Au Canada - Days 2, 3, and 4

Wendesday, June 24 - Baddeck, NS

Here we are at the entrance to the Cabot Trail. I have finally gotten the opportunity to blog, so here goes! I will not attempt to place any pictures here on the blog itself, because once again, I have a spotty internet connection.

On Saturday, June 20, we visited Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy. This is the area in which the highest recorded tides occur. We arrived at the park at low tide, which you will see in the pictures taken here. We visited the mud flats, Diamond Rock and Flower Pot Rocks. If you look at the pictures we took here, you can imagine how high the water level rises at high tide. In fact, there are signs here warning visitors about when they can descend to and walk along the ocean floor here. The tide rises so rapidly in this area that a person could get stranded once the tides begin to rise.

Here are the photos from Hopewell Rocks:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/AuCanadaDay2HopewellRocksNB?authkey=Gv1sRgCNWRxfHnzObNIw&feat=directlink

On Sunday, we left Hopewell and headed into Nova Scotia, bound for Halifax. We arrived in Halifax late Sunday afternoon, and just relaxed after the long drive. On Monday morning, we headed into Halifax at 8AM in order to catch the 9AM Grey Line bus tour of the city. We took the "Deluxe" tour on a double-decker bus, which took us through the city of Halifax, hitting all the historic points. The second part of the tour took us through the area of the city which was destroyed by a horrific explosion in Halifax harbor. At 9:05 on the 6th of December 1917, a French munition ship exploded in Halifax harbor, (Nova Scotia, Canada). This explosion was so vast that it killed over 2,000 people and completely flattened two square kilometers of northern Halifax. This was the greatest explosion of the Great war, and the largest man-made explosion until the dropping of the bomb at Hiroshima in 1945. As a result of this disaster, when the area homes and businesses were rebuilt, every building was constructed using stone, cinder block or brick, so as to prevent any similar disaster from causing so much damage.

From here, we visited the cemetery where 209 of the bodies recovered from the Titanic disaster are buried. The gravestones here are arranged in the shape of the bow of a ship. Many of the stones have no names inscribed on them, because the bodies were never identified. Some of the identifications weren't made until 50 years after the Titanic sank, when DNA identification was available to match the victims to families. In all, our tour took 3 hours, and was very interesting and informative.

Here are the photographs from Halifax:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/AuCanadaDay3HalifaxNS?authkey=Gv1sRgCKPxtPWLyt_OvAE&feat=directlink

On Tuesday, we spent the day visiting Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg. On the way to Peggy's Cove, we stopped at the Memorial to the Swissair Flight 111 crash, which occurred about 7 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia on September 2, 1998. At Peggy's Cove, we were met by 8 tour buses, which had just let their passengers off to walk the streets of Peggy's Cove. There are only about 5 roads in Peggy's Cove, and we only drove on one - the one where all the bus passengers were walking. The buses let the passengers off at the Visitor's Center, and they walked up to the Light House parking lot, where the buses were waiting to pick them up. These people were like cattle being driven down the road - they would not move to the side of the road so that cars could pass. We practically had to run them down before they would move over.

From Peggy's Cove, we drove on to Lunenburg. This was quite a quaint town to visit. There are many little shops and lots of restaurants there, and the food was excellent at the little restaurant we chose for lunch. We all ate seafood, which tasted like it had just come off the boat. While sitting in the restaurant, I noticed a tall ship moored in the harbor named "Picton Castle". I photographed the ship because I recognized the name as the ship which a former Manchester High School student sailed on for about 6 months. His travels were chronicled in the Manchester Cricket, detailing his trip, similar to my blog!

Here are the pictures from Tuesday's travels:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/AuCanadaDay4PeggySCoveLunenburgNS?authkey=Gv1sRgCOLG_uvqxcHiDA&feat=directlink

This morning, Wednesday, we left the Halifax area and traveled on to Cape Breton Island and the Cabot Trail. We are staying in the town of Baddeck (pronounced b'deck), at the Cabot Trail Campground. Tomorrow morning, we will tour the Cabot Trail (all of it, 195 miles), so be sure to check back for the details.

So long for now!

Au Canada - Day 1 - Campobello Island, NB

Friday, June 19 - Calais, ME
Today is the first recorded day of our travels with Charlie and Kathy Burch. We traveled out to Campobello Island, the summer home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This is truly a beautiful place! It was easy to understand why FDR referred to Campobello as "my beloved island". His parents, John and Sarah Delano Roosevelt, first came to the island in 1880, and loved it so much that they purchased 4 acres of land and built their "cottage" on it. FDR first traveled out to Campobello at the age of 1, in 1883. As a boy growing up, he spent his summers here, watching the local fishermen and learning to sail with his father. As he grew older and married, he continued summering on the island with his family, eventually purchasing a cottage next door to his parents. This became known as the Roosevelt Cottage. As you will see in the pictures, they did not live ostentatiously. There was no electricity and no telephone service on the island. Water was stored in tanks in the attics of the cottages and gravity-fed to the bathrooms. The climate here in the summertime is very mild, and was a great way to escape the heat of Boston and New York, which is where the first American businessmen came from who bought and built up most of the land here in the mid-1880's.

FDR contracted "infantile paralysis" (polio) here in 1921, at the age of 39. After five weeks, he was transported on a stretcher, across the bay to Eastport, ME, and was transported to New York for treatment. He only returned to the island three more times after that, in 1933, 1936 and 1939.

From the cottage, we traveled out to the tip of the island to East Quoddy point, where there is a lighthouse. We took several pictures of this spot, since it was another great sight. We did not venture all the way out to the lighthouse, as the tide was rising, and, at the rate of 5 feet per hour, we did not want to get stranded out there until low tide.

Tomorrow, we will travel into New Brunswick at St. Stephen, then proceed along the south coast to Hopewell Cape. This is where the highest tides in North America are recorded. Be sure to check back for pictures tomorrow night, or Sunday morning.

That's it for today's adventures.

Here's the link to the photo album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/AuCanadaDay1CampobelloIsland?authkey=Gv1sRgCIyd9JeHy-GmAg&feat=directlink

Potpourri

Tuesday, June 2 - random thoughts on a variety of topics

Since my last entry, things have been fairly busy around the new homestead. I've painted a couple more rooms, repaired an outside electrical outlet, helped wash windows and plant flowers in the window boxes we inherited, started to unpack boxes of stuff in the basement so that we can move down there, and also so we can find our tools! In addition, we've bought and hung several pictures, shopped for chairs to put in our living area (have not found anything, yet), and finished our list of address change notifications.

Today, I visited my urologist for my annual check-up, including the inevitable "prostate exam". Question - why do all male urologists have fingers like tree stumps? Yeowch! That was at 9AM this morning. This afternoon, I had a dentist appointment to fix a tooth I chipped a couple of weeks ago. Turns out I need to have two crowns done, so today, I spent 1-1/2 hours in the chair while he ground away at the two teeth needing crowns, plus the two teeth below those, which needed to be ground down to accomodate the crowns! Sheesh! He was drilling in there for 35 minutes! Thank goodness for novocaine! Here's a dental question: why do dentists start talking to you after giving you 4 shots of novocaine? Apparently, they've never tried to talk with a mouth full of novocaine. I mean, you can't move your lips, your tongue is numb so you can't form words that make any sense, and, even if you could, it's extremely difficult to talk when your mouth is full of devices like drills, suction tubes, gauze pads, fingers, etc. Add to that the fact that he had a dental student working in the office today, so he wanted her to observe and assist with the process. As a result, he spent so much time explaining the process to her, and why he was doing certain things, the novocaine started to wear off while he was drilling!!! Had to give me a couple more shots to finish up. I have to go back in a couple of weeks to get the permanent crowns put in. I can't wait!

Tomorrow, the dogs go to the groomer, K has a meeting at 8:30, and I WAS going for a haircut, but that will change. We will probably drive up to Kittery, ME to the Crate & Barrel outlet to look for a couple of items K wants for the house. It's supposed to rain tomorrow afternoon, so that should be an exciting drive.

Changing the subject, I've/we've become addicted to Subway! We are especially fond of the Spicy Italian footlong. At $5.00 a pop, you can't get a cheaper lunch for two that is both delicious and plenty to eat! Ours is loaded with pepperoni, Genoa salami, provolone cheese, and topped with lettuce, tomato, pickle and green pepper, then seasoned with oil and vinegar! Oh, yeah, I forgot the bread! We like the Italian herb and cheese bread, and we DO NOT get it TOASTED! I totally recommend this sandwich, or any $5.00 footlong at Subway. Great!!

That's it! I'm through rambling! The Sox are up 5 - 1 over the Tigers in the 7th and things are looking good tonight. Dice-K was his usual - walking batters, but then pitching his way out of jams. Look out, Yankees! Here we come!

We Are Moved!

Monday, May 25 - Memorial Day

Moving day has come and gone and we are happily ensconced in our new "digs" in Hamilton. Last week was an especially busy week for us. Chris took the week off to prepare for the move, while the rest of us continued the packing and moving of boxes to our new home. On Tuesday, the installers came and installed the hardwood flooring in our bedroom, and the carpeting in living/entertaining area in the downstairs. By Tuesday afternoon, we were able to start painting the downstairs area. We came in on Monday afternoon after the closing and primed some of the walls to get them ready to paint. C & K Painting was, once again for a short time, back in business. By Thursday afternoon, everything had been painted and was ready for the movers. On Friday morning, "Uncle Don" came in and installed a new door in the downstairs, and trimmed the other doors to fit after the carpeting was installed.

On Saturday morning the movers arrived to load the trucks and take everything over to the new house in Hamilton. Because Jen had done such a marvelous job of staging everything for this move, packing and labeling everything as to where, in the new house, it would go, the movers were able to do the whole job in 5 hours (which included 1 hour for lunch!). Once they were finished, all that remained was to unpack everything. We are still doing that!

Sunday was spent at the "old" homestead, cleaning and getting it ready for the "final walk-through" before the closing. This took most of Sunday to accomplish, but it was worth the effort.

Today, Memorial Day, was the day for the new owners of Ray Street to make their final walk-through before the close. I met them at 10AM this morning. I had dropped K off at Dunkin Donuts, where she met Aunt Gloria. They had coffee and then drove into Salem for a bit, waiting for a call from me to let them know that the walk-through was completed. That was done by 11:30AM, so K and AG returned to take some cuttings of perennials from our yard. AG wanted to do some planting at her condo in Revere, so we told her she was welcome to take some perennials from Ray St.

Finally, it was time for K and I to say goodbye to our home for the past 23 years. This was especially hard for K. Me, I've been ready to move on from here for the past 7 years, so I was psyched! I must say, though, that over the past few days I have been reflecting on the memories made on Ray Street. It's funny, but the good memories seem to be very easy to recall, whereas the "not-so-good" ones are really difficult to recall. In fact, I really can't say that I remember any of the "bad" memories. They seem to fade into insignificance over time, which is probably a good thing, eh? It's not good to dwell on the bad things or hard times.


So, tomorrow is the closing for Ray Street. The new owners seem truly excited to be taking ownership. They absolutely love the house, and I'm sure they will take good care of it during their tenure there. As for K and I, we, along with Chris, Jen and Aaron, are ready to start making new memories here in our new home, which, we hope, will become a FAMILY gathering place, just as 9 Ray Street was. We know we will be happy here. The house is beautifully restored; it has a great, big yard, and plenty of space for FAMILY gatherings.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for further updates from Hamilton. Also, K and I will be taking another trip to the Canadian Maritimes next month, so I will be blogging on that trip to keep you all informed.

Stay healthy! See you all on July 4th (if not before!).

Mother's Day, Moving, et al

Wednesday, May 13 - 10 days to "the move"!

It's been a while since my last post, eh? Things have been quite hectic here on Ray St. since then. This post will cover Mother's Day and a few miscellaneous items, so let's get started, shall we?

Mother's Day - We got the best surprise on Mother's Day from son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Lisa. I don't know if you can make out the cards on the right, here, but this is the card M & L gave Kathy for Mother's Day. The second picture, the open card, shows a "Pregnancy Test kit", which reads "Pregnant"! What a way to announce the coming arrival of our next grandchild! Leave it to Mike and Lisa to come up with this novel way to make "the announcement"! Lisa has an estimated time of arrival of Dec. 23, so it will be a Christmas present for all the family, that is, of course, assuming that the baby arrives as expected! Experience tells us that the birth of the first child rarely happens on the expected "due date". Anyway, we are all very happy for M & L, and Lisa's parents, Paul and Elaine, as this will be their first grandchild!

Next item on the agenda is "the move"! Ray Street is now officially a "disaster area", what with furniture and boxes stacked everywhere, ready for the movers to haul away to the "new house" in Hamilton.

It has been 23 years since we last moved, then from Salem to Beverly. Things have certainly changed over the years with regard to selling a house and moving into another one. For example, now the seller has to install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to code, then have the local Fire Prevention Bureau come in and inspect the premises to make sure that everything is "up to code". Did you know that if you have any smoke detectors 10 years old or older, they MUST BE replaced with new ones? I think I spent over $100 to purchase new smoke and CO detectors. The inspector came today, walked around and looked at the location of, and tested, every one of them. Then, he told me that the Certificate of Compliance was $50! Geez! Seems that every time I turn around, it costs me another $50 - 100. Oh well! It will certainly be nice to get into the "new" place. Actually, the "new house" is, in fact, 10 years OLDER than Ray Street. Some "new house", eh? But, it is in beautiful shape, well taken care of by the current owners. It also has a huge yard, fenced, and nicely landscaped. We are all so looking forward to the move.




Next week, C & J will take ownership at 2PM Monday. After that, we will start moving the tons of boxes we have into the house. The workers will arrive on Tuesday to begin installation of a hardwood floor in our "apartment", and wall-to-wall in our basement. The painter will be working in the main house in the living room, and in Jen's office on the 2nd floor. Meanwhile, K and I will be painting the walls in our bedroom and living room, once the workers have finished. Our move-in date is May 23rd. Hope everything goes as smoothly as we expect. Once we are moved in and settled, K and I will close on the Ray Street house on Tuesday, the 26th.

Check back in about 10 days or so. If I have any time, I will let you know how everything went with the move.

Back Home Again

Tuesday, April 28 - back in Beverly!

All good things must end, as the saying goes, and so it is with us. Our travels have finally brought us full-circle back to where it all began so many months ago. Be not disheartened, though, as the adventure continues. We will shortly be moving into a new "home" with son, Chris, daughter-in-law, Jen, and grandson, Aaron. This we are looking forward to with eager anticipation. K and I will have "our own space" in the new house, which is, in a word, gorgeous! At this time, we are all "busy beavers", getting the "old homestead" ready for the new owners, packing, trying to decide what to keep and where it will fit in the new house. Pretty exciting stuff. As another saying goes, "Life is good!"


Our return trip to Beverly brought is through some very interesting places, as you know (if you followed the "blog" regularly). I believe my last blog entry was from Tennessee, where we spent a couple of days. From there, we traveled east into North Carolina, stopping in Winston-Salem to visit an RV Dealer there. We next traveled to Virginia Beach to visit friends who own a B & B there (Barclay Cottage). On the way, we experienced a bit of difficulty with our "toad" (vehicle in tow). Actually, the problem was the tow bar. At one point, I looked in the left-side mirror and I could see my Odyssey!! That's NOT supposed to happen. As a result, we had to buy a new tow bar in Virginia Beach. We unhooked the Odyssey in Emporia, VA, and K drove it the rest of the way into Virginia Beach, while I drove the motor home (about 100 miles). Here's a picture of the new tow bar:


I may not have any new posts for a couple of weeks, due to the fact that we will be very busy preparing for the "move", which happens on May 23. After that, be sure to check back for news on the move, the new house, and/or anything else that comes up!

Weekend in Tennessee

Monday, April 20 - Winston-Salem, NC

We had a great weekend on Tennessee! We arrived at "The Dell" RV resort at about 12:30PM, and, after being led to our lots, settled in, then we all headed out to do some sightseeing. Little did we know that this was the first of two "Rod Runner" weekends in Eastern Tennessee. The traffic was horrendous! It took us about one hour to cover the two-mile trek down US 441 through Pigeon Forge! We did get to see quite a number of "vintage" automobiles, some beautifully restored, some in the process of being restored. We also got to see a few "home-made" vehicles, which were quite interesting, to say the least.

Once we made it through the traffic tie-up, we stopped in to the Gatlinburg Visitor's Center to get information on what to see and do in the area. We decided to take a short (11 mile) scenic loop, which would take us up into the Smokies, where we could see actual homes which date back into the late 1700s/early 1800s. See the web album for these photos.

The weather on Sunday was not very cooperative (rain most of the day). We started out by attending Mass at a local Catholic Church in Pigeon Forge, TN (the home of Dolly Parton). After Mass, we picked up the Burch's and Desmet's back at the resort, and headed down the road for breakfast before starting the days touring of the area. We breakfasted at the "Apple Barn", a noted restaurant, where they served us a basket of apple muffins and apple fritters, with a couple of dishes of apple butter - delicious! Immediately after breakfast, we again headed out into the traffic, which had subsided quite a bit since Saturday afternoon. This time we had decided to take a longer scenic route in the hopes of seeing some wild life along the way! However, all we managed to see was a couple of wild turkeys and a few Canadian Geese. It was a very scenic trip, though, and we all enjoyed the scenery despite the constant drizzle.

Upon returning to the resort, the girls decided to go shopping at the local "outlet mall", such as it was, while the guys stayed back to "nap"! Later on, we all got together at the Burch's coach for a wonderful, delicious dinner.

This morning, K and I packed up and left Tennessee, headed for Winston-Salem, NC, to visit an RV dealer in the area, whom we met in Perry, GA last month at the FMCA convention (www.billplemmonsrv.com). We arrived in Winston-Salem at about 2:45PM, met with the dealer and went over a few items, then we parked the coach and headed down into Winston-Salem to do some scouting of the area. We were not able to get any photographs in W-S, so don't look for any. Dinner back at the coach. Tomorrow morning we will head east to Virginia Beach, where we will visit with the LaFond's. On Wednesday morning we will begin the 13-hour trip north to MA. Don't know when we will arrive in Beverly - will either be late on Wednesday, or during the day on Thursday.

That's all for this entry. Be sure to check the web album.

Here's the link to today's web album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/WeekendInTennessee?feat=directlink