Happily married 55 years, retired baby boomer, mother of 2, grandmother of 4, traveler, Georgia Bulldog fan, Air Force Brat, avid reader, amateur photographer, gardener, ovarian cancer survivor, blogger. Every day is a gift!
March 19, 2022 marks the ninth anniversary of my first post on the Wandering Dawgs blog. I started the blog in 2013 as a way to keep friends and family up to date on our journey from Georgia to Alaska and back. Here I am, nine years later, still blogging.
I enjoyed keeping up the blog even after we returned from our Alaska adventure. For several years I mostly posted about our RV travels before I expanded my focus to include posts about gardening, birds, wildlife, coastal Georgia, and other random things. I still post about our travels even though we don’t take the RV any more. I started participating in photo challenges somewhere along the way.
The header image above was taken in front of our RV in Skagway, our first stop in Alaska in 2013.
Wandering Dawgs in Barbados on our recent Caribbean Islands Adventure, January, 2022
Thank you to everyone who visits Wandering Dawgs. I really appreciate all the visits, likes, comments and shares over the years. I value each and every one of my blogging friends! Thank you for your kind words and encouragement through the years!
I just renewed Wandering Dawgs for another year. I hope to keep this up until I run out ideas and photos!
For this challenge Patti has asked us to get closer to our subject. We can get closer by moving our feet, using a zoom or macro lens, or cropping.
In honor of yesterday’s 198th Savannah St. Patrick’s Day celebration, the first one since 2019, I’m featuring the Celtic Cross in Savannah, Georgia for this challenge. The header image is the original photo. The next three images show the image cropped in three ways to show details of the different parts of the cross.
We had booked a morning snorkeling excursion and had just finished getting ready when our phone rang. The snorkeling trip was cancelled because of rough seas. I had just been looking at the description of the Rain Forest and Waterfall by 4×4 excursion and thinking how fun that would be. I asked if there was room for us and there was! I already had on my bathing suit and asked if there was swimming available and he said yes. That was even better!
We met our guide and followed him to our fun ride for the day – the cool 4×4 shown below. We climbed up a ladder, found our seats and off we went for our wild ride into the rain forest with the Wacky Rollers.
Our ride in Dominica
The drive to our first stop was on narrow, steep, winding roads. We stopped for a look down at the capital city of Roseau. When I saw the rainbow I was a happy camper. How could it get better than that? Well, it did.
We stopped at the Botanical Gardens for a look around at some of the beautiful vegetation and an unusual moth caterpillar.
The road was like a roller coaster as we got farther into the rain forest. It started raining which added to the adventure. The driver stopped on a bridge for a view of some hot springs.
Hot Springs in the Rain Forest of Dominica
At Morne Trois Pitions National Park we hiked up wet, slippery stone steps to view the Trafalger Waterfalls. It rained off and on the entire hike but the view at the top was our reward.
After returning to the bottom of the stairs we had a chance to read about the park at the Visitor’s Center and gazed out a window to see the rain coming down.
Rain in the Dominican Rain Forest
We continued the tour on more roller coaster roads until stopping at Ti Tou Gorge with an opportunity to swim into the gorge. Out of about a dozen people on the tour, only four women took the plunge. The water was cold as we swam against the current into the gorge to a circular pool where we could look up to see the sky. We continued a little farther for a peek at a waterfall before turning around to go back.
Swimming back to where we started was easy with the current pushing us along. It was a challenge getting out of the water onto the slippery rocks but I did it with the help of one of our guides.
The roller coaster ride continued down the mountain on the way back to the ship. Back on board we had a nice view of the colorful city of Roseau, watched another gorgeous sunset and enjoyed another fabulous dinner.
Our challenge from Tina is to show images that never quite fit into a challenge category. I came up with a few images from my archives. The header image is from the Key West Cemetery.
In Savannah, when the azaleas are blooming and the Fountain in Forsyth Park turns green you know St. Patrick’s Day is almost here. These images were taken a few years ago.
Athens, Georgia is the home of the University of Georgia. It is also home to two interesting sights unique to Athens. A double barrelled cannon, the only one known of its kind, stands in front of City Hall. The Tree that Owns Itself grows in the middle of a quiet neighborhood.
I’ll end the post with images of the end of two U. S. Highways, U. S. 1 in Key West and U. S. 80 in Tybee Island, Georgia.
It was an dreary, overcast morning when our ship docked in Bridgetown, Barbados for a two night stay.
Our excursion the first day was a photo adventure guided by producer/director and award winning photographer Ronnie Carrington. His photography tips and interesting commentary about Barbados history and culture made for a wonderful experience.
As we passed through several villages we learned about the history of the island. He told us the history of Chattel Houses in Barbados and stopped the bus so we could take photos up close. These houses were small wooden buildings set on blocks so that they could be easily moved from one location to another. The homeowners did not own the land so if they changed jobs and moved, they took their house with them.
Chattel house, Barbados
Our tour continued through villages with colorful homes to the Scotland district on the Atlantic coast. We stopped for a look at the Atlantic Ocean where the only thing between us and Africa was the ocean and clean, fresh air.
Scotland District, BarbadosNothing between us and Africa except the Atlantic Ocean and good, clean airWandering Dawgs in Barbados
Our journey continued when we stopped at a park on one of the Atlantic Beaches. I don’t remember the name.
Beach on the Atlantic Ocean in Barbados
Bathsheba Beach is lined with huge coral rocks. The header image at the top of the page and the next one were taken there.
Bathsheba Beach, Barbados
As we traveled to our next destination there were Barbados Green Monkeys beside the road and this one looked like he was posing for me.
Barbados Green Monkey
The best rum punch of the entire trip was at the Atlantis Hotel in the fishing village of Tent Bay.
We had heard that Barbados is THE place try a flying fish sandwich so when Henry asked Ronnie if it would be possible to get a flying fish sandwich he answered “you can’t leave Barbados without eating one.” He pulled out his cell phone to call ahead to order one from this little beach restaurant. He went inside and brought back this delicious Barbados treat. We enjoyed every bite! Ronnie wanted everyone to taste a fresh Barbados banana so he bought a bag of bananas at a fruit stand and passed them around the bus. So delicious!
Ronnie has published a book of his photography and poems. I bought an autographed copy.
Back on board the ship we watched another glorious sunset before enjoying another fabulous dinner.
Sunset in Barbados
The next day Henry went for a ride in the Atlantis submarine. I’m claustrophobic and opted out of the tour but I enjoyed hanging around the marina until the tour returned to the dock. While I was watching the boats going in and out at the marina Henry was watching schools of small fish through the submarine windows.
This boat took the passengers to the Atlantis SubmarineThis is the kind of submarine used in the tour, Barbados
Our two days in Barbados were filled with adventure. Where will we be next?
Wandering Dawgs 