris were right in the middle of a big move so it meant even more that everyone put the effort forth to get here and celebrate together.

And in the category of tradition, so happy to have our friends here for New Year’s once again. The Baja Midnights (Lonnie Mark and Alison) had their best ever performance at the Tiki Bar followed by some beach dancing to Gatos Pardos.

Last night I arrived home after a wonderful trip to Oaxaca, and as much as I loved where we visited it truly felt like coming home as I pulled into our driveway, I still struggle with Spanish and while I’m still frustrated by many ineptitudes with desert gardening and art I think I am learning to enjoy the struggle.

We are proud to be living in a country filled with art, music, excellent food, and a love for family and friends as well as many beautiful traditions. Most of all, Brant and I feel so lucky to be sharing this somewhat chaotic crazy (but most definitely fun filled) life by this beautiful sea together (true most of the time, but he’s in Vegas at the moment). We hope that President Claudia Scheinbaum continues to make it an even better place while maintaining many old traditions. So glad a tradition was finally broken in Mexico with the election of their first female president!

I will try to message and email this card to everyone and I apologize to those of you who already subscribe to the blog as this will be a duplicate. Several have asked me how to subscribe and I didn’t know until a friend showed me the trick. You go into brantandwendy.com then in very pale print in either the top corner or bottom in pale writing (that I formerly did not see) you click subscribe. I get way too much junk in my email to ever notice a blog coming in so I will assume the same for you.

I hear from the young that we shouldn’t be curating our lives but I for one love hearing a bit from everyone. SO very good to know what folks are up to in their lives. And remember Nuestra casa es tu casa…Hasta luego y pronto!

I wanted to get this done so I could get the Oaxaca blog done. Everyone needs to go to Oaxaca…asap before it changes much more!

I questioned the wisdom of visiting too many cities on this trip…Brooklyn, Porto, Lisbon, Lyon, Nice, Sete, Bordeaux and Paris, but I have to say in retrospect each was truly separate and distinct. Honestly I think the people were very similar in all the cities…for me it’s the architecture, geography and food that varies. I really loved all these cities and would happily return to any of them. (Hah but probably won’t because there are so many other places to see!)

At this point in the trip, one is getting a little tired of researching and planning, so when I saw a food/wine tour in the city we just booked it with minimal further thought. What a great tour! Excellent food and wine. Our tour guide seemed to have a real passion for what she was doing. Best duck breast of the trip, excellent wines and a pastry so good even Brant dared to eat it (cream filled)…..

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I thought Bordeaux felt like a mini Paris. Easy to walk around, a great mix of food, and that architecture that transports you to a French novel. Just around the corner from our apartment was a hamburger spot that was always packed with young people having CHEESEburgers (served with 1/2 lb of cheese) and lots of wine. It was an ancient place with a very young and diverse vibe.

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We have only been to Paris once when we spent a week there spending every day packed seeing every tourist site in the city. I loved it! This time, we admit, we were a little travel weary and starting to think of our future. Paris was perfect for aimless wandering, more excellent food, and just getting absorbed into a big beautiful city. When we were here before I said if we came back I wanted to stay in the Marais arrondisemant which we did and it was a perfect combo of old architecture with young people enjoying the city.

Loved all that wine but nothing like a good Tios margarita at the end of a trip! The excellent research by both of us and the amazing scheduling abilities of Brant (and I do mean AMAZING) helped make this a wonderful trip. Of course patience when stuff goes wrong and the ability to compromise when needed or not to compromise when its at the top of the bucket list helped too. Most of all it comes down to luck…and we felt very, very lucky to have so many great experiences. Here is hoping our luck holds out for another week or so! Salud!

Time to leave Oppede as we had a week or so to get to Paris and catch a flight home. We had a hard time with decision making as there were just too many options but decided to fo to Sete in part because a friend wanted to meet us there for lunch. The other reason to head for Sete was for it’s seafood and it’s cuisine, considered to be very different from other parts of France. On the way to Sete, we stopped in Arles where Van Gosh had lived for many years and sadly had been hospitalized for his mental illness.

Sete is a good sized city, but Brant had become expert at navigating the city streets. Despite that we ran into our first rip off situation. We had booked an apartment for 2 nights through booking, Sadly the parking space was not there as described nor were the people who were going to meet us. Totally ghosted, but we were extremely impressed by Booking.com’s quick assistance in getting a nearby hotel (with a portion paid by Booking.com). In fact the hotel likely worked out better than our original choice. We never found out what had happened. Perhaps there is some innocent explanation….

Sete certainly had a different feel than the other places we had been. There was seafood everywhere!!! Oysters, mussels, fish, shrimp….. and lots of people that looked like they were spending the weekend eating it…everywhere.

These (I believe) are pavlova. Yes, in a camp supply store at a campground by the beach! It had croissants, pain au chocalat and pavlovas….not to mention a dozen types of cheese and fresh baguettes. This is my kind of camping….happy to trade in my s’mores for these.

On the way from Sete to the Pyrenees we stopped for a quick look at Carcassonne. We had heard from many that the area was a bit too Disneyesque and really not that great a stop….but heck it was on the way to the Pyrenees. The drive there past canals with their lockes and the tiny towns next to the canal were beautiful, out of another time, and made for a beautiful drive.

We cut short our stay in the Pyrenees ….just one night. We regret not taking a steep road up into the Pyrenees that is used by the Tour de France most years. It is the steepest climb of the race. Of course I read all this after the fact! Next time….

While we didn’t have enough time to explore there was stunning scenery at the French/Spain border.

…and it filled our hotel pool with a couple feet of mud. There is a large field of mud nearby which also entered a house . Amazing that the place was up and running a week later!

The rain began again as we approached Bordeaux….good timing for dropping off our rental car. As so many have said, the roads were great in France and Brant says he feels the drivers were courteous. The car was definitely the way to explore but happy to switch over to city mode travel for the rest of our trip (metro, bus, train, Uber etc).

And last food pic… Sometimes you get a bit tired of finding places and things and just want a quick bite to eat. We needed to stop at a store so why not just stop and get some mall fast food on the way through a city?

So we did (the only restaurant at the mall)…and a half hour later they brought me my little salad….

I do this blog to create memories of our travels and so that we can remind us of what we did and how we felt about each place. I try to avoid the extraneous details and of course try to gloss over any tedium. I think this trip has created the longest list of “go back and do’s” of any trip. It’s definitely a faster form of sketching (photography), but someday I want to sit here and paint.

It was Peter Mayle’s books (one of which I have read 3x)combined with Georgeanne Brennan’s cookbooks and Alison Water’s love of France that made me want to go to Provence. My expectations were high and mainly it was what I thought it would be though even more beautiful then expected in many areas. Of course we could not have the sort of relationships described by Peter Mayle, but we did find incredible kindness and almost an insistence that they were going to figure out what we were asking and help us out. At times we avoided asking when we were in a hurry because it sometimes involved the person leaving to go find someone to talk to us in English! (I will say that in this part of Provence much more English was spoken in the more “touristy” areas—and many more menus had english, but, until we got here there was very rarely any English spoken or written). It seemed odd to finally hear other tourists speaking english. I suspect this is a much more visited part of France by the English speaking. In Reilhannette the airbnb owners told us 98 percent of their rentals was to the French. Yet people came from all over with recent renters even from Russia and Israel. Even though they are from Holland their English was excellent and they were fluent in French. I bet their Dutch is pretty good too!

So so many cheeses in France (and so reasonably priced) ! Even Brant sampled them and liked many. My favorite was a goat cheese blue cheese, but I liked the other 50 I sampled too. Fran and I decided that Saint Marcellin was brie made better than brie.

This part of the trip was just about visiting as many little towns as we could but taking time to hike (we averaged 12,000 steps a day), eat 2 big meals a day and we also became fond of European happy hour in pretty cafes. Breakfast was usually croissant and coffee (made on a multitude of different devices) or pain au chócalat. And of course some great picnics after market days…made especially nice by the purchase of a chopping block and a sharp knife. So much food, so little time!

From a distance the towns would look like some off white clutter usually close to the top of a hill. As you approached you could make out details of castle ruins etc. I really was amazed how many towns their were and it seemed each one was 30 min to an hour apart. Parking was not a problem as no town was really crowded so we would try to park just outside the town and then walk in. The hard part was picking which towns!

We could both see traveling with a backpack and spending a few days in about 4 towns using the local bus system in the middle of tourist season. And we were pleasantly surprised that each town was a little different…each had a different vibe. I hope we can do that someday.

There were restaurants on decks along the edge of the river—perfect place for Niçoise salad! (I was glad to see they do actually eat this salad in France, but while the French do seem to love their French fries..there was no French roast coffee . I finally asked someone about French Roast and they had no idea what I was talking about.

Artists say it best…. In Bonnieux we saw an art studio selling postcards of their art. We chose 6….not an easy task but tried to choose those that seemed to capture the spirit of each different town we had visited. As it turns out the cashier was also the artist of the 3 paintings on the right column. Her husband painted the 3 on the left column. SHe thought it was funny that we had happened to choose 3 of each of their paintings from the 40 or so on display. She told us that she and her husband had moved there in their 50s and began painting. They were now in their 80s and still painting. Carpe diem! The pigments and paper are ready….

Hated to leave the gorges but many more towns to see. Next up is a town in Northern Provence. The drive was easy except for my constant desire to stop and see things.

In regards to food nearly all has been very good to excellent. The timing of meals can be tricky though. Lunch is 11-2 and dinner is about 7-9. Fortunately that works pretty well for us most of the time. The last time we went to France there was no google translate, we would just randomly point at items on the menu. What a difference to be able to shine your camera at the print and …Voila! …english magically appears. (Seriously the word voila is used a lot here.)

This area seemed remarkably free of tourists. I don’t recall anyone speaking English here as there first language…and very spoke anything but a few words of English. Everywhere went, however, people tried their best to communicate with us…sometimes with humorous results. It was difficult to come up with a response when someone said they spoke english but then would say something like we are giving to you fried cats today…or something like that. Best to just shake your head, no merci and point at something else on the menu.

Here it felt somewhat remote and very peaceful…just a wonderful place to walk and walk and walk……. Often we would walk through a beautiful old village and never see another person, dog or cat. Brant found it spooky but I liked it.

Our airbnb could not have been better (well maybe if it came with free nightly massages). Yvonne and Finn were terrifically helpful. We especially appreciated that they called and made reservations at restaurants for us *(truly impossible for us). Most of all, we just enjoyed chatting. Our lives had some parallels. We had both sold everything and moved to another country (holland for them). They had bought the property turned the barn into our apartment. They also rented a trailer they had fully renovated as well as a gypsy wagon that they rent. (They were well spaced so no issues with noise). We have had many of the same issues as them and they have worked hard on becoming part of the community as well. And like us, there is always another DIY project to complete. Yvonne is a furniture builder and jewelery maker and I was able to see her studio in the cold cellar of their home. Over the past 8 years they have respected the beauty of an old country home while transforming it into a unique air BnB. I fixed dinner for all us one evening and it was just great to hear about their adventures. And once again reminded how we pretty much all want the same stuff in life….good food and drink we can afford and a safe fun place to live. Of course our definition of what that is varies. Regardless, we hope we successfully convinced Yvonne and Finn to come visit us in LB someday.

Another beautiful place. This is Mount Ventoux. A favorite with bicyclists. Maybe we will come back and bike up to the summit…with Ebikes…with extra batteries.