The Happiest Place on Earth

Our next stop after Savannah was Orlando where we spent 2 days at Disneyworld and Epcot. Darcy was such a trooper. We stood in lines for hours where just about everyone else was under 3 feet tall and dressed in either princess or pirate costumes and the stroller parking lots were packed. I didn't totally embarrass him by wearing the mouse ears but I really wanted to. I was disappointed that we couldn't get into Peter Pan and they don't have Mr.Toad's Wild Ride in Orlando. Because we were there just after Thanksgiving, it was crowded but we did get to all the big attractions (Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean). It was great fun but we were glad to finally get to Fort Myers, unpack all the boxes and put our feet up for a while. We have a condo in a golf community (so Darcy is in heaven with unlimited golf) and the sunsets out of living room window are beautiful. Everyone except Chris and Brooke will be here for Christmas and we can hardly wait. We are stocking up on beer and snacks.

Our Time in Charleston and Savannah, Y'All

I just went back to the post I did yesterday. Wow! How bad am I at this computer stuff? I don't know how I managed to post the pictures twice and I don't know how to fix it. The kids will help me when they visit at Christmas. When I was describing our time in Williamsburg, I forgot to mention the drive along the Colonial Highway from Jamestown through Williamsburg to Yorktown. We thought Massachusetts and Virginia were beautiful, but that drive along the rivers with trees still showing some of their fall colors and forming canopies over the road was spectacular. From Williamsburg, we drove to Charleston where we had an apartment in an historic house in the French Quarter. We walked miles learning about the history of the city during the American Revolution and the Civil War. We also toured the Slave Market where domestic slaves were bought and sold. We are both big fans of Pat Conroy so of course we had to do the "South of Broad" tour. Charleston is full of beautiful and varied architecture. Food is also a big part of the Charleston experience so we had to try fried green tomatoes, okra gumbo, collard greens and of course, fried chicken. It is no wonder we have put on a few pounds. After a quick tour of the Citadel, we headed for Savannah. We have been here three days and have done all the walking tours of historic Savannah. The city is laid out in a grid of squares. Each one is a park, usually dedicated to either a revolutionary or civil war hero and surrounded by historic houses, churches and civic buildings with all different kinds of architecture. We read "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" so a tour of the Jim Williams house was must. You can't come to Savannah and not go to Paula Deen's restaurant, y'all! Reservations are required even for lunch at 2:00. Tomorrow we are on the road again heading to Orlando for an appointment with a certain mouse.

An American History Buff's Paradise

Even though we stayed in Alexandria, VA for 5 days, took the metro into Washington, DC every day and walked for miles, we still didn't see everything we wanted to. Seeing the Smithsonian Museums was on the top of both of our "bucket lists" so this was a dream come true. Because each museum is huge, we took the "highlights" tours whenever we could. It was impossible to see everything but at least we saw the most important exhibits. We were so lucky that there was a Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Museum of American Art. Anyone who was ever in Darcy's office knows how much he admires Rockwell so seeing originals was fantastic. We toured the Museum of American History, the Museum of American Art, the Newseum, the Capital, the Archives (saw one of the original Magna Cartas and the Declaration of Independence), the Natural History Museum, the White House, Arlington Cemetary, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. Darcy went to the Air and Space Museum while I toured the National Gallery. It is no wonder we were exhausted when we left. We decided to drive to Mt. Vernon to see George and Martha Washington's estate and tour their house. It was beautiful. Our next stop was the triangle of Jamestown (the first English settlement in North America), Williamsburg (where the Rockefellers donated land to build a replica colonial settlement) and Yorktown (where Cornwallis surrendered and the Revolutionary War was basically over). We love all the history we have been learning probably because we are a couple of relics ourselves. The next stop was Charleston and now we are in Savannah. I will leave them for the next blog.

Our New England Adventure

We left St. Margaret's Bay and headed to Annapolis Royal to see the other side of Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. We thought it was windy in Peggy's Cove but was that nothing compared to the wind we had in Annapolis. We even had a little snow near the Bay of Fundy and couldn't get to the border fast enough. Concord, Massachusetts was out next stop. We missed their fall colors by about 2 weeks and it was rainy and cold but that didn't stop us from touring the area. I loved it there - all the trees, historic homes and quaint towns. Darcy was so patient letting me tour museums and homes of Thoreau, Emerson, Alcott and Hawthorne. We even went to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to see where all of them are buried. We saw the sites in Concord and Lexington where the American Revolution started and we toured the Paul Revere and Minutemen Museum along the route he took from Boston. These sites and most of the others we visited are run by the National Park Service. The rangers are full of interesting information and love their jobs. We also spent 2 days following the Freedom Trail starting at the Boston Common and ending at Bunker Hill. We learned so much about the American Revolution I thought our heads would explode. On the rainy days we drove all around the areas where Elizabeth worked and lived. From Concord we headed west to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where Elizabeth got her masters. It is a beautiful campus and cute college town but the football team was playing that day and the traffic was unbelievable. I wish she could have been with us. The next stop was Gettysburg where we toured their enormous museum and drove all around where the battle took place. Now we are staying in Alexandria, Virginia. This is perfect. It is only a ten minute walk to the subway and 20 minutes to downtown Washington DC. We have been walking miles and trying to see as much as we can but I will leave for the next post.

Heading South

Darcy and I left Toronto at the end of September and joined up with sisters, Patty and Sandy, for our annual trip to Ottawa to help celebrate Aunt Do's birthday. Darcy had not been to Ottawa since our cross country trip in 1975 so he enjoyed touring the parliament buildings, library and peace tower. My sisters and I are so shallow. We prefer to see the National Gallery and shop in the Byward Market. It is always fun to spend time with our Ottawa relatives

Quebec City was our next destination. The fall colors were beautiful. We stayed just outside the old city and took a wonderful walking tour by a very knowledgeable francophone guide. On advice from cousin Elaine we had lunch at anciens canadiens (pea soup, tourtiere and sugar pie). It was fantastic. From Quebec City we headed to PEI where we spent four days at a golf resort on the very east side. The weather was a little windy and rainy but Darcy managed to get in a couple of rounds of golf. The rest of the time we drove back and forth on the island just enjoying the scenery. September is the Pumpkin Festival in PEI and there are pumpkins everywhere. We realized when we go to Nova Scotia that pumpkins are popular everywhere in the maritimes. They decorate their yards and porches with them and even make scarecrow people with pumpkin heads. Darcy was very patient while we were in PEI and let me visit everything "Anne", Lucy Maud Montgomery's Museum and birthplace. Our last Canadian destination has been St. Margaret's Bay, just south of Halifax. We rented a coach house and our window looks out on the bay. There are sailboats and the trees with the beautiful fall colors come right down to the water. It has been a little cool, windy and rainy but that has given us chance to rest up, do some reading, get some office work done and do lots of driving. We have put miles on the minivan touring the south shore, Peggy's Cove, Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Shelburn, Birchtown, Wolfville, Kentville. There are so many quaint towns and the fall colors are beautiful. We have also spent some time in Halifax where our favorite tourist spot was the Alexander Keith Brewery tour. It was fun and we were definitely the oldest tourists there and the only ones who did not have to show ID. We also did some serious touring like the Maritime Museum, the Black Cultural Museum, the Loyalist Museum in Shelburn, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia where they have a Maud Lewis exhibit including her "little painted house" that they recently moved to the gallery. Now we are busy getting the boxes repacked. We leave Saturday and will spend the weekend in the Annapolis valley and the Bay of Fundy to see the tides. Then we start heading south.

Our Trip to Europe

I have tried 3 times to get this blog done and have been having nothing but trouble with the website. If it doesn't work this time, I give up. Darcy and I, together with our wonderful Toronto friends, Trevor and Brenda Green, left for London September 3 and that was the beginning of a very hectic 21 days. We got up early every morning and went until late every night, trying to see everything we could. The first thing we did when we arrived was go to Abbey Road. So now Darcy can cross that off his bucket list. We spent the next 3 days trying to see all the famous tourist sites - Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (I have attached a picture of that), Thames River cruise, Tower Bridge and Tower of London and Billy Elliott. My favorite was seeing the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. We also took the train to Windsor to see the castle. Unfortunately the Queen was not there to receive us so we had lunch at a wonderful pub (like we did every day) where we always tried their meat pies and banger.

Then we took the Eurostar under the channel to Paris. What a great surprise we had when we arrived at our hotel so find we had a view of Eiffel Tower. So every night we had our nightcap on the balcony watching the lit Tower. We did all the usual tourist things while in Paris - Notre Dame, Montmarre, the left bank, Musee d'Oursay, Champs Elysee, l'Arche de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur and, of course, the Louvre. Two hightlights was seeing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre and doing a bike tour of Versaille. The tour involved riding bikes to the metro in Paris, getting them on the train in 7 seconds, riding to Versaille, buying lunch at the outdoor market and then eating on the banks of the Grand Canal. I have included the picture of Darcy with the baguettes in his backpack. (Please excuse my terrible french spelling.)

After 4 wonderful days in Paris our tour bus picked us up and took us to Trier, Germany to start our river cruise. We spent 7 days cruising the Moselle, Rein and Main Rivers. We toured many quaint towns along the rivers and saw lots of vineyards, churches and castles and ate sausages and drank beer at every one.

We docked at Nuremberg and we were taken by bus to Prague for the last 3 days of our trip. Prague was wonderful and one place, besides Paris, that we want to come back to some day. There is so much history, architecture, music, shopping and food. We just scratched the surface. I have included a picture of the astronomical clock in one of the squares. We sat at one of the outdoor cafes, having goulash, watching the clock as it struck the hour. What a spectacle.

We had such a great time with Brenda and Trevor and are already planning our next trip together.

Our Bags Are Packed

After we left South Dakota, we made our way to Ontario through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. The highlight for Darcy was a visit to Lambeau Field in Green Bay. We also did a very Wisconsin thing and tasted cheese curds. They are delicious. After a night in Sault Ste. Marie where we visited the locks which are much larger than the one on the Canadian side, we arrived in Parry Sound to spend a few days with Kathy and the girls. A dream came true for Darcy as he was able to visit the Hall of Fame of his boyhood hero, Bobby Orr. We finally arrived in Toronto the middle of August with plans to really tour the city. We had one of the best times ever and didn't do any touring. We spent 10 days partying with the kids, playing games until 2 a.m., enjoying the occasional beverage and going to 2 Blue Jays games. This afternoon we leave Toronto with our wonderful friends, Brenda and Trevor Green, on our London/Paris/German River cruise/Prague trip.

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Blogger has been giving me trouble. It won't let me download my pictures to the blog. So I am trying again.

Our South Dakota Adventure Continues

We, and thousands of Harley Davidson riders, stayed in Keystone, SD near Mount Rushmore. We were surprised at how much there was to see at the monument. It took us 3 hours to see everything and I took about 40 pictures from all different angles.

The four presidents are carved out of the granite of the Black Hills. The original plan was to have western heroes but the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum. convinced the park officials to have presidents. At first he was just going to have Washington and Lincoln but then Borglum added Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt, whom he admired and was a close personal friend. There was also controversy and opposition to the monument by the Lakota indians. Where the monument is located is sacred land to the Lakota tribe. As a response, they decided to build their own tribute to their hero, Crazy Horse. The Ziolkowski family has been working on it since 1948 and because of lack of funds and refusal of government assistance, it will probably take them another 50 years to complete it.

We left Keystone and on our way across South Dakota we stopped at the Badlands National Park. It is located in the White Hills of South Dakota and was called the Badlands because it was desolate, dry and very difficult to move across. They are spectacular hoodoos and carved out hills and a real sight to see, reminds us very much of Drumheller.

We are spending 2 days in Sioux Falls, SD so Darcy can get some work done. It has been so hot here (the hottest was 34) that we were happy to spend a couple of days in an air conditioned hotel room. Now we are heading east and planning on being in Parry Sound by the weekend.

Leaving Billings we were part of a motorcycle caravan that grew to hundreds by the time we got to South Dakota. The reason we had trouble getting a hotel reservation near Mount Rushmore was because of the annual Sturgis, SD Motorcycle Rally. There were thousands of Harley Davidsons and other than the Japanese tourists, we were the only people touring these sites who did not have tattooes. I have included a picture of the parking lot at the Crazy Horse Memorial so you could get an idea of how many of them there were.

On the way to Mount Rushmore we stopped to see where the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Custer's Last Stand happened which is now on the Crow reservation. The army used white grave markers where the soldiers and civilians died. You can see them scattered around the hills. The black tombstone in the picture is Custer's. The bodies of the indians were taken away by their tribes and so one large monument was placed on the site to remember those who died. The story was told to us by a park tour guide from the Crow Reservation who gave us a very emotional talk about members of her family who died during these battles.

Then we headed to Keystone SD where we stayed 2 days and toured Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial but more about that tomorrow. It is going to take me some time to decide which of my 50 pictures of Mount Rushmore I should include.

On the road again

We got back on the road August 3 starting our trek east. We spent 3 days in Medicine Hat visiting Writing on Stone Provincial Park, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park and Darcy got a round of golf in at Desert Blume.

Writing on Stone is about a 2 hour drive south and west of Medicine Hat. We got to tour the restricted area where there are petroglyphs and pictographs some up to 1,000 years old. Some are as recent at the early 1900's. We learned that it is a sacred place where Blackfoot today still go for their vision quest as their ancestors did 1,000 years ago. It is speculated that some of the petroglyphs are a recording of their conquests or success in hunting. It is well worth the trip if you get a chance.

Cypress Hills is about 45 minutes south east of Medicine Hat on the Elkwater Lake. It is a beautiful lush oasis surrounded by the Alberta and Saskatchewan prairie. We hiked up to Horseshoe Canyon where we got a beautiful view of the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana. The wildflowers were spectacular.

We crossed the border into Montana Saturday and spent the night in Billings on our way to Mount Rushmore. We had no idea when the border guard asked why we are going to Mount Rushmore during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that we would be travelling to the same place as thousands of motorcycle riders. More about that later.

Back in Calgary

After we left Vancouver Island, we took about a week to get to Calgary with stops in Vancouver, Oliver and Kookanusa. Dan and Terri graciously offered their house in Calgary while they are spending the summer at their lake house in Kookanusa. This is a picture of the front of their lake home and behind is Lake Kookanusa. We have spent the last few weeks trying to get our personal things organized (doctors' apointments, licence renewals, travel insurance, car repairs, new wills, blah, blah,blah), seeing friends and helping to take care of Darcy's mom. He has work to do for some of our clients and you can tell by the condition of the office, things could be going better. He assures me that everything wll be done by August 3, our Calgary departure date. We hope all of you are having a great summer and just a word of warning to our eastern relatives. We will be spending the months of August and October in Ontario and hope to see all of you then.

Ending our westcoast adventure

Again we can't believe that we have been here in Qualicum Beach for a month. We are getting ready to catch an early ferry tomorrow morning and as usual we are scrambling to get things done. We put lots of miles on the minivan travelling from Victoria to Courtney/Comox but there is so much we didn't see.

Meg came from Vancouver for a weekend. We picked up Kelly and had her for a sleep over before she had to get back to Shawnigan Lake to study for finals. Patty took the train up from Sooke and we had a great time just wandering around QB and Parksville for a couple of days. We travelled down to Victoria so Darcy could play golf with Bruce at Bear Mountain. We spent a few days with him and got a chance to see Katie and Blair and we took the ferry to Pender Island to visit with Jen and John. On our way back up the island, we stopped for lunch in Sooke with Gus and Patty. Cousin Andrea had a blessing ceremony for her new house in Crofton. We also have clients/friends in QB and Bowser who we have been lucky enough to see.

In between the visiting with friends and family we were able to get in lots of hiking and touring. I have included some pictures of the highlights: the giant hockey stick in Duncan, Rathtrevor Beach, Parksville with a beautiful long beach; Cathedral Grove where there are some of the oldest trees on the island; cascading falls at Englishman River; the quaint railway station at Qualicum Beach.

Our Westcoast Adventure Continues

It is almost the end of our month in Kelowna. We can't believe how fast these weeks have flown by. I have attached a picture of the cute house we are renting. We have come full circle. We are back in a 900 square foot house with no dishwasher and every week we have to go around the corner to the laundromat.

Most of the hiking we have done here has been of the urban variety which includes lots of stopping for coffee and reading. We have managed to get out a couple of times. We drove to Kettle Valley and saw the 14 trestles built during the early 1900's for the silver mines, burned down in the 2003 fire and finally rebuilt. From the top there is a beautiful view of Kelowna and the Valley. We also hiked in Mission Creek Park, a beautiful park in the heart of the city. Look closely at the picture I took at Turtle Pond. The log on the right is covered with about 40 sunbathing turtles.

One of our favorite things to do in Kelowna is eat and we will spend the last week here visiting some restaurants that have been voted "The Best in the Valley".

Tuesday we head to Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island where we hope to see lots of friends and family and do lots of beachcombing.

We are still alive and well

WOW!!! Has it really been two months since my lasy blog? After a week in Palm Springs with Bruce, the three of us left for Napa. We had three wonderful days there. Because Bruce had been therebefore, he acted as our tour guide. (Many thanks to Darcy for being our D.D.) There are hundreds of wineries in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys so we just scratched the surface. We visited Darioush, a beautiful winery done in a Persian style with every piece designed and built in Iran and brought to Napa. It was there that I had my first taste direct from the cask. Fantastic! Sterling was one of the other wineries we visited. A tram took us up to the winery which has a mission style design and the view of the valley from their veranda was oustanding. One of the highlights was our visit to Rafanelli, a small estate winery in Sonoma. We got to see where the casks are stored and the owner brings in opera singers to entertain his special guests. Their wine was probably the best we tasted. If you get a chance, call ahead for an appointment to see this beautiful spot. I almost forgot to mention the wonderful food. If you visit the area, you have to go to Mustard, one of the restaurants owned by the very talented Napa chef, Cindy Pawlcyn. Aftger eating there, you will be inspired to buy one of her cookbooks.

We left Sonoma about the 15th of March and we made our way back to Calgary through Oregon, Washington, Oliver and Vancouver. Darcy spent the month of April doing tax returns and I kept his mom company. After a very busy month we were glad to get back on the road. We have rented a tiny house in Kelowna where we will stay for the month of May. Right now Darcy is in Palm Springs on his annual Dewey Dinkman golf trip. I have had three wonderful days cardmaking with my friend, Jan, who was visiting from Calgary.

Once Darcy is back from P.S. we will start exploring the hiking trails in the Okanagan Valley.