Cheetahs and farmers –What should be done?
Our last days in Namibia were spent considering the future for cheetahs. The big cats are the fastest animal on earth, being able to run in bursts as much as 120 km/hr. They can reach such speeds for 20-30 seconds. Then they have to capture their prey, often fleeing antelope, or stop as they quickly […]
On to Etosha – A wildlife haven
Etosha National Park is in northern Namibia near the border with Angola and is centered around a 5,000 square km salt flat called Etosha Pan. Along the southern edge of the pan, there is a necklace of water holes connected by dusty roads. Some are natural and some are supported by solar-powered pumps. Driving on […]
Hints of our past in Damaraland
Leaving Swakapomund by car, we travel north and east over a featureless plain until, after some hours, the most mountainous region in Namibia slowly comes over the horizon. Hardly a car meets us and no one overtakes us. In the mountains we see more and more groups of the sleek Springbok antelope. Eventually small scattered […]
Swakopmund Extremes
Quad bikes roaring over the desert is so not Veirs-Reese, but here in the adventure capital of Namibia, we have to give them a try. Leslie prudently declines and heads downtown in search of Namibian art and artifacts, even though she had gone through all the work to put this activity into our schedule. So, […]
SEA to Swakopmund
Leslie, Val and grandson Liam (almost 14 years old) left Seattle in the early evening, and 8 hours later it was afternoon in London. We had a 9 hour layover which gave us enough time to ‘do’ London! We took the fast (i.e. expensive) train to Paddington and then the tube to Trafalgar Square. We […]
Tent Camping with Grand Kids
For 5 days last week we camped in Beacon Rock State Park with Laura and Tucker’s kids. Tennessee is 7 and Oz is 4 and the four of us piled our camping gear into the Prius and headed out for some unstructured play time in the woods. We found Beacon Rock State Park on the […]
Friday Harbor Sailing Club cruise to Barkley Sound and the Broken Islands
On May 15, 2017, Leslie and Val on Cat’s Cradle headed ‘out to sea’ to visit a complex archipelago on the southwestern side of Vancouver Island. This is a diverse group of islands within which there is good protection from the prevailing northwest winds and swell from the northeast Pacific Ocean. But, to get there […]
Three colorful fall walks in the North Cascades
For three days this late September, Eric and Val car-camped for three nights at Colonial Creek Campground just on the north side of North Cascades National Park. With this as a base we took three long hikes that ascended to elevations above treeline. Well maybe they were not all that long — about 6 miles […]
Leslie & Val Veirs
Here you will find photographs and writings from our adventures here and aboard.
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Cheetahs and farmers –What should be done?
Our last days in Namibia were spent considering the future for cheetahs. The big cats are the fastest animal on earth, being able to run in bursts as much as 120 km/hr. They can reach such speeds for 20-30 seconds. Then they have to capture their prey, often fleeing antelope, or stop as they quickly […]
On to Etosha – A wildlife haven
Etosha National Park is in northern Namibia near the border with Angola and is centered around a 5,000 square km salt flat called Etosha Pan. Along the southern edge of the pan, there is a necklace of water holes connected by dusty roads. Some are natural and some are supported by solar-powered pumps. Driving on […]
Hints of our past in Damaraland
Leaving Swakapomund by car, we travel north and east over a featureless plain until, after some hours, the most mountainous region in Namibia slowly comes over the horizon. Hardly a car meets us and no one overtakes us. In the mountains we see more and more groups of the sleek Springbok antelope. Eventually small scattered […]
Swakopmund Extremes
Quad bikes roaring over the desert is so not Veirs-Reese, but here in the adventure capital of Namibia, we have to give them a try. Leslie prudently declines and heads downtown in search of Namibian art and artifacts, even though she had gone through all the work to put this activity into our schedule. So, […]
SEA to Swakopmund
Leslie, Val and grandson Liam (almost 14 years old) left Seattle in the early evening, and 8 hours later it was afternoon in London. We had a 9 hour layover which gave us enough time to ‘do’ London! We took the fast (i.e. expensive) train to Paddington and then the tube to Trafalgar Square. We […]
Tent Camping with Grand Kids
For 5 days last week we camped in Beacon Rock State Park with Laura and Tucker’s kids. Tennessee is 7 and Oz is 4 and the four of us piled our camping gear into the Prius and headed out for some unstructured play time in the woods. We found Beacon Rock State Park on the […]
Friday Harbor Sailing Club cruise to Barkley Sound and the Broken Islands
On May 15, 2017, Leslie and Val on Cat’s Cradle headed ‘out to sea’ to visit a complex archipelago on the southwestern side of Vancouver Island. This is a diverse group of islands within which there is good protection from the prevailing northwest winds and swell from the northeast Pacific Ocean. But, to get there […]
Three colorful fall walks in the North Cascades
For three days this late September, Eric and Val car-camped for three nights at Colonial Creek Campground just on the north side of North Cascades National Park. With this as a base we took three long hikes that ascended to elevations above treeline. Well maybe they were not all that long — about 6 miles […]
Olympic National Park – Exploring 3 Ecosystems
On a sunny day in mid-September, Lynne, Robin and Leslie headed off on a 4-day trip to Olympic National Park for their annual hiking getaway. We had rented a conveniently located cabin near Forks, WA, and were looking forward to a day in the Hoh Rain Forest, another day doing beach hikes at Third Beach […]
Fun with Family and Friends in Desolation Sound
Sometimes people just have a bad day, and this must have been the case one June day in 1792 when Capt. Vancouver arrived at the northern end of the Strait of Georgia. Vancouver’s two ships had been searching for the “Northwest Passage” without success and with much travail in the often cloudy and foggy numerous […]
