2002 Nova Scotia Road Trip!

NOVASCOTIANOVIELTIES

September 12 to October 23, 2002 Do it Yourself Road Trip

DRIVING DAY

Day 1 - A day for pushing our way north to Emporia, Virginia we did not really stop anywhere other than for gas and potty breaks! We made good time and covered the 554 miles in about 8 ½ hours. Our motel was satisfactory and our dinner at Western Sizzler was acceptable.

DELAWARE

CHESAPEAKE BAY

Day 2 - We got up and out by 7 AM this morning headi ng for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel hoping to beat the commuter crowds. Except for having to stare right into a blindingly brilliant sunrise, the trip was easy and we reached the start of the bridge by 8:15 AM. This engineering marvel is really quite startling it’s very strange indeed to just start out over the waters of Chesapeake Bay and then suddenly see the bridge disappear and suddenly reappear a mile in the distance with no visible connection between the two parts! We learned that the Bay is an average of 21 feet deep and that the depths over which the bridge travels are 25 to 100 ft. The first portion of the bridge (17.6 miles) was completed in l964 and cost the incredible sum of $200,000,000! The south leg was finished in 1999 and cost $250,000,000! Four artificial islands were constructed as bases for the tunnels. The two tunnels are about 1 mile long each. We stopped at the guest plaza which comes before the 1st tunnel and looked around and inside the little restaurant and gift shop. Pat bought a couple of souvenir booklets on the bridge and the Chesapeake Watermen.

DELMARVA PENINSULA

Next, we started up the skinny finger of land that leads from the bridge to the Delmarva Peninsula. This is flat but pretty farmland with some pretty wonderful old farmhouses and estates dating back to the 17th century. This area has suffered a severe drought this year, a fact borne out by the burned cornfields everywhere. The corn was never able to develop at all and there are acres of dry, brown stalks telling the melancholy tale. The crop which seemed to be doing okay was soybeans these plants were usually deep green and healthy looking.

Dotted along the road were little produce stands, exhibiting watermelon, cantaloupes, peaches, tomatoes, and squash. When we entered Maryland, nothing really changed this state’s eastern shore is also quite rural. We were surprised to see what a good road carries the traffic through this area divided two-lane highway. Though the area is rural, we saw little or no livestock, though Virginia seems full of chicken farms.

ASSATEAGUE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE

Our goal was Assateague Island National Seashore and after a longer ride than we expected, we finally got there. This part of the island is in Maryland. We went to see the ponies, of course. And we did see 4 of them; however, it was funny because the

ones we saw were in the parking lots and along the roads. These horses can look fat but we were assured they are really bloated by all the salt in their diets. All the grasses and plants they consume have high salt contents and the horses are even able to drink some seawater with impunity. However, they do drink considerably more than usual for equines. It was good to see these small horses and know they have been on these islands for 200+ years.

We also visited the beach and it looks very like Cumberland Island or Big Talbot at home— high dunes behind the beach and sand just like Jacksonville Beach. The water wasn’t any colder than at home either. We saw deer on Assateague as well first, a doe with a fawn and later a deer resting under a tree. It is a lovely park and gave us a neat picnic spot too.

C

APE HENLOPEN STATE PARK

After leaving Assateague, we drove further up 13, looking for Cape Henlopen State Park. This was interesting mostly for its World War II concrete observation towers which looked to be about 50-60 feet high. These had been used to spot German U-Boats along the way. Now, they afford a wonderful view of the land around in particular, the ferry station which connects this area to Cape May, New Jersey. The wide beaches were lovely and well-used.

BOMBAY HOOK NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Time seemed to be running out on us, but we went to Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge anyway. This is a really wonderful place! We saw many critters here: deer, a bunny, cormorants, stilts, avocets, egrets, ducks, and small unidentifiable wading and shore birds. The 12-mile nature drive was quite pretty and we were there for a really wonderful light on the grasses and ponds. The refuge has ponds and higher ground and seems to be “managed” as far as water levels are concerned. The eastern border is the Atlantic.

We had supper in Smyrna, Delaware, before trying to find our Motel 6 in Wilmington’s suburbs. Our supper was good and there is no sales tax in this state. We liked that a lot. Now we are in our tiny little, renovated Motel 6 room (after some frustrating searching) ready for showers and rest. A great day and some really pretty landscapes!

PENNSYLVANIA

LONGWOOD GARDENS

Day 3 - What a wonderful day! We started off at Longwood Gardens, a goal of ours for many years and it was well worth the wait! First, we went downtown in Wilmington to see something of the city before going out to the suburbs and Kennett Square, PA, where du Pont built his gardens. We saw the Christina River and the Riverwalk the city has created and it looked very nice. There are some very large governmental-looking buildings in downtown as well, but we have no idea what they were since Dover is the capital of the state.

Out in Kennett Square, we found the Gardens with ease and were actually a little early. Everything opens at 9 and we were among the first inside. The visitor center has a little 4-minute movie to orient you to the Gardens and helps you find what you might be most interested in seeing. When you emerge from the visitor’ s center, you are met with the “Cow Lot” which is a lovely greensward with benches and some statuary on the periphery, but mainly just lush green grasses. To the right is the rose bower which was not in bloom while we visited, partly because of the severe drought PA has been suffering this year too. The roses are the climbing-type strung about huge horseshoe-shaped arches all around a center courtyard. We could all picture how beautiful it would have been at another time of year.

We continued walking around and everywhere wonderful foliage, plants, shrubs, flowers met our eyes. Everything is labeled and often additional information is included. We were all surprised at the number of things which are blooming in September. There are many water features on the property but none of them are operating because of the drought the only one permitted to work is directly behind the visitor center and we missed it! The gardens are multi-tiered so there is always something different to divert the eye. There are many trees of immense size and strangeness as well as the more common varieties. Again, we were shocked to find bald cypress thriving at this latitude.

Du Pont (1870-1954) bought the original part of the garden from people who were going to lumber out the many prize specimen trees which the first owners, the Peirces who had received the land grant from William Penn, had carefully and lovingly planted there. Mr. du Pont then bought other neighboring farms to increase his holding to the 1000+ acres now in the Gardens. He built a matching annex onto the original farmhouse and used that place as his home on the property. His crowning architectural achievement, however, was the 4-5 acre conservatory building. What a magnificent place it is! He had always stated that he would build a conservatory that people could go inside and enjoy and he really pulled it off.

The Conservatory contains so many special rooms with particular plantings that we spent several hours there. Of course, the wonderful magic wand they give you for free listening on various topics in the gardens made it all more interesting and informative. There is everything there from a cactus garden to Mediterranean gardens, to the banana “orchard,” to the Cascade Gardens, to the tropical plant rooms, to the palm terrace, estate fruit house. The buildings have huge columns of stone supporting the interior structure and the roofs are glass to allow the light to pass through. Most of the columns are covered with climbing plants, like ficus and clematis and roses. The floors are done in many different materials from marble to tile.

The Idea Garden outside was wonderful too: with many innovative uses of flowers and grasses and other plant materials. We also saw a collection of old tractors from 1928 on. How droll that exhibit was in telling us that when Mr. du Pont first bought the tractors, his men refused to use it after a couple of trial runs because they thought theloads looked messy and that they were doing it better!

We had a couple of sessions in the Garden Terrace Restaurant as well. Their corn chowder was really super; however, their misleadingly advertised peach cobbler was a disappointment since it was neither a cobbler or made with fresh peaches as the ads strongly suggested! However, the food did get us through a long day at the Gardens we spent about 6 hours there and walked our legs off we are all quite a bit shorter than we were when we started.

BRANDYWINE RIVER MUSEUM

Reluctantly, we bid the Gardens goodbye so we could get to the Brandywine River Museum before it closed at 4:30 PM It is only about 4 miles down the road from the Gardens so it was an easier trip than was the leave-taking. The museum incorporates an old mill with a newly constructed caracole- shaped building for the display of Andrew Wyeth’s work, as well as that of his father, Newell Convers Wyeth, and his son, Jamie Wyeth. Andrew is much the best of the three artists and we rather liked seeing his work in the setting where he painted so much of his life’s work the Brandywine River Valley. There were three floors to the Museum and Andrew is on the top floor. There were a few other artists minimally represented, chiefly if their presented work had some connection with the Valley.

None of us really liked Jamie’s work and we could see that Andrew had certainly bested his father who was a very competent illustrator and magazine contributor. Strangely, some of his pictures looked better to me when they were printed in the magazines than the originals on the walls. Kay found a picture by a woman, Alice Barber Stephens, which really struck her “Women in Business” from a series of six articles published in a magazine. The picture is quite dramatic in portraying the encounter between a wealthy woman looking at some materials and handwork while a much more needy woman is waiting on her. The faces are very real and the attitudes of the two main characters speak volumes of the times.

DELAWARE - NEW CASTLE

After we left the Museum, we headed for downtown New Castle, DE, so that we could see this “ first city in the first state.” This city was founded by William Penn in 1682 and many of the buildings date from very soon afterward. As an example, Jessop ’s Tavern where we had a most delicious supper dates from 1724. It was a narrow building with low ceilings but very atmospheric. We all made delicious choices of what we wanted to eat and all of it was really special!

The town is so quaint and full of period buildings, quite well preserved and cared for. Lots of federal style homes and plenty of green spaces all around as well. The little town is built on the banks of the Delaware River and one of its commons runs right along the waterfront. Another important green space is right in the center of

the town. All 1000 acres of the green space was donated by William Penn and has been managed by a special Board of Trustees ever since. It is not owned by the city or state, but by those trustees.

We are home again to our little narrow Motel 6 room, but everyone is full and happy and ready for more adventures tomorrow. Today was beautiful, including the weather, but by afternoon, storm clouds had gathered and we hoped that this area would finally get the rains it so desperately needs. But by 7 PM when we returned home, no drops had fallen.

PENNSYLVANIA - PHILADELPHIA

INDEPENDENCE HALL NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

Day 4 - We gave in & enjoyed a McDonald’s breakfast before leaving our cramped Motel 6 in New Castle, Delaware around 8 to head to Philadelphia. We want to see the “Cradle of our Country’s Birth and Infancy” up close and personal. That meant visiting Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, and Valley Forge. We got to the center of the city about 8:45 AM to find that the area is pretty much sealed off with security National Park Service patrol cars, security check points, concrete bunkers, etc. However, the rangers were friendly and helpful so we quickly found our way to the Visitor Center to get our tickets for the Independence Hall National Historical Park visit.

The security checkpoint was in a temporary trailer and there were six large Rangers manning it. We passed without incident even though both Pat and Kay had Swiss Army knives. They told Pat to keep hers at the bottom of her fanny pack and they never saw Kay’s. How reassuring is that? Then we crossed the street and entered the “backyard” of the Independence Hall complex (consisting of the Hall itself, the old city hall, and the Congress building).

The ranger took us in to see the insides of the building which had been built originally to serve as the Pennsylvania State House. It served as the home of the Continental Congresses and then later as the Congress of the infant USA (17901800). We entered the Supreme Court chambers first where the ranger told us about the personal freedoms which had been guaranteed to the colonists (or so

they thought) as citizens of Great Britain. As the conflicts between the colonists and the crown increased, these freedoms were abridged and infringed upon. These tensions were part of the slow rolling towards the Declaration of Independence and war between the colonies and the mother country.

Next, we went across the hall to the Assembly Room where the delegates from the states met to debate how to seek redress for their wrongs and then how to write a Declaration of Independence which could be endorsed by the states and serve notice to Great Britain that the colonists were serious. Our ranger was very good at presenting the facts concisely and yet with drama and suspense. Later we were allowed to go in the Congress Building to see the first House of Representatives and, upstairs, the first Senate Rooms. Much smaller than the Chambers in Washington, they were ample for the legislators of that period. As in Washington, the House is plainer than the Senate.

It was stunning to realize that we were looking at the actual rooms, the actual chairs, and tables and desks that the Founding Fathers occupied during their revolutionary debates. John Hancock really sat at the desk on the elevated podium and presided over the disputatious delegates. Ben Franklin actually sat in that chair at the Pennsylvania table. Later at the Congress where the Constitution was written, George Washington presided.

Though most of the delegates were different from the ones who wrote the Declaration of Independence, Ben Franklin was at both. He sat closer to the railing but still at the Pennsylvania delegates’ table. It was hard to grasp the reality of the scene but we all agreed that the whole complex should be guarded at whatever the cost because this is our tangible link with that courageous and wise world— the men who formed our country and wrote its documents were titans. The Constitution has been amended only 17 times since 1791! Yet it has allowed our country to grow, change, develop, and modify daily life. The central values still obtain our personal freedoms (the amazing Bill of Rights.

Following that moving and fascinating presentation, we went over to the Visitor Center again to see the special exhibition of the Magna Carta (presented by the Perot Foundation). It was quite well done and explained how the Great Charter underlies not only Britain’s freedoms and rule of law but also our own. It is the basis of our personal freedoms and the common law as well.

The copy on display is one of only 17 extant contemporary copies of the document and is truly as important to us as to the British.

We walked around the corner to Arch Street to see Ben Franklin’s grave in Christ Church Cemetery. The list of his accomplishments on the wall surrounding the cemetery is truly stupefying what a brilliant man he was and how active and accomplished too.

PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART

One of those little tourist trolleys attracted our attention next and we decided to join a tour. We discovered that we were able to get on and off at various points in the city so that was a plus as well. Most of the points of interest we wanted to see were on the route and we were happy to see the Philadelphia Museum of Art (where we got out and enjoyed the free visit there). But we also saw Elsforth Lane, the Society Hill section of town, the new City Hall. Philadelphia looks like a very livable city and there is a lot of green space here (more than 10 times the amount of NYC’s CentralPark).

Another of our goals had been to get a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich and we bought one at the corner where the trolley dropped us the last time. It came from a “roach coach” parked there to take advantage of the tourists as well as any townies who might pass by. Actually, the sandwich was quite good tasty with grilled onions and white cheese on a huge bun. We all enjoyed the sandwiches and were glad we had held out for one.

Then we made a huge and much out of the way trek to Valley Forge National Historic Park to see where George and boys over-wintered in 1777-78. By the time we reached the Park, the Visitor Center was about to close. So we bought an audio tape and watched the little movie on that winter ordeal. Then we took off on the auto-tour. Unfortunately, the tape was not very good there were no prompts regarding points on the tour and we could never get the tape to correspond to the places we were passing by. However, it was nonetheless very interesting to see replicas of the little cabins they soldiers built to keep themselves warm during the cold Pennsylvania winter. The terrain was quite beautiful and all of us were surprised at how big the site is. Rolling hills and many lovely trees and so many deer that we stopped counting them. The Schuylkill River is one border of the area and we got glimpses of it occasionally during the driving tour.

Then it was time to leave Philly and head for our home away from home in Maple Shade, NJ. We found a much more direct route through the city and across the Ben Franklin Bridge (over the Delaware River) and then to New Jersey. Only a little bit of trouble finding Motel 6 (a much nicer and more comfortable one than our last one in Wilmington’ s suburbs). Now we are in residence and waiting for 9 PM when we will see “The Sopranos” on HBO. Tomorrow we head for Connecticut but must get through New Jersey and New York first.

CONNECTICUT

DRIVING THE PIKES

Day 5 - Today was a day we had all dreaded because it involved leaving New Jersey via the NJ Pike & the Garden State Pike and somehow getting around NYC without getting sucked into one of the tunnels or on some road that only went to the City. We left Maple Shade at 6 AM hoping to miss some of the rush hour crush and were a little dismayed by the overcast skies with their promise of rain. However, for the most part, the rain held off except for some “spits and starts.”

The much feared NJ pikes also were not so intimidating after all either. Sharon (driver) & Lois (navigator) got us through the rough spots and over the Tappan Zee Bridge with no real problems. On the NJ Pike, it was a little hairy with huge semis barreling down on us and all the traffic ignored the 65 mph speed limit. The Garden State Parkway separates cars from trucks and that was delightful! Because of the low clouds and rainy conditions, we could not see the skyline of NYC from any of the supposed vantage points, but we were so relieved that we had avoided the city that we did not care.

When we crossed over into Connecticut, we decided to take the Merritt Parkway since our map indicated it as a scenic drive. Well, probably in full leaf time, it is very scenic but today it was lushly green and not too awful crowded either. The many small bridges over the Parkway were interesting because they were so varied: some stone, some steel, some plain some very ornately decorated, some with vines growing all over their sides, and some “ clean-shaven.” They helped to keep interest on the road.

We decided to take another scenic highway indicated above New Haven and since we had determined not to go there anyway, we bypassed it by driving on a small road which passed through some charming small towns. Connecticut is surely a part of “New England” with the wonderful “ greens ” or “ commons ” at the centers of townships and white churches with slender spires reaching from the Puritan earth to the empyrean.

BISHOP FAMILY FARMS AND ORCHARDS

The horseshoe shaped route we had selected took us back down to I-95 where we found our first real CT destination the Bishop Family Farms and Orchards. As soon as we reached the place we saw the signs indicated where to go to pick raspberries on your own and we headed there first with great anticipation. We followed the dead-end road, Dunk Hill, around to the fields and drove in through the opening where others had obviously been before us. It turned out that there was no attendant on duty, so we just jumped out of the car and ran into the

“aisles” between the bushes. The berries were delicious and Sharon & Lois ate quite a few while trying to fill a couple of cups for the Pat and Kay. Finally, the mosquitoes and our shame at such abundance stopped us and we got back in the car. Kay enjoyed hers very much but I don’t think that they are Pat’ s favorite berry.

The store along Route 1 is splendid with fresh home-grown fruit as well as some imports, homegrown veggies, bakery goodies, and other delicious snacks. We all picked out the apples and other fruits we wanted to sample: Kay and Pat bought plums and Kay decided to try “pluots,” a cross between plums and apricots. Lois bought blackberries, more raspberries, and peaches (Pat bought a peach too). We also got a package of “apple cider donuts” because they sounded so appealing.

The little town of Guilford is quite historic with many buildings from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, so we decided to explore it a bit before going our way. It was its own rewards for sure. The houses are quite charming, in excellent repair, and most of them sported the date of their construction which certainly satisfied our curiosities. We were very happy with our auto-tour as conducted by ourselves.

HAMMANASSET BEACH STATE PARK

Then Route 1 beckoned and we headed for Mystic, but we did stop along the way and visited Hammanasset Beach State Park which was very dramatic. Talk about the “rock bound coast of Maine! There was a sand beach as well, but the huge glacial erratics were what caught our eyes. Turns out there really was a glacier in the area 18,000 years ago. The melting of this glacier left a huge moraine which is today Long Island. But much of the coast of CT is also moraine left by the retreating glacier and the draining of the Great Glacier Lake that sat inland before the “dam-like moraine wall broke and the sea came roaring in. Now the coast is about 300 yards more inland that backs in those “ good old days.”

MYSTIC SEAPORT

Finally, we reached Mystic Seaport and started looking around for an inexpensive place to stay. That was certainly a “scarlet ribbons” experience. After checking out 4 different places, we finally selected a Howard Johnson Inn because it offered queen-sized beds. It was also the cheapest of the places because it gave us an AARP discount.

Mystic Seaport is a very interesting section of the old shipbuilding city which has been carefully and lovingly preserved and presented. All the old buildings have displays covering fascinating aspects of the whaling and cod fishing industries as well as the shipbuilding trades. Volunteers were present in most of the buildings and on the ships we could board to answer our many questions. Such trades as rope making, cooperage, small boat construction, ship smithing, chandlery, and figurehead carving were presented in compelling detail. The three ships we could explore were the: L.A. Dunton (a cod fishing ship), Charles W. Morgan (whaling ship), and Joseph Conrad (a luxury yacht & a training ship). The Dunton and

Morgan were sobering testaments to the miserable, dangerous, and confined lives that whalers and cod fisherman endured. It was hard to see any “ romance of the sea” in these vessels. The volunteers aboard were enthusiastic and brimming over with information and we asked many questions.

At 5 PM, the exhibits began to close though the grounds stayed open until 6 PM. By then, however, we were all aware of just how hungry we were and we left to find Angie’ s Pizza as recommended by our “hotelier” at the Howard Johnson. The restaurant turned out to be a casual eatery that served truly delicious pizza! The crust is made right there on premises and the toppings are fresh and super! We all left that little spot quite satisfied after having fasted so much during the day.

We thought we could get our laundry done here only to find that the laundry we passed on the way to our room was for the hotel’ s use not the guests. So we gave up on that idea and now we are all getting showers and preparing to enjoy our queen-sized beds.

RHODE ISLAND

BLOCK ISLAND

Day 6 - Got a date with a daydream and it came true today! McDonald’s started us off with a good breakfast and then we drove to Galilee to catch the high-speed catamaran ferry to Block Island at long last I can’t even remember how long it’s been that I have wanted to visit this place. We found a car park right across the street from the ferry pier that charged $10.00 per day & then we bought our tickets (round-trip) for the day. We left at 8:30 AM for the 30-minute ride and knew that we would be returning at 4:30 PM.

The clouds were a little too low for my taste as we started out and the sea delivered some long slow rollers that kept the catamaran moving about a bit. Kay was just a little green but the trip was so short that she made it all right. The ferry was actually quite comfortable and larger than we expected. It had airplane type seating in the middle of the cabin and tables with benches along the sides. There were both an open air deck and an enclosed room on the boat’s top.

Upon disembarking, we felt a good stiff wind and noted that the sky had not really lifted very much. Quickly we came to a group decision NOT to rent bicycles after all but instead to rent a car. So we called a fellow who offered both bikes and cars and he quickly came to his lot and we were all set car was actually cheaper than 4 bikes would have been!

After completing the paperwork, we jumped in and headed into the island’ s only town - New Shoreham. At the Chamber of Commerce, across from the Old Harbor (we had landed at New Harbor across the island), we got some maps and trail descriptions and marveled as we watched the sky clear and the blue come through the clouds like a laser show. By the time we found the road to the north part of the island, the sky overhead was a huge blue ceiling over our happy heads. Our goal at the north end was the North Light.

The beach along which we walked to reach the lighthouse was littered with large stones, ground smooth in the surf and decorated with strangely pretty seaweed. The water was a deep marine blue but it sparkled under the growing sunlight. Walking along the water’s edge was definitely the least difficult because the sand above the tide line was very loose and slippery. Above the beach, grasses like spartina and thick shrubs of beach rose grew densely. Behind them was a freshwater pond.

The North Light is one of two on the island and they have personalities of their own both are houses with the lighthouse part attached to the front so that the house and tower are one piece. The North Light is currently not functioning and the wooden building itself is in need of repair. The Block Island Conservancy and the Historical Foundation are working to raise money to rehab the place and we can only hope that they succeed because the lights are unique.

After this wonderful walk, we hopped back into the comfy Buick and started back towards town to grab a bite of lunch before exploring the south end of the Island. The New Harbor was glimmering with sunlight on white sailboats with their taut sails when we arrived back in town. We walked along the main street until we found a restaurant with a menu to our liking and went inside. The clam chowder was good as were the Reuben sandwiches.

Back on the road again, we went to the South Light it had been moved in 1993 because the cliff on which it sat was eroding away under it. We learned that this brick tower & house combination weighs 2000 tons and moved with a system of hydraulic jacks and rails over which the structure was moved. We still could not feature how the whole thing held together under the strain of the move. It too is in disrepair and money is being raised to rehab it as well. This light does continue to function both as a light and as a site for foghorn blasts to keep ships away from the treacherous shores of this beautiful island.

From the South Light’s home cliff, we could look away up and down and see the amazing Mohegan Bluffs. People were down on the beach, probably 150 feet below the cliff tops, but we thought the view from above was definitely the best. The whole scene was reminiscent of the scenery on the East Coast of Argentina where we saw the elephant seals and sea lions. Rocky and seaweedy beaches below the steep but crumbling cliffs.

Rodman’s Hollow was our next goal this is the heart of the Greenway system established by the Nature Conservancy in the 70s and 80s (and still ongoing). About 35% of the island has been protected from development by the Nature Conservancy, the BI Conservancy, BI Historical Foundation and other interested parties. The population is obviously very friendly to the idea of preservation as well

or none of this could have happened. The Greenway paths are open to everyone and it is said that the whole island could be covered in the 35 miles of trails. Pat, Kay, and Lois took a short walk into the Rodman’s Hollow and found it quite lovely thick copses of various beach shrubs including the ubiquitous beach roses. The route we chose led us down into the “hollow” which is simply a low place in the island created during the glaciation period of moraine building. Then we climbed up again onto a knoll which gave us 360 degrees of views around interestingly, the whole area is ringed with rather large houses but the Hollow still seems pristine and untouched!

When we rejoined Sharon at the Buick, we explored more of the island by heading out to the Coast Guard Station at the south end of the Great Salt Pond through which we had entered into New Harbor. We could not get out there due to the increased security but we could see around it and into the Pond. Returning to town, we headed to the Ice Cream Place for our reward for hiking and were enjoying it mightily when Kay realized that her binoculars were missing. She thought about it for awhile and then remembered that she had put them down when Pat was taking a picture of her & Lois at the end of the hike.

So back we drove to the bottom of the south section of the island and there they were, right where she had left them. That was a relief since these are some of her favorite glasses. By then it was about time to meet our friendly car rental agent and surrender the Buick. He told us that the average car renter put about 22 miles on the car we had put 69 miles on ours! We explored every road we could find and feel like we have a good grasp of how wonderful Block Island that honored member the Nature Conservancy’ s Last Great Places looks in September!

Then it was time to reboard the Athena for our ride back to Rhode Island’ s mainland coast. The ride was smoother and we sat out on the top deck and enjoyed the sun and breezes. Block Island was a dream come true and we all much enjoyed its beauty and wildness in the midst of long human history and development.

Next, we pointed the car towards Newport and the mansions! By the time we reached the city and found a place to stay (a Ramada Inn) we decided that we would rather get the clothes washed right there and eat there as well instead of going out for a sunset hike on the Cliff Walk in front of the great mansions of the

super wealthy! Pat and Kay enjoyed their lobster dinner (1st one of the trip) but Sharon and Lois enjoyed their baby-back ribs less. However, we were all glad to get the laundry done even if it did take until 10:30 PM A gay black fellow kept us entertained during the long periods of washing and drying.

RHODE ISLAND - NEWPORT

Day 7 - Another beautiful New England day this time in Newport, RI. We got drinks at Burger King and then went downtown (our motel last night was actually in Middletown a cheaper next door city) to see the colonial section of town (saved, rehabbed, and preserved pretty much singlehandedly by Doris Duke as a civic project to benefit the whole area) before checking out the “cottages” of the rich and famous. The colonial section is centered in the area of Thames Street and Broadway and it is very colorful and quaint. The streets are very narrow and the houses are skinny row houses. Even the commercial buildings are in keeping with the architectural dictates.

Bellevue Avenue is the street of the financial titans of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We drove along it, gasping at the opulence and sheer size of these outlandish “castle cottages.” But equally breathtaking was the Rhode Island coast on which all these mansions sat. The beach drive was just beautiful and even the more recent homes were huge and wonderful.

On the way back, we found the beginning of the Cliff Walk and went for a truly memorable “ hike ” along the front lawns of the mansions. We learned later from a volunteer that the state legislature had mandated an easement from all the owners that permitted the public towalkalong the coast.

Technically, each section of the National Trail belongs to the house behind it but federal and state monies constructed the actual trail. Of course, the most stupendous of the houses is The Breakers of Cornelius Vanderbilt II who was the very first member of the 400 in American culture.

The house is completely covered in scaffolding now and has recently been reroofed as well to the tune of $2 million dollars.

We walked about 5 miles, counting out and back, in the sunshine and admired the formidable mansions along the way. The coast was so striking and the rocky beaches so picturesque that we hardly noticed the different surfaces of the Cliff Walk itself. Part of it was concrete, part macadam, part sand, and part huge flat granite boulders like giant stepping stones. It was quite exhilarating to be sure

At the home of Alva Vanderbilt who was a staunch supporter of women’ s suffrage, we saw a wonderful Chinese pergola where she invited leaders of the movement, like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony to have tea and coffee while they discussed strategies and hopes. Newport is truly like a fairyland, as unreal as Disney World.

Our next goal was Cape Cod and we left Newport about 11:30 AM. It wasn’t a very long way and we stopped at Cranberry Flats to find out where we might stay on the Cape while we visited. A very helpful man made some suggestions about what to see and how to get there and he also gave us a couple of coupons to use for big discounts at the Wellfleet Lodge & Motel. So we left him to head directly to the area to try to secure reasonable lodging for the next two nights.

The Wellfleet Motel was indeed a bargain with these coupons--$85.20 per room for the two nights! Pretty unbelievable really. After this coup, P-town was our first destination on the Cape. We stopped at the first visitor center we reached for the Cape Cod National Seashore to gather information and maps. We got some suggestions for ranger walks and other activities. The lady ranger gave us some ideas about what to do in P-town if all we had was an afternoon to spend there. She told us to head for the Visitor Center there and go up on the Observation Deck for the 360-degree view there and then go out to the beach to see what that looks like.

Then we should head for P-town itself and walk down Commerce Street to absorb the feel and atmosphere of this artsy town. We did all that but our walk down the Commerce Street was disappointing instead of seeing all the gay fellows and gals enjoying themselves, all we saw were middle-aged heterosexual couples and groups like ourselves. We found a restaurant to have lobster again (or whatever anyone wanted) at even cheaper rates than the night before. Kay said it was even better!

After a brief visit to the A & P for a couple of supplies, we drove back to the Wellfleet & are now in our wonderfully spacious rooms enjoying some rest and relaxation as well as rerun of “West Wing.

MASSACHUSETTS

CAPE COD NATIONAL SEASHORE

Day 8 - We were up at 7 AM this morning and went at 7:30 to the little breakfast café here at the Wellfleet Motel. The eggs and raisin toast were good and fairly inexpensive. Sharon stayed in her room and ate from her own stash thrifty girl that she is. Then we were ready to find our ranger walk up at High Head at 9 AM.

Ranger Walter met us at the trail head and there were about 20 of us in all. His purpose he told was to introduce us to “dune mechanics” and to give some idea of the human history of the area and the impact our species has had on the action of the dunes. We walked over the parabolic dune area with our guide pointing out various types of vegetation. He explained the glacial history of Cape Cod by getting down on his knees in the sand and plowing up the ground in front of him to show us how the “mainland” was formed. Then he demonstrated the wind action on the dunes and how much of the “land” is really only blown sand constantly on the move.

We walked about two hours and about 2 miles, seeing low spots in the dunes where the vegetation is thicker and then higher places were only sparse grasses can survive. The water table is irregular here, depending on the rainfall amounts. Little forests of Bayberry can grow and thrive a few years when rainfall is plentiful only to dry up when there is insufficient rain.

Besides seeing all the vegetation and dune sculpting, Walter pointed out the life-saving campsite where there are few pieces of evidence of human habitation— charcoal pieces, concrete blocks, and metal shards. This system of sea rescue was the precursor of the Coast Guard. The men lived just back from the shoreline in the protected dune areas, with camps about two miles apart. Then during stormy weather, they would patrol their areas looking for ships in trouble or about to get into trouble.

Then they would run back to their bases and drag their

equipment out to the nearest shore to begin operations. The service was in use for about 20 years before becoming the Coast Guard. When the folks left their areas, they mostly burned their temporary huts and shelters and carried off anything that was worth anything. Therefore, there’s not too much left of the human presence here.

The Pilgrims attempted to manage the movement of the dunes because they could see that their lifeline, the Provincetown Harbor, was threatened by the constant flow of sand into that area of the Bay. They did manage to close off the Pilgrim Pond from direct communication with the Bay and thus greatly affected the flow of sand. So far, the Harbor has remained open to shipping. The bright blue sky above us and the informative Walter with us were testaments again to why we enjoy ranger walks. You really do learn a lot about the things about you that you would never know on your own.

When the walk was completed, we got back in the car and headed for Truro and some lunch. We found a neat spot called Moby Dick’ s— fresh seafood and other choices as well. The restaurant has an interesting history it was purchased by a family who needed to get employment for 4 teenagers. They bought the restaurant and educated the youngsters. All but one went on to other careers, but one son was involved and intrigued by the restaurant business. One day a lady came in for a clambake and left with a husband, a sandwich and a restaurant (or so the story goes).

MARCONI STATION

After a delicious lunch, we took Sharon back to the Motel for a little postprandial rest; Pat, Kay, and Lois went to the Marconi Station to see the place where the little Italian genius built his commercial wireless communication station. He had used three places to prove that the concept would work (Glace Lake, Nova Scotia, St. John, Newfoundland, and this place on Cape Cod). There is very little left of the station because the ocean has reclaimed the sand bluffs and most of the structures have either been removed or have fallen into the sea. There is a model of his station on the site. Apparently, the worst part of the commercial operation was the generation of the power necessary to launch the radio waves across the Atlantic. It produced a spark and sound that could be heard 4 miles away.

The bluffs over on this part of the National Seashore are mostly loose sand very susceptible to wind and water great erosive tools and really effective against the loose sand. Across the parking lot, we found the trailhead for the American White Cedar Swamp Trail and decided to walk the 1 ¼ miles. We saw only a squirrel and a blue jay in the way of critters, but we did see a wide variety of plants because of

the changes in the land and water table as we walked down into the cedar swamp. The sky overhead was a real beauty mackerel clouds in pure blue. We enjoyed the walk very much.

After picking Sharon back up, we went to Rob’s Subs and Cones and got an ice cream treat before going into exploration mode. We all wanted to see a beach on the Bay side, so we took off for Duck Harbor out of Wellfleet. First, we stopped at the city “mud flats” and watched some folks raking for quahog clams. They wear high boots, almost like hip boots, out on the flats and into the water where they use large rakes with buckets to scoop up the clams.

DUCK HARBOR

The beach at Duck Harbor was really different again from any others we have seen so far more stones, strange snails attached to the stones with seaweed hairdos stuck on them too. Some of them were triple-deckers with the stone, the snail and the seaweed atop that. There were obviously sandbars in the water because we watched a lady wade out to swim and she never got deep enough to do so. She actually kept getting into lower and lower water the farther out she waded. There was lovely light on the plants before we got onto the beach itself and we took a few “art shots.”

In Wellfleet itself, there was a conservation area which was reached by a wooden bridge over the mudflats so we decided to explore that little island as well. There was a nice path around the outside of the islet, but all we saw there were fiddler crabs and horseshoe crab shells. However, we did see some different plants and it was a good walk.

Then we drove over to Ocean Drive to see the private homes there and to try to catch glimpses of the Atlantic Beaches. We found a couple of beauties and enjoyed the wonderful light and sky which was getting more and more lovely. At one beach parking area, we came upon a man whose car battery had died so we helped him

out by giving him a charge. It worked wonderfully well and he was one happy person because he was not looking forward to waiting for AAA to get there in more than an hour, especially if he couldn’t tell them exactly where he was stranded. There was a most inviting sand path down to the beach with slippery reddish sand all the way down at a more favorable angle than we had seen before. I could not resist, so I had to run down the path sliding as I went flying faster and faster! It was such fun and reminded me of doing the dunes at Lake Superior. I toiled my way back up the path and ran down again feeling like I was flying. It was harder getting back up for sure, but it was well worth the struggle. I would have enjoyed flying down a few more times but the work of getting back up took too long!

Dinner was the last order of business for the day out so we stopped at The Rookies, a family restaurant near the Motel. It was Italian mostly but there was some seafood too. Mostly we ate Italian, though I had some inferior clam chowder and ordered too big a bowl of it too.

Then it was home to watch the first act of Survivor Thailand at 8 PM Showers come next and then beddies I think. What a terrific day! Such perfect weather is just a gift that can only be appreciated! We feel like we have explored this part of the Cape pretty completely and we have enjoyed it to the hilt!

Tomorrow starts the Scallop Festival and 50,000 people are expected to descend on the Cape for the weekend we are so glad that we have had our relatively uncrowded visit to this wonderful place.

PLYMOUTH

Day 9 - We enjoyed a Harrigan’s breakfast again before leaving South Wellfleet on our way to Boston and environs. We had saved the Audubon Sanctuary across the street from our motel to visit before we left but it turned out to be uninviting because of a large free per person. We figured we had really seen the same kinds of habitats and ecosystems anyway so we left without visiting.

Route 6A was our route off the Cape so that we could see all the little towns that are strung on that necklace of highway like quaint beads. The villages are all quite small and just like New England towns should be. Lots of little antique shops, boutiques, eateries and ice cream parlors in addition to the post offices and

churches. Some of these were on the water and others were more inland but all were lovely and we loved seeing them. We did not stop in any of them except to get gas and visit the bathrooms.

Sagamore Bridge carried us over the canal and onto the mainland on our way to Plymouth. We did stop here to visit Plymouth Rock and to view the replica of the Mayflower as well as the National Monument to the Forefathers and the Monument to the Pilgrim Mothers.

The Rock was engraved with 1620 in about 1888 and it is now house in a concrete gazebo just above the rock so that you look down on it. Like the Liberty Bell, it little matters if it was really even used by the Pilgrims since it is now a symbol for the beginning of the country.

Pat treated us to a specialty of the area: baked quahog. It was simply delicious. Everyone just uses their favorite dressing recipe and then cuts up the clams in little bits and adds them to the dressing. Then the whole thing is put back in the shell and popped into the oven for about 40 minutes before serving. A taste tidbit fit for a king!

It was time to leave Plymouth and move on towards Boston. We did a little “short-stopping” in South Weymouth so Pat could visit her 99-year-old Uncle Leo. He had just celebrated his birthday on September 13th!

He is an amazing fellow too. Does his gardening and even some lawn mowing. He’ s quite sharp and up on things. He says he has trouble remembering names but he seemed altogether with it to us. He really seemed to enjoy the visit too.

We had already learned that Pat’ s dad was still in Novy, so after leaving a note for her brother, we headed off for subs from Pat’s favorite place Santoro’s SubVilla! She’s right about that too because the “special” we got was fabulous. The meat is fresh and tasty, the bread just perfect with its crusty outside and soft insides, and that pepper dressing they use well, it just can ’t be beat!

Then we headed to her favorite ice cream parlor Richardson’ s Dairy Stores. Again, she was absolutely correct about the ice cream and the wonderful marshmallow topping! We didn’t even bother with supper because we were all toofull. We’regoing to eat our way thru New England.

The rest of the evening was spent getting together with members of Pat’ s family and visiting with them. They are all a great bunch even the ones who have only married into the family. We learned that fact when Kristen’s husband found us a wonderful motel room at the Marriott Residence and then used his “frequent traveler” points to pay for it! The best place we’ve had all through the trip so far. That was really kind of him and he even went and checked in for us! We probably were home to bed by about 10 PM.

SAUGUSAY

Day 10 - Today was a lazy day since we didn’t need to be up and out before 9:15 A.;

We needed to be back in Saugus at the Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site by 9:45 to join the Ranger tour there. We enjoyed the free breakfast at the Marriott and read awhile back in the room. Our most leisurely morning for sure.

We toured the little museum on the property and then joined our very young lady ranger. She gave a good, if somewhat desultory, tour of this first iron works in the New World. It was started around 1644 and continued operations until about 1668 when labor troubles and financial woes ended the business. The expertise came out of England and the workers were often indentured servants or Scottish prisoners of war during the English Civil War.

The ore was bog iron which was found on the bottoms of lakes and ponds and swamps (no longer because we do not leave anything undisturbed long enough anymore). The flux medium was gabbro which was found in Nehant not far away and the power to run the machinery was charcoal from all the trees in the area as well as water power from the Saugus River. It was an ingenious operation and once again human ingenuity is really amazing and even confounding. The site became part of the National Park Service in 1974. Extensive archaeological digs have revealed the foundations of the site as well as yielding many artifacts which helped explain the workings of the facility.

After this very satisfying tour, we went to Pat’s house to visit with her brother and dad. John gave us a very interesting talk about his astrophotography projects. He also introduced us to several terrific websites linking up with lots of interesting things like Hubbell telescope pictures, etc. He’ s very knowledgeable and talked over our heads quite a bit, but we understood enough to enjoy talking with him and seeing his photos which are really awe-inspiring.

He even showed us some pictures taken in the Hydrogen Alpha technique he’ s exploring of gas clouds and these were really frightening in the Biblical sense.

Later we took Edgar out to lunch and visited with him some more. He’s doing very well physically but he obviously is lonely and missing Betty. He spends as much time down in Nova Scotia as he can and probably would like to move there but there are too many complicating factors.

Saying goodbye to Edgar and John, we left Saugus around 2 PM to head for Maine. It doesn’t take any time to cross New Hampshire and enter the Pine State and we were there by 3 or so. We stopped in Freeport to do some LL Bean shopping and get a Ben & Jerry’ s ice cream. Everybody bought a little something or maybe a big something and then we left Freeport.

On the way further north, we decided that we did not need to visit Baxter State Park, do we have re- routed ourselves and are staying tonight in Bangor and will continue on to New Brunswick tomorrow on the way to PEI and Nova Scotia. Everybody is tired tonight!

CANADA - NEW BRUNSWICK,

Day 11 - Had our breakfast at the Burger King just down the street from our Motel (and every other patron looked like Stephen King to me, but then I guess I saw him all over Bangor) and got back on I- 95 to drive into New Brunswick. Took about 3 hours to get to the Canadian border and we first visited the Welcome Center and got lots of helpful ideas about exploring the Bay of Fundy area.

Stopped for lunch at an Irving Oil rest area where we ate at the Blue Canoe Restaurant. There we learned about two unfamiliar food items donairs and poutiness. The first is apparently a pizza-like food choice with donair meats (which we still do not have in our vocabularies). The other is a mound of French fries with a layer of cheese on top and then slathered with gravy. Yuck!

We had lost an hour on entering New Brunswick and we are now on Atlantic Standard Time. Kept on driving the rest of the afternoon and finally reached Sussex about 5 PM There we got into Fundy National Park and drove towards Alma where we hoped to find a place to stay. We really want to see both high and low tides here and Alma is supposed to be the best spot to do so.

The Alpine Motel turned out to be perfect for us inexpensive and right in the middle of things we want to do and see. So we took it for two nights and then started out to see the Bay and the Upper Salmon River at the lowest tides. Walked the beach and checked out the tide poles where the water depths are measured. Had an inferior cup of clam chowder at the restaurant across the street and then went out to see the water again. All the water is pretty much gone and the boats are definitely sitting on the bay bottom.

Made an abortive attempt to do the laundry tonight only to find the coin laundry closed for the night even though the sign said that it was open until 10 PM. The fellow at the hotel was obdurate about its staying closed and suggested that perhaps we could try again in the morning (though he also said that the

Laundromat is really closed for the season). On well, we will try again when it’ s convenient. But what a bummer! We had already gathered all the dirties together and hauled them out to the car, etc. We were not happy but he was totally inflexible and inured to our cries for sympathy.

There is no air conditioning in this little Alpine Motel, but we have opened the windows and everything seems to be cooling down, so hopefully we will all be able to sleep well tonight before we go exploring some more. All of us claim to have enough clean clothes to last another couple of days!

HOPEWELL ROCKS & BAY OF FUNDY

DAY 12 - We awoke to the sound of rain very early this morning and it continued off and on for a while. So Kay and Lois decided that getting up early was not necessary. Sharon and Pat couldn’t stand it anymore so they dressed and went outside looking for coffee or breakfast or something but all Alma was closed until 8 AM when one little coffee shop finally opened its doors to them. They sat and read in the car until that hour. Kay and Lois joined them shortly thereafter and everyone enjoyed an inexpensive and good morning repast.

FLOWER POT ROCKS

The morning destination was Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy these are the so-called Flower Pot Rocks which are completely out of the water at low tide and almost totally under water except for the tops at high tide. Some of them have fir and spruce trees growing out the tops, thus the flower pot image. All of them have seaweed at their feet, looking rather like the feathers on Clydesdale horse feet. It took about 40 minutes to arrive there and by then the weather had cleared beautifully and we had blue sky over our heads.

It costs $5.00 to enter the Flower Pot Rocks area and they have a very well done interpretive center to enjoy as well. However, since we were running a little late, we knew we would have very little time on the beach (“ walking on the ocean floor” as it is called there). So we went straight for the beach. The walk down is rather steep but there are stairs and gravel paths so it is fine. The final flight down to the beach is by steep and long metal stairs. The warning clock at the top of those stairs said we should be off the beach by 11:05 and it was already 10:30. The safety regulations say you can explore the ocean floor three hours before low tide and three hours after it. However, the lady ranger told us that the bay would fill along the far beach first and then reach the stairs area so we had a bit more time.

Down we went, eager to see this strange phenomenon! The beach was fairly wide with the tide out (high tide was predicted at 2:15 PM) and it was easy walking on the ocean bottom. There were large flat stones nearly buried in the sand like stepping stones and in between was a mixture of sand and gravel with some mud. The huge sandstone and limestone “ vases” were about 100 ft. high and the seaweed “feet” were about 3 ft. up the formation. Caves were present also since the sea is also eroding into the bluffs beyond the individual “ vases” which really are sections of the bluff which eroded off earlier in geologic time.

We got to see how rapidly the tide comes in by watching a narrow strip of sand between some rocks on shore and the waves coming from the Bay. It took less than 10 minutes for the little sandpath (about two feet wide) to be covered in water and impossible to walk without getting a shoe full of water. While we were down on the beach, a ranger explained about the lunar and solar influences on these huge tides. When the moon is new or ¾, it is in the right alignment with the sun so that 70 to 100% of the pull of gravity from each is exerted. When the moon is full or at ¼, the sun pits its 30% against the moon ’ s 70% so you get lower high tide

On our way back to the interpretive center, we stopped at a couple of other overlooks and were impressed with the beauty of the scenery as well as with the tidal show of the Bay of Fundy. The Center had a good display explaining the geology and the gravity pull on the Bay which caused these enormous tides. The formation of the Bay itself is also part of why these tides are huge: the mouth of the Bay is wide and deep while the top of Bay is narrow and shallow.

CAPE ENRAGED

The name of Cape Enraged really caught our fancy and we decided to visit the lighthouse there and try to figure out why it is called “enraged.” The way to the cape was on our way back to Alma anyway, so it was a good detour and also showed us different scenery than we had seen on the way to the Rocks. The way to the cape is steep and the road is not really well maintained but it was certainly easily passable. On our way, we passed a place we thought had a mordant sense of humor the Ha Ha Cemetery. We got out to see what was what and found that the words were an approximation of an Indian Name for a local lake. The Indians thought that word was onomatopoetic for the call of the loon. So the laugh was on us.

The Lighthouse on Cape Enraged has a wonderful site and though it is short, it still functions as both lighthouse and foghorn base. It was falling into disrepair in 1992 and the Coast Guard was giving thought to abandoning it totally, when 5 high school kids from the area decided to see what they could do about saving the light and the site it occupies.

By 1995 they had succeeded in getting the ground deeded over to an association they formed for its preservation and had re- interested the Coast Guard into continuing its functioning as well. The student group has grown to 25 and every summer they come and work the place. There is a restaurant and a gift shop on the property and they are currently building an interpretive center for the site. However, the Coast Guard will not allow them to do anything with the lighthouse itself not externally or internally not even paint.

The drive back to Alma was lovely and we got many good views of the Bay and its surroundings especially some of the marshy ground that is invaded by high tide. By the time we returned to little Alma, the Bay was at its point of highest tide for today. We were amazed to see the beach we had walked on yesterday completely covered with water and all the boats floating gaily (& highly) at their docks. The Upper Salmon River mouth we had seen as almost entirely mudflats yesterday was at full flood now. A dramatic demonstration of those tides again.

We got an ice cream and called it lunch and then got ready to explore part of Fundy National Park. Visited the Ranger Station first for a map on how best to see some of the park and take some hikes and got a couple of goodies while there. Bought a book on the Bay for Uncle Tom and hope I can mail it to him tomorrow. Also, we got a chance to get acquainted with another New Brunswickian food favorite dulse. Lois bought a bag so all could give it a try. It is dried seaweed and it is truly inedible and awful! No one else was even encouraged to try it after Lois took a big chew (she had to spit it out it was so intolerable).

Anyhow, then we headed out to the first of our projected walks to Dickson Waterfall. It was a lovely walk though a rainforest environment and the falls was pretty indeed, though very narrow and about 15-20 feet high. The walk consisted of paths and steps. Unfortunately, it also contained rain drops for the sky had clouded over and we were pretty soaked by the time we got back to the car. Drove back to town and decided to try the laundry again if the Laundromat were open and it was. So we gathered up all the dirty clothes and Sharon & Pat took about 2 hours to do it while Kay and Lois went back to the motel to read for a bit. The rains continued to fall pretty heavily but the ladies were successful in getting everything back inside without getting all the clean, dried, warm clothes back inside.

By then it was getting late and we were all hungry for supper, so we went over to the Parkland Hotel for a more “ elegant” meal. Three of us had roast turkey and dressing (Sharon had fish and chips) and it was pretty good— much better than last night’s only acceptable dinner.

We had a call from Betsy while we were dining, so we tried to call her back but neither of the cell phones could handle it. So Kay and Lois found a pay phone and called her collect to get the messages and try again to help her “fix” her computer. Now everyone is back and ready for reading, showers and beddies.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND (PEI)

Day 13 - The tide was out again this morning as we got ourselves together to leave lovely Alma. We had been in bed about 10 hours so we certainly should have been rested enough. Pat and Sharon went over to the little coffee shop across the street to have breakfast and Lois got her package ready tomail to Uncle Tom inTexas. The P.O. had the perfect “ puffy” envelope to send the booklet and the rock on to him by first class as Pat said, it will probably be there in about 8 weeks if everything goes well.

It was still rainy and cloudy as we drove out of town towards Moncton, NB. The road between Alma and Hopewell Rocks was the same as we had done before but then we entered into new territory. Moncton is a nice city, clean and comfortable, with a population about 35,000 people. We were searching for Magnetic Hill, a Spook Hill-type phenomenon, that Pat remembered from her childhood. After some wrong turns, we got to the attraction ( they charge $3.00 per car Canadian) and followed the directions to see the strange happening. The car really does look like it is backing up the hill you have just driven down. Actually, it’s much more dramatic than at Spook Hill!

CONFEDERATION BRIDGE

Leaving Moncton, we aimed the car toward the PEI bridge from NB. The part of NB that borders the bridge area looks just like the rest of the province that we had already seen. We went along the Bay of Fundy for a long while before it petered out in tiny little fingers, inlets, and coves. The Confederation Bridge is 9 miles long and takes about 12 minutes to drive across the Northumberland Strait. It costs nothing to cross onto the PEIprovince, but $37.75 (Canadian) to cross back over.

At the Info Center we ran across a young couple with a baby who had driven all the way from Buenos Aires and were headed to Alaska. They have been on the road for 2 ½ years and had the baby in North Carolina. They are driving an old (75 years old) Graham automobile with spoke wheels and strange tires. They said the car has performed wonderfully and that they have gotten excellent help from mechanics who are so intrigued bythe car all along the way.

We stopped at a tourist information stop and picked up some brochures telling us what to do on PEI. We elected to take a couple of scenic drives this evening since we had only a few hours of daylight left. The Western Region is our first target for exploration and we are staying out in the country near the little town of O’Leary

where the biggest attraction is the potato museum with its giant sculptured potato statue. We got lots of laughs over that possibility, but we will probably go tomorrow. There certainly are plenty of potato fields on this end of the island so it is probably their most important product.

TIGNISH

Tignish was as high as we got on the North Cape this evening. We stopped at a couple of huge churches (Catholic) with naves capable of seating more people than their respective towns now hold! At some point in the past, these little country towns must have been much more heavily populated. The Acadians were the original pioneers in this area and the churches are French in spirit and language. The PEI countryside is much more prosperous-looking than NB’ s. The houses are neater and newer (probably modular homes, but ) and the yards and lawns are kept amazingly well with lots of flowers and other charming decorative touches.

Cousin’s Restaurant in Tignish was our supper site, and it was just okay, but cheap! We got gas on the way back to Lewis Motel and it was cheaper than the gas we bought in Alma, NB. We did feel like we had gone full circle when we arrived in Alma, PEI this evening as well.

NORTH CAPE

Day 14 - How the weather had changed for the better this morning! We had cloudless blue skies and coolish temperatures all day. Most of the time we could run around in our shirt sleeves but down near the water or later in the afternoon a jacket felt pretty good. The light on this island is truly luminous and it’ s excellent all day for picture-taking as well. We really had no “flat light” time. And our sunset was gorgeous red and brilliant with blues and aquas near the ground and the trees making stark silhouettes against the red sky.

WIND FARM & LIGHTHOUSE

However, we started the day by heading up to North Cape to see the Wind Farm and the lighthouse. The drive took us back through Tignish and on to the northernmost point in PEI. There were at least 10 windmills though not all of them were twirling at the time we arrived.

According to the materials we read, the Farm supplies 3% of PEI’ s power need at present. There was also a nature trail (Black Marsh) which we walked as far as we could follow it.

The coast along this section is similar to the coasts all along this wonderful island province 15-30 ft. red bluffs with shaly erosions dropping rocks of various sizes down on the beaches. The trees along the coast are banner trees to the max many appear to be unable to withstand the winds, spray and perhaps salt water intrusions. There are still many wildflowers blooming even though they are of one or two species only.

When we came back around to the coast near the lighthouse, we walked over and saw the two-mile long rock reef which separates the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Atlantic Ocean (longest in the world according to the factoids we have read hereabouts). It was fascinating to watch the waves from each side meeting each other over the shallow reef. There were birds appearing to walk on water at the end of the reef nearest the shore and out from the shore, we saw many seal heads popping up in the waters. We have no idea what kind they were but they were big.

The beaches in this area were littered with seawrack (probably Irish Moss which is a type of seaweed harvested here for commercial use as a carrageenan source) and many open mussel shells as well as other little creatures such as snails, crabs, and the like. The rocks are rounded and smooth and usually red though there are some grayish-greens and bluish greens. There were so many little boats bobbing about and busily hastening over the waters that it was hard to count them. Lots of fishing and lobstering going on around here.

We looked in at the little gift shop and used their facilities but decided that we understood enough about the wind farm that we did not need to pay to go into their interpretive center. So, we left North Cape and headed back towards Charlottetown. After reading about the different sections of the island, we decided to visit what they call “ Anne’ s Land” after the Anne of Green Gables stories. This took us up on the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the PEI National Park.

GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE &PEI

NATIONAL PARK

Here we were all enthralled at the beauty of the little towns and the individual properties in them. All the houses are neat and tidy and yards immaculately trimmed and landscaped. Even around the working wharf areas, everything really is shipshape. In this part of the island, the appearance is more lush as well since there are more trees and more different kinds— and they do not look so windbattered as the poor fir & spruce on the North Cape area. There are many inlets and lakes and picturesque little coves to see in Anne’s Land and each one is prettier than the last.

Apparently, dealing with lobsters, potatoes, mussels and tourists is giving these folks a decent living, even if they are being taxed quite onerously. We stopped for lunch at a little spot with picnic tables with umbrellas and talked a bit with the owner who said she and her husband work with all 4 of the islands “products.” She told us that the easiest is the mussels because all they have to do is pickup the spats (embryonic mussels) when they hatch and float on the surface of the Gulf. Then they place them in “sacks” and farm them by letting the Gulf feed them with its waters as they waft through the sacks. The mussels are mature and ready to harvest at 18 months. Then they just go out and pull up the sacks filled with their produce.

We already knew that lobstering was much more difficult! She told us that potato farming is not too labor-intensive, but it is quite dependent on the weather. Too little rain and you get no crop; too much and your crop rots in the beds before it’s ready to harvest. She said the main problem with potatoes is their susceptibility to so many bugs, fungi, and parasites. So they have to be sprayed periodically through the summer to fight off these “predators.”

Our walks on the St. Lawrence shore beaches were really lovely in every way delightful weather and wonderful scenery to look at. The bluffs are impressive and though the beaches aren’t terrific for “fossicking ”, they are nonetheless very intriguing because of all the different kinds of seaweeds and tiny shellfish and snail critters.

We were thrilled and delighted to see a large and healthy looking red fox crossing the road while we were driving between two different entrances to the National

Park. He ran across the road and hid in the bushes on the side while he waited for us to leave. He peeked out at us so we got several good photo ops at him. Finally he ran across the road and we got another very good look at him. He was a large fellow with tall thin legs, red hair and a white tip on his very bushy tail. He seemed like the biggest fox any of us had ever seen.

CHARLOTTETOWN

After we had explored the national park to our satisfaction, we drove down to the capital city, Charlottetown. It is a neat little city with some venerable Victorian architecture retained. Its large basilica, St. Dunstan ’ s, was very impressive with its three spires and fan vaulting inside with marble columns. There is a rose window (from Germany) over the altar, but the other stained glass is modern with modern people figuring in the pictures. They are quite nice, actually. We were amazed that we were able to hear the organ playing as well although it was not a concert I think the organist was either practicing or just filling the afternoon hours with some meditative little tunes like Amazing Grace and The Old Rugged Cross and a snippet of Ode of Joy.

Next, we drove down east along the Northumberland Strait coast to see if it looked any different but it did not. Everything was still neat and pretty, with farms and cows on green pastures right down to the coast. The potato fields were everywhere in evidence here too. They are supposed to be harvesting right now and the fields looked totally burned: they apply a chemical before harvesting which kills the tops of the plants. Apparently, that makes the harvest go much easier.

We found a little motel, cottage affair on the road between Eldon and the ferry to Nova Scotia where we will be heading tomorrow. We plan to take the ferry since it cuts off 100 kms. and saves on gas: it’ s just a little more expensive than going back over the Confederation Bridge. Rachel’s place is basic but clean and it even has two chairs to sit in besides just beds. We had supper at Knox’ s Restaurant down the road about 5 kms. It is another of those places that tries to cover all the tourist needs in one place: it sells gas, groceries, gifts, and offers the restaurant as well as a Laundromat. The PEI folks are really industrious.

Guess we don’t have to worry about Lyme disease on PEI because we learned tonight that there are no deer here. However, the newspaper reported to us that they are expecting West Nile virus to appear here in the fall. We were also told that

there is no rabies on PEI and never has been. What an idyllic little province! And what do we read in the Charlottetown newspaper tonight about an alligator attack in Gainesville! We never seem to hear about these incidents except when we are in a foreign country! And what other irony is bearing down upon us?! We might be getting the effects of Isadore, the hurricane that ravaged Cuba and then hit the Yucatan, smashed into Texas and is now running up through the US to reach Nova Scotia on its way out to sea! Who could believe this would happen we left Florida (Land of the Hurricane) and run into one here in Maritime Canada.

NOVASCOTIA

Day 15 - Another perfectly marvelous day. We left PEI on the NFL Ferry at 8:30 AM We arrived on time by accident actually, but it turned out to be just right. The Northumberland Strait was calm and the sky was lovely and blue with no clouds. Very little breeze too. So we had a wonderful breakfast for a cheap price and were in Pictou, NS, in 75 minutes. We also broke my cardinal rule and got some Cow’ s Ice Cream on board. We had read about it in PEI but never found a store. So we had ice cream about 9:30 AM. It really was quite delicious too!

As we got off the ferry, we turned east and started up the west side of NS to reach the Cabot Trail and Cape Breton Highlands National Park. This island looks totally different from PEI much more forested, higher hills (even mountains), less fussy lawns, but still neat as pins. We did not see potatoes growing, but there is obviously agriculture going on here. Along the coast where we were driving, it seemed that cattle, sheep, and fishing were the most prevalent businesses besides tourism.

The drive was along a rather rough two-lane highway with several places where construction was proceeding on the roads. But the distances are not long, so we moved along very well anyhow. We stopped in Inverness for lunch at a surprising little spot called the Casual Gourmet. It was a bit off the highway, and small, but it had a terrific view of the ocean. The food was delicious with a slightly Middle Eastern touch. The desserts were super.

CAPE

BRETON

HIGHLANDS NATIONAL PARK

We kept on driving east and north and finally reached the National Park. We stopped at the Visitors Center and talked with a cute Acadian lady ranger. She told us that we definitely wanted to do the Skyline Trail today since the weather is so spectacular. Her advice was to take the hike and then go on to Pleasant Bay for a place to spend the night. She advised against trying to do the Bog Trail or Benjie’s Lake trail at this time. So, being the great respecters of rangers that we are, we took her advice and went straight to the trailhead for Skyline.

And what an excellent piece of advice that turned out to be. She had told us that we did not need hiking boots because the trail is so very well maintained and is basically flat too. We jumped out of the car and made for the trailhead immediately. We had walked about 6 minutes when we had some second thoughts about whether we were on the right part of the trail. However, fortunately, we met some folks coming towards us and they assured us that we were correct and that we would not be able to miss the sharp left turn we were watching for. At that time we were walking along a log road and knew we were not supposed to be on that very long.

Sure enough, very shortly we saw the turn and took it. What a lovely walk too. We went through a damp environment with wonderful ferns which were already turning fall colors.

The odors along our way were so sweet and tangy with fir scent that we were all pleased with that sensual delight too. We were also obviously walking along between short fir forests with alders around. The ranger had told us that we would also be seeing little “ghost forests” of snags because the moose strip the plants of everything that is edible for them. And we certainly did walk through long stretches of those little white skeletons. We had not walked too far on this part of the hike when we saw a moose in the thicker firs on our left hand side. We could not see her too clearly because of the density of the trees and shrubs, but we certainly did see her.

We kept on walking towards the coast and soon we came upon a mother and baby moose sitting out in the open on the left side of the boardwalk too. We were only about 20 feet away from the animals and they were very peacefully chewing their cuds and showed no real interest in us either.

They certainly were not unaware of our presence but they didn’t seem to care as long as we stayed in our spaces on the paths. We then came to an overlook which showed us how high the trail rides about the highway we had come in on. We could also catch our first looks at the Gulf of St. Lawrence which was our real goal.

A little more walking brought us to the boardwalk which took us down to the magnificent overlooks we were afforded. The coast was so lovely, spread out before our eyes. The bluff on which we stood must have been about 1000 ft. above the ocean waters which stretched out far into the horizon.

The waters were so many different shades of blue and there were patterns in the water than made us think we were looking at the sky rather than the ocean. The boardwalk proceeds down the slope, stopping at little platforms with benches inviting us to stop, gasp and enjoy the ethereal views. Out on the water at the horizon line, the sun made the water look like shining silver. The bluffs above the water were more windswept than the terrain we had hiked through and looked like tundra vegetation (which the Park Service is trying to restore to health by preventing any walking on the fragile plants).

We talked with a young couple from Halifax on their honeymoon; they had gone on a whale-watching trip earlier in the day and highly recommended it. They were surrounded by at least 50 pilot whales as well as dolphins and they thoroughly enjoyed the experience. When we turned to begin walking back, we saw that a black bear was on our pathway!

He was busily eating blueberries along the slope but he was quite aware of us. The couple went on by him and he ran a bit off the path area and continuing watching us carefully. At one point he came along the boardwalk towards us and that backed all of us up just a little.

Then we took a couple of deep breaths and started by him too. He was about 40 feet off the boardwalk by this time and took little notice of us. We were madly taking pictures and saw him peek around the little trees again at us, but he did not follow us or charge up the boardwalk again. What a thrill that was to see him so close up and personal. But we were aware of the possible dangers as well! Then, just to keep us grateful, as we walked on further towards the car, there were a mother and young adolescent calf standing on our left side not too far away either probably about 10 or 20 feet. What an amazing hike, all in all! I think we are all pretty impressed with this park.

Getting back to the car, we drove on towards Pleasant Bay to spend the night. We found the Mountain View Motel and Restaurant and decided that it would do us just fine even though it was twice as expensive as Rachel’ s where we stayed last night. The little restaurant connected with the motel was good and cheap too. Now we are in our room enjoying a little TV and trying to figure out what kind of weather we can expect tomorrow what with Isadore’s path to consider. Nova Scotia is really beautiful up here in Cape Breton Island!

WHALE WATCHING

Day 16 - Woke up this morning not knowing what kind of weather to expect, but we were hoping for the best clear skies, warm breezes and brilliant sunshine. There were more clouds than usual but everything boded well anyhow. After breakfast at the Mountain View Restaurant, we went down to Pleasant Bay’s little harbor to book a whale- watching trip with Captain Mark. The seas looked very calm and it was not very cold, but we still bundled up a bit (too much as it turned out).

The little boat was to sail at 9:30 so we hung about with the other 5 passengers until the Captain and his young first mate, Rebecca who looked all of 15, brought it over to our side of the harbor. He had been filling his gas tanks across the water. His boat, the Double Hook, would have held many more than we few, but that made our cruise that much nicer.

The waters were a little sloshy with 3-4 ft. waves so all was well, even with Kay who had eaten her breakfast thinking that we would not be going out until around 11 AM The Captain did not have to take us very far out from shore when we began to see the hooked dorsal fins and black backs of the pilot whales around us. Their flukes are smaller than we expected, but then the pilot whales are much smaller than the humpbacks we had seen earlier in Alaska. These little guys do not spout either, though they do flush out their blow-holes as they surface.

Pilot whales live in family units and the young never leave their family pod. Interestingly enough, when mating time comes (about once in 4 years), the family pods get together and the males mate with females from pods different from their own. Thus, the gene pool stays richer than it would otherwise. The males take no part in the raising of the calves who swim with their mothers about 2-3 years learning the whale ropes. These whales do a lot of “porposising” rather than actual breeching as we saw the humpbacks do. But they were fun to watch because they came fairly close to the boat and acted curious about us as we were about them.

Mark told us that he has a lady scientist studying the whales in the Pleasant Bay area all summer with him. She comes from Dalhousie University and has been teaching him much about the cetaceans as well. At her urging he bought an underwater microphone so that she could study their vocalizations as well. We were the beneficiaries of that request as well because he put it overboard for us to hear the pilots “talking” with one another. They squeak, click, squeal and sing to each other delightfully and we greatly enjoyed eavesdropping on them.

We were a bit disappointed not to see the Atlantic white-sided dolphin which is often seen in these waters, but the day was so beautiful and the seas so kind that we were not actively dismayed. It was a lovely day on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Captain Mark is a fisherman during the lobstering season and he told us about winters in this area. Apparently, there is not a lot of snow, but the winds are ferocious and the waters of the Gulf do freeze into pack ice thick enough for a man to stand on. There is great danger there however because the pack ice moves and floats away from shore stranding people. There are deaths from such foolhardiness when the ice floe a person is stranded on does not return to shore soon enough to keep the person from dying of exposure or starvation. Because the winds came to the land across the ice, they are usually quite cold and amazingly strong often in gusts of 150 to 175 mph!

We left the Double Hook in a good frame of mind and were so pleased to see that the skies were not closing in and we were still enjoying a beautiful day. We drove up to Bay St. Lawrence and Meat Cove (which Lois persisted in calling Meat Loaf) and were again thrilled by the beauty of the Cape Breton Coast. Such panoramas unfolded before us that we were gasping and exclaiming every second. The little fishing villages are so picturesque tucked into these magnificent settings.

MEAT("LOAF") COVE

Meat (“Loaf”) Cove calls itself the Northernmost City of Nova Scotia and it is very remote. About 40 people live there and we were stupefied to find a community welcome center there with internet access! We ran in and checked our messages and sent out notes to everyone on our lists. The two ladies who formed the “welcoming committee” were lifelong residents of this tiny village that in itself was incredible. They had unusual (to us) accents and we had to listen carefully to understand them fully. One lady appeared to be in her late 60s and the other looked to be in her late 40s or early 50s. We had trouble even imagining what it would be like to live in such an isolated place with only 40 people for neighbors and friends

All the coasts as we drove to and from the exposed capes and coves of this part of the Cape Breton Island, we saw eagles and whales out in the waters of the Gulf. All told today, we must have seen about 40 pilots whales, 10 eagles, and Pat and Kay even saw a fin whale way out near the horizon, spouting and breeching (they knew it was a fin because Mark had shown us the difference in the spouts that local whales produce and what they saw exactly conformed to his picture of fin whale spouting)

Each of the little fishing villages bespoke the difficult lives of the people who choose to inhabit such remote places. Lobstering is hard, cold and dangerous work so is the tuna fishing that also takes the men out to sea. But despite the dangers and discomforts, the little towns look quaint and well-loved and lived in. We enjoyed seeing each of them Capstick, Sugar Loaf, Neils Landing, Ingonish, Bay St. Lawrence.

CAPE NORTH -INGONISH

We had lunch in Cape North at Morrison’ s Restaurant which is a family owned business for three generations. The building had also served as a general store, a post office, a telegraphy station, and hotel in the past incarnations. We had a delicious lunch there Scotch collops a tasty cross between Cornish pasties and shepherd’s pie. We were also offered a Caesar salad with that dish. We believe that the grand-daughter who is the current owner was also our waitress.

Everywhere we went today, we asked folks about the weather forecasts and without exception all of them told us it was going to be really ugly tomorrow, probably starting tonight. Isadore is supposed to dump lots of rain and plenty of winds on Nova Scotia as it leaves the US mainland. So we decided to find a comfy spot to stay a couple of days where we could enjoy being cooped up in the bad weather. And find such a commodious nest we did now we just need the rainy weather! We are staying in a housekeeping cottage with three bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, TV, big bathroom, and living room. And this whole package, this Ritz Carlton, is costing us only $60.00 a night (American) in Ingonish on the Cabot Trail and within the National Park.

Instead of going out for supper, we had grilled cheese sandwiches and soup tonight around the convenient kitchen table in our own little cottage for a couple of nights. Now we just want it to rain and rain hard tonight and tomorrow (that way we can get some much needed down time). Another super Cape Breton Day!

Day 17 - We all slept so comfortably last night that we actually “slept in” til 7:15 AM. However, none of us could remember hearing much, if any , rain or wind during the night. There were lots of puddles around and the porch furniture was soaking wet too. As we dressed and ate breakfast, the mists and rains came and the clouds moved in over the hills behind Ingonish. By the time we were ready to get out and try some hiking, the rains were falling almost horizontally and the clouds and fog had completely obscured the capes, headlands and hills. So we got our leisurely morning after all.

Everybody did their own thing reading, doing crosswords, napping, showering and washing hair. It was some much needed downtime for all. Around noon, the sky suddenly cleared and the rains stopped. Even more surprisingly, the breezes

were warm and the temps were in the 70s. Quickly, we fixed our soup and sandwich lunch here at the Taj Mahal and were out on the road in search of a good trail to hike.

We found Broad Cove Mountain Trail only a couple of miles from the cottage and we got out the sticks and started up the mountainside where we were promised splendid panoramic views of Atlantic seascapes, headlands and coves. The hike was about 2 miles and much of it was “uphill” but it was gentle for the most part. We delighted in the damp surroundings with all the various mushrooms, ferns, turning leaves on the understory shrubs. Every stop up took us nearer to the lookout point and we did get some tantalizing views between the trees in places where vegetation was sparser. The blue sky shone overhead and we marched on, anticipating our visual reward.

BROAD COVE MOUNTAIN TRAIL -INGONISH

When we reached the top of the hill (it really is a bit much to call it a mountain), we were treated to a real panorama as promised. The sea was a lovely pattern of colors of blue and green with white caps offering some variation and patterns. The capes and headlands were that wonderful pink and granite grey and the view seemed to stretch out forever. We could see the campground and little Dino’s Deli from the top and we finally made out the pier that extends out from the street our cottage is on. The surprise was that we saw the kind of rain that dissipates before hitting the ground on the hillsides around us. We felt a couple of drops and figured that it would start making its way to the ground before we could get off the top, so we put on our rain gear to prepare for the hike back down.

All the way down, we only felt occasional misting, but no real rain. However, the rains kept the air clean and cool too. So we enjoyed the hike down tremendously as well. We met a little family on the way as we went down. The daughter was a young girl about 21 or so, dragging her mother and dad on up the hillside. The mom didn’t look any too pleased about the whole enterprise and kept asking us if the hike “ was worth it.” We assured her it was and that she was about halfway

there already. So they continued on the way up hope she doesn’t hate us when she gets there. We really did think the hike was worth the view.

Next, we ran up the road towards Neils Harbor to check on the coast trail there to see if we could get some beach walking in. Well, that didn’t work out but we did find a lovely trail that afforded really wonderful views of the coast, the waves flushing through the tight little inlets and coves, the low mountains on the other side of the roadway. There were several “lookoffs” as they call them in these parts and we looked off each one to our great delight. The air was so bracing and exhilarating out on those open headlands!

Then we came home, made our spaghetti dinner and hurried out to get Sharon to church and Lois and Kay to the Laundromat to take their turn at doing the “pound laundry.” Sharon was back much sooner to pick us up that was possible for her to have been in church but she explained that there was a note on the church door notifying everyone that the 6:30 PM Saturday mass was cancelled due to the priest’s needing to be with his father to celebrate his 82nd birthday. He couldn’t find a replacement so he just cancelled it. There will be one tomorrow night at 6:30 PM so maybe Sharon will be able to attend that one. We’ll make every effort to see that she can.

We have decided to stay another night in this wonderful cottage because we have the time and we are enjoying it so much. Plus, there are a few more hikes in the area that we would like to do before leaving Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We checked with the proprietor (he says he’s really a fisherman but that he has been left in charge right now because his wife is in Toronto attending a wedding) and he said we could have this place Sunday night as well.

FRANEY MOUNTAIN TRAIL -INGONISHDAY

Day 18 - The sun shining softly but brightly into our windows woke us up to another glorious Cape Breton day! All of us slept extra well again last night and we are reluctant to say good bye to this wonderful cottage. Breakfast was ham and eggs again this morning and after a phone call to Kathy to learn about hers and Johnny’s doctor visits on Wednesday, Kay, Lois and Pat headed out for a morning hike up Franey Mountain.

The brochure told us that the hike would take us up 366 meters in “just 3 kms.” so we knew it would be a puffer hike. But we wanted those panoramic views of the ocean and the forested canyons too.

The trailhead was only 4-5 miles down the road from our cottage and it was easy to locate. We started up about 9:50 AM and made good time up the pretty steep and steady trail. There were lots of rocky spots and we were all glad that we had decided to use both sticks today. They really do help with the uphills and also with the balance going up and down the steep places.

There were many mushrooms of all different colors on the trail and we saw one attached to a tree that was new and amazing in coloration and appearance. It was blazing orange and rather ruffly on its edges. There were many ferns and mosses on the trail as well and the fir trees were aromatic and friendly. We could see much evidence of moose on the trail as well but we never saw any live critters— other than a couple of chatty but grumpy squirrels (tiny too) and a couple of birds we would not identify. The hike was challenging but not really bad.

Once at the top, we did get the reward wonderful panorama of sea and forested canyons as advertised. We had started the hike like we were planning to scale Everest, but as we climbed we divested ourselves of more and more of our clothing, until we were in our shirtsleeves.

On the summit of Mt. Franey, however, we began putting all our jackets back on. The wind was strong and there was definitely a hint of winter in the gusts.

We saw that the top had once had some structures on it which now left only their foundations and some support concrete blocks. However, there is still a potty and a little house which must be there for folks who get trapped on top and need to take shelter from wind, rain, cold, snow, whatever. There were several sheets of paper on a table in the hut with children’ s ’ comments on them. One little fellow had written that “this was the worst hike I have ever taken in my entire life!” He must have been all 8 years old.

Since we had no picnic lunch to eat at the summit, we started down the route indicated on the sign at the top. This was literally an old road though we found it hard to believe that some vehicles actually made it up the rocky, treacherous boulder field. It was easier than the way up but also longer. We no longer saw moose scat so it was not as interesting either. And of course the hike lasted longer than we wanted it to. We finally came upon a locked gate which we walked around and were disappointed to see was not at the end of the hike. However it was only a little further on and we found the car in the parking place we had left it. We were all glad to be back at about 1 PM.

MIDDLE HEAD HIKE -INGONISH

We came roaring back into Ingonish to stop at the Fresh market for lunch and dinner food. Got ham for lunch sandwiches and chicken stew (No Name Brand) for supper. Also got a couple of tomatoes for the meals. Then we rushed home to find Sharon had been sleeping and was not worried about our late arrival. Lunch was delicious since we added potato chips to the sandwiches.

Then we took Sharon with us and headed for the Middle Head hike. It was along a finger of land sticking out into the Atlantic, ending in sea stacks. It took about two hours round trip and afforded some wonderful views of the ocean and the settlements along the shorelines opposite Middle Head, including our own Ingonish and this comfortable “home away from home.” The hike was not hard but there was a lot of upping and downing so we enjoyed the view at the end. We were treated to a lone pilot whale frolicking in the Atlantic near the sea stacks.

FRESHWATER LAKE HIKE - INGONISH

Our final hike was around Freshwater Lake where we were hoping to see muskrats and beavers. The hike was really just a walk since the trail was wheelchair accessible! We never saw any muskrats and though we did see a beaver lodge and some evidence of beaver tree-felling, we saw no beavers in the flesh. On our way back we did see a lone loon on the lake though and that was cool.

Ingonish Beach was very interesting itself (the freshwater lake is just across a spit of land from that beach) because of all the cobblestones piled up along the shore. The waves crashed and thundered on the beach even when they didn’t look very

violent or high, but the beach above the high tide line was littered with thousands of these cobblestones of various sizes from about 6 inches to an inch or so all very smooth and rounded. A sign told us that they had NOT been brought there by humans though it certainly looked that way. Rather, the powerful Atlantic brings them in and deposits them there over the years and centuries. Very peculiar indeed.

The rains drove us back to the car from the beach just before they fell in earnest and we avoided getting really wet. We saw heavy rains falling on the ocean and even a rainbow out over the sea. There was a heavy dark rainfilled cloud over our heads but it was left behind by thetime we got back to our cottage.

Our chicken stew supper was delicious and now everyone is getting ready to leave our nest tomorrow. We are showering, packing, watching TV, typing diaries, etc. We will probably hit the hay early so that we can begin our trip to Louisburg tomorrow well rested and ready for this “ largest reconstruction project in North America.” More about that tomorrow!

CAPE BRETON ISLAND

Day 19 - A lovely last day in September in Cape Breton Island how we hated to leave our nest on the coast. But we had calculated our time and when we are supposed to be in certain places and knew it was time to leave. So as the sun shone bravely, we packed up the car and paid our gentleman host the princely sum of $186.00 American (of which $36.00 should come back to us since it is taxes). He took a personal check and told us that he and his father had been running this business for over 40 years and have never lost by trusting their guests except once and that was for only $16.00. So he trusted my honest face as well.

FORTRESS OF LOUISBOURG

Our goal today was the Fortress of Louisbourg and what a wonderfully interesting place it turned out to be. The city was once the 4th largest port in North America (after New York, Boston and Charleston) and it is the site of the 1st lighthouse in Canada (2nd in North America, after the 1st on Cape Cod). We had a lovely drive down to this site over the Cape Smokey Mountain which was really a spectacular drive. The ocean views were staggering and the road was so twistyturny that it was hard to imagine how it had ever been built. When we reached the St. Anne River, we had a little surprise and a delight we had to use a tiny car ferry to cross the last ¼ mile (after an apparently natural causeway had taken us the majority of the way). The cost was $5.00 per car and the ride couldn’t have taken more than 5 minutes, if that. The tiny ferry carried probably no more than 15 cars, but we were only two at our crossing.

Louisbourg is a reconstructed French city, the largest reconstruction in Canada and probably in North America. The aim of the archaeologists, historians, and interested citizens was the recreate the city as it was in 1744. Using the foundations and artifacts recovered in the digs, not mention thousands of written records, drawings, and maps in France, Britain, the USA, Spain, and the Vatican, the builders carefully rebuilt the homes, government buildings, barracks, taverns, stores, Kings Bastion, walls, gates, and embrasures as they would have been in 1744.

The city was extremely prosperous due to the demand for salted cod in France in that country then French Catholics ate no meat on Fridays or Saturdays and of course during Lent. Therefore, fish for 19 million people was a steady necessity. The 2000 people who lived in Louisbourg year-round and the 7000 who lived there during summer months worked hard to supply that need. Some became fairly wealthy, many made more money than they could ever hope to make at home in France, and even the poor probably led better lives than they could have at home. Therefore, soldiering in Louisbourg attracted many a young man and others joined theseasonal trades, going home in winter.

The history of Louisbourg is not really a happy one though because it was a prize and a pawn in the giant chess games played between the French and English kings. All during the 1700s, wars were practically continuous between these greedy and envious royals (only 2 years were completely peaceful during the whole century). The majority of these wars were based in Europe with only sideshows taking place in the colonies (except for the 7 years war or French & Indian War as it is known in North America) but the treaties that ended these

different conflicts (War of Spanish Succession, War of Austrian Succession, et al) completely changed the history and destiny of towns in the colonies, not least in Louisbourg which changed hands at least 4 times.

Sometimes the French were given control of their lands in New France and sometimes the ownership was taken from them. At those times when the British gained sovereignty over the colonies of New France, many Acadians (colonists of French descent) were deported sent back to France or to other territories around the globe. These expulsions were so thorough finally that today there are no descendants of these people living in this area.

Most often, when the British made frontal assaults on Louisbourg, they did it through laying siege to the walled and fortified city. No city can last longer than 37 or 38 days when under siege, unless the populace is relieved through outside help. Louisbourg was no exception at either the first or second British siege. After the British had captured Louisbourg in 1749 (after the 2nd siege), British prime minister William Pitt ordered it destroyed so that it could never again be a thorn in the side of the British Empire. Therefore, the buildings were razed, the stonework torn down and often sent as far away as Charleston. Nothing remained above

ground on the site for 200 years gradually even the foundations of the buildings, walls and fortifications were buried under the sands of time as well as the encroaching ocean which claimed several meters of Louisbourg land. When historical and archeological interest in the site was first piqued in 1937 (the site was then designated a National Historic Site), several important roads, walls & building foundations were actually under the ocean. These lands had to be reclaimed in order to rebuild Louisbourg in its exact location in 1744.

Today, the site is amazingly graphic and the reproductions of the structures are excellent and fascinating. The interpreters on site wear costumes specific to those important years (1744-45) and try to “stay in character” when interacting with visitors. Other folks take groups around on guided tours explaining the history, sociology, and commerce of the town. One whole building is dedicated to an exhibit outlining the importance of the Sisters of Notre Dame & all their contributions to the “civilizing” of the rough commercial city of many more men than women. Other buildings contain examples of the various trades carried on in the city bakeries, forges, hospital, bobbin lacemaking, cooking and serving food and drink. All were quite interesting and the interpreters are full of enthusiasm.

At intervals during the day, the cannon are fired off so that visitors get a sense (probably quite unrealistic) of what they sounded like during those bellicose times. Soldier formations and parades are held on occasion as well. Animals such as those that would have been present in the city in 1744 are driven through the streets as well goats, sheep, geese, chickens. Oxen were the beasts of burden though they did not have any present today when we visited. Horses were also used in the Louisburg but only for hunting and pleasure riding.

Now we are staying at a wonderful little house-cottage in modern Louisbourg, called the Montebello Cottage. It cost us only $70.00 Canadian and it has two bedrooms and a couch in the living room. Very clean and comfortable. Sharon and Lois are going to Ceidlidh (pronounced “ saylee) performance tonight at the Louisbourg Playhouse more about that anon, after we get back home or maybe tomorrow. Also much mention the “different” dinner Lois ate tonight a donair (umh umh good!). Boy, what an understatement and too quick a statement that was! The sandwich was delicious, but oh what a kickback it had! I smelled so strongly of garlic all night and even into today that it was pretty disgusting. My breath was unacceptable in polite society and my whole body exuded garlic aromas until everyone was hollering “ uncle”! I brushed my teeth innumerable times and used Listerine strips and everything else I could think of to change my aura.

Have to explain what this sandwich actually is: the whole thing is served on a pita bread round; the meat is like a dense meatloaf which has been fried as after baking it is very spicy and hot with pepper and needless to say there is at least a bulb of garlic in each portion of donair meat. Atop this is a “salsa” of fresh tomatoes and onions and then a special “white sauce” with some sort of green spice in it, but somehow it is sweet. Though it sounds awful and is awesome in its after-effects, the sandwich is really very tasty.

We greatly enjoyed the performance by Jennifer Roland and her group at the Louisbourg Playhouse. She is quite the little fiddler and step dancer. All the musicians used electric amplification the sister played a keyboard, the guitarist played an acoustic guitar, and the fiddle was electrified too. Jennifer looks to be about 28 or 29 and she is so thin that you can see the dimples at the tops of her buttocks. Her outfit was simplicity itself a filmy green blouse with gathers over the

bosom, tight sleeves with bands above the elbows and then little raggedy “hankies” fluttering around. Her shoes were tap shoes. Her pants were hip huggers of some tight-fitting black pants. This girl was the most active performer I have ever seen she was never still. While she played, she swayed and bounced her way across the stage all the time tapping her feet. When she sat on the chair, she bounced her legs and tapped all the while.

The music is sort of a blend of Cajun, Irish, blue-grass, and country fiddling endless riffs where the key is changed and the rhythm constantly speeded up. The music is quite repetitious but enjoyable for a while. I certainly wasn ’t in the market for one of her CDs but I did enjoy the concert. She had a 16 year old local girl who step-danced to three pieces and did some bits with Jennifer as well. All in all, it was enjoyable and we were surprised to find ourselves in a crowd of about 120 people. Got home about 10:15 and went right to bed after telling Kay all about it (and smelling the bedroom up with my garlic aromas).

HALIFAX

Day 20 - We left the Montebello Cottage about 8:00 after eating breakfast in our own little cottage. We decided to take back roads to avoid backtracking to Sydney and we ended up on the Fleur d’Lys Trail through the center of the Cape Breton Island. It was raining all morning and the scenery was not particularly pretty though we were going through countryside with virtually no human habitations for miles and miles. It was funny that there would be place-name signs but no houses or buildings or any other signs that people lived or worked anywhere nearby. It took us much longer than the maps said it would to get to the Canso Causeway so we could go over to the mainland of NS. It took us about 3 hours when the maps said 2 would get us there. Anyhow, we finally stopped at a Tim Horton’s about 11 AM and all ate donuts and hot chocolate. Then we headed for Halifax. It took longer to get to Halifax than we anticipated as well and we did not arrive until about 3:30 PM So that did not leave us much sightseeing time there. We did park the car so we could walk to the waterfront which is what Pat wanted to see. It has been rehabbed and looks very inviting and entertaining for all the young people we saw on the streets thisis definitely the “youngest” city we have seen.

Walking around on the working side of the waterfront, we spotted a little brown, furry critter skittering among the rocks. We were trying to figure out what it could be we thought otter, marten, fisher, weasel, ferret but did not really know. So we watched him for a while and then went to the Tourist Info Center to ask. The “ wild and crazy” guy, Alan, told us that these creatures are indeed ferrets and were deliberately imported to the waterfront to keep the rat population under control. And it has worked very well. This hilarious fellow is so enthusiastic about the wonders of Nova Scotia that he talked us into visiting some places that we were not really intending to see at all. He also helped us find lodging for tonight in Black Point on the ocean in a fine cottage. We even followed his recommendation for our supper tonight McKelvie' s and we got the early bird specials. The food was good and bannock (bread) even better for us but not for Sharon. We don’t know what got her, but something did and she has turned in very early tonight.

Even though it was dark, we could see that the Grand View cottage was really nice and new. We had two bedrooms but we got a rollaway bed for Pat since Sharon is really not up to par so they could have separate beds. Now Pat has turned in also she is in the living room-kitchen combo while Kay and I are planning to watch “Jag” on TV soon. Don’t know who got the best of the deal after all. We didn’t stay up to see the premiere show of “Judging Amy.”

PEGGY’SCOVE

Day 21 - Another crystalline day in Nova Scotia! Who can believe in this weather not even the Nova Scotians themselves! We woke to bright sunshine and warm temps and went to the Bizee Centre for breakfast as recommended by the Grand View’ s proprietress. The food was good and quick. We were out of the cottage by 8:30 AM and on the way to Peggy’ s Cove.

SWISSAIR FLIGHT 111MEMORIAL SITE

What an unusual, but horribly crowded, spot the lighthouse at Peggy’ s Cove. The buses were roaring in every minute or so and we could not figure out where all the people were going to stand. The parking area was actually amazingly large and we had no trouble finding a place, but then we were earlier than the majority of those buses.

We went first to the Swissair Flight 111 memorial site. The terrain was remarkable huge stones and boulders and lots of tundra-like plants all right beside the ocean. Two huge stones are upended and engraved with the memorial message as well as three cut-outs that triangulate on the crash site. The place is austere, befitting the gravity of the memorial and it is beautiful at the same time. 229 people died in that crash and apparently folks from Bayswater and Peggy’s Cover worked in the recovery effort along with NTSB and other government workers.

After absorbing this sobering setting, we drove on into town (40 inhabitants in all) to visit the lighthouse which is supposed to be the most photographed site in Canada. It is impressive because of the huge granite stones that make up the base of the lighthouse and the surrounding terrain.

The huge boulders are an easy “highway” to explore the setting which of course goes down to the ocean. All over the place are warning signs against climbing the rocks because of their slipperiness’ and the ease of getting hurt here. We took lots of pictures and climbed around everywhere. As we left this area, we headed down towards Yarmouth but we went along the coast road to look at some of the little fishing villages and tiny oceanfront towns. We stopped in Mahone Bay for lunch and some shopping at the Amos Pewter Shop. We got Betsy’s gifties and enjoyed looking at the pretty houses along the way. We were particularly amused by the little “ scarecrow ” figures all over town. There were two “statues” we especially enjoyed— one was made with terra cotta flower pots and the other with tin cans of all sizes from garbage cans to food tins. Very droll.

Then we drove the rest of the way to Yarmouth on the faster route, stopping just once for an ice cream treat. We got to Quinan, where Edgar’ s cabin on the lake sits, unloaded the car, and fixed supper out of what we could find in our stores grilled cheese sandwiches, chips, two Hershey kisses and a couple of dried

apricots. Satisfying for sure! Now we are watching TV (Law & Order and West Wing next). We will probably all sleep well tonight. The weather report says rain for tomorrow all over Nova Scotia. So we will see.

AROUND TOWN

Day 22 - Pitter-patter, pitter-patter! That’s how my birthday began with soft raindrops falling on the cottage roof, the wrinkled lake, and the moist earth! The mist and fog hid much of Quenen Lake but we could still see that there was hope of sunshine later (however, that was more faith than reason). At breakfast, there were birthday cards to remind me of this anniversary but they were amusing and fun!

Since the TV had promised rain until the afternoon, we decided that the best use of our morning was to do the laundry again, check out the CAT reservations, roam through Yarmouth to find places significant to Pat’s younger days, and have some lunch fairly early since we were to meet Pat’ s 2nd cousin, Genevieve, for supper at Rudder’ s Restaurant at 5 PM on the waterfront. The rains were more like mists than drops most of the time, so our plans went forward very well.

It took about 1 ½ hrs. to complete the wash and during that time we had our lunch from Wendy’s and Tim Horton.

Then we drove around and found the house that Pat lived in until the family emigrated to Massachusetts when she was 7. We saw her Aunt Vang’s home, St. Ambrose’s Cathedral where her parents were married and she went to church as a youngster, the site of her grade school (the building is no longer there), the Cemetery where Betty is buried (we saw the beautiful gravestone that Edgar had selected with a laser engraving of the cabin, the woods and the lake). The grocery store her uncle Louis ran is now a Fresh market and Rosey’s where she bought penny candy is no more. Yarmouth does not appear to be nearly as prosperous as Halifax and is a much smaller city. The area where Pat grew up was really pretty rural but now is just part of the suburbs.

We got our reservations for Sunday at 4 PM on the CAT which reaches Bar Harbor, ME, in about 3 hours. We are to be at the port between 2 and 3 PM because we have to clear Canadian customs before boarding the boat. We shopped at the Visitors Center and got several souvenir items like calendars, Tee-shirts, etc. We also learned that the money exchange will be open on Sunday so that we can turn in our Canadian money before we leave. The CAT operates on US dollars.

C

APE FORCHU LIGHTHOUSE

Following all that “business,” we decided to visit the lighthouse on Cape Forchu before meeting Genevieve. The lighthouse is one of the few that has been turned over to the local area rather than being retained by the Federal Government. Therefore, it is maintained by a charitable group Friends of the Lighthouse. They have a couple of gift shops and ask that people make a contribution when they visit the museum rather than charging an admission fee. The lighthouse is the “ apple-core” style and stands 91 meters high.

We watched the day’ s CAT leave the harbor and round the lighthouse point while we were there. The rocky base of this lighthouse is dramatic but so different from the terrain at Peggy’s Cove Light. Forchu’s is built upon dark, sharp-edged, shattered boulders while those at Peggy’s Cove are huge, rounded, light in color, and unbroken. Amazing that the “rocky coast” of Nova Scotia can be so different such a few miles apart!

The area we drove through to reach the Cape and Light was very pretty with farms, well-kept homes, and some working fishing wharves. We did enjoy our excursion very much but we were also aware that we could not be late in meeting Genevieve for supper. So after we watched the CAT leave Yarmouth Harbour, we rushed back to town (we had previously located the restaurant), entered the parking lot with a sigh of relief since we were actually about 20 minutes early however Genevieve was already there. Anyhow we were not late.

The dinner was excellent all around the food was delicious (lobster sandwiches, fish cakes, and scallops) and the company was enjoyable. We all had a good time and there were no awkward silences or topics. Genevieve asked us to her home for dinner but we compromised in agreeing to come over for hot chocolate in the afternoon rather than put her to the trouble of fixing a meal for us. That was readily agreed to so we will probably visit her tomorrow afternoon after we finish our sightseeing at Annapolis Royal.

The stars we saw tonight were just stunning we could even see the Milky Way so clearly that it seemed to lean down and almost touch us. The sky was sparkling and the lake was mirroring the diamonds in the sky. We even saw some shooting stars. Mists were rising from the lake again and we almost convinced ourselves we were seeing the Northern Lights but

ANNAPOLIS ROYAL

Day 23 - Another crystal clear day in Nova Scotia! We woke up to the bluest, cloudless skies & fairly cool temps (34 degrees) and just a wonderful view of turning leaves and mists over the lake. We can’ t believe our luck with this weather. Even though we took a few cold gear things, we just knew that the temps would rise and we would not need all that stuff!

Our drive this morning took us to Annapolis Royal, the seat of the British government in NS from 1710 to 1849 when Halifax was founded and became the capital. The road down was good and occasionally we saw some really stunning leaf displays, but generally it was just one quaint little town after another. We could see

the Digby Neck across the Bay as we approached Annapolis Royal, but the folks at the Visitor Info in Digby pretty much convinced us that we would not be seeing any puffins if we went whale watching from Westport or Brier Island at the end of the Neck. So we bagged that possible plan. The goal of our tour of Annapolis Royal was to visit the Historic Gardens and to see the Tidal Energy Complex on the Annapolis River. We got to the Gardens about 11:30 AM and went right on in. The gardens are quite lovely and we were surprised and pleased to see so much vegetation still in bloom. The map told us that there were several different areas in the gardens: a rose collection, an innovations section, the pine forest, the rock garden, the knot garden, and the perennial section. We explored all of them and enjoyed everything we saw.

The other half of the garden’s interest was the Acadian House and the old dyke system created by the Acadian farmers in the 1700s to keep down the salt water intrusion into their farmlands. The house was pretty basic with a thatched roof on one half and a board top on the other. The beds were in cabinets which kinda gave us the willies. The house was plastered inside and out and painted a pinkish color.

There was a kitchen garden with colossal cabbages, really healthy-looking parsley, rutabagas, shallots, and carrots.

The marsh area at the back of the gardens showed both Acadian dykes and some modern ones and we learned that to clear the soil of salt, the Acadians grew “salt hay” which was good for their critters and their gardens (because of the trace mineral content and because the hay seemed to resist mold and spoilage more effectively) and also removed the salt from the soil so that other crops could be grown there within a couple of years. The English did not understand the system (which the Acadians had learned in Europe) and thought the irrigation and dyking were just evidences of French laziness. However, this particular area has survived to demonstrate that the method was quite effective.

Because we were hungry, we went into town and walked along the old streets looking for a little restaurant as well as enjoying the 18th and 19th century buildings and streets. We found a little yuppie type café cum old bookstore and had our lunch there— sandwiches, cookies, and drinks. Cheap

enough and pleasant enough. Learned from the lady there that the “Stop the Quarry” signs we had been seeing concerned a permit given to a New Jersey company to mine basalt at White Cove on Digby Neck. Those who are opposed to the project fear the damage to the environment, the fishing industry, and tourism.

The permit was given in secret so that the people in the area (and all over N.S.) were never given an opportunity to express their views on the proposed project. Now there is much bitterness, but also lots of hopelessness since the “anti” folks don’t feel they are going to be able to do much beyond delaying tactics.

We would see Fort Aonne across the street from the Café but decided not to go inside since it was very similar to Louisburg which we had just visited a couple of days ago. So we went to the Tidal Energy Complex instead. It turned out to be disappointing since it was not at all what we had expected. The turbines do not turn with the incoming and outgoing tidal pulls which is what we thought it would be. Rather, the incoming tide is used to dam up water in a reservoir temporarily until a certain height is reached. When that critical number is reached, the water is released to run into the horizontal turbines just like any other hydroelectric project. It’ s just that the tides bring the water into the reservoir and take it back out again.

Driving home, we read a very confusing, boring, poorly written brief history of the Acadians and their troubles with both the French and English politics of their day. However, it was so badly done that we really didn’t learn much that we haven’t already picked up elsewhere.

BAD WEATHER FORECAST

As we had promised, we called Genevieve when we reached her exit on Route 101 (32) and asked if it was convenient to visit her then. She talked us to her house and we had a nice visit with her, her daughter, her daughter-in-law, and several grandchildren. She served us the promised hot chocolate and we got a tour of the 180 year old house and her lovely back 40 which includes a salmon river running right through it.

Her daughter Caroline really threw a monkey wrench into our thinking about when we would be leaving this area. She told us that terrible weather is predicted for Saturday and Sunday and that it was likely that the CAT trips might be cancelled or that we would be pretty sick on the boat if the trips did go. So now we have to face those possibilities and try to figure out what to do about getting to Gena and David’ s when we said we would.

Tonight’s weather report on the TV suggested nothing half so bad as Caroline had told us about, so now we will wait to see what it looks like tomorrow before we decide what to do. Nobody wants to be sick on the boat and nobody wants to drive on skinny, two-laned roads during a hurricane or horrible rainstorm. I don’t particularly want to be on the CAT in terrible waves and swells and 90 km. winds either. What a conundrum!CAT Cancelled Due to Weather

Day 24 - Rainy, blustery day today. Not cold though. However, after trying to figure out what the weather is like all the way into New Brunswick, we began to feel a bit frustrated. A call to the CAT office did tell us that the “Cat-calls” for the day had been cancelled. The captain would not be leaving Bar Harbor today due to the strong winds, big swells, high waves, etc. We then tried to find out whether or not we should leave by car today. A call to the RCMP yielded a number we could call for weather updates. That automated system was not very helpful except to give us another number to call (this one cost 2.99 a minute to get a one-on-one analysis). The long and the short of it all was that we would be better off waiting til tomorrow when the weather system was expected to clear the area entirely. The lady told me that it was entirely probable that the CAT would make its ports tomorrow.

So, we stayed in town. Pat to visit some friends from her youth and Kay and Lois to do some shopping. We would meet for lunch. Sharon decided to stay at the cottage and enjoy the peace and quiet and inactivity. Around 11 AM, Lois and Kay began walking along Main Street and stopping in every appropriate shop while window-wishing in the others. When we got to the Visitor Center where we had agreed to meet Pat, we found her already there. She had been able to meet only

with Ray Baker because his wife, Imogene, was off shopping & having lunch with her daughters. So the three of us went ahead and enjoyed lunch ourselves at Wendy’ s and then Pat called the Baker household again to see if Imogene had yet returned.

She had, so we went back out there for a lovely visit with a very delightful and interesting couple. In addition, they had a most engaging and charming kitten named Tucker (named for a Darcy Tucker who is a Maple Leaf player). He is such a kittenish critter that he loved to play with us. He had wonderful eyes and such wonderful markings tabby with white accents in interesting and cute places.

We enjoyed talking with Ray and Imogene who recalled lots of history of the area and their lives there. Imogene’s father had been the Cape Forchu lighthouse keeper while she was growing up and then from 1963-66, Ray had been lighthouse keeper there too.

They will be celebrating their 55 wedding anniversary on 10-25 this year. We found them delightful company and only left when we realized how tired Ray (he is 85) was getting and how late in the afternoon it was! It should be noted that this couple were Edgar and Betty’s best friends when they lived in Yarmouth and that Edgar still visits with them regularly when he returns to Novy.

When we finally got back to the cottage about 4:30 PM, we found Genevieve and her grandson, Ian, visiting with Sharon. Apparently they had been here about two hours and kept Sharon plenty of company. When they left about half an hour after we arrived, we fixed our supper of No Name Beef Stew and it was delicious and satisfying. Now we are repacking our purchases in preparation for our departure tomorrow on the CAT, we hope. Maybe little Tucker was a good omen?

BACK TO THE USA

Day 25 - What a difference a day makes 24 little hours! We woke to blue skies, bright sunshine, no wind, and warm temperatures. A call to the CAT confirmed what we saw in Quinan the weather really had turned around. So we knew that we would be going over to Bar Harbor at 4 PM After packing everything up, we went to work on the cottage vacuuming, removing the dirty linens, putting away all the dishes, getting the garbage out. We wanted to leave it as neat and orderly as we had found it. We left notes to Genevieve and to Edgar thanking them for the wonderful time we had spent there. Sharon wrote a little poem for Edgar telling him how much we had enjoyed his “ home away from home.” All of us understand why he likes it so much over there.

Then we drove into town, found a dumpster to handle the last of our garbage and then drove on the Cape Forchu lighthouse so Kay could take some pictures of the pictures in the upstairs display rooms which covered Imogene’s father’s tenure as keeper. Sharon went to get coffee, Lois went to the gift shop to see if she had missed anything and ended up buying another book there (“The Nighthawk” a book about a Confederate spy who spends her time in Halifax getting all the information she could written by a lady who lived through the Civil War herself in Halifax).

We tried to find Margi and Wayne’s house on the Cape (Ray & Imogene’ s daughter & son-in-law) and took a picture of the one we thought it was. Then we watched the Prince of Fundy pull out of the harbor for its 10 hr. trip to Portland, ME. When we got back to Yarmouth, we went to the Visitor Center to exchange our Canadian money for US dollars and then we walked around town a bit more. Some stores were open even though it was Sunday and we made a couple more purchases (one of those awful little monks for Betsy). Saw a peregrine falcon on Cape Forchu as we left the Lighthouse.

Talk about coincidences! Who should hail us from their car as we strolled along Main Street but Genevieve and Caroline who were heading for Frenchy’s to do some clothes shopping. So we had a chance to talk with them a little bit more and say some more goodbyes. Genevieve had gone to the cottage right after we left to say so long again but she missed us by about 30 minutes. Nice ladies, though

Caroline once again tried to make us very apprehensive about our upcoming CAT trip! She was just sure that all of us would be very sick since there are supposed to be big swells and the vessel doesn’t handle well.

After we said goodbye to them again, we drove to the port to get our tickets for the CAT and find a place in line. We sat there for about 1 ¼ hrs before the boarding began. It proceeded very languidly and we found out why only after we were aboard ourselves. The cargo area for vehicles is actually double-decker and the 2nd story has to be lifted after it is full in order to begin loading the lower level. Pat had to back us in to our place and she did a great job.

Well, Caroline was totally, totally wrong! Our trip couldn’t have been smoother the Atlantic was like glass really.

Some of watched football games on the excellent TV screen (Kay), some gambled in the little casino, losing their money (Pat and Sharon), and some of us just read Nevada Barr’ s “Blood Lure” and looked out the windows every once in a while. We had decided not to eat on the ferry since it would be an hour earlier when we arrived in Maine.

Since we were near the last on the CAT, we were among the first off and we got through Customs with no troubles or delays at all. Got the first motel room we could find since it got dark before we left Customs and the road to Bangor is narrow, twisty and really dark. We decided that we did not need to drive on that treacherous stretch at night. So we are staying in an overpriced but available motel in Bar Harbor. We had supper across the street in a decent place which was a little overwhelmed with all the folks wanting supper at about the same time 7:30 PM But eat we did and now we are in our room with no HBO for The Sopranos. But we are happy anyway back in the USA!

MAINE WITH RELATIVES

DAY 26 - Not a particularly good night for sleeping last night, and it probably had something to do with the fact that we ate supper so late at night. That, plus the fact that it was hot, hot, hot in our room. Anyway, we were all up and dressed and ready to leave the place by about 8 PM. Had our breakfast at the Log Cabin where we had eaten last night and then we headed down the road towards Freeport first and then East Wakefield, New Hampshire.

Our day was rainy and misty and grisly grey grusset, but that did not ruin the scenes of beautifully colorful leaves. Maine had much more color showing than Nova Scotia and we did enjoy every lovely leaf reds, yellows, browns, russets, and all colors in between. Of course, we knew that sunshine would have greatly improved the picture for us but we are hopeful for tomorrow and the coming days.

We got to Freeport about 12 noon and went to Friendly’s for lunch and dessert. Then we found parking and headed to our chores. Kay and Pat were in the market for some new hiking boots while Lois and Sharon had the tasks of getting thank you gifts for Genevieve and Edgar. We thought to get something for our

“hostess” at Crabtree and Evelyn across from LLBean and we did so, pretty easily. In doing so we also got a souvenir for Ruth across the street. We got them each three bars of good smelling soap.

We had figured on getting towels for the camp for Edgar, but quickly determined that Freeport was not the right place for that purchase. So we went to a gift and card shop to get thank you notes for everyone and found the perfect thing for him a photo album with fish on the front it holds 244 pictures. He has been working on getting his many, many pictures organized for himself and his kids. We hope that this will help him out.

Our call to Gena assured her that we would be at their place in time for dinner and we were despite running into to some traffic jams on the way. Dinner was delicious as we would have known with Gena our cook. We discussed a few alternatives for things to do in the next three days and then we watched the President lay out his case for a pre-emptive strike against Iraq and Saddam Hussein. He didn’t call it pre-emptive, but that’s what it will be if the UN does not manage to force Saddam’s hand and the US goes it alone. This is all very unsettling and frightening, but we have to believe that Bush and Company knows so many things that we do not know. It seems that we can only pray for our country and the world now. Visiting with Relatives in New Hampshire

MOUNT WASHINGTON HOTEL

Day 27 - Another beautiful day dawned over Round Pond today. So after our tasty breakfast, we headed off in Dave’s van for the Mount Washington Hotel and what we hoped would be great views of the mountain. We planned for a picnic along the way as well and took a cooler and lots of goodies.

The day was cool but not really uncomfortable (except in the wind) and there were many patches of glorious leaf colors along the way. We visited Dave & Gena’s preferred golf course which is partly in Maine and partly in New Hampshire. We did some riding along the Kancamagus Highway which was really beautiful and we stopped along the way for some photos and exploration of the area.

What an impressive 100 year old hotel it is too all white with a bright red roof, huge veranda almost all the way round and the most perfect view of Mt. Washington to be imagined. The clouds cleared from off the top and there was a faint dusting of snow on the upper flanks. The air was so clear that we could see every building and antenna on the top as well as the route of the cog railway. It was really stunning— what a wonderful place. This is the hotel which has been the site of the Bretton Woods monetary conferences from 1944-94.

MADISON BOULDER

On the way home, we stopped for ice cream and then rode towards home. We stopped at Madison, NH, to see the Madison Boulder a huge glacial erratic (one of the largest in the world according to the signage).

It’s really enormous 87 ft. long, 37 ft. high, 29 ft wide and it weighs 4,662 tons! There it sits, stupefying, in a quiet woodsy setting without much heralding. The boulder and the land it sits on were donated to the state by two fellows in the 60s. We decided that this donation was not being honored very well. There needs to be more signage helping folks find it and there needs to be more protection so that people do not deface it with graffiti.

We had a Dave favorite meal for supper American chop suey. It was really tasty and reminded me a lot of my mother’s Greek hamburger. Now it’s TV time and getting showers and having the laundry done. Another wonderful day all around.

LAKE WINAPAUSAKEE CRUISE

Day 28 - Morning was not quite as clear as yesterday, but certainly clear enough for our planned boat ride on Lake Winapausakee. We left the house around 10 AM so that Dave could stop at the bank and P.O. before heading over to Wolfeboro to meet the boat by 11:15 AM

We got on the M/S Mount Washington and had some lunch shortly thereafter. The lunch came from the grille and was good enough. We had looked at the $10.00 buffet and it looked decidedly mediocre, so we decided on the Grille. Good choice and cheaper. The ride was lovely and we enjoyed seeing all the enormous mansions on the shores of the Lake as well as on the many islands in the Lake. The surface was still and the trip was delightful.

Afterwards, we did a little shopping in the first resort town in the USA (1770); how could be resist? Got a couple of candies at the candy store and then bought some Xmas cards at Black’ s where I had bought some the year before.

Then we drove home and sat down to watch Dave’s tapes of old Johnny Carson shows. We all agreed that there will never be another like him. He had the perfect touch and worked so well with all his crazy guests. We laughed like crazy people until it was time to head for another of Gena’s super suppers! Ham this time, with spinach, butternut squash, and mashed potatoes.

The clouds had rolled in before we finished our Lake ride and we do not know what is promised for tomorrow. Another highlight of the day was the spotting of critters. We saw a lovely deer very near to D & G’ s cottage and Dave saw a bear going up into the woods along one of the roads we were traveling to get to Wolfeboro. So our activities for that day will be dependent on what kind of weather we get! A good relaxing day. Moultonburg, New Hampshire

CASTLE IN THE CLOUDS

Day 29 - This was our coldest day and one of the few rainy, gray days too! We’ ve really been so lucky with the weather, so we are not complaining. Our goal today was to see the Castle in the Clouds in Moultonburg, NH. Dave decided that the amount of walking required would be too much for him so he elected to stay home. Gena drove us up there. The drive up there was quite lovely despite the grayness. It seemed that we saw several stands of wonderful leaves and there were so many lovely farms and tiny towns on the way up. We all enjoyed the trip as well as the castle visit. It was sweet of Gena to take us, so we paid her way in.

The visit is started in the old carriage house, really the stable for Mr. Plant’ s horses. The stalls are now little places with tables and chairs for the grille food you can buy there sandwiches and pizza are the main things. There are also potties there for visitor convenience. The jitneys run from the carriage house to the castle itself.

Thomas G. Plant was a multimillionaire who purchased the site and planned the building as a gift for his second wife, Olive. It took three years for the house to be completed and Mr. Plant did not call it a castle at all he named it “Lucknow.”

A self-educated man raised in poverty, Mr. Plant made his millions in shoe manufacturing starting in Lynn, MA. The house was made of stones quarried in New Hampshire, marbles from Italy, woods from England as well as New Hampshire, and handmade Spanish tiles for the roof. He had all the latest technology at work in the house from refrigeration, plumbing, central vacuuming system.

The house was sited at about 3100 ft. and commanded a marvelous view of the woods down to the Lake Winnipesauke of which he owned 2000ft. of frontage. Of course, at this time of the year, the scenery was pretty breathtaking with autumn colors. The visit to the mansion included a visit to the springs which are on the 5000 acres as well as a bottling company which sells Castle Springs water in the Northeast and the Caribbean. There are also a rainbow trout pond where you can feed the lovely fish and see exactly why they are called “rainbows.” There is also Kentucky-like section with white fences and horses behind them. It was an interesting visit and we enjoyed our lunch there too.

Getting back to the cottage around three, we relaxed and read and chatted. The weather remained chilly and unpleasant all day. Our supper was appropriately “ comfort food” spaghetti with meatballs and sausage. Then we started watching our favorite Thursday night TV. Now it’s about 10:30 PM and we are getting ready for beddies in a little while. We did get our laundry done this evening as well. Another very pleasant and relaxing day.

NEW YORK

SYRACUSE

Day 30 - We got the send-off we would have expected from Gena this morning: ham, eggs, home fries and English muffins. We waited for Dave to get home from the dump before leaving, about 9:15. What a wonderful interlude we spent with them. They are both gracious hosts and easy to be with.

The roads between E. Wakefield and the NY border are only little country lanes so no real time can be made on them. We weren ’t even to NY state by 1:30 when we had lunch. Getting off track a tad and going through Massachusetts and Berkshires really didn’t add that much to our time on the road either. The leaves were gorgeous and the little towns and villages were just so charming. However, along about 3:30 we began to realize how late we were going to be getting into Syracuse, so we called to tell them so.

Once again, I learned that my cell phone service has still not been reinstated. Good thing that Pat’s was charged and ready to go. So we actually pulled in at 131 Downing Street about 7 PM Of course, we did stop in Ilion so Kay could show Pat and Sharon around a bit, particularly the farmhouse. Along our way, still in NH, we

did see the last creature on our list a coyote. We were about 20 east of Keene, NH, when he ran across the road, brave as you please and disappeared into the woods on the opposite side. He was a healthy looking specimen and we were so happy to have seen him!

Suzanne and Hetty had planned a birthday party for me too. There were banners reading Happy Birthday everywhere and their friend Joan was on hand to help with the festivities. How thoughtful, eh what? Got a book to read called “Zippy” a friend had recommended it to them for me. Also a wonderful fir needle candle to read it by. They even had a Carvel birthday cake for me delicious. Hetty had cooked a wonderful meal for the celebration as well: mixed green salad with mandarin oranges, walnuts and feta cheese, roast chicken, boiled potatoes, and cauliflower with carrots. Tasty, tasty!

Now everyone is falling by the wayside so we have urged all to beddies. Tomorrow is another day though we do not know what kind of weather we will have. Today was overcast and leaden all through the three states we visited. We have many options of things to do so none of us is worried about it.

Day 31 - The weather is nothing if not surprising we got up this morning to overcast skies but no rain and amazingly warm temperatures. So we briggled around having breakfast, getting showers, dressing, etc., and finally decided about 11 AM that it was time to go do something.

FARMER'S MARKET

First stop was a Farmer’s Market which gave us a chance to sample a little of Syracuse’s vegetable and cultural life. The farm products were handsome and we were quite surprised at how cheap the homegrown goodies were selling. There was also a section with what looked like “hot” items selling even more cheaply tools, batteries, scissors, culinary knives. There were the expected booths with beanie babies, painted gourds, homemade jellies and preserves.

WALK AT ONONDAGA LAKE

After we spent a little money there, we decided to go walking at Onondaga Lake in the middle of Syracuse. The day stayed moderate and no rains came. Our walk was pleasant and none too taxing. However, by the time we finished we were all pretty hungry and came home to eat sandwiches way too late for the supper that

Hetty had planned of her own “from scratch” lasagna.

Hetty had been to see a foreign movie she was very enthusiastic about and wondered if we all might like to see it too. Of course, that answer was a foregone conclusion. Their little art film house was about a mile away and we went to the 4:15 show of “Mostly Martha” a silly name for a slyly taking movie. The acting was so effective, especially the little girl of about 8 years old. All the characters were engaging and the main character (& even the little girl) showed some real development and change. The movie was German made with subtitles. Such a miracle to see movies about decent people with no guns and no explosions.

They still have not caught the Washington, D.C., sniper, so I am not sure we will be going into Western Maryland as we had planned to see Antietam and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. Too scary since he is moving around in the area as far south as Fredericksburg, VA.

Time for beddies now since we are all tuckered out. Think I will get to read a bit before sleep.

APPLE FESTIVAL

Day 32 - This day was a fooler started off just beautifully sunshine and blue skies. So after breakfast (long after breakfast), we got ourselves together and decided to go hiking at Green Lakes. However, we soon saw that rain was going to be in the picture quite soon. That meant that the Apple Festival sounded pretty good as an alternative.

The Festival route took us through the Onondaga Reservation how different an east coast “ rez ” appears compared with the ones on the plains in the Dakotas, etc. It must be because there are so many lovely and full trees rather than barren sweeps into dry mountains and altiplano. These particular members of the old Iroquois Confederacy aren’t doing as well as their brother nation, the Oneidas who have figured out how to use the white man’s vices against him their gambling casino, Turning Stone, is doing quite well.

The Apple Festival was much bigger than even Suzanne and Hetty had imagined. There were about 8 large tents with every kind of craft plus a dozen or more different ways to serve apples. We bought a couple of things, including a “bread

& butter” gift for our wonderful hostesses cute little steeping stone with a happy fish smiling up at everyone and flipping his little tail.

When we left the Apple Festival, we were headed to Green Lakes to hike, but the weather had another idea the rains got heavier so we quickly revealed our flexibility and switched plans. We stopped by Blockbuster and got three movies and decided to order ribs for a late lunch- supper combo. The movies we watched last night were “Monsters, Inc.” and “The Rookie” which we were both enjoyable. Andwe still have “Kissing Jessica Stein” to gofor Monday.

The NY Times was a wonderful part of our day as well. Haven’t seen one in a long time and really enjoyed it. Finished Nevada Barr’s “Blood Lure” also. A, relaxing day just love those rainy days after all.

GREEN LAKES STATE PARK

Day 33 - Another big surprise in the weather department today. Clear skies and really cool temps, very conducive to our anticipated hike at Green Lakes State Park. How that lived up to our expectations! Such a lovely spot beautiful green lakes of glacial origin and lots of colorful leaves, festooning the trees, lining the comfortable path with nature’ s own “coat of many colors,” splashing rainbows in the waters!

We walked for about two hours before deciding that we were hungry enough to head for the nearest Burger King. Hetty and Suzanne were going to the dentist because Suzanne has been in much misery since her tooth cleaning on Thursday and the pain has gotten progressively worse. The lunch was satisfying and really bad for us but we enjoyed it very much.

When we reached “ home base,” we showered and cleaned up, did some reading, and watched the third of the movies “ Kissing Jessica Stein. ” Rather contrived and somewhat embarrassing in its obviousness some clever dialogue and some laughs, but mostly quite forgettable. Our mission today was to set the food out for the buffet tonight after Suzanne and Hetty came back from teaching their seminar. So we started heating up things, laying out other items, setting up the buffet itself, and generally getting ready. A lovely neighbor, named Katherine Parker, joined us for the repast and she was delightful company. After we got the kitchen cleaned up and the dishes put away, we sent Suzanne to bed with her painkiller meds hoping she can sleep and then Hetty followed so she could get up early tomorrow as well. Suzanne is not going to work tomorrow so we will see her in the morning before we leave for Buffalo but we thanked Hetty and hugged her now.

Another beautiful fall day in Central New York with two great gals!

NIAGARA FALLS

Day 34 - Fabulous fall in New York all over again! We can’t believe our good luck with the weather here. We left Syracuse and Suzanne in a blaze of blue skies, warmer temps, and high hopes for Niagara Falls. Suzanne is still not feeling great with her post-tooth-cleaning canker sore but we have confidence in her complete recovery soon.

It took us about 3 hours to get to Niagara Falls after having left about 8:45 AM We got some advice on how to get where we wanted to go from a nice trip advice dude in a NY State turnpike station. The fine weather stayed with us and we were amazed at how warm it was compared to yesterday.

We started at the NY State Park for Niagara Falls to look over the sides of the cliffs to see the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. The water approaching the falls area is absolutely amazing it looks like the ocean coming at you. The rapids in the Niagara River look like white caps on the sea. Some of the boulders in the River are so big that the waves actually stand up and go backwards again the flow. The falls thunder over the shelves and send out mist and spray quite a distance from the wall of the gorge.

Sharon, Kay and Lois had visited Niagara between 30-35 years ago and were pleasantly surprised at how much things have changed there. We all remembered the US side as depressed, tacky, poor, dingy and unattractive. We had all been told to go straight to the Canadian side since the views and the ambience were much better. And it was true back then flowers everywhere, cheerful kiosks and restaurants, etc. However, now the picture has changed again. The US side has obviously spent megabucks in renovations, new construction, flowers, parklands. So this time we didn’t even bother to go over to Canada.

As we were walking away from the American Falls, Lois mentioned that she really would like to go on the Cave of the Winds walk into the falls area. So Lois and Kay got tickets and donned the required raingear and shoes for the visit to the bottom of the falls.

What a hoot it was too. We loved it even though you get pretty wet at the bottom of your legs. The shoes were great because the water just runs in and out and the water is not really too cold at all. When you reach the bottom of the falls, the sound of the thundering water is pretty overwhelming and the spray is so heavy it’ s hard to see in front of you. But it’ s a full experience for sure sound, sight, feel, and even smell of the water.

When we got back up to the parking lot area, we agreed that it was the 2nd best experience of the whole trip so far only the skyline walk with the moose and the bear in Cape Breton topped it! Then we walked over to the Horseshoe Falls on the Canada side wider than the American Falls by about 2 times and about the same height. Pretty exhilarating there as well maybe more so since it is bigger. We loved the color of the water flowing over the shelf green and greenish blue.

The other two decided to join us on the Maid of the Mist boat ride to be right on the water driving into the mouth of the Horseshoe Falls. They give you raingear for that too. You really are in a downpour of spray and mist when they bring the boat right in front of the falls. It’s pretty exciting but we actually got wetter on the boat ride than on the walk.

Following that wonderful experience, we went to the movie that the History Channel produced for the New York State Park, detailing a lot of the history surrounding the Falls. Well done and fascinating as well. We all enjoyed it too.

We left the area driving towards Erie, PA, and stopped in Dunkirk-Fredonia, NY, to stay the night in a Days Inn. We will call Sharon Reed tonight and arrange where to meet her in Sandusky tomorrow for lunch. We haven’t seen her in quite some time and it seems that we are so close that we must do it now. Our sandwiches from Suzanne and Hetty turned out to be lunch and supper too, so this was not an expensive day for room and board! Now we are hoping to get rested up and watch JAG and Judging Amy on TV. We will probably get an early start tomorrow morning so that we have sufficient time to visit with Sharon and yet still make our way towards Berea for Thursday.

OHIO

Day 35 - To quote Dylan Thomas, “but the weather turned around!” And oh how it turned the rains were falling, the sky was so low we weren ’t sure whether we were looking at clouds, fog, mist or all three. Nonetheless, we got an early start (8 AM) after our free breakfast at the Days Inn. The roads were interstates so the going wasn’t bad even though the weather did not improve until we got to Cleveland. We made pretty good time and reached Sandusky by 12 noon. Once the skies did clear, we had no more rain the rest of the day. Makes for much more relaxing traveling, for sure.

We had agreed to meet Sharon R. at the Ruby Tuesday she works in at about 12:30 PM so we called her to alert her to the fact that we had made better time than expected. It was excellent to see her like us, she looks a bit older but really the same. We had a wonderful time getting caught up with her life and sharing a bit of what’s going on with all of us too. It was fun seeing her interact with her coworkers and to see that she is obviously well-liked by them. Wish we could have spent more time with her but since this side-trip to Sandusky was a spur of the moment thing based on our changes of plan, we really could not. But we ’ re happy to have become reacquaintedand gotten caught up!

The day was really a long drive relieved by a couple of things: cute little historic Ohio towns and villages and a wonderful groundhog in a plowed up field. It was the first one we have seen on this trip and we enjoyed seeing his plump little body standing up straight and tall. We were also surprised to see deer along the route some in people’ s backyards and others at the sides of very busy roads. We feared for that second group.

An accident on I-75 caused us quite a long delay around Dayton so we decided to stay in the south part of town. We found another “bargain” motel just off I-75 for tonight and are staying here rather than trying to push on the Berea which would have taken another 3 hours or more. Besides, Bill and Marilyn are not really expecting us until tomorrow.

So we are getting showers and a chance to see our favorite Wednesday night TV shows West Wing” and “Law & Order.”

KENTUCKY

KENTUCKY HORSE PARK

Day 36 - Again we enjoyed a free continental breakfast at the motel and then got on our way by about 8:30 AM late enough to avoid Dayton’ s morning rush hour. We completed the ride to Cincinnati quicker than we thought and then moved on to Lexington. Sharon suggested that we stop at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington to share a little of state’s heritage and interest.

We readily agreed and bought an entrance ticket. It certainly lived up to the stereotypical picture of a “Kentucky Horse Park!” Miles and miles of white wooden fencing with many outbuildings formally structured and neatly manicured. The grass was most definitely Kentucky Blue Grass and the horses in all the many separate paddocks and fields were most certainly Kentucky Blue Bloods!

The morning skies had been low and forbidding with some rain squalls, but the heavens above the Horse Park were as blue as the grass on the ground below. So we had another lovely outing on another beautiful day!

We learned quite a bit about horses and horse history during our visit and even enjoyed a typical Kentucky lunch tradition in horse-racing circles the soup known as burgoo which was very like Brunswick Stew. The folks manning the different areas in the Park were friendly and helpful and enthusiastic about horses for sure. Particularly interesting to us was the gentleman in the draft horse barn. He was a fund of information about working horses and even knew what we needed to know about mules.

The most surprising thing we learned about the working horses is that the biggest of them, the Shire and the Clydesdale, are really only used for shows and the pleasure they give their owners. Their feet which are highly “feathered” require at least an hour of care everyday because they are highly prone to fungal diseases which cost $2000 and take at least 2 years to cure if the disease is curable at all. Therefore, no one wants to use them in fields or woods since their feet would be

wet at all the time. Farmers and loggers don’t have an hour a day to spend on horse foot care. So we see Clydesdales pulling Anheiser-Busch beer trucks and Shires carrying boldly dressed pleasure riders who like being atop a really tall horse.

This gentleman also told us that there is a real renascence in the use of horses for farming, especially among small farmers. Actually, he said more horses are being used in agriculture and timbering than ever before in history in our country. The main reasons for this phenomenon are: horses a re cheaper to buy than tractors, they are less expensive to “feed”, they seldom break down, they allow more precise plowing and cultivating, and most of all they much more fun to work with! He said that he can make as much from 5 acres of tobacco plowed with a horse than a neighbor can make plowing 10 acres with a tractor! So the big draft horses like Percherons, Belgians, and Suffolk Punch are being used today more than ever in the past!

What we learned about mules was also very interesting. Mules are the product of breeding a horse mare with a donkey stallion (also called a burro or a jackass). The offspring are sterile and are named as follows: male mule is a jack, female mule is a jenny, a gelded male mule is a john. If a female donkey is bred to a horse stallion, the offspring is called a henny. This draft horse fan also told us that the dumbest mules are at least 3 ½ times smarter than the smartest horses! Mules are also hardier, never need to be shoed, much less temperamental than horses. So we wondered why he farms with his Percherons, but we did not ask him we just presumed that he loved his horses. (As a side issue, we also learned that Kay’ s grandfather used Percherons on his dairy farm.)

The Parade of Breeds we went to see featured 5 breeds of horse critters: a fine Friesian which was almost extinct by the 30s in the USA but has now bounced back to about 3000 here today. This horse was used by knights of old because they are big enough to carry a man in his heavy suit of armor and still maneuver as desired. This horse had a wonderful gait which was springy and elegant despite his large size. They also presented an Andalusia horse (obviously a Spanish breed) which was smaller and also quite elegant. Both these horses are black.

A power mule was also a member of this show. He was quite large and could do any of the tricks any of the horses could do and was also much stronger than any of the horses. A western quarter horse (so named because he was bred to be the fastest horse over a quarter mile) was also among this group. He is a smaller, yet quite nimble horse greatly favored in the USA because of his versatility in uses cowboy’ s favorite for sure but also good for dressage, hunting, and pleasure riding. The final fellow as a burro named Hershey Kiss. He was very tiny and ever so appealing. He is being raffled off at a fund raising for the Horse Park.

Another fascinating factoid we learned about horses concerned their “guts” believe it or not. Horses evolved in dry desert places and in the north of Europe and they evolved significantly different digestive systems to adapt to the climatic distinctions of those places. Arabians which are the forefathers of thoroughbred horses obviously evolved in hot, dry places. Because of this environment, they needed to develop mechanisms which helped them rid their bodies of excess heat; hence they grew “short guts.” These intestines allowed them to process and expel food quickly so that heat was dissipated in that way. However, the downside here that these equines must eat often and much food since their shorter intestines only process about 20% of what the animal ingests. These horses are also nervous, flighty, constantly moving because they need to burn their excess energy. As is clear, these are high maintenance horses.

Draft horses, on the other hand, which developed in northern Europe “selected” long guts which keep the food in their bodies much longer, allowing fermentation which is another way of dispelling the heat. These animals are much more placid and stolid and require much less food since their efficient long intestines process 90% of the food value in the materials they consume. None of us had ever heard of this genetic difference in the two kinds of horses. See? We did learn a lot from this visit.

The other part of the visit for us entailed checking out several of the bronze statues around the Park. Some of them portrayed colts at play, interacting with other species of animals, and prancing with their moms. Others were portraits of famous race horses like Man o’ War and Secretariat. Man o’ War is actually buried at the Park and has a whole display to himself, outlining his fame as a terrific horse with a stride of 28’ (Secretariat’ s stride was 24’) with a will to win. Actually he

won 20 of the 21 races he ran! He also had a second career as a very productive stud (Secretariat was not nearly as successful in that area).

All in all it was a wonderful visit to a very interesting place and we wished we had more time to spend there. On the way between Lexington and Berea, we saw several wild turkeys by the road side (at least Pat did) so we felt like we had come full circle since we had seen these big birds in the first days of the beginning of this wonderful trip!

We reached Bill and Marilyn’s about 4 PM and immediately admired the wonderful room they have added to the back of their home. It is a screened and glassed in porch about 18 x 14 feet and is quite comfortable and attractive. Sharon and Bill enjoyed a couple of Scrabble games out there this evening while some of us duds watched TV. Marilyn served us a traditional Feldkamp Halloween season meal Kentucky chili (which includes spaghetti strands) and apple turnovers (made with peaches this time) with lemon sauce spiked with Jack Daniels and rum. Everything was delicious!

Now it’ s about 10:30 and everyone except Bill and I have headed for beddies. Guess it’ s about time for me to fold up the old computer as well. Tomorrow we get to do some shopping and visit the new church that we all made monetary contributions to help build.

BEREA

Day 37 - We all got really restful night sleeps last night even Pat slept from 9 PM to 8 AM solidly. However, all that laying around meant we got a very late start for our shopping spree. Everyone wanted to get a bath and shampoo before heading out. Bill was our morning chef as well and fixed over-easy eggs and bacon along with some of Marilyn’s delicious zucchini bread. So, we actually got out on the road about 10 AM

We went to about 4 little shops downtown Berea and all of us bought various and sundry little items from a mouse statue for John’s birthday to little soft animal plushies. Kay got a couple of things for her room like a pottery vase and faux stained glass decoration to hang in her window a farm scene with rooster and geese, colorful and bright. The clock went racing and we knew we had to be home by 12 to meet Marilyn who was using vacation time to join us. The post

office is new and very convenient to the Feldkamp home, so we mailed John’ s cards and gift from there.

Lunch at the house and then we went to visit the new St. Clare’s Church. Marilyn got the key and we went inside. The church is really wonderful consistent with the architectural style of the old church, roof lines, orientation on the property, and inclusion of many of the “furniture” of the old church. The oak trees on the property that had been sacrificed for the building were used to make the altar, the pulpit, the accessory chairs to supplement the pews from the old church. The ceiling is made of wood too and soars above the church floor. There is considerably more natural light in the new sanctuary as well. We really thought it was a huge success and congratulated Bill and Marilyn on their hard work in raising the money for the edifice. It’s about half paid for now and there are several grant requests still out which may help to defray more of the debt.

Our next “field trip” took us out to Bill and Marilyn’ s old house in the country so that Pat could see it. We were surprised to find the young couple who now own it at home with their wonderful pet goats! The female is so soft and lovely and loving as well. However, she is a handicapped critter since her back feet were frostbitten at birth and had to be amputated. Beth wraps her feet everyday with bandages and prostheses to help her be mobile. She seems to do pretty darned well too. She is white with brown areas on her head and ears. Jasper, the male, was black and full of himself such a cutie, rambunctious and impish. We really enjoyed our visit with them and Pat was impressed with how pretty the “plantation” really is.

More shopping in the Old Town section of Berea and then we came home to get Bill so we could take them out to dinner as part of the thank you present. We ate at Columbia’s Mountain Grille and the food was delicious. The dogs got tasty treats when we got home as well since the portions were enormous. Now we are going to pack the car up in preparation for an early departure in the morning. We have decided to go home via Knoxville, Maggie Valley, and then I-95. We are really sick of the Atlanta run.

What a wonderful visit!