Bougiegrnk's Travels

Quick jaunt to San Antonio

2012-02-12T05:57:00.000-08:00

We have been to San Antonio many times over the years, so we had no intention of visiting again. However, something came up that we couldn’t pass up on.

Robin’s brother Chris is an over the road trucker. Most of the time our paths don’t cross or even get anywhere near each other. However, Chris called and indicated he was on his way to San Antonio and would be spending the evening after loading up before he launched the back haul. San Antonio is only about 180 miles from Port Aransas, basically 3 hours, so we filled up a couple of thermos glasses of hot coffee and hit the road.

It was a nice drive on very rural Texas highways. We have noted that while the population in Texas is huge, the size of the state is even huger, so most of the state when we drive is empty. The highways in Texas generally are really nice. Most of the time, even though there never seems to be any traffic at all, the highways are often 4 lanes and divided – even when they are two lanes the shoulders are nicely paved most of the time and wide enough to actually act as an additional lane.

We had a nice couple of hours visiting with Chris, taking him on a whirlwind tour of the Alamo and the famous San Antonio Riverwalk. Dinner at Joe's Crab Shack allowed time for nice conversation – catching up on family stuff and learning about what is currently going on with his kids – Jonathan and Breanna. He has only been doing the over the road thing for a little while, so we have never seen his rig before. We got a nice tour of the rig, and learned what it is like to do pretty much what we do in Colectiva – just on a very tight schedule! While a bit tighter than Colectiva, Chris has pretty much everything he needs to survive in that massive cab - a nice bed, a stereo system, a fridge, microwave, crockpot, TV and all kinds of nooks and crannies to store food and other stuff to occupy the non-driving time. The only thing missing is a shower - that is what the truck stops are for!

The truck stops are another interesting piece of the puzzle. As we toured Chris' truck/home, we gazed out the front windows of the cab at the activities carrying on in the parking lot around all the parked trucks. I know that truck driving is an old profession, but not nearly the oldest. However, active members of the oldest profession were making the rounds of the trucks attempting to make new friends and influence people - didn't see that any particular new friendships were consummated that day, but I am sure there were - apparently the economy in truck stops is alive and well!

The only unexpected thing that we encountered on our quick trip was something I haven’t done in over 20 years – I ran the Saturn out of gas! I never knew for sure what kind of range I had in the Saturn once the low fuel light comes on. I have run with the low fuel light on for quite a while in the past and when I filled up, the Saturn only took about 14 gallons – supposedly it has a 15 gallon tank. Well, the light came on about 40 miles outside San Antonio – I was kinda watching the fuel prices and figuring that once I got into the center of the city, completion would give me a bit of a break. I actually finally pulled into a Shell station where I couldn’t see the fuel price signage from the street, saw it was a couple cents higher than I thought it should be, and started to pull out of the station – and when I was about 20 feet from the pumps and emerging onto the street, the engine died! I was on a steep apron with the front of the car a lot lower than the back – so I let the car roll onto the street, figuring that on level ground I would be able to get the Saturn started again so I could pull back into the Shell station and fill – wrongo! I ended up flipping on the flashers and Robin ended up going into the station to try to get a can full – after all we were only 40 feet from the pumps. Well, she got it done without really any problem – they had a can they used for that purpose – but I will never hear the end of it I am sure!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: It was a spur-of-the moment change in our plans for the day. I knew it would be nice to see Chris and couldn't pass up the chance with him being only 3 hours away. Since when he's on the road, he can't use the truck for personal purposes ie. being a tourist or visiting people, it's up to friends and family to go to him! So we went. Glad we did...it's fun to learn about the truckers life and Chris's experiences. Not to mention just being with my brother.

There were tons of tourists at the Riverwalk. We wanted to have dinner but everyplace had at least a 30-minute wait. We got on the list at a Mexican restaurant but after waiting for 15 minutes, the wait was still as long as when we arrived, so we left. We drove to a Chili's - a 30-minute wait. A steak place had no wait but high prices. Joe's Crab Shack had a short wait so we stuck with it. The food sure tasted good after all that! It's a tough town to dine out in on a Friday night, I guess. That glass of Kendall Jackson helped tremendously! TTFN.

Music to our ears!

2012-02-11T04:52:00.000-08:00

Living in Vegas, and given the economic Armageddon, I haven't heard the sound of a hammer or a saw or a pneumatic nail gun in forever - seems like at least 4 or 5 years. Well, in Port Aransas, the oh so pleasant sounds of construction work fills the air - and it is a welcome sound.

Don't get me wrong - signs of the depression are everywhere on Mustang Island. Dozens of what were intended to be huge, grandiose developments sit in a state of arrested development - large welcoming signage, some initial amenities like a pond or walking paths with fencing - and then maybe two or three actual homes built with dozens of empty lots all around them, many with "For sale" signs leaning or fallen and laying on the ground - you all know what I am talking about because you see them where you are - there are just more of them here. The dreams that were fueled by the overheated economy and easy money, and just started a year or two early.

But in Port Aransas, there are buildings being built - residential buildings! Not the huge developments like I talked about above, but a lot of infill lots in areas where development had been much further along and maybe a handful of lots remained vacant. And it is more than just one or two - in the areas that we walk daily, there are 8 to 10 homes under active construction - it's nice! As we take our walks, we hear hammers and saws and nail guns, the "beep, beep, beep" of the trucks delivering lumber and trusses backing up - the mess in the streets from construction vehicles spreading dirt and rocks - the sounds are all around us.

When Vegas was in the go go days of intense construction, I used to think all those sounds and impacts were annoying. Now I realize how much I missed them. They are truly music to my ears.

Talk to you soon!

More fun in PA!

2012-02-09T05:16:00.000-08:00

Last night was bingo night. Every week they do a low stakes (10 cents for each regular game and then 25 cents for the final coverall game) bingo game in the RV park office for any of the guests who want to play. When we play, we only hope to at least win one of the games so that we come out close to even. Well, not only did Robin and I each win a game, but Robin won the final cover all game! I guess we will be even for our entire visit - we may even have funded our super bowl losses!

The weather remains exceptional! Every day sees us with a walk on the beach, a bike ride, playing Farkle on the picnic table, or anything we can think of to do outdoors. Two years ago when we were here, it was heavy on the furnace every night. Although it was convenient because a propane company came through the RV park and filled your propane tank where you were parked (nice!), two years ago we had to fill the tank every week to keep the furnace going and the chattering teeth not going. This year, I am not sure we are going to even fill the tank once. This year is way better!

We are almost walking distance from the Port Aransas Community Theater. While it is not the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, we really enjoy live theater, so we took in Opal's Million Dollar Duck. It was a bit hokey, but the place was packed, and the local audience loved it - the laughs and applause were thunderous. My favorite part about the theater is the concession stand - being a theater that caters to seniors, they of course have to serve wine. But being a small theater that only runs a few days a week and a few months a year, they can't afford the liquor license. So, if you want a soda or candy, it will cost you a buck or two. But if you want wine, it's fee! Of course you are free to make a donation to the theater in the donation jar next to the bottle of wine if you want - and everybody does - apparently you can get around the laws against selling liquor without a license that way! We are lucky enough that a new play starts this week, so we will be fortunate enough to actually take in a couple performances while we are here!

We also lucked out in that the Garden Tour was going on again this weekend. Every January the Port Aransas Community Association sponsors the Garden Tour, an open house of local condos and houses. We didn't find out about it two years ago until it was already over. This year, we managed to take in the Tour, and had a great time seeing how people live it up on the Gulf Coast. All the properties seemed like they were set up to be Party Central, with the focal point looking out over the beach and the coast. Nautical themes abounded throughout all the properties - even the perfunctory Adirondack Chairs took on a nautical theme.

While a few of the houses were stunning, we have to admit that our favorites ended up being the two story condos in the high rises right on the beaches. The views were stunning from the 3rd and 4th floors. Our top pick was the condo sandwiched in-between the beach and the deep water channel, with views and balconies overlooking both, and with its own set of private boat slips - you could pick whether you wanted to oversee the beach, or watch ocean going vessels ply the channel, or head out into either on your own private vessel - fun!

Our daily geocaching outing took us on nearly 10 miles on our bikes today. Having treked through the brush, across the salt flats, and around and under a number of gazebos, we ended up at this fun cache titled "Lost Sole" - pretty accurate, and funny. title!

We ended the day taking in the East Texas version of Blue Grass. A local Italian restaurant on the North tip of Padre Island hosts a live Blue Grass band one night a week. 20 folk from the RV park shuttled over to the restaurant and had a great time - East Texas Blue Grass sounds much like the Blue Grass we listened to at the Blue Grass Festival in Anderson Alaska last year. Although I screwed up, so the woman and I arrived a half hour late (I thought the set time was 6:30 - turns out it was actually 6:00 - oops!), nobody held it against us, and we had a really good time.

Talk to you soon!

Fun in PA!

2012-02-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

By the way - yeah Eli!

Except for the days that are either very windy or rainy, every day brings a bike ride - of pretty much the entire island. Port Aransas lies on the Northern end of Mustang Island. Mustang Island spans from the Northern tip of the famous Padre Islands (North Padre to be exact) and the entrance channel to the Corpus Christi Bay. Our daily bike rides bring us right into direct contact with all the fun little aspects of the town, the island and its community.

Of course the ferry and the huge ocean going ships that pass through the narrow channel are as always a big attraction. It is interesting that the ferry crossing is considered part of the Texas highway system - no fee or anything - just get in line and one of the 6 ferry boats that hold about 30 cars apiece and run 24/7 - and you are across in no time. We don't know what it might be like during rush hour crossings, but we have never been more than 10 minutes or so in our crossings - except for the day that there were 3 or 4 large petroleum ships coming into the bay - making the ferries dodge and weave just to get across this several hundred yards.

There are several marinas in town, the largest being right down by the ferry docks. All the marinas in PA connect to the ocean rather than the channel or the bay. Apparently PA is all about the fishing, which is out in the Atlantic. Some of the fishing boats are really impressive. This particular vessel parked in the marina right in front of its owner's home, is actually taller than the three story dwelling that the owner lives in. Pretty cool!

There are natural areas and wetlands all around Port Aransas and on Mustang Island (as well as all the surrounding areas). We really like the PA Birding Center. This day we were welcomed by a huge flock of pure white Pelicans - we see the brown ones all over the place, but the pure white ones are striking. Robin thought that this massive flock looked like a cruise ship as we walked along the board walk. I wasn't so sure however - after all, it wasn't listing to the side, spilling fuel, and surrounded by rescue divers.

Sand sculpture is a big deal in PA. We won't still be here when this occurs, but the Port Aransas Sandfest in mid-April is going on its 16th year of glory. Sandfest is apparently even bigger than Spring Break - the masses descend upon PA to take in the competition and the related fun. Over 100,000 people try to flood this community of 3,000 - must be chaos! While we won't be here for the Fest, there is plenty of evidence of its influence in town - this massive sculpture sits just outside one of the local barley pop establishments.

Some sand artists are more capable than others, apparently. While searching for a cash near the very narrow ferry channel, I noticed this stack of rocks, many would call a Hoodoo, sitting atop a large boulder. We see these everywhere - Canada, Hawaii, Aruba, Alaska - anywhere there are rocks and people, there are these Hoodoos. Anyway, I noticed from afar that the rocks looked amazingly perfectly round. I wondered how long the builder searched to find such perfectly round stones. Curious, I approached, only to learn that these weren't stones - they were perfectly formed "sand" rocks. I guess when you are near the beach and you can't find the perfect rock you are looking for, you just make your own!

Finally, this was Niko's most favorite attraction in the town of Port Aransas. Why he was attracted to this particular fire hydrant I will never know - go figure!

Talk to you soon!

Geocaching milestone!

2012-02-05T05:20:00.000-08:00

We have been having a great time in Port Aransas! We are walking and biking every day - pretty much all day long. It is a bit foggy from time to time, and there can be a bit of a breeze off the water, but since it is so nice and warm, none of that really matters (except when the woman complains about having to bike into the wind!)

We have discovered geocaching by bike - since we don't have all the high tech stuff, we end up biking around a bit to get to the caches. Our hand held GPS unit does not know the roads, so it just gives us a direction and distance, and we peddle around the roads we have become pretty familiar with to find a good place to park our bikes and start our search. We have been having a great time - stopping at Moby Dick's to get the Low Carb Catch for lunch - a fabulous blackened Mahi Mahi with cole slaw and green beans prepared with onions and bacon - yummmmmmm! It is spectacular! (I am not sure why a piece of garlic cheese toast comes with the "low carb" catch, but Robin enjoys both hers and mine)

We found some very challenging and what we would consider "well done!" caches in the last few days. There is one very prolific gentleman that must have placed well over a hundred caches in the Port Aransas area. His caches alone have been keeping us very busy. And, some of his caches are just absolutely outstanding in terms of being cleaver, very well hidden and difficult to find. When you find one of his caches, you really feel like you have accomplished something.

While many of his fit the cleverness threshhold, like this one he named "Just another mindless cache" which you find in the empty dried skull hiding in the brush, the ones that are right in plain sight are fun. Like the road sign by the beach which has 4 inch round reflectors screwed into its wooden posts - and a hole has been drilled behind one of the reflectors, a canister slid into the hole, and the reflector attached to the top of the canister - unless you happened to grab each one of the reflectors to see if they might come off (which actually we did), you would never find this one, even though you might be looking right at it. Or the retaining wall build of vertical logs, where if you actually grab and pull out the right one of the retaining bolts, you will find it attached to the top of a canister that is the cache - again, unless you grab and pull each one of the retaining screws, you would be looking right at it but never find it.

Perhaps the most challenging one was on a small brush covered rise in the middle of the salt flats. As things like this will attract such stuff out in the middle of nowhere, this little island has become a local dumping ground. There is trash and old barbecue grills, and the one item that seems to be the most popular is the old worn out tire - there are several of them strewn about the island. Well, the clues to the cache location indicated it was in a tire. After scouring all the dead tires on the island, the women and I were about to give up. As I had been working on my second Diet Mountain Dew, I needed a rest room and given where we were, and on bikes, I knew there wouldn't be one in sight for some time. So I decided I really couldn't damage this island any more than the locals, and as I was standing there contemplating the Diet Mountain Dews, I spotted it - a very tiny camoflaged tube wired to and hanging from one of the branches of a dense bush - and yes, it was in a tire!

One of the more interesting locations was an actual artilery gun placement right near the coast that was active during WWII. While the site hasn't been preserved as a historical site, the foundations from the gun structure and related buildings are still clear and present.

We hit a geocaching milestone today. We found our 100th geocache! The website you use to find directions to the geocaches keeps track of your finds if you log them in, and we are celebrating the century mark - yippee!

We will start on our 2nd hundred tomorrow.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: It's perfect biking territory around here, the distances for visiting the places we want to go are manageable (you can get anywhere in town within about a 3-mile radius). The only downfall is the wind can get strong at times...we best enjoy when we're riding with the wind at our backs!!! It's a great workout when we aren't. Most days we're riding at lteast 10 miles a day. My marshmallow buns are becoming tauter! Gotta go to Bingo, TTFN.

Victoria Texas

2012-02-03T04:47:00.000-08:00

Robin's best friend from the early Vegas days now lives in a suburb of Houston. So when we get anywhere near the area, a visit with Kendy and Mike is a must.

We picked a location about half way between Houston and Port Aransas, and Robin and Kendy planned the get together. Apparently Mike had heard of Victoria Texas, but had never visited there, even though it is only about an hour and a half from where they live.

Mike's interest in Victoria stems from its history. The area was occupied as far back as the 1680's when the French established and operated a fort there, Fort Saint Louis. In the early 1700's, the Spanish established a mission there in their overall quest to dislodge control of Texas from the French. Over the decades and centuries, Victoria's economy has surged and dissipated, and while small by today's standards, the town vibrant and welcoming, and appears to have survived the current economic Armageddon rather well. In addition, because of its rich and long history, the town is full of old historic buildings and grand homes which have been blended well with the more modern development of the town.

Robin and Kendy decided to meet at the Texas Zoo. A local civic development despite the more global name, the Texas Zoo in Victoria was really a gem we didn't expect. Despite being a locally driven venture in a town of about 60,000, the Texas Zoo has an amazing variety of animals (even Bengal Tigers!), the displays are very neatly kept and are very compelling, and the animals are the healthiest looking that we have seen in pretty much any zoo we have ever been in. Of course the real attraction was just the nice, relaxing strolling of the grounds with Kendy and Mike.

After the Zoo, we drove around the town to check out all the historic grand homes. Just strolling the central part of the city confirms how affluent Victoria was in its early days. Huge Victorian homes are all over the place, as well as Greek Gothic construction with huge columns holding up the massive porticos. It leaves you with a feeling of the grand times this town has seen.
We grabbed a nice homey lunch at Rosebuds - a popular home cooking establishment right downtown just off the central plaza (a typical Spanish influence) in a turn of the century restored building. After lunch, we strolled the plaza where many historical markers stand. The corner of the plaza across from Rosebuds sports a display of the 6 National flags that have flown over Texas - which cannot be said by any other states in the Union. Who knows for sure whether any indigenous peoples ever flew a flag over the lands that they lived in, but beginning in the 1600's, the flag of France flew over Texas. In the 1700's, the Spanish flag took over prominence, followed by the Mexican flag when Mexico achieved its independence from Spain.

The mid-1800's saw the flag of the Republic of Texas flying proudly until 1845, when Texas was admitted to the Union. At that point, the 5th National flag, that of the United States of America, was flown. From 1861 to 1865, Texas joined in the cessation and for that brief time, the flag of the Confederate States of America flew over its people. With any luck, 6 will be enough!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: I'm so lucky to be able to get to TX every so often to see my friend Kendy, and her husband Mike. We will always be close, she was my guardian angel friend when we first moved to Vegas. Without her, I would have felt so much more alone those first few weeks. We learned our way around together. I could go on boring you with mushy details but suffice it to say, we'll always be close. We had a really nice day just being together, and hope to pass their way on the way back home. Bye for now.

Finally in PA!

2012-02-01T04:53:00.000-08:00

We finally made it to Port Aransas - it looks exactly like it did when we were here 2 years ago, except that some of the folk at Surfside RV Park aren't here to see us - although many of them are. The park is nice and full, which always makes for a vibrant scene.

The weather is clearly warmer than we experienced 2 years ago - it was in the mid-70's when we arrived. Looks like we will finally have the weather we originally expected on the Texas Gulf Coast. No frozen water in the morning for us anymore! And 2 years ago we had to have propane delivered each week because we had to run the furnace all night (and sometimes during the day!) But this year we came with a full propane tank, and it appears that may cover us for the whole month - only using it for the stove right now!

I have to head to the Corpus Christi International Airport in the morning - heading back to Vegas right off for a couple days for a board meeting. Can't wait to get back to the warmth!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: It is really good to be here, I've been looking forward to it. I could smell the ocean air on the way this morning as we got closer. Looking forward to some beach walks, biking, and eating fresh fish!!! TTFN.

Fun to find

2012-01-30T05:07:00.000-08:00

It is always fun to find some good signs. While we weren't able to get a picture of all of them - some were whizzing by before the camera lens could get itself ready. But some we were able to get a shot of.

In Dallas, all the signs were about football metaphors. My favorite was for Food One Grocery Stores - now, as a customer service - they are "Sacking" your purchases. The groans were non-stop!

I am not really sure if this chicken would really be all that good. Is this possibly a Paula Dean recipe or something?

On a sign advertising Black's Barbeque - allegedly the oldest barbecue restaurant in Texas, owned since inception by the same family - their signs say "You can smell our pits for miles" - is that really something to brag about?

And I am not really so sure what this is all about - in Bisbee Arizona - maybe they have a bunch of retired seniors in this town and because of all the steps, they stop to catch their breath or something? Not really sure.

Finally, in Eastland Texas, they are proud of their heritage of being the site of the last mob lynching in the State of Texas. But o you really'want to be known as the town who hung Santa?

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: My ramble hasn't been a ramble really, rather short. Interesting fact: in northeastern Canada, there are many homes with a star on them signifying Acadian ancestry. Here in TX there are also many homes with a star on them, but it signifies pride in the Lone Star State.

Niko has been wearing a cone since we left home. He had fun trying out new dog foods while Cali, Kona, and Rush were staying with us. Out of the 4 of them, not one ate his/her own food that week. Niko is on a special (expensive) hypoallergenic dog food because of skin issues. Well, because of eating the other dogs' food, he scratched a huge sore on his neck and wouldn't leave it alone. Hence the cone. And it's a PINK cone. It matches Dad's pink cell phone and pink life jacket! Glenn would say Niko is comfortable with his manhood! Bye for now.

Dallas / Fort Worth

2012-01-28T05:04:00.000-08:00

We really don't have enough time to do the Dallas / Fort Worth area justice, but we will try to use our time most judiciously.

The 2010 census puts the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex at about 6.4 million residents. The Metroplex covers over 9,000 square miles. It's about 20 miles or so from downtown Fort Worth to downtown Arlington to downtown Dallas - a huge metropolitan area that contain several distinct large, sky scraper dotted downtown areas.

We limited our visit to Fort Worth to the historic stockyard district. In the late 1800's, Fort Worth had become the place to sell your cattle. Cattle that would only attract $3 a head in Texas when shipped to the East Coast would command $30 a head. Those kinds of multiples are what drove the original cattle drives, and in the late 1800's, really drove the development of railroads connecting Texas to the Northeast.

In 1902, the founding fathers of Fort Worth were able to attract both Armour and Swift, the two largest beef processing companies in the US, to build processing plants in Fort Worth adjacent to the historic stockyards. The Fort Worth Stock Exchange, with financial assistance from Armour and Swift, built the Fort Worth Live Stock Exchange in 1904, and the Coliseum for live displays of livestock as well as the first location in the US for indoor rodeo action, in 1908. We toured both buildings, and also strolled through the Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame displaying 40 years of cowboys, rodeo clowns, and bulls known for their rodeo fame.

All the non-rodeo and stock holding structures have been turned into boot and western wear shops, restaurants, hotels and bars. While we weren't able to be in the District at night, you can tell that this would be a hopping place after the sun goes down. We did stroll through many of the shops and establishments just to get a fell, and one of the features I liked the best were in the boot and western wear stores. Each of the western wear shops, somewhere in the store, had a bar to belly up to and grab a beer as your significant other (female I mean) aggressively shopped - so much better than a lounge chair or a TV!

The last thing we took in before we headed out was the Fort Worth cattle drive. At 11 AM and 4 PM each day in the historic stockyard district, a dozen or so longhorn cattle are driven through the street in front of the Fort Worth Live Stock Exchange to thrill the crowds. Texas longhorns have a spread that can easily reach over 8-10 feet - they are impressive! This particular drive was impressive because tomorrow is the start of the Fort Worth Stock Show - 23 straight days of rodeo, entertainment and shopping. While we won't be able to take it in, it could never be better than Cheyenne Frontier Days, which we have taken in a few times.

We had reserved tickets at 10 the next morning to tour Cowboy Stadium. Here are a bunch of stats regarding Cowboy Stadium:

• Cost $1.2 billion (the City of Arlington only kicked in about $350 million and Jerry agreed to match that in order to get the land from the City - however Jerry decided he needed much more of a stadium than what $700 million could build, so he kicked in the rest - with side revenues from renting out the stadium for rodeos, monster truck shows, concerts and such, the entire cost of the stadium has been recovered in the 3 years it has been open)
• The two arches that form the structure are a quarter mile long - twice the size of the St. Louis Gateway Arch.
• The small speaker sets hanging from the ceiling are the size of a Cadillac Escalade. The big speakers are the size of an 18 wheeler truck.
• The screen is taller than a 7 story building, and cost more than the original old Cowboy stadium cost when it was first built.
• Cowboy stadium is the only stadium in the league where the press box is not on the 50 yard line - it is actually in the end zone - meaning more private boxes on the 50 for fans and more revenue for Jerry Jones.
• The door on the ceiling and the glass doors on either end of the stadium are the largest of their kind in the world. Both can be opened in under 10 minutes to make Cowboy Stadium and open air stadium if Jerry Jones approves it - by policy, the temperature must be between 60 and 80 degrees two hours before game time for the doors to be opened. I has been that way 2 to 4 games a year since the stadium opened.
• The NFL must approve the opening of the stadium. Once the doors have been opened, they cannot be closed during the game - even if it starts raining or snowing - NFL rules.
• The party decks at either end of the stadium allow up to 10,000 fans each to attend the game at $29 a ticket - standing room only here, but a lot of people get to party at the game for a reasonable price. There are 350,000 huge flat screen TV's scattered throughout the stadium, so nobody is going to miss the game. The only two places in the stadium without screens are the elevators and the bathrooms - management does not want impromptu private boxes being set up in either!
• Jerry bought the team for $150 million originally. It has been valued now at $1.8 billion.

We toured all levels of the stadium, saw the private party rooms, and actually got to tour both the Cheerleader locker room and the team locker room. The team's lockers are custom made from a dark hardwood that is imported from South Africa. The tunnel that encircles the field under the stands is a quarter mile around, and is large enough that two full semi's can drive around the tunnel side by side with no problem. There are large openings on each of the four sides where Jerry Jones, as well as field level box owners can park, with a separate entrance to the underground part of the stadium that avoids all the normal traffic heading for the adjacent parking lots.

We got to visit and walk around in Jerry Jones' Man Cave - where he sits and watches the game and when you see him shown on TV during a Cowboy game, this is where he is - it is right on the 50 yard line, and he has all the electronics he needs - several play review monitors, phones to the coaches, etc. This is where he escapes the folks he is entertaining when he wants to seriously watch the game. His private box holds 120 and is directly below his Man Cave - he has a private elevator that takes him back and forth - in fact his private elevator can access any level in the stadium should he want to - right down to his private indoor parking at field level.

The NFL was filming some pre-Super Bowl commercials on the field while we were there. We never got to figure out what the commercials were all about, but we do know that the commercials somehow feature chefs and cheerleaders.

One last interesting fact. There is a Walmart directly across the street from the stadium. When the Superbowl was held in Cowboy Stadium, Jerry Jones and the NFL attempted to negotiate with Walmart to close the store the day of the game and allow fan parking. Walmart refused and it seemed no amount of negotiation was going to make them budge. So Jerry finally told Walmart to tally up their total revenue from the day before the game, and Jerry would pay them that to close the day of the game - Walmart agreed to that. By the way, Jerry charged for parking in the Walmart lot and actually made a little money on the transaction - apparently that is so Jerry Jones!
Finally, we headed to downtown Dallas to visit the Grassy Knoll. The sixth floor of the building that used to be the Texas School Book Depository, the floor where Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly hid with his high powered rifle and assassinated John F Kennedy, now houses the Sixth Floor Museum. The Museum is an electronically narrated walk through the events of that fateful day. Using informational boards, photos, snippets of actual television footage from both the day and from the time period in general, you get to walk through a bit of what America and the world were like at the time Kennedy was elected, how his early Presidency played out, what the hopes were for the future, what other tragedies surrounded his assassination, and finally a very detailed picture of the events of the day as they unfolded.

Being on the actual sixth floor of the Depository, you could look out the window and see what Oswald saw - the path that the motorcade took down the streets of downtown Dallas - the infamous sharp left turn that allowed the back of JFK's head to be exposed to Oswald - the spot where the motorcade was as the shots rang out - a clear vision of the throngs of people that would have been watching from the Grassy Knoll and other adjacent viewing areas in Dealy Square.

The last topic the Museum dealt with was all the conspiracy theories that have continued to haunt the Kennedy assassination. The Museum explores the Warren Commission and its report, the allegations of shots that rang out from the Grassy Knoll including sworn testimony of witnesses, and all the conflicting findings of experts over the years. While the Museum seems to support the Warren findings, it clearly leaves open the possibility that all is not truly known about what all happened that day.

Well, while we weren't physically pooped at this point, we were pretty much emotionally drained. So we called it a day and headed back to Colectiva so the pooch could get his walk while it was still a little bit warm out.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: Touring the Cowboy Stadium was the highlight of my time in Dallas. Actually touching Tony Romo's locker was pretty exciting! I also enjoyed touching the turf on the field, although it would have been more fun to have been actually allowed out on the field! Wow, that stadium has everything...the icing on the cake would have been to be able to attend a game there. Too late in the season for that possibility.

Dallas/Fort Worth is an okay area of TX. It reminded me of the Midwest somewhat. Large buildings and lots of open space. Not real pretty, although it is winter and many trees are bare. Still cold here; I'm looking forward to heading south to the coast. TTFN.

Holy Crap!

2012-01-26T05:48:00.000-08:00

We figured when we left Vegas and headed South that we would enter warmer climes. Boy were we wrong!

When we got up this morning, we learned quickly that we had no water. At first we assumed some big calamity - city utility problems or a break in the line at the RV park or something. But it was simpler than that - the water in the faucet and the hose to Colectiva were both frozen!

In order to disconnect from the water faucet to leave, I needed to shut off the water at the faucet. But I could not get the faucet spigot to budge! I grabbed a pair of pliers to get a little extra oomph, but all I accomplished was to break one of the ears off the spigot!

Finally it occurred to me that Colectiva had a tank full of water, and since the plumbing inside Colectiva was kept warm by our heaters, I went inside, flipped on the internal water pump, and drew a huge glass of very hot water. I poured it slowly over the faucet and spigot and lo and behold, I was able to shut off the water supply!

However, when I unscrewed the hose, a bunch of frozen tubes of water came sliding out of both the hose and the faucet.

This better get better soon!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: I've decided that our next winter trip will not begin until February or March. Leaving in January, we run into cold weather even in AZ and TX. Of course, you Minnesotans are scoffing but it feels real cold to us. Even in Florida, it can be cold with north winds blowing in January and February. I also hope it warms up for us soon! TTFN.

Abilene Texas

2012-01-24T05:52:00.000-08:00

Unlike Midland, Abilene is not an oil town. Abilene is basically a product of the building of the railroads, and as a result, became a cattle hub for the movement of cattle to the railways for the trip up North.

Abilene was not originally the County Seat as it is today. The town of Buffalo Gap, about 20 miles South of downtown Abilene, was established in 1857. Buffalo Gap was at the site of a natural pass where massive buffalo herds traveled. The Gap was also on an intersection of many of the trails that had developed by pioneers over the decades. Because of all this, Buffalo Gap very quickly became an exploding metropolis and the County Seat.

We visited the Buffalo Gap Historic Village. At the Village, a couple dozen buildings sit that were either originally on the site (such as the County Court House) or had been moved here from nearby. The oldest building on the site was the home of Marshall Hill built in 1883. The home was what was referred to as a Shotgun home - basically a series of rooms from front to back all with a doorway between them that lined up with both the front and back doors of the home - if you opened all the doors front to back and fired a shotgun from outside, you wouldn't even hit anything!

The other buildings in the park date from the late 1800's to the late 1920's. All the buildings are open to tour, and the Foundation has put together a wonderful wand that you carry with you to listen to both information about the structures, the timeframe, the history, and just stories about the people and events. There were actually 8 or 10 vignettes for each building - the proprietor told us that if we just listened to the sampling about the building at each, our tour would be about 1 1/2 hours. But if we listened to them all, our visit would be over 8 hours! We listened to many, and tended to listen to different selections and then fill in each other on the key information.

Like the story of Marshall Hill. In 1884, running into some money problems, he agreed to get involved in a money counterfeiting scheme with a friend of his, Holland. When the time came to change the small amount of real cash for the large amount of counterfeit cash, Hill waited outside while Holland went in to trade saddle bags. Well, the counterfeiters had planned a double cross - two men jumped out and attempted to grab Holland's saddlebag - he immediately drew and shot one cold dead - the other ran for his life screaming "Murder!"

Holland and Hill were later arrested, but because the counterfeiters had planned the double cross, there was only rocks in the saddle bag that they thought contained the counterfeit money. So Hill was released, but Holland was held on charges of murder. In the trial, held in the Buffalo Gap Courthouse, the prosecution said that since it would be physically impossible for Holland to have been able to pull his gun and fire off a clean shot after already having been jumped, that he must have already had his gun drawn, which proved it was a premeditated murder. The defense counsel never objected or countered any of the testimony. When the prosecutor rested, the defense attorney took a six shooter, filled it with blanks, put it in Holland's belt, and had him jumped by two pretend counterfeiters. As they jumped him, Holland drew and fired off all six shots with deadly aim - the judge called an end to the charade as he plugged his ears - and the jury quickly acquitted Holland.

While Hill was never charged with anything, the taint of the alleged counterfeiting scheme hung over him. By 1886, the pressure was too much, and Hill resigned his Marshall position - now still with money problems but no job!

We also learned about time zones. In the mid-1800's, every town had a clock, but Noon was set for that town based on when the sun was at its zenith. So every town in America had a different time. When the railroads began operation, not only did they need some kind of standard time so that customers could know when the trains were actually going to arrive and leave, but early on, they often had a single rail running trains in both directions. At points, the rail would split so one train could pass the other. The operators of the trains needed to know the exact time to be at that split to avoid collisions.

Although the public had clamored for some kind of standard time zones since the mid-1800's, Congress had refused to act. So, in 1883, based on a system that had been developed by a Canadian Railway engineer, the railroads in both Canada and the US adopted what they referred to as Railway Time - the precursor to the Standard Time system we use today. Within a year, most states had adopted the Railway Time system, and eventually Congress acted and essentially adopted what the railroads had developed and implemented. I guess it is not just the 2010 Congress that seems to be both ineffective and behind the private sector.

After Buffalo Gap, we roamed around downtown Abilene. Although Abilene is actually a little bit bigger than Midland (118,000 in Abilene vs. 111,000 in Midland), the effect of oil can be seen. Whereas downtown Midland is filled with huge buildings and looks like a large city center, Abilene has a small number of taller buildings - a couple banks and hotels maybe 8 - 10 stories - and looks mostly like a small town, one story storefront town. However, both of us agree Abilene feels more comfortable and welcoming, and it appears that the locals care more about their town.
We visited Frontier Texas - a state of the art interactive museum about the building of the Texas frontier. Using holograms of people replicating actual pioneers - the museum calls them spirit guides - the holograms accompany you through a historic look at the development of the Texas plains. While the museum value of Frontier Texas is light - there were some artifacts as well as in depth readings - the entertainment value was really good. The spirit guides were very informative, and also engaging - they made you really feel the essence of what the rolling out of the Texas frontier might have been like.

Buffalo Gap was like real history, but Frontier Texas is like history come alive. Both are worth the visit.

Talk to you soon!

Midland Texas

2012-01-22T05:05:00.000-08:00

We knew that both Bush Junior and Senior claimed Midland as their home, but we weren't ready for the intense competition for the tourist room space. We generally don't make reservations because there is always plenty of room, even in high touristy areas, what with the economy and all. But we will call ahead just to make sure they have room for our size coach and have wifi at the sites. Well, we called to the RV park we were planning to stay at near Midland at around 11 in the morning (should have had plenty of open spots), and they told us they were full - that we could park in their parking lot if we wanted but we wouldn't have hook ups. That would be fine, but I suggested that Robin call an alternative park just to check and see if we could get hook ups.
She called a park that advertised over 150 spaces, and they said they had one or two spaces left and said that we better book one because they fill up every night. Geez! I knew that W. was a popular President, but I didn't expect that he would cause such high levels of tourism in Midland which is really pretty geographically isolated!

Well, I soon learned the truth - it wasn't the Bush boyhood home that was causing all the RV parks to be full - it was the oil! Apparently they have hundreds upon hundreds of mobile oil field workers that work the Permian Basin, and their overwhelming preference is to stay in the RV parks. So, all the RV parks in the area are anywhere from 95% to 100% full time occupied by mobile oil field workers. We were lucky to be able to get a sight and relax a bit more for the evening.

The Bush boyhood home was fun. A small one story 3 bedroom, one bath, the home seems to sit right on the edge of downtown Midland, although Gail, our private tour guide, told us when the Bush family moved in, it was actually on the far outskirts of town at the time. As a member of the Midland community, Gail was a volunteer who just loved to show off W's boyhood home. The pride she had in having known and lived with the Bush family just oozed out - she kept saying how they were just really good people.

Although W claims Midland as his boyhood home, he actually was born in Connecticut. Wanting to become involved in the burgeoning oil industry, Senior moved the family to Midland which was at the time becoming the center of the exploding oil exploration. Having moved to Midland when he was just 2 years old, all of W's childhood memories are of this town and this home. Robin, his sister who died of Leukemia at the age of 4 would have had their earliest memories there, and Jeb and Neal were both born while the Bushes lived in this house.

The home has been restored to appear as it actually did in the late 40's and 50's when W and his family lived there. Senior and Barbara were actively involved in the restoration, and Barbara provided her family photo album to the Foundation to assist in the precision. Barbara also participated in the search for replicas of all the Bush family objects that adorned the home while they occupied it. While most of the objects in the home are actually replicas purchased over time by the Foundation, based on Barbara's photo album and the memories of her and Senior, the home is a spitting image of what it was like when the Bushes entertained in the early days.

W's room, at least according to W who has personally toured the home, looks exactly as it did when he was young. Gail, our tour guide, personally knew the Bush family, so she supplied us with all kinds of personal stories and interesting little known information, which was great fun. For example, when W was a boy, he either wanted to be a cowboy (not the football player kind) or a baseball player. So his room was filled with both Roy Rogers and baseball memorabilia. Interestingly, W is the only President in the history of the US to have played Little League ball - hard to believe. And, he was one of only two Presidents who had been Scouts - Clinton was the other. W was only a Cub Scout, and Barbara was his Den Mother - Clinton apparently went on to Boy Scouting as well.

Senior's early ventures in the oil industry paid off. We scooted into downtown Midland to find the Petroleum Building, the massive block building where his company, Zapata Oil, was headquartered. Gail told us that when the company was founded and set up headquarters, there was a theater in the Petroleum Building and it was showing the movie Viva Zapata about the Mexican revolutionary. Since they really didn't have a better name in mind, that is what they called their company!

As the city grew larger and Senior became more financially healed, the Bushes moved to a much larger home in what at the time would have likely been considered the suburbs - although it is literally only a matter of blocks outside where their original home was. This later home is owned and occupied, but we located it anyway and snagged a picture. As the Bush family continued to grow, I am sure this much larger home became more of a necessity than a luxury. (Interestingly, the ball field and park basically next door to the newer Bush residence looked more like a lake than a large neighborhood park - what with that 10 inches of snow quickly melting in the strong Texas sun one day after the blizzard!)

Our last visit of the day was to the Permian Basin Oil Museum. This museum told the story of how the Permian Basin developed - basically the entire State of Texas had been covered by oceans millions and billions of years ago. Those oceans left beds of sea life that as the waters receded and sediment built and compressed the sea beds, became vast reserves of petroleum of all kinds. The museum depicts this evolution through visual displays, movies and artifacts, and further explores the development of the basin into the oil producing industry it is today.

In addition to all the displays and artifacts related to the oil industry, there are 3 other galleries that were really interesting. One was on the Chaparral Racing Team that was founded and developed in Midland. The museum has historical information on Jeff Hall, founder and designer, as well as nearly a dozen actual Chaparral race cars - fun! The other two galleries contain oil paintings depicting oil development over the decades by highly recognized Texas artists, and actual stock certificates from hundreds of oil companies with many of the shares dating back to 1907 and earlier.

While the oil industry is not something that Robin would necessarily gravitate toward for either an entertainment or learning experience, even she enjoyed this nicely put together museum, and came away with an altered understanding.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: Enjoyed seeing the Bush home here in Midland. Didn't really enjoy the Petroleum Museum, because I know nothing about the oil business or about geology, so didn't understand much of the information presented. Midland is not a pretty place...very flat and plain, lots of industrial areas, didn't see any parks or trees. I'm glad to be moving on from here.

Why did we head South?

2012-01-20T05:45:00.000-08:00

Like many folk with homes on wheels, we decided to head South for the winter. What were we thinking?

On our way from Van Horn Texas to Midland Texas, we encountered a blizzard that by its end had deposited a record 10 inches of snow in the Midland area! The Midland airport was closed and all flights in and out were cancelled. Plows attempted to handle the blizzard, but because they really don't expect snow in this area, they really didn't have the equipment to keep the roads open. It turned so cold that you could actually see the frost outlines of the sidewall framing in all the motor homes frozen in their tracks!

We stopped in Pecos Texas the next morning to visit the West of the Pecos Museum. We had heard much about it over the last few years. Unfortunately, the workers could not get out of their homes, so when we got to the Museum, the "Closed" sign was still on the door. So, it looks like we will have to try another time, if we get back into this area sometime.

Since we had some extra unplanned time on our hands, we did stroll around downtown Pecos. If you enjoy seeing empty store fronts, this is the place to be. We have been in a number of economically depressed towns along the major freeway routes, but this may easily be the worst we have seen. Not only was every single store front on Main Street empty and abandoned, you actually needed to walk very carefully on the sidewalk - huge chunks of the porticos and the fronts of the building were actively crumbling and falling off, and there didn't appear to be any attempt to clear the sidewalk. It appeared to us that there was likely months worth of cement and plaster chunks to be carefully navigated.

Next stop - Midland! Home to two Presidents, two Governors, one baseball team owner, and one First Lady!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: I found one of my favorite Texas food treats in a grocery store...Blue Bell ice cream, specifically banana pudding flavor. YUM!!!!! Can't get it anywhere but Texas.

Douglas Arizona

2012-01-18T05:08:00.000-08:00

Before leaving Bisbee, we visited the Shady Dell. The Shady Dell used to be an RV park, but over time the owners assembled a collection of vintage and historic RV's, and worked hard to restore them to their glory. Now, the owners have so many historic RV's that they have scattered them throughout what was their RV park and now rent them out essentially as a motel. Since it was low season and there was nobody staying there at the time, we still strolled through the park and enjoyed seeing what it might have looked like to walk through an RV park in the 1950's. It was great fun!

About 22 miles Southeast of Bisbee is another historic mining town, Douglas. Right on the Mexico border, it the Southeastern most town in Arizona. Founded around 10 years after Bisbee, Douglas shared a portion of the mineral richness originally found in Bisbee.

While part of the overall mineral boom in the area, Douglas was a better location for a town (flatter), but did not command the wealth of Bisbee. Accordingly, even though Douglas is nearly as old as Bisbee, it does not have the plethora of block buildings one sees in Bisbee. There were two notable buildings however that distinguished historic Douglas that did not have anywhere near a match in Bisbee. The Hotel Gadsen originally built in 1907, and the Grand Theater built in 1909.

The Hotel Gadsen, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, exudes a timeless elegance that grips you and takes you back to the turn of the century the minute you enter the lobby. Beautiful marble highlights the walls, columns and stair cases. The host to former presidents and other celebrities, the hotel remains today much as it did when it was built, right down to the marble drinking fountains and the wooden cubbies behind the front desk where room keys and guest mail is deposited. The style is very much turn of the century art deco, with carved metal figures embedded in the marble near the ceilings. Then over the Grand Staircase displays vibrant stained glass, as well as a verandah long stained glass mural that adorns the top of the Grand Staircase.

While some of the features have been updated to allow the guests to feel comfortable - the restaurant for example has an updated kitchen and service areas - the look and feel of the hotel remain authentic, right down to the leather furniture dotted throughout the lobby. While we didn't get a chance to see any of the rooms, we were told that the authenticity of the hotel carries into the guest rooms as well.

While in Bisbee we had visited both the Copper Queen Hotel and the Castle Rock Inn. The Copper Queen was the flagship hotel in Bisbee, and fun to visit and look around in. But despite the fact that Bisbee outshines Douglas substantially, the Hotel Gadsen in Douglas outshines anything that Bisbee has to offer.

The Grand Theater was built in Douglas in 1909. We weren't able to tour it because it is currently undergoing an extreme restoration project. However, it is easy to sense how truly grand it was given its gothic block exterior. During its time, the Grand Theater was the biggest and most elegant theater anywhere between Los Angeles and San Antonio. The walls in the theater have heard the likes of John Phillips Sousa and Ella Fitzgerald during its days.

Outside of these two treasures, there is not a great deal to see and do in Douglas. However, the hotel alone makes it worth the stop.

Talk to you soon!

I da Man again!

2012-01-16T05:04:00.000-08:00

Before we hit the road, Robin wanted the fresh water tank on Colectiva sanitized.

The process entails putting in a quarter cup of bleach for every gallon of fresh water, running the bleached water through all the faucets and systems (including ice maker and hot water heater), and then letting the bleached water sit in the tank for several hours to complete the sanitation. After the sanitation is complete, you need to empty the fresh water tank completely, drain the hot water heater, and then flush new fresh water through all the faucets and systems to remove the bleach water - dump the fresh tank once more and then you are ready to go.

Only two minor problems rear their heads - the first I knew would happen and the second I didn't. First, the drain valve on Colectiva's fresh water tank has always been difficult to close - really sticky and tends to stick in a just open position. Knowing that in advance, I kept lubricating the valve with silicone lubricant as I worked with the fill and drain routines. In the end, I gave the valve one quick twist when it came time to close it for good, and it seemed to work! I have noted none of the dripping that I have experienced before letting me know that the valve is unfortunately not quite closed. This was the problem I anticipated, so I am glad it turned out to be a non-issue.

The other, however, caught me by surprise. To drain the hot water heater, you just have to remove a white plastic drain plug at the bottom of the water heater assembly on the passenger rear of the coach. The assembly is easy to get to, but the drain plug is nestled snugly between the bottom rim of the housing and propane gas flame assembly just above it. Because it is so tightly places, you can't get a crescent wrench or even a box wrench in to remove it, and because it is so large, no socket set has a socket large enough to fit it - even a spark plug socket was considerably too small.

So, used a pair of lock jaw pliers grabbing the plastic hex nut by the end and was able to loosen it enough that I could unscrew it by hand - that part wasn't so much a problem. However, when it came to replacing the plug, I couldn't tighten it sufficiently using the lock jaw pliers without causing the plastic hex nut considerable damage. So, I put some Teflon pipe seal tape on the plug and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, my hopes and prayers were not answered.

When we got to the Picacho Peak State Park campground, we learned that the sites were electricity only - no water or sewer. Generally, that is not a problem for Colectiva - that is one of the things we like so much about our coach - we just carry full water tanks and empty sewer tanks so we when have to dry camp, we are fine. Well, the drain plug on the water heater was leaking so badly that we actually pretty much ran out of water by the next morning. And every time we hooked up to a city water supply, or turned on our internal water pump, the water would just pour out of the rear of Colectiva.

Fortunately when we got to Bisbee, they had an Ace Hardware in town - Ace is one of my favorite places to deal with coach maintenance issues. I was able to purchase a 7/8 inch socket that would fit my 3/8 inch socket drive, and in no time at all had the drain plug snugly seated and the water leak eliminated! Things are no problem when you have the right tool for the right job.

Again, when it comes to maintenance, I da Man!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: Yes he is and I'm so glad!!!!

Bisbee Arizona

2012-01-14T05:00:00.000-08:00

A short driving day for us - only 142 miles - takes us to Bisbee Arizona in the Southeast corner of the state. On the way, we again attempted to find Fort Huachuca National Historic Site, but again followed the signs until they just seemed to stop - must have missed a turn again or something - we did this same drill two years ago on our way to the Texas Gulf coast and didn't find it that time either. Established in 1877, Fort Huachuca was the home to the Ninth and Tenth Calvary Regiments of the Buffalo Soldiers. The National Historic Site tells the history of the Fort and its famous inhabitants. We will have to give it a shot again at some point in the future - maybe when we become regulars to the Gulf Coast in the winter (assuming we don't qualify as "regulars" now).

Bisbee turned out to be a gem! Founded in 1880, Bisbee was named for Judge DeWitt Bisbee who was one of the founding investors in the Copper Queen Mine. The area surrounding Bisbee was rich with copper and other minerals, and the town quickly grew to a population of over 10,000. However, unlike other mining boom towns, its mineral deposits did not exhaust in a few years, so the town of Bisbee has dozens of substantial block buildings dating back to the turn of the century. All those historic buildings make for a fun town to visit and to roam through, with lots of restaurants, shops and galleries to catch your eye as you are strolling the impressive streets.

We actually got a tour of part of the Queen Mine that started it all. As an indication of just how successful the Queen Mine was over its productive lifetime, over 8 trillion pounds of copper were extracted to fuel the economy of the US. A dozen other valuable minerals were also extracted along with the copper, including over 2 million ounces of gold, and 60 million ounces of silver. We entered the mine on an actual mine trolley that had taken miners in and out of the mine back in the days - it was fun to put on the miners helmet, the lamp and battery pack, and enter the mine as the workers likely did every day of their working life. While we only got to see about 1,500 feet of the 3 some odd miles of mining tunnels that honeycomb underneath Bisbee, we got to see a very good representation of what life was like in those early days. Jerry, our tour guide, had worked in the mines in Bisbee and the surrounding areas when he was younger. Now retired, he led people through the mine, and because of his experience was a great source of information and stories. Apparently all the folk at the mine are actual retired mine workers. Jerry never worked in the Copper Queen Mine because it was active before his time, but his rich knowledge still showed through.

One of the first areas he showed us was one of the earliest "rooms" where rich ore was extracted. The wooden beams that held up the ceiling had to be imported from Oregon and Washington because there were no such trees in the Southwestern deserts. Because in the late 1800's there were no trains running from Oregon and Washington to Arizona, those beams had to be hauled all that way by mules. If you could see the massive wooden structures that hold up the ceilings there, you would marvel at the feat of just getting them there, much less creating the space, by hand to put them in.

Back in those days, all the digging was done by hand. Hand drills that just looked like a 3 foot pipe were hammered into the rock wall with a hammer until a hole was deep enough to pack in some black powder. The miners worked by candle light only as there was no electricity in the mine at that time. After a dozen or more holes were created and packed with black powder, fuses hanging from each of the holes were lit, and the miners scurried to get clear of the area before the blast rang out. When they returned after the dust cleared, several feet of rock lay at the foot of the new wall. All that rock had to be loaded onto mules who carried it back to the mine entrance.

Because of the slow manual process, Jerry believed that it likely took the miners 10 to 20 years to develop the "room" that we were standing in, using the manual mining techniques. Jerry said that with the pneumatic drills, rail lines with electric engines and improved blasting techniques that when he was working the mines, his team would have been able to create and mine this room in about 4 to 6 months. The Copper Queen Mine tour not only had all kinds of examples of the tools and methods that were used in the early 1900's to mine, it also contained examples of mining equipment that was used throughout the history of the town's mining operations, so you got a chance to see firsthand how the technology changed.

Jerry said one of the biggest improvement (beside this rolling Honey Wagon) came with the pneumatic drills. Although some nicknamed them the "widow maker" because if you didn't know how to use them, their powerful kickback could easily seriously injure you, they also introduced a running supply of water to keep the drill bits cool. It turns out that this one feature may have been the difference in the health of the miners, because the water supply also kept the dust down. Early miners drilling by hand without water kicked up significant dust. In Jerry's research, most of those miners in the early days only live to be in their early forties, and most of them died from complications from Silicosis. However, Jerry himself worked in the mines all his adult life, and he is in his late sixties now, and neither he nor his compatriots have evidence of the disease that took the lives of the early miners so young.

After the mine tour, we walked all over town. We visited St. Patrick Catholic Church high up on the end of Main Street. The 1907 structure was surprisingly red brick rather than the stone that I expected. It was beautiful nonetheless. We visited the Bisbee Brewery, the only brewery in Southeastern Arizona, and right in the center of downtown. We visited the Bisbee Museum, housed in the former headquarters for Phelps Dodge, the company that owned and operated all the mining operations in the area during the hey days. We popped in and out of the galleries and shops, particularly the handmade chocolate shop that we found next to the Castle Rock Inn. We also visited the lobby of the Copper Queen Hotel, the turn of the century opulent hotel built right behind the Dodge Phelps headquarters. While not the most opulent hotel we have seen in turn of the century mining towns, it still was quite impressive to browse through. We grabbed a great lunch at Santiago's Mexican Restaurant at a high table in the bar, with windows looking out on Main street and all the action.

Bisbee reminded me more of a town in the Colorado Rockies or New Mexico than one in Arizona. The collection of artists in both galleries and on the street was impressive. We haven't seen this many flower children and hippies since we were in Santa Fe last year. And we may never have seen as many painted VW Bugs and other vehicles as we saw here. It certainly is something that will spur conversation among those that visit this amazing town. Between the hippies and bikers and mountain men and cowboys, the Bisbee streets are just a great place to people watch, and we did a lot of that!

At the Bisbee Museum, we learned about what may have been the largest deportation of Americans in history. In 1917, many of the local miners had left to join the armed forces for the war in Europe. With that, hundreds of miners from elsewhere converged on Bisbee to fill the void. Apparently, many of those miners were active members of organized unions and had very different ideas regarding labor violence than the locals they replaced. Encouraged by the unions that some of the replacement workers had belonged to, workers began to complain about the searches that miners were subjected to looking for stolen minerals, and demands were made for higher pay scales. When those demands resulted in no action, the workers encouraged by the union called for a general strike to begin on July 26. On July 12, 1917, Cochise County Sheriff Harry Wheeler rounded up 2,000 miners at the mine and marched them to Warren ball field, the local baseball park, where all the miners were interrogated regarding their affiliations and interests. After the incarceration and interrogation, about 1,200 of the miners were loaded into freight cars and transported 200 miles to Hermanas New Mexico and told never to return to Bisbee. The courts would later take up the legality of this action, however the federal courts decided they had no jurisdiction of such local matters, and the local courts determined that a community had the right to protect itself from threats. In the end, there were no prosecutions related to this "kidnapping".

We visited Warren Baseball Ballpark. The stadium was built in 1909, predating the construction of Wrigley Field in Chicago by 5 years. Over the years, in addition to being the ballpark for the local high school and the Bisbee Pumas, it also housed semi-pro teams including the Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings. Still in operation, many believe this is the oldest continuously operated ballpark in America.

Finally, before we cashed it in, we visited the Lavender Pit, the principal open pit mine in town. As the quality of ore declined, Phelps Dodge and its successors tried to find more economical ways to extract the ore to still be able to make a profit with lower percentages in the rock. Eventually, underground mining operations, which are very expensive, were abandoned, and open pit mining was commenced. Although substantially all operations in the Lavender Pit have ceased, it is a gaping reminder of the history of the community. In many ways, it reminds me of the many open pit mines in Northern Minnesota which date back to the go-go days of iron mining on the Range.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: Bisbee is a charming town at about 5500 feet elevation. There are a few cute little homes, many teeny tiny shacks, all set in the picturesque mountains. Walking around town gave us some good exercise, as there was nowhere to go but up hills.

Lovely picture of my back above, don't you agree? It was supposed to show me straddling the seat on the Queen Mine tour train. Hard to picture, I know. Glenn pretty said it all regarding Bisbee, so TTFN.

Picacho Peak

2012-01-12T06:33:00.000-08:00

Because I had clients in Tucson, I used to drive the leg of I-10 from Phoenix to Tucson a fair bit. And even in my post retirement days, we have found ourselves on this stretch frequently as we have headed South in the Winter. Every time we have neared the intersection of I-10 with I-8 out of San Diego, we have seen the landmark - Picacho Peak - and we have seen all the RV's parked at the base, but we have never stopped to check it out. So today was the day!

You can actually see Picacho Peak from just South of Phoenix - about 60 miles away. Because of that and because of its distinctive saddle like shape, it became a landmark for early travelers. The trails established by the Spanish explorers radiated out from Picacho Peak. In the mid-1700's, Juan Bautiste de Anza, who eventually made his way to the San Francisco Bay area to settle land for the Spaniards, came through Picacho Peak on the way.

One of the things we have observed on our travels in the last couple years has been that certain places seem to become a vortex - they just seem to attract events over time. Picacho Peak seems to be one of those. Not only were most of the early inhabitants familiar with and used Picacho Peak as a trail marker, it also happens to be the Westernmost battlefield from the Civil War. In 1862, two small scouting bands (around 10-12 each) of Union and Rebel soldiers found each other at the base of Picacho Peak. At the time, the Rebel forces were looking to establish some dominance in California so that they could have access to a sea port on that coast. Despite orders not to engage the enemy, the two scouting parties engaged each other in a gun battle, which resulted in the Union forces taking 3 casualties, and the Union forces capturing 3 Rebel men. After the intense gun fight, both forces retreated and merged with their main forces. The Rebels continued West, and the Union retained control of the Arizona Territory.

The Park is small but nice. With ample trails to pick from, we did the 3 mile trail system named after the commanders of the scouting parties, Barrett and Callaway. While there is a trail that goes to the top of the Peak, it's about 3 1/5 miles one way (and gains 1,400 feet in elevation), so we decided we didn't have enough time to attempt it before dark. We did, however, manage to make it to Sunset Vista by 5:30 - estimated sundown - which has a gorgeous unobstructed view of the desert to the West. We watched the sun go down, but somehow forgot to bring the wine and margaritas! Our friends in South Africa would have been very disappointed in us.

We also paid a visit to the Rooster Cogburn Ostrich Ranch right next door - another landmark we have seen from I-10 every time we went by, but never stopped. Cogburn's is a privately owned operating Ostrich ranch that has set up essentially a petting zoo setting for tourists. When you come, they have separate pens of desert donkeys, goats, deer and ostrich all just waiting for you to come in with your cup of food pellets. While Robin and I were happy to feed the rest right from our outstretched hands, we have fed ostrich before, and know how nasty they can be - maybe not on purpose, but they fight and peck pretty much don't care where the food pellet stops and your body begins - so we just dumped some food into the cups for the ostrich. They even had a Goat Penthouse - a goat shelter raised up on a scissor jack - with conveyor belts to send food up to the poor goats stranded there. The most fun was the Lorikeet house - an aviary with dozens of beautiful tropical birds - you bring in a little cup of nectar, hold it out, and several of the Lorikeets fly up and land on your arm (or shoulder or head) and drink the nectar. While it was a little unnerving at first, we quickly got into it and found it to be the most fun of the outing.

They do a monster truck tour of the Ranch which we had heard about before, but they only did those on weekends. Since we had a relatively short drive tomorrow, we headed back to Cogburn's early to catch the 10:30 AM tour. It was fun! We toured the farm, got great views of Picacho Peak from several different perspectives, and got narration from one of the most animated driver/tour guides we have ever had. Taking the monster truck up and over the desert bumpy terrain was supposed to be the highlight, but we found the ostrich fishing to take the cake. At one point we got to get off the monster truck at the ostrich dock, man our fishing poles, and troll for ostrich using wedges of oranges as bait. It was fun to watch the ostrich battle for each of the prizes, and interesting to watch them swallow it whole - you could actually see the orange wedge as it traveled down the ostrich's throat on its way to the gizzard. All in all, a great time was had by all.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: It's great being back in the RV again. I'm not having my usual problems adjusting to a new environment (small) that I usually have. Yay!! It's colder than I'd anticipated it being, hope it warms up as we head east. I remember our winter on the TX gulf coast 2 years ago, the coldest winter TX has had in many years. Don't want a repeat of that. TTFN.

One more thing

2012-01-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

It seems like forever since we have been to a Vegas show. So, we took in Viva Elvis the night before we were planning to head out.

We started at the Belagio to take in the Christmas display in the Conservatory - ooooops! Too late! They were in the process of taking it down as we arrived! Oh well, we did get to see a bit of what it might have looked like had we shown up in time.

City Center was still fully decorated for Christmas, and was really quite pretty. We strolled around and took our time, since we had allowed ourselves plenty of time to see the Belagio Conservatory, and didn't need it. Aria was hopping and everyone seemed to be having a good time. For that matter, the Belagio was packed as well! Good sign!

Viva Elvis was fun. While a bit light on the heavy acrobatics that we come to expect in Circe de Soleil shows, they did a very interesting mix of sounds. They had a talented live band playing many of Elvis' most famous hits. But along with the live music, brought more up to date in many cases, were the original recordings of Elvis singing those songs. How they meshed it all together was impressive. The effect was outstanding.

Well, tomorrow we hit the road again - again!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: The Elvis show was great. They showed lots of actual clips of him performing, him in his movies, him going off to war. It made me want to read an autobiography of his life. Anyone have a recommendation?

The coach is sitting in front of our house, all packed up and ready to leave tomorrow. Yay, I'm excited to get on the road again. First stop, Phoenix. TTFN.

Last minute stuff before we head out

2012-01-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

We headed out to Death Valley to take in one of Marta Beckett's Sit Down shows. Marta was a Broadway Dancer wannabe back in the 1950's when she stumbled onto the remains of the Borax mining town of Death Valley Junction. There she found the old Company headquarters, complete with hotel, restaurant and theater. She bought the old town, personally hand painted the interior of the theater to look like it was filled with a throng of people (all out of the past), and proceeded to do dance and music shows to as many attendees who ventured to come. She became a historic figure in the area around Death Valley, eventually becoming the subject of a National Geographic documentary in the late 1980's.

Today, at the young age of 86, Marta suffers from advancing Parkinson's, which prevents her from dancing. So instead of the dancing shows she used to perform, she performs what she calls her Sit Down shows, where she talks about her life, the history of her theater and production company, and some snippets of interesting things that occurred over the years. While she always had the dream of being a Broadway Dancer, she has never regretted her decision to buy her own theater and put on her own productions. And despite her challenges, she is still going strong.

Of course our trip was not without its challenges. We actually set out to see Marta last weekend. We left home with plenty of time to get there, and were doing so well time wise, we stopped in Stovepipe Wells and had lunch, and watched a little of the Vikings game. We set out, following the directions that our GPS was telling us, but after nearly an additional hour of driving, we found ourselves at a beautiful peak overlooking Death Valley itself, but nowhere near the Amargosa Opera House. As I watched the starting time of the show slip past on the clock, I knew we were sunk. We did have a very nice drive, and took in some awesome scenery, but didn't actually arrive at the Opera House until an hour and a half after show time - bummer! And then, after nearly a 5 hour drive, we found out that Death Valley Junction is really only about an hour and a half from Las Vegas, if you go through Pahrump.

So, the next weekend we set out again, and this time did it right - straight through Pahrump and to the Amargosa Opera House with plenty of time to spare. We enjoyed the show and were back to Vegas in no time. Too bad we didn't do it right the first time!

Talk to you soon!

Heading home!

2011-10-07T05:29:00.000-07:00

This will be the last blog for a while. We are on our last two day's drive to Vegas. Can't wait to see Karen and Alberto and Mom.

We will be back "On" again after the first of the year. We are planning to hit the gulf coast of Texas again and finally get to New Orleans - during Mardi Gras - yippee!

We had to make the usual decision - there are two ways to Vegas from Cheyenne. I-80 goes West across Southern Wyoming to Salt Lake City, then South on I-15 to Vegas. It is a bit less hilly, and tends not to get as bad weather as the alternate - and it is about 960 miles. I-25 goes South to Denver, then I-70 goes through the Rockies along the ski resort trail to I-15 and then South on I-15 to Vegas. This is very hilly - hits over 11,000 feet at the Eisenhower Tunnel - and can be prone to more snow and closure in the winter - and it is 995 miles - 35 more.

Robin had heard snow warnings on the weather channel, so she was not wanting to do the I-25/I-70 route. I thought maybe that it would be pretty with the fall colors, but if we had to do the barren desolate I-80/I-15 route, I would be OK with it. That's when I learned she didn't want to do I-80 either! She wanted to take I-25 and go way South of Denver to make sure there would be no snow, and then head West! I vetoed that idea - would probably add an additional day to our trip - so since we had to pick one or the other, Robin said that the I-25/I-70 route was OK since she didn't want to do either.

The weather was pure sun when we left Cheyenne early. It clouded up a bit as we approached Denver, but still just fine. The trip through the Rockies, while slow, was as pretty as I had imagined. Even though we have done this route many times, it seems like we see new scenery all the time - at least it seems new. I-70 has to be the most beautiful stretch of Interstate in the country, and out trip today rewarded us well. And the fall colors were as vibrant as I expected - especially the gold of the Aspen groves.

No sooner did we get on the other side of the heavy peaks than the clouds filled in and it started to rain about the Utah border. If that weather was moving East, which it looked like it was, it would turn to snow as it climbed into the Rockies. So it turns out we were both right - I was right that with clear blue skies when we left, there was no risk of hitting a snow storm. Robin was also right that there would be snow in the upper Rockies - just after we had already gone by - yippee!

By the time you read this, we will be at home in Vegas and Colectiva will be in the shop for post 10,000 mile journey maintenance. Another great post-retirement trip under our belt, and looking forward to the next.

Talk to you soon! (In January)

Last stop before home!

2011-10-06T07:21:00.000-07:00

It's a long way from Saskatchewan to Las Vegas. Saskatoon to Vegas is well over 1600 miles!

So we decided to stop and visit my brother Jerry on the way. Cheyenne Wyoming, where he lives, isn't quite half way - a little over 700 miles from Saskatoon to Cheyenne - over 900 Cheyenne to Vegas - but Cheyenne is a fun town, and a visit to Jerry's is always a treat for me.

We played golf every day - only 9 holes, but a regulation 9 holes - par 36 - a nice walk each day and fun! Jerry beat me the first day - I kicked his but the second - and we tied on the third. So, ho harm, no fowl.

We visited the Build a Zombie event in Depot Park in downtown Cheyenne. We have no idea what it was really all about, but there were tons of folks walking around with fake blood, fake guts hanging out, hatchets in skulls and all kinds of things. They even had a boardwalk for the judging. It was great fun, and pretty convincing - almost a bit scary!

Jerry has a new house guest - Jabbers. He warned us that Jabbers would be there when we arrived. Jabbers the cat apparently had been living under Jerry's deck. He has no idea where he came from - no tags or anything - but it is obvious he was a pet cat to someone. He has been living at Jerry's house for several months - looks like he is there to stay unless Jerry can find someone to adopt Jabbers. Jerry's ex, Brenda, already has 5 cats living at her home, so there is not much chance of that. But until he finds a permanent home - he tried to hide Jabbers inside Colectiva but it didn't work - Brenda decided to name the little guy - so since my brother's initials are JAB (Jerome Alan Bougie), she named him Jabbers - cute little guy!

Talk to you soon!

Near disaster again!

2011-10-05T05:30:00.000-07:00

Well, as you know, I replaced the lock that held my tow bar onto the Saturn with a heavy duty cotter pin. While I know that leaves me at risk of some simply removing the pins and taking the tow bar, now that it is bent, I am not sure that is really that much of a risk.

If you remember, the lock broke, and one end of the tow bar jumped off the pin that holds it to the front of the Saturn. So, in essence, I was pulling the Saturn with only one of the two points of connection actually connected. I could see immediately in my rear view camera that there was a problem. Since then I have paid particular attention to checking the fittings on the tow bar connections periodically to make sure everything is secure.

Well, there are some bolts that I didn't realize I needed to check their tightness periodically as well. Today on the way to Grasslands National Park on another fine example of a Canadian highway (rock and roll time!), the movement apparently rattled the nuts on these bolts loose, and so again I was pulling the Saturn with only one of the two points of connection actually connected. The difference is that this time, because the nuts just came loose and fell off, the tow bar didn't jump out of position - it just wasn't connected - so I didn't see anything awry in the rear view camera. I found out that I was unhooked when we stopped for the evening at the Park.

The Park, of course, is in a very remote part of Saskatchewan, so the town here has a small grocery store, a gas station, and a hotel - that is it! No hardware stores or auto parts or auto repair places. The good news is that each side of the tow bar is connected to the Saturn's frame with two large bolt and nut combinations. So, I removed one of the bolt and nut combinations from the driver side frame connection and am using it to connect the passenger side of the tow bar to the Saturn's frame.

I know that it is designed to have two bolts, but until I can get to a city that has at least a hardware store, I am going to have to cross my fingers that it will hold.
My only saving grace is that I am maybe 20 miles from the US border, so I should only have to handle these crappy Canadian roads for 20 miles - it will have to be very slow going until I can get to some real highways to get me to a town with a hardware store!

Talk to you soon!

P.S. Limped to the border and finally got on some decent roads - made it to Malta Montana which had a Hardware Hank - bought two bolts, two flat washers, two locking washers and one 3/4" socket for a 3/8" drive ratchet and our tow bar is as good as new. Total cost under $5. Yippeeeeee for the USA and yippeeeeee for Hardware Hank where you can actually buy the one thing you want and not a sealed bag full of bolts, a couple of bags full of washers and a complete set of sockets!

Grasslands National Park

2011-10-04T05:29:00.000-07:00

I get the impression that Grasslands National Park is to Canada what Great Basin National Park is to the United States - probably the least visited park in the Parks Canada system. Grasslands Apparently before white Europeans came, the bulk of the West of North America - both US and Canada - were grasslands. While there were conifer forests in the mountainous regions, apparently the bulk of the flatlands were vast plains of grasses that supported millions of plains buffalo, and the indigenous peoples who lived symbiotically with them.

National Park is located on the Montana border with Saskatchewan - the Park has two blocks, and East block and a West block. The Northwestern corner of the West block and the Park's only visitor center lies in the town of Val Marie - perhaps a population of about 100 - maybe!

Apparently the first of the white Europeans to occupy these areas were ranchers. In order to better support their cattle herds, they introduced strains of wheat grasses that grew stronger and provided more nutrition to their cattle. Unfortunately, the wheat grasses they introduced were invasive, and over time took over the plains and choked out the native grasses that helped keep the environment balanced. Later, as towns and settlements grew, the locals, who preferred treed environments to the barren grasslands, introduced all kinds of trees to the area. Again, when the trees take hold they eventually crown out the native grasses and forests develop. Since white Europeans began occupying the West, over 70% of the original grasslands have disappeared. Grasslands National Park represents two of the last remaining blocks of natural grasslands in Saskatchewan, and in Canada for that matter.

Parks Canada has focused its attention on reintroducing that which was here hundreds of years ago. So, our tour of the Park brought us together with:

• One of the largest herds of Bison in all of Canada. One big bull decided it was easier to walk on the road than anywhere else - we had to gently suggest to him that maybe he should at least be walking on the shoulder and not down the dotted line!
• Apparently this land was once covered with glaciers during the ice age. Large boulders like this one were deposited on the flat land when the glaciers melted and receded. Buffalo used these boulders as scratching posts. You can see from the hoof prints surrounding this one that the reintroduced buffalo use it in the same way.
• The First Nation folk who lived here on the plains did not leave a lot of structures - they were hunters and travelled. But they did leave the remnants of their camps. When they put up a tipi, they would gather large stones to place around the base of the skirt to keep the tipi from blowing away in the wind. Those tipi rings dot the land in Grasslands National Park.
• The Northernmost prairie dog towns in the world. These guys are so fun to watch - as you get close to their dens, they disappear - then a ways away another head pops up and starts barking at you - it just like playing "Pop a Mole" but without the hammer!
• Mule deer - saw them on our 5 M hike the morning before we left the Park on 70 Mile Butte - we assume it's called 70 Mile Butte because you can see 70 miles from the top - it is the highest point in the Park.
• Coyotes - we didn't see them, but heard them calling as we went turned off the lights for nighty night.
• Lots of birds - Burrowing Owls, Meadowlarks, Hawks, etc.

Because it is so remote, it is also a certified UNESCO Dark Sky site - meaning that the absence of light pollution from towns and such make this an ideal location for star gazing. Apparently it represents the world's largest Dark Sky preserve. We didn't head into the park, but we did take in the great star show from just outside of town. The star base was so dense it was hard to pick out the familiar constellations that are often nearly the only thing you can see from the city skyline. And the Milky Way was so pronounced - it looked like a river of light stretching across the horizon. We truly enjoyed our visit, even if there wasn't really anybody else around - wait, maybe that is part of the reason we liked it so much!

Talk to you soon!

Small towns - great RV stops!

2011-10-03T05:27:00.000-07:00

We mentioned to you that to go to Grasslands National Park we had to visit Val Marie Saskatchewan - perhaps a population of 100 - I may be being generous there.

Anyway, we learned on our Alaska trip that really small towns may be good places to stop when you are RVing. Many really small towns seem to set out a small plat of fairly flat land and run a self service RV/Camping park. There really isn't much maintenance. Since no private RV park would locate in such a small town, they don't compete with any citizens (other than maybe the hotel if there is one). And they will likely generate at least a little commerce - groceries, dinner, bar, something.

Well, Val Marie was one of those towns. We wanted to stay in the Grasslands National Park campground, but it was 20 miles from town on a dirt road - with no services at all. We were mentally prepared for the no services, but the 40 miles round trip is about $30 of diesel fuel additional - so we just popped into the town campground.

They had a nice restroom and shower facility - it was clean! And while they didn't have water and sewer at the sites, they did have electric - and not only did they have electric, but they had 50 amp service available! We don't every get 50 amp service in any of the National or State parks - too much investment for the return. As a matter of fact, much of the time we stayed in private parks in Canada we could only get 30 amp service. So to find 50 amp service in a small town self serve campground is a revelation!

It appears that they need to have a little more security in this park however - somebody seems to have absconded with half of all the picnic tables in the park!

And it was nice! Of course we had the place to ourselves, except for the coyotes howling us to sleep!

Talk to you soon!

Ouch!

2011-10-02T05:26:00.000-07:00

Colectiva is faring mighty well for going from only having about 1,500 miles on her before I formally retired to now having well over 41,000 miles on her a year and a half later. However, with that much use and that many miles, she doesn't exactly have that new coach look to her the way she used to.

Stuff happens. Cabinets get nicked. Drawer slides come loose. Tow bars fall off - no wait, that was a different story. But every now and then, something new happens that catch you off guard, and offer up an opportunity advance that lack of new coach look and feel.

Case in point. Sometime when we were on our trip to Alaska I proceeded to take in the bedroom slide.

The slides by the bedroom are the ones more fraught with danger. Along the back wall of Colectiva are cabinets for storage. Our primary closet is there with 4 floor to ceiling hinged doors. Also, our combo washer/dryer is there with a double hinged louvered door. Also, a storage cabinet above the combo washer/dryer has two hinged doors. Two of the closet doors are covered up by the bedroom slide when it comes in - the frame of the slide room just barely clears the door handles as it closes. Also, the entire combo washer/dryer cabinet and the storage cabinet above it are covered by the full side slide when it comes in. Again, the door handles are barely cleared as that part of the slide room comes in.

So, when in Alaska and I tried to close the bedroom slide, it wasn't closing as smoothly as usual and was making a funny noise. I have learned when I hear funny noises to stop whatever I am doing and look around seriously. I could see that one of the closet doors had sprung open just a bit, and the frame for the bedroom slide room was pushing against it. Had I continued to close the slide, either the door handle would have broken, or the hinges would have pulled out - or worse yet, some damage to the slide mechanism could have occurred. As it was, the door handle in question was bent ever so slightly - I moved the slide back out a bit, closed the door, and then moved it all the way back in. No real harm, and certainly no fowl.

Yesterday when we were setting up at a new RV site, after I had hooked up water and electric, I walked into Colectiva while Robin was extending the slides. She was in the process of extending the full room slide, which is generally the last slide to go out, and as I walked into the coach I quickly yelled "What is that awful sound!" I ran back to where I thought the sound was coming from and even more quickly yelled "Stop the slide - STOP THE SLIDE!!!!!!!!"

It took me a good 15 minutes of moving the slide slightly in and slightly out and squeezing my hand and arm between the slide fram and the cabinet to remove:

• The cabinet door, the hinge of which had been totally ripped out of the wood frame of the cabinet.
• The large plastic bottle of Tide laundry detergent which was now in the shape of a small ball - about the size of a tennis ball.
• An electric coffee grinder - luckily there appears to be no damage to it, but we haven't used it either so we will find that out at a later date.
• Lots of papers and receipts and envelopes and other stuff we store in this particular cabinet.

When we get to Cheyenne, I will attempt to buy replacement hinges at a Fleetwood dealer, if they have one in town, and give a shot at getting that door rehung. It will never look or work like new again, but I have found I can at least get most things working acceptably with some effort. If they don't have a Fleetwood dealer in Cheyenne, it will just have to wait until we get back to Vegas.

And I will have to remind Robin again - when you hear a weird noise, especially when activating the slides - STOP!

Talk to you soon!

Regina

2011-10-01T05:24:00.000-07:00

Regina is the capital city of Saskatchewan. Just a little smaller than Saskatoon - the 2nd largest city in the Province - it has a similar look and feel to Saskatoon, but without the river. However the draw to this part of the Province was not Regina or anything in Regina, it was Rouleau.

Rouleau is a town, population of 400, about 20 miles Southwest of Regina. It turns out that Rouleau was the filming location for the CTV sitcom Corner Gas that ran to rave reviews for six seasons from 2003 to 2009. There was only one prop built for the program - the gas station/cafe where most of the series action takes place. The rest of filming just occurred throughout the town with the buildings and settings that existed, so pretty much everything that watchers remember from the program still exist in the town.

The sitcom was set in Dog River - they didn't use the actual name of the town but made one up. So signage on many of the buildings were altered for filming purposes. The local hotel was the Dog River hotel. A local cafe building was used as the Municipal Police Office. The Corner Gas station/cafe still sits on the edge of town as well. We had a picnic in the local city park, and then walked all the filming locations.

At the Municipal Police Office building, a small cafe and gift shop currently sits. Outside the building is the actual police car that was used in the filming. Inside the building is the one local who seems to be trying to keep the memory (and marketing possibilities) of the sitcom alive. The owner has assembled tee shirts and other souvenirs with Corner Gas logos. The owner also acquired all the interior props - booths and counters and such - from the gas station/cafe. Because it was the end of the season, we were alone as we grabbed a cup of Joe, sat in one of the booths, and watched one of the episodes of Corner Gas on a huge flat screen the owner has added. Having never seen the show - our friends Ron and Teresa had told us about it and encouraged us to stop if in the area - watching one of the episodes helped us put everything we had seen that day in perspective.

Apparently the surveillance bush is gone (whatever that is or was) but the rest of the Corner Gas stuff is still here. What a fun time and worth the trip!

On the way back through town, we visited the RCMP Heritage Center. The Heritage center is actually the boot camp for new RCMP recruits - they live and train here when entering the force. In addition to the training facilities, the RCMP has assembled a museum displaying the history as well as a current perspective on what the RCMP was, is and does. The multimedia presentation that puts the RCMP in perspective for visitors was a bit cheesy, but still fun and informative. The museum itself was great!

Having been to and seen the remnants of the RCMP plains forts, we were very familiar with the historic role of the RCMP in protecting settlers and interacting with the First Nation cultures. Also, being in the Yukon, we were well aware of the RCMP role in the Yukon gold rush. The museum tied all we had learned in pieces together - the names we already knew like Sam Steele and Jim McLeod were all tied together as well as chronologically. If you ever get to Regina, we would recommend this as a stop!

We did learn one thing we didn't know. Apparently the RCMP role hasn't really changed since the days of the Gold Rush. Having recently hit home during our border crossing in Fort Francis, a role we weren't aware of was performed by Sam Steele and his boys. We had always learned that the RCMP set up a post at the top of the Chilkoot Trail to make sure no weapons were being brought into Canada, and that the gold seekers had enough provisions to not die along the way - essentially a humanitarian role. What we actually learned at the Heritage Center was that the post that they set up was actually to collect duty on all the American stuff that the gold seekers were transporting into Canada.

I can actually see it!

Talk to you soon!

Saskatoon

2011-09-30T05:02:00.000-07:00

Saskatoon is the largest city in Saskatchewan. It is not quite as big as Winnipeg, but it is considerably more pleasant. Nestled on the Saskatchewan River it has a nice mixture of new and old buildings along the bluffs of the river that create just a pleasant look and feel.

The University is right on the bluffs as well very near the center of the downtown. We arrived at the foot of University Bridge to find a hot air balloon tour company inflating a huge balloon with one of the largest baskets I have ever seen. For whatever reason, I just love the idea of hot air balloons, so we parked and watched them get it inflated (along with a couple dozen other folks who looked just as fascinated as I felt). When they got it done, it seemed like at least 16-20 people scrambled into the basket, and they quietly drifted off with the prevailing winds. They had no problem clearing the University buildings that surrounded the park area where they had inflated it, and we watched them disappear directly over the downtown area.

Saskatoon had no particularly unique attraction on our radar screen, but it looked like a good town to live in. We strolled the river walk a bit and passed the Arts complex, complete with live theatre that appeared just getting ready for the evening's performance. Lots of parks dotted the neighborhoods, and plenty of amenities for the locals filled both the downtown and the neighborhoods as well.

Even though we knew it would turn out to be $100 (pretty much two people can't go out for dinner for under $100 in Canada!), we decided we wanted to go out to dinner - hadn't done that in a while. Well, lo and behold, when I flipped on the Bitch and pressed the "Food" option, the first thing that popped up with the Taj Mahal Restaurant - oh boy, Indian! Thank goodness the phone number in the Bitch was correct, because the address was not. Robin called the number and asked them if they were open for dinner (they said Yes) and exactly where on Broadway Street they were located (they said they moved out of their Broadway Street location 3 years ago!).

So they gave us the correct address, and we had a very excellent Indian dinner, including for Robin those cute little dough balls that every restaurant in India serves for desert - except that here they were resting in a bowl of a sweet cream sauce instead of the bowl of honey you would have in India - regardless, Robin thought it was excellent and still brought back fond memories (without all the trash outside the building!).

Talk to you soon!

Roadside art

2011-09-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

I thought that roadside art was clearly an American thing. I guess I was wrong!

When I say roadside art, of course I am referring to those huge statues of strange things - things that may or may not have some direct relationship to the area you are in, but that the locals have come to love and adore.

For example this magnificent Smokey the Bear statue in the city park in Fort Francis Ontario. I thought that Smokey was an American thing, and maybe even more a Minnesota thing, but apparently Smokey strolled the land anywhere there were massive groves of trees to be protected.

I also thought that huge animal statues was particularly a Minnesota thing, particularly when it comes to huge fish. Well, as you can see, Lake Kabetogama Manitoba not only claims to have huge Walleye, but they are apparently so large you can actually throw a saddle on them and ride them - cool!

This huge Elk in downtown Oanole Manitoba welcomes you to Elk Country. Oanole is a truly small town. The local Home Hardware store not only sells all the typical home repair and decorating stuff that all Home Hardware stores sell (Home Hardware is the Canadian equivalent of Home Depot), but they also sell fresh meats and liquor - truly a one stop Man shop!

Another town mascot, perhaps not as natural as a huge bull Elk, is Gilbert. Gilbert welcomes all comers to the the cute little town of Gilbert Plains Manitoba. Designed by Carla Mandzuik (also of Gilbert Plains), Gilbert was erected in 1997 apparently to commemorate the town's one great feature - its golf course. I don't know if the attire is mandatory at the Gilbert Plains Country Club, but if it is, I will have to try to get a foursome set up with Larry, Moe and Curly!

I truly have no idea what the town of Hanley Saskatchewan was trying to accomplish here. Not only can I not exactly figure out why (unless they believe they brew the best cup of coffee in Canada or in the world or something), but also there is no signage or other information to let you know why they felt it important to build this huge coffee pot and cup. But apparently it accomplishes its goal - I did stop, and I do remember Hanley!

And finally there is Happy Rock in Gladstone Manitoba. There is really no good reason for Happy Rock in the historical sense other than the town of Gladstone had also been referred to in the past as Happy Rock. In 1970, the Gladstone Chamber of Commerce decided to brainstorm an idea to increase tourism in the town. They held a contest where locals could submit their ideas, and the idea of this statue won the contest prize. It took nearly 13 years to raise the funds and design the statue, but finally in 1993, the Happy Rock was built on the main highway that skirts the town. I was not able to find anything that indicated whether the desired results ever occurred.

Talk to you soon!

Riding Mountain National Park

2011-09-28T05:33:00.000-07:00

Riding Mountain National Park is about 150 miles NW of Winnipeg, and is the only National Park in Manitoba that is accessible by car. The other Manitoba National Park is up but Churchill, where the polar bears hang out, but it is only accessible by air or water. Riding Mountain's claim to fame is that its borders contain 3 distinct flora zones - a boreal forest (pine trees), a deciduous forest (leafy trees), and grasslands.

The Park straddles a huge escarpment - an uplift or fold in the Earth's crust. The escarpment actually is the remains of the shoreline of a prehistoric ocean that long ago covered much of Eastern Manitoba. The boreal forest is on the top of the escarpment, the deciduous forest at the bottom, and the grasslands are islands within the boreal forest. Because of the escarpment and changes in floral zones, it makes for interesting scenery and great hiking trails.

Riding Mountain is a very old Park - from the early 1900's. Being in more Northern Manitoba, it does not have a lot of infrastructure. There is one main paved highway that runs North and South through the park. We visited the historic East Gate where visitors in the early 1900's came to visit, and it required a 20 some odd mile drive on Highway 19 - completely unpaved, but in pretty fair condition.

Near the East Gate, we took off on what should have been something like an 8 mile round trip mountain bike ride along the North Escarpment Trail. We were in search of Bald Hill, and I had our picnic backpack firmly around my shoulders for when we arrived. After riding in and up the escarpment maybe a couple miles, the hills became almost vertical (at least it seemed that way). After trying to push our bikes up these hills that almost required both hands and feet to climb, we finally gave up and locked the bikes to a tree - we set out on foot alone. After another half mile or so, Robin cried "Uncle!" and we decided to look somewhere else for a nice area to picnic. We found our bikes safe and sound, biked the couple miles back to the Saturn, and headed to Lake Katherine where we found a great picnic table right on the water's edge. The sun was beginning its slow descent, so the shining reflection off the water impressive.

We camped in the park, which was right near the town of Wasagaming. While much smaller, Wasagaming reminded us of the town of Jasper in British Columbia. The historic log visitor center in the Parks Canada style, the cute town with restaurants, bars, outfitters and gift shops, and the perfunctory lake - Clear Lake. Although it was late in the season and the Park facilities would all be closed in a couple of weeks, the lake cruise boat was still operating. While not interested in actually cruising the lake, we still had to walk around the marina, which was actually on a small rocky island just off the shoreline near the Visitor Center. A sturdy walking bridge took you across to the marina and concession area, where you could do the boat tour, get some snacks, or rent a paddle boat if you wanted.

The tour boat was really interesting. The boat was maybe a 40 foot traditional V hulled boat, but from the rear, it looked more like a large pontoon boat or house boat. Apparently in order to allow this traditional V hull to have viewing decks along both sides, someone simply welded 3 feet of decking onto nearly the entire length of the hull. Then from that decking on the first level, they welded support railings and beams to support a similar 3 feet of decking on the second level as well. The ending conglomeration was a very functional but odd looking vessel.

Despite out valiant attempts and strong desires, we did not see much in the way of wildlife during our visit. On our hikes and mountain biking, we did hear what I had to assume was a black bear crashing through the forest, but no luck in getting a sighting. We did see evidence of bears however - such as this bear den we discovered as well as these claw marks on a young Aspen tree nearby.

Riding Mountain has one of Canada's only large herds of Bison - and we did see them - but that was not too hard since they are contained in a fairly smallish enclosure to keep them safe. We went looking for Elk the evening we went to the Bison enclosure - we didn't see any, but we did manage to hear the male Elk bugling - we remember that sound so clearly from our encounters with the rutting Elk in Jasper National Park last year. The only real wildlife we saw, beside a Grouse or other birds, was a deer but disappearing into the woods as we drove home from Elk hunting.

The weather got really nice and warm while we were here - an unexpected late blast of summer that is expected to last a few days - maybe stay with us into Saskatchewan. As a result, a campfire was in order, although Robin took a pass on the Smores this time - a rarity!

Talk to you soon!

Might as well be snowing here!

2011-09-27T05:33:00.000-07:00

Winnipeg has turned out to be interesting. There were no RV parks near the center of town - all were 20 miles out of downtown or more in one direction or the other. We decided to stay on the KOA on the West side of town because it was closest to the airport, since Robin was going to have to be dropping me off and picking me up at some inconvenient times based on her sleep schedule!

When we called the KOA to see just how far they were from the airport and downtown, we learned that they had just opened for the season on September 1 - opened for the season on 9/1? Well, it turned out that the KOA is on the Red River, and Winnipeg had seen record floods on the Red River this summer. When we were in the Forks, we could see that a considerable portion of the

Talk to you soon!

Winnipeg

2011-09-26T05:31:00.000-07:00

Our annual pass to the Canadian National Park system is good through the end of September. So we decided to visit all the drivable Parks in Manitoba and Saskatchewan on our way to Cheyenne Wyoming. It is a bit out of the way, but in the general direction we need to go - West.

Since I had to scoot to Las Vegas for a Nevada Board meeting and to observe a partner vote at the McGladrey & Pullen Partner Meeting, we decided to make Winnipeg our stop for a bit - there is an international airport in Winnipeg so I can get where I need to.

Our touring in Winnipeg was a bit light. At about 800,000 people, while Winnipeg is an old town, it is not very substantial. We managed to visit the grounds of the Manitoba Legislative Building, but not tour it because it was the weekend and it wasn't open for touring. It is an impressive building, and locals claim that it is the best example of a Victorian Provincial building in all of Canada - I couldn't vouch for that claim, but it is impressive. On top of the main dome of the building is the Golden Boy - a gold plated statue designed and created by the French artist, George Gardet in 1918. Apparently shortly after the Golden Boy was delivered to Canada, the ship that carried it was called into use as a troop carrier in WWI.

We took in the downtown area and enjoyed all the turn of the century buildings. One of the most impressive was the Grand Central Station of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Built in the grand style common during the hey days of the railway systems, the building is even more impressive than the central depot building we saw in Ottawa, the Canadian capital. Also fun were the Ukrainian cathedrals that dotted the downtown landscape. Apparently Winnipeg became a haven for displaced Ukrainians, in some part due to the similarities of the climate and therefore the farming conditions. The many Ukrainian cathedrals in town are built in the Russian Gothic style. I had this distinct feeling of being back in Moscow when near these impressive structures.

Across the Assiniboine River in the suburb (town) of St. Boniface, we strolled around the French Quarter. The French influenced Cathedrale de St. Boniface grabs the skyline along the river walk. The Cathedrale was built in 1918, but a raging fire destroyed it in 1972. Rather than tear it down, they left the remaining walls in place, and built the new Cathedrale inside the remains, matching the design, look, and construction material as best as possible. The final product is really a very impressive look of the new generation living with the old. The huge circular hole you see in the facade used to house one of the largest stained glass windows in the world. Some of the portions of that window that were able to be salvaged from the fire were used in the construction of the new Cathedrale.

The most interesting part of the downtown area is called the Forks. The Forks is at the juncture of the Red River and the Assiniboine River. Dating from the times of the First Nations inhabitants, the Forks has been a place where people have gathered, for commerce (trading), religious or governance ceremonies, or just to meet and exchange ideas. The area is a National Historic Site due to that history, but also has become the focal point for Winnipeg's downtown scene in the present - just like in the past. The area is filled with a very nice park with pleasant walking paths, museums, restaurants, and even a massive skate board park. The old terminal buildings from the days when the rivers carried freight traffic have been converted into markets filled with fresh produce and meats as well as craft shops and trendy eateries.

It was in the Forks Market we learned the word Busker. Apparently a old world word that essentially means a street musician/actor that works for tips, the Forks Market was full of Busker Stops where performers would gather to entertain the crowd. This live music as you moved from area to area was not only pleasant, but added to the entire experience of visiting the Forks.

As we strolled the paths and read the informational signs about the historical significance of this area, our attention kept being drawn to a quite impressive building under construction. Large beam assemblies were being lifted into place by a massive crane in what appeared to be a very contemporary free form structure. As we poked around the exterior of the construction site, we learned that this impressive structure was to be the future home of the Canadian Center for Human Rights. I wouldn't mind coming back to see this once it has been completed.

Talk to you soon!

Another border crossing gone awry

2011-09-25T05:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I screwed up at the border again. This time it was an honest mistake contributed by nice folk, but the result was an interesting experience.

The normal exchange with the border agent occurred at the border crossing between International Falls Minnesota and Fort Francis Ontario. I answered "No" to all the questions that should be answered "No", and when she asked about liquor, I told her 4 or 5 bottles of wine, box of wine and a full bottle of diet margaritas - seemed like a good estimate to me.

They then asked us to pull over and they wanted to search Colectiva. That was the routine that we did crossing in Washington last summer, so I didn't think much of it - grabbed the wife and the pooch - in that order I believe, and headed out.

The two agents that looked in the coach came out with maybe 7 or 8 bottles of wine. To be honest, we had only purchased 3 or 4 bottles of Robin's Kendall Jackson before we left because she cannot find it in Canada, so I thought the 4 or 5 bottle estimate pretty close. What I forgot was that pretty much everyone who came over and visited us at the RV park brought a bottle or two of wine - mostly they were not opened and ended up under the bed - our normal storage for larger items.

Well, my feeling was I missed my estimate a bit - honest mistake. The agent's view of it was that I was responsible for my declaration (can't debate that) and I had deliberately under declared by double - the agent I had talked to when I said 4 or 5 had written down 4. While I'm thinking "I goofed - sorry", he's thinking "Serious attempt to hide a significant illegal crossing". Based on his view of the situation, they had me pull into another area and open up all of Colectiva's slides. They then proceeded to perform a front to back search with flashlights and head gear and such, including all outside bays and everything. What should have been a 10 minute crossing ended up being an hour and a half.

In the end, they "seized" the "undeclared" liquor - they made sure to carefully use the words "undeclared" and "seized" to reinforce the seriousness that they viewed the situation. Of course I shouldn't say this out loud, much less in print on the most prolific medium in the world, but I have these mental images of party at the border crossing tonight, and guess what is being served? Wine and margaritas?

While I was extremely embarrassed, the only real inconvenient thing (on top of the hour and a half) was that in the fridge there was a nearly empty bottle of Robin's diet margaritas - they considered that the bottle I had declared - even though it maybe had less than an ounce or two - and seized Robin's bottle she had deliberatly bought - she cannot find diet margaritas in Canada either.

Lesson learned! Next time I count!

Talk to you soon!

What were we thinking!

2011-09-23T05:10:00.000-07:00

It's only mid-September

Got up this morning and there was a complete frost cover on pretty much every flat surface you could find - cars, grass, furniture - clearly there was a pretty hard freeze last night.

And we are getting ready to head North!

What were we thinking!

Talk to you soon!

I lied! Final, final Minnesota stuff.

2011-09-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

I accompanied Robin to get her hair cut today. She had an appointment in the cute little town of Stillwater, Minnesota.

Because of the role all the rivers played in terms of transportation in the 1800's, many of the river towns on the navigable rivers in Minnesota are living history gems. Stillwater is on the St. Croix River not too far from where the St. Croix dumps into the Mississippi River. Because of its importance as a transportation hub, the buildings built in the downtown area had staying power - heavy block structures and brick structures - and because of it, the character of the Main Street from the mid-1800's still remains.

While Robin was being clipped, I toured the downtown. It all brought back sweet memories from when we lived in the Twin Cities and tended to visit the river towns for rest and relaxation. I visited the historic Stillwater lift bridge - to allow larger vessels to cross the highway, an elaborate bridge with an elevator deck was built in 1931 to replace the swing bridge that had been built in 1910. Despite its age, the local business people and residents resist updating this landmark because of its distinct look, as well as the spectacle it makes when a large vessel goes by.

After Robin's appointment, we drove around the bluffs overlooking the downtown. The number of simply huge Victorian homes are proof of the prosperity of Stillwater in its early days as a transportation hub. We lost count of the beautiful homes - this particular home was both the best example of a 1800's era Victorian home and the best maintained I have ever seen.

If you ever get in this area, visit any of the river towns near the Twin Cities - but if you can do it, make sure you visit Stillwater.

Talk to you soon!

Final Minnesota Stuff

2011-09-19T05:39:00.000-07:00

We are wrapping up Minnesota before we finally begin the long trek home. But, before we headed out, we needed to wrap up a few Minnesota attractions.

If you have ever had Summit Pale Ale, you were sipping a St. Paul microbrew. We toured the Summit Brewery (interestingly enough, not on Summit Avenue) to get some insight into how they produce their fine ales. While we have been on brewery tours before, we found this one a lot of fun - especially the tasting lounge afterward. Never pass up a free Ale!

One of the many things we miss from our 40 years living in the Twin Cities is its vibrant theatre scene. We always had season tickets to the Cricket Theatre, but would also frequent many of the excellent venues. Simply because of the name, we decided we would hit the Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop presentation of Obamamia! Always tackling highly political topics with a great jab of humor, the Workshop did not disappoint with this presentation - poignant, sharp and just plain funny. After watching some US Open at Chili's, this was a great climax to the evening.

In addition to the lunch with cousin Ted and Diane at Old Country Buffet, dinner with brother Mike and Bonnie in Colectiva, golf with good friends Marilyn and Petey Rasmussen at Hastings Country Club, our final taste of Minnesota was the spectacular Renaissance Festival. Easily the largest and one of the oldest in the land, it seemed like we hadn't even skipped 17 years since the last time we attended. Not only did we recognize all the old permanent buildings and structures, we even recognized Puke and Snot - the longest continuously performing acts at the Festival.

I should really say Puke and Snot II - apparently the original Snot that we know was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, and passed away. Puke searched for someone who could perhaps do a credible Snot, and we got a chance to see them today. Puke was the same old Puke - Snot II was a far cry from the original Snot - but the performance was still the best of the Festival. Although the fire eating and juggling troupe was pretty excellent as well.

Well, on to Winnipeg - back into Canada - oh boy! Conversion and translation fees!

Talk to you soon!

New experience.

2011-09-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

Night geocaching - those two words wouldn't seem to go together, but apparently they do.
I was playing with the geocaching website looking for other ways to sort potential caches. When I searched on Multi-cache, a number of caches popped up that were identified as night caches. After convincing Robin to give it a go, we decided to try one last night.

What fun!

We showed up on the edge of one of Woodbury's many small parks at around 9 PM - they are open until 10 so we figured we would be able to get it in. Because it was pretty much totally black out, and the park itself is not lit, we donned our headlamps and started to follow the initial coordinates we had been given. We were told that when we arrived at those coordinates, our next clue would mysteriously appear.

Thanks to the trusty back light feature in our hand held GPS we had no problem following the way to the destination - other than not being able to see where we were walking all that well. The GPS signal seemed to be taking us around the tennis courts when I realized that the destination was in the middle of the courts, so we opened the gate and headed in.

As we shined our headlamps around the inside of the tennis courts, we saw six glowing apparitions on one of the far fences. We walked toward the fences and realized they were glowing numbers - the six numbers we needed to complete the coordinates for the next part of the cache.

As we started our way toward the next coordinates, Robin became startled when she saw some animals off to our right - worried somewhat that they might be stray dogs or coyotes or something. Well, as we came closer and our eyes adjusted to the dark, it became apparent that there were a dozen or more deer in the park nibbling on the grasses. As we came closer they became a bit fidgety, and eventually they all bounded off into the woods. Apparently this is another fun aspect of night geocaching.

Attempting to follow the second set of coordinates we tried to keep to the paved walking/biking paths. But one of the paths took us to the left of the coordinates and the other took us to the right. Ready to give up and head back toward the car, we spotted what was clearly a mowed grassy walking path we hadn't seen before, and it appeared to be in the direction of the coordinates. So despite the grass being wet with dew, we headed in - as long as the path seemed to track the coordinate direction, Robin was willing.

Again we were told that when we got to the coordinates, ghostly silvery eyes would lead us to the actual cache. So we got to the area of the actual coordinates and we started to shine our headlamps around, but nothing caught our attention. I thought I saw some matted grass heading into the woodsy area along the path, and poked my head in. There, starring back at me from a tree maybe 30 feet into the woods were a pair of ghostly silvery eyes! So, holding Robin's hand, we headed in.

So as not to get lost, I told Robin to stay by the eyes while I looked around. After walking a few feet from that tree, another pair of ghostly silvery eyes caught my attention. So we headed for it - we repeated this a couple more times until the next set of ghostly silvery eyes were actually two sets - one above the other. I was all ready to look around for the next set of eyes when Robin figured out that the double set of ghostly silvery eyes was the final clue - she checked the base of that multiple trunked tree and there was the cache - yippee!

Apparently I hadn't really fully thought this one through. When geocaching during the day, getting back to your car is no big deal - many times you can actually see it from where you are. But working your way back to the car in the dark with no real points of reference (even the ghostly silvery eyes are now on the other side of the trees from where we are, so they don't lead the way!) would have been a lot easier if I had "marked" the car with the GPS. There is a nice feature in the hand held GPS where you can record the spot you are now so that the GPS can lead you back there later. I always forget to "mark" where we parked, but this experience might help me remember. While we only did a few out of the way twists and turns (yes, I will admit it - when I said left and Robin said right, I went left - should have gone right!), we probably wandered a quarter mile unnecessarily.

But all in all it was a great experience - fun, but a little spooky as well.

Talk to you soon!

If it aint one thing ........

2011-09-15T05:39:00.000-07:00

Well, the good news is that Colectiva seems to now be running like a champ. We don't seem to be struggling with the Check Engine and Stop Engine lights we saw frequently when we were in the more remote parts of Canada. And whatever I did the last time I tried to get the hot water heater to run seems to have gotten better results - we have used it now for over two weeks straight and I have not had to open it up and mess with it to make it work - yippee! Hot water at our beck and call!

But you know Murphy's Law - when one thing's going right, the other shoe has to drop. And the other shoe appears to be the Saturn.

We had been hoping we would be able to limp the Saturn back to Vegas before having to take it in and getting it checked out. It has developed a whine that sounds a little metallic, and sounds like it is coming from the transmission as the pitch of the whine goes up as you accelerate, then ratchets down a bit when the transmission shifts, and then goes back up again until the next shift. I was thinking optimistically that it maybe was something like a small hole in the exhaust system prior to the muffler, but we have also noticed some funny shudders occasionally when the transmission shifts. Bummer! I know that anything associated with transmission means money!

As if that wasn't enough, the air conditioning stopped working entirely. I would even have liked to put that off until we got back to Vegas, but with the temperatures we had been experiencing in the Twin Cities lately I didn't think we would be able to put up with it, and I would be forced to get it fixed here.
I guess the only good news is that even though it is only early September, early signs of winter are already here in the Northland. It's cold! They are already posting freezing temperatures at night in Duluth. And to think we are planning to head back that way in a few days - are we nuts?

Oh well, maybe the Saturn will wait until we get back to Vegas.

Talk to you soon!

Another geocaching day!

2011-09-13T05:16:00.000-07:00

Well, the kids have left and it is just us and the dog.

The heck with that - we're going to have fun!

So we grabbed the stack of geocaching data we had printed out one of the first days we were here. We started off just to do a couple, but we were rewarded early with some fun finds. Here are a few of the finds we had:

• Small container slid up into the bottom opening in a post for a chain link fence - the post was part of a swinging gate, so the bottom of the post was not sunk into the ground - the cache container had some felt like material surrounding it to make it fit snuggly up into the post tube and not fall out - but had a screw extending from the bottom of the container so you could easily pull it out - pretty ingenious!

• A very small Buffalo Tube - almost the size of an AAA battery, there are tubes with screw tops that are called Buffalo Tubes that are sometimes used for caches - they are only big enough to keep a small rolled up log in - we found one wrapped in old grey rag material hung in the corner posts of an old rusting fence around a cemetery - very well concealed and something new for us.

• Near a bridge on a walking path, we crawled underneath to find a camouflaged key case magnetically stuck to one of the middle support beams of the bridge - again nicely hidden and off the beaten path.

• Maybe the best of the day - we had gone to the spot that the GPS indicated and I was certain that I knew the tree grouping that the cache was located in. But I looked and looked and looked to no avail - no Buffalo Tube hanging from a branch - no camouflaged containers on the ground - so I fan out and start looking at trees farther away when I hear Robin say "I got it". I come back to find her holding a fake rock which was just sitting on the ground with a container attached under it - best idea of the day!

All in all we found 9 of the 11 we looked for - a record for us in terms of caches found in one day. However, I don't really consider that the 11 is a good number - I consider us 9 for 10 - one of the caches we did not find was because when we got to the location that the GPS took us to, we began to poke around in places we were used to - trees and such. When Robin poked into this one multi-trunk tree, she screamed and I immediately felt sharp pains in my arm, my jaw and my head. Come to find out she had stirred a hornets' nest, and they were some of the most aggressive hornets I have ever seen.

As I ran away waving my hat, the hat band flew out and my sun glasses flew off. I attempted to approach the area to retrieve them, and as soon as I got even remotely close to the tree, several hornets hit me in the face hard, so I backed off. I managed to find a really long stick - maybe 5 feet long or even a little longer - and slowly approached the tree from the opposite side. I was able to flick the hat band about 20 feet from the tree, and the hornets seemed to ignore it now, and I was able to recover it. But they were not only close to the sun glasses, but they were actually crawling all over it - maybe a dozen of them - must have been because of the sweat or the smell or something. So anyway I found a longer stick - maybe 10 feet - and I again approached from the opposite direction. I managed to flick them even further than the hat band - maybe 20 feet or more from the tree - I waited to see if the bees were still all over the glasses, and when I determined they weren't, I grabbed them and took off!

Here is what my swollen arm looked like after we escaped! (My head and my jaw looked pretty much the same)

I didn't think about wasps as a hazard of geocaching, but from now on I will!

Talk to you soon!

More Minnesota stuff.

2011-09-11T04:47:00.000-07:00

Nick and Karen visited for the weekend - it was real nice - the four of us have not been together for quite some time.

We hit the Minnesota State Fair. People in Texas say that the Texas State Fair is bigger, but I have been to both, and as far as I can tell, the Minnesota State Fair is the largest state fair in the USA. We spent the entire day walking around and touring the exhibits and attractions. We saw 1,200 pound hogs, even heavier bulls, a couple hundred pound pumpkin, an informational display on the Emerald Ash Boer (Teresa, you can rest easy now - I understand better), and another informational display on the epidemic infestation of Minnesota homes by bed bugs. In addition to that, we (mostly Robin) ate deep fried cheese curds, bacon on a stick, sausage on a stick and beer on a stick - the last one was my favorite!

We all attended a surprise party for cousin Deanna who turned 30. As most gatherings in Minnesota, the fare was grilled stuff (mostly meat) dealt with handily by her hubby, Jay. He grilled up corn on the cob (a Minnesota staple in the summer), burgers, hot dogs, polish sausage and bratwurst - what else could you ask for! Beside the birthday girl, the activity centered around the rope toss - like horseshoes, but the horseshoes are 12 inch ropes with a sponge ball on each end - the stake is a PVC pipe fence section with three rungs - you stand apart about what you would for horseshoes and toss the ropes, hoping they will wrap themselves around the rungs - you get points based on which rung you are able to snag. My brother-in-law Kevin and I were undefeated when the night was over - the only undefeated team. Oh yeah, Deanna had a nice time as well.

We managed to hit the St. Croix river with Aunt Teri, Cousin Will and Cousin Jenny (Karen hadn't made it in yet so missed the fun). We put Teri and Kevin's boat in the water in Hudson Wisconsin - just 10 minutes from where Colectiva is resting - and headed up river. The day was nice and we decided to just drift a bit when we got to Stillwater Minnesota. After drifting, listening to some tunes and having our make shift picnic lunch which Teri was so kind as to bring, we realized the water had become almost glassy as the winds had died and there was so little traffic on the water. Nick and Jenny tubed and had a great time - Jenny feigned wanting Will to drive slowly, until they actually got out on the water and the "thumbs up" signs kept coming - meaning more speed! Will wake boarded - and really nicely I might add. Nick gave it a shot at wake boarding but was not able to get completely up despite the valiant try.

Despite being a gentleman, I do have to continue this story. Teri had forgotten to bring a swimsuit, so as all of us took to the water to cool off in the heat, Teri was a trooper and stayed with the boat. Finally, the glassy water and all the tubing and wake boarding got to her, and she said "I am skiing". She told Nick to turn around as she was planning to ski in her undies - her son Will said "No you are not!" in as convincing a tone as I have ever heard - but undaunted, the sweat pants came off and into the water it was. I don't think I have ever seen anyone ski with their legs as tightly pressed together as Teri did that day - but honestly, she was really good!

Dinner with Bubba, movie, hot tubbing at Jenny's, it was a fast and furious few days. This was Karen's boyfriend, Albert's, first visit to Minnesota, so he had a lot to absorb in a very short time. After dropping Nick and the airport, we had an hour or so to kill before Karen and Albert needed to be there. So we sat outside Colectiva and played some Farkle. Farlkle is an easy dice game that has some fun strategy and twists - six dice and a score card - Albert lead through about 80% of the game, but Karen made a run at the end and took the game from all of us. If any of you that don't know Farkle want to play, go to www.elversonpuzzle.com - there you will find instructions and score sheets for Farkle - then all you have to do is find 6 dice!

Talk to you soon!

Miscellaneous Minnesota stuff

2011-09-09T05:49:00.000-07:00

We are having a great time hiking, biking, visiting and going fun places that hold special memories from our childhoods.

Robin and I threw our bikes on the back of the Saturn and headed for the lakes district near downtown Minneapolis. If you have never been there you should make it a point to try. There are a couple of hands full of lakes abutting the Uptown area, very near downtown (you can see how close it is in the picture). Over the decades the Minneapolis Parks Department has developed about 40 miles of walking and biking trails around those lakes and they are all interconnected so you can ride from one lake to the next. Robin and I probably only biked 10 or 12 miles of the system - we biked around Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles and Lake Harriett - we actually did Harriett twice! We stopped for a nice picnic lunch in a park on Lake of the Isles. I have to admit we were a bit worn when we approached the Saturn for the last time, but what is 10 or 12 miles of biking when it is on paved trails that are nearly perfectly flat?

My brother Mike and his wife Bonnie live in a suburb Northeast of St. Paul's downtown. However, it is not really that far out, and has been developed as residential for many decades. I had seen deer in their back yard before, so I knew there was wildlife living in the area. But I was surprised when I looked out in the front yard and saw these guys - don't they know that Thanksgiving is just around the corner?

We took in a Minnesota Twins baseball game in the new (2010) Target Field. While the Twins may be in last place in their division, and while they had lost 7 straight games, they came out with bats blaring and trounced the Detroit Tigers 11 - 4. It was a fun game to watch, not only for all the offense, but there were some great defensive plays as well. In the top of the 9th with two men on and one out, the Twin's first baseman refused to count on the massive lead. When a hard liner went between first and second, everyone in the stadium thought it was likely a run scoring hit. Not only did the first baseman manage to get a glove on this rocket of a ball, but he hustled back to the bag and made a diving tag on the returning runner for the double play - cool!

We took advantage of the old Farmers Market near the old train depot in downtown St. Paul on Saturday morning. It was a nice morning and the Market was abuzz. We strolled around with Robin's sister Barb as well as Mike and Bonnie, and all of us came home with fresh produce from the dozens of tables with tasty offerings. After Mike spotted this eggplant and asked me which US President it made me think of, I couldn't decide - would it be Dick Nixon? Or Bill Clinton!

We have been geocaching like maniacs since we got to Woodbury. If you don't know what geocaching is, look it up on line - it is basically treasure hunting using a GPS device to help you locate the treasure. It is great fun (we think) and gets us some exercise as well - both mental and some walking. We have discovered a couple dozen caches - one of them a series of 6 hidden caches, each with a clue inside, and you had to collect all 6 to be able to solve the location of the 7th. We did another puzzle where you had to solve for the GPS coordinates of the location of the treasure by solving clues related to a golf course - all the information you needed was on the scorecard. Fun!

We all hear how the older of us accuse the younger of us of being physically tied to their electronic devices. Many say that we are exaggerating or over reacting - especially my son Nick who says he is not a slave to his phone. Can't tell by me however.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: I'm so happy to be having this great family time here in MN. The only thing missing is my daughter Karen and she comes in this weekend. Nick has been sharing our coach with us this week, and he seems to be doing fine in such close confines with us. I imagine we'll lose him to his cousin Jenny's house after Karen arrives, since she's staying there. This weekend holds lots of planned activities with family. Monday both the kids leave and things will settle down quite a bit. Later.

To Hell with opposable thumbs!

2011-09-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

One of the things that distinguishes humans is opposable thumbs - we can grab things. It doesn't distinguish us from other primates - apes and chimps and such have opposable thumbs - that is why they are so nimble. But most four legged animals that walk on all fours don't have opposable thumbs and don't have the dexterity to grab things.

Except Niko.

We went to the Green Mill last evening - the Green Mill is an institution in the Twin Cities. Deep dish pizza is their specialty, although now they are trying to really set their space as an everyday dining out place. Anyway, while I had my usual - the Western Mill Burger (yummmmmmm!) - Robin had a deep dish personal pan pizza. And of course, she couldn't eat it all. So a to go box was ordered (turns out it is funny they also call those things generically a "Doggy Bag").

Anyway, when I found it sitting on the front dash board of the car as we were leaving - Robin's parents had come over to tour Colectiva and we were heading out to take them back home after dinner and the tour - I handed the pizza box to Robin - just assuming she would put it in the fridge (honestly, wouldn't you have assumed that as well?)

When we got back from taking Robin's parents home, there was a piece of what looked like torn up foam rubber on the floor of the coach. Robin asked me what it was, and I said I had no idea. She said "It isn't pizza is it?" I said "It can't be - pizza is in the fridge."

Come to find the pizza box on the co-pilot seat - it has locked slide in pieces of cardboard that you could only unlock with "opposable thumbs" - at least I think you couldn't open it without. And it was closed and locked. But somehow a piece of pizza was on the floor, and a piece of pizza was missing from the closed box.

The mystery has yet to be solved - and the smile has yet to be wiped from Niko's face!

Talk to you soon!

Side trip

2011-09-03T05:13:00.000-07:00

We used Minneapolis as a launching point for some side trips. Robin flew to Houston to attend the wedding of one of her best friends, Kendy Stone's, son Samuel to Amy Oliver. She truly enjoyed the wedding, and was able to spend some good quality time with Kendy, and her husband Mike.

I on the other hand headed to San Diego to attend a retirement party for one of my former partners and good friends, Jeff Stein, from my former Firm, McGladrey & Pullen. The party, held at the Bernardo Hills Country Club, was great fun, except maybe for the fire drill before it. We headed back to Nick's apartment with just enough time to change clothes and head for the party, and as I pulled the casual slacks out of my carryon bag and tried to stuff my leg into them, I realized they weren't my slacks - they were Robin's! On top of that, the McGladrey logo golf shirt I was planning to wear had 5 (I counted!) very visible stain spots on the front - talk about piling on!

So I put on the back up shirt I brought (no back up slacks however) and the rest of what I planned to wear and headed for the Walmart just off I-15 on the way to the Club. Nick kept a wide berth from me since I was wearing a nicer long sleeved shirt, argyle socks, Florsheim dress shoes and my shorts - not exactly a fashion statement. But I grabbed some slacks, put them on, paid for them and we were off. We made it to the party on time, and nobody was any the wiser - although I did fess up to those there that knew me and could appreciate it.

The rest of the weekend was great. Nick decided it was a good time to get to know San Diego a little better - he has been busy at work and such and really hasn't gotten out much. We spent the day before the party at the Delmar Race Track - Nick had never been to a race track as an adult and really enjoyed the experience. Going blind and just picking horses for bad reasons - we bet the smallish dappled grey who actually showed in the race but only because one of the horses and jockeys did a head over heels spill and completely revamped the final. We also bet the jockey if he had been DQed in the prior race figuring he would be pissed and try harder. Whatever it was, we managed to end the day up a couple of bucks and had a great time.

The other day was spent at the Padres game. Petco Park was great - never been there myself - and the Padres managed to make the game interesting. Having gotten off to a 3 point lead after the lead off batter hit a solo home run, they held the lead through the top of the ninth, when their most dependable closer allowed the Marlin's to tie the game, and actually loaded the bases with two outs making it a white knuckler - but managed to strike out the last guy. A leadoff triple by the Padres in the bottom of the ninth sealed the fate, and jazzed up the crowd - fun!

After spending most of the evening at Nick's - not his apartment but actually a sports bar in Pacific Beach right on the ocean - watching the Yankees beat up the Twins and watching pre-season football, we hit Rudford's for an midnight breakfast run. Rudford's is a San Diego institution - a family owned and run diner that has been operating on El Cahon in North Park since the 30's. Couple those with lots of walks with Kona, and it was an absolutely great weekend.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: It felt real strange that first day to be by myself...I've gotten so used to doing everything with Glenn (and I mean EVERYTHING) that I felt disoriented. I noticed that Glenn said nothing above about being disoriented without me!!! Oh, well. That feeling was gone the next day, wedding day. I went down and had breakfast in my hotel, then drove myself to a mall to shop for awhile. I bought some earrings to wear to the wedding. Found my way back to the hotel and took a long long shower, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Got ready for the wedding and drove there, following the directions and also using my GPS. I arrived there just fine. The wedding was very special, Amy and Sam are two very special young people with strong religious beliefs which were very evident in their ceremony. They even served communion to all of us. The reception was held in the same location as the wedding, and I had been invited to sit at the 2nd Stone Family table along with other close friends of the Stones. It was great to meet some of the people that Kendy and Mike knew in Saudi...the conversation was very interesting to me, as I had heard so much about the Stone's Saudi experiences from Kendy. The night ended far too quickly, and the next morning I left for the airport around 8am. It was a fun weekend. No time zone change, which made it more bearable for me.

Thanks to my sister, Barb, I've discovered a new author that I like. Her name is Kristin Hannah. I've read her book Firefly Lane and enjoyed it. Plan on reading others by her. Light reading but well-written and enjoyable. I'm continuing with Janet Evanovich's numbered Stephanie Plum novels...have read through number 14 and am scouring the used bookstores for the rest. Am enjoying lots of good reading time lately! TTFN.

Fun at the Rally

2011-08-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, we attended the 86th annual Family Motor Coach Association (FMCA) convention in Madison Wisconsin. We had a full week, with over 400 vendors exhibiting products of interest to RVers, four days of seminars on topics of interest to RVers, and an entire parking lot full of new RVs by every major manufacturer. On top of that, there was live entertainment throughout the day and in the evening, with the finale on Saturday night being the Streetcorner Symphony - the winners of NBC's Sign Off last year. There was also some incidental stuff - like Tony Stewart's NASCAR race car on display just for the fun of it.

Looking at new RVs is always fun, even though we have no intention of even considering a change. However, there were some really compelling layouts that we liked - essentially 3 zones of living - so you have a kitchen/dining room zone, a living/family room zone and a bedroom/bathroom zone. One of the coaches we toured even had a walk in closet in the master bedroom!

The accommodations for an event like this are pretty austere - essentially a huge parking lot with just enough space between the coaches to park your car. They bring in diesel generators to supply everyone who wants it with 30 AMP power, but you have to either live on what water and sewer capacity you have, or else pay a vendor to bring you some water and empty your tanks. We have no problem going a week in Colectiva if we know we will need to do that - could probably almost do two weeks if we needed to.

And forget internet - they had WIFI at the seminar building, but that was 3 miles away - so we found the nearest Starbucks, our internet backup plan. While heading back to Colectiva one night, I saw one of my former partners from when I was in the Minneapolis office, Ron Draper, getting onto one of the shuttle buses - I guess I am not the only CPA on the motor home circuit!

We are on our way to Minneapolis to take in the Minnesota State Fair and the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, as well as more visits with our families. So postings will continue to be a bit intermittent.

Talk to you soon!

Most interesting Walmart

2011-08-23T05:09:00.000-07:00

It seems like no matter where a Walmart is, when you walk into it, you could be in Vegas or the last town you were in. They all seem to be the same no matter where they are located, even to the point of generally being laid out the same.

Well, in Madison Wisconsin, we saw what I thought was the most interesting Walmart I had ever seen. Apparently they wanted to put a Walmart in this location really badly. But they really didn't have enough space to put both the store and the parking lot. So, they built the parking lot, and then they built the store over it! The store is on the second floor and there is a parking garage underneath it.

Knowing how everyone shops at Walmart - huge carts full of grocery items or electronics or whatever. I thought to myself - how to they get all these shoppers with their huge carts full of stuff from the store down to the parking lot - I assumed they had a large number of very large, very fast elevators. But what I learned was that they were a step ahead of me - they actually had an escalator that was only for carts! When you went to leave, you pushed your cart onto the shopping cart escalator, and then rode down next to it on the people escalator. Pretty ingenious!

Talk to you soon!

The town of Madison

2011-08-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

We are having a really good time at the rally. There are over 400 exhibitors and lots to do. The Alliant Energy Center where it is being held feels just like a fair grounds, so the atmosphere is festive.

We knocked off for a bit to check out the town of Madison. I don't think I have ever been here before - it is pretty distinctive so I think I would remember. The core of the downtown lies right on a huge lake, so it is picturesque. They have built their convention facility right on the lake, and the convention facility has a very large rooftop garden where they hold outdoor events. They were setting up for some kind of event while we were visiting, and it looked like it would be fun to attend an event there.

Madison is the capital city of Wisconsin - you have probably been hearing about all the political fights in Madison with the governmental employee unions and such. There were all kinds of signs hanging around about recalling the governor, and his moral corruptness, but there weren't any large groups of people or protests going on or anything like that.

The capital building is gorgeous. Apparently this is the third capital building built in Madison. The first two burned. This one was built in the early 1900's. We were surprised that with all the bickering going on here there was really no security at all. All the entrances were open to the public, and other than some signs saying certain areas were for legislators only, there really was no security presence at all. We basically walked all over the interior of the capital, taking in all the marble work and art work. It really is quite beautiful.

After touring the downtown, we had another great visit to Buffalo Wild Wings - great wings and easy on the pocketbook - nice! I saw this sign in one of the stalls in the bathroom - made a lot of sense to me.

Talk to you soon!

Signing off for a bit

2011-08-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I am not sure which of these dumpsters to use. If you can explain to me what goes in where, let me know.

We are in Madison at the Alliant Energy Center for the 86th National Conference of the FMCA - Family Motor Coaching Association. It is a weeklong RV Rally - demo RVs, products and seminars, along with a lot of entertainment. We are looking forward to it - they tell us there will be over 1800 RVs here!

After the Rally we will be heading to Minneapolis for a month, so the blog entries will be intermittent at best, certainly not daily.

Talk to you soon!

Door County

2011-08-12T05:36:00.000-07:00

We could have plowed through all the way to Madison, but that would have been a long haul. So we headed to Green Bay with the plan to take it in, as well as infamous Door County. Green Bay didn't hold much for us from a touristy viewpoint (other than the hallowed ground), but Door County was a fun day.

Door County is just a peninsula off the Eastern tip of Wisconsin that juts out between Lake Michigan and that part of the lake that forms Green Bay. Because it is just a long thing peninsula, they claim to have the most coastline of any county in the US. That would make sense given that all but just a very little bit of its edges are on Lake Michigan or Green Bay.

Door County - the name sounds benign, but its origin is not. The French, who founded pretty much everything in North America (at least after the natives and Leif Erikson had already been there), named the straits at the tip of the peninsula Ports des Morts because they were so treacherous and had claimed so many sailing ships. Ports des Morts translated means Door of Death, or Death's Door. The name stuck, and hence the name Door County.

While others may go as well, Door County appears to be the weekend or vacation destination for Green Bay and Milwaukee. The Southeastern coastline is a string of cute harbor towns. Each town is filled with cute restaurants, cheese shops, snack shops, gift shops and wineries. We wineried our way to the tip of the peninsula and although the rain kept coming and going, it went long enough for us to stop and have a nice picnic lunch on the shoreline.

At the tip of the peninsula we came to what the French had named Ports des Morts. There are a series of inhabited islands off the tip of the peninsula, and they are all serviced by ferries - you can hop from one to the next, drive to the Northern end and then hop to the next. It sounds like those islands are very tourist centric, but we really didn't leave the time to explore the peninsula and the islands as well. We could see coming back some day and spending a week or so here just gift shopping, winerying and just general sightseeing.

All in all, a very enjoyable stop on our way to the Rally!

Talk to you soon!

Hallowed ground

2011-08-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to the Green Bay Packers - they are 92 years old today. Earl Louis "Curly" Lambeau along with George Whitney Calhoun founded the Green Bay Packers on August 11, 1919 and paid $250 to the newly forming American Professional Football Association, the forerunner of the National Football League and purchased the second APFA (NFO) franchise. Just as a point of reference, the last expansion franchise that was sold by the NFL was to Houston, for $750 million. At the time he organized the team, Curly Lambeau was working at the Indian Meat Packing Company factory, hence the name The Packers The first season didn't come until 1922, and the rest is history.

We toured Lambeau Field and learned all kinds of interesting stuff. When we got there, the stadium was full of trash and you could see that fans had their stadium seats sitting in their season ticket locations. I assumed that maybe the Pack had played a preseason game last night, but learned that they only had an interteam scrimmage - however, it is Green Bay, so the stadium was apparently packed even for what was essentially a practice. Terry, a member of the Green Bay Packer staff, spent an hour taking us around the stadium and telling us all kinds of interesting stories. Even though I have always been a Viking fan, a huge rival of the Packers, I really enjoyed visiting the stadium where the Vikings have had so many victories in recent history.

I knew that the Packers were a publicly traded company - I knew some folks who had a share of stock. I always thought it was more of a public relations thing - to jazz up the local fans - but that was not how it happened. Not long after Curly Lambeau and Calhoun founded the team, just being meat packing workers, they didn't really have the money to keep the team going. So, in order to keep the team operating, they decided to sell shares to raise money in the late 20's.

Interestingly enough, that decision ended up resulting in the demise of the Packer's founder, Curly Lambeau. As a public company, the Packers were run by a professional president and a board of directors since they went public. Apparently in 1949, Lambeau, who was essentially the permanent head coach, got crosswise with the board of directors, and he resigned. For the rest of his life, Lambeau refused to allow his name to be associated with the team in any way. The team languished and had losing seasons after Lambeau resigned. That didn't change until the late 50's when Vince Lombardi took over as the head coach, and again brought the team to glory.

Because it is a public company without a rich owner, there is nobody to put money into the team when needed. Lambeau Field was built with the help of the City of Green Bay in 1957. The Packers had played since formation in City Field - the new stadium was known as New City Field - and was a decent facility at the time. After Curly Lambeau died in 1965, his family relented to the team's request to honor his name, and since then it has been known as Lambeau Field. However, it was not a stadium that kept up with NFL standards - by the 1990's, the Packers were the last team in the NFL as far as revenue and income - so the board of directors hired a new president - Robert Harlan - and headed on a new venture.

Robert Harlan did a major sale of stock in the late 90's and built a $295 million addition to Lambeau Field (the original Field cost $1 million). The vision of the management team was a stadium that would be open daily and become a major revenue source for the team. Opened in 2000, the stadium is now open daily and generates significant revenues for the team in the following ways - tours at $11 per head run every 15 minutes (good value by the way) and generally sell out every day - Curly's Pub is a draw and local hangout daily, not just game days - the Packer Hall of Fame Museum is again a significant daily draw - the team shop which does $20 million annually in sales - corporate conferences and weddings are catered throughout the new facilities - substantial investments in private boxes resulted in significant revenues to the team. Anyway, with all this new revenue generated with the new facility, the Packers moved from last to 7th in terms of revenue and income in the NFL. All tickets in the stadium are sold on season tickets - there is a waiting list of 87,000 to get a season ticket - about 7 people turn in a ticket on average per year - that means if you are patient, you might get a season ticket in about 1,200 years!

We got to see inner workings of the stadium, see the private boxes, visit the locker room area and the tunnel, and finally the field itself. We went out the team tunnel as we headed to the field, and they ran fan screaming over speakers - Robin pretended she was a Packer heading out to the field on game day. The field, still a natural grass field, is actually a hybrid. Woven in with the natural grass are artificial nylon blades - you can't tell when you look at it, but apparently it strengthens the turf and makes the grass more resilient to play and better able to recover quickly after a game. Even when you bend down and feel it, it feels just like natural grass.

One last observation - Lambeau Field seems to be a Favre Free Zone. There are player pictures, jersey numbers, and player memorabilia all over the stadium - except for Favre - Horning, Starr, Nitzke, many of the great Packer names over the years, but no Favre. The only casual reference to Bret was when we were on the field and ready to do the Packer yell to hear the echo - Terry said that if you put your own team's name in place of "Packers", the curse of the Packers would be upon your team, and that would mean that Bret Favre would come out of retirement and play for your team - nice for a guy that did so much for the Packers!

Talk to you soon!

The Pickle Barrel House

2011-08-10T05:25:00.000-07:00

We found this cottage that is on the National Register of Historic Places in the cute little burg of Grand Marais Michigan. In its heyday, Grand Marais was lumber town, producing up to 14 million board feet of lumber a year. When the lumber business crashed in the early 1900's, Grand Marais almost became a ghost town. But tourism and fishing have allowed it to stay alive - but just barely.

Anyway, this cottage was built by the Chicago Cooperage Company (a cooperage is a barrel maker for any of those who don't know). The Chicago Cooperage Company built this cottage exactly like they would build any other barrel, only on a much larger scale. They built it for William Donahey, creator of the Chicago Tribune cartoon "The Teenie Weenies".

The Cottage was originally built on Sable Lake, which is now part of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore property. The cottage rested on the shores of Sable Lake and was used by Donahey from 1926 to 1937, at which time it was moved to Grand Marais and used as a tourist information center.

The main barrel contained the living area on the first floor and the bedroom on the second floor. A pantry connected the main barrel to a smaller one story barrel which housed the kitchen.

Unfortunately the building was closed by the time we got to it, so we didn't get to see the inside. But it was fun to look at just the same.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: Glenn always loves me to be the one in the picture standing by the short doors!

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

2011-08-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

We took a detour on the way to Green Bay and jogged up to the Northern edge of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. About midway East to West on the shore of Lake Superior lies the Pictured Rock National Lakeshore.

Apparently a National Lakeshore is technically a different designation than a National Park or a National Historic Site, but it is still operated by the National Park Service, and other than not having a large visitor center, it seems pretty much like a National Park. There are rangers and facilities and hiking trails and campgrounds - all nestled on the beautiful coast of Lake Superior.

We hiked out to the Aux Sable Lighthouse. One of the chain of lighthouses that surround the Great Lakes shipping lanes, this lighthouse was commissioned in 1895, a decade after the total loss of the steamer Mary Jerwecki. The Mary Jerwecki was heading full speed toward the locks at Sault Ste Marie when she got off course to the South, and plowed into the coast very near where the lighthouse ended up being built. Despite being an oceangoing steamer, the claims at the time were that she was going so fast that even despite her huge size, the tip of her bow was more than 3 feet up on the shore line. It was interesting that even though the Mary Jerwecki crashed in 1883, the remains of her hull is still very visible on the beach as you hike out to the lighthouse.

We also learned that just installing a lighthouse did not mean that all shipping tragedies would end. A hundred yards up the shore was the remains of another wreckage - at least we thought it was the remains of a wreckage - turns out it was two!

In 1904, the SS Sitka ran aground within rock throwing distance of the lighthouse, and was a total loss. Again, in 1918, the SS Gale ran aground literally yards from where the SS Sitka had, and was a total loss as well. What appeared to us to be the remains of the hull of one ship were actually the remains of the hulls of two different ships. It is hard to believe that this much visible wreckage exists after nearly 130 years - must be because it is fresh water and not salt water.

We hiked to the Log Slide overlook. The coastline of Superior along this stretch is a 500 foot wall of sand - eroded sandstone that looks like a huge range of sand dunes. Ruins of logging cabins dot the land above the sand. Apparently in the late 1800's this land was flush with both hardwoods and softwoods, and lumbermen staked their claims. They would harvest and then haul the trees to the edge of the wall, and let the timber slide down to the water's edge. It would then be gathered and transported to Grand Marais to the sawmill.

We hiked around Sable Lake and hiked to Sable Falls. Sable Falls is on Sable Creek, which runs from Sable Lake the short distance to the shores of Superior. We hiked to see the falls, and then on to the shore. While we had been on top of the sand wall when at Log Slide overlook, we were now at the other end of the feature, and at the base. It was quite impressive.

We headed back to the town of Grand Marais to visit the Great Lakes Brewing Company - oh boy!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: We were amazed at all the people visiting this area. I'd never heard of it but guess lots of others have. The only place they had for us to camp was in an overflow area by the office...good internet (for a change) but no services. We survived just fine. Really enjoying the lake views...it looks just like the ocean. Love y'all.

Mackinac Island

2011-08-08T05:38:00.000-07:00

Although we tend not to do things that we have done before, you can't get this close to Mackinac Island without visiting - especially if you have bikes. So we grabbed the Arnold Ferry and headed over.

Mackinac Island is frozen in time. Just about all the homes are huge Victorian structures dating back to the 1800's. No internal combustion engine driven vehicles are allowed on the Island, which is about 4 miles long and about a mile wide. There are vehicles - carriages and cabs - but they are just horse driven. So, since it was a hot day, you didn't have to watch as carefully as you walked or rode about - you could definitely smell the "apples" long before you saw them - come to think of it, that may have been all that you smelled as you toured the island! Oh well, it is still great fun.

As I mentioned, Fort Mackinac occupies the high ground on the Island. Fort Mackinac was originally built by the French of course, but was later taken by the Brits. Eventually, it was occupied by US forces as the line between the US and British rule became more clear after the Revolution. However, in the early days of 1812, the Brits put a siege on Fort Mackinac. The commander of US forces in the Fort was not aware that war had been declared with Britain - back in those days there was no means of communication faster than horse. So, unaware that war had been declared, he chose to cede the fort to the British forces. That didn't last for long - the fort was retaken by US forces, and the commander's decision to cede the fort didn't sit so well with his superiors.

The island is about 4 miles long and a mile or so wide. There is a carriage path that runs along the shoreline around the entire island. It is around 10 miles long, but since it is on the water all the way, it is nearly completely flat, so the 10 miles is a breeze (at least I wished there had been a breeze - it was really hot that day!). We stopped at all the sights along the way, the best of which was Arch Rock. Not only was the arch itself impressive but industrious folk had waded out into the water and placed rocks strategically to leave those of us looking down from the top of Arch Rock some words and pictures to admire. That peace symbol is actually under about 10 feet of water!

Next we biked up to the Mackinac Grand Hotel. Perched on the cliffs overlooking the Straits of Mackinac, it is quite a bike ride to get up there - steep, but the view is as grand as the name. Just about everyone who comes to the island wants to see the hotel and sit in the rockers on its 660 foot long veranda, so they post guards and only guests are actually allowed into the hotel lobby and on the veranda. It seems really snooty when you are there, but I guess you need to at least try to protect your guests' privacy a bit. I remember many years ago when we stayed there with Nick and Karen, we would have been totally mobbed in the lobby and would not have been able to sit on the veranda if they had not done that.

The building really is grand. Built by John Jacob Astor in the late 1800's, it was and still is the largest and most elegant hotel ever built that only operates on a seasonal basis.

We strolled the main business district, but since we aren't in the buying mood at all (anything you buy when on the road you have to find a new place for in Colectiva - its way easier not to buy than to look for a spot to put something!), so we just grabbed lunch before heading back on the ferry.

Before we left the Mackinac area I just had to visit a tourist attraction right out of the 50's. Castle Rock is just a huge rock monolith next to a bluff that they built a bridge out to, and also built a deck on top of the rock monolith. Castle Rock is high enough to give you a good view of the Straits of Mackinac on a clear day, and truly is an oddity to look at. However, as tourist's appetites have become more sophisticated, I am sure the admission fee to Castle Rock has softened over time. Now, despite the huge statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox that they have added as an additional attraction, the admission fee to Castle Rock is only $1. I hope they make some money at their gift shop!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: Hi there, I'm still here. We're moving at a somewhat slower pace now, so I'm feeling less tired and more eager to meet the day's activities. Although we've been to Mackinaw several times before, it was still fun to have the experience again. Glenn's right, the bike ride around the island is mostly flat plus it was a perfectly sunny and windless day. After we did it once and ate lunch, it was tempting to do it again but after riding up the hill to see the Grand Hotel, that desire left me! TTFN.

Straits of Mackinac

2011-08-07T05:36:00.000-07:00

Since we had to cross the border at Sault Ste Marie, I decided we would stay a couple nights at St Ignace. St Ignace is at one end of the Mackinac Bridge - Mackinac City is on the other side. I picked St. Ignace only because I liked the sound of the RV park, and it turned out to be a good thing - we kept Colectiva on the North side of the Mackinac Bridge, which is a toll bridge, and not RV friendly as far as the tolls go.

We had an hour or so on the bridge in Sault Ste Marie crossing the border to look at the Sault Locks. Unfortunately there were no ore freighters or other ocean going vessels using the locks at the time. I had been to the Sault Locks as a kid, and also took my kids to see them when they were young, so we decided not to stop and take one of the perfunctory Sault Locks boat cruises.

St Ignace and Mackinac City really exist for two reasons - Mackinac Island and Fudge. Mackinac Island ferries depart from both cities hourly, and we are planning to do that tomorrow if the weather is nice - there are three separate ferry lines making the half hour trip to the Island, and based on the absolutely full parking lots, it is quite an attraction.

Fudge is the other reason for existence. Almost every other shop on both Main Streets are fudge shops - and the shops in-between the fudge shops also sell fudge on the side. I don't know if there is any particular reason why fudge - probably cheap to make and easy to preserve - and probably sells well in this resort setting. There weren't any takers in our group - Robin didn't even take advantage of the samples!

In Mackinac City, we visited the old lighthouse. Built in 1892 (forty years before the bridge existed that it now sits next to) the light from this lighthouse was said to be able to be seen by ships as far as 16 miles from the Straits of Mackinac. Despite the lighthouses and other attempts to make the Straits navigable, many an ocean going vessel has visited Davy Jones' Locker here.

Mackinac City was originally settled by the French. Michilimackinac as they called it was a French settlement dating back to 1715. As the disputes between the French and British flared, forts were built in Mackinac City, St Ignace and on Mackinac Island. The fort in Michilimackinac was occupied by the French until 1742, at which time the British forces who occupied both the forts in St Ignace and on Mackinac Island eventually overwhelmed the French. As the disputes between the US and Britain were settled, this area eventually ended up part of the US.

We just walked around town casually, looking at all the old Victorian structures, as well as some of the newer one. Check out this palace right on the water - I guess they only had one lot so all they could do was to build up and down! We grabbed a nice pizza and beer lunch - and since we had some time on our hands, took in Cowboys and Aliens - a great guy shoot em up - oh boy!

Talk to you soon!

Fun facts

2011-08-06T05:59:00.000-07:00

While we really didn't need to, we coughed up the tolls and went across the Mackinac Bridge. At the time it was built, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, eclipsing the Golden Gate Bridge for that claim. Today, almost 70 years later, it is still the third longest suspension bridge in the world.

Despite its length and height, it wasn't as scary to cross as I thought it might be. Perhaps that is because the bridge is 4 lanes across so despite the height, pretty much all you see is roadway. But the story of the bridge is still fascinating - here are some of the facts:

• The bridge was built with no governmental money at all - the local business community pulled together and raised the money through public bonds - $96 million.
• Construction started in 1942, was delayed because of the war, and opened in 1947 - on budget.
• The bridge is just short of 5 miles - hard to believe!
• The two bridge towers are the height of the Washington Monument in DC.
• Each tower has a small elevator in it to carry maintenance people to the top and bottoms of the columns - the elevator cabin is so small that only three thin people can squeeze in.
• Expansion plates allow the bridge to expand and contract as needed with the movement of the earth - mostly in summer and winter. The expansion plates allow the bridge to actually grow in length by 218 feet as needed.
• The bridge deck is built to be able to move from side to side to withstand the very strong winds that will blow through the Straits of Mackinac. Generally we were told that the Northwest winds tended to be the strongest. The deck can move from left to right as much as 35 feet! However the motion is so gradual that you wouldn't notice it if you were on the bridge - it may move about an inch in 8 hours.

The bridges that have replaced the Mackinac Bridge as the longest in the world were, of course, built in the Pacific Rim - one in Malaysia, and the newest and now longest in Japan.

Talk to you soon!

My bad

2011-08-05T05:47:00.000-07:00

After an overnight stay in Sudbury Ontario, we crossed the border back into the US at Sault Ste Marie. The bridge at the border is nearly 5 miles long, and we could see that traffic was backed up from the border station on the US side almost to the Canadian end of the bridge. Oh well - we had allowed plenty of time to get to St Ignace which is only about 45 minutes South of the border - so regardless of how long it took to get through, we would be just fine.

Well, it took a little over an hour to get across the bridge and get our turn at the border station kiosk. Somewhere on the bridge, since we were basically stop and go crawling, I decided I would hit the head, so I stopped and Robin hopped behind the wheel. When I got back I was going to spell her, but she said she would drive, and being the man, what else could I say - "Yes, dear" - I guess I just didn't think it through.

But I knew what I had done the minute the border agent began asking the customary questions. I am not suggesting in any way that you should not be square with the border guys - but I know that the correct answer to any question is "no sir" - "Do you have any firearms?" - "No sir" - just like that - the answer is always "No sir" - you really don't have to listen that carefully to the questions - "Do you have any animal products?" - "No sir".

You can imagine my panic when I heard the agent ask "Do you have any firewood on board?" and I heard the answer "Yes" - I thought I surely must have misheard, but when the border agent indicated he would retain our passports and we needed to pull over and be inspected, I realized that I had actually heard what I thought I had heard. The inspector asked to see the firewood - all of a sudden I was on my own - the person responsible for the inspection was nowhere to be found - anyway, I showed him the bay, and he went "Wow, that is a lot of wood. You are not allowed to transport Canadian firewood into the US, so you will need to return to the Canadian side, speak to the border agents there, and they will show you to an area where you can dispose of the wood." I told him it took us over an hour to get across the bridge , and wasn't there some way to dispose of the wood here? He said that unfortunately we would have to return to the Canadian side to dispose of it.
He speculated that the traffic would probably not be as heavy when we had disposed of the wood and returned to the US side, so he thought it wouldn't be another hour.

I told him I wasn't going to find out. He said "What? Don't you have to?" I said "No - if I am going to have to go back across to the Canadian side, I will find somewhere to stay in Ontario for the night - I'm not getting in that line again ." He said "So you're going to spend your dinner and lodging money in Ontario instead of here?" I said "I don't really want to, but I am not doing that line again."

That's when he said "Well, since you are US citizens, I am going to cut you a break and you can dispose of your wood in that dumpster." and he pointed to a large dumpster. So, I was able to pull over at least a little closer to the dumpster and proceeded to empty all of our firewood into the dumpster - scratching up my arms totally, and getting black marks all over my favorite shirt.

Did I happen to mention that the driver also managed to get our refrigerator inspected, resulting in the loss of the nice ripe tomatoes she had just bought and the lime for her margaritas?

Life is so easy as a guy - Border Agent "No sir" - Wife "Yes dear" - what could be easier! I now have permanent driving privileges at all border crossings.

Talk to you soon!

Back to Waterloo

2011-08-04T05:15:00.000-07:00

After leaving the 1000 Lakes Area, we headed back to Waterloo to spend some time with Robin's sister Nancy and her family. Of course everyone is so busy it will be hit and miss - Nan is a clinical Psychologist at the Cambridge Hospital - Art is the CEO of one of the publicly traded tech companies that permeate the area - Nathan is completely enveloped in soccer and is also coaching the younger players - Alicia is at camp - we hope to be able to see her before we have to move on.

We got back into geocaching a bit - there are caches all over Waterloo and the nearby communities. It was nice getting back into that sport. One cache we found turned out to be a book exchange - the ammo tin that held the information also had a handful of paperbacks - you were welcome to take any one as long as you also left one. Maple syrup is such a huge part of the economy up here - even in the small woodsy areas between residential housing subdivisions they harvest the Maples. On our last geocaching venture, we came across a small woodsy area within a subdivision that was crisscrossed with automatic Maple sap lines - pretty interesting!

We returned to the Green Acres RV Park, but bumped into our first holiday problem. This weekend was a big 3 day weekend in Ontario - a Monday holiday that honors founding leaders in the Province. So we were able to only stay a couple days, and then they were full. So we ended up staying a couple of days in Art and Nancy's driveway - I am sure the neighbors were ecstatic.

Before we left Green Acres, however, we managed to get in a round of golf - mini that is. We had stayed there before, but never realized that they even had a mini golf course. Not only was the mini golf great, but we also managed to get back to St. Jacob - the Mennonite community we had visited the last time we were there - and took in a musical at the local theatre - fun!

Talk to you soon!

Westward bound

2011-08-03T05:29:00.000-07:00

After leaving New Brunswick and rushing through Quebec as fast as possible (Charles de Gaulle knows why), we found ourselves in a part of Ontario we didn't know existed. Despite having gone by it when we were heading East a few months ago, we drove by and never suspected.

It turns out the 1000 Islands area on the St. Lawrence River was the Riviera of wealthy Americans in the late 1800's and early 1900's. This area of the St. Lawrence River actually has over 1800 islands - they have defined what an island is to make sure the count is accurate - to be counted as an island, a land mass has to be above water all 365 days of the year, and have at least two trees growing on it. By that definition, there are nearly twice the number of islands as the common name suggests. And pretty much every island, no matter how small it is, has a house on it.

The names of the summer residents up here reads like a Who's Who of American aristocracy. The most famous is a name that most of us wouldn't know. George Boldt was the manager of the Waldorf Astoria in New York, as well as the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Managing two of the most prestigious hotels on the East Coast, Boldt amassed quite a fortune. However, he found that the New England wealthy establishment would not really embrace him, being a Prussian immigrant. So, in the late 1800's, he purchased Hart Island on the St. Lawrence and built one of the most spectacular homes ever built in the US. The yacht house he built across the water from his "castle" was so large that the US Navy rented it from him during the war to use as a dry dock to repair large naval vessels.

Boldt's castle is actually open for touring. But since we hadn't really allotted any time to this area not knowing what a gem it would be, we weren't able to tour it. We have put it on the wish list for when we find ourselves back in the New England area again, perhaps to take in the fall colors.

While here, we visited the vintage watercraft museum in Clayton New York - smack in the middle of the 1000 Islands area, and not far from the bridge linking the US to Canada here. Because of all the American aristocracy that summered here, the presence of very plush wooden boats abounded. So it is not unexpected that the premier wooden boat museum in North America is here - hosting the largest collection of working craft and antique engines of any museum.

All our various visits helped tie it together for us. While at the Clayton museum, we toured La Duchesse (named after a character in an 1834 novel by the French writer Balzac). La Duchesse is a 160 foot long three story house boat that George Boldt originally built in the late 1800's to entertain guests on the St. Lawrence. It was not powered - he needed to have a tug boat move it to wherever he wanted to be - but it was not unlike Colectiva - wherever he was, if he could plug in he would have electric power. If he could not, he had the alternative fuel and generators necessary to live as though he were in a plush lake cottage. It had an office, parlor, dining room, kitchen, private master bedroom with balcony, 8 guest rooms and 4 servant rooms, plus a huge ballroom or outdoor deck that took up half the second floor. It was all mahogany and Tiffany glass sky lights and built in fireplaces and everything to make living right.

After Boldt's wife died in 1904 he lost interest in both his castle and La Duchesse. After a period of neglect, La Duchesse actually sank while in his boat house. One of his neighbors, Andrew McNally (the McNally of Rand McNally of map fame) told Boldt he would get it out of Boldt's yacht house if he wanted - Andrew McNally purchased La Duchesse for $1 and Boldt's only stipulation was that he had to get it out of his yacht house in 30 days. McNally did, and eventually refurbished it and used it much in the same way as Boldt - to entertain important clients. Apparently after buying it, McNally had it towed and beached off his parent's property in 1000 Islands until he could get it restored - his parents weren't ecstatic but put up with it. Later in life, he told his kids he would not let them acquire La Duchesse from him because he did not want it "beached at his house while they restored it" - so he donated it in his will to the boat museum. It was really a very interesting tour.

We also saw hundreds of vintage wooden craft - some in the museum buildings and some in the water being used. We actually found our boat - a 1947 Chris Craft utility inboard with a Chrysler flathead six cylinder engine in it - I really miss that boat. We could have gone for a ride in one of the vintage craft if had time. Another to do for the list.

We headed back East to St. Croix Islands National Park - a small but quaint park managed by Parks Canada. But the attraction for me to the Park was that you supposedly could see the Singer Castle from the Mallory Landing area. We did in fact see the Singer Castle - Singer of sewing machine fame - another of the long list of notables. Another castle we caught a glimpse of was that of George Pullman - of Pullman train car coach fame.

After seeing all this stuff, we decided to get an arial view. Between the border stations for the US and Canada is a small gift shop, motel and tower with an observation deck. At 430 feet over the 1000 Islands area, it gives you a really good perspective. You can see all the islands (maybe not all 1800) and the channels in-between - you can see the castles, the sail boats, the bridges and the border crossings. It was really fun even though we didn't spend a great deal of time up there.

We stayed in nice Provincial Park right on the water - with a nice boat launch and all kinds of people with boats there - I was really jealous! But it was nice being there in the nautical environment and all even if we no longer have a power boat. There was a nice paved bike trail that ran the length of the 1000 Islands Parkway right along the water, so we biked a bunch - in-between the rain drops!

Talk to you soon!

Back in Frenchie land!

2011-08-02T05:32:00.000-07:00

I apologize in advance to those of you who are French - I am too - but some things are just true - even if it is a joke on yourself.

Heading West takes us back through Quebec, so we had to brush up on our French a bit. In the bigger cities you can generally get by with English, but when you get off the main drag and into smaller communities, many of the folk don't speak any English at all, so getting service or getting your point across is often challenging.

We decided we would just drive and see where we ended up when we were tired of driving. About the time that Robin was ready for lunch we were very near Quebec City. Surprisingly, we discovered a National Historic Site that we had not come upon when we were touring around Quebec City.

Apparently just after the American Civil war was over, British authorities were certain that the US was planning an attack along the US/Canadian border. So, between 1865 and 1872 they built three forts along the St. Lawrence River outside of Quebec City - the Levis Forts. However, they really were never called upon to defend Quebec City - in 1871 the Treaty of Washington brought permanently to an end all animosity between the US and Canada. All of this was tied together - the success of the North in the Civil war brought about the fear in Britain, which resulted in the building of the forts at great cost to the Crown, which cost made more clear how expensive the British colonial structure was, which lead to the confederation and establishing of the independent country of Canada in 1867, which lead to the Treaty of Washington. It must have been a very interesting time.

Two of the forts that were built in those years have been destroyed - Fort No. 1 which we visited still remains very much as it must have looked in the late 1800's. By 1865, technology in fort construction had advanced a great deal. Concrete was poured between block walls - such technology didn't exist when earlier forts had been built. One very interesting feature of the fort was a retractable bridge. The main entrance to the fort was across a bridge which ran across the dry defensive moat. The bridge was on train type wheels and train type tracks ran into the fort. When needed for defensive purposes, the soldiers could crank in the bridge and close the protective gates. It took four men to do it, but the technology made it work.

Some more GPS follies for fun. Since we were still in the early afternoon and didn't have that far to really go, I talked Robin into stopping along the way and playing 9 holes. We searched golf courses in the GPS and picked one that was only supposed to be about 6 miles away. Well, she directed us down these very small rural highways, and about 10 miles later, we came to a sign that showed a covered bridge ahead with a clearence of 2.6 meters. We need 4 meters minimum. But I also had the GPS set on the bus setting which meant she shouldn't send us down any roads that didn't have at least 14 foot clearances - however we all know that you cannot really rely on GPS - as some of the frozen people. Anyway, I decided to take a look anyway - maybe there would be a way around it. We got to the covered bridge and it actually looked tall enough for us to get under. So Robin got out and watched while I pulled Colectiva up close - well goodness gracious, I don't know who measured the 2.6 meters for the warning sign, but there was 4 meters here - just barely 4 meters!

So, that hurdle over with, I proceeded another 10 miles - were we close to the original 6 miles yet? Who knew. Anyway, all of a sudden, she says we have arrived - we are in the middle of a farm pasture. This is not unusual. Even when she is basically right, you might be a quarter of a mile off from the real location of the thing you are looking for. So I told Robin to keep her eyes open, look for anything that remotely looked like a golf course or a sign or anything. Sure enough, in about a quarter mile we came around a corner, and a really lovely golf club was there - in the middle of nowhere!

There seemed to be a lot of people there, but we were able to get on - they had 27 holes and everyone playing 18 were on 1 to 18 - we got assigned to 19 to 27. Feeling good we headed out to the course. Well we went about two holes and caught up to a single player. He looked like a reasonable player, but for some reason he was extremely slow - it took me a hole to figure it out, but I finally realized what the problem was - he was just French - about the rudest golfer I have ever seen. It turns out that when he came off the par 3 green, you would expect him to put some distance between you since he was alone - well, when we get to the next tee, he is still there - turns out he is playing many balls off the tee - we even have to wait after pulling up to the tee box for him to finish hitting and then walk off. He doesn't tell us to play through or anything - he's just French.

Well, I did something very uncharacteristic, and was a bit embarrassed, but not too much. There was water in front of the tee box, and a bridge crossing over it. When he got to the bridge and was protected by the structure - it was kind of a semi-covered bridge, I teed off - and unbelievably put it 220 yards out in the middle. Apparently he had heard me tee off - he hustled out into the fairway - then he actually found my ball - well in front of his - walked back to his ball and hit. From then on he literally ran - we almost caught up with him on the 9th hole, but basically we never ran into him after that incident. Apparently I had figured out how to speak French!

Alright - last shot. When you are in Quebec, they can't even leave the brands alone - even the brands known all over the world have to be Frenchified!

Talk to you soon!

Back in Canada again!

2011-08-01T05:09:00.000-07:00

We are beginning our trek back West. While we will miss the water and Atlantic Canada, all good things must come to an end eventually, and this is the time for us. But now that we are properly stocked up from our visit to Northern Maine, we will be able to handle doing much of the trek West in Southern Canada.

So we have to head a bit North to get back on the main Canadian East/West highway system. We are pretty much following the St. John River - that is the river that formed the nicely protected harbor in the city of St. John as well as the interesting Reversing Falls. Apparently for most of its length, the St. John River forms the natural boundary between Maine and New Brunswick. In the town of Hartland, we found an old covered bridge that crosses the St. John River into the town. It claims to be the world's longest covered bridge, and from seeing it I believe it. It is 1,282 feet long, and as with most covered bridges, it is only one lane. So, with that length you really need to get some cooperation from the drivers who want to cross the bridge - I guess whoever gets on the bridge first has the right of way. Luckily there doesn't seem to be a great deal of traffic so I imagine squabbles are rare.

I was lucky enough to be able to see the bridge from the road we were on, so I didn't drive toward it - I just parked Colectiva in a commercial company's overflow area. Had I turned toward the bridge, there was no place between the road we were on and the entrance to the bridge to have turned around without disconnecting the Saturn - not a big deal, but I really don't enjoy doing that. And it would have been stressful because the road wasn't very wide so we would have been blocking traffic somewhat while disconnecting, and certainly while we did the multiple point turnaround maneuver - but all that was avoided with a short hike - nice!

We stopped for the evening in Grand Falls. The town of Grand Falls is on a beautiful gorge on the St. John River. The beauty of the gorge and falls has made Grand Falls a tourist destination. Of course the feature also made the city a target for hydro electric power generation. We got really lucky - usually in the summer time when the water flow subsides a bit, all the excess water is diverted to the hydro electric plant and very little if any goes over the falls. Because there has been such heavy rains in this neck of the woods lately, there was heavy excess water flow, so the falls were almost at full force. They say that at full force, the amount of water that goes over the Grand Falls here is nearly 90% of what goes over Niagara Falls - pretty impressive.

The Province has taken advantage of this feature and built some zip line facilities that go across the St. John River just below the falls. I tried to talk Robin into doing the zip lines here - she always talks so much about how she likes to do zip lines - she has done them on several of the cruise ships we have gone on. Well, I think the combination of the deep gorge and the very swiftly flowing water of the St. John River caused that not to happen - oh well - I watched a few other folks zip across the gorge. It sure looked like fun.

Talk to you soon!

Bangor Maine

2011-07-31T05:19:00.000-07:00

Bangor was mainly (Mainely) a move to get our mail delivered in a place we could count on being at a specific time. Since it doesn't work well to get mail in Canada, we have had a pretty long dry spell without mail, so it was nice to finally catch up to our mail here. On the way to Bangor, we stopped at Wild Blueberry Land - a dome building painted the color of a wild blueberry - and containing a pie shop, a gift shop, and a blueberry patch mini-golf. Since we hadn't really played any mini-golf on our trip so far, we stopped in and played 9. We carried our clubs - no cart for these guys!

Bangor is a big town by Maine standards - 3rd largest city - but only has a population of about 120,000. We drove around town and got a little bit of a feel. Robin found a great used book store and got stocked up on Janet Evanovich books - she is a happy camper (so to speak). I found a Walmart Supercenter that had everything I needed to get ready for another couple of weeks in Canada. We probably saved over $400 from what we would have spent in Canada to buy the same things - and thankfully we have just enough room to store it!

I saw a street sign talking about a street closing downtown this evening for the market and concert. I went online and found out that every Thursday night during the summer, they close streets in part of the downtown area and have a craft market and local entertainers. Given the heat, the event was not all that well attended, but we had a great time.

Not much else to do here from a touristy standpoint. Everyone in the RV park is just sitting in their coaches with all their air conditioners blaring. So we are heading into catch Transformers at the matinee - can't wait! A shoot-em-up for a change!

Talk to you soon!

Acadia National Park

2011-07-30T05:38:00.000-07:00

We visited the only National Park in the Northeastern part of the US. Acadia National Park was set aside by Theodore Roosevelt in 1919. At that time, it was the only National Park East of the Mississippi.

In Acadia, you get a chance to see some of the benefit all American's have inured to from the likes of Nelson Rockefeller. This isn't the only example of the Rockefeller influence - you see it in other parks and locations - but Nelson purchased much of the land and buildings in what is now Acadia National Park, and then built a system of carriage roads with beautiful stone bridges, and then donated it all to the federal government for the purpose of preserving it for all Americans. Many think of the Rockefellers as only big oil wealth - but Acadia NP and other NP's are only here today because of the philanthropy of the Rockefellers and others like them.

The coastal lands of Acadia are beautiful. One of the only sand beaches in Maine, which mostly has shear rocky coastline, is here. The highest point on the East Coast is here on Cadillac Mountain, which we drove up and hiked. We hiked to the blow hole and enjoyed watching the waves crash - it wasn't high tide, so we didn't see the total power, but what we did see was fun.

We biked around Eagle Lake on one of the many carriage roads built by Nelson Rockefeller. You can also take a horse drawn carriage ride if you want, but we chose to bike it - great fun. However, after sitting on the back of the Saturn, in both rain and salt air, and collecting all the dust that both Colectiva and the Saturn kick up, our bikes were not the smooth quiet well oiled machines we would have liked. Everyone could hear us coming! But at least after a little breaking in time, all the gears worked, despite the horrendous noise. At least the awful noise was not too much to scare away all of the wildlife - this is the first wildlife we had seen in quite a while - nice!
We took a lunch break at Jordon Pond House. The Jordon family were the first to settle the lands in this part of Acadia NP. After they sold their homestead, it was opened as a restaurant. The restaurant facility and grounds are part of what Nelson Rockefeller bought and donated to the Park System. Apparently the Jordan Pond House is known for serving popovers and tea to the rich and famous class. We don't fit into either of those categories, but we went there anyway. I haven't had a piece of bread in about 15 years, but I decided to carb it up big time - two popovers, tea and raspberry jam - yummmmm!

After Acadia, it was back to the Atlantic Brewing Company for some smoked chicken wings and a hand crafted porter - oh boy!

Talk to you soon!

Bar Harbor

2011-07-29T05:56:00.000-07:00

Bar Harbor Maine is all resort town. Bar Harbor is actually located on an island that a causeway has been constructed to in order to allow highway access - Mount Desert Island. And they pronounce it as what you have at the end of a meal, not the dry barren wasteland.

This apparently is where many of the folk from the big cities on the East Coast come to spend weekends and vacations. Although it is unusually hot here right now, it is usually much cooler than it would be in Boston or New York. No sooner do you get on the island than it becomes Inn after Inn after B&B with a few restaurants and gift shops thrown in-between.

We drove through the historic downtown area. It was nonstop people all dining in the restaurants with sidewalk patios and shopping the nonstop gift shops. While it was really cute, it was also really packed. So we just decided to take it in from the cool air conditioned comfort of the Saturn - good choice I think!

However, we did make one stop that turned out to be a good one. We spotted attraction signs for the Atlantic Brewing Company and managed to find it. Bar Harbor's local micro brewery was a hopping place. Not only did we manage to arrive just in time for the tastings of all their products, but we also discovered a great barbecue restaurant. The Brewery complex has this restaurant on its grounds called Mainely Meat - cute name. Anyway they serve all the Brewery products on tap, but also serve up some of the best barbecue we have had since we were in Texas at Rudy's. And their outdoor seating put up with puppies, so we were able to bring Niko to dine with us - fun! I ended up having the sampler, so I got some ribs, some brisket, some sausage and some pulled pork. The portions were huge and the meat was fall off the bone tender. Yummmmm!

This restaurant apparently wasn't an aberration. Even though this is lobster and seafood country, Bar Harbor for some reason is also all about barbecue. Even though every other restaurant along the main strip (or should I say Maine Strip) is a lobster pound, every 4th or 5th one is a barbecue. Apparently while they like their seafood here, they also like their meat.

As we were settling down for our usual campfire around dinner time, we hear this bell ringing throughout the RV park. Well, we all know the familiar sound of the ice cream truck as it goes up and down the streets of the neighborhoods calling to all the kids to come out and have a treat. Well in the RV parks in Bar Harbor, it is not the Good Humor Man - its the pie man. Apparently an enterprising baker has figured out that driving through the RV parks at dinner time ringing a bell to let folk know that nice hot pies are available can make for a good business. While we didn't take him up on his offer, we saw several campers that couldn't resist the cheerful tinkle of the bell and the lure of warm pie.

Talk to you soon!

More Down East

2011-07-28T05:26:00.000-07:00

I figured it out. Even though we are at the farthest Northern part of the Atlantic coast of Maine, the Atlantic coast apparently more or less forms the Southern Edge of Maine - it's not exactly across the latitude lines, but it runs more East-West than it does North-South. So when they talk about the Atlantic coast of Maine, they refer to it as "Down East".

We visited the St. Croix Island International Historic Site. In 1604, a French exploration party led by Pierre Dugua, Seur de Mons established a settlement on St. Croix Island - they picked the island for defensive purposes. When winter hit and they were stuck on the island, they realized that they could not cross to the mainland - the sea did not freeze here despite the extreme cold, but where their boats were near the shore, it did freeze so they couldn't get their modes of transportation free. They had little food on the island - is was quite small - and no source of fresh water. They managed to winter with the supplies they had and what little they could forage, but they lost over half of their people to scurvy and other ailments related to the lack of food and water.

The next year they decided to move - even though an island was easily defendable, they realized they needed a fresh water supply and winter food sources. So they moved to Port Royal and reestablished the French settlement - yes, the same Port Royal we visited. It had been originally founded by the party led by Pierre Dugua, Seur de Mons. I find it really interesting how all things French and British in this part of Canada are intertwined if you go back far enough. While there are no foundations left of the original settlement, the diaries that Champlain kept show the layout of the original settlement. There was a model of the settlement at the Site, and it was no surprise to me that it looked very much like, if not identical to, the fortified settlement we had toured in Port Royal.

While in the visitor center, I got to play with an actual beaver pelt hat that had been made in the early 1800's. I look pretty dapper if I may say so myself.

We visited the historic district of Eastport Maine. Eastport was the city that the Roosevelt's traveled by rail to in order to get to Campobello Island. In Roosevelt's days, Eastport was on Moose Island and the only reason it was reachable by rail was due to the robust sardine industry there. The railroads had bridged the narrows to reach Moose Island, so you could get there by train even though you couldn't get there by car. It wasn't until the 1960's that a causeway was developed that allowed auto traffic to Eastport.

Eastport claims to be the Easternmost City in the US - Lubec claims to be the Easternmost Town in the US - I suppose they could be just arguing the distinction between a "City" and a "Town", or that their actually might be some legal distinction. They also could just be resting on the fact that there are no "Easternmost" police out there making sure the claims are legitimate. When I look at the official Maine highway map I have, I am thinking that in a fair bet, Lubec wins - but not by much.

We had a nice lunch on Water Street in Lubec - Irish Pub with waterview dining of course - they had to let us in the place - it appears they let anyone in. It's nice being back in the US and after lunch getting a bill for $36 instead of $60 or $70 - that is with both food and drinks - God I love it here! And also I don't have to spend that 120% monopoly money, and pay the credit card company a foreign translation fee - what a racket! It used to be that using a credit card abroad was the one financial transaction where you got the best translation rate always, and never had to pay a currency translation fee - those days are gone! We were not able to find the resident pair of bald eagles that live on the island in the bay, but we did manage to spot the harbor seals searching for food in the narrows at high tide - great fun!

We visited the famous Quoddy Point Lighthouse - again supposedly the Easternmost lighthouse in the US. For its entire existence since the early 1800's, the Quoddy Point Lighthouse has been candy striped. Apparently the number of red and white stripes varied over the years from 5 to 7, but the lighthouse looked much like a huge barber pole for all of its existence.

We also stopped to pay tribute to the 45th parallel. The 45th paralell is the latitudinal line that is half way between the equator and the Earth's pole. Apparently both Lubec Maine and the Bordeaux region of France are pretty much on the 45th parellel - hard to believe with the relative mild climate in France and the harsh winter climate in the far Northeast coast of the US. There was a really nice gift shop near the location and we enjoyed taking in both the monuments and the gift shop.

We managed to head back over onto Campobello Island to play the golf course in Herring Cove that Franklin Roosevelt used to play as a kid. It was a little warm, but since we had been putting off playing golf for so long in Canada because it was always too cold, we couldn't really make the "too warm" argument hold up. Boy were we rusty! But we had a good time, and still have time for a nice campfire before the doozy of a storm blows in.

Talk to you soon!

Back in the US of A!

2011-07-27T05:18:00.000-07:00

We have dipped South into Maine so we will be back in the USA for a few days. We love Atlantic Canada and are really sad that we are nearing the end of our visit. But that being said, let's face it. There are just a few things you just can't seem to get in Canada which I will need to stock up on a bit while we are in Maine.
For example:

• Diet Cherry Pepsi
• Jimmy Dean hot breakfast sausage
• Kraft Roasted Red Pepper Italian with Parmesan salad dressing
• Wood fire starters
• The Today Show
• Diet Mountain Dew
• Pretty much any good TV actually
• Litehouse Blue Cheese salad dressing
• Kendal Jackson Chardonnay
• Canned diced jalapenos (or much in the way of Hispanic foods)

Talk to you soon!

Lubec Maine

2011-07-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

We are doing a number of Easternmosts today. Lubec Maine lays claim to being the Easternmost town in the US - from our map, it would appear to be an accurate claim. Maine appears to jut out further East than the Florida peninsula. And within Northern Maine (which they give the nickname "Down East" for some reason I haven't figured out yet) there are all kinds of pieces of land that push in and out of the coastline. But it does appear that Lubec may be on the tip of a piece of land that juts out particularly far East.

Lubec was founded in 1811, so they celebrated their bicentennial this summer. Of course most of the bicentennial celebrations surrounded the Fourth of July, so we really only get to see the remnants - banners and signage and such. As with many of the coastal regions we have visited, Lubec was a town of some power in the 1800's. It was a shipbuilding powerhouse back when wooden ships plied the Atlantic waters. It was also a fishing powerhouse, boasting no fewer than 7 sardine processing and canning factories. But of course as the economies and technologies changed, Lubec's industries died. Ships are still built but in mega shipyards overseas. Also, sardines are still canned, and are still fished for in the waters around Lubec. But believe it or not, the sardines that are caught are just freeze dried, then they are shipped immediately overseas to areas with much lower labor costs and are processed and canned there. Then of course they are shipped back here and sold in the grocery stores. How it can be cheaper to freeze and ship the fish to an overseas processing and canning plant I find hard to imagine, but apparently it is. So Lubec has little left but its history.

Just across the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Bridge lies the New Brunswick island of Campobello. Campobello was the boyhood summer haunt of Franklin and the Roosevelt family. The first cottage that Franklin lived in that was built by his father James no longer exists - when Franklin was a teen his family bought the cottage next door to their original cottage, and eventually had the original cottage torn down for taxation and other financial reasons. Its foundation can still be seen - they essentially converted the old foundation into an ice house to store huge blocks of ice cut (by other people of course) during the winter to serve as refreshment in the summer.

Campobello was a favorite retreat for many wealth from the Northern East Coast - New York and Boston and such. Apparently you could get to Eastport Maine back then by train (which was still an ordeal but worth it to escape the summer heat of the cities) and then a short fishing boat across the bay to the island. We read accounts of the Roosevelt's arriving with at least 40 steamer trunks of gear for the summer which had to be carted from the train to a lobster boat - and then from the lobster boat up to their cottage once on the island - all hauled by oxen (and other people). The Roosevelt family was very well off financially - the "cottage" that we toured was three stories tall and had 34 rooms in it! And 6 of those 34 rooms were servant's quarters!

The park was an interesting blend - in some ways it was like a Presidential library - lots of information on Franklin and his life and rise to the presidency. It also had the feel of one of the many presidential boyhood homes we have visited over the last couple years. Apparently when the Roosevelt heirs eventually decided to dispose of the cottage, they just sold it as is - completely furnished and didn't remove anything - sold the 34 room furnished "cottage" for $12,000 to Armand Hammer, the philanthropist. Mr. Hammer didn't touch the cottage, but turned around and donated jointly to the US and Canadian governments to be jointly managed as a historical site - which it has since. So as you tour the cottage, you not only get to see all the furniture and fixtures, but also the boat models that Franklin himself built, the telescope that he used to watch sailboats out in the harbor or look at Eastport, the wheelchair he used in his fewer visits after suffering the effects of the Polio, it was all there.

I pulled a complete bonehead, although neither Robin or I were overly disappointed. Since we had arrived at the park early, I signed us up for the Eleanor Roosevelt tea - very limited seating - I didn't remember this but it turns out that Eleanor and Franklin were actually distant cousins - Eleanor was the daughter of one of Teddy Roosevelt's brothers. Anyway, I decided we could get one more couple mile hike in before the tea - I blew it by 5 minutes - we were about 5 minutes late for the tea and they had already given away our seats! Oh well, so much for our shot at getting a look at life as the rich and famous.

After that couple mile hike in the early afternoon, Robin was as hot as she has been this summer. Anyway, as we left the park and crossed the FDR Memorial Bridge, we had to re-enter the US. I was blasting the AC to help Robin cool off, but apparently it wasn't enough - I looked over as we were next in line to talk with the Border Guard and Robin was flashing him! She had her tee shirt pulled up over her face, letting the AC blow directly on her stomach (and other things). Well, we had no issues at the border - just breezed right through - so I don't know for sure whether the flashing made the Border Guard more inclined to pass us through, or whether it made him more suspicious. I guess I will never know.

Talk to you soon!

Grand Manan Island

2011-07-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

Grand Manan is part of the Province of New Brunswick - actually one of many islands in the Bay of Fundy, and one of the few that are heavily populated. However, it is actually much closer to Maine than it is to New Brunswick.

We had planned on staying in St. Anthony and leaving Colectiva at an RV park there. I hate paying for two places to stay the night - both a spot in an RV park as well as a room at an Inn, but you have to do what you have to do. But that Robin is a smart one - she had decided to check with the ferry line that runs to Grand Manan to see if there would be large vehicle parking at the ferry dock. And it turns out that practice is common and they had more than enough large vehicle spaces there to park - and at no charge! Most of the spaces contained semi's and trailers, but we easily found a spot, kicked on the fridge running on propane, and then boarded the ferry.

We had been told that you needed to be at the ferry landing about an hour before sailing if you wanted to go, but it turned out that they only ticket and regulate the return trip from Grand Manan - you just show up at Blacks Harbor on the New Brunswick mainland and board the ship - if there is room you get on - no tickets, no reservations - since there is only one way on and off the island, they just handle the ticketing on the return - smart! Well, as we got Colectiva parked, the ferry was pulling in, getting docked and unloading its vehicles. We got in line and got right on - fantastic! Not that it would have been a big deal but the next ferry was not for two hours - lucky us!

We stayed at the Marathon Inn. The building, overlooking the harbor at North End - the far North end of the island where the ferry docks - was built in 1871 - and it really looks it. At first we did not feel the charm - the building is no longer at all square - the years have settled different parts of the building in different ways, and not only are the doorways not entirely square, but all the floors lack level - it is actually a slight challenge just to get up and walk - with the tilting floors, you need to think it through a bit and be prepared to level yourself as you begin to fall in one direction or the other. However, over the couple of days we were there, the charms of the place grew on us - the nice views of the bay, the nearness to the harbor, the always open bar in the lobby where you could grab a glass of chardonnay and take it out onto the deck that totally surrounded the buildings of the Inn - by the time we left, we were sad to go.

We drove the length of the Island over the two days we were there. North End has its mandatory lighthouse at Swallowtail Point. We visited the lighthouse of course, but there is also a private property that occupies much of the very tip of North End. There are some very rugged hiking trails, and several overlook decks with dramatic views of the rocky coast. The most dramatic of the views was called locally the Hole-in-the-Wall. It is a very nice rock arch that is pretty infamous to the local population - even Niko enjoyed it and did amazingly well on the steep rocky paths given his back afflictions.

At the South End is another mandatory light house. There is very little population at the South End, but the views there are pretty dramatic. From the South End lighthouse you can see the coastline of Maine - it is much easier to see than it is to see the coastline of New Brunswick from the North End.

For some reason, all the population and roads are on the far East edge of the island. There are no roads at all going along the West coast - however there is one road that goes across the island from East to West in about the middle - to Dark Harbor. In Dark Harbor on the West coast are beds of Dulse. I never heard of Dulse before, but it apparently is a well known sea weed - it is harvested, dried, and eaten mostly as a snack but folks that live here. Apparently Dulse is grown in other oceanic settings - like Ireland and such - but they say the best Dulse in the world is grown at Dark Harbor. They claim that Dulse from Dark Harbor is flown all over the world just like Coors Beer used to be before they began allowing preservatives to be put in their beer.

Dulse is a dark colored leafy stuff that looks maybe a little bit like purplish lettuce you might see in a salad. Because it grows in the ocean it is permeated throughout life by sea water, so it has a salty taste - mixed with a very slight bitter leaf taste. I can't say that I have grown to like it at all - we visited a Dulse processing plant - outdoor beds set up to lay the harvested Dulse and let it dry out on rock beds. The owner told me that she just loved the stuff, and many folk who live on Grand Manan just love it as well. You just have to develop a taste for it - not sure I think it worthwhile.

The highlight of our visit was Seal Cove. Seal Cove and North End seem like they may be fighting for the largest population, but most of the tourist boats going out whale and bird watching are out of Seal Cove. We headed out on a whale watching cruise on a lobster fishing boat - it wasn't actually fishing for lobsters while we were on it, but it is a classic lobster boat. It seemed nice when we headed out, but when we got about an hour out into the ocean, the waves and rolling seas were humongous! I couldn't figure it out - there was some overcast, but the winds weren't really all that strong to whip up the seas to account for the 10 to 20 foot swells.

The mate explained that we were in an area where the ocean floor suddenly got much more shallow, and it was the tidal action in the Bay of Fundy that was causing the waves and swells. You had all you could do just not to fall off the bench you were sitting on - had to grab it with all your might and hold on. How the captain this very precarious situation during these huge swells I will never know. The mate told us we would soon be into deeper water and it would smooth out - thank goodness he was right - I am not sure Robin could have kept her stomach on the inside if those swells had lasted another 20 minutes or so.

Anyway, we finally found whales. Before the cruise was over, we had seen some Minke Whales - those are smaller whales that you might actually confuse for Dolphin or Porpoise. They are so sleek and streamlined that they don't come out of the water very much when they come up for air - they are able to dive deep without the head start that bigger whales need by arching higher up out of the water. We also saw both Right Whales and Humpback. Similar in size, the Right Whales are quite endangered. Humpbacks are more prolific. Anyway, their swimming habits are very similar. They swim along and when they come up for air, they make a huge spray, come up 3 or 4 times and get a big breath, and then on the last breath, they arch up their backs really high, pull their tails out of the water, all in an effort to get pointed down to make a deep dive. When you see the high arching back and the fluke, you know you won't see that particular whale again for another 20 minutes or so.

We had a great time, despite the pretty short stint of very high rollers, and saw lots of whales. The weather got nicer and nicer as we were out, and eventually we even had to begin removing layers of clothes. On our way into the harbor, the Captain fielded a phone call from his folks in the office just checking on his ETA. He told them that this was probably his most challenging day this year in finding whales - they had a "No whales, no pay" policy, so I assume it was really important to them to see whales. Well, you couldn't tell by us - we saw tons of whales. Seemed like a good day whale hunting to us.

We had a couple nice dinners and a nice breakfast. Our first night's dinner was at Seal Cove at the McLaughlin Inn. We were one of two couples dining there among several large groups. There was this old guy - a local from Seal Cove - walking around and engaging a number of the tables in conversation. He chatted with the other young couple dining there and I overheard a conversation I don't believe I ever heard before. He asked where they were from and the young guy said North End. The old guy said "Really - what do you do up there?" and the young guy said "I'm a lobster fisherman." I met an engineer once - not electrical or mechanical but train - but I don't believe I have ever met a lobster fisherman before.

Our other nice dinner was our farewell dinner at the Marathon Inn. The Marathon does breakfast daily, but only does dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. And there dinner menu only has two choices - lobster or steak. So we got the best table in the place - the table for two in the small alcove full of windows overlooking the bay and the harbor - and I got the lobster - Robin the steak. When you have any seafood out here it is all caught locally - picked up that morning at the local fishing port. And when you have lobster out here, it is the whole lobster - not just the tail. I have gotten used to eating the claws and the arms and such - they are pretty yummy - and as always the tail is scrumptious. But I haven't been able to develop the appetite for the body - still a tail kind a guy.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: It was a nice break in routine to go out to the island and stay a couple days. As Glenn says, the Marathon Inn did kind of grow on us and we were sad to leave after 2 nights. It was definitely an original. The whale cruise was quite fun. At one point we were boating alongside 3 or 4 whales as they were swimming thru the water...fascinating to watch! We could have stayed out much longer.

St John New Brunswick

2011-07-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

St. John is the largest city in New Brunswick, however as far as touristy type destinations, there were not a lot. So we basically used St. John as a stopping point on our way to Grand Manan Island. Since St. John was only about 80 miles from Fundy NP, we knew we could leave Fundy at a leisurely pace and still get to St. John early enough to be able to take in all the sights in the afternoon.

After getting Colectiva set up at a very nice RV Park in the city's largest municipal park, Rockwood Municipal park, we headed into the old downtown area on the harbor. We were stunned by all the people in the downtown walking about, until we figured out that the Carnival Glory was docked downtown.

I know that a lot of people don't like it when the cruise ships are in town - sometimes even we don't - the more important touristy stuff is all crowded and sometimes hard to get into. But since there is not a lot of that kind of stuff in St. John, we actually appreciated it because everything was alive. We found a great place for lunch maybe no more than a 100 yards or so from the gangplank of the Carnival Glory. They had an open patio - they had a singer out on the patio singing to karaoke backgrounds of well known music - beside the entertainment, his main purpose was to draw folk into the patio from the ship - and it worked very well. He danced Robin right into the place - their lobster pots were boiling away right out on the patio - they had a bar set up outside for shooters and beers - not as pretty as being in the Caribbean, but almost just as much fun!

We walked the entire harbor area. With the buzz of the cruise ship it was fun - vibrant and alive. There was a square that had local artisans displaying their arts and crafts - really fun. You could tell that they are trying to retain and restore the historic buildings in the harbor area, but as of yet they haven't really figured out how to pull it all together as an attraction. But it did look like they were working toward that end eventually.

We visited Reversing Falls. The tides of the Bay of Fundy reach to St. John as well. The St. John River spills into the Atlantic Ocean at St. John harbor - not far from the cruise ship dock. There are a set of falls right near the mouth - really more of a rapids than a falls - but still very pretty to look at. Anyway, at low tide, the falls/rapids flow very heavily into the harbor. It ends up being a very intense recreation area with jet boats plying the falls/rapids with excited tourists, and zip lines running back and forth across the falls/rapids as well. However, at high tide, the water levels in the Bay of Fundy are higher than the water levels in the St. John River, and the falls/rapids actually reverse and run the opposite direction for a while. We visited the falls/rapids at low tide so got to see the most aggressive of the water action. However, on our way out of town, we got to see the area at high tide and see the water meandering in the opposite direction - interesting!

Back at Colectiva, Niko and I headed out to explore Rockwood Park. Right next to our campground was a 20 - 30 foot tall rock outcropping where young folk were trying their hands at repelling and rock climbing with full gear. There is a small lake also right next to our campground that has a beach, canoe kayak and water bike rentals, and a pavilion with dining on the deck - in many respects it reminded me of the pavilion at Como Park in St. Paul Minnesota where I spent my summer making money as a chef the year before I graduated from High School. They also had a zoo in the park, and the park was riddled with hiking trails - Niko and I hiked around the entire lake and had a great time.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: Glenn missed it cuz he was parking the car. The singing waiter gave me the eye on the street and headed for me...we did a few dance steps and twirls. Totally out of character for me...but fun! As we left the restaurant, I got a big hug! I have no idea what I ordered for my meal. Bye for now.

Fundy National Park

2011-07-23T05:59:00.000-07:00

Since we had a two day pass, we headed back to Hopewell Rock because we were now at high tide. Seeing all the places we were walking yesterday covered in 30 to 40 feet of sea water was cool. I went down to the bottom of the stair well that took me to the sea floor yesterday. Of course when I got close to the bottom where the sea floor was supposed to be, its base was totally disappeared into the ocean water. Both Robin and I were glad we decided to come back - being at Hopewell Rock and not seeing at both low and high tide would be a real mistake - you really don't get the feel for the place entirely without seeing it at both low and high tide. (Yes, that is the same thing Robin was standing next to just yesterday.)

On our way back to Fundy NP we stopped at a couple of covered bridges - fun. We also managed to find a winery and stopped to do some sampling. Since the climate and soil conditions are not conducive to growing grapes, they don't make grape based wines here - they make wines based out of other stuff. We sampled the rhubarb wine - a bit tart but very interesting. The blueberry based wine was really good as well, but a bit sweet. The best they had to offer was the cranberry based wine - it was a bit tart like the rhubarb wine, but had a very strong but pleasing flavor. Of course you can't go and get free wine tasting at a winery unless you pick up at least a bottle, so the cranberry it was!

Our stay at Fundy NP was pretty much hiking and camp fires. We hiked every day (once the rain stopped - it seemed to rain every evening). Then in the late afternoon we would wrap up the hiking and get the fire started. It was nice - even though in a forested area, the mosquitoes were really not all that bad. Poor Robin screamed as we were playing Farkle on the picnic table and said she had been stung by something and it really hurt - turned out there was a smoldering hole in her favorite Minnesota shirt - she had been hit by a burning cinder that had popped out of the fire - ouch!

We probably did about 8-10 miles of hikes over the 3 days. The most memorable hike was the Laverty Falls loop which included the Laverty Falls trail as well as the Moosehorn trail. We hiked in about 2 1/2 miles to Laverty Falls on the Moosehorn trail, which was supposed to hook up with the Laverty Falls trail at that point, which we intended to use as our return trail. Well, with the recent rains, all the markings regarding the trail once we got to Laverty Falls were gone or submerged. I attempted to climb around on the rocks by the Falls and find where the trail continued - I assumed I would be able to find some evidence of the trail leading away from the falls. Well between the steep rocks and both the rocks and my hiking shoes being thoroughly wet, one of my feet slipped a bit and into the falls I went.

I banged up my elbow, my leg, my arse (as they say here), and sprained some fingers on my left hand - but all in all still got lucky. The Kodak was around my neck, so didn't get wet at all - I pretty much was only in the Falls a little above my waist. The camera case was in my right pocket and I immediately pulled it out - somehow it had a little water on the outside, but none on the inside so my SD cards and batteries were dry. The Fuji was totally submerged, but fortunately when I bought the Fuji, one of the features I liked about it was that it was waterproof - nice! So nothing was damaged at all - except for me!

My shoes are still not yet dry - I am sure they won't be for days!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: I had a premonition as Glenn was walking on those rocks around the falls that he just can't fall in...so naturally what happens? And he never did find the continuation of our path. We had to turn around and hike back the way we came. It was a strenuous hike, what with the uphill climbs on wet rocks and tree roots. Oh well, helps keep it so I can eat whatever I want (burn it off usually). Glenn was very quiet on the return hike!!! LOVE YOU ALL.

Road to Fundy National Park

2011-07-22T05:09:00.000-07:00

We started the day immediately with a National Historic Site - Fort Beausejour. Fort Beausejour was one of the many French Forts built in the 1700's - at the tip of the Bay of Fundy protecting the border of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Fort Beasejour was built in 1750. It was originally built to protect the land route from Louisburg the capital of New France on the Atlantic with Quebec City, the center of all things French in North America.

We toured the sight - the fort is mainly foundations and some walls at this time and has not been reconstructed, but you can get a great idea of what it looked like both from the foundations and the artists renderings from the plans still in existence in France. Actually, at roughly the same time Fort Beausejour was built, Fort Lawrence was built by the Brits across the Bay of Fundy - the troops in each fort could look across the bay at the other enemy's fort. As we know the Brits eventually defeated the French in pretty much every location and in early 1755, they defeated the French at the Battle of Fort Beausejour and took control of the Fort. From that point forward, it was Fort Cumberland.

It turns out that the Fort was also active in the American Revolution. In late 1776, some American sympathizers lead by Colonel Jonathan Eddy attempted to take control of Fort Cumberland. While he attempted several sieges, the forces within the Fort were able to repel his early attempts. A local farmer - perhaps not unlike Paul Revere - was aware of the in process siege and set off on horse to warn the British military. As with Revere, he was successful in alerting the British forces, who dispatched the HMS Vulture to defend the Fort. The Vulture arrived in time and the siege was thwarted. There are many who believe that if that siege had been successful and Fort Cumberland had fallen to the Americans, it would have likely resulted in Nova Scotia joining the rebellion - as it is, we will never really know for sure.

Fun fact about GPS - at least about our GPS. When you ask her to find something - like a town or an attraction or something - when she locates it, she gives you a rough estimate of how far it is away. But for whatever reason, her distance estimate is point to point as the crow flies - not the distance you would actually have to drive if you decided to try to go there. Once you decide to have her send you there, she will calculate the roads you have to take, and then you will get an actual idea of how far it really is by road - but you have to peruse another set of screens to actually figure it out. It doesn't sound like a big deal, but let me give you an example.

As we leave Amherst, I have her find Fundy National Park. She tells us it is 38 miles away - yippee! However, we are on the South side of the Bay of Fundy, and we need to get to the North side. When we actually have her chart the route, and then we add up all the mileage in all the legs of the route, it turns out we are actually driving 172 miles to get to that location 38 miles away - bummer! Usually it is only a matter of actually having to drive 10 miles to get to something that was supposed to be 5 miles away - this is clearly an extreme example.

All the pictures we see representing the Bay of Fundy are from the Hopewell Rocks. Near the town of Hopewell is a geologic formation on the very edge of the Fundy tidal planes. Eroding rock cliffs have formed rock columns that rise out of the mud flats on the tidal plane. When it is high tide, the rock columns are surrounded by water - kayakers actually head out and paddle among the rock columns. When it is low tide, the water withdraws visitors hike among these very same rock columns. We hit Hopewell Rocks at the time when the tides were in the middle of receding, so we were able to hike around among all the rock columns, and see all the sea caves that have formed. It is a very surrealistic setting.

We got to hike the entire park. All the trails begin up by the visitor center, but eventually if you perservere you end up down on the ocean floor. Towering over you as you stroll around on the sea bed are shere rock cliffs and huge rock monoliths. These reminders of the beginning of 2001 A Space Odessy were formed by centuries of constant oceanic and wind erosion along these shere cliff walls. You feel the size of an ant as you crawl around and between these huge rock formations. Plus, knowing that 12 hours later or so you would be under 30 or 40 feet of ocean water does not draw away from the unique impression either. We had a great time here - are glad we stopped on the way when we did because of the low tide - and learned we have a bonus - the entrance fee is for a two day pass - so we can come back tomorrow if we want - yippee!

By the way, what do you think Robin is standing next to? Just wondering.

As we made the last 30 miles or so to Fundy National Park, we came to learn that there are a number of historic covered bridges in this area - much like in the New England area of the US. We do our best to try to stop at as many of them as we can find.

Talk to you soon!

Road back to New Brunswick

2011-07-21T05:08:00.000-07:00

We got lucky - it's raining cats and dogs (sorry Niko and Quincy and Tiki and anybody else I offended) - but we had two great days on the ocean shore in the sun watching beautiful sunsets.

Since we were only about 20 miles from a National Park we had never been to - Kejimkujik - we decided to check it out. It was really hard to get a bead on what this Park was all about on the Parks Canada website - there were references to the Mikmaw culture and some petroglyphs so I assumed that the Park and visitor center would be dedicated to exploring that culture, and we were interested. Well, it turned out that the Park is really just all about the flora and fauna in that area, with just a touch on the Mikmaw who populated that area so long ago. There were some petroglyphs but not available to see on a self guided hike - you could only see them on a ranger guided hike, and because of the rain today, all those were cancelled - you know, slippery rocks and such. Too bad!

With the weather, we decided not to take the leisurely road along the coast. When I say leisurely, I mean slow. The coastal roads are narrow and windy and badly maintained, so while we enjoy the periodic views of the ocean and coastline, they are anything but "leisurely" from a driving point of view. Although this guy looks pretty leisurely.

We did manage to find Grand Pre National Historic Site. The Site was dedicated to the Pre Expulsion lives of the Acadians - before 1755. We thought we had gotten a pretty good handle on that from the various historical sites and markers we had been to, but we learned more here than we expected.

We learned why the Acadians, and therefore the French, got along with the native Mikmaw very well while the British did not. The Acadians were farmers, and they used technology they were familiar with from Europe to tame the tidal plains around the Fundy area. Because of the rich silt deposited, the land that appears every 12 1/2 hours when the tide goes out is some of the richest anywhere from a nutrient standpoint. The Acadians would build sod dykes with one way sluice gates in them to drain some of the land along the coast and keep the tidal waters out. The one way sluice gates kept the ocean water out while allowing any accumulation of fresh water from rain and river flooding to flow out to sea. In that way, the Acadians were able to very productively farm part of the tidal planes.

The Mikmaw were hunters - they didn't use the tidal plains - their lands were up in the highlands and the mountains. So the Acadians never attempted to occupy Mikmaw sacred lands, and they got along handsomely. The Brits on the other hand wanted the same land the Mikmaw cherished, and systematically displaced them. So the Mikmaw and the Brits always clashed, and when the French and the British battled, the Mikmaw always sided with and aided the French.

The multimedia presentation in the visitor center was a reenactment of the events leading up to the Expulsion, and the Expulsion itself. It was really well done. It allowed you to put yourself in their places and feel the emotions and the brutality of this tragedy. Parks Canada had built a memorial chapel on the site of the old French Catholic church where the Acadians were rounded up and imprisoned before they were shipped to the American colonies and elsewhere. Longfellow wrote the famous poem Evangeline about the plight of the Acadians - a statue of Evangeline sits outside that chapel, and the name Evangeline has become synonymous with anything deemed to be Acadian. The chapel also contains a very compelling stained glass window depicting the plight of the Acadians. It was created by a Japanese artist who won a local competition regarding the design for the window.

There was a very compelling audio presentation of the Expulsion through the eyes of Acadian children. The presentation helped to cement the feelings of confusion and despair and helplessness felt by all the Acadians during these brutal times, and helped round out your feelings and emotions regarding the Expulsion yourself. On the marker which lists all the families forcibly removed from Nova Scotia we saw a family name that is probably a descendant of the Bougie family - not spelled exactly the same, but probably a name that eventually migrated into Bougie.

We holed up in an RV Park in Amherst for the evening - really a large park but not very many here. It gave you the feel of what was probably a very nice park at some time in the past - somebody's dream of a nice business - but the economics hadn't worked out and now little or no reinvestment was taking place - probably just squeaking by. But, we got power and water and sewer and didn't have to disconnect the Saturn and the site was so level we didn't even have to put down the jacks (which was nice since it was still raining and the ground was soggy and I would have had to kneel down and put down some jack pads if we had used them) - so actually it was the perfect location and park for us for that night!

Tomorrow back to New Brunswick.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: Everywhere we've been, we see houses displaying the Acadian star and the Acadian flag. These people are proud of their heritage and I can see why. What they went thru was tragic!

The weather has gotten so much better. Thus, my mood has improved as well. I need the sun to be happy! At last it feels like summer.

What am I reading now, you wonder? Still working on the Anne of Green Gables series, on the 6th book Anne of Ingleside. The books have grown on me. Also still enjoying the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, on the 11th one. I believe there are 17 or 18 total in that series. These books crack me up, although Stephanie Plum does not seem to have a lot of brains. Looking forward to reading the next 2 Twilight books, but don't have them as yet. Light reading these days! TTFN.

Prelim to Bay of Fundy

2011-07-20T05:07:00.000-07:00

Our RV park is on the ocean, but where we are located is on the Northern coast of Nova Scotia - the part of the ocean between the Northern Coast of Nova Scotia and Southern coast of New Brunswick is called the Bay of Fundy. We have been reading that the Bay of Fundy has the highest tidal variation in the world, and we have seen some evidence so far to believe it is true.

The tides are not quite on a 24 hour schedule, but close. Apparently low and high tides occur twice each day, but more on like a 25 hour schedule. So today's high tide or low tide will be within about 15 minutes or so of yesterdays.

We can see the tides go in and out just from where we sit at our picnic table. The folk at the RV park here say the tides here vary 30 feet from high to low - I don't know if that is true, but I know it is a bunch. There is an island out in front of us that disappears at every high tide, and appears to be at least 8 or 10 feet tall when it appears again at low tide. Here are some views at high tide and low tide - I tried to take them from the same point of the same point.

Right next to the RV park is a fishing marina. I asked the guy at the RV park how that works - if the water in the marina was deep enough to handle the variation in tides and still keep the fishing ships afloat. He said "No" - I said "Huh - how does that work then?" and he said "Go see for yourself.". So I did.

Here are pictures of the fishing harbor at high tide - boats nicely tied up to the piers and looking very snugly. Here it what it looks like at low tide! No water whatsoever! Apparently they have those braces set up permanently and know exactly where to park their ships so that when the water goes away, which it does twice a day, their ship nestles into the cradle and just sits on the bottom of the ocean until the water returns - weird!

Apparently when they actually do go out and fish, they kinda have to plan on being out 10 or 12 hours. They can only leave the harbor at high tide (or near high tide) and they can only return at high tide as well. High tides are roughly 12 hours apart. So when you head out to fish, you kinda already know how long you are going to be out - either 12 or 24 hours or some multiple!

The tides are so high here, and the movement of the tides create such force that they have actually built the only tidal power plant in the world. Tides move into the Annapolis River bay every 12 1/2 hours or so. In the 1960's, the NS government built a causeway across the mouth of the Annapolis River in order to run the highway across to the peninsula. To prevent the tides from destroying the causeway and the highway, they built a sluice gate in the middle of the causeway to let the tides move in and out of the bay naturally. In 1983, Nova Scotia Power built the equivalent of a hydro electric power plant much like you might find in a dam. So other than the investment in the equipment and the building, they essentially produce a mega-kilowatt of power for nothing - just by letting the tides flow.

Apparently there are no other such plants in the world because even though this one has been operating effectively for 28 years, the setting here is unique - high tides with and existing river bay from a river that flows through a rocky setting so there is not much of a silt issue, and a pre-existing causeway acting in essence as a dam - ideal for this application but unique. They are, however, testing freestanding turbines that sit on the ocean floor and just use the tidal movement to generate power. NS Power has already tested such a turbine on the floor of the Bay of Fundy, but the power of the tidal flows was too much for the turbine and it was destroyed in less than 6 months. They are ready to test the next generation of turbine, and should it work, they already know there is little to no environmental impact - just a turbine operating out of sight, out of mind, generating electricity. Apparently there are currently similar tidal generating turbines operating in Scotland, so it is not just an idea - it is something that can actually work.

The comatose dog was just thrown in for the heck of it.

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: The dog loves to lie on the picnic table while Glenn and I are playing a game! Loves to be near his humans.

Historic Annapolis Royal

2011-07-19T05:05:00.000-07:00

Port Royal was a trading colony established by the French in 1605. The French got along very well with the local indigenous peoples, the Mikmaq, so trading was lucrative and the settlement flourished - that is until the British attacked and burned it in 1613.
The Port Royal National Historic Site is a recreation of that settlement. The recreation was built from plans in the notes of Champlain who initially brought the settlers and supplies in 1605. From what has been depicted here, the settlers lived very well. We saw a couple of very interesting things in the recreation and the period attendants. First, many of the attendants were wearing wooden shoes, and there were wooden shoes in the rooms. The attendant said that unlike many believed, wooden shoes were actually worn all over Europe and not just in Holland. The reason wooden shoes were common is they were inexpensive, lasted much longer than leather, and the height kept your feet dry when there was wet ground or mud.

We also saw that all the beds in the wealthier quarters had curtains that could be drawn - not unlike the beds with cabinet doors we saw in the Acadian Village. The curtains weren't to keep out light or bugs as I thought. The curtains would hold in the heat more in the winter time when the homes got very cold because of the ineffectiveness of the fireplace heating.

I saw some interesting tools as well. A foot powered lathe for woodwork. The attendant had a hobby of doing woodwork on a foot powered lathe - he said it gave him a better feel for the wood as he worked it - so he actually had a foot powered lathe at home that he used. We also saw an interesting saw that was used to saw boards for siding and such. The saw was in a frame with handles on each end so two men could hold on. Apparently the saw was used vertically - one man stood on top of the log and the other underneath - the top man mostly guided and made sure the board was cut straight - the bottom man did all the hard work of actually pushing the saw up and down. Apparently this is where the old saying "Top dog" and "Under dog" come from.

We visited the Melanson Settlement Historic Site. This site is the grounds of an excavation of the Melanson family homesteads - the Melanson family were Acadians living in Nova Scotia before the Expulsion in 1755. The Melansons had lived on this land for 4 generations when the Canadian government took their land from them and exiled them from the Country. We learned that very few Acadians ever came back to the place where they lived before the Expulsion because the government had given away their land to folk loyal to the British crown after they were exiled, despite them having lived on that land for many generations. It is a sad but frequently heard story in human history.

Fort Anne is in the center of Annapolis Royal. A classic star shaped fort - not unlike the Citadels we saw in Halifax and Quebec but not nearly as large or fortified - Fort Anne was built by the French in 1702. The Fort is not rebuilt but remains mostly in the condition of arrested deterioration. The oldest building in the Fort is the original munitions magazine built in 1708. The most complete looking structure was the officer's quarters, built later in 1799 by the British when they occupied it.

We learned some more interesting facts about the Fort itself. Apparently the star shaped fort was the state of the art technology in those days for an "impenetrable" fort. Vauban was King Louie XIV's military architect and engineer and designed the star shaped fort for him. In a star shaped fort, the stone walls were actually excavated down 20 feet or so - that meant the stone walls would not be subject to direct fire by the enemy because they were protected by the earth on the hillside into which they were dug. That also made the guns on top of the fort more at ground level so they were more effective. Finally, the gun placements on the star shape meant that there were virtually no blind spots where an enemy could advance close - you could literally have the enemy in cross fire from the gun placements on the points of the star.

The advancement in cannon technology eventually made fixed fort technology obsolete. But until that happened, Vauban's design actually did work. Vauban had apparently written books on fort design during the time when he was designing these "impenetrable" forts. Later in life he apparently also wrote a book on how to successfully attack and overcome a star shaped fort. So apparently that kind of bait and switch marketing ploy existed way back in the 1700's.

Finally we learned that Annapolis Royal was named for Queen Anne, Queen of England at the time. The town was named by Sir Francis Nicholson in her honor. Sir Francis Nicholson also named Annapolis Maryland after her, but at the time he named Annapolis Maryland, Anne was only a princess. So when he named Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia, he added the "Royal" to distinguish it because she was the Queen at the time.

Talk to you soon!

Western Nova Scotia

2011-07-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Drive the Atlantic coastline - seems like our plan starts out the same way every day we are in the Maritime Atlantic provinces.

Our first stop was at Summerville beach - a mile long stretch of white sand beach. I can honestly say we haven't seen anything yet that approached a proper beach - but this one does. It has sand dunes covered with sea grasses that you have to walk across a board walk on to get to the beach - that is what an ocean beach is supposed to be like. And the sand is actually white and soft - nicely warmed by the sun where it is dry.

Niko loves beaches, but he rarely gets to visit one. Luckily this was a dog friendly beach as long as you had him on leash. Robin and I walked in the surf out to a small sand bar where we thought Niko would be able to walk as well - I looked down behind Robin and the poor poochie had to swim! He does a great dog paddle.

Next we stopped in Liverpool - didn't see John or Paul there, but did see a very cute town. Liverpool claims to have been the capital of the privateers in the early history of Maritime Atlantic Canada. You see evidence of pirates and privateers everywhere - even their fire hydrants are dressed up as privateers!

We stopped for lunch in the parking lot of a beautiful church - Sainte Anne. The church was founded by the Acadians in 1794 - the first church on the site was completed in 1799. As is typical, that church burned in 1899, and the current church on the site was completed in 1900. We got a private guided tour by a young man of the parish. It was interesting because he was of the current generation - didn't really speak any French - didn't have a really good grasp on the history of the church, but was very polite and made sure we got shown around and as many of our questions answered as he could - he had a photo copied cheat sheet with him. He said that they were currently between priests - the church had not assigned a permanent priest yet, so they had a couple of priests from nearby parishes that took turns coming in and leading masses.

The church was gorgeous - all the ceilings were painted, and there was beautiful artwork on the wall. Despite being out in the boonies, you can see that this was at least once a very wealthy parish, and a lot of care was taken in its construction and appointment.

Yarmouth is on the very Western tip of Nova Scotia. It is where both the highways start (or end depending on your point of view) for both the Northern and Southern routes across the province. We stopped in at the visitors bureau as Robin wanted to find out if there were any RV parks that were right on the ocean. She found out that there weren't any in the Yarmouth area, but there were near Annapolis Royal - at the beginning of the Bay of Fundy.

Robin decided that the park was so nice - right on the Atlantic - that she wanted to stay a couple days rather than just the one - fine by me except that we were already paying the cost of two nights just to stay here one night! Oh well, I guess you are paying for the fabulous sunsets, which in Robin's mind makes it worth it!

Talk to you soon!

Robin's Ramble: Sure is a nice picture of Niko...never mind that my head is cut off!! Niko played on that beach just like a puppy! He ran and skittered around and went in the water and seemed to have a great time!

This campground seemed necessary for me to relax oceanside. We had a good dinner, read, had a campfire, and saw maybe the most perfect unobstructed sunset we've ever seen! Expensive but a real treat! AHHHHHHHHH.

Silly Canadians!

2011-07-17T05:10:00.000-07:00

Apparently, not everybody can afford a cottage. What we would call a cabin or a lake cabin, in Canada they call it a cottage. It seems like everybody here has a home and a cottage. But apparently it's not everybody.

Apparently if you really can't foot the bill for a cottage, then you get a trailer - an RV trailer. Then you find somewhere where you can rent an RV site on a monthly basis. Then you begin to build. Maybe you just start with a deck. Some of the decks we have seen rival the fantastic decks we built on our home back in Eagan.

Maybe, once you get the deck built, then you add some screens and make it kind of a screen porch. In the Southeast I think they call it a Florida room.

Then, perhaps with nobody looking, you put siding on the Florida room, add the casement windows, and shingle the roof - voila - cottage!

Talk to you soon!