Summer Vacation 2010

(I'm publishing this now, but this post is still under construction... come back later to see more pictures!)

This past summer (2010) Don and I headed south to Texas, via Las Vegas and Gilbert, AZ. I've been told by our friends, there, Paul and Mary Deason, that if we are travelling anywhere within a 1000 miles of their home, we have to visit! Can't turn old friends, down, now, can I?

These first pictures are of the Oldman River trestle bridge, which is 100 years old and still being use. It is beautiful in its simplicity....

Sarah joined us in Las Vegas and was excited to show us all the sights she remembered from an earlier visit - the Venetian hotel, how the streets inside change as the day progresses, the Bellagio and the water show...

The Bellaigos Hotel with the pool in front where the water show amazes everyone who sees it...

 Here is a video I made of the water show..... each show plays to different music, but I just recorded one...

 

 We  are in Gilbert, AZ now, heading for our first ride of our visit, to the Riparian Preserve. To reach it, we
ride along the canal that runs beside the neighbourhood.

 This is Taffy, 22 years old this year, and she still enjoys going out for rides! Even though I gave her back to Barb and Mary when we left Arizona to return to Canada, and Barb has since given her to Mary, I am still Taffy's person, and I still receive a warm welcome when I go to visit!

Sarah took these pictures of the Preserve with my camera since hers was charging. Sarah walked along beside us while we rode. Marsha and I rode on the lower path, while Sarah walked along the upper paved path along the canal. Suddenly, Taff;y decided that Sarah needed some company, and took herself up to walk along besider her, and paced herself to Sarah's steps!

Sarah spotted a rabbit on the trail!

The Preserve is a great place for bird and water-fowl watching. A lot of birds who migrate south spend some time here. There are always 1 or 2 ponds with water, while some of the others are allowed to dry out. Dirty water is reclaimed here, and used to water lawns.

Marsha calls this the Saguaro Forest.

Sarah spotted a bird's nest in the arm of this cactus!

We're back home in time to meet the farrier, who we didn't know was coming. Taffy had a piece of her hoof that needed trimming. It wasn't that bad that we couldn't ride her, but it was better to have been nipped off.



Summer Vacation 2009

Moncton, NB

This is one of the many pheasants which visit Sarah and Morgan's garden.

Welcome to Nova Scotia...
our trip to Joggins Fossil Centre, Joggins, NS.



Joggins Fossil Centre
As the day wore on, the fog crept in. You can see the shoals that lead out from the cliffs.

More shoals.

This is a school friend in front of the cliffs. The angle rocks in the cliffs lead down to the beach, and the shoals which run out into the water.

Bella, my friend's daughter proudly showing off a fossil she found.

This was my favourite find. The log in the middle actually sticks out of the rock and you can see and feel the bark on the top of the log.

This is the fossil of a tree root and in real life, you can see the indentations where the root hairs had grown.

This one is another good one.. you can see and feel the ridges and hollows of the bark of a tree.

The 1923 Model T Ford Adventure!

This car was originally bought by our great-uncle and has been in the family ever since. After Robert obtained it, he restored it, although it has been in running condition constantly.
This picture was taken in Victoria Park in Truro, NS where we went to go for a walk. We also did a bit of shopping on this outing. I was surprised at how many people seemed to look at the car and not even see it, and on the other hand, how many smiles it produced from more observant people as we drove by!

We ran out of gas... our trip was a bit longer than Robert had anticipated! A man in this neighbourhood took a gas can and drove his modern car to go and buy some gas for us.

The gas tank is fitted beneath the front seat, so Robert took the seat out to determine how much gas was left. There was some, but not enough. Since there is no fuel pump on this car, the tank must be full enough so that even when you are going up a hill the gas reaches the engine. I'm sitting on the front seat while we were waiting for the gas to arrive.

Robert filled the gas tank, and we were soon back on the road.

Our visit to the States...

Whitney's Inn, Jackson, NH

This is the Inn where we stayed while we were in New Hampshire. We stayed here a couple of times many years ago when Sarah and Keith were children, but this time it was just a 3-night stay. It was a change from our usual vacations though, so it was nice, short as it was.

Our first breakfast at Whitney's Inn. Enough to keep us going until the evening meal - almost!

For our last breakfast, we ate on the patio. It was outside in the shade of the trees with the flowers around, and the sound of the quickly running creek coming from across the road.

This was my breakfast on the last morning... French toast with strawberries and blueberries, with bacon on the side!

This is what you do when it rains on vacation...

You go shopping at the factory outlet stores. This is a whole village of outlet stores in North Conway NH ...

... or you go for a scenic ride on an old train!

We hoped to ride on the train with a steam engine, but it was working on another route. The train on the left is the one we took to Bartlett, and back.

Lots of other people had the same idea! Don is under the umbrella, Sarah and Morgan just behind him.

We loaned Sarah an umbrella, but she said she had lost it. Later we found it in the trunk of her car. She dried off before we arrived back at the depot in N. Conway. The interior of the cars is pretty much the same as they were when they were in regular use.

It was a good rain, and it added a lot of power to the force of Glen Ellis Falls, which we saw the next day.

The Great Moose Adventure

I am in the picture, just to prove that I was there! This picture was taken in the early evening - it was our first moose sighting. We travelled back and forth along the highway in a van with other hopeful moose-sighters. When the driver, or anyone else spotted one, the driver would stop and we would pile out of the van to take pictures. This one was very co-operative and came for supper while it was still light.

This is another picture of the same moose - I took this one.

Later on when it was dark, more moose came out. The driver drove along the highway with spotlights sweeping the edges of the road. When he saw something, he would stop and shine the spotlight right on the moose. They must be used to it by now, because none of them moved!

There were more sightings - a cow with a couple of calves, but we did not have a chance to take photos of them.. they had crossed the road just before we turned around, and went into the woods. We just had a glimpse of them. Another sighting was the last one we saw. It was a young cow eating by the side of the road, then someone spotted a young buck. He came over to her, and she walked over to him and they touched noses. It would have made a great picture, but once again for some reason we did not get out of the van. This sounds like a fish story about "the one that got away", but it really happened!

Cannon Mountain

See that ski lift path? We went up there on the ski-tram... 4180 ft!

This is the alternate tram arriving at the upper station - the one we rode to travel back down. The two trams balanced each other out - as one came up, the other went down.

From the station, we walked on the path along the mountain edge - the Rim Trail.

This was at the top of the 60 ft tower at the end of the Rim Trail. The length of the trail (100 ft) is an approximation because the guide I was talking to wasn't sure of the distance.

Glen Ellis Falls, Jackson New Hampshire

The spray from the Glen Ellis Falls.

The path along the creek to the falls.

Don and Jinny

Ice-Cream...

... is so-o-o- delicious after being cooped in a car for several hours on a hot summer day!

When we invited Sarah and Morgan to go to New Hampshire with us for a couple of days, Sarah's first question was, "Can we go to Friendly's?" Friendly's restaurant is noted in the New England states for its ice-cream, and Sarah remembered it from when we ate there when she was a child! This paper liner was underneath the sandwich I had for lunch.

My meal came with the "Happy Ending" dessert, which was my choice of an ice-cream sundae. I chose "nuts over caramel" with caramel sauce (the sundae on the left, above), and it was worth every calorie! Don chose the red raspberry and vanilla sundae in the centre, and Morgan and Sarah shared the one on the end! We stopped here for lunch on the way home, too, and coincidentally we had the same server, and he recognized us!

Bouctouche, NB

This was as far as I went into the water this summer, but it was enough. This was at the beach at the Irving Eco-Centre in Bouctouche, NB.

Morgan, Sarah and Don on the boardwalk which runs for about 10 kilometers over the sand dunes. Spaced out along the board walk are steps where you can go down to the beach.

I took this for the interesting light on the water. I haven't a clue who the people in the water are... just other visitors to the beach.


Birthday Cake - Yum!

Morgan getting ready to take a picture of the lighted birthday cake Sarah made to celebrate our birthdays. Mine had just passed and hers was yet to come in a couple of weeks.

The Cake! It had a liqueur in the middle frosting and tasted even better the next day after the flavours "mingled"! I'm not saying which birthday number I was celebrating!

The Tidal Bore at Truro NS


I had to see if this works! This is a video clip from my digital camera, with my brother sitting on the rocks, watching the Tidal Bore at Truro NS on Aug 6/09. If you listen beyond the wind, you can hear the sound of the water as it rushes in. At one time, many years ago, this would have been much deeper, but the river has widened due to erosion, so the water spreads farther across, therefore it is not so deep.