Sharon Mock Whitaker and Valerie Mock

RamblingRosies

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.

More videos will be posted on our YouTube Channel: Rambling Rosies.

SHELBURNE, VT TO BANGOR, ME—Friday-Wednesday, June 12-17, 2015

North America » United States » Virginia June 18th 2015

1506-50 Ben and Jerry's first factory

RamblingRosies

Shelburne, Vermont to St. Johnsbury, Vermont—Friday-Saturday, June 12th-13th Shelburne Campground in Danville. Raining this morning, heavy overcast skies and 68 degrees. Starting mileage is 45,654. Pulled out earlyish and got on the road toward the major city of Burlington. Thankfully, we hit a freeway bypass and didn’t have to go through downtown. Zoom, we were on I-89 and able to go more than the 30-40 miles per hour we were doing in the morning “stop and go’ to work traffic. This stretch of road is labeled “scenic” and it really is. It cuts back through the Green Mountains and must have been a real engineering feat to build. At the exit for Waterbury-Stowe Road, we got off the freeway and found the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory to take a tour. There were so many ... read more

1506-51 Garden on way from parking to plaza level

1506-52 Some of the evidence of their corporate culture

A VISIT TO FORT TICONDEROGA--RAWSONVILLE, VERMONT TO TICONDEROGA, NEW YORK, AND ON TO SHELBURNE, VERMONT—Tuesday-Thursday, June 9-11, 2015

North America » United States » New York » Ticonderoga June 12th 2015

1506-23 Bronze statue of 'Liberty' in Ticonderoga, NY

RamblingRosies

Rawsonville, Vermont--Tuesday, June 9th Winhall Brook Campground, Rawsonville, Vermont It rained off and on all day so, we declared Tuesday a down day. We had enough energy to dump out Rosie II and to both take showers, but not much else for that day. The wifi signal was so weak at our camp spot that as long as we were disconnected from services, we drove back up the hill to the ranger station to see if we had a better signal there. We sat in Rosie with computers connected, allbeit with very slow wifi, to check on e-mail. Completing that, we drove back to our spot for the rest of the day/night. Rawsonville, Vermont to Ticonderoga, New York--Wednesday, June 10th Left Winhall Brook Campground, Rawsonville, VT at 8am; it was mostly blue skies and 62 degrees. ... read more

1506-25 Statue's depiction of a French soldier and an Iroquois warrior

1506-26 One of the main figures below Liberty

1506-27 County's Historical Society's building on roundabout of 'Liberty'

SAUGERTIES, NY TO RAWSONVILLE, VT--Monday, June 8, 2015

North America » United States » New York » Saugerties June 8th 2015

1506-10 One of many decorated peddle-cars lining the streets in Saugerties

RamblingRosies

Saugerties, NY to Rawsonville, VT--Monday, June 8th Rip Van Winkle Campground, Saugerties, NY. We drove back through the town of Saugerties and took a better look at the differently painted themed toy peddle cars placed every so often along the main street. I surmised that they were placed in conjunction with a large antique car show being held this week, but otherwise we had no information about them. Following the direction signs, we found the trail for our walk to the Saugerties Lighthouse. A lot of flowers were blooming along the pathway—wild iris, wild rose bushes, and many we couldn’t ID. Both of us wore our rubber clogs, unfortunately, and the trail was covered in places by a multitude of hard, black, 1.5x1.5 inches, seed pod-type plant material with 3-4 very sharp thorny points on them. ... read more

OUR TRIP TO THE CANADIAN MARITIMES BEGINS: CLARKSTON, GA TO SAUGERTIES, NY—Monday-Sunday, June 1-7, 2015

North America » United States June 8th 2015

1506-01 Our 'campground for the first night--Mars Hill, NC--with dogwood tree

RamblingRosies

CLARKSTON, GA TO SAUGERTIES, NY—Monday-Sunday, June 1-7, 2015 Clarkston, GA to Mars, NC--Monday, June 1, 2015 Our starting mileage was 44,309. At 2:43, the clouds were threatening an afternoon shower and it was 86 degrees out. We had planned to leave several days prior to this, but wanted to be home for an important business call that was scheduled for today at 1:00 pm. Because of the delay, Rosie was completely packed and ready to go except for the frozen food and that had been collected into plastic bags ready to be put into the freezer. Heading up I-85, we encountered heavier than usual traffic. This traffic stayed with us a long time and therefore it took significantly longer than usual to get north as far as the town of Commerce where we stopped at the ... read more

1506-04 Fungus and lichen-covered embankment

END OF SEMESTER AT SEA MV EXPLORER CRUISE TO HOME—June 14-21, 2014

Europe » United Kingdom » England June 21st 2014

Southampton

RamblingRosies

At Sea while sailing between Northern Ireland and England--Saturday the 14th of June Today, Valerie gave her last lecture covering the topic of the Port of Southampton that we will reach in the morning. She talked about the history of the port from pre-Roman times to the present and some of the sights that one can see around the city. Made sure we were packed and ready to disembark in the morning. As usual our suitcases were out before midnight so they can be “ferried” to the dock by the porters for our retrieval as we leave the ship for the last time. Southampton, England--Sunday the 15th of June--the end of this cruise Up early for breakfast and then the wait to have our group called to get off. We are taking the bus from port ... read more

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UK--Friday, June 13, 2014

Europe » United Kingdom » Northern Ireland » County Antrim » Belfast June 13th 2014

1406-155 Peace Wall Mural-B

RamblingRosies

Belfast, Northern Ireland--Friday, June 13th After having a two-day rest, we were somewhat eager to leave the ship and explore this city. As we walked down the ramp, and while we were waiting for the shuttle bus, we watched fellow shipmates get into a line of London style taxis. They had signed up to take the “Black Taxi” tour. It looked like fun. We had hoped to take a tour to the Giant’s Causeway, but because of the interest in this place, generated by TV and games, everything was booked solid. We boarded the shuttle bus and it drove us from the pier to the heart of the city and let us all off right in front of the tourist office. Here, we again, inquired about a tour to the Causeway, but they too were booked ... read more

AKUREYRI, ICELAND AND AT SEA—Tuesday-Thursday, June 10-12, 2014

Europe » Iceland » North » Akureyri June 12th 2014

1406-115 After the fog lifted in early morning

RamblingRosies

Akureyri, Iceland--Tuesday, June 10th We were up really early this morning as we were told there was a possibility of seeing whales as we navigated the fjords into port. Unfortunately, we saw heavy, thick fog, which made it pretty impossible to see anything. When it cleared, we could view the lovely snow topped mountain sides of the fjord and admire the occasional farmstead where there was any flat land to build anything on. I don’t know how long this fjord is but it took quite a long time to get into port. As soon as we were cleared to get off, we left the ship expecting to board a bus to take us to our boat to start our Whale Watching tour. Instead we found that we were expected to walk 5-6 blocks to the tour ... read more

1406-116 A small fishing boat making its way up the coast

1406-117 Akureyi from the top deck--visitor's center in middle

ISAFJORDUR, ICELAND--Monday, June 9, 2014

Europe » Iceland » Northwest » Ísafjördur June 9th 2014

1406-105 Kayakers gathered in beautiful setting

RamblingRosies

Isafjordur, Iceland--Monday, June 9th Before we left home for this cruise, we googled around to learn about the next two communities in Iceland we were to visit. This community is located on the west coast and the other, for our visit tomorrow, is located on the far north coast of Iceland. Isafjordur we learned was very tiny, with a population of about 2,600. It is the largest town on the peninsula of Westfjords and is located on a spit of sand, in the Skutulsfjorour fjord that meets the waters of the larger Isafjaroardjup fjord. Think you can pronounce these names?? We sure can’t. Anyway, the maps of the place showed that the cruise ship docked close to the village and we could walk a few blocks and be in the midst of it so, we didn’t ... read more

1406-87 Fish farming cages waiting to be deployed

REYKJAVIK, ICELAND--Sunday, June 8, 2014

Europe » Iceland » Southwest » Reykjavík June 8th 2014

1406-74 Welcome to Iceland's capital city

RamblingRosies

Reykjavik, Iceland--Sunday, June 8th Sailing into Icelandic waters early this morning, we passed a number of volcanic islands that were squared off at the top like a table. The volcanoes have essentially risen from the sea, spewed their stuff out over their sides, and then blown their tops off and folded into themselves. One island is still active with hot lava and is large enough that you can fly out to it on a 20 min. flight and tour around by bus for a day. Would be interesting to see, but I am not sure I can be comfortable in this tiny little plane to land on a volcano—plus the trip is quite expensive. We were docked by 8:00 am this morning at the New Harbor, quite a distance from the center of town. The Old ... read more

1406-75 Customs and Gift shop (with wifi)

1406-76 The city over the port buildings-A

1406-77 The city over the port buildings-B (including the Lutheran Church Hallgrimskirkja)

AT SEA AND LERWICK, SCOTLAND—Wednesday-Saturday, June 4-7, 2015

Europe » United Kingdom » Scotland » Shetland Islands June 7th 2014

1406-52 Welcome sign in Lerwick, our port

RamblingRosies

At Sea between Denmark and Scotland--Wednesday, June 4th Earth, Wind, and Fire: Powering Northern Europe and the World was the topic of Valerie’s lecture today. She spoke on renewable energy like the grid of wind mills seen in several off-shore places we passed. North Sea oil and gas platforms that we might sail past and other sources of energy being used by the Shetland Islands, Iceland, and other “green” countries. Lerwick, Mainland Island, the Shetland Islands, Scotland--Thursday, June 5th The town of Lerwick, sitting on the west coast of the island of Mainland, is the capitol of all of these islands. It dates to the 17th century and sits on an excellent natural harbor. Once we disembarked, we were handed a brochure with an excellent map of the town with useful information printed on it like ... read more

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