I’d celebrated Christmas with my parents all but two years of my life.
But with both Mom and Dad gone in 2025, joined my brother Rob and his wife Yvonne for the Yule in La Quinta, California. This was their 4th winter renting a beautiful place from Canadian friends.
Loved it!
The Mediterranean climate is perfect for year round cycling and hiking.
YES it’s a bit odd celebrating the traditional Great White North Christmas in a town at 20C.
The municipal park is nicely decorated for the holidays. We walked Charlie there once or twice a day.
Highlight for me was FREE COFFEE at City Hall !
This is ME awaiting my next free Latte. 😀
Actually the grub was pretty good at home with Rob doing much of the cooking and kitchen clean-up.
Breakfast
We only ate at a restaurant one time. Home cooking is the rule.
When we wanted an orange, we picked one off the tree in the back yard.
I spent a fair bit of time at the library.
La Quinta place names are mostly Spanish. There’s much recognition of the sacrifices of military. And the First Nations.
We had a hot tub about every second night.
California should probably just become the 11th Canadian Province. 😀
Consider me won over to the snowbird annual vacation.
We’ve also scheduled Christmas dinner for January 11th in Calgary.
The main cause of Mediterranean, or dry summer, climate is the subtropical ridge, which extends towards the pole of the hemisphere in question during the summer and migrates towards the equator during the winter. …
Areas with this climate are also where the so-called “Mediterranean trinity” of major agricultural crops have traditionally been successfully grown (wheat, grapes and olives). As a result, these regions are notable for their high-quality wines, grapeseed/olive oils, and bread products.
… Because most regions with a Mediterranean climate are near large bodies of water, temperatures are generally moderate, with a comparatively small range of temperatures between the winter low and summer high.
It finally dawned on me that I can no longer easily hike and cycle on Vancouver Island. We’ve sold my parents former home on Vancouver Island.
In the past, I’ve cycled large sections of this challenging route. Looks ideal for an experienced bikepacker who wants to find out what coastal rainforest wilderness is like.
Unpaved about 70% of a 450-kilometer loop. It starts and ends in Nanaimo, British Columbia, for those coming from the mainland. You don’t need a motor vehicle.
It links gravel roads, rough doubletrack, and a four-hour boat ride up the Alberni Inlet, featuring numerous swim spots, old-growth forests, quirky communities, and so much more.
This book is focused on Michèle’s 10 years in West Berlin — one of the most unique and interesting cities of the world. She lived there 1976 to 1986. Moving only to marry her husband Garth.
If it wasn’t for Garth, she might still be living in Berlin. 😀
Formally controlled by the Western Allies (England, France, USA), West Berlin was surrounded by the Berlin Wall, built in 1961, and bleak East Germany.
German students going to school there could avoid military service. The counter-culture was artistic freedom and living life to the fullest. Nightclubs had no closing. A haven for hippies, punks, musicians (like David Bowie & Iggy Pop), Michèle, and her friends.
My Berlin Koffer is a time capsule of West Berlin between 1976 and 1986, a time when the city was literally an island of freedom in the middle of Eastern Europe, restricted by the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall.
After a few years of teaching in England and in France, Mimi is looking for a change in her life.
West Berlin in the 1970s offers affordable rents, a good university, part-time jobs, and an abundance of cultural events.
For a young, educated woman with plenty of room in her suitcase, the island of freedom seems to be the ideal place in which to settle.
It’s a long and winding road to learning German, studying for a master’s, and finding an interesting job, while enjoying cinema, theatre, music, art, as well as socializing with cosmopolitan friends and adapting to a new culture.
Will this extraordinary city which never sleeps enable Mimi to find what she wants and eventually fill her suitcase?
And if it ever overflows, will she ever be able to leave?
I’d been waiting for Michèle’s Berlin book because my first flight to Europe (1974, I believe) landed West Berlin. I recall that trip vividly. It was a really BIG deal for me. Checkpoint Charlie.
A Gymnastics tour organized by Hajo Elsholtz.
I’m wondering if German boyfriend Alex has a copy of this book. 😀
I did make the best of the past 4 months in Asia — but not likely to return.
I traveled Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines, and Taiwan (which is actually in Asia, not S.E. Asia).
S.E. Asia is ideal for young party animalswithout much money — who want to ride a crappy rented motorcycle in a thong bikini while drinking cheap beer on the way to the beach.
It’s not great for me as multi-day hiking and cycling cultures are near non-existent.
MOST of the outdoor activities are water related. 🐟
I believe the ocean should be avoided due to boxjellyfish and sea monsters.
I’d only gone to S.E. Asia because two Gymnastics competitions were scheduled there. Both excellent. I was happy to be at both with a media credential.
I got used to the heat and humidity of S.E. Asia. NOT my favourite climate, however.
On the upside, I saw very few mosquitoes. Only one cockroach. Second hand smoke is not nearly as bad as Europe.
MANY rats. Most in public parks eating garbage litter and around outdoor street food kiosks.
Many would list food as a highlight of S.E. Asia. Personally, I quickly tired of rice based meals. Most of my cravings were for western comfort foods. Toast, in particular. I ended up in McDonalds often as it’s clean, fast, and you can pay by credit card in a machine.
One pet peeve is trying to check-out of any grocery or convenience store. I can’t recall Canada EVER being so slow. Philippines has dozens of people in a grocery store doing something, but still makes customers. spend 20 minutes in a check-out line.
Cash based economies seem so backwards to me now.
S.E. Asia, in general is super inefficient. I do love Singapore, however, exactly the opposite. Everything is fast and well organized.
Many things are closed. Nobody knows why. Nobody knows if and when they will ever reopen.
What Asian nations will I likely visit in coming years?
Mongolia. I’m planning an adventure there in the next year or two.
I’d booked a month in advance. Sent in my passport. Sent in a doctor’s confirmation of health. AND still wasn’t allowed to join the group.
Nobody can tell me why.
It’s yet one more example of inefficiency in most of the S.E. Asian nations. (Singapore a HUGE exception.)
On the upside, the Facebook only group who couldn’t get me on Pinatubo, offered an alternative next day. And I did enjoy my hike to the Aw Sen waterfall with Filipino young people.
Clark Freeport and Special Economic Zone serves as a hub for business, industry, aviation, education, and tourism in the Philippines, as well as a center for leisure, fitness, entertainment, and gaming.
You know the name because Clark Air Base grew into the largest U.S. military installation outside America.
The Coron Super Ultimate Tour is a full-day island-hopping trip that visits many of the area’s top attractions, including Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake, and Twin Lagoons.
Mine included hotel pick-up and drop-off, lunch, snacks, drinks, and entrance fees.
Different here was the kayak set-up. We rented our own at the start, later having 3 different locations to paddle.
My tour had 7 stops including an excellent seafood buffet lunch.
The iconic landmark atop Mount Tapyas is a large, lighted crucifix.
I climbed the 721 concrete steps 4 times over 3 days. Kili conditioning. And ended up with some terrific photos.
One guide told me he had been up over 4000 times, training with his soccer team.
Here are some of my vista shots.
Best time of day is dusk / night — but that’s the most crowded.
Full moon while I was there.
Coron is the jumping off point for Coron Island Natural Biotic Area a short boat ride from the harbour.
It’s a bigger town and arguably slightly more organized than nearby El Nido at providing FUN boat tours to paradise coves. More expensive than El Nido, however.
Public transportation is non-existent. To get to excellent Maquinit Hot Springs outside of town, easiest was to sign up for a half day city tour.
Maquinit is both fresh and salt water, making you very buoyant.
And it’s HOT.
The Catholic cathedral.
It’s easy to complain about tourists, but look what happens when your town takes off as a destination.
Actually, a few different guides told me that Palawan province has had better governance than the rest of the corrupt nation.
Forbes Traveler Magazine’s included Coron on a list top 10 best scuba diving sites in the world — for the dozen sunken Japanese warships at depths between 10 and 40 meters.
Rick McCharles 