All posts filed under: Travel Series

Through the Smoke Filled Air

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I woke up this morning scratching my head, thinking while in deep sleep at some point overnight, I was shuttled up to another planet. The skies across the bay area are orange-gray dark and a bit scary. Never been in this situation before. I mean we’ve had fires across California but none this extreme. At least not in my lifetime. But then again it is 2020 and all is expected at this point so, with all lights on in the house, at now almost nine in the morning, I am staying connected in hopes to stay distracted.       featured image source and full credit

Weekend Wrap and This Dessert

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Normally we venture out of the city on day trips to satisfy our wanderlust. But as most of you know, we are battling fires all around northern California, which seems to be the norm in recent years, except this one adds to the already sad state of our new lifestyle. So, Saturday we did some chores, and ran errands, mostly shopping for essentials – to be out but to stay indoors if you will – and in the evening had cocktails and watched silly and surely entertaining films here and here. On Sunday we took a chance, venturing across the Golden Gate, and staying close by, in Sausalito to explore and yet be ready if need be to return home and be indoors. So, we walked as usual up the steep hills, and through the narrow streets, with me wanting to capture photographs of the smoke filled air mixed with the picturesque small town of Sausalito. The color contrast to my eye was the most fascinating.   We decided this weekend, not to ponder over …

Boutique Hotel Pick – Tree Hotels

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This category – Boutique Hotel Picks – I’ve decided to bring back after I sort of stopped posting (since April 2020) due to our inability to travel. But wen I saw this article about Modern Tree Hotels, I wander if anyone would consider the option, past the RV surge right now, for accommodations: featured image source and full credit

Travel: Three Day Weekends

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In the states, we have Labor Day weekend coming up – first weekend in September, which represents the end to summer and even marks the formal beginning of a school year. This year as we know it, is a bit off (scratch that) a lot off and planning a three-day getaway is probably on the back of everyone’s mind, considering the fires in the west, the hurricanes in the south, and rain in between. But for the sake of mental health, we should make an effort to be outdoors, safely of course, abiding by all the rules – masks, six feet apart, and everything else asked of us to stay healthy. Featured image offers up ten best places to spend the labor day weekend

Weekend Recap and Some Thoughts

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With nowhere to go – considering the relentless fires all around the bay area, I felt extremely sad when I woke up Saturday and scrolled through the local news, about the parks, the redwoods, the animals, the air, and all things in distress due to the fires we have yet to contain in northern California. Twenty-twenty has topped one of the worst for the twenty-first century and we are doing everything to stay positive, focused, upbeat, and push onward. After breakfast, we headed out to Burlingame, to the post office to ship some care packages to a loved one in the military.  The quaint village, I’d like to call it, was covered in smoke, and the air quality the most unhealthiest, making it near impossible to walk through Burlingame Avenue without gasping for air, or feeling the need to rub our eyes.  I figured since we were unable to venture out anywhere along the coast, or even through trails inland, we would instead head to the Central Park and hang out at the Japanese Garden …

Weekend Recap and A Few Lovely Things

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We had a freakishly tropical weather this weekend and normally when us locals see sun at the coast, we don’t venture far from the city. We actually pour outside and explore the coast. So that’s what happened, instead of us escaping town by driving across the Golden Gate, we actually walked it across on Saturday, all 1.7 miles in each direction and then some back to our car parked another mile from the bridge. It was invigorating, since the last time I did the walk was five years ago.  This time around with hardly any tourists but having to adapt to the social distancing criteria – which was the most challenging on a narrow walkway. But we did it, under the scorching sun, and hot wind against our skin. So it started out like this: And then thought, this would be a good day to walk across the Golden Gate We got to the car, stopped at a grocers to buy food and water, and we sat in the car under a trees by the …

Weekend Recap – Part 2 – Sausalito Trails

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Since the fog held steady over the Golden Gate Bridge, we decided to explore Sausalito – not that we haven’t been a million times. But we figured since it was sunny, warm and we did not really want to drive too far inland, we would park in the small town and walk to Baker Beach, (opposite direction) and then detour to the highest peek in Sausalito, and walk the winding roads, while taking in the views from a different elevation. So that’s what happened on Sunday.   After the wonderful walk, we sat in the park down below and simply soaked it all in – before heading back into the extreme fog and cold – and put on our winter clothes while considering turning on the heater.

Weekend Recap and Hello Monday

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Is anyone else not sleeping well at nights?  I ask only because last night was the worst – no sleep at all – none and while on Facebook in between doodling with the color apps on my phone, I noticed a few of my friends were also up. If I weren’t so worried about making too much noise, I would have sent out a Facebook invite to have an after hours drinks and conversation. Anyway – let’s move past this and talk about the weekend. Hope all of you had a pretty good weekend, doing your part to stay safe, six-feet apart, while taking in sun, and and doing things with your family that made you happy. I went for my walks as usual – this time seven miles each day, instead of the five. On Saturday to check out Larkspur, where I’ve never been in all the years I’ve been living in San Francisco.  It’s weird how this Pandemic has redefined how I would be traveling and exploring – each weekend a new place, …

Travel: U.S. Lakes To Add To Your Bucket List

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My bucket list is growing. It’s funny, all my adult life, I figured abroad was the only way to getaway and that I’ve done all the U.S. travel I needed to in between: New York, Pennsylvania, Montana, Colorado, Washington State, Washington D.C., Oregon, Chicago, naturally all of California, Arizona, Texas, Nevada, and even New Mexico and Alabama, I’ve seen them all, or so I think of course: So here’s to my list of five lakes in the U.S. I will be visiting 2021 and the rest spread out over time.  Looks like the RV concept is going to become a reality after all :). Featured image source and full credit

Weekend Recap and Mood For The Week

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As promised, I did venture out to San Ramon and Danville (California) to see about new home development sites and while walking through the many 4000 square foot ‘family homes’ I felt no desire to uproot and move out of my old house and into one that felt so not like a place I could call my home. I suppose I love the old, the charming architecture, creaky floors, slanted walls, and my ocean view too much to consider anything but investing in upgrades – electrical, structural and a professional landscape, and a polish on the old hardwood floors.  This is something I am now one hundred percent certain I want to tackle. But I did walk away with some ideas of course, in decor 🙂 Bathroom tile, bay windows, landscape, a dedicated laundry space, tile work and more On Sunday, we drove out to Tiburon with hopes the fog remained at bay, San Francisco bay and for the most part it did. We managed to sightsee this fair town in a whole different spectrum. …