Christmas 2018

Christmas 2018 I spent with my daughter Charlotte and family, grandson Lucien and son-in-law Ryan. I flew to Portland where I stayed with my cousin, Cynthia and her husband, Ed overnight.  

 Cousin Cynthia

They live in a nice, old neighourhood and we did a tour of the area admiring the lovely old homes.  

And not so old ones

The next day the three of us drove the 60mi east up the Columbia Gorge to Charlotte's place where we enjoyed a Christmas eve pozole.  Lucien was predictably excited so it was a very early Christmas morning when we exchanged gifts.  

 And the instant hit

A drone

 

 

 

 Little Millie and her mom joined us for dinner one night.  She loves Lucien.

 

 It was a very relaxing time there playing games, going for walks, cooking, eating and enjoying each other's company.   

 

 Columbia Gorge

Nova Scotia 2018 Cape Breton

On my second to last day in Nova Scotia, another sunny, windy day, we drove up the west coast of Cape Breton as far as Inverness.  The colours around Antigonish had already started to fade but on Cape Breton they were still strong.  

 The tourists were mostly gone and it was very tranquil.  We got out and walked the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail aka Ceilidh Trail, part of the Trans-Canada Trail, a rails to trail trail that follows the west coast of Cape Breton as far as Cheticamp.  (What a lot of "trails" in one sentence!)  

In any case, it was a lovely walk but, again, the cold wind hurried us back to the car before too long.  So we mostly explored by car, following side roads to wild beaches and stopping to take cliched photographs of churches.  

Just before Inverness, we stopped at the Glenora Distillery.  It is the only distillery that is licensed to make single malt whisky in Canada and the buildings and grounds are quite lovely, especially in the fall

. 

We had hoped to have lunch there but the dining room wasn't open that late in the season and so we found a nice little restaurant in Inverness, newly opened, and had a good lunch.

After lunch we wound our way back down the island to Antigonish.  

And that takes us to the end of my stay in Nova Scotia.  It was a lovely two weeks, a little time out from life and a brief immersion into another reality. 

Nova Scotia 2018 continued

And then it snowed!!  Big, fat flakes that accumulated to several centimeters. 

Not exactly what I had in mind.  The day after the snow we drove into town for errands under glowering wintry skies, snow all around and, way in the distance to the south, we could see a strip of blue sky so we decided to drive in that direction.  Once we got out into the countryside, it was very beautiful with the fall colours against the snow and when we finally emerged into sunshine, the colours really popped.   

On a very windy but sunny day, we took a drive along the north coast.  Once, we got out of the car to take a walk but were quickly driven back inside by the cold, strong wind.

On another one of the rare, sunny, less cold days we went for a walk on the Fairmont Trail, a short drive from Antigonish.  

It's a hike we did last year that I enjoyed.  What with all the rain, and snow, it was wet and mucky and the trail was washed out in places, but the colours more than compensated for the wetness.  

Interesting and unusual fungal growths we encountered, exclusively on one fallen tree.

 

Cape Breton coming up..............

Nova Scotia 2018

In October I took my second trip to Nova Scotia to visit my friend, Nancy.  It was raining as we made the two hour drive from Halifax to Antigonish where Nancy lives.  Mid October is a bit late in the year for much warm weather, I gather, and the first couple of days there were rainy.  But the fall colours were outstanding.  

On the first nice day we went for a hike up Mount Keppoch with one of Nancy's sons, and his wife.  

Mt Keppoch was a ski hill many years ago but had been out of operation for a long time until a group of people came together with the idea of creating a wilderness area.  They got funding and made it happen.  Now there numerous trails and year round outdoor activities.  The colours were outstanding as we hiked up the mountain through groves of intensely green trees interspersed with vibrant yellows, reds and orange.  

At the top there were great views overlooking the countryside.

Wanting to get the most from the sunny day, we took a short detour on the way home to Pomquet Beach, a lovely loooong beach, virtually deserted.  

More to come

Rolf's 2018 continues

We took a different route back to Highway 50 after leaving Berlin, the loneliest
highway yet.  It was a dirt road that was initially pretty smooth and straight.  

We saw not a sign of life other than the occasional:

After a long straight stretch we came to a Y in the road with no signage.  Hmmm.....?   The way we chose led up into the hills and got rougher and slower the further we went.  We twisted and turned and climbed and descended until we were over the hills and eventually hooked up with the main highway.  Never saw another car the whole way.  

One day Rolf and Sam and I went kayaking on a small man-made lake near Truckee. Prosser Dam was very peaceful place and we spent a happy couple of hours paddling around.  

An osprey