Martinique Adventure 2024: A Photo Gallery

In celebration of my 60th birthday (August) and our 25th anniversary (October), my husband Frank & I had a hiking adventure in Martinique. Hover over an image to see description.

Petit Anse

We had a short (steep!) walk to the beach from our first AirBnB. We followed this road down to the beach called Petit Anse (Little Cove).

Symba

There were lots of sweet semi-feral cats on the island. Our host adopted Symba but she wasn’t so sure about us.

Morne Larcher

Martinique is a volcanic mountain and it is dotted with mornes or small mountains. This was our first morne hike and it was steep (it turns out that they all were).

Morne Larcher Vue

We hiked Morne Larcher from two different directions. Here is the (sweaty) viewpoint at the top, la vue!

Le Diamant

One of our favorite places in the south western part of the island was Le Diamant: a lively market, a long beach with wild waves and a rock island right off the coast.

MÉMORIAL DE L’ANSE CAFARD, LE DIAMANT

The story of colonization and slavery in Martinique is always present including in public art. This is a memorial to the lives lost in a slave shipwreck near Le Diamant.

Trace de Caps

On our way to the eastern side of the island, we stopped to hike part of the Trace de Caps trail that runs through mangrove forests and along white sand beaches.

Trace de Cap, Martinique (February 2024)

The Trace de Cap trail runs along the south eastern part of Martinique through mangrove forests, rocky coastlines and white sand beaches. This was one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen.

Le Caravelle

The Caravelle hike through a nature preserve along a rocky peninsula on the east coast of Martinique. The coast is rough and trecherous: hence the lighthouse.

Le Caravelle

The trees and sea grapes (les raisins de mer) all bend to the force of the wind. Here I am doing the same.

Le Caravelle

The lighthouse is placed on the peninsula to keep ships off the sharp rocky coastline.

Tartane

Lots of rocky points jut into the Atlantic on the eastern coast of the island. One day we hiked several of them. The dropoffs were so steep I was zinging with adrenaline.

St. Pierre Marche

The open air market in the west coast town of St. Pierre. We bought fruit and vegetables here most days. Colorful and delicious.

Bois Bungalow

Our last AirBnB was our favorite: a secluded bungalow in a tropical orchard.

Calico

Bois Bungalow came with a cat named Calico who we loved to distraction.

Banane dessert

Sweet bananas in Martinique are called banane dessert. They are tiny and cute and must be eaten adorably.

Calabash

The Calabash Tree’s enormous fruit is used to make bowls and decorative pieces. It’s like a gourd on steroids.

Fond St. Denis

The village of Fond St. Denis is full of flowers and mountains. Off the main road is a jungle hike over a river…

Fond St. Denis

…through dense jungle…

Fond St. Denis

…and past lots of anole lizards.

Les chevres

There were lots of goats. They screamed “DAAAD” a lot. They were cute anyway.

Trace des jésuites

One of the famous jungle hikes on the western side of the island: le trace des jésuites. The trail goes straight down through verdant jungle…

Trace des jésuites

…to a clear cold river…

Trace des jésuites

…over a suspension bridge…

Trace des jésuites

…and straight back up again!

Le Fromager

The north western side of the island has many enormous trees called le fromager (do you see me?).

Le Fromager

The broad base of these trees must keep them stable on steep slopes and in strong storms. I liked to lean on them.

Anse Ceron

One of our favorite beaches on the north west coast was Anse Ceron: a black sand beach with glittering blue water and fun snorkeling (we saw sea turtles!).

Grand'Rivière

On our last day we did part of the Grand’Riviere trail which threads up into the jungle and looks down on the black sand coves below.

Drawing Again...

Note: I’m taking a break from the Gentle Rewilding series first to go to the ocean and then, as it turns out to draw. If you’d like to catch up on the Gentle Rewilding series – an exploration of ways to reconnect to our human design – you can find them below. I’ll resume with Gentle Rewilding of Hips on Oct 5...unless I don’t.

* Find Part 1 – Gentle Rewilding & Feet here.

* Find Part 2 – Gentle Rewilding: Hands here.

* Find Part 3 – Gentle Rewilding: Spine here.

* Find Part 4 – Gentle Rewilding: Shoulders here.

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Last week, we went to the ocean. We packed our little camper, drove to South Carolina and for a week hung out on the edge of the Eastern Seaboard.

I’ve been thinking a lot about space and time – specifically MY space and MY time. What do I want to be doing? How do I want to be spending my days? Am I being carried by habit or passion or both? What does it mean to use my time well? What does it mean to live my life well?

In such a swirl of questions, having a week to watch the waves and the shore birds and *eek* the alligators, was deeply welcome.

Liza Donnelly (thanks for the reminder, Kate Bennis) is a beloved and long-time New Yorker cartoonist and I’ve been following her for the past couple of months. Watching her draw and talk about the art and craft of cartooning reawakened my love of doodling and drawing. Since I was a kid reading Peanuts and then a ‘tween scouring the New Yorker for the cartoons (even when I only got about 40% of them), I’ve wanted to make art that delights.

A few years ago, I dove into this dream by making two books – Buddha Cat and Octobusy – and other art that blends images, color and words. But since the pandemic and becoming a solopreneur, my art-making has taken a back seat. The way back seat. I get ideas and start something but then the busyness of days pushes it back into the drawer.

On our first day on our trip to the ocean, driving through North Carolina, we passed a flea market and Frank offhandedly mused, “Why do they call it a flea market?” (Note: There is a general agreement that the term 'Flea Market' is a literal translation of the French marché aux puces, an outdoor bazaar in Paris, France, named after those pesky little parasites of the order Siphonaptera (or "wingless bloodsucker") that infested the upholstery of old furniture brought out for sale. Source: Wikipedia)

When we got to the campground, I found a scrap of paper and a kinda shitty pen and drew this:

It was silly. And yet it had me looking at everything differently. I was looking for funny and delightful things to draw.

Plovers. Plovers are funny. Plovers are little shore birds that oddly seem averse to getting their feet wet. They run to the edge of the waves, niggle some sort of food item out of the sand and then scurry their little feet away from the waves again. It’s hilarious and I could watch them all day.

Also hilarious: little dogs at the beach. They too seem disinclined to get their feet wet and also whir their little legs to outmaneuver the water. So I drew this:

Pelicans delight me no end. What with their gangly bodies, unruly beak-sacks and spectacular dives for their dinner, I’m constantly pointing and ridiculously saying, “Oooh! Pelicans!” As a kid someone told me that after a lifetime of plunging into the sea head first, Brown Pelicans will eventually go blind. Turns out that’s a myth. Which, yay for that, but even so, this is what I drew:

Until this week, I’d never seen an alligator in its natural environment. At Huntington Beach State Park, it’s a regular occurrence. I’m a total scaredy pants when it comes to most reptiles (not turtles, I love turtles) and big, fast-moving ones with 80 teeth are no exception. I squealed and squeaked every time one came into view. So when I saw the big sign at the entrance to the park that read “FEEDING ALLIGATORS PROHIBITED BY LAW,” it completely cracked me up. So I drew this:

Now that we’re home, I’m playing with giving myself time to draw what delights and amuses me. We went for a hike and Frank (who was walking ahead of me) got tangled in about eleventy billion spider webs. I discovered that there are spiders every-freaking-where in the fall because it’s dating time:

Now that we’re home, we’re back to doing chores like scooping the cat box and vacuuming. Frank loves the Roomba to supplement his excellent housekeeping skills but Phoenix (the aforementioned Buddha Cat) thinks we have adopted the dumbest pet ever.

Phoenix is absolutely not afraid of the Roomba but I got delighted by the idea of having a cat on my head, so…

All this to say (or to draw): turn toward delight. If the one thing I keep not doing is something that lends effervescence to my days, it’s worth rethinking the whole thing. Turn toward delight, friends. It’s what connects us to ourselves, each other and being human.

Continu-cation: 5 Vacation Things That Nourish Regular Life

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Chapel Falls. (Not pictured, a bold chipmunk who jumped on Frank’s foot.)

You may have heard Henry David Thoreau’s quote

“One must maintain a little bit of summer, even in the middle of winter.”

While I am 100% down with the original, lately, I’ve been riffing on it:

“One must maintain a little bit of vacation, even in the middle of real life.”

Since returning home to Charlottesville after a month traveling in the upper Midwest, I was surprised at how quickly I returned to my “regular life” routines.

Our time away was filled with adventures of the mind, heart and body (and once, the mud puddle). When we weren’t driving, we spent most of our time outside. I had stocked our little camper freezer to the gills with home-cooked food, so most of our meals needed little preparation. We got to see beloved people who we only get to be with in person once a year. We got lots of quiet, alone time, reading and rest.

Now that we are home, work, responsibilities and schedules have resumed. As a self-employed person, I have the privilege of some flexibility but I do have to show up for my classes and my students, put food on the table and, as much as I wish it would, that cat box is not going to scoop itself.

My days have quickly reset themselves into my regular degular schedule. And, I’m endeavoring to incorporate the most nourishing parts of travel into my days, too.

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Continu-cation: 5 Things That Nourish My Regular Life

Nature: Trees, Water, Air

Porcupine Mountain Wilderness. Presque Isle River.

Research shows that time in nature is beneficial for body and mind. When we travel in the camper, we are outside almost all the time. And I can absolutely feel it. For me, the three big components of this “outdoor feel-good factor” are trees, water and air.

TREES

Porcupine Mountains Wilderness. Government Peak Trail.

At Porcupine Mountains Wilderness, we hiked through virgin forests with ancient, massive trees. Just being around them settles me down. And even being near trees that aren’t older than George Washington feels like a balm. I’m not a literal tree hugger, but now that I’m home, I hike near the trees when I can. And when I can’t, just placing my hand on a barky trunk shifts and calms something in me.

WATER

Lake Superior & me.

Similarly, there is something deeply restorative about being near – or even better IN – water. While we were away, I swam in Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Superior as well as paddled around in a handful of rivers and my niece’s pool! All did their soothing magic. Now that I’m home, I am making a point to submerge in water when I can, and when I can’t I enjoy a cool shower and a cold glass of water.

AIR

Lake Superior and Air Superior.

Air quality was a concern on this trip. Days before we left, the upper Midwest was choked with smoke from Canadian wildfires. We did run into some smoky territory and it reminded me how essential clean air is to relaxing and recuperating. A breeze off the lake, wind in my hair and deep breaths of cool air were all restorative. Now that I’m home, I’m intentionally breathing to feel the touch clean summer air.

Movement

Bergland, Michigan. With Frank Bergland and me. Even hopping out of the car to take a picture felt great!

Nobody who reads this blog or takes classes with me will be surprised that movement on the daily is my thing. We did our share of long bike rides and hikes but what struck me on this trip was that it doesn’t take a lot of movement to feel good. After a long day of driving, a walk around the campground loop helped quiet the road buzz. So while I did love the 10 miles we hiked along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, now that I’m home, a walk to the mailbox is also really great.

leftovaries

The Amazing Tomato Zucchini Thing (freezes beautifully!). Recipe by Cup of Jo.

During the trip, we ate almost entirely out of the little freezer in our camper. The ease and pleasure of sliding something out to defrost before heading out for a hike or a long drive, simply cannot be overstated. More than once, we said “Thank you, Past Susan!” after dinner. It reminded me that it’s worth making more than we need on the regular and tucking it into the freezer. Future Me is always delighted by a dinner of “leftovaries.” (And this is a simple recipe that I am currently loving!)

Connection

Berglandia. Elk River, Minnesota. July 2023.

Spending time with beloved beloveds who we only see once a year is a deep balm. Especially when the great nieces and nephews put on a Taylor Swift concert on the pool diving board! We also enjoyed connecting with random people in campgrounds and on hiking and biking trails. Having time to connect with each other and with ourselves made a huge impact, too. Now that we’re home, we are intentionally seeking folks to spend time with (including sustaining our connections with our far-flung family) and making a point to have quiet time on our own.

Rest

One of the many books I read and loved.

Part of the reason for a vacation is to rest and recharge our batteries. While we had plenty of exciting, adventurous days while we traveled, we had just as many quiet, relaxed days. The benefit of unplugging – literally and figuratively – reminds me to do the same at home. Even in the middle of the work week, even in the middle of the day. Yesterday, I lay on my office floor and watched a thunderstorm roll through and felt something in me restore.

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I know how lucky I am to have the time, resources and health to doodle around the country for several weeks. This kind of time serves to remind me about what matters and what makes life rich. It also reminds me how wonderful home is.

Whether or not you are able to get away this summer, I invite you think about what nourishes your cells, your mind and your heart. How could you weave a few of those things into your regular degular day? No matter what your circumstances, how can you maintain a little bit of vacation in the middle of real life?