Hiking the Colorado Trail is a perfect way to spend the day! The scenery is picture perfect! I hiked a portion of the Molas Trail, an 8 mile round trip hike, that descends to the Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and follows the Colorado Trail for a little ways.
Hiking in Olympic National Park, Washington is a feast for the senses! I was blown away by the natural beauty! I was there in July of 2011 and the weather was glorious.
Hiking Petra is an electrifying experience! Although the landscape seems stark…it’s alive with energy! Over the course of two days, I was able to hike for miles through the ancient grounds, high into the rock formations. These horse and buggies are available for those that aren’t able or don’t want to walk.
Hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon is another “must do” if you love hiking like I do! My adventure was back in 2007 and although I hiked down solo…I met a couple of guys to chat with along … Continue reading
Yosemite National Park is as grand as everyone says! I was fortunate to hike about 14 (long and rugged) miles of it one day back in 2006 while traveling solo for a week through California! That’s me…looking small beside the … Continue reading
The Park of choice for last night’s hike was Winton Woods on the West side of Cincinnati. I used to live in that area when I was a single mother 20 years ago. I haven’t been to that Park in years and it brought back lots of memories! We walked the loop around the small lake. I’m not sure how far that is…probably about 2 miles and then walked part of it again and veered off onto another path.
There’s the lumberjack…
I haven’t gotten to swing in a while either. I asked the lumberjack if he would take photos of me.
He was delighted after he took this photo, because the timing was great for capturing me jumping from the swing…
The colors weren’t as vibrant as at Sharon Woods, but there were some other interesting photo ops. I purposely stood off-center for this shot under a bridge…thinking that would give it more appeal…
This photo makes me want to go sit on the bench. But knowing me…it wouldn’t be for long!
Just like Sharon Woods, there is a Boathouse there for rental of paddle boats, pontoons and aluminum canoes.
After using the restrooms, the light streaming in caught my attention. I couldn’t decide which photo I liked better…so I posted both!
More color!
I enjoyed the stripes in this shot…
I like the kayaks’ bright colors against the muted earth tones!
I hope you’re enjoying a tour of Cincinnati’s finest parks!!
This Autumn has been unbelievably colorful! We walked 2.5 miles around the small lake at Sharon Woods Park in Cincinnati last night. Although the Lumberjack normally walks slower than I do when we hike, I found myself running to keep … Continue reading
The Park was filled with yellow…
If you’re ever in the Cincinnati area, I highly recommend taking a stroll through the Village of Mariemont. Especially in Autumn! It’s a small community…about 3,500 residents. Yesterday, seeing that we had another glorious fall day, I parked in the town square, where a number of upscale restaurants are located and went exploring. The hiking club I belong to have an urban hike scheduled there on Sunday. I passed the Quarter Bistro Restaurant and thought their outside seating area looked quaint and a bit European…
The lawns were landscaped beautifully…
I discovered through the hiking club I belong to that perhaps the world’s largest Serpent Mound is located in Mariemont. This was reported in August of last year! So…having just seen the Serpent Mound in Adams County over the weekend, I was excited to hear about this. A blog called “Goddesschess” has a great post about it–if you’d like to learn more.
The Madisonville Site was–according to the Ohio Historical Society–the location of a large Ft. Ancient population. I’m learning all kinds of things about Cincinnati!
At one point on my hike–being the explorer that I am–I saw a tunnel and decided to go through it to investigate. There wasn’t much to see on the other side, but as I was going to return, I heard male voices coming through the tunnel, so I ran up the hill and found a little pathway back to the front of the tunnel. Whew! I was a little scared since there was no one else around. They were probably harmless, but it’s best not to take unnecessary risks!
We follow along the trail feasting our eyes on all of the nature…
I had a nice day hiking with my husband at Stonelick State Park, which is located North of Cincinnati and only 20 minutes from our home. We got a late start–about noon–so it was really hot and humid. Here are some photos from the hike…
We had fun playing Tarzan on a vine…
He got a little close…
There was an antique machinery show at the Park…so after our 4 mile hike we checked out all of the cool stuff! I really enjoyed talking to this guy–his name is Jack Miller and he does custom forging–the old fashioned way–a real “blacksmith”. I would love to learn to make things either by welding or this way.
Here are some of his wares…but he also makes decorative pieces.
I’m not really into antiques, tractors, or old cars…but some of these were really unique…
This is an orchard tractor. The sides are shielded to protect them from tree branches, etc.
I loved this Studebaker and the attached little camper. I had checked into buying one of these…I could pull it behind my little honda…sleep in it…it has a fridge & cooktop. So cute!
To top off the day we had a bite to eat. I usually eat really healthy…like sprouted whole grain bread, salads, oatmeal smoothies, etc., but I had a cheese (artificial–I think) steak hoagie, Pepsi, and deep fried Oreos! The Oreos were really good…but now I’m paying for it–sore tummy!!
Hope your day was great!!
I briefly talked about hiking Table Mountain in Cape Town, Africa a few weeks ago in my post about my Couchsurfing experience in Cape Town, but I wanted to give you some additional information!
I had researched a few companies and hikes on Trip Advisor and was interested in the India Venster trail. I had decided to wait until I arrived in Cape Town to make any arrangements, mainly because of weather. I’m glad I did, because the people I couchsurfed with were able to get their neighbor, Keith, to hike the India Venster trail with me.
India Venster Trail–Table Mountain, Cape Town
It basically traverses up the front of Table Mountain, under the cable car. We came across the National flower for South Africa on the trail…the beautiful Protea…
Here’s a closer view…
Being a local, he was very familiar with this trail. I had read that it isn’t marked as well as some of the others and is a little more challenging because of some rock scrambling. In America it would be considered a Class 3 level for rock climbing. I was a bit nervous, but wanted a challenge. There was only one spot on the trail where I was finding spots for my fingers within the rocks and was perched precariously…wondering what I had gotten myself in to!
The Platteklip Gorge is an easier route for those that don’t want a little thrill!
I had arrived to Cape Town from Ohio, North America the day before, but slept well, so I felt up to it. Luckily, the day was mostly sunny and we had spectacular views!
The view coming down in the cable car….Spectacular!!
Taking Cable Car down from top of Table Mountain
There have been a number of deaths on this trail, with various contributing factors such as…inferior physical fitness level, traversing down is more difficult than going up, rapid weather changes, and others.
I thoroughly enjoyed my hike on Table Mountain! It was even better than I expected!!
Although all of the destinations on my 12-night Mediterranean cruise (taken in 2010) were amazing, I was looking forward to Cinque Terre most of all, and it didn’t let me down! In 2006, I had spent hours upon hours researching and booked a solo, three week backpacking trip to Europe, to include Cinque Terre, and because of life, had to cancel it, so I was thrilled to finally have the opportunity to visit. Especially due to the recent disaster there!
After docking in Livorno, we boarded our pre-paid/reserved train…a little over one hour trip…to La Spezia and then hopped on a short regional train ride that delivered us to the last of the five villages, Monterosso al Mare. I thoroughly researched this excursion, because when you’re on a cruise ship, timing is very important! If you miss your ship, you’re “ship” out of luck!
I took this photograph of Monterosso al Mare while hiking. Everyone that I spoke to on the ship was going to Florence and/or the leaning Tower of Pisa. They didn’t know what they were missing!
This is the beginning of the 1 1/2 hour trail that we hiked from the fifth village to the fourth village, Vernazza. Although I purchased some great Merrill sandals, especially for this trip, I was beginning to get a callous on the edge of my heel. But nothing could dampen the dazzling vistas!
The entire region is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The natural beauty was almost overwhelming!
The trail varied in it’s difficulty and scenery…
You can see the village of Vernazza in the distance.
It’s like a jewel jutting from the cliff…
After having some lunch in town…due to time constraints, we took the train to the first village, Riomaggiore, where we briefly looked around and headed back to the train station in La Spezia.
We had over an hour to kill at the train station, so we went for a walk and my traveling companion overheard a woman talking to a taxi driver about taking her to her ship, which happened to be Royal Caribbean. We spoke to her and within seconds we’re sharing the taxi with her to go back to the ship. Obviously, we weren’t thinking…we were over an hour away from the ship…and the woman said the taxi was only 10 euros…which is about $12 to split.
Within a couple of minutes we realized that she was heading to a different Royal Caribbean ship and I’m asking “Guido” the taxi driver if he is going to charge us anything for taking us back to where we came from. He said he wouldn’t and started making a wierd gesture with his arms and saying in his half Italian and broken English that we were tight!
Then…the lady wanted a receipt for her taxi ride and he wouldn’t give her one…gesturing and almost shouting…so she exited the taxi and on the 5-10 min. ride back to the train station, he is saying “Cacare”, over and over. Upon inquiring as to its meaning, he informed us it meant “F____ you”. He was upset with the lady wanting a receipt…so to break the tension…I requested him to teach us how to say it…so we’re all three in unison saying…”Cacare, Cacare”!
If you’re ever in La Spezia and want an unforgettable taxi ride, try to find “Guido”!
p.s. Later…I discovered from a fellow blogger that “Guido” is actually a slang term to denote someone that is lower or working class of American/Italian descent.
Sherry Lachelle Travels 