Tag: #elklakepublishing

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STEPPING OUT…PAST 70 ARRIBA, ARRIBA chapter 6

ARRIBA, ARRIBA!

Chapter 6- The critters that we met

Welcome back, everyone!

I have no idea of what bird or animal represents Mexico, but the most dominant bird that we met was the Pelican. This noble bird glided effortlessly just above the surface of the water, searching for fish and when one was found, it literally stuck a wing in the water then plunked down with a splash to capture its prey. An amazing sight!

 

They guarded every corner and covered every fishing boat. Not too proud to take free handouts. The first night in Loreto we ate at a little cantina by the marina and watched the flocks of pelicans swooping in for delicious leftovers from the fishermen.

The next most seen mammal was the dolphin, but I’ve already shared our sightings of those.

We had the pleasure of seeing the Blue Footed Booby, a rare find, pretending to be a pelican!

We had the pleasure of doing some snorkeling and saw tons of colourful fish, but alas had no camera to take pictures. We did capture these pictures in the shallows;

   

  Sadly, I do not have a picture of is the Tarantula and the Scorpion that joined us in our campsite. I’ll tell you it made us think twice about leaving our tent at night.

In the day following our epic adventure, we took a boat ride to another island in the Loreto area – Coronado Island, which is the closest one to Loreto and considered a great place for snorkeling, diving, hiking and beaches. And the home the stinkiest animal that we’ve ever met—the Sea Lion. These fellows are huge and apparently very lazy, complacent, loud and great sun lovers.

       

Mexico is an amazing place and this was an awesome expedition. Mexico will see us again.

Adios!

Lynn

 

P.S. If you’re looking for an exciting read—try The Jantastic Trilogy – an adventure series set right here in the north. Fun for the whole family. Available on Amazon.

                                                          

                                               Book 1                                             Book 2                                                                              Disaster! Around the Bend             Disaster! Not my plan!

                              https://a.co/d/076UIT3Y         https://a.co/d/089vY5Yn

                                                                           Book 3

Disaster! Where’s my Canoe?

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Books, Books, Books–Take a Look, Look, Look!

 

P. Lynn Halliday Book Descriptions

All of the books that I have written, whether Fiction or Non-Fiction have been written for the purpose of demonstrating how our GOD is active in our lives. Below is a description of each book and it’s theme.

NON-FICTION

  1. Stuck on the Rocks, Again – My first book of short stories about real-life adventures, that have convinced me that God is an ever-present force, actively impacting our lives.
  2. Step into the Wild – The story of how I found God and how at each stage of my life, He influenced and changed me. It is the story of how I left Toronto and journeyed to the north to become an adventurer.

FICTION

Goat Tails- illustrated children’s series

  1. Scruffy Finds His Way – original full length and Kid version

Original verion – a first chapter book for new readers. 

Kid version – a lyrical, shorter story for younger children.

Theme: God loves us no matter what we do.

  1. SuperScruff – original full length and Kid version                Theme: God has a different definition of being Super.
  2. Even Pigs…have purpose– Kid version                                  Theme: God has made each of us unique for His purposes.

Jantastic Adventure Trilogy

  1. Disaster! Around the Bend – the story of a 12-year-old girl (Jan) who is forced to move away from her beloved farm and best friend – Gaston—the donkey, to start a new life in Massey. It is a story of discovery, as Jan learns that God is with her wherever she goes and is an ever-present help in trouble. It is a heart-stopping adventure story where Jan has to put this new knowledge into practice as she and her siblings face the biggest catastrophe of their lives…just Around the Bend, on a canoe trip.
  2. Disaster! Not my plan!– Jan is now 14-years-old and is asked to be a counselor at camp ABK, to help out with a canoe trip. She discovers yet again, that God is active in her life as the plans that have been meticulously made, fall apart—replaced by better plans that God had planned from the beginning and set in motion, for His Purposes.
  3. Disaster! Where’s my canoe? – Jan is 15-years-old and is asked once again to lead a canoe trip. This time they are equipped with the latest GPS equipment—an ever-present help if trouble comes—but is it? Will this equipment replace, the God who Jan has learned to rely upon? This is a question that all of us must consider as we face our technology overloaded world.
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STEPPING OUT…PAST 70 – ARRIBA, ARRIBA Chapter 5

Chapter 5- On the Land

Welcome back, everyone!

The land was hot—very hot and dry—very dry. The last rain that graced the land was December 2025 and it was April now. So much for April showers bringing May flowers. Although an occasional flower could be found.

 

There wasn’t a rainy, nor cloudy day for the entire trip and the land reflected that reality. Most of the shoreline of Carmen was sand and rock set against tall cliffs and rocky outcrops, with very sparse vegetation. There were no trees, as we know trees, just short often struggling bushes and very little greenery. But despite being a thirsty, barren land, it was not entirely devoid of vegetation. Cactuses of all sizes dotted the hills, standing tall, like the trees we have in Canada, but more unfriendly with their spiny, prickly hides.

At times we ventured away from the beach to hike to the top of a ridge, but it was hot, dusty and full of plants that wanted to stick or bite you. The ground was covered in loose shale, that crumbled under your feet as you climbed, making the whole expedition a bit treacherous.

 

Camping was an interesting part of the adventure. That is the adventure of finding a space flat enough to set up a tent, with as few small rocks as possible and as much shade as you could find against the overhanging ledges.

Sometimes you were just so beat after a hot day of paddling that you didn’t really care where you put your tent. You just flaked out on the beach.

Not that a tent really seemed to matter, because there was almost never any dew. A fact that caused one of our guides to sleep out under the stars every night—no tent—no tarp. But once she got really wet because we were struck with what our guide called a ‘dew-nami’ and we woke up with everything wet that we had left on the beach to dry—including Maria! So, the rest of us put up tents.

 

This sandy beach was probably the best camping spot of the trip, if you didn’t mind a fine sand in everything from clothing to food. Some people are never satisfied!

Yes, camping was a challenge to the stiffening older bones and aching backs from too many rocky spots, but it was worth it for all the amazing sights that we enjoyed.

See you next time, where I’ll show you some of the critters that we saw.Like this stone bear—do you see it?

Lynn

P.S. If you’re looking for an exciting read—try The Jantastic Trilogy – an adventure series set right here in the north. Fun for the whole family. Available on Amazon.

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STEPPING OUT – PAST 70 – Arriba, Arriba – chapter 4

 

 

 

Stepping Out…past 70.

Arriba, Arriba

Chapter 4- On the water

 

Welcome back, everyone!

Paddling on the Sea of California was unlike any paddling we have ever done. The ocean was wide, waves surging along, sometimes crashing against the shore, other times quietly lapping the sand of a peaceful cove.

As we paddled our way around the island, the most dominant boats that we saw were yachts and a few cruise ships,

but most of the time we paddled alone on the vast sea—that is if you don’t count dolphins.

Dolphins were spotted most days of the trip and on one amazing day we saw a pod of fifty or more doing their acrobatics just metres from us and sometimes right beside our kayaks.

It’s a bit intimidating to be paddling along and suddenly have a fin quietly poke out of the water beside you—then that fin would dash ahead, like you were floating, motionless in the sea. Graceful, quiet, fun—the dolphins will remain etched in my mind as an integral part of this trip.

Lynn

P.S. If you’re looking for an exciting read—try The Jantastic Trilogy – an adventure series set right here in the north. Fun for the whole family. Available on Amazon.

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STEPPING OUT – PAST 70 – chapter 3

Welcome back, everyone!

Today, we’re setting out on our paddle. It all began with an organizational meeting at paddling headquarters in Loreto, where we met our two guides—Maria and Raymond. Their very smiles lit up the room with the promise of a great trip.

Next day, we packed our kayaks to capacity with the gear that we had hauled all the way from Canada plus food plus lots of water into the three small hatches in our kayaks. We packed the kayaks on the sandy shore, then slid ropes under them and six of us would lift the kayaks into the ocean. There were seven people on the trip in five kayaks, since one kayak was a twenty-three-foot tandem (two-person) boat. Man, it was a beast to lift fully loaded!

We were loaded and ready to go. It was about noon of the first day when we shoved off from shore to cross over to Danzante Island, then across open ocean to Carmen Island to begin our journey.

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Stepping Out past 70- chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Wow, just like the movie!

Welcome back, everyone!

Well, despite my doubts we were allowed on the planes—for a fee, of course. We travelled by car to Toronto, flew with Air Canada to Calgary, then with West Jet to Loreto, Mexico. That flying adventure took two days, but went fairly smoothly considering the amount of luggage we were toting.

In Loreto, we walked from the plane into a small, modern airport, where we were greeted by a young man, who was sooooo excited to meet us. He literally dragged us over to his booth, where, in broken English he enthusiastically told us about all the wonderful things he could do for us—from arranging the taxi (which he owned) to helping us fill every second of our ‘down’ time before and after the kayak trip.

Do you remember the Herbie goes Banana’s movie that came out in the 80’s? Well, this fellow reminded me of Paco, the orphan boy, in that movie.

Regardless of how it was organized, because of our ‘Paco’, we had the privilege of touring a magnificent resort nestled into the stark hills surrounding Danzante Bay, that we would otherwise not have seen. The Danzante Bay Golf Resort is a green oasis set amid the rock and sand, of that dry, cactus-filled land. We enjoyed our tour and we’ll go back again.

See you next time, as we hit the water on our epic kayak expedition into the Gulf of California to paddle around Isla del Carmen—all 15,000 hectares of it.

Lynn

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Stepping out… past 70 – introduction

                                       

Hi everyone;

Welcome to my new blog, “Stepping Out…past 70.” A quick step into our latest adventures.

I bet you’re wondering about the title of this blog? Well, it all started as Bob (my husband) began planning an exciting new get-a-way to Mexico in January 2026. He booked an expedition to explore Carmen Island, a large UNESCO protected area situated in Baja California Sur, just off the coast of Loreto, Mexico. I was less than excited. This trip was to be a ten-day kayak trip covering about ninety-six kilometers circumnavigating that island plus some side islands bringing the total trip to one hundred and forty kilometers. I dared to grumble at the prospect of sleeping on the ground for ten nights. The ground and I aren’t exactly on friendly terms these days. Oh, it’s fine to go to bed on the ground—but it’s the getting up (literally) in the morning that was giving me some grief. Night induced stiffness, made rising much more difficult, especially in the small confining space of a tent. Not to mention the added inconvenience of needing to visit the privy more than once per night. Tip toeing across hot sand and rocks—being careful not to trod on scorpions and tarantulas in the dark, was not my idea of a fun time. Dah! Well, you get the picture. No question about it—I had solid reasons for not wanting go.

So, what did my kind, considerate husband do? He called me a fraud and said that I’d have to stop writing, because my Author Platform would no longer be valid. For any of you that haven’t heard, my platform is, “Step into the Wild—stories with purpose.”

He calmly looked me in the eye and said, “if you don’t Step, you can’t Write.” Low blow.

“Rats,” I grumbled. I hated it, when he was right. “Okay, off to Mexico we’ll go.” I pasted a happy smile on my face.

We went and I had to admit that it was terrific. So, now he thinks that I’ll agree to all of his zany plans. Time will tell and I will tell. You see, this blog will be all about the real adventures that we’re still tackling past the age of seventy—hence the title. You’ll hear about the good, the bad and the funny things that happen on our journeys. Because, unplanned for things can happen when you exit your door. As Bilbo said, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.

Well, folks it’s time to begin the tale—stay tuned for the first Story – Arriba, Arriba

See you next week!

Lynn

My New Adventure Vehicle!!