WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU
I know this is against the norm in the blogging world but, I try to keep the site clean and easy to read for our reader’s enjoyment. For this reason, I opted to keep comments to one page. We would love to hear from you. Do not let my wacky thought process deter you from expressing your feelings regarding our postings or another items of interest you want to share.
- Thoughts on the cruising lifestyle?
- Do you have an favorite sailing destination or a place you think we should avoid?
- Send us your favorite recipe.
- Have you read any good books lately?
- What would you like to know about us?
Please include your e-mail so we can write back to you (email addresses are kept private)
Thanks for connecting to us!
Mark and Cindy
Beautiful pictures, as usual. Well, at least you’ve narrowed down your choices a bit. Good luck with your search.
I love small town living. I can walk to breakfast, the library is within a mile, we have a lovely park in summer and winter. We have no mountains. But we do have hills. Glacial moraines I think. There is public transportation by arrangement. We have two hospital systems. Not many specialist md’s; but they are an hour away. Living in central, up north Michigan we are within a two hour drive of culture, nature and two Great Lakes. We used to have a walkable grocery; but the two big chains pretty much drove them out. Still, I can walk or bike two miles for a few items if needed. Taxes hurt. No doubt.
Happy travels as you search!
Your Golden Gate picture is stunning!
Hello! I’ve been reading your blog for years (since like Grenada I believe?), no idea how I found you but just want to say thanks for all the great writing and photos over the years! It has been a joy to travel vicariously through you! And I really enjoyed the depth you put into every post, humor, and philosophy about slow travel. I don’t sail, but maybe someday? Or even just a peaceful mountain house in Tahiti for awhile… anyway, I was poking around your website (which is how I discovered comments for the first time!) and I saw a 404 on a page for blogs you enjoy. Do you have any recommendations for blogs to follow, sailing and non-sailing? I’m sure you have a treasure trove of online resources that would be of interest to readers. So much is found through word-of-mouth and experience rather than a Search Engine! I still remember when you wrote about using ChatGPT in the middle of nowhere (via starlink I’m guessing?) to debug a navigation system, and that was the first time I thought “Huh this AI thing is real…” I am looking forward to reading about where your adventures take you in the future! So much to discover if you slow down. 🙂
Hello Sarah,
Wow! Grenada! That was in 2017. I think that was our second year into this crazy cruising life. And about when we thought we were getting a handle on it. But, the life taught us we would never completely have it all figured out. 🙂
We are glad you found our blog and happy you have enjoyed our silly rambles. Mark does most of the blog posts. I take most of the pictures. But, sometimes I write and sometimes he is behind the camera. Sometimes I agree with his rambles, sometimes not. 🙂 For the most part, it is a place to refer back to on a tough day to remind ourselves where we have been and how far we have come.
You asked about blogs we follow. There have been numerous over the years but eventually, the blogs or video blogs stopped because the cruisers stopped cruising. Mark was always a bit disappointed that the story ended abruptly with no goodbye. Ther was no ending and often left the reading left with loose ends. He wanted to continue this blog since it is mostly about our travels and we plan to continue traveling. If we do stop the blog, or stop traveling, there will be a goodbye at the end.
Over the years, cruisers have moved toward social media, short videos and such. There are websites that are very helpful with information for people entering the cruising lifestyle. But, these are information sites, mostly. Not, blogs about people out cruising. If you are interested in those, let us know and I will send you a private message with a few links.
Thank you for following along on our journey. I always find it fascinating that people follow us. To us, it is just a peak into our lives that we post. It is nice to know people enjoy reading about it.
Best wishes,
Cindy and Mark
Yes, I’d love any recommendations! I read everything!! I promise I’m not a bot, just a surf-mama in Southern California who loves travel-writing. It seems to be becoming more and more rare these days, except in the sailing community. Again, I really appreciate the time you’ve put into every post, and I look forward to reading more in the future (whatever it holds). And the photos are beautiful!! You two are living the dream!! =)
Welcome back to life in the USA. How very temporary it may be. We are definitely a nation and geographical land mass of too much, too little and sometimes just plain crazy. Wishing you some restful downtime and good bandwidth as you plan the next leap.
Hi Marie,
THANK YOU! It is good to be back and interesting as well. It is like seeing the USA with fresh eyes. There are a lot of changes but there is a lot that is the same too. I joke that Mark is going to turn into a taco from all the tacos he is eating. 🙂 We have caught up on things we have missed, been overwhelmed with some of the changes and enjoyed some new places. It is like anohter adventure in a new place but with some familiar things along the way as well. I am sure we will be posting about it as we continue.
It is always great to hear from you. Wishing you the best and hoping you are doing well.
Best wishes,
Cindy and Mark
That makes me laugh about the tacos. We retired to the middle of the mitten in Michigan. When I go ”home” to the greater Detroit area I eat all the things I miss in West Branch. I am a carb lover, I especially miss good bagels! Thai food and Middle Eastern food are on that list too!
We are loving retirement. Sometimes it’s hard to believe it’s been five years. We love our location in our wonderfully beautiful home state. We are two hours from some great places in every direction. We are doing most of our moving about in a fifth wheel camper. Camping this weekend actually near Sleeping Bear Dunes.
We still search for a boat. I think we’ve seen twelve in the last two years that just didn’t make the cut. Hubby continues to search. Have fun house hunting!
Wow, just wow! It’s been a busy month and I am just now catching up on various blogs. Three posts at once! What a sad and adventurous series of posts. So,so hard to sell your home and the life of adventure it gave you. So exciting that the world is out there waiting for the next adventure.
The new owners of Cream Puff, bought a cream puff. They are so fortunate to have bought from you and are now ready to sail anywhere! I love that your post Sid you replaced the things that needed replacing and did not just fix things.
Wishing you many, many new adventures ahead and a lifestyle that brings you joy!
Thank you Marie for your kind email. It means a lot to us. You have been following us from practically the beginning. What a lot of fun posts and adventures. 🙂 Thank you for the kind words about the Puffster. We always said the boat gets what the boat needs when it needs it. We took good care of Cream Puff and it took good care of us. But now, off to new adventures and finding a place to settle down. Well, not really settle down. We want to continue traveling and exploring. Which is why Mark wants to continue with the blog. More to come, and just like our Cream Puff adventures, one season at a time. 🙂
Take care. Great to hear from you, as always.
Great Read! I love the perspective that having no plan might just be the plan! Cheers to you, Cindy and everyone else in your orbit!
Cindy – your “Most Stressful Day” is one of the best posts I’ve ever seen of any sailing/cruising blogs. Wonderful pics of nice people who have been touched by you no doubt. Great job as usual, you two are an awesome team bringing enjoyment to many around the world. Keep it up!
Hello Robert,
Wow, what a kind response. Thank you so much. It was a much needed boost on a busy day.
We are so glad you enjoy the blog and our meanderings. 🙂
Wow. From the stressful day of buying Cream Puff to the stressful day of saying goodbye. As Mark said in your most recent post, many say the happiest two days are buying and selling – not at all as far as I’m concerned. Cream Puff has become a part of your family, like a kid or a K9. You cared for her extremely well, and she saved you no doubted many times. But as the stewards of her for 12 years, you’ve both done a wonderful job making her ready for her next adventures, just like doing a great job of prepping a teenager to go off into the world on his/her own. Well done, and thank you again for all the sailing posts. Can’t wait to see where you two wind up and what life adventures lie ahead. Be safe, be well, have fun!
Thank you. We too can’t wait to see where we wind up 🙂
Hi Robert,
What a nice note. Thank you. You hit the nail on the head. It was tough leaving the Puffster for the last time. We have been busy traveling to see friends and family since we left New Cal. It has been good to be distracted for awhile from the task now at hand….what next and where? haha. We will continue to travel and explore but will miss many aspects of the boat life too.
Thanks for following along for so long now. We appreciate your kind words. Best wishes.