Pivot, In Abundance of Caution During These Difficult Times

Are you as sick of that title as I am?

It’s been a year, hasn’t it?

PIVOT

We’d just begun to build a travel brand and we semi-retired to travel more and then a global pandemic happens. For others, it was going to college on their computer, or losing a service job, or spending every waking hour working to heal sick people, and many have lost their lives or their loved ones. It’s clear that pivot is what we’ve all had to do. And we are grateful because other than a literal broken heart requiring surgery, we’ve been healthy. But while we’ve kept busy, with projects, and new side hustles, keeping loved ones safe and staying close to home, we sure miss traveling!

A safari to Rwanda and Tanzania in Africa will have to wait!

A trip to Norway in May 2020 (didn’t happen) was rescheduled for New Zealand in November 2021 (won’t be happening) was turned into a trip we booked to Gorilla Trek in Rwanda in February 2022 with an abundance of hope after we received our vaccines and assumed “covid was over” for good. But with Delta variant and the slow pace of vaccines in the developing world, it became clear, that trip would have to be canceled too. After learning gorillas are testing positive for covid 19 after encounters with infected zoo keepers, we did not want to be the people who wipe out an endangered species or sicken people in countries who have little access to vaccines.

So we pivoted on our travel and travel work. In our travel, we’ve primarily stayed close to home, and outside in the last 12 month. The next pivot is all the booked trips we had ready to go in 2019 have had to be re thought, and “moved”. Traditional mass market, large cruises have been canceled, and we’ve pivoted from gorillas in Rwanda to wolves in Yellowstone. Mainly, we are prioritizing long postponed visits to vaccinated friends and family.

In our travel work, we’ve been presenting virtual safaris on Zoom, rather than in person presentations . They proved popular enough to be picked up by more than one of our local community continuing education programs. People are anxious to travel again and hear about travel. We haven’t had much “content” to share or report, so presenting information about past travels has had to suffice.

If you’d like to attend one of our Virtual Safaris please use one of the following links to register

All of the DRAMA! None of the danger...Kathy and Jeff GoSeeItTravel present Virtual Safaris for several local community education programs! Join us for multi media, photo, video and all the dramatic wildlife stories! WEDS Sept 29 (Costa Rica), Oct 6, (Galapagos) Oct 13 (Southern Africa) on ZOOM.

Link to register : fall 2021 LSRHS

https://lsrhs.ce.eleyo.com/course/78/fall-2021-winter-2022/virtual-safari

Link to register : fall 2021 Lexington

https://lexingtoncommunityed.org/class/virtual-safaris-costa-rica-galapagos-islands-and-southern-africa-fall/

Link to register: fall 2021 Arlington

 https://arlington.ce.eleyo.com/course/1196/fall-2021/virtual-safaris

In An Abundance of Caution

Travel industry people I’ve spoken to are traveling again and they say there’s a balance between traveling to support cultures and businesses that rely on our travel for their economies and traveling safely to protect vulnerable populations. They are encouraged, as am I, that more and more travel providers are requiring vaccines and testing to make travel safer for everyone. For us, with one rebuilt heart and fully vaccinated, we are ready to find that balance, while exercising the titular “abundance off caution”. What do we have planned?

Isolated off the grid, with private cabins, bath houses, and lots of wilderness to explore, Nahmakanta Lake Wilderness Camps in Maine was a perfect place for a family getaway!

A Family Trip to an Off the Grid Lake Cabin

A reunion with our adult children, in a quiet traditional hunting camp, where had our own cabin tucked in hundreds of acres of wilderness was a safe bet. The time together, hiking, paddling and enjoying campfires after so many months of forced separation was perfect! Click here to see our trip report from our Moose Safari in 2020

Despite the possible Covid dangers of traveling domestically in states where cases are high, it will be necessary to see family after more than 2 years apart! This harmless snake from Six Mile Cypress Slough in SE Florida is the least of our worries!

Road Trips to See Vaccinated Relatives and Friends

After many months of not seeing my parents and other relatives in Florida, we will need to make a trip there despite being displeased with the way the state is handling the virus. We also have a family wedding and friends in the Midwest were we hope to add 5 new states with a road trip through the Midwest. Planning this trip we discovered a new “trueism” of domestic travel- the flight to your destination will usually cost far less than the car rental!

Our last wolf sighting in the wild was in Denali Naional Park, next spring, we plan to go on a special photographic wolf safari in Yellowstone to learn more about these fascinating canids!

Wolf Photo Safari

In March we plan to take a trip with Natural Habitat Adventures to Yellowstone, where we will track wolves in remote parts of the National Park. We’ve traveled with this trusted group in the past and know they will enforce their vaccination and testing policies within our small group photographic departure.

Our first international trip? Possibly?

In May we have a trip to Machu Picchu and a cruise down the Amazon River on a very small expedition ship through National Geographic Expeditions. Peru is still a vulnerable place and people along the Amazon are especially vulnerable, so this trip is one to watch to see whether its safe to visit. On the other hand, Peru is open with restrictions and heavily traveled tourist places like Machu Picchu are at less than half capacity making for a safer and more pleasant trip.

A river cruise to from Prague to Budapest was pushed off from December 2020 to December 2022, will it be time to go, 2 full years after the original plan? Only time will tell!

Our first post covid trip to Europe? Possibly?

In December, we have a postponed river cruise to explore Christmas Markets along the Danube with AMA waterways. We are prepared to pivot again, if needed. Will Christmas markets be open? Will river cruise ships be safe? Will European countries be open to visitors, and if they are, how difficult will it be to move between them on a river ship? These are all open questions, and one of the best skills to have as a traveler is the ability, to go with the flow, changing plans and being open to adventure! You know…having to PIVOT!

A "Normal Day" in Acadia National Park During the Covid 19 Pandemic

Jordon Pond House in Acadia National Park is one of Maine’s, truly really one of the Nation’s, most visited tourist attractions. But the day we visited it looked like a ghost town. The only thing missing were tumbleweeds blowing across the lawn, which is usually filled to capacity with tourists enjoying the sunshine at shiny green picnic tables while bustling exchange students from all over the globe deliver tea and popovers. The filled to capacity parking lots were nearly empty, and the hive of activity at the shop and reservation stations, empty of any other human being but ourselves. We saw a few groups hikers heading out onto the carriage paths or returning from a hike, but the overwhelming experience was the total silence, and emptiness of a place usually filled to bursting.

So we recently visited Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor and would like to share what we experienced It was the most “normal day” we’d had in 3 months.  Our last dinner out (although people were socially distanced at the tables even then) was on March 14th. The next day restaurants in the Massachusetts town where we ate were closed and have yet to open to full capacity indoor dining. Three months later my husband and I had an almost “normal” day during a visit to Acadia National park. But really, nothing about it was normal.

Here’s what was normal.

We put on sun screen and cruised up to Acadia National Park in our Mini convertible. We drove the Park Loop Road, cruised up to Cadillac Mountain and relaxed on Sand Beach for a few minutes. We parked at one of our favorite hiking/biking trails, and did a 4 mile hike up and around the lovely Hadlock ponds. We drove a few miles past the Brown Mountain Gate and set out our camp chairs in the shore of Seal Cove for an hour.  

Then we drove into Bar Harbor we enjoyed a drink at the Social Project one of our favorite bars for inventive cocktails and small plates and then enjoyed dinner at Stewman’s with a view to the Porcupine Islands in the harbor. After dinner we strolled up the hill and bought fudge to bring home and an ice cream cone from Ben and Bill’s which we enjoyed on a bench in Argamont Park over looking the marina. 

If that was all I told you, you’d believe it was a normal day visiting one of our nations most popular national parks and tourist areas during their busiest season. We’ve done a similar “itinerary” dozens of times for over 30 years, but this time it was like nothing approaching “normal”. I’ll detail step by step what made it so different during this global pandemic.

Safely traveling to Maine

Late June is lupine season in Maine, you’ll see them growing along roadsides and in fields, but they aren’t native, and neither are we!

Before we could travel from Massachusetts to Maine, we were required to quarantine for two weeks. The Governor of Maine recently changed those rules to include a testing option for visitors planning to stay less than two weeks. Things are changing constantly, so check your destination before you leave. (See Up to date rules can be found here) 

Be prepared to encounter some resistance to out of state visitors. Many residents feel the afraid of the risk visitors bring to them from pandemic areas. Right now when we drive around with a MA plate and it can incite fear for some locals (and there have been sporadic reports of car vandalism to cars with out of state plates) so we decided to have a friend create a car window sticker for us that shows we have quarantined. Covid life style changes have become routine for us. We are still practicing them now; masking, maintaining social distance, choosing activities that are low risk, even after we’ve safely quarantined in Maine for our 2 weeks

If you decide to visit Maine (or Vt or NH which are all open to eachother as of this report) be sure to check the latest rules. You may be made to sign an affidavit at your lodging. In talking anecdotally with friends booking private lodging and campgrounds, responses of the owners/managers vary. Some places are telling people “you just have to sign a paper” while de-emphasizing quarantine and testing rules. But remember, by make it easier for you to visit them, they are transferring the risk to you, the risk you’ll get sick from someone else who they’ve been cavalier about, and the risk that if you get sick and share it with anyone else at the accommodation, you have signed a legal document that makes you liable if you didn’t tell the truth about testing or quarantine. 

Visiting Acadia National Park 

(For the latest National Park information click here)

Park Loop Road and Attractions

We’ve never seen the park so empty. One in every 20 cars had an out of state plate. There was parking anywhere you wanted to park, trail heads, downtown, even at Jordan pond House, where two years ago I circled for 30 minutes after dropping off my aunties before I could find a spot.  The Jordan Pond House was open for limited hours during the day for take out when we visited, but wasn’t open at the time we were there. You do have to have a park pass to enter, and entry points were staffed with masked rangers!! But not those kind of rangers- Park Rangers!

Take out menu and social distancing marks indicated that it was not business as usual in Acadia National Park

Photos from the major attractions along the Park Loop Road (hover over the photo to see the caption)

Cadillac Mountain

Cadillac Mountain

Sand Beach

Sand Beach

Thunder Hole

Jordan Pond and Bubbles

Beaches

Beach parking was easier than usual, whereas normally we need to be strategic about the time of day to even hope to find a parking spot. Lots of locals had brought their kids for a dip on the unusual  88 degree day we visited in June! Everyone was careful to social distance, which is easy at a beach that isn’t crowded. 

Sand Beach on the Loop Drive is known for being notoriously cold and difficult to find parking, we had no trouble with anything but the cold!

Most of the flush toilet “bath houses” are closed to the public when the facility or attraction is not staffed. Usually there will be port a potties in the areas where running water facilities are closed, so plan accordingly. The bath house facilities were open at Sand Beach and Cadillac Mountain when we visited.

The town beach at Seal Harbor

Hiking

The trails were so empty that social distancing was not a problem. We were utterly alone except for passing 2 or 3 groups of hikers over a 2 hour hike on a 12 foot wide carriage trail. Bikes were still excluded during our visits, but check the website for up to date information. Trail Head composting bath rooms are still open. Obviously, it will be harder to social distance on narrower wooded trails than on the wide carriage paths. In addition to carrying our water, we always carry our masks so that if we should encounter anyone or need emergency assistance we keep those around us safe.

Visiting Bar Harbor

Parking

We had no trouble finding parking on the street or in the public lots anywhere. However, a recent change is the parking is all pay station or metered.

Shops and Sidewalks and Activities in Town

As we drove into town we were shocked at the number of restaurants boarded up, especially at the end of town  away from the water. Even places that have a generous outdoor area, were still buttoned up at a time we’d expect them to be bustling. (Mid June on a Friday night) However, I was impressed with what we experienced in Covid 19 safety rules. All of the employees were masked in every restaurant or store we peeked into. (We decided not to risk going into shops.) Patrons were wearing masks many times on the streets and at all times entering shops and restaurants, except when eating.

There were no cruise ships, but in port we saw a kayaking tour headed to the harbor socially distanced to get to the boats. On our second weekend, we saw group boat tours headed out for their sunset cruises but no crowds in the sidewalks. With so few cars people crossed or walked in the roads to avoid meeting people in the sidewalks. 

 Inns and Restaurants 

We noted the closed restaurants, maybe owners choosing to wait till full opening of the state before opening their doors, or possibly they won’t or can’t open at all. Many tourist destinations rely on out of state and foreign workers. Many businesses can ill afford to pay to quarantine a seasonal work force, if they can even travel here. I’ll visit again in mid summer and see if more establishments are opening.  

The Inns had lots of outdoor dining and it looked like some guests on their balconies enjoying the ocean views. None of the properties we passed that were open advertised “No Vacancy”

For dining, we noticed that all the rules we read about were followed. Careful disinfecting, masks for employees, paper or disinfected menus, tables distanced, and one time use condiments. We even noticed staff carefully disinfect a table after a group left within seconds to pick another with more shade. We enjoyed a cocktail at Social Project where all the dining was outside in the garden of an inn located on the same property. Tables were more than 6 feet apart and servers were masked. We ate dinner at Stewman’s outside on the deck as we always do. We were very impressed by how seriously the people running inns and restaurants in Bar Harbor were following the regulations for safe visits, and keeping workers safe.

All of the people who welcome tourists wanted to make sure people know they are “Open for Business”, even while they wish to protect their rural communities from the pandemic. The delicate balance of “open” and “safe” is one we will all be facing for a while longer. We witnessed safety rules being followed by both guests and hosts and we had an incredible, if not completely “normal” visit. But if “abnormal” meaning fewer crowds and open reservations appeals to you, it might be a good time for a vacation near one of our Nations most popular National Parks!

Los Cabos Baja Sur Mexico

We were standing in a place that is about to change forever. Tourism development is increasing at a rapid pace, more frequent floods are leaving their marks, as are the party hearty tourists and cruise port visitors in Cabo San Lucas. What can be done preserve the character of a place, to harness the economic benefits of tourism without destroying everything visitors come to experience and everything people who live there prize? One man we met in Jose Del Cabo had an idea how to answer those questions, and he and his partners were trying to do just that.

Kristain Sandoval has long roots in the community, including a building named for his ancestors, and he’s also put roots in enough other places to see both the good and the bad in development. With a rapidly growing population of ex-pats and people from other parts of Mexico, Sandoval is more interested in broadening the definition of a “local” in Los Cabos. His community organization project was started to give all citizens of Los Cabos a better understanding of the history of their community and empower them to take steps to protect and sustain it.. It’s his hope that ex-pats, and people moving from other parts of Mexico will also put down roots and adopt his mission.

Bricked up first floor windows are signs of increasing floods in San Jose Del Cabo

It started with free tours offered in Spanish around San Jose Del Cabo for locals and school children, but when like minded tourists started showing up, wanting to learn more and do more than knock back tequila shots in a San Lucas bar, Sandoval realized tours for tourists could become the economic engine that powers the mind set change he hopes he can encourage among his neighbors.

Sandoval shared the interesting story and history behind this playful piece of art in the plaza in San Jose Del Cabo.

Today the tours are offered through Cabo City Tours to tourists, and the proceeds of this non profit are used to run tours and age appropriate educational activities for local students and their families, to learn their history, and become engaged in growing and preserving their community. It’s a delicate balance of tourism and community preservation that is hard to do anywhere, and this young man, who describes himself as a “local host”, is a wonderful ambassador for his community and an example of how grass roots activism can address the problems of over tourism and over development.

Hey, and the tour is really good too!

Here are a few shots from our late afternoon tour with Kristian and our evening spent in San Jose Del Cabo.

An artist works on traditional Huichol art, for sale in high end galleries.

More About Los Cabos (see more posts click here)

Cabo San Lucas, the Pacific Ocean and the geological arch called “El Arco” in the distance.

At the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula in the state of Baja Sur in Mexico there are a cluster of towns known as Los Cabos. Cabo San Lucas is the party playground on the Pacific, where the large cruise ships call. San Jose Del Cabo is a funky art colony with upscale shops and restaurants. The Corridor between San Lucas and San Jose is where luxury resorts are located.

Our all inclusive resort, The Barcelo Gran Faro, on the San Jose side of the Corridor, offers beautiful ocean views, but like most Cabo hotels, the surf is far too rough for swimmers, and most visitors enjoy beach walks and the pools.

We did not have the time to visit all these areas of Los Cabos, we stayed at an all inclusive resort called Barcelo Gran Faro near San Jose. Re purposed school buses run regularly along the Corridor between San Lucas to San Jose for just a few pesos. (have exact change if possible) There are also taxis (agree on a price ahead of time) and ride sharing apps (Lyft and Uber) available. But the rustic bus service was a fun experience all by itself. Ask at your lodging for the nearest bus stop, a bus comes by every 5 minutes or so and will allow you to explore the whole southern tip of the peninsula.

Not far from our hotel near the end of the Corridor resorts we found a pleasant area where we could walk along the beach to view birds and other wildlife in the estuary. In addition to multiple species of birds, our friend KC caught a video of this little fella making is way to the sea!

The estuary features a “watch tower” on the beach to get a birds eye view of the animals feeding in the rich estuary waters. There are some rustic walking paths, mostly created by fisherman, that you can follow to get closer to the water fowl. Good foot wear is essential.

We were able to watch a local fisherman work his nets while we visited. Any by catch he didn’t need he tossed to three very interested pelicans nearby much to the delight of a young local family watching.

A local fisherman uses a net to catch fish in the estuary

Todos Santos, is a small artsy town to the north of San Lucas on the West Cape on Pacific Ocean, where an art colony has flourished. La Paz, further north of San Jose, on the East Cape on the Sea of Cortez, hosts smaller cruise ships and is the embarkation point for whale watching, and sport fishing adventures.

For more on our Uncruise and exploration of the Sea of Cortez see all our trip reports here

UnCruise Safari Endeavour docked in La Paz on the Sea of Cortez