Category: a-roving

Tracking mountain gorillas in Uganda

August 23, 2021 a-roving the birds and the trees
It’s five o’clock in the morning at our lodge on the edge of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in southwestern Uganda, and we’re gearing up for our morning of tracking mountain gorillas in the Ruhija section of the park. I’m dressed head to toe in the full panoply of gorilla-safari…

An exotic visitor

August 9, 2021 a-roving the birds and the trees
This little red bird doesn’t look like much (especially in this dreadfully grainy shot), but he is in fact a vermillion flycatcher, who really had no business whatsoever being in north-central California at the end of November (or any other time, for that matter). And yet there he was —…

Meanwhile, in Botswana…

August 9, 2021 a-roving the birds and the trees
Where the Okavango River flows from Angola, through Namibia, and into northwestern Botswana, it spreads out to form a vast wetland covering as much as 5800 square miles, before finally sinking into the sands of the Kalahari Desert. Five main channels cut through the Okavango Delta, and innumerable smaller waterways…

Along the Pacific Flyway

August 6, 2021 a-roving the birds and the trees
Last November, with Covid cases spiking all over the country, Craig and I decided to celebrate our seventh anniversary by driving our camper out to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex to see the migrating birds. These refuges are part of the Pacific Flyway, one of four north-south bird migration…

New Mexico in winter

January 20, 2020 a-roving family matters life lessons musical notes
We landed in Albuquerque mid-afternoon on a Saturday — in fact, just before the start of the 49ers-Vikings playoff game, which was a must-see. So our first order of business after collecting our rental car was to track down a sports bar where we could watch the game. Craig and…

Weekend in Walla Walla

November 21, 2019 a-roving eating well
Labor Day Weekend, 2018 Destination: Walla Walla, Washington NOTE: I originally drafted this post in September 2018, not long after the trip, but I hadn’t quite finished it when things went a bit crazy. Since it was pretty much ready to go, I decided to finish it up and post…

Hiking the Drakensberg

November 14, 2019 a-roving out and about the birds and the trees
The eland, explained Sipelele, our young Zulu guide, was sacred to the nomadic San and Khoekhoe peoples who were once the main inhabitants and stewards of the Drakensberg region of South Africa. These indigenous artists created paintings on sandstone — in caves and on sheltered rock faces — that reflected…

Life 2.0

October 10, 2019 a-roving holiday cheer life lessons this and that
Hi there! Yes, it’s been a while. It turns out that major life changes require a lot of time and focus and energy. (Surprise!) But now that things are finally settling down, it’s time for a reboot. Let me catch you up…

What happens in Vegas

September 11, 2018 a-roving musings the eye of the beholder
Las Vegas, Nevada. A destination for travelers from around the world: one of those must-see places for first-time visitors to the United States. A playground for the young and well-heeled (Jimmy Choo, Salvatore Ferragamo, Christian Louboutin…) A ruthless consumers’ paradise designed to part fools from their money as efficiently as…

Play it again, Spira!

July 17, 2018 a-roving musical notes the eye of the beholder
My visit to Bath this past May coincided with the start of the annual Bath Festival, and I couldn’t miss this chance to hear a concert in the ballroom of Bath’s famous Assembly Rooms. Painted robin’s egg blue and sparkling with crystal chandeliers, the ballroom was well known to me…