Adventuriety
New Zealand is an outdoor enthusiasts dream come true because there are infinite epic outdoor adventures to choose from and today was definitely epic. Scott found a doozie for us by the name of Mt. Alfred. He started off by telling me that the estimated time was 6-8 hours, but he read a blog that said it could be done in a little over four hours. The...
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Adventuriety
It has been cloudy and stormy and beautiful here in Queenstown. It seems like every type of weather is just another way for the mountains to showcase their magnificence. We needed exercise today, but there was little chance of a hike to a view and so our trusty leader decided that we would retrace part of the Ben Lomond track and summit Bowen Peak, another...
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Adventuriety / Inspirietry
We left the magical Bay of Islands and drove towards Waipoua State Forest, another place that we had visited years ago. The kids have seen our giant California trees, but we wanted them to see New Zealand’s behemoths, the Kauri trees. photo by Grant A major threat to the Kauri, identified in 2008, is kauri dieback, a disease caused by a fungus-like water mold that attacks...
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Adventuriety
Scott and I spent a night in Bay of Islands on our honeymoon and have three vivid memories from our visit which is amazing to me because we have no pictures to jog these memories. The first memory involves a one man catamaran and some uncooperative wind. You have to remember that Bay of Islands is absolutely beautiful and pristine and it’s mostly about the water. The...
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Adventuriety
Scott and I have been married a few years. We went to Australia and New Zealand on our honeymoon and overheard a couple at one of the places we stayed talking about how they couldn’t believe that they were already celebrating their 10th Anniversary by returning to the place that they had honeymooned. We thought that sounded like a good idea and now all of...
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Adventuriety
Hernio is an iconic summit and the highest peak of the mountain range located right in the heart of Basque Country and very popular with the Gipuzkoans . In case you are wondering, Gipuzkoa is the name of the province and it is the most Basque of the whole area, with half of the population speaking Basque. San Sebastian is the capital of this province....
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Adventuriety
We spent two weeks in beautiful San Sebastian, Spain, the perfect mix of mountains, city and sea. This is La Concha beach, minutes from our apartment and very cold, but Ashley couldn’t stay out of the water. She actually swam twice in the Bay of La Concha and the first time came out of the water before her allotted half hour was up (I was...
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Adventuriety
The sky was dark and low as we drove north out of Madrid on our way to San Sebastian where we would enjoy our final two weeks in Spain before returning home. Scott had planned a low elevation hike somewhere along the route because it was cold and rainy. We would stay out of the higher elevations and cold and wind and instead see the last...
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Adventuriety
The kids are enrolled in an online school and part of the curriculum is P.E. which I am in charge of (along with History and English). We have been able to stay very active with a lot of hiking and walking and an occasional swim or bike ride but lately the kids have added their own twist to our walks, parkour. Parkour is a discipline developed in...
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Domesticiety / Recuperiety
We met a beautiful, young couple in Tanzania. She was from Spain, he was from South Africa, they were living and working in Oman, and on safari for their honeymoon. Scott and I were watching the sunset over a coffee plantation, talking about possibly visiting Spain on our next trip, when like a sign we heard the newlyweds discussing their wedding and how their parents were...
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