Travel with Art

A two day road trip took me to Winnipeg from Whitecourt, Alberta. Along the way I skirted the edge of a major thunderstorm in Saskatchewan... to the east of me was a storm front, paralleling my route, with black skies and lighting flashes (and later I learned had multiple tornados touching down)... to the west there were clear sunny blue skies. Then on into Manitoba and sun glinting off a lot of ground water. A vast section of the province was covered by an emergency declaration due to flooding, but the roads I was on were all passable. The only 'tight' spot was where the highway goes through Portage la Prairie and dips deep into a valley where the Asiniboine River was up to only a couple of metres below bridge top level and the current flowed fast and furious. Winnipeg Folk Festival (#41) After a couple of days hanging out, Kerry and I headed out to set up camp at Birds Hill Park to attend the Winnipeg Folk Festival. A small misunderstanding meant Kerry had to set up the t...

I arrived a bit early in Edmonton. First to drop off a few pieces of luggage and then to collect Mom at the airport. From there we headed over to see Vince and Rosemary for a few hours before checking into the Sutton Place Hotel. Sutton Place was the base for many for the wedding of my niece Alana (my brother Mark and sister-in-law Carmen's daughter) to Mike George. The rooms were large and the suites huge - perfect for people getting together over the weekend. Alana and Mike celebrated their wedding at the oldest (and prettiest) church in Edmonton: Saint Joachim's Catholic Church. Service was accompanied by lovely singing, was of perfect length and had Alana and Mike exchange their own vows. Outside the day was warm, sunny and prefect for the horse drawn carriage to take the couple around the block before family photos and on to fun at the reception held at the Muttart Conservatory. Onto Whitecourt where Neil and Gayle and Abby have invited me to stay. Just a few days lat...

Headed out for a series of 1-night stops to reach Edmonton, Alberta in time for my niece, Alana's, wedding to Mike George. So Caraquet to Drummondville, Quebec took 9 uneventful hours. Next up was another 9 hours but this time dodging road construction and traffic around Montreal to reach Sudbury, Ontario. Here I came across the first of the wildlife that had a bit of a death wish - momma duck attempting to get in front of my speeding car with her brood of ducklings. Followed by a fox who rethought his plans and dipped back into the gully. Enough for one day... Carrying on to Terrace Bay on the north shore of Lake Superior, and with wildlife redoubling their efforts. First up was a large young bull moose who hopped out of the gully not too far ahead of me. Slammed on my brakes and was greatfull when the huge transfer truck behind me slowed before hitting me. Meanwhile the moose seemed to dance across the 4 lane highway and off into the wilderness on the other side. Another fox fo...

Hopewell Rocks Had an early start on May 31 to drive to Shediac, New Brunswick, with sun filled skies the entire journey. Would be a 4 hour drive but I took a diversion to go and see Hopewell Rocks which was a 1.6 hour diversion. Tide was high but that made the formations more interesting for me. Still at some point it would be great to see the mudflats at low tide and to see the tidal bore as the tide roars in. And if I ever get a chance to be there mid July to mid August I hear that the flocks of migrating seabirds are quite the spectacle. Pointe du Chêne, Shediac I arrived at 4:30pm at the beachside home of Joan and Don Martell. We had a lot of catching up to do as it had been years since we had last visited. Don gave me the tour of the tourist towns of Pointe du Chêne (and it's lovely sand beach - Parlee Beach) and Shediac. Not a large community but everything is convenient to get to and all fronted by an amazing beach. Next day I headed for the village of Bouctouche ...

Mom and I departed Phuket at the end of April. She took the east way (Tokyo and Toronto) and I took the west (Zurich and Toronto) and we met in Halifax. From there we had the 3.5 hour drive to her home in Cape Breton. A few days to adjust our clocks and first event was my neice, Kathryn's, graduation from Saint Francis Xavier University with her Bachelor of Arts. Her parents, Carmen and Sharon, and her sister, Jessie, had all flown in for the event. Nice but chilly day with an absolutely wonderful graduation dinner (lobster and roast beef) following convocation that was interesting and pretty much run to schedule. A few days later my brother Ivan joined us and we prepped for an early celebration of Mom's 80th birthday for the Nova Scotia 'gang' - well a selection anyway that we could fit in the local Jolly Club. Mom wanted to help but she was kept away from all the work. Rum, rye, beer and wine with juice and soda pop preceded dinner of lobster and a big birthda...