This year was a transitional one for me. Since I began my retirement adventures over eight years ago, I mainly did trips and adventures that were activity oriented (especially hiking, biking, paddling, kayak sailing, skiing, and snowboarding) and mostly to places I could travel to with my toys in my travel van. In the past year I shifted to travels that were more educationally-oriented and in places that I got to by plane, train, or boat. So while I still did plenty of hikes, whitewater kayaking and multiday canoe trips, I also visited places that have great cultural, artistic, and historic values. And I've been finding both kinds of travel to be immensely interesting and fun!
The cultural highlight of the year was a six week trip to Portugal and Spain in the spring, with visits to many fascinating UNESCO World Heritage Sites as well as hiking, biking, and paddling in National Parks and on rivers and shorelines in both countries.
The adventure highlight was a five week kayaking and canoeing "tour" with about 15 paddling friends around the Georgian Bay in Ontario this summer. Here, Mark and Phil are canoeing their way through a rapid on the French River.
Winter in Portugal and Spain
Portugal is a pretty amazing little country, about the size of Indiana (US) and just a bit bigger than New Brunswick (Canada). The language was challenging, but most people spoke better English than I could speak Portuguese, and between mutual effort, goodwill, and Google Translate, we got along just fine. I found the people welcoming, generous, and very friendly. The scenery was amazing, the food was tasty (lots of seafood and baked goods), and the country is dripping with old villages and cities, UNESCO Sites, and history that reaches back at least 3,000 years! The Portuguese people are proud of their history and heritage. And they do not want to be confused with their Spanish neighbors to the east!
I had many wonderful experiences with friendly natives, other travelers (including Karin, Jackie, Carole & Yvan, Carl & Pam, Ifeadi, and many others) and travel guides. The prices were pretty reasonable (Portugal is still a relatively poor member of the European Union), the food was great; the scenery was even better. (Pictured above: The coastline on Sao Miguel Island, the Azores)
Here's a few photo highlights from the trip. If you choose only one, check out this overview of my four weeks in Portugal:
Overview of Portugal (above: the Nazare coastline; surfing capital of Portugal): https://photos.app.goo.gl/R8Nxhc5YXdyWae8f7
For more detail about the four regions I spent time in, here's a few more links:
North Portugal (pictured: Peneda Geres National Park):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/DwEYvKESAwnMve3b7
Central Portugal (the Duoro Valley with terraced vineyards and olive groves):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WLqCAeZomyhyeFmW8
Coastal Portugal (the Atlantic Ocean near Odeceixe):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/bchRupMnQDEWPA4t5
Jackie and I rode e-bikes over 300 km / 200 miles along the west coast of Portugal. A great ride and a great tour arranged by https://www.cycling-rentals.com/
The Azores (Arnel Lighthouse on Sao Miguel Island):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ydHyqKB3Y4LAuuNr6
Southern Spain: Since I was in neighboring Portugal anyway, I decided to tack on an extra ten days to visit Seville and Andalusia, a city and province in southern Spain. I found a wonderful place to stay in the middle of downtown Seville, and used that as a hub from which I could explore the city and nearby natural and cultural attractions.
Seville is an attractive, diverse, and energetic little city with a long list of traditions, parks, and institutions. I explored it on foot, by hop-on hop-off bus, and on an electric scooter. Highlights included visits to the Catedral de Sevilla (the largest gothic cathedral in the world), Alcazar (Spain's palace complex in Seville), the Plaza de Espana, the parks and bridges along the Guadalquivir River, and the famous and very popular Semana Santa festival during Holy Week. The great food, the friendly people, and the music everywhere were wonderful bonuses!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/dX63ZFRNxhg4qZct9
I was also able to visit interesting places nearby, including the Donana National Park, the ancient city of Cordoba (pictured above), the neighbouring British Territory of Gibraltar, and the city of Tangier in Morocco. Each visit provided plenty of interesting sights and information, and was enriched greatly by the guides and fellow travelers I met on the tours.
Here's a little photo summary of the Spanish part of this trip; you can find it by clicking on this link.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ht8aQTAfDLtTz1uD8
Spring in North Eastern USA
After that epic trip to Portugal and Spain in March, I spent most of the spring of 2023 a lot closer to home. I caught up with old and new friends along the way and spent much of the time paddling favorite rivers.
Most of these adventures involved doing fun stuff in amazing places (sound familiar? That's still my overall retirement plan)! Spring highlights include paddling trips to Tennessee and North Carolina, Northwestern Ohio, Western and Central New York, Northern Connecticut, and several rivers in Pennsylvania.
The links lead to some of the highlights in pictures. As usual, the first album gives a brief overview. Links in the text and comments section lead to more in depth pictures and stories about specific trips and destinations.
Spring Overview: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z7hWmLzGGE81cpEw5
The Upper Falls at Letchworth State Park, New York: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Z7hWmLzGGE81cpEw5
Southern Week of Rivers: https://photos.app.goo.gl/3GoTyLVSZ3HFkD4q7
The Genesee River: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DLS2Gk9VQTDLFeCw6
Letchworth State Park: https://photos.app.goo.gl/UvBqAorTA61Xrbp16
The Susquehanna River: https://photos.app.goo.gl/AiJ63TmwQb7sZXjE7
The Lehigh River: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tLSFyYPJvDyV5tuf9
Stonycreek Rendezvous: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ydmj5DfuMETAr6d88
South Bass Island Kayak Rendezvous: https://photos.app.goo.gl/rYUW2CUngc3GKpjDA
The Hudson and Deerfield Rivers: https://photos.app.goo.gl/tWHG8N177eWJDCXN8
A New (Motorized) Boat: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Pn65ToU18RZSqW648
Summer in Central Ontario
In the summer, I spent about three months in Ontario, exploring a swath of beautiful country that stretches roughly from Kingston and Ottawa to the Georgian Bay. Along the way, I had a chance to visit four Canadian National Parks, three Canadian National Historical Parks, three UNESCO sites, and three Provincial Parks. I managed to hike, bike, or boat in each of them, and was very happy to experience more of the beauty of "our home and native land" (I grew up in southern Ontario).
I visited the Thousand Islands National Park, the Rideau Canal UNESCO World Heritage site, and the Trent-Severn Waterway on my own; then I led a five week tour of the Georgian Bay with stops at three other national and three provincial parks. More than a dozen family members and paddling friends joined me for parts of that trip.
The Georgian Bay Tour was a definite highlight of the Ontario trip. We mostly paddled the shorelines and inland waterways of this sparkling, beautiful bay, using five parks around the bay as home bases for our explorations. Killbear Provincial Park (above) was near the midpoint of the trip. You can see a few more highlights of that tour by clicking this link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JE6gtbFrkLbd21cs5
Here are more detailed albums about each of the six parks we used as bases around Georgian Bay:
The Rideau Canal and the Trent-Severn Waterways were pretty cool too. They are connected sets of rivers, lakes, canals, and locks that make it possible to travel by boat (anything from kayaks and canoes to big houseboats and cabin cruisers) across Central Ontario, using canals and locks that are between 100 and 200 years old! Combined, the two waterways add up to about 600 kilometres / 375 miles of freshwater touring between Ottawa, Canada's capital city, and the Georgian Bay with plenty of variety in terms of scenery, history, and technology.
The Rideau Canal system was originally designed as a defensive route in case of further American (US) aggression after the war of 1812. Thankfully, it was never needed for this purpose, and has been used exclusively as a scenic recreational riverway. Manual locks and canals built almost 200 years ago are still in use today, and I found passage through this waterway to be quite interesting and beautiful.You can see a few highlights of my tour of the Rideau Waterway here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/tE8nR7tG4ghmShGTA
The Trent-Severn Waterway was designed for more peaceful, commercial purposes, and has been used for recreation since it was completed a little over one hundred years ago. Here are a few highlights of that waterway:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/KUrhCmQZmrYkppVV8
And finally, the Thousand Islands (actually over 1,800 of them) are located in the St Lawrence River, northeast of Lake Ontario between Canadian and US shorelines. It is a beautiful area filled with interesting islands, scenery, and parks that make for great boating destinations from either side of the border. Here are a few highlights of the five days I spent in this area:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/jKKxVwJVdxauqMpP9
Fall in and Around Pennsylvania
After returning to Pennsylvania, I had the misfortune of hurting my lower back again, an injury that took over a month to recover from. However, during that time I was able to do some trip planning for the next few years and take care of a few other medical issues as well.
Despite that injury, I was able to meet up with friends and explore some of my favorite Pennsylvania parks and rivers as well as explore a few great cities in the northeastern US. My good friend and travel buddy Linda joined me for many of these mini-adventures, including visits to state parks like Ricketts Glen and Ohiopyle for hiking, biking, and paddling and cities like Philadelphia and Chicago for urban exploration.
Ricketts Glen is my favorite Pennsylvania State Park, situated in North Central Pennsylvania. The 3.5 mile waterfall trail is the best trail there; it follows a couple of creeks up and down a set of 18 waterfalls for some truly stunning scenery, especially shortly after showers and rain.
The "Pennsylvania Grand Canyon" is a dramatic gorge carved by Pine Creek, also in north central Pennsylvania. We had a chance to do some hiking and biking along the 20+ mile rail trail beside the creek.
Ohiopyle State Park is home to one of the most popular whitewater runs in Pennsylvania, and I've been there to paddle many times. I've never visited Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright treasure that is just outside the park. In the late fall we went there to explore it. It is quite an amazing place: The house itself as well as the environment in which it was built!
Philadelphia is my nearest large city, and even though I've been there many times, it was super fun to spend my birthday weekend there, taking in a Chicago concert, a national historic site, a fabulous art museum, and a fun riverboat tour of the city!
Chicago is not so close by, but we took a train to the "Windy City" and had a blast there! We stayed in the theater district, enjoyed an architectural tour on the Chicago River, visited the Shedd Aquarium and the Art Institute, laughed our way through a great show at Second City, and had a wonderful time on the train trips. Might just do more of those; a very nice, relaxing way to travel!
The end of the year provided some time for reflection as well as forming plans for the next few years. High on my list of upcoming travel destinations include places like central America, Patagonia, Iceland, Scandinavia, Egypt, and England. I'd also like to do a few more river trips in northern Canada and western USA.
As I mentioned at the outset of this entry, I'm aware of dialing back the "adventure" aspects of my travels and dialing up the "cultural" opportunities I have. I think there's a thin line between exciting and crazy, and I'm increasingly inclined to stay on the exciting side of that line, swapping out the more risky, scary stuff for more scenic and educational opportunities here and abroad. Still amazing places, and still fun activities, but maybe a little less risk of broken bones and serious injuries! Stay tuned; we'll see if I can actually pull that off!
Navigation:
Intro: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/2020/05/0
2022: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/2022/11/amazing-places-in-2022.html
2021: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/2022/01/amazing-places-in-2021.html
2020: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/2020/06/amazing-places-in-2020.html
2019: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/2019/12/
2018: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/2018/12/
2017: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/2017/12/
2016: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/2016/12/
2015: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/2015/12/
Indexes: https://lotsofamazingplaces.blogspot.com/index
The Gallery: https://photos.app.goo.gl/1HgbLR75g5CYsGig6
PA State Parks: https://stateparkspa.blogspot.com/
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