Ashland and rain

Actually, the weather has been ok. The rain has mostly been drizzly, with short periods of heavier downpours. Today, we hiked all over Lithia Park, a fine cith park next to a fairly large stream. Oaks, big leaf maples, ponderosa pines were everywhere. Kate saw a belted kingfisher fly over the river. I missed it, but I know they are here. Tomorrow, we may try to get to Siskiyou Mountain Park, depending on weather.

This town is a mixture of science oriented folks ( Scienceworks Museum is similar to S.F.s Exploratorium, ut lots smaller. We also enjoyed the nature center in town. There is also an affluent/New Ageey feel to things. Heard on the street today: ! told her to ground her life by focusing on the Ancient Feng Shui masters. (huh???) There are flyers for groups where you can explore your ancestor's relationship to the constellations and how this effects your ability to love, and some attention paid to a spiritual master who apparently vouaged to earth from the Pleides. I'm lost here, but still enjoy the town.

Oh yes, restaurants are expensive, Many offer steak dinners in the $39 range. Most also have some veggie options, like rice and risotto for $18, We're doing fine cooking in the house where we are staying.

We are in another Air B&B. Our hostess, Andrea is visiting her family. Her husband, Josh cooks gourmet breakfasts. We share travel tales...he lived on a kibbutz in Israel where when you took your cloathes to the laundry, you often got a whole other set of cloathes in return. He has other great stories. My favoriite is how he was in Ireland for Christmas, and was going to catch a plane. the next day. There were no hotels, the airport was closed so he couldn't sleep there. He stood in front kof a churgh with s sign saying he needed a place to stay. A family took him in and gave him too much to drink... but an experience and then some.

We hope to hike tomorrow if it's not raining... check in.

Hi from Ashland

We hiked all over the mountain trails of Eugene yesterday. Incredibly fine hiking areas... oaks, maples,doug fits covered with lichens (especially Old Man's Beard, which hangs down, literally, like a beard! the trees in Oregon often have sword ferns growing from their trunks... my guess is that enough lichens die that they provide organic matter where the ferns can thrive.There were nore fungi than I recognize. My favorites were snmall yellow ones that look like little gilled shells growing from the sides of trees.There were many conks, large, woody looking polypores growing from dead trunks. I did recognize witches' butter, a yellow jelly fungus (it does look like jelly!) growing from tree trunks. Jelly fungi parasatize other fungi, fascinating and weird.

Eugene is a friendly enough place, with great trails. The presence of some fine bookstores indicated that it has a very literaqte population. We found it to be a bit sprawling and car gongested. But a nice place to pas through from time to time.

We're now in Ashland, a friendly and pretty town in the Siskiyou Mountains. More to come!

hmmm...

When we first got to Eugene, I heard one young dude on the bus tell another, "My friend in Australia inherited $57,000, and blew it all in two months on cocaine, heroine and prostitutes." He went on to describe a recent drug experience, one where he had difficulty breathing and said, "People think I am a junkie and dealer, but I'm not. The other dude, nearly sient, watched him and kept his I-phone earphones in his ears. I watched and thought, "Is this where we want to be?"

This town is, indeed, a mixed bag. There are very nice hiking trails, again, by the Williamette River. Some places are woodsy and very wild. One part of the trail we followed yesterday had a large sculpture of the sun, with small models of the planets at the proportionally right distance. A Great Blue Heron waded in a pond, surrounded by swimming mallards.

Yesterday we visited the Cascade Raptor Center. A really wonderful place, with many rescued raptors, from screech owls to golden and bald eagles. They stress enrichment for the birds, and give them perches at different levels and of different textures.. They do have an educational program and not enough staff (I know all about it). Puck, their kestrel (small falcon) used to live at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, where I do a lot of teaching. WE had good discussions with the volunteers and a staff person, and were very impressed!

Downtown is car congested and unpleasant, blocks of uninteresting businesses. There doesn't seem to be a real center to this town, no central place where people can gather and find community. We'll see, we need to look more.
Today we are going to an Occupy Eugene Christmas potluck. We don't know what to expect. The occupy movement was evicted the other night; apparently some people came from Portland, etc. and tried to confront the cops. It reminds us of the politically rigid situation back in the Bay Area, which neither of us is comfortable with. The Occupy Eugene website has comments saying that the main group is elitist and unfriendly. We man not spend much time at this gathering, then again it may be different from what we expect.

A touch of the Christmas blues may be effecting me... but on the whole, this feels more like a small city than a laid-back, friendly community like Corvallis, where we were both quite comfortable. We'll see, though, we're here for another day and a half.

Have a good holiday, more to come.

Happy Solstice.

Today we took a long hike to Bald Hill, a lovely, wooded park outsidee of Corvalis. We had to wall through an agricultural research area where we met a black llama who came to the fence to watch us... the tag around his neck said his name is "Mystery Man". It was a cold, foggy day, but this is nice... the chill takes you to your winter soul. We crossed a covered bridge and hiked on Bald Hill, where oaks are covered with damp lichens, and wild fungi emerged from the soil. Robins were dashing among berry producing shrubs, feasting. A red shouldered hawk called, "Pyou! Pyou!Pyou!" while a stellar's jay offered its hoarse imitation of a red tailed hawk, "Pyoooooouuuuuuu!!!!" The Oregon Coastal Mountains were wrapped in fog. As we hiked back to town, several hundred dusky geese flew overhead, calling.

We had dinner at a small place called Happy Planet. Kate enjoyed a Che Guevera Burrito.... plantains, sweet potatoes and spices... very nice. I had a Soylent Green bowl... kale and spinach on quinoa, with shitake mnushroom sauce. Yum! It was a really funky place, with posters of Robert Crumb's cartoons (including Mr. natural and Flakey Floont.) Far out!

WE passed a brewery that had Figgy Pudding Ale... too much to resist. It was dark and spicy... I can't say it tasted like like figs, but it was quite good. I got into a long conversation about beer with another customer... I know little about beer but enjoy it. This is the kind of town where this happens.

Enjoy the longest night!

on the road again...

Ok, I'll be quick... we're in Orfegon for a while, exploring some communities here.The train ride from the Bay Area is amazing... being on the train all night is one of the most soothing things in life, We woke in the Cascades... dawn over high, snowy volcanic peaks...
the forests on the east side are dryer, with lodgepole and ponderosa pines. West side, which gets more rain is lusher, tall, douglas firs. I spotted fisher tracks in the snow (a large weasle).

Corvalis, Oregon is a cofortable and very interesting town. There are hiking trails along the WIlliamette river that we followed today... nice forests of cottonwood, maple, oak, Douglas fir. We nearly got a shot of a woodpecker on a cottonwood. There are immense flocks of geese migrating in v- shaped formations. They seem too small for Canada geese, and their call is different... a mystery I'll try to solve.

Socially, this town is very intriguing. There is a peace vigil that has met every evening for ten years... the folks remembered us from our last visit two years ago. Friendly, dedicated folks, we may spend more time there tomorrow. There is an environmental center, and an Occupy movement that is targetting the possibility of post offices closing. Book stores abound, and there are theatres with good movies. Town is quiet, it is the holidays, but this is when educators get to travel...

Quick description here, more to come. We are here until Thursday.

Back to the mundane

Ok, we are home and more rested by the day. What an adventure! This trip came together largely by default and was pieced together somewhat haphazardly. We both had doubts as it approached ... would we exhaust ourselves? Would we have enough time in places? As it turned out, we came through with flying colors. I thought we'd get sick... nope. Just tired, and reacting to the East's fabled mosquitoes. We're aging but tough. One of the points of this trip was to see how we handle extended ones, since we'd like to try more in the US and other places. I think we can handle it.

We planned this to see if there were other areas where we might try to live. Northern California is wonderful but increasingly expensive and crowded. The ever present high-tech cool attitudes get us down... We didn't spend enough time anywhere to get more than an overview. It does reenforce our belief that northern California is not the center of the universe, there are other places where we could be happy. But there is so much that is good about Northern California. Whatever shall we do?

We did have big adventures (dune climbing, whale watching, canoing, etc., andconnected with old and newer friends. Again, Air B&B gets the highest recommendation from both of us, there is an article in this.

Our last few days were in Pittsburgh with family. I didn't have much time to post from there since my great nephew and nieces demanded much of my time... that was great. There were also Belz family issues to focus on. We did connect with relatives. Pittsburgh is a really fine town in many ways, but they are slashing public transit and the traffic is unbelievable... I think Kate and I would both have nervous breakdowns, coming from our lack of love for driving. But we will spend time there, and I will write about it in more depth.

Ok... I do have many photos I want to post. Since returning, I have become the proud owner of a new computer. I want to get that set up, starting today... give me a week, maybe a little more, and I will post.

"The road goes ever on and on..." Tolkien

We're home...

...alive, safe and quite exhausted. More to come soon, for now...zzzzzzzzzz

We're alive...

We're alive and well at my brother's house in Pittsburgh. It's hard to write from here since I have nephews and neices demanding my time very aggressively... lots of fun, really. Since my last post, we drove to Pennsylvania from North Carolina, spending a night in W. Va. and another in Ohiopyle, Pa, one of our favorite spots... rambling Youghighenny River, deep forests, Allegheny Mts. and wild fungi everywhere. Then we visited my old friends Don and Ellen in Butler, Pa. for a night.. we drove on dirt roads to get produce from Amish stands way back in the off-road area... fascinating. And now, da "Burgh (which, for those of you unfortunate enough not to hail from the center of the universe here,) is Pittsburghese for Pittsburgh.

I'd like to share more details... may have to wait until we are home on Wednesday. Kids like me! I'll get some pix up soon too. I may do some from here if I get a chance.

sittin' here in the Blue Ridge Mts....

Ok, a quick blast of a few days...

We stayed at a fine Air B&B in Ashville...run by a couple who were social service professionals for years. Very generous and fun folks... Ashville is a very eclectic community. Anarchist cafe, many excellent bookstores, fine native plant garden, more veggie restaurants than you can imagine...

It is a sister city with Vallodolid, Mexico, a town that we visited in the Yucatan last year. Everytime you turn around, there is another poster for another peace, ecology, social justice event. It's the kind of town where you'll see a man wearing makeup and nailpolish walking past a group of James Dickey tyoe characters with stringy hair and t-shirts that say "Freedom is not free."

We went to a community drum circle Friday night where someone lent us drums so we could participate... a fine town, needs another look.

We are now staying with friends Tim and Melinda in Boone, a college town in the Appalacinans. We spent last evening with vegan burritos, guacamole, fine white wine and Jerry Garcia while we tried to solve the world's problems. Probably requires a few more sessions. Yesterday we hiked on an excellent trail near here... they wanted me to i.d. wild fungi, and I was able to come fairly close with more than I would have thought (there are many species that I don't know, of course.)

I got up and took a hot tub on the deck, watching storm clouds blow in over the Blue Ridge Mts. The storm is about to hit, gotta get off the computer.We are drinking Japanese tea and watchingthe storm. Kate and I leave tomorrow morning to drive north through W. Virginia for a few days... we'll visit friends Don and Ellen for a day in Butler, Pa., then wind up with my family in Pittsburgh and the odessey's final stages... can I write a book now???

3 days in 4 paragraphs

We are alive and well in Ashville, N.C., which appears to be a funky/creative town... first day here.
On our last day at Crissfield, Md., we swam, explored, and I took a canoe ride with Marcus and Betty. We wandered along Johnson's Creek, which passes their cabin and made our way up some narrow passages through marshgrass and pines. Totakky fine! A great egret kind of circled us. We returned to Baltimore that evening... the storm we encountered en route was like riding into Armageddon... constant lightning, including some vertical bolts... I've never seen that. I enjoyed it, but wasn't driving. Betty was an excellent driver for that stretch!

Next AM, we caught a train to Durham, N.C. We were held up for two hours by a brushfire and freight trains using the same tracks we were (the great curse that is placed on Amtrak.) We saw little of Durham that night, but were able to wander and explore the next day. It is a funky and artsy place, with much music and an outdoor film festival going on. My favorite announcement about that was for a split screen film where one side would show old westerns or gladiator films while the other would show old dramas. The announcement advised people not to come if they are easily confused, and also told really manic folks to bring a laptop they can look at while the film is playing. Durham has many community and political groups as well, including some that I didn't think existed any more.

Awhville is in the Mountains, beautiful bus ride here. We've only begun to explore, but it seems like a fine little town, with music in the parks practically every night, more used bookstores than you can imagine, public art and a very progressive atmosphere. We'll plst more soon, and yes, photos are coming. I have to show you the Sagueney Fjord!!!

Chesepeake Bay area

We've been reading poetry and trying to figure out the sad state of the world with marcus and Betty's help. It is ridiculously HOT, but there is a creek behind their cabin where we can swin (need to go do that soon), and will canoe today. People here are amazingly friendly. Today while I fumbled for quarters for a dryer in a laundramat, a woman came and deopsited two quarters, since she didn't give money at Church today. People talk to you in stores, from their porches, everywhere.

The Cabin abounds in birdlife: great blue herons, laughing gulls, hummingbirds, black capped chickadees, turkey vultures and cardinals, to na,e a few. We visited an island where wild horses roam free, and got some pix of them (pix are coming.) Lots of birds on the island too.

People here have always worked gathering oysters and crabs. Apparently there were territorial disputes around the 1870s, and crabbers from different states had cannons on their ships they used to blast at each other with. They'd board ships and throw each other overboard... whoa. I guess the government intervened and made them come to some agreement. They still gather the critters, but populations are down because of over-harvesting and water pollution. I guess the crab and oyster folk have agreed to quoptas...

Anyhow, we return to Baltimore tonight, and catch a train to North Carolina to see other friends... up to Pittsburgh from there. This has been some odessey! More in a day or two.

Chesepeake Bay and Vermont

WE really liked Brattleboro, Vt. An eclectic town of farmers, writers, artists, eccentrics with a greata Jamaican vegan restaurant and a great progressive book store. Many buildings are brick; I think this used to be an industrial town. Also a great coffee shop (Moch Joe's), an art gallery with a patio/garden facing the Connecticut River, a guy with a hot dog cart who sells veggie hot dogs and Sam Adam's beer (my favorite. I only had one, I was good.) The Connecticut Riger flows through town. You cross it via two bridges, and you're in New Hapmshire. We did two great hikes through a forest of maples, hemlocks and more. We also saw a moose that had been startled by a dog.

We're now with our friends Marcus and Betty at their cabin near Chesepeake Bay. Very interesting area, we've been here since yesterday evening. It is hot, in a FRENZIED way; we did a short bike ride and then spent most of the late morning neck deep in the creek that runs past their place. Heavenly!

We don't have easy Internet access, I am writing from a library. We'll be back in Baltimore Monday evening (I think, this is Friday, right?) I'll post then if it is feasible; we catch a train the next day, so maybe Tuesday or so for a post. I'll say more about Chesepeake then.

You West Coaasters... be grateful for cool weather!

Vermont

We're really enjoying it here. A lovely state... continual mountains as thick as trees in a forest, brown rocky rivers everywhere, few cars on the freeway. Brattleboro is a sweet town, hilly, by the Connecticut River, very literate. Lovely brick houses... humble but creative. Book stores are astonishing here. We are right actoss the Connecticut river from New Hampshire. We'd like to visit Keene, where I went to school for two years... but there seems to be no bus service unless you want to pay for an expensive bus ticket...

We will be here until Wednesday AM, then head south to Baltimore vs. bus and train. I'll post more tomorrow night... take it easy all, more details soon. Pix will come.

back in Montreal...

The city is lively tonight. We ran into a group of street singers earlier tonight. They whispered to us in French, something about how we should follow them... we were very hungry and thought we;d find them after dinner, but no luck. Probably a mistake, who knows what would have happened?

We also saw guys balancing on giant hula hoops, people juggling hoops and others just setting up. There is a major street in Montreal that is closed to cars for three months every summer. Pedestrians claim it, and restaurants set up tables on the sidewalks- who says pedestrian malls are bad for business? These places were packed! We saw s,ome of the street performers on this street. It should happen everywhere!

Tomorrow we'll camp near Burlington, Vt., we'll have a hotel room in Brattleboro, Vt. 2 days aftere there, I will check in from there, Tuesday or so.

But I do have to say, this heat is pretty awful. I am gathering this is an unusually sweltering summer. If anyone from the east can comment, please do. The Sagueney region was cool... one of many things we'll miss.

too much to say...

Ok, in a nutshell, the last few days:

Quebec City , esp.Old Quebec is picturesque, romantic, fun to wander through and... very touristy.
It is best when the crowds start to thin out.. In the evening there are street performers everywhere, We saw a man on an unsupported ladder tossing torches to a woman on stilts, who tossed them back, We also watched a woman on stilts jump rope.
Totally fine!

The St. Lawrence River/ Sagueney Fjord region are some of the most spectacular places we've seen... deep forests, craggy cliffs by the fjord, fantastic hiking trails, and... whales. Today we sat by the River and saw grey seaks, porpoises, beluga whales, and minke whales swim very close to shore. It doesn't get better than that!

I could write more, but am busy doing outlines for several articles I plan to write re. the Sagueney region. I will keep this short and post pictures soon,..
We're about to head south and hook up with Marcus Colasurdond his wife Betty, who some of nyou may know... expect fun and creativity from there. Signing off for now, much to do.

Oh yes, I have been writing fast and made typos... will make a mental n ote of spelleheck.

Thanks to everyone who's commented on this blog. Rachel, I hope all went well with your air b&b guest. Gape, what is your email?

Montreal pix

I took the sepia colored image at the drumming festival. I think the sepia color works!

The forest picture is in Summit park in Montreal. That big tree is one fine paper birch!

Toledo pictures

The picture on the left is in the Kensington Market district, a truly quirky and fun place.

The shot to the right is taken on Toleda Islands.

Last night in Montreal... we will be back

We walked all over Montreal's city parks today. We started at Summit park, which is a bird sanctuary. There are more birds in spring when they migrate, but I heard many. The one I identified by song is a scarlet tanager, if I am right. Lots of wildflowers in this maple/beech/birch forest, and it seems to be early wild fungi season!

Then we walked all overPark du Mont-Royal. Fredrick Law Olmstead designed this park, and did a great job. It has lots of lawns and open spaces, also thickly forested trails. There are also great views of Montreal and la Rive Saint-Laurent (aka the Saint. lawrence River). There was a rather cute snake slithering across the trail (black with a yellow head), and two woodpeckers came very close to us, apparently doing a mating ritual on a tree.

Montreal is beautiful, friendly. It has excellent community gardens, bike paths and a great public transit system. It is a multicultural city, although it doesn't seem as diverse as Toronto (what is?) It has a lot to offer. We do feel like there's been some kind of cultural shift since our last visit 17 years ago (yup.) It seems to have lost some of its quirky uniqueness and moved a bit more towards chain store/generic world market culture, As I said last night, where are the street musicians and performers? Also, there seem to be far more panhandlers than last time... hard times? What can I say? I am basing this on a two day visit and may be totally off the wall. Also, San Francisco, sadly, has also lost much of its uniqueness and has become much more stratified during the same time period - this is not just a Montreal problem. Both places remain fascinating, and deserve a visit...may their good points survive!

Tomorrow we head to Quebec Sity for a night, then we head up to the St. Lawrence River/ Sagueney Fjord area for three days. Then we'll return to Montreal for one more evening.

Oh yes, my French is somewhat better than my Spanish. I can read French adequately. I speak it with a Pittsburgh accent, and I sometimes start a sentence in French and end it in Spanish. The exact opposite happens in Mexico! Aomehow I get by. Kate is better with languages, especially Spanish than I am... maybe she's the reason I'm still wandering!

Montreal

We do love this city, but the eastern heat is becoming pretty oppressive. How does anyone live like this??? We walked all over the place yesterday. The financial district is as blah as any other, but we found neighborhoods of stone houses with winding iron staircases, neighborhood gardens where folks gather, fountains everywhere. Very picturewque. I am wondering where the street musicians and performers we saw everywhere years ago are... hiding out from the heat perhaps?

We made our way to a community celebration on Mt. Royal. People gather in large numbers every Sunday to drum, dance and have a fine time. This originated several decades ago in response to racism in Montreal... I am forgetting the exact incident that sparked this, but will try to look it up. It was beautifully colorful, creative, great drumming... and hot! I did get some good shots that I will post later.

We were melting away last evening and needed an airconditioned movie. We located a place that shows films for $2.50. We took a short metro ride and walked along a busy road to the shopping center where the theatre is. The center was practically deserted, with empty stores except for an immigration office, an employment office and a nail salon ( all closed.) We found the theatre after some searching and saw a very interesting Swedish film called "A Better World". Afterwards, the mall was especially eerie, we thought we'd get locked inside... but made it out into the rain, which felt wonderful. We made it home a little damp but cooled off.

Forgot to mention, we had an interesting discussion with our Toronto Air B&B host Sarah before we left. She is becoming a counselor and wants to work with homeless and immigrant communities in Toronto. She put a lot of things in perspective about the city - yes, there are rough and troubled areas, although we didn't see them. I can share details another time.
Onto a Montreal bird sanctuary if it doesn't rain.

more pictures

The first image is the Lake Michigan Shoreline from the high part of Sleeping Bear Dunes Naational Lakeshore, Michigan. A hot and slippery hike, but very worth it!

The river is the Humber River...in

the heart of Toronto! No kidding.

We are in Montreal; more posts and pix to come.

Michingan teacbers

These are some of the teachers we talked with in Penwater, Michigan.

There were about 70 holding a vigil at a restaurant where a politician who supports the governor's policy of appointing an administrator who can run a school district or town without opposition,

Good luck to the teachers!

The lighthouse is at Luddington State Park, Michigan. More pix to come.

leaving Toronto

Today we went to the Toronto Islands, short ferry ride from downtown. The Islands are a total contrast with the fifth biggest city in North America... almost no cars (YAY!), tree liked walking paths connecting houses, short foot bridges connecting the islands, a cool breeze from Lake Huron. We swam in the lake which like jumping into a glass of semi-cold iced tea. Lots of barn swallows were darting about, and others singing from trees. You could see the skyscrapers of the Financial District from the Islands, a blending of two worlds.

Afterwards, we walked along the waterfront. There are bars, restaurants and things, but unique touches too: a parking lot that's been restored to a wetland, a museum dedicated to pets,
a garden that Yoyo Maa and others designed and based on a piece of music by Bach.

Toranto is a unique city, but we are feeling overwhelmed tonight, particularly in this HEAT!!!
We head to Montreal tomorrow, and will head up the St. Lawrence from there. Stay tuned, more to come. Including pictures.

Toronto Part 2

The financial district is the same as others... big skyscrapers with surfaces that reflect each other,
a big screen blasting ads at the crowds, etc. But it is easy to escape! Chinatown is a good one, with sculptures and street performers. We heard a funk with a tuba, a French horn, a saxophone and drums... really fun. Kensington Market is a spot where there are funky open air shops, including some that are based in old brick houses - clothes stores, cafes, record stores and head shops. One has an ad above the dore -"Serving pot users, since, ahhh, I forget. Like wow, mannn...

Little Italy and Little Portugal are delightful, quiet areas, with very nice brick row houses that sproout great gardens. This is a great city to wander through, full of surprises. More tomorrow.

Toronto

It's claimed that this is the most international city in the world. I looked at a book in the library and discovered a list of the cultures that are present here. A few include: Sikh, Turkish, Laotion, Russian, German, Tamil. That's about 1/20th of the total. WE plan to get out to explore some of these neighborhoods while we are here. I need to investigate how this city got to be this way!
It is huge... about 2.5 mil. people in the city itself and 5 million in the greater metropolitan area. I think that makes it the fifth largest city in North America and the largest in Canada. That is a lot of exploring we'll have to do!

Today we explored on foot, as we often do. We followed a trail through city parks along the Humber River. Astonishing hike, it felt like a hidden secret, a place where the city was hushed and silenced. Oaks, willows, sugar maple, staghorn sumac and other plants surrounded this shadowed tunnel through Toronto. Tiger lillies bloomed in sunny spots; redwinged and tri-colored blackbirds called to us from reeds. Great egrets, big white wading birds strolled through the deeper parts of the river, hunting fish and other swimming critters,

People of all cultures hiked by the river; it would be interesting to do an article about the different ways they relate to it. There are signs of old Huron and (I think) Iriquois settlements and activities around 1659;; I want to take a closer look at that.

When we came out from the trailo, we found ourselves surrounded by big white condos and roads of screaming traffic. It was funny, the beginning of the trail was pretty similar. The chaos in these spots were like parentheses that set the river trail apart.

I'm pretty tired; we hiked 8 - 10 miles altogether, so I'm letting the poet in me take over a bit here. Time to stop for the night; more soon. Bon soir.

Toronto and more

We got here yesterday afternoon and had dinner at The Commensal, a wonderful veggie buffet we remember from years ago in Montreal. Toronto appears to be a creative cit, we'll be here until Saturday and will send reports. We are staying in a lively multicultural neoighborhood, which appears so far to be home to folks from India, the Carribean, Central America, and Canada. Very cool, more to come.

You've probably heard horror stories about Detroit. Parts of it are, indeed rough. Kate's old pal Carolyn drove us around, and we passed through one very rundown neighborhood. There is a building that is crumbling, there's rubble on the sidewalk that apparently hit people. Carolyn says there are people in this neighborhood who set fires to express anger. They live close to very wealthy neighborhoods and are angry about the loss of manufacturing jobs, among other things. Desperation is real.
Other neighborhoods are doing well, and I don't just mean rich ones. We passed through middle and working class communities that seem quite healthy. There is also a very nice waterfront, and we visited an excellent science musem. Things seem mixed... as they do in many cities. People are coping well.

I forgot to mention... when we drove through the beautiful lakeside town of Pentwater, Michigan, we saw a demonstration of teachers who are opposing cuts to public education.
The governor of Michigan can appoint an emergency manager to a town or school district, this
person's rule will be law. S/he might get rid of collective bargaining rights, pensions, etc.
This has happened to a poor black community in Michigan. This is talked about in other states around the Great Lakes, and I think they mentioned Pennsylvania... any comments, Pennsylvania crew? We chatted with them for a while and said we'd spread the word. Be vigilant, folks, times are very frightening.

On the open road again... from Michigan

The endless rambling continues. We have been in Michigan since Wednesday. We camped in NW Michigan for three nights. This is a overwhelmt Lakesingly beautiful region with huge deciduous forests. The Great Lakes are remnants of ancient river valleys that were widened by glaciers. The glaciers also deposited immense amounts of sand, creating Sleeping Bear Dunes, where we hiked three days ago. Sleeping Bear Dunes feels like infinite sand, soft,powdery sand.We hiked up the biggest dunes, I am guessing the high point was 800 - 1000 feet above blue, immense Lake Michigan.
The dunes are moved by wind, but a species of dune grass holds the sand grains together, stabalizing the. Eventually dead grass decays so trees can grow, mainly in the back dunes, which are protected from wind by the younger foredunes. We saw this at Sleeping Bear, but also at smaller dunes to the south. These lovely dunes formed from sand that the wind blew from Sleeping Bear Dunes. Trees include white pines, eastern hemlock, sugar maple, beech, paper birch and others. They grow in patches on dunes, forming a patchwork, like a quilt of sand and forests. I love dune ecology!
We dropped off the rental care in Grand Rapids two days ago and spent Saturday night at an AIR B&B. This is an international network of people who rent rooms in their homes to travelers. We'll be staying in others on this trip. This one was amazing. We stayed with a school secretary,
her four kids (8-16), and their 13 year old guest from Spain. It was a wonderful time of story telling, games, talking, cooking together and water balloons. It beat a hotel!

We are now north of Detroit visiting an old friend of Kate's. We'll head for Toronto tomorrow...
We will post in 2-3 days if not before and will get pix up at some point.

We're baaackkk....

We got home at 11 PM last night. Both of us feel pretty exhausted today, and man is COLD HERE!!!

This isn't my final post, but I'll start some wrapping up comments. The Yucatan is wonderful. It's beautiful, full of ancient ruins and great museums that reflect on the history and art of the
region. I highly recommend it!

The people are relaxed and very friendly - you don't get the tense feeling that is present in other, also fascinating parts of Mexico. The feeling on the streets reminded us more of mellow, relaxing Costa Rica. This is something of a mystery. The region does have a tumultuous history'
There were many conflicts between the Mayas and the Spanish in the 1500s and on. There were also conflicts between the Maya and Mexicans with strong Spanish backgrounds after Mexico became independant. Tension raged in the early 20th century as well. We are not sure of what happened between that period and present times, except that there was a very disruptive hurricane 20 uears ago.

There is poverty, to be sure, especially in Merida where you do see lots of beggars. There are some in the other communities, but they seem more affluent somehow. I am not sure of what the economic base is in those towns. And Merida is also pretty calm. You aren't hit in the face by po;itical conflicts the way you are in other parts of Mexico. We do wonder if the Zapatista upreasing, which was based in nearby Chiapas state about 16 years ago had any impact here. There are no signs of it now.

So - a mystery, and a pretty mellow couple of weeks on the whole. If I find out anything about this issue, I will post.

For now, I am going to make a big pot of soup, and we can kick back for the evening.
Have a great weekend, and I will post a few more pix fairly soon.

Cancun is an unusual town...

Cancun is quite unusual for Mexico. From what we have heard and read, it was built as a tourist haven 40 years ago. They tore out mangrove forests to build it. It was also seriously damaged by a hurricane 20 years ago - the same storm impacted the rest of the Yucatan as well. So it has a really new feel to it. It lacks the sense of history of the other cities we stayed in, which date from the 1500s.

There are lots of night clubs, shopping centers and fancy restaurants - and we are downtown, not in the Hotel District.Many houses are self enclosedand seperate, and not the block long structures divided into individual homes that you see in most towns. Most internet places have private booths for customers... come to your own conclusions there.

There are also beautiful parks. One had a kid climbing structure shaped like a Mayan pyramid.
It also had play structures shaped like huge mushrooms. Someone is quite creative with their design!

We ate at a wonderful veggie restaurant.Kates meal was tofu enchiladas. I had fajitas with nopales (cactus). Both were very fine. I love nopales, sometime I will cook you my huevos con nopales (eggs and cactus.) They also had beer mixed with fresh fruit juices - unusual and very refreshing in this heat.

So... we board the plane for San Francisco tomorrow. BOO HOO!!! We will get home very late tomorrow night, so watch for more comments on Friday. I also plan to post some pictures soon.

¡Buenos noches!

sad to leave

At first Isle Mujeres seemed commercial, crowded and unoleasant. We`ve discovered that it has its own charm and beauty, though you have to dig through the tourist trap scene to find it. Island cnaracters abound. And there is a lot of wonder in unexpected places. It will be sad to leave.

But today we went snorkling. It was unbelievable - I still close my eyes almost three hours after the adventure ended and see blue, yellow, white and striped fish, to name a few swimming past my face. I´ve read that fish do have calls, but I think they are at a lower frequency than humans can hear. To me, the silence was uncanny. It has been strange to readjust to walking. I keep feeling like I will have so swim to my next destination. it is really weird to be sitting in a chair without drifting away!

And what do these beautiful little creatures think about the strange primates with duck feet (flippers) splashing around in their world? it would make a good story if there were fish tour companies that brought them to watch our anctics. The sky matters little here; what are the stars when you can´t see them? The ocean is where life on earth started out; it is a surreal kind of homecoming to return here!

We take the ferry back to Cancun tomorrow. We fly out of there on Friday, Neither of us is ready to stop rambling; watch this space and I´ll lt you know when there will be further adventures. I will post from home in Oakland on Friday if not before.

Snorkeling

Today we had a snorkeling adventure, visiting some coral reefs. Here's PG ready to dive in.

This place is a collage

So many different sides to Isla Mujeres. On one hand, it is the kind of tourist area that has bars with names like "Margaritaville 2", "The Soggy Peso" and "Hemingway´s¨ (I am not sure if old Papa H. spent time here, but ok.) Some of this is clever. One bar had swings at the bar and advertised itself, ¨Come Swing With us.¨ But on the whole the congestion and commercialism are hard to take.

We found other sides to the island today. There is a facility that rescues sea turtles. They have babies, young adults and adults in different tanks. They do release turtles, and I am guessing they release the adults they have here, There was no one to answer detailed questions; I will give them the benefit of the doubt. The turtles are really beautiful and fascinating.

We also did a long walk around the Island. We wandered through a pleasant Mexican village away from the tourist section and found freshwater lakes where we saw a number of interesting birds. We also wandered back to our hostel on the side of the Island that faces the open ocean and not the mainland; it is quite picturesque and must less congested than the other side. At one point we were surrounded by kids, who I guess were around 7 - 9, They wanted to sell us some of their artwork that is made from seashells. They were thrilled when we bought a piece and danced around. These were not poor kids. I am guessing they are at the end of their winter break and a parent suggested they do this as fun project.

We swam in the Carribean before dinner, a very refreashing swim. We ate at a place called
Pita Amore, where we had a very unique dish served on a pita. The chef and his friend were really Island characters. They got involved in a discussion about Frank Sinatra{s musical style. We get the feeling that there are lots of unique individuals who spend time on this island.

I hope all is well in Los Estados Unidos. More posts to come.

Isle Mujeres

We took the ferry from Cancun and arrived here around 3:30. The Carribean is beautiful here; it is turquoise and very clear. It is great to be in a place with cool wind and clean ocean air right now!
We have not had much time to explore so far. The town is more developed and touristy than we expected. We will check out some outlying places tomorrow and Wednesday. Yes, there are lots of magnificent frigate birds!

UNBELIEVABLE!

Today was a peak travel experience. We visited another estuary, on Ria Celestun. We connected with a wonderful project called Manglares de Dzinitun. This is a collective of eleven local people who are working to preserve the mangroves and the estuary. I do need to do more research on the history and goals of this project, but they are really impassioned and are doing a fantastic job.

We visited the project and one of the men who works here took us on a canoe ride. We started exploring a tributary of >Ria Celestun. Mangroves were unbelievably thick, and at one point we passed through an 800 meter long [tunnel[ of mangroves. It was fantastic, so silent and cool. These trees are especially adapted to living in salty estuaries. One species thrives here, another has roots that filter the salt out. Many of the roots actually grow from the branches and descend to the water. The trees are lovely, some look like they are standing on pillars.

We made our way to Ria Celestun, where we saw osperys, magnificent frigate birds, egrets and many more birds. We also walked on a boardwalk through the forest. We found an armadillo burrow, and saw some manta rays swimming under the boardwalk. They bury themselves in the mud when they feel threatened, it was amazing to see how fast they did this.

There{s more, but I have to organize it. There may just be an article in all this.

Tomorrow, on to Isle de Mujeres. I will check in from there when we find a computer. Again,
!Prospero año nuevo!