Bits and bobs

Random thoughts about random things by a random person

Tag Archives: travel


by 3 Comments

Day 6 (Sept 17/19): A beautiful evening

Waterville is located in the Kerry International Dark Sky Reserve.

A dark sky reserve (or preserve) is “a public or private land possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural, heritage and/or public enjoyment.” (darksky.org)

I do enjoy a beautiful starry sky so I have been looking forward to seeing some stunning night skies while here.

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a clear night since I got here.

This evening, though, when I was out on the patio reading, it looked hopeful – a beautiful blue sky with only a smattering of clouds.

Having a read in my favourite spot

However, before too long, the clouds began to roll in from the east and my astronomical hopes were dashed. Boo hiss.

That said, the sunset was quite lovely. There were no bright reds and oranges – colours normally associated with stunning sunsets, but it was beautiful nonetheless. I’ve included a few shots and you can decide for yourself. 🙂

___________________________

If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to subscribe/follow!


by 2 Comments

Day 5 (Sept 16/19): In and out today, like the tide!

It’s been a day of not sitting very still.

This morning, I went for a few groceries that I didn’t think of on Saturday. I had also planned on going to the tourism office, but it was closed till noon. So I just went for a little walk before picking up the groceries and coming back home.

I then did the boring, but necessary, check in on the budget. It’s not my forte and if I’m not careful, I could spend the works of it within days and have nothing left for the rest of the trip. That would make for a very boring time!!

After that, I headed to the tourism office where a lovely gent named Barry gave me some really good tips and suggestions for things to do while I’m here. If I do only half of what he suggested, my FitBit will be very happy!

From there I headed to An Corcan restaurant for another late-ish lunch. I had the chicken panini and fries. The panini was delicious but the fries were meh.

I think they maybe had been through quite a rush during the regular lunch hour (I had counted at least 5 tour buses in town on my way to the tourism office). It seemed a strain for the owner to be friendly.

I don’t mean to imply that she was rude. She wasn’t. She just seemed…frazzled. Bless her heart.

After that, I popped into the post office. I had bought two postcards there this morning on my sojourn, but couldn’t find them when I got home. So I checked in and yup, I had left them there. (See…when I say I’m forgetful and easily distracted, I’m not joking!)

I came home again then, postcards and all my pamphlets from Barry in hand, and caught up on a few emails.

I opened the windows for a while, but dang…there were a kajillion little flies all over the place! I massacred a goodly number of them (they wouldn’t shoo out the window) and closed everything up. New investment idea: Window screens. One good marketing campaign and you are in the money!

We were heading towards 5:00 by then and I thought about putting the chicken in the oven. But then I figured that by the time it’s done and I’ve eaten, it would be dark.

I wanted to go for a walk and doing that in the dark isn’t the smartest thing. The roads, as you may know, are very narrow and there aren’t shoulders to speak of.

Ending up in a ditch (or the hospital) is not on the top of my list of things to do on a holiday (or any time, truth be told!), so I opted for the walk first.

I went to the south/east this time, on a path along the bay for about half of it and then along the road. I went as far as the Currane River and it felt like it might rain so I turned back.

I’m in now for the evening, I think. That’s enough in-ing and out-ing for one day I do believe! Except now (7pm) it’s a bit late to put a chicken in the oven, so I might need to go out again for supper. 🙂

Speaking of in and out, below are a couple pictures for you showing low tide and high tide today. (NOTE: They might not be the actual lowest and highest points – just the lowest and highest that I saw today.)

The third picture is for my cousin Juanita who is following along. 🙂

Low tide, Ballinskellig Bay, morning Sept 16/19

High tide, Ballinskellig Bay, late afternoon Sept 16/19

For the O’Reillys!!

_______________________

If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to subscribe/follow!


by 2 Comments

Day 4 (Sept 15/19): Fixing the WiFi, more switches, figuring out the oven, locking a door, a walk, and relaxing

I’ve been playing catch up on my posts because when I arrived yesterday, the WiFi wasn’t working. When I was at supper last night, I posted some quick things to Instagram, but the WordPress app requires a bit more attention than IG.

I talked to the owner of the place today. She didn’t know how to fix it, but said she’d reach out to the guy who had installed it. She warned me, though, that he might have gone to Dublin for the football match yesterday and might not be back. Not a biggie…I could survive a day or so without Internet, right?

Before I go further, let’s step back. Remember the story about the light switches in the hotel in Killarney? Well, it turns out that switches are very popular here, too. Now, I haven’t found a master control light switch here, but alllllllll of the outlets have switches. One for each plug. So for each outlet with two plug sockets, there are two switches. You have to turn the switch on in order for that socket to work. (I imagine it saves on electricity, which is a great idea!! It just takes a little getting used to.)

And remember the windows without screens? From what I have seen nobody uses them. I didn’t see them on other hotels (or any building for that matter) in Killarney or on buildings (homes or otherwise) on the bus trip. This place doesn’t have them, either. A Google search has revealed that it’s actually common across Europe not to have screens. Apparently they don’t have as many mosquitos as we do in North America. Who knew!!

Now, back to the Internet. I had, like you would, done the unplug-and-plug-it-back-in thing with the router. It powered up. My tablet said I was connected. But there was no Internet.

While I was talking to Siobhan, I noticed that something else was plugged into the other socket where the router was plugged in and that 2nd socket switch was turned off. I turned it on. It didn’t seem to make any difference, so Siobhan said she’d try to reach that guy and get back to me.

About half an hour later, I thought I’d give it a go again and ta da! It worked!! So…that was fixed.

A couple of other “How does that work?” things also happened:

1. The door to the deck off the master bedroom would not lock, no matter how much I tried to coax it. Siobhan told me the tricks about that via text. (It wasn’t a big security concern as it’s on the 2nd floor, but I thought she’d want to know. I also didn’t want to end up having it look like I had broken it.)

2. I wanted to roast a chicken, but could not get the oven to work. Mary, the caretaker, dropped by to see how I was doing, so I asked her about it. She had no clue, beyond someone must have flipped the switch on the wall (again with the switches!!! Seriously – invest in switches in Ireland) and reset the programming on the oven. It’s not a fancy oven…I have no idea what programming is involved, but in any event, she said I should reach out to Siobhan, which I did, and she walked me through that fix.

In addition to working out those little bugs, I went for a walk today once the mist and fog cleared a little and did some colouring, totally relaxing with the sounds of the ocean. (You will hear me talk about that a lot…it’s one of my favourite things in the world, so yeah…it will be a repeated theme on this trip!!)

A foggy, misty morning today

On my way back from my walk

My perch, sitting on the rocks above the beach, across from my place

Some colouring after my walk


by 4 Comments

Day 3 (Sept 14/19): Killarney to Waterville – the last day of travel!

This post was written on Sept 14/19, at various stages of leaving Killarney to go to my final destination of Waterville.

__________________

Surprisingly, I slept better than I thought last night. A 5-hour time difference does do a number on you, but I think I’m good now!

My room booking included room-delivered full breakfast, which was definitely a great way to start the day. I forgot to ask for ketchup, though. Sausage without ketchup just isn’t the same, but I didn’t want to be a bother by bringing down for some so I somehow survived without!! 🙂

I toodled around again after breakfast before coming back to check out. There are loads of pubs and interesting shops – mostly geared towards tourists. I didn’t buy anything, but got some ideas for gifts towards the end of my trip.

Once I checked out, I left my bags at the front desk and headed off for lunch. I asked the girl at the front desk for a recommendation – there are loads of pubs around, but I wanted something different so I asked where she would go. She recommended the Cafe du Parc so that is just where I went!

I ordered the club sandwich. It didn’t come with anything, so I was skeptical as to whether or not it would be enough, but it was quit filling on its own. In fact, I only ate just over half of it. It was really yummy, too!

The club sandwich at the Café du Parc

After lunch, I scoped out info on some tours for when I come back in a couple of weeks, particularly for Killarney National Park because if I don’t go there while I’m in the area, my brother Bill might disown me. 🙂

Now I’m waiting for the bus to Waterville to depart. While standing outside waiting, I got hit on by an octogenarian (possibly even a nonagenarian) named Michael, so I guess I still got it…?

A little later…

While waiting my turn to load my bags into the bus, I saw a young fella putting a bag in the storage area. He had thick, fuzzy, fingerless gloves and I wondered if he was the bag loader, but he left and went back to the boarding line so I figure nope…he’s a passenger.

Then it was my turn to load and he came over and did it for me – before I had even started. So I changed my mind again and thought, ok, he must be the baggage guy.

But..the story does not end there!!! When I got on, there he was, a seated passenger.

He wasn’t the baggage guy. He was a nice guy who just took it upon himself to do a nice thing. And it wasn’t even as though I had been struggling with the bags. I hadn’t even started when he came over. He was just a nice young guy.

As I walked past him on the bus, I thanked him again. He chuckled a little, with a little shyness, and said, “It’s no problem…”

As it says in one of my favourite quotes:

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. (William Arthur Ward)

The bus ride itself was absolutely fabulous!!! If you are ever in the area, be sure to take a bus tour. It’s stunning. I didn’t take many photos – I thought about it lots, but just wanted to enjoy the view and not spend my whole time looking at it through my tablet camera viewer.

When I got to my place in Waterville, I unpacked, went for groceries, put those away, and then went for dinner at Dooley’s before hunkering down for the night. It was just soup and salad, but I tell you what – the dressing was delicious and the vegetable soup was the best soup I’ve had in I don’t know how long!

As an aside, from the time I arrived in Killarney and till now, everybody has been talking about today’s (Gaelic) football match between the Kerry team and Dublin. Being in County Kerry, everyone has been hoping for Kerry to win and green and yellow jerseys have been everywhere. Sadly, while I was eating, I could hear from the bar side of the restaurant that Kerry had lost.

As with all sporting matches — particularly rematches like this one – there was a super fun energy leading up to it the past two days since I’ve been here. Even the cashier at the grocery store was fully into it. She wasn’t thrilled about only being able to listen on the radio and not be able to see it, though!

Anyhoo…Here are some photos from today (Sept 14):

1. The bus

2. An ocean view on the route to Waterville

3. A video from my patio – the location is why I’ve taken this place. The sight, the sound, and the beautiful salty sea smell!

3. A sunset view from my place in Waterville

4. My dinner at Dooley’s

Error
This video doesn’t exist


by Leave a comment

Day 2 (Sept 13/19): More of Killarney!

(Written on Sept 13/19, as a follow up to my previous post.)

My room is lovely. It’s an older building but it was updated not too long ago. (The foyer, I should mention, is quite lovely – it was redone earlier this year, but I forgot to take a picture.) Three big, beautiful windows overlook a fairly busy street and let in loads of light.

The bed is quite comfy and there are at least two different types of pillows. That might sound weird, but I find that pillows are more important to a good sleep than even the mattress is. I’m so glad that hotels tend to provide different firmness options these days. (It’s the little things, remember?)

I’m off now to do a little exploring and see about a cell phone.

Much later…

After I got back, I lay down around 5:30 for a little nap, intending to get some juice back in my batteries before going out for supper and maybe checking out some local music. But that little nap turned into about 5 hours so, yeah, no supper and no music tonight!

I woke up in complete darkness and could not get any of the lights to turn on. They had been on when I first arrived, but it was such a bright day and the room was so full of natural light that I didn’t notice if any were on when I lay down. But when I woke up I had to use the light from my tablet to navigate around, flicking all sorts of switches. (There are an astounding number of switches in what is a relatively small room.)

EVENTUALLY I made it to the switches right by the door in the entry way and ta daaaaaa!!!!! It turns out that by the door, there is one switch to turn on the light in the entry and another switch that needs to be turned on in order for any of the lights in the room to work.

I must have turned it off when I went out earlier, meaning none of the lights would work when I got back. Mystery solved!! Not sure if that’s unique to this hotel or if it’s a common thing in Ireland, so I’ll keep that tidbit tucked away somewhere easily accessible in my brain for future use. 🙂

It’s quite warm in here, even though it’s a lovely cool night. But there aren’t any screens on the windows so I can’t leave them open. Several flies and mosquitos came in just in the maybe 15 minutes when I opened one a little bit ago. Ah well. I’m likely a bit too messed up now to sleep super well tonight anyway.

Plus…I’m on holidays in Ireland. So, really, who cares?


by 2 Comments

Day 2 (Sept 13/19): From Dublin to Killarney

(This post was written on Sept 13/19.)

_______________________

The flight went well. An extra treat was that the seat reclined almost fully flat, which meant that I was able to doze a little on the flight. It was really nice and comfortable and I’m so glad I treated myself – I’m sure I’ll be equally glad on the return trip, too.

My comfy seat on the plane!

We arrived in Dublin as scheduled at around 8:30 am. Customs didn’t take too long and I easily found the Express Link desk and got my ticket to get to the Heuston Train Station. It was a lovely day which meant a nice drive through Dublin.

When I bought my train ticket a month or two ago, I got a flex ticket so I could take any train that day. I wanted the flexibility so that if all went well with the flights and customs, I could head to Killarney earlier. Which I did. Instead of having to wait around for the 1:00 train, I was able to catch it just after 11:00, getting me into Killarney about 2:15.

I found my hotel easily enough – less than a 5 minute walk from the station, past a few horse-drawn carriages – a sure sign that tourist season is still in full swing!

My room wasn’t ready so I’m having a bite to eat at the Sandtrap Bar and Grill, attached to the hotel, while it’s being prepared and then I’ll toodle around for a bit. From the quick look I took walking to the hotel from the train station, it looks like I’m in a good spot for twacking around!

Late lunch at the Sandtrap Bar and Grill, Killarney, Co. Kerry, Ireland

It will be an early night, though…As I said, I dozed a little on the plane – enough to keep me upright today, but I’m still pretty zonked. I’ve been up for about 28 hours so the betteries are definitely winding down.

There are so many similarities to how we speak in Newfoundland and how they speak in Ireland that I immediately feel at home. I don’t feel like I need to “edit” myself like I often do in mainland Canada. Of course, here I don’t want people to think I’m just mimicking them. They don’t necessarily know about Newfoundland like we in Newfoundland know about Ireland so it could easily come across that way. Hopefully not!

Well, my food is here (a yummy open-faced tuna melt sandwich with fries and a salad) so I’m off! More about Killarney to come!

_____________________________

If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to follow/subscribe!


by 2 Comments

The ocean – the ultimate battery charger!

My ocean view, growing up in St. Lawrence, NL

I grew up in a small town on the southeast coast of Newfoundland, a beautiful, rugged island jutting out into the North Atlantic. The ocean was a very strong presence in my youth and it has stayed with me throughout my life, even though most of my adult life has been spent away from in.

It is no surprise, then, when I say that my favourite place to recharge is by the ocean. I’m not a total snob about it – any body of water will do in a pinch, but the ocean is where it’s really at for me.

I spent almost 14 years living in Calgary, Alberta, on Canada’s prairies, about 40 minutes from the Canadian Rockies. People I knew who had grown up there got the same thing from going to the mountains. Others, who had grown up further east, fully on the prairies, got it from the vast openness of the horizon that they offered.

After having lived there for so long, I can understand both perspectives. There is something truly majestic about being in the mountains. Taking the gondola up Sulphur Mountain in Banff gives you a view and perspective that you can only get in the mountains.

I also really valued the open expanse of the prairies. There are lots of jokes about it – your dog runs away and you can see him for days and so on. Obviously, that’s not how it is, but it sure can seem like it – horizon and sky for days! It, too, offers a perspective on our place in the universe that can’t be achieved the same way in the mountains or by the ocean.

One of the things I miss the most about living on the prairies is being able to watch a storm from miles away as it crawls along the landscape – a curtain of snow or rain, or even just wind and dust, moving along the horizon like a separate living thing in and of itself. It’s truly beautiful.

Yet still, for me, it’s the ocean. I love the smell of it, the sound of it, the look of it. Standing on Signal Hill or at Cape Spear, facing east and seeing nothing but the vast expanse of blue (or steely grey on a cloudy day), knowing there’s nothing between you and Ireland except the rolling deep, gives another perspective of how we fit into this world.

  • Me, at Cape Spear, with Signal Hill in the background
  • An unruly sea at Cape Spear
  • Beautiful majesty at Cape Spear

You can even almost feel the pull of the swells. Even when it looks flat and calm, you know that beneath the surface there are currents constantly moving, moving, moving. The iiiiiin-out, iiiiiin-out, iiiiiin-out push and pull of the waves is hypnotic.

It was a similar feeling when I stood at Point Loma in San Diego and faced west out over the Pacific Ocean.

  • Pacific Ocean from Point Loma
  • Point Loma Lighthouse

But it wasn’t quite the same because it wasn’t “my” ocean. The Atlantic is where my heart is, so yeah, I do play favourites. 🙂

Here are some other favourite ocean places and pics for your perusal.

  • Shoal Cove Beach, NL, near where I grew up
  • Middle Cove Beach, NL
  • A beach in Conception Bay South, NL
  • The shore near Petty Harbour, NL
  • An iceberg off Petty Harbour, NL
  • A humpback and her calf

_____________________________________

If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to subscribe/follow!


by 2 Comments

From Cowtown to Fog City

This post is a follow-up to an earlier post, So glad I said yes. If you haven’t read it, you might want to as it provides some context for this post, but you don’t have to.

Today’s post is to share with you some photos of my road trip across the continent when I moved from Calgary, Alberta back to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador with my dear ol’ Dad. Calgary is Cowtown, as it it sometimes affectionately referred to, and St. John’s is Fog City because of a restaurant there took that name in homage (or perhaps to spite?) a regular feature of the climate.

Without further ado…let’s get this show started!

First up…the map!

Caveat: The map isn’t 100% accurate. Unfortunately, even though I adjusted the map to more closely represent the route we took, it didn’t save any of the changes. While it isn’t our actual route, it will help you to see the scale of this trip.

Next, some pictures from Dad’s arrival in Calgary to our two-night lay-over in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where a couple of friends of mine, Rob and Chris, were wonderful hosts. I had been a couple of times before so for this visit they went out of their way to make sure there would be things Dad would enjoy. And he did. There were so many parts of the prairies that he loved. He had never seen such massive, oceanic farm fields before and if I had a dollar for every time he said, “Look at the wheat! That’s wheat! Look at it!” I’d be able to retire. It was so much fun to see a 71-year-old man look at things with the wonder of a child – something we all need to do more often.

Dad’s arrival in Calgary on Aug 22/18
Dad visiting with an old friend and former teacher of mine while in Calgary.
An oil well along the highway in western Saskatchewan.
One of our quick stops was in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
Dad and me at the Aviation Museum in Winnipeg. A couple of friends of mine toured us around and made it a wonderful stop-over for Dad.
Dad was a teacher and when he retired he went back to school to become a marine engineer. He loved all things engine-related and figuring out how things worked.
You can really see his curiosity here!
Dad at Louis Riel’s grave in St. Boniface, a part of Winnipeg.
Some hoop dancing in Winnipeg. Dad loved it.
A future hoop dancer.

 

Next up, our stop in Ottawa and a snippet of upstate New York. We took advantage of the chance to visit with one of my brothers and his girlfriend on Ottawa. (Another brother who lives there was away at the time…I can’t remember why.) From Ottawa, we headed south to the States – into upstate New York, where we spent the night in Canton, NY. We drove over Lake Champlain into Vermont and then to New Hampshire, where we spent another night.

A beautiful garden on the Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park, Quebec
My brother Albert, Dad and me as we were getting ready to leave Ottawa
A pretty scene near Canton, NY
A corn field in upstate New York. Dad was amazed at how tall the corn was.
The bridge that crosses Lake Champlain to bring you from New York state to Vermont. It’s an absolutely beautiful area.

 

The final leg of our journey saw us in Bar Harbor, Maine. At the time, there was a ferry from there to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia so that’s why we were there. It’s a beautiful place in its own right, though, so I recommend visiting if you get the chance. We stopped overnight in the Halifax/Dartmouth area and visited with a couple of my best friends from high school. From there we headed to North Sydney to catch the ferry that would take us to Argentia, NL, which would leave us with only one and a half hours of driving till home sweet home!

The Bar Harbor Inn in Bar Harbor, ME
Dad waiting for his real lobster, putting the stuffed on at risk.
The real one arrived just in time. Dad loved lobster and was excited about this meal because of everything he had heard about Maine lobster. Unfortunately, it did not live up to the hype. (He managed to “suffer” through it, though…)
Dad as we wait at customs in Yarmouth, NS.
Cape Breton Island is absolutely stunning. You could stop anywhere, close your eyes, point your camera anywhere and get a beautiful scene.
Dad on the ferry that would land us in Argentia, Newfoundland, after a 13-hour, overnight voyage. Dad, always curious, wanted to watch as the bow closed before we left port.

 

While the trip is technically over by this point, it wouldn’t be right not to include a picture of Dad proudly displaying his catch of salted cod, drying on the line. 🙂

2007-09-18_Drying fish 5 - Dad and Mariette

Dad and my sister-in-law admiring some cod he had caught and salted, as part of the food fishery. Paradise, NL. (There has been a moratorium on commercial fishing of cod since 1992.)


by 9 Comments

So glad I said yes

In 2007 I decided to move from Calgary, Alberta back to St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. I sold most of my things and shipped a bunch of what I wanted to keep. The rest was packed into the hatch and back seat of my cute little blue Chevrolet Optra, that I had named Angel.

When I told my Dad that I was going to be driving across the continent, he brought up the idea of flying up to Calgary to drive back with me.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I need to tell you that my initial reaction was less than enthusiastic. Well, to Dad I was all “Yeah, that would be great!!” but inside there was a bit of a battle. On the one hand, it would have been nice. But, on the other…

In case you aren’t aware, that trip is over 6,000 km. That’s a long haul. The most time Dad and I had spent together, just the two of us, before then was probably…hmmm… I don’t really know. When I was around 8 he took me with him for about a week when he had to travel for work. I (maybe we?) stayed with one of his sisters so it was really only the travel time that we had together. The drive was about 5 hours, so both ways that was about 10 hours we had for just the two of us. Since I was 8 at the time, I doubt there was much scintillating conversation whereby we learned a lot from each other. Other than that, for the rest of my life, it was maybe only an hour here or there when we spent time alone together.

So the first concern I had was: What on this little green planet are we going to talk about for six thousand kilometres??? That wasn’t a huge concern – both Dad and I have been blessed with the gift of gab, so it wasn’t too likely there would be many moments of silence, certainly not at the beginning. But what about the rest of the trip?

My next and bigger concern was the fact that Dad was a smoker. I mean a chimney. Two packs a day, easy. It was not uncommon for him to light his next cigarette off the one he was just finishing up. Assuming he slept for 8 hours a day, that left 16 hours for smoking. At 20 cigarettes per pack, that is 40 cigarettes per day. 40 cigarettes divided by 16 hours is 2.5 cigarettes per hour. Dad wasn’t a whip-out-the-cigarette-and-have-it-gone-in-two-deep-inhales kinda guy. He enjoyed his cigarettes. But I’m not sure how long each one lasted with him. I knew, though, that it was a while.

Since there would be no smoking in my car, I had visions of having to stop for 10 minutes every half hour the whole way across. We’d either never get there or I’d pitch him into the middle of one of the plentiful endless prairie fields or into one of the Great Lakes along the way. Neither was a very good option.

As such, when he said he would let me know for sure later on, the “I just wanna get home” part of me hoped he’d decide not to come. Of course, there was the other part of me that told me I was selfish and this would be a great chance to spend some time together – my first time as an adult to really get to know him.

I didn’t know which side I wanted to win.

When he still hadn’t made up his mind about two weeks before I was due to leave, I thought I was in the clear. It would be too expensive to get a last-minute flight in August so that would be that. Fair enough.

Then he called a few days later and said he was coming. D’oh. OK…time to switch gears!

In my next post I’ll tell you more about the trip itself. It really was amazing.

But that’s not what’s important for today. The important part for today is that in October 2008 my Dad passed away from lung cancer. I had no idea when we set off from Calgary on August 24, 2007 that this would be the one and only trip Dad and I would ever take, that it would become an absolutely treasured memory.

I’m so glad that I didn’t try to dissuade him. I’m so glad that he decided to come. I often look at the pictures from that trip and feel so very grateful and blessed to have had that time with him. I absolutely cannot imagine a version of my life where I didn’t.

 

If you have any such opportunities to spend time with people you love, take advantage of them. Enjoy them in the moment and cherish them when they are just memories.

Note: Dad didn’t actually request to stop that often. In fact, there were very few stops just so he could have a cigarette. Most were for potty breaks, gas or for meals. Here are a couple of our break stops.

Dad and Lobby having a snack in Moose Jaw

A quick stop in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The stuffed lobster belonged to a colleague. I kidnapped him so I could take pictures of him along the way.

Dad sipping a cool beverage in New York State

Papa enjoying a sodie pop in upstate New York.

Cape Breton Dad

A smoke break on Cape Breton Island. Beauty of a day!!