A Life, Lived

Travel Tuesdays - Thanksgiving in Sonoma

In 2014 Mom, my sister Rose, Paul and I travelled to Sonoma for a week around Thanksgiving. We flew into San Franscisco and after spending a few days there we drove north to the Russian River valley area. We rented a house in Guerneville and spent the week travelling around Sonoma. We visited an art preserve, wineries, wandered historic Sonoma, checked out the historic towns of the Russian River Valley and Fort Ross the old Russian Fort on the coast. We recreated a pic we took on our last evening in the area in 2004 on our final night - dinner at the famous Rivers End restaurant.

September 11

Travel Tuesday - Lockport

We decided to cross the border on the weekend and explore the Erie Canal where it goes through Lockport, NY. Its name derives from a set of five Erie Canal locks within the city that were built to allow canal barges to traverse the 60-foot natural drop of the Niagara Escarpment. The Erie Canal was built in the early 1800s to transport goods from Atlantic Ocean ports to the Great Lakes.

After wandering the canal area we headed south of the city to the New York Beer Project for lunch. Great beer and good food!

Travel Tuesdays - the Berkshires

Now that the Canada/US border is reopening I've been thinking about short trips we could take. Of course the Berkshires came to mind . . .

Travel Tuesdays - Muir Woods

When Paul and I were first in San Francisco years ago we made the trek across the Bay to hike in Muir woods. We have wonderfully happy memories of that. A few years later when I was hear with a colleague we attempted a similar visit but were thwarted by a land slide. On Paul's birthday trip in California we were determined to make it happen.

The park website warned that parking was a nightmare and people were known to take to parking on the side of the road next to the creek only to experience the horror of their car tumbling into the creek and harming the natural ecosystem (although to be honest the ecosystem would be way down on my list of concerns if my rental were to tumble into a gorge). In order to deal with the onslaught of visitors a shuttle bus has been put in place.

TAKE THE SHUTTLE!!!

We decided to drive and hoped we might find a spot on a Monday morning. HA HA HA HA

I dropped the gang off and ended up parked about two miles away on the side of the road (happily in an area with a huge, wide shoulder).

Here are some pics from that visit 6 years ago.

 

Travel Tuesday - Maine

We've been talking about the possibility of a trip to Maine once we're both vaccinated and the border reopens to travel.

We've been twice and we love it there.

Some time at the coast would be a nice post-COVID treat!

Travel Tuesdays - Savannah

13 years ago Paul and I traveled to Savannah for the great Slow Travel GTG. More than 50 travel fans from across North America gathered in the city for a long weekend of wine, laughter, chatter, and food.

Travel Tuesdays - San Francisco

A few years ago we were in San Francisco having breakfast. I received a call from a colleague - apparently I hadn't rearranged by work schedule properly and I was expected to be working on that day. She offered to help me out and take over.

Thank goodness for helpful colleagues.

After things got sorted Paul and I hopped on transit and headed to the museum area of the Golden Gate Park. Later in the day we went to the Slanted Door for dinner.

Peaceful Protests

Something to think about when you compare the January 6th protest of the US election results being finalized vs. another protest . . .

Travel Tuesdays - Los Alamos

The Super Bowl has me thinking of the 'anti Super Bowl' parties that our friend Shannon used to arrange for our SlowTravel group. People from across north America would fly to California for a long weekend of wine, food, and plenty of fun. Because Paul and I were traveling to far we'd often tack some time on either end to make it a week visit.

These pics are from 2012. We gathered at the Skyview Inn outside of Los Alamos. On Saturday we visited area wineries during the day and at night we gathered in the party room of the Inn for a pizza feast that had been organized for us.