zooing

The last weekend of summer was sunny and warm, blue skies, light breeze, perfect for a trip to the zoo. Since Shane and I both have annual passes, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and wander the zoo.

Sonam -Sichuan Takin 

Miss Wiggles - Barn Owl

Kangaroo

Kookaburra

Amur Leopards

Alligator

Red Panda

fun indeed

weekends have just gotten better (by my standards, at least).  ABC Family channel has started running Fundays on the weekends, showing Disney movies.  Over the past weekend, in between cleaning, and running about, I managed to watch Cars, Cars 2, Ratatouille, Tangled, and Tarzan. Those who know me know I love watching Disney flicks!  So as long as I'm home on the weekend, the TV will be showing Disney, unless The Walking Dead and Talking Dead are on (which is as much fun, if not more than my animated favorites!)

weekend plans

it is labor day weekend.  nice, sunny, hot weather.  going to go to the simonton lake drive in for dinner tonight before they close up for the season.  I love summer, and watching the season ease into fall makes me kind of unsettled, but i will adjust to wearing pants and long sleeves again.  we are also going to go to new buffalo to oink's ice cream at some point because I can't think of a better way to celebrate the unofficial end to summer.  house cleaning and preparations for a rather lively fun upcoming event round out the weekend plans.  Shane and I will work in a stop at jeannie's house, our favorite diner for breakfast also, that's a weekend tradition.  go out and enjoy your holiday weekend!  I know I will!

****update 12:30pm

storms have developed and are rolling through, rain, wind, lightning, thunder.
still enjoying the weekend!

Oh Canada!

From Portland, we traveled to Augusta, ME to see the Capitol Building.  Then we drove through Maine countryside to Calais and crossed into St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada.  What a great birthday adventure this was turning out to be.  A few hours later, we arrived in St. John's, where we were going to catch the Fundy Rose, a car ferry, across the Bay of Fundy, to Digby, Nova Scotia.  It was over a two hour ride on the water.  We ate lunch on the outside aft deck as we departed. Wandered the ferry, exploring, buying souvenirs, watching for whales sitting in the sun.  It was a beautiful day to be out on the bay.

New Brunswick, Canada

Car Ferry

Fundy Rose

Once we got to Digby, we had another couple of hours drive to Halifax.  We found our hotel on Chocolate Lake, had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, then planned what we would be doing the next day.  After a nice continental breakfast at the hotel, we drove to the Halifax Public Gardens.  It is the oldest Victorian Garden in North America.  From there we went to the Fairview Cemetery, the final resting place for over 100 victims of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.  Then Shane and I went to the Halifax Waterfront Boardwalk, which included shops, restaurants, museums, and historic buildings along the harbor.  We browsed shops, got some souvenirs, ate some seafood, and walked the entire length of the boardwalk from end to end.  From there we stopped at the Province House, the seat of government for Nova Scotia.  While buying souvenirs earlier, one of the clerks told us to check out the Dingle Tower.  Sir Sanford Fleming, famous for introducing Standard Time to North America, donated land to Halifax, established a park, and built a tower to commemorate Nova Scotia's governmental achievements.  It is referred to as the Dingle.  It rises ten stories on the Halifax peninsula and offers great views of the city.  We then went over to Point Pleasant Park, a large, partially forested park on the southern end of the Halifax peninsula. We traversed the forest walk down to the harbour and the Atlantic Ocean.  Afterward, we stopped and had some coffee and a doughnut at Tim Horton's before heading back to the hotel.  

Halifax Public Gardens

Garden Fountain

Dahlias

Titanic Burial Site

Waterfront Boardwalk Art

Shane on the Boardwalk

Province House

The Dingle

Dingle View

Pleasant Point Battlement

Pleasant Point Trees

Atlantic Rockpile

The next day, we went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on the boardwalk. Public galleries include the Days of Sail, the Age of Steam, Small Craft, the Canadian Navy, the Halifax Explosion, and Shipwrecks. A special permanent exhibit explores the sinking of RMS Titanic with an emphasis on Nova Scotia's connection to recovering the bodies of Titanic victims. The museum has the world's foremost collection of wooden artifacts from Titanic, including one of the few surviving deck chairs.  One friend of Shane's told him he had to eat a Donair while in Halifax and another told him to try poutine.  We stopped at the King of Donairs restaurant on Quinpool Road for lunch.  A Donair is the Canadian version of a gyro, with beef and a sweet sauce.  Unbeknown to us, it was created in the very location we were dining back in the 1970s.  Poutine is basically french fries and cheese curds covered in brown gravy.  Both were delicious, I have since looked up a recipe to make Donair.  While eating, we were discussing the Halifax Explosion, which both of us had never heard of, until we went through the exhibit at the museum.  The Halifax Explosion was a disaster that occurred in Halifax harbor on the morning December 6, 1917. The SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship fully loaded with wartime explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo, causing a cataclysmic explosion that devastated the Richmond District of Halifax. Nearly all structures within a mile radius were destroyed and approximately 2,000 people were killed by debris, fires, and collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured.  There are several monuments around Halifax that Shane and I decided to check out.  We explored more of the city and stopped at Tim Horton's for coffee and a doughnut before going to the hotel.  

Lighthouse Lens

Full Steam Ahead

Sails

Montblanc Anchor Shaft

Halifax Explosion Memorial Bell Tower

We checked out of the hotel the next morning, driving from Nova Scotia back to New Brunswick towards Prince Edward Island.  We crossed the Confederation Bridge over the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait to PEI.  Spent some time in the village browsing shops and taking pictures.  Then we crossed the bridge back into New Brunswick and headed for Quebec.  We stopped in Fredericton, the Capitol of New Brunswick to see the Province House and to have a late lunch. When we crossed into Quebec, all road signs where in French, the official language of the province. We were able to decipher without any problems. We stopped in Rivière Du Loup for the evening. In the morning we drove to Montreal. We spent time in Old Montreal, got some more souvenirs, ate lunch, and did a little sight seeing.  Back on the road toward Toronto, Ontario, our next stop on the journey. 

Prince Edward Island

Fredericton Province House

Riviere Du Loup

Old Montreal

We ate breakfast at Tim Horton's, packed up the car, got on the road, and headed to Windsor, Ontario.  We crossed into the United States through Detroit.  Shane and I met up with our friends Tony and Alaina for lunch and sightseeing. We got back on the road, a couple of hours and we arrived home in the evening. What an incredible trip and experience. 

Tunnel Entrance to the United States

Lunch Spot

Guardian Building Detroit

Shane, Matt, Tony, and Alaina

portland, me (via albany, ny; montpelier, vt; concord, nh)

On the road early. Busy travel day, stopping at three state capitols before our destination city.  I am astounded by how you can walk up to the Capitol buildings, access the grounds, enjoy the architecture and the beauty. The New York State Capitol is located in Albany. Constructed between 1867 and 1899. It has a Romanesque Revival and a Neo-Renaissance architectural style.  The Capitol Building in Montpelier, Vermont is a Greek Revival architectural style built in 1857. It is the smallest of all State Capitol  buildings.  The State House of New Hampshire, located in Concord, was built in 1816 to 1819, in the Greek Revival style. It is the nation's oldest state house in which the legislature still occupies the original chambers.  After visiting these, Shane and I drove on to Portland, Maine for the night. We would have stayed in both Portland, Oregon and Portland, Maine.  The next morning we would be heading into Canada.

New York State Capitol Building

Fun in Albany

Albany Capitol Grounds

Montpelier Capitol

Front Door

Concord, New Hampshire Capitol

NH Capitol Window

State Capitol Signage

destination binghamton ny

Shane and I left early Saturday morning. Drove through parts of Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, into New York. We stopped in Jamestown and Celeron, Lucille Ball's hometown to see the bad statue made in her honor. (it looks better in person than it does in photographs, but it still is not a good likeness.) We also stopped at the Desilu Studio museum and gift shop.  We grabbed a bite to eat at the Havana Cafe downtown.  I enjoyed a cubano sandwich and an iron beer.  We got back on the road and made our way to Binghamton, our stop for the night.

                              Statue

                     Havana Cafe

                            Desilu

vacation planning

When making plans for vacation this year, Portland was a given.  I got the opportunity to choose the 2nd destination.  My thoughts specifically went to Disney.  My thoughts always go to Disney.  Then I started thinking about last years trip to the Catskills, Woodstock, Niagara Falls and what a cool trip it was.  I looked at the map to look for east coast locales.  I started thinking we would be on the west coast for one trip, we should be on the east coast for the other.  Shane and I were going to be flying out to Portland then drive back to South Bend.  The idea of driving out east intrigued me since we would be driving across the North American Continent.  I looked to see how far east we could go. One of the first places that caught my eye was Nova Scotia.  I texted Shane my idea, which at first he thought I was joking.  I explained how I made the choice, and he was all for it.  Decision made.  We were going to drive out to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

head east

We left Portland and headed into Washington, stopping in Walla Walla for lunch lunch at the Red Monkey.  We dined on tasty hamburgers before wandering through the downtown area, buying souvenirs and snapping pictures.   Back on the road, following the Lewis and Clark trail, through winding, hilly, wooded, and mountainous landscapes along a river.  We traveled through Washington, Idaho, and into Montana.  There we saw moose, bear, elk, and deer.  We stopped at Lolo Pass and took more pictures of the scenery.  Then we drove on to Missoula, where we rested for the night.  After our complimentary continental breakfast, we got back on the road.  We went to Helena to see the Capitol building.  From there we were heading toward Bismarck, North Dakota.  Along the way somewhere in Montana, we saw a sign warning of cattle drives in progress.  We didn't think much of it.  Further down the road there was a pickup truck on the side of the road with a little old woman waving an orange flag on a long pole.  We thought there must me an accident or something.  As we came around a curve in the road, there were hundreds of cattle crossing, a cattle drive in progress!  Shane and I both grabbed our phones and started recording.  What a great experience! Driving onward, we noticed the landscape becoming more flat and pastoral.  As we crossed into North Dakota, it became rocky and we stopped to view the Painted Canyon.  We stopped and ate barbecue for dinner, then made our way to Bismarck and the hotel for the evening.  It was raining the next morning as we left.  We had to go to the Capitol Building before we got back on the highway. We drove through North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.  We met up with Char and Kris in The Wisconsin Dells for the evening.  Shane had never been to the Dells, so we went to the downtown area and walked around for a while.  The next morning, we drove through the rest of Wisconsin, Illinois, into Indiana and back to South Bend.  The first part of our trip completed.

go west

Shane and I flew out to Portland, Oregon.  Got a rental car and headed over to our motel, The Palms. After checking in and dropping our stuff off at the room, we jumped on the TriMax light rail toward downtown.  Grabbed a bite to eat in the Pearl District, then set about wandering and shopping.  As we were exploring, we noticed people and chairs were lined up along the streets.  The Starlight Parade, Portland's official kick-off to Summer was to begin at 9:00pm that night.  We grabbed a coffee and snack from a local vendor, sat at a table along the parade route, and people watched until the time of the parade.  Lots of marching bands, illuminated floats, glow lights.  The next morning we wandered the neighborhood around the motel and found a nice diner for breakfast, called Gravy.  The food was excellent.  We hopped on TriMax to the Oregon Zoo, spent the day looking at the animals.  Caught the train out to Gresham and had dinner before riding back to the motel for the night.  Breakfast from VooDoo Doughnuts, then a drive out to Mt Hood, Timberline Resort, The Columbia River Gorge, and various waterfalls in the area.  Two blocks from the motel was a Tiki Bar, The Alibi, which we had to visit.  Great decor, mediocre food and We returned to Gravy for breakfast the next morning, drove to the suburb of Milwaukie, then to Vista House overlooking the Columbia River, before heading to Multnomah Falls.  We hiked the trail up to the top of the fall, it was quite a trek.  Drove out to the coast, Seaside, OR for dinner and to see the Pacific Ocean.  Came back through Washington.  We went to another Tiki Bar in Portland, Hale Pele that night.  Modern decor and Great food and drinks!  Spent the next day using TriMax throughout the city exploring.

coast to coast

two trips, 17 days, two oceans, 17 states, four provinces, over 5,500 miles.  the journey begins . . .