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Sharon Mock Whitaker and Valerie Mock
We are sisters who began our love of travel with our parents when we were in grammar school. We grew up in Northern California and had traveled most of the Western States and Mexico before the 8th grade. Sharon traveled to Europe the first time when she graduated from high school to be a Girl Scout camp counselor and Valerie lived in Europe 7 years teaching the US military community at the graduate level. We rarely take a tour and usually travel on a low budget, by car, plane, and train. We have recently both retired and Sharon bought a Roadtrek RV, that we named Rosie II after our parent's "Rosie (Rambling)" that they drove to the Panama Canal from San Francisco and all around the US. You may see some of our non-Rosie II travels here, but we will be using this space to keep family and friends informed about our journeys. We hope you enjoy traveling with us.RamblingRosies
More videos will be posted on our YouTube Channel: Rambling Rosies.
Travel Blog Posts
April 26th 2013
Aqaba is Jordan’s only access to the sea and is built at the end of a narrow fjord-like waterway surrounded by mountains on all sides. Israel is only across a dividing irrigation/stream and shares beach frontage with Aqaba. You can easily see development in Israel, but we do not know what the name of the community is. Saudi Arabia is just southeast over the mountains about 15 miles away and Egyptian shores can be seen across this waterway. Aqaba has had many rulers from the Edomites to the Romans to the Crusaders and lastly to the Hashemites. T. E. Lawrence, along with Arab forces, battled the Ottomans for control of Aqaba in 1917 and with his success, become known to all as, Lawrence of Arabia. The big attraction for our shipmates, was the nearby ancient, carved ... read more
AT SEA FROM DUBAI, UAE TO AQABA, JORDAN VIA GULF OF ADEN AND RED SEA--Saturday-Thursday, April 20-25, 2013
Published: May 18th 2013Middle East
April 25th 2013
Days of Cruising on The Legend of the Seas We left Dubai that evening and headed south along the coast of Oman and Yemen and then into the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea where we will cruise for the next 6 days covering close to 5,000 nautical miles. On the second day of cruising, we had the usual “all people on deck” drill and on the next day, they held a “what to do in case of pirates or other emergency” drill. We were instructed to stay in our cabins if we were in an inside cabin and move into the halls if we were in an outside cabin. A red card was placed into the key slot of each evacuated room when the room was checked by the stewards. The end ... read more
DUBAI, UAE--Thursday and Friday, April 18-19, 2013
Published: May 5th 2013Middle East » United Arab Emirates » Dubai
April 19th 2013
The ship left Muscat, Oman at 8:00 pm and arrived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates at 2:00 the next afternoon where the temperature was 99 degrees and the sky was very hazy with a layer of brown crap. The port was very modern with wifi available and diet cokes sold in the terminal’s mini, mini-mart. Our original plan for the two days we were in Dubai, was to take a hop-on, hop-off bus to tour the city. We had also thought to get our hair cut and perhaps find a laundry-mat to wash up our dirty clothes. Heat and poor air quality called for a revision of these plans. Got off the ship with no emigration card and walked into the terminal. We decided to check out the hop-on night tour as we thought it would ... read more
AT SEA AND MUSCAT, OMAN--Tuesday and Wednesday, April 16 and 17, 2013
Published: May 5th 2013Middle East » Oman » Muscat
April 17th 2013
April 16th, cruised all day and night and a half day on the 17tharriving in Muscat, Oman at 1:00 pm. It took us a day and a half to cross the top of the Arabian Sea and then into the Gulf of Oman. What a mountainous, bleak, arid looking land off the port side of our ship. I had expected flat desert; instead, it is volcanic jagged peaks right down to the water line. Oman’s civilization dates back 5,000 years. In Biblical times, it was the center of the frankincense trade, which was more valuable than gold during the time of Christ. We pulled into Muscat, the capitol of Oman, where we had about a 7-hour stop to look around. The small bay we docked in gave us the impression that Muscat was a small city ... read more
April 15th 2013
MUMBAI OR BOMBAY, INDIA, as the city was called until it was renamed in 1996--Monday, April 15, 2013 There was no question that we were entering a major commercial center as our ship pulled into the principal Indian port of Mumbai, which sits right on the Arabian Sea. This is the world’s 7th largest city with a population thought to be in excess of 10 million. Its wealth was built on the cotton and textile industry, which was especially important to the British during the time when the Union blockaded the Confederate States and there were virtually no cotton shipments from the South. Valerie and I exited the ship, planning to get a taxi to tour us around for a couple of hours. As we came down the gangway and crossed through a modern terminal to ... read more
April 14th 2013
Walking around in the heat the day before at the spice farm really did us in. We decided that we would go easy today because we knew we wanted to be ready to see Mumbai (Bombay) the next day. I woke up with a slight fever and was feeling crappy. Since the doctor opened at 8am, I figured I ought to check in with him. We went down to the first floor and after filling out the appropriate forms, he saw me. Diagnosis was ear infection and general dehydration of the sinuses. He suggested a course of nebulizer treatments and that I begin the antibiotic I brought and Tylenol every 6 hours until my temperature went back to normal. Thus, I spent almost all of the time in Goa in bed or reading. Valerie kept me ... read more
April 13th 2013
From ancient times, the spice trade has played a major role in the history of the world. It was partially responsible for the colonialization of India and Ceylon. We decided we wanted to see how cardamom, allspice, black pepper, clove, cinnamon and other spices grew so; we booked a tour to a spice farm. We got off the ship and onto a “red carpet” and then boarded the bus about 8:30/9:00 and were driven to the immigration point where everyone held up their yellow cards for this port. An agent came on the bus and walked down the aisle and that was it. This port was a very active one with container operations, petro-chemical factories, and a very large factory that went at least a mile, but was unidentifiable to us. We were surprised by how ... read more
April 12th 2013
I have written about the Indian visa ordeal in our trip to South Texas blog, and everyone we talked to on the ship complained about their frustrating experience with the on-line paperwork. Well, just before we left Singapore, we learned that EVERYONE on the ship, whether you went ashore or not, had to have an Indian visa. Thankfully, we had gotten ours. Friday: We had to fill out more documents for India brought to us last night--a card for each port. Now that the ship had arrived at this first Indian port, people were gathered by tour bus number in the theater area, were lined up, and walked through the corridors to the one of the dining rooms, where they got their passports back from the ship crew, and then walked to the Indian ... read more
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA AND AT SEA--Wednesday-Thursday, April 10-11, 2013
Published: April 19th 2013Asia » Sri Lanka » Western Province » Colombo
April 11th 2013
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA AND AT SEA—Wednesday and Thursday, April 10-11, 2013 Colombo, Sri Lanka (Formerly Ceylon, an island nation off the eastern coast of India)--Wednesday, April 10, Day 6 Before we left home, we had booked only three guided excursions and on this day were scheduled to be driven by tour bus south to the very tip of Sri Lanka to the old Dutch Colonial Port of Galle. It was planned to run for 8.5 hours and we thought it would be a couple hours to drive down and then have plenty of time to explore the folklore museum, see stilt fishermen, and visit the old walled fort that is a world heritage site before having to return to the ship for an 8:30 departure. We had no inkling of the traffic and congestion we would ... read more
ON BOARD THE ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE LINES, LEGEND OF THE SEAS--Monday and Tuesday, April 8 and 9, 2013
Published: April 19th 2013Asia
April 9th 2013
The next two days, we sailed straight across the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean toward Sri Lanka. We have spotted some dolphins in the water, but no birds, not even gulls. We have no plans to participate in any activities at this time although many are offered—swimming, rock climbing, watercolors, bingo, crafts, dance classes, etc. Valerie expects to win at the slots in the casino and I expect to work on the blog and read a lot. She sets her limit at $2 per day and plays one cent and one line, so she certainly won’t lose much. I brought 180 books on my e-reader, so I am sure I will keep myself occupied. We will definitely continue to eat at the Windjammer buffet for almost all of our meals as there doesn’t seem ... read more
RamblingRosies
| Joined | March 30th 2011 | Trips | 9 |
| Last Login | May 21st 2013 | Followers | 1 |
| Status | BLOGGER | Follows | 0 |
| Blogs | 194 | Guestbook | 30 |
| Photos | 2,747 | Forum Posts | 1 |
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Trips
Fall 2010--Iceland, Finland, Russia, Lithuania, and back to Finland
August 30th 2010 -» November 5th 2010
Spring 2011 Oregon Trail (Trip Part 1)
April 4th 2011 -» May 13th 2011
Summer 2011--North to Alaska and Back to the Canadian Rockies (Trip Part 2)
May 13th 2011 -» August 15th 2011
Late Summer 2011--Canadian Rockies to home (Trip Part 3)
August 16th 2011 -» September 20th 2011
Fall 2011--Genealogy Trip to Ohio
October 6th 2011 -» November 3rd 2011
Spring and Summer, 2012--TX, NM, AZ, CO, UT, NV, CA (including Valerie's 50th HS Reunion) and back
April 20th 2012 -» August 3rd 2012
Fall 2012 Trip from home through SC, NC, WVa, PA, NY, ON, and back through MD and VA
August 26th 2012 -» October 7th 2012
WINTER 2013 TRIP TO RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS AND MARDI GRAS IN LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA
January 22nd 2013 -» February 15th 2013
2013 SPRING TRIP FROM MARCH 27 TO MAY 28, 2013
March 27th 2013 -» May 28th 2013
August 30th 2010 -» November 5th 2010
Spring 2011 Oregon Trail (Trip Part 1)
April 4th 2011 -» May 13th 2011
Summer 2011--North to Alaska and Back to the Canadian Rockies (Trip Part 2)
May 13th 2011 -» August 15th 2011
Late Summer 2011--Canadian Rockies to home (Trip Part 3)
August 16th 2011 -» September 20th 2011
Fall 2011--Genealogy Trip to Ohio
October 6th 2011 -» November 3rd 2011
Spring and Summer, 2012--TX, NM, AZ, CO, UT, NV, CA (including Valerie's 50th HS Reunion) and back
April 20th 2012 -» August 3rd 2012
Fall 2012 Trip from home through SC, NC, WVa, PA, NY, ON, and back through MD and VA
August 26th 2012 -» October 7th 2012
WINTER 2013 TRIP TO RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS AND MARDI GRAS IN LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA
January 22nd 2013 -» February 15th 2013
2013 SPRING TRIP FROM MARCH 27 TO MAY 28, 2013
March 27th 2013 -» May 28th 2013
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