SherriApr. 11-14: I am totally happy I went to Viñales. Although I would caution you against going only to Havana and Viñales. Although it is not affluent by US standards, Viñales is the most affluent part of Cuba. You would not really see a cross section of the country,
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SherriOct 17: We are soaking up the tranquil vibes in Beja, as we should, since tomorrow, we are headed to the Algarve. When in Rome. . . . .
As we noted yesterday, the woman at the pousada told us that most of the town’s sights are closed early Sunday and all of Monday.
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SherriOct. 19: Well, travel can wear you down, or at least I should say it can wear me down. Despite it being the end of summer weather, I have managed to get a bit of a cold. But I wasn’t going to let something like that stop me.
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SherriOct. 20: Palatial life – now this, we can get used to. We are hanging at the Palace, pretending we are royalty. Is there a better way to spend an evening? Our morning began with the massages I had scheduled yesterday. I was really looking forward to some much needed self-care time.
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SherriOct. 21: I awoke just in time to catch the colorful sunrise off our balcony. The sunrise was almost as pretty as the sunset last night. The extra sleep and grocery isle healing was working its magic and for this I was grateful. This being said, Dan and I adjusted our meeting time with Carla who was going to take us walking in Sagres.
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SherriJul. 23 and 24: Dan and I are absorbing the clean mountain air up at 8,500 feet in the northeastern corner of Oregon. Now that’s a long way from home, at least when using a car and not a plane to get here. Last autumn Dan mentioned that he got an email from Raz that the 2016 Wallowa Llamas schedule was released and it was right then that we picked the dates to go on a trek into Eagle Cap Wilderness.
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SherriJul. 25: We are on our second and last night at Pine Lakes. I certainly could drink in the scenery here for more days. However, I am fully accepting of the fact that we have more magnificent places to explore. So we are on the move.
This morning,
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SherriJul. 26: We are sitting in our new camp, a ways up the trail from Crater Lake in one of Raz’ hidden camp sites. I will tell you more about Raz’ camp sites in a moment. This one is not THE Crater Lake in Oregon, but a small lake deep in the Eagle Cap Wilderness that bears the same name.
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SherriJul. 27: The llama trip is on its sunset. Two nights at Pine Lakes and two nights at the Eagle Cap Wilderness’ Crater Lake. Dan and I are grateful that Raz has shared some special spots with us. And I am grateful that Dan turned me on to Wallowa Llamas.
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Sherri
Jul. 28: I write to you from the comfort of the Best Western in John Day. We hit the trail toward Halfway around 11am. Even with an early bird group, it takes about two hours to gather and saddle up and pack the llamas.
Our route out from Crater Lake involved mostly retracing our steps except for a small stretch on a parallel trail.
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