My sweetheart and I have made two very good decisions in the past few months.
The first was getting cats. I wrote about that here.
The second was signing up for a Road Scholar trip to the Channel Islands, which are just off the coast of Southern California.
I admit I was a bit skeptical of doing a trip as part of a group. I’ve always been a go-it-alone sort. But it turned out to be the best way to see this particular area.
For one thing, we had lectures on the history, geology, and biology of the islands, so we learned a lot – so much, in fact, that on our trip to Santa Cruz Island, many of us found ourselves in deep conversation with a seven-year-old, obsessed as only a child that age can be, about the island fox and other creatures on the island. (We had walked past him on our way back from a hike and he asked questions of everybody.)
For another, Road Scholar attracts the sort of older person who is energetic and interested in things. Our group ranged in age from about mid-60s to mid-80s, and everyone participated fully and clearly did other things like this either as part of this organization or on their own.
And finally, there is a great deal of pleasure in participating in something where all the planning has been done by someone else. I know some people really like to plan trips, but I am not one of them. I like to pick locations, but not hotels, boat charters, and the like.
Road Scholar is very good at the planning part.
We stayed at a hotel in Ventura, California, and went out to the islands themselves twice on boats that regularly take tourists out to them. While there are campgrounds on the islands we visited – Anacapa and Santa Cruz – they are very basic, and for Anacapa you must bring your own water as well as food, as there are no water sources on that island.
I am still willing to camp, but I have to say there is a lot to be said for having a shower and a soft bed after a day of hiking.
I’m prone to sea-sickness, but I used wrist-bands that press on acupressure points and did okay even on our second trip, when the ocean was pretty rocky. And in fact, coming back on the first trip in particular I found myself in a state of blissful calm, just staring at the ocean and not thinking about anything in particular. (The photo above was taken from the boat on that trip.)
That was on Tuesday, April 7, when much of the world was focused on whether the person currently occupying the U.S. White House was going to commit major war crimes in Iran. I knew that was going on and was, of course, quite worried, but it wasn’t on my mind at all as I watched the waves and kept an eye out for wildlife.
Of course, if we had come back to horrors, it might have destroyed the peace of mind that I felt, but as we did not, I got the full benefit. Continue reading “Visiting the Channel Islands”…