{Horizons} is the topic for Share Six this month and when I think of horizons, I think of new places, but I also think of the traditional sky meets earth type of setting as well.

Last month I shared different fences we have seen traveling. This month I will share some horizons. I will apologize in advance, this is going to be a long post. You may have gathered I love to travel. The travel bug started when I was a teenager. Most of the time it was local, but getting on a plane and going to a new destination really hooked with me. I had great intentions of traveling though Europe meeting up with friends along the way. That didn’t happen. I had to get a job. Seriously who needs a job when you could travel.

I finally got to do my first lot of traveling in 1987. Richard and I set out to explore the UK and Europe via a Contiki tour, that was basically backpacking/tent camping through Europe. It was a blast. We got to visit France, Spain, The French Riviera, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Austria, Germany and Holland. It was a lot to do in 30 days but we were young and it was fun. Cold for a South African, but so much fun. I remember camping adjacent to a river in Germany and it being 2 C in summer. First thing I had to do was go shopping for a sweat shirt and pants. From Holland we headed back to the UK where we hired a car and made our way out of London to Bath and then on via Bristol. It was our first time hitting what felt like an 8 lane turning circle, and all I could hear was Richard freaking out. Our stay in the UK was mainly in B&B’s and it was quite an experience and something we had never done before. From Bristol we headed to Wales via Stratford upon Avon to meet up with one of the girls on the camping tour who was visiting family in one of those towns with a very long name. Statford-upon-Avon was a must. We had studied Shakespeare throughout school and I really wanted to walk the city. We traveled through Clwydian Range to Chester where we walked the city wall. From Chester we were off to Bolton for a couple of days with my friend Andrew. You have to know something about South Africans. We typically eat dinner at 6pm. Don’t start laughing… Andrew asked us if we would like a snack at 5:30 and we said no we were fine. Unbeknown to us, dinner was closer to 10pm and we were starving and ready for bed. From Bolton we were off to York to the house my grandmother was born in, and then we explored the city of York. It was good to learn a little more about our heritage, and definitely hooked me on genealogy. From York we continued up to Stockton-on-Tees where one of my favorite aunts used to live. She often visited the family in South Africa so I knew her well. From there we were off to Edinburgh to soak in the Scottish heritage of Richards family. And of course, he had to stop at St Andrews. It was in Scotland that we stayed in the best B&B of our trip – just outside of Aberdeen. The bed was fantastic, the people were so kind and breakfast the next morning was over the top. Then it was on to Aberdeen to my mom’s cousin Ian and his family. Ian took us hiking enroute to Balmoral Castle. What a treat both were. It was hard to say goodbye to them, but on we needed to go. Next stop was to Ian’s sister Lorna and her family in Inverness. It was good to meet the cousin whom my mom talked so much about. New Year they would call each other, and when mom passed on I tried to do the same. Now my cousin Cheryl and I do that as well. Our time there was only about 3 days but it was the best. Lorna took us to Culloden, and shared stories about the brave warriors who fought for their land. It was at Cameron barracks that we decided that this would be our son’s name. I was wise to the late dinner times by then, and when the sun went down at 1am I was more than ready for bed. Time was short and before we knew it we were back on the road again, heading down through Loch Ness valley and ultimately stopping over in Glasgow. I will be honest, I would go back tomorrow. Scotland is one of the most beautiful places I have visited. From there we traveled through to the Lake District and finally the last day before we were due to leave we spent the night in Oxford with a professor and his wife. They were very interesting and very knowledgeable about South Africa. Last stop was back to the airport and then the long flight home. I loved our time in Europe and the UK. We packed in so much in 6.5 weeks. We were tired and then it was back to work, because for some reason we need a job. This for me epitomizes what Horizons really are. Meeting new people, taking in new sights, learning from a different culture.

We traveled around South Africa, into the Transkei, Swaziland and Mozambique. Mozambique was our scuba diving years. Somehow, Richard and our friends decided scuba diving was on the bucket list. Let me be honest it took every little bit of me to get that one teaspoon of water out my mask. That said the horizons at Ponta d0 Ouro and Ponta Molangane were some of the best trips we did with the kids.

So you are probably asking where’s the photos? There are some in a box somewhere that I am hoping to scan and put into a book format. When time allows. Those old sticky photo albums were the pits.

2001 we moved to the USA and we have seen some horizons along the way when we have been traveling. Some have been local and some outside of Florida.

Florida takes some time to get out of if you are not flying so we have spent a lot of time traveling from one end of Florida to the other, mostly to the Keys, Naples or St Augustine and a couple of times into the panhandle. Naples is different to the other two, newer and more upmarket, whereas the Keys and St Augustine have so much history. The Keys and in particular Key West are well know for the party life and you cannot miss it on Duval Street. The restaurants are buzzing and the are people everywhere. But my favorite thing to do in Key West is a sunset cruise. There’s lots of beer and wine, and people in general connect with those around them. It is nice to go on a schooner as well at times. Smaller, quieter, definitely less people.

Another bucket list item for me was to see the wild horses at Cumberland Island. It’s a little bit further than St Augustine and we had to cross into Georgia, but it is right after you cross the border. We got to stay in a B&B at St Mary’s and then the next morning caught a ferry to Cumberland Island. I did get to see the horses, and we hiked around the island. Below is one of my favorite pictures of Richard. As he walked towards the birds they took off and it looked spectacular.

The image below was taken 6 months after Richard was diagnosed with melanoma. He was crazy thin and got tired really easy. One of the things he likes to do is go on a sunset cruise. We caught the catamaran just across the canal from the hotel we were staying out. It was good to get out in the fresh air and just enjoy the stillness of the night and be thankful that he was there to share it. I have to wonder what he was thinking as he gazed towards the Horizon.

Another horizon in Key West. It just so happened that day that a huge cruise liner had docked in Key West and we were able to get fairly close to it.

The next image was taken in Key West one evening when we opted to go out on the Schooner rather than the party boat. There was probably a maximum of 20 people on board the sailing boat. The company provided drinks and some snacks and it was a beautiful evening.

One of the things on my bucket list was to see the domes off of Marco Island on the west coast of Florida. There is a whole blog on the domes that you can read and the domes have a fascinating history behind them of a home that was built on one of the islands. Time, water levels and hurricanes eventually destroyed the home and the domes were all that was left for us to see. One of the hurricanes last year or the year before finally did what the county had not got around to doing, wiped out the domes completely. I am not sure where they ended up but I guess if they are underwater they are going to make an interesting reef.

Sanibel Island is home to so many sea shells and people head that way just to collect them. We wanted to try a new location and one of the stops we made was to watch some guys doing kite surfing. I have tried windsurfing and that was hard. Kite surfing has to be a skill set for the hardy.

The next two photos were a beach walk at St Pete’s on the west coast of Florida. That was when I think I carried every lens I possessed just to try and get some artistic images. I love the Lensbaby lens but the softness sometimes gets to me.

Moving out of Florida, we have done some traveling in and around the US and come across some really beautiful places. The two images below we traveled from Seattle up to Anacortes, and caught a ferry to the Orca Islands. Wow, just wow. The scenery is just stunning and this horizon as far as we could see was just beautiful. This was the trip that I traveled outside on the freezing cold deck hoping to see whales. Nope not happening. Honestly if you look at the map we were a hop, skip and jump away from crossing into Canada. Who knows, maybe soon.

Another set of beautiful Horizons was found in Maine. For what ever reason, black and white images really resonated with me for this trip. Some of these photos were taken in the town of Mancester-by-the-Sea, Wells Beach, Portland (where we did another whale watching cruise but all we got to see was fog).

Some of my favorite international travels over the recent years have brought us to some beautiful horizons. Ohrid, Macedonia was the play land of the country. The lake was still, except for some crazy hurricane like storm that had us stuck in a restaurant for a while. Houses with tiny sunbathing areas were scattered along the edge of the lake. And of course, one of the favorite things to do on a hot day is find a table with a view and test the local brew. It was good and the rest was so enjoyable.

Australia, 2 years ago, we came across some of the most beautiful horizons. Rugged and rocky were what we got to see as we traveled along the Great Ocean Road, from Melbourne towards the 12 Apostles, then on to London Bridge and the Grotto. Like always, I study ahead where we are going because there is so much I want to see and photograph. I confess that I have not even edited a lot of the photo’s and really need to settle down and make myself some time to get them all done.

Last horizon in Australia is the famous Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We took the ferry out to Watson Bay to connect with a cousin on my dad’s side. It was really good to meet up and hopefully we will get back there again one day for a much longer time.

Last set of Horizons was something new. We have never done a boat cruise before and Amy convinced us that we should go on one with them. We did a short cruise to the Bahamas. I am not sure if I totally was convinced that I enjoyed the cruise. Maybe somewhere else may be better, but it was an interesting experience. There were too many people in such a small space that I am not sure I was that excited about it. I kept thinking “apocalypse” and we are stuck on a ship and then the hunger games happen. Seriously though I am not a big fan of the crowds. What was nice was that we had adjoining cabins and we had our own little balcony that we could escape to.

Exploring new Horizons is fun. We missed out on what could have been a great trip this year. We had planned to travel with Amy and Daniel, Luka and the new baby in June this year but Amy started to worry that if we booked and Ella came early, she would have to go back to work early and that would create a problem. I was kind of excited about that because we have never done a river cruise. Our agenda was to leave Passau in Germany and travel along the river to Linz, Vienna (where we have been before) and then on to Bratislava in Slovakia, and then on to Budapest in Hungary. Who knows, perhaps we will get to that before the children get too much older. Maybe in 2 years time. Eastern Europe is definitely on my bucket list as well.

On the bucket lists are a couple of places. I need to take 5 days vacation and have thought about the possibility of flying to Vancouver, and hiring a car and doing a loop through Banff and the stunningly beautiful turquoise lakes, and then on to Calgary where I have family and back to Vancouver. I need to think it through and come up with a plan prior to presenting the option.

Another bucket list for me is Ireland. My maternal great great grandparents last name is Nolan, which is common around Carlow county. The last UK census I find them on lists them as born in Ireland. When we did out trip in 1987 through the UK and Europe we did not travel to Ireland because of all the fighting and hunger strikes and bombing that was going on. Today, I would love to visit the country. We have thrown around the possibility of Ireland and Iceland as an option.

For Richard his bucket list would be a boat cruise to Alaska from Vancouver. I have had friends do that trip and have said it is one of the most beautiful sights and that the cruise is well worth the cost of the trip.

There are so many places, so many new Horizons, and so many actual horizons to be seen in this world. Sometimes I wish I could through a dart and just say that is where I am going next.

There is something so unique about visiting new Horizons. There is the people, the culture, the countryside and the opportunity to embrace something new, something different. I feel like I come home again, with something more to add to my knowledge of the world when we choose to travel. So “Cheers” to another opportunity that hopefully will come around sooner rather than later.

I’d love to hear what memories Horizons bring up for you.

“The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch

One’s destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.” —Henry Miller

This is a circle blog and as I mentioned, we have some very talented artists in the group. Take some time to follow the links and see what they have for you this month. My incredibly talented friend Kathryn of  Cobert Photography is up next. I can’t wait to see what he has to share.

Until next time..

Stay well