After loving Lisbon, we wrapped up our tour of Portugal with a few brief but spectacular stops. We stopped in Evora, and walked the town to find the Royal Church of St Francis and next to it the Capela dos Ossos – Chapel of Bones! The sign over the chapel door says: “We bones that are here await yours.” It was eerie and amazing! The … Continue reading Perceptions from Portugal
From our traveling on the boat days, we’ve learned to try and keep our driving time to just a few hours each travel day so we can enjoy more time at each stop. Heading south from Porto, we first stopped at Nazare, a seaside town that is a mecca for surfers due to the huge waves on its north shore in the winter. Since it … Continue reading Loving Lisbon
On our way to Porto, we stopped at the town of Penedono, to see the very small (by castle standards) Castelo de Penedono. The castle wasn’t hard to find in the tiny town. We were permitted to explore the castle on our own, with the understanding that if we hurt ourselves, it was our own damn fault! We had the place to ourselves and spent … Continue reading Porto.
Our European Adventure started with an overnight flight from JFK to Madrid. We picked up our rental car, drove through the city to Hotel Moderno, and brought our luggage up to the sixth floor. Thank goodness there was an elevator! It was a sunny day as we located El Oso y el Madrono (The Bear and the Strawberry Tree) sculpture around the corner from our … Continue reading Hola Madrid!
As we pulled into Key West last November, Kenton and I were discussing this very question. The Great Loop and the Canada Loop had been fantastic, but now what? We had enjoyed almost three years of living and traveling on a boat, but had no definite plan for the future beyond spending another beautiful winter at a marina near Key West. We gave ourselves an … Continue reading Now what?
Our first stop in Florida was Fernandina, the pretty town between the factories on Amelia Island. We docked nose-to-nose with Double Down, a 214-ft yacht that made our boat look like a tender. We walked the town, finding good music along the way. Next stop was Jacksonville, where we celebrated Curtis’s birthday with Chrissie and new friends from the dock. Then on to St Augustine, … Continue reading Finding Our Happy Place
Our visit to NJ allowed us to avoid traveling through Hurricane Ian. We used the time to visit family and friends, and to pack up the house we were selling in Toms River. Once Ian was gone the weather had cooled (38 degrees!), and we enjoyed one last fire in the backyard before we moved back to our boat to head south toward warmer weather. … Continue reading Looking for Warmer Weather
We left the Erie Canal and turned south, cruising down the Hudson River past Troy, Menands, and Starbuck Island. At Albany we watched a small tug turn a large freighter that was docking. We made a quick stop at New Baltimore, then continued south on the always beautiful Hudson River, past Coxsackie and Athens, following a rainbow. The clouds swirled as we passed Saugherties, Kingston, … Continue reading Heading down the Hudson River
The weather was gloomy as we headed into the Erie Canal. We fueled up at the infamous Wardell Boat Yard and then headed east, cruising behind a sailboat with new owners who jokingly referred to us as their “search and rescue” team. The skies were gray and it rained off and on as we made our way to Middleport. We tied to the wall for … Continue reading Rainy days on the Erie Canal
We worked our way through the amazingly blue waters of Lake Huron as we headed south along the Michigan coast, stopping first at beautiful Rogers City. Then we made a stop at lovely Port Austin, where we had a fantastic dinner at The Bank. I love a restaurant with a theme! Also impressive was the sunset that evening. The next day we continued on to … Continue reading Lake Erie, Revisited
