Virgin Islands March 11-21, 2009

We wish we could say that our trip to the Virgin Islands was fabulous and that we had a super time. We did see some great sites and had some fun times but it didn't turn out quite as planned. As with any vacation we had certain expectations about this trip. To start with, because we've been in warm, sunny Florida all winter, coming to another warm, sunny place wasn't quite as special as it should have been. And I think we would have enjoyed it more if we hadn't been "cooped up" on a saiboat.

When we booked the TradeWinds timeshare we thought we should go a few days early and visit and snorkel the great sites at St. John's National Park on St. John, USVI. So, we booked a cabin in a campground that friends had stayed at and raved about. If we had known when we booked our flight how much this 3 day excursion was going to cost and how little new things we'd be seeing and doing we would not have done it. And even though we had never spent nights on the water we were looking forward to slowly sailing the catamaran, doing great snorkeling/scuba, windsurfing, kayaking and seeing beautiful scenery. Well, we certainly saw beautiful scenery!! And there was some great snorkeling, just not as much as in Belize. We motored more than we sailed and we rarely went slowly. The windsurfing and kayaking didn't pan out. We had been led to believe by RCI that there was a windsurfer on the boat. Instead we had to pay for one in one location only and we got there too late anyway. Sandy and I took the kayak out but the water was a little rough and there was no back support so it was not much fun. Unexpected pluses were the glass blowing, pirate show and the magician. Read on for info on those. And, of course, it was relaxing to be away from the TV, news, and cooking and fun to get to know other people. I guess we're spoiled after going to Club Meds and having great water activities and also snorkeling in Belize (Glover's Reef) which had phenomenal fish and coral.

Wed, 3/11 - Fri, 3/13. USVI. Our flight to St. Thomas and the ferry to St. John went smoothly. I took advantage of the time we had before the ferry to buy some groceries since they're a bit cheaper in St. Thomas. The island is very mountainous with narrow, winding roads. They drive on the left but the cars they use are American with the steering wheel on the left! We were glad we weren't renting a car. (We ran into people that said it was challenging!) However, it was interesting to ride in a taxi which was like a surrey with rows of seats in the open air sitting up to 12 people. We just had to hang on!

The Maho Bay campground cabin was larger than we anticipated but just as rustic. However, I didn't anticipate a 2 burner camp stove. Not a problem. We managed. Our fridge was a big cooler that we bought a bag of ice for each day. (There was a restaurant but the prices were very expensive!) The best thing about the campground, besides being eco-friendly, was their recycling program for bottles. They have a glass-blowing program. It was so interesting to watch different glass blowers each evening. They also had some sort of offering every evening in the outdoor restaurant. Wednesday night they had contra dancing. Thursday night they showed the new version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." We loved that movie and it was fun to see it outside. There was a beautiful view of Little Maho Bay from the restaurant. The first night we got a couple of little bites but bugs were really not a problem.































Thursday we took a hike to Water Lemon Cay, a favorite snorkeling location. It was cloudy and there was quite a current so we just enjoyed the view and read. (The water was only 78 which was a bit too cold for me.) We learned from someone that to go to the underwater snorkeling trail run by the National Park at Trunk Bay you actually have to pay to go in. We were a bit surprised so opted out of that. On our hike back we stopped at Annaberg Sugar Mill Plantation ruins. It was very interesting and there were a husband and wife volunteer team that talked to us about it. We also quizzed the man about other things on the island.

Since we were going to be going snorkeling a lot on the sailing trip we decided to spend Friday hiking. We took a hike from the north side of St. John, by way of Maria Hope trail, on the Bandit Map but not on the national park map, up to Centerline Road, and down the popular Reef Bay trail. It was quite a hike up but quite doable. The trail had good signage and explanations of things. It was mostly in the shade which was good. We saw lots of plants similar to what we had seen in Belize. The rock wall with plants growing on top was not your typical New England rock wall. We even saw termite nests in trees like in Belize. The petroglyphs done by the Taino Indians were interesting. The last thing to see near the water was an old sugarcane mill. There was some good signage to complement what we had seen at Annaberg. Then we came to the small beach and some rocks to sit on to eat lunch! There's interesting Pipe Organ cactus growing near the water all over the islands. We also saw a mongoose. On the way back we had a nice short shower (typical at this time of year). Even though the 8 mile hike was broken up it was good to get back home and rest a bit. I went off to make plans for which ferry to take to get us over to Tortola for the sailing trip on Saturday.































Sat, 3/14. After another taxi ride to the Westin, south of Cruz Bay, the town on the western end of St. John, we met up with the Twombly clan at the end of their weeklong vacation here. The grounds and the beach were big and beautiful and it was great to see everyone. We hadn't seen the beautiful Tully children for 1 1/2 years and we got our first look at the cute Jack Ryan! We visited, swam, ate lunch and then took off for the ferry to St. Thomas.

Yes, we had to go west to St. Thomas in order to go east to Tortola. The seas were rough and our 50 minute ride from St. Thomas to Road Town, Tortola took 1 1/2 hours. Thank goodness they slowed down. It also allowed us to watch the semi-funny movie, "Mall Cop." I couldn't believe they had a movie on a ferry but it did pass the time and keep me focused on something! Customs took forever (about an hour) and we ended up being the last ones to arrive at Hodges Creek Marina for dinner on the catamaran.

BVI. There were 6 cabins on the boat (the "Solitaire"), 5 for guests and the other for the captain and host/chef. The rest of the guests were Roger and Sharyn from Tucson, their friend, Doug, Roger's nephew, Steve and his wife, Diane, and their son, Steve and his wife, Jamie. Steve and Diane and Steve and Jamie all live outside LA. Roger and Sharyn were members of TradeWinds so had been on 2 or 3 other trips. Our crew were both from South Africa, Francois, the 23 year old captain and Jen Mullins, the 50 year old chef and mother of 5. Dinner was excellent and so was the company with us getting to know all of them better since they already knew each other. After dinner they taught us a fun card game called King's Corners.

The cabin was set up efficiently but was much smaller than we anticipated. The shower head was the faucet in the sink that pulled up.














































Sun, 3/15. We motored for 1 hour to Cooper Island. (I thought we'd always just use the sails but Francois said it depended on how fast we could go with the sail.) The water was a little rough and I got a headache and had to sit looking out the back at land for the entire trip. (Sandy was fine so he read or did Sudoku while we moved.) Here we snorkeled in incredibly clear water. We saw the usual fish, sergeant major, blue tang, parrot fish, etc. and one new one for us. The ballyhoo is long and thin with a needle type nose.

After a delicious lunch we motored to Cistern Point. (Now Jen made some strong ginger tea with shredded ginger for me to keep my headache from getting worse. I still had to sit and look at land while we were moving.) Here we snorkeled again. The coral was pretty with a number of fish. There was a large group of blue tang and we saw a trumpet fish.

We motored to Virgin Gorda which took about an hour and took the dinghy to Spanish Town. It was very quiet as most of the stores were closed since it was Sunday. There were a couple of outdoor bars, one with live caribbean music that we enjoyed. We walked around the harbor which had lots of sail boats and some cabin cruisers. For us, it was a little too long to be there.

Mon, 3/16. Virgin Gorda. (The stormy weather negatively impacted our water activities today.) Before we even had breakfast we motored to The Baths, huge boulders created by bubbling up magma cooled by water. They were pretty cool looking. The water was still a little rough and it looked a bit stormy. (I still had a headache so had some more ginger tea after breakfast.) Francois took us in the dinghy to the shore to walk the path through the boulders which was fun. At the end we went snorkeling. There were a few fish but not many and the water was murky. It ended up raining when we finished snorkeling.
















We motored to Great Dog where we had lunch and a nap. Sandy went scuba diving in The Chimney which he thought was pretty good. He spent about 35 minutes on the ottom and really enjoyed the swim through the crevase. There were many beautifully colored sponges on the walls. Sharyn and I snorkeled. The water here was also a little murky and there weren't that many fish. The sun came out for about 1/2 hour the whole day. It was actually a little cool.
















Next stop was Marina Cay (near Tortola) where Michael Beans puts on a Pyrate Show. (On the way to Marina Cay we passed by a home on a hill formerly owned by Danny de Vito.) Francois took us all ashore in the dinghy and told us where to get seats in this outdoor bar. Michael plays here 4-5 nights a week. They have a conch blowing contest and give prizes for wearing pirate clothes. His music was mainly Jimmy Buffet, Harry Belafonte, and the Beatles. He put on a really fun show - even if he wasn't giving out shots of rum to people for different things! (There were a few people celebrating St. Patrick's Day last night with green necklaces and hats.)































Tues, 3/17. St. Patrick's Day. After breakfast we motored to Mountain Point on Virgin Gorda. It was sunny all day and gorgeous! It was a long trip but I felt fine so I could actually read my book. We snorkeled before lunch. (The water was warmer now!) The coral was okay with one different fish but I couldn't find it in the fish books. After another delicious lunch Jen gave us a sales pitch about the TradeWinds timeshare. It's certainly unique but we weren't interested. We were already feeling the effects on being on a small boat 24/7.

We motored to Leverick Cay in North Sound in north Virgin Gorda. It was one of two nights where we were responsible for eating out. The others were meeting friends in an expensive restaurant. Sandy and I read and played cribbage on board before we ventured out to find a place to eat. We needed some exercise so walked around the hilly town for a while and then went to get some food. We stopped in the grocery store and noticed something that we had noticed on another island. Obviously their clientele are big wine drinkers. Both stores allotted a whole wall, floor to ceiling, to wine! There was really only two other choices for dinner, a sit down place that was super busy or pizza take out for $20. We opted for the pizza which took so long to make that we brought it back to the boat to eat. But it was very good! After dinner we talked with Jen for a long time which was nice. She's an interesting person. She hikes and loves to sail in races.

Wed, 3/18. Finally a sunny, calm day! We motored with our sails to Beef Island to get provisions. There are some interesting art shops here, one with really nice metal and raku pieces. After lunch we sailed to White Bay in Jost Van Dyke. The powdery-sand beach was beautiful with the mountain rising up behind the obviously planted palm trees. Relatives said we had to stop in at the Soggy Dollar, an outdoor bar. The name refers to boaters wading in to shore and then having wet money to buy their drinks. Cute! What we really wanted to do was go see Seddy at the bar "One Love" who entertained us with illusions. This bar was really unique. There were t-shirts hanging on the ceiling with sayings and signed by people. There were old hats, sunglasses, swim suit tops, and license plates on the walls. You get the picture. I signed the bar with a marker "Becky & Sandy 3/09 Amherst, MA." Look for it if you go there. Seddy, a native virgin islander was amazing. We were standing in front of the bar and he did cards, coin and string tricks right in front of us. He was unbelievable! It was so much fun!





















I finished reading John Grisham's "Playing for Pizza" a fun, light book and also Janet Evanovich's "Plum Lucky" which was great! Here's Sandy napping on deck.


At White Bay there was this amazing looking sailboat called the Maltese Falcon. Francois said the owner of the boat (Tom Perkins) is selling it for $150M. He also wrote a book about it called, "Mine's Bigger." http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061227943/Mines_Bigger/index.aspx . Oh, what excess!!


That night Francois and young Steve "stole" the dinghy from the other TradeWinds sailboat, Turquoise Dreams. Ah, what trickery ensues after a bit of drinking!

Thurs, 3/19. The other sailboat didn't realize their dinghy was missing until Francois called them. Everyone had a good laugh but as they were leaving they tried to hit us with water balloons. These weren't just thrown, they had a huge slingshot. Well, it was all in fun except Sharyn got hit with one in the arm and created quite a bruise. After that slingshots were off limits.


We motored to Sandy Cay, a small island reportedly to be the Microsoft screensaver (when the other palm tree was still there). It was a really cute uninhabited island. We snorkeled in water that was a bit warmer than earlier in the week but there weren't very many fish because of all the dead coral there. That was a sad sight. I did see an interestingly shaped spotted fish called a trunk fish.


When we were anchoring I saw some people and two young girls on shore. The girls looked like they were enjoying themselves running around and doing cartwheels. When we got to shore I talked to them. The man owned the boat (Zia) and was father of the two young girls. Joe, from Annapolis, and his wife Christy and girls had been sailing all over the world for 4 years!! What great learning experiences! http://www.setsail.com/s_logs/boyle/zia.html

Next stop was Soper's Hole in West End, Tortola. On our way into the harbor we passed by Alan Alda's house on a point. Pretty cool!
















It was a cute harbor with shops painted with typical caribbean colors. We looked around the shops but we're not really shoppers so it was a little long to be there.
















North of Norman Island was "The Indians" with rocks that look like tepees. That had the best snorkeling so far. The rocks went down about 40 feet and there was lots of sea fan coral. Fish we saw: lots of parrot fish, a school of anchovies near the surface, foureye butterfly, sergeant major, damselfish, and scrawled filefish. Yellow-tail snappers followed us around.


Fri, 3/20. We motored to "The Caves" at Norman Island. The snorkeling in and around the caves was even better than the Indians. I've never seen so many sergeant majors together. I saw 5 fairy basslets in one place. There were also lots of blue tang going back and forth, some light blue and some dark blue. The coral was great too: lots of yellow and rust colored flower coral, staghorn and other coral.

Sandy did a wreck dive of the famous Rhone, a royal mail ship that sunk in 1867 and broke up into 2 sections. He thought it was pretty cool to swim through one section and see teh skeleton of a ship from the inside. Parts of the movie, "The Deep" were filmed here. The water was pretty rough with a strong current so I opted out of snorkeling.

We moved the boat a bit and Francois took some of us to Salt Cay to look around. When the Rhone sank here in 1867 the residents of Salt Cay rescued several people. The queen of England gave the residents ownership of the island until for as long as they or their decendents lived on the island. A person named Norman Durant lived here until 2003. He died in 2004. He was the last of the decendents and the last to mine the salt here. It was pretty cool to think that this one man walked around the ponds and picked up and broke apart chunks of salt. We found out that he traditionally left the island on Queen Victoria's birthday and symbolically offered her payment of one pound of salt to stay on the island. Apparently there were graves but we didn't see any evidence of them since I read they're unmarked. But it looked like someone else lived here since we saw a chicken running around. I saw some green and brown beach glass so started a collection. Here are some random scenic pictures.






























We had a very late lunch (3 PM), napped and motored back to Hodges Creek Marina, Tortola. Yeah! Real showers at the marina. This was our second night to eat on our own. Again the choices weren't many. We walked down the street to Pusser's, overlooking the water, and had delicious dinners. The rest of the people took a taxi to the other side of the island to eat. It would have been nice to join them but just the taxi ride ($24 total) was just too expensive for us.

Sat, 3/21. We said our goodbyes and took a taxi to the ferry that would take us back to Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas. We went right to the airport and had a nice lunch there. The airport was packed and it took a long time just to get through security. Our flight was on time and we made it into Miami about 6:30 PM. We looked forward to getting home, even though it was a 2 1/2 hour drive.

One thing we didn't like after we got back was that we felt like we were still on the boat. Our heads didn't feel quite right. Finally by Sunday night our equilibrium returned. OK, we learned that sailing is not for us.

MA to Florida 10.08

We said goodbye to Amherst and our friends for 7 months and headed south.

Wednesday, Oct. 8, Middlebush, NJ; Philadelphia, PA. Middlebush is a village now part of Somerset near New Brunswick in central New Jersey. I have fond memories of growing up here. It's a little village where I walked a half block to elementary school and had lots of other girls to play with.

We parked at the old Colonial Farms restaurant now O'Connors Beef & Chowder House. I wanted to walk around a bit before lunch with some childhood friends. My first impression was that it was much smaller than I remembered. Of course, the trees had grown a lot in 40 years! I also thought it was a lot farther from my house to the school. I stopped to take some pictures of the house where I lived from birth until 19. What a surprise to see a man come out of the house. It turned out that he and his wife were the people (from Chicopee, MA) that bought our house in 1967 when my parents moved to Brazil for 5 years. What a wonderful surprise! John and Mary Vaughan were so nice to spend time talking with us and walking us around the property. Everything in our yard was smaller than I remembered.


Lunch with Betty Cunningham Lewis, Jackie Sander Griffiths and Lorie Weidner Carkhuff was great. We had been friends since we were little! During our 2 hour lunch we reminisced and just caught up with each other. We'll definitely keep getting together.
In Philadelphia we met our old neighbor and Julie's friend, Kate Gagnon, at Rosie's Yarn Shop, the yarn store where she works. We had a great visit over dinner before we headed off to a play, "Rock 'N Roll," by Tom Stoppard. Another person from our old Amherst neighborhood, Libby Woodbridge, was in it. She just graduated from Boston University as a theater major and this was her first professional role. It was an interesting play and Libby was great in her supporting role! We got to congratulate her after the play and visit a bit. We hadn't seen her for at least 4 years.


Oct. 9. Hawk Mt. This morning we met Peg and Mike Ross, friends from Shutesbury, MA at Hawk Mountain in Kempton, PA. The mountain is a fly through for birds because of the thermals caused by the warm air next to the mountain. We went to North Lookout where there was a guide with a powerful scope ready to help all of us spot and identify the many hawks. (He even had a stuffed owl as a lure for birds to come closer to us.) There were school groups coming and going all morning. It was a beautiful day with the morning fog being burnt off as the sun warmed the air. The valley on both sides was lovely despite the continued haze. About 10% of the trees had changed colors. We saw about 35 sharp-shinned hawks and a number of other birds of prey. The visitor center was excellent. One short video showed the sky (at the end of September) when the hawks were flying in full force, hundreds at a time. (We saw maybe 2 or 3 at a time.)
















Oct. 10. Gettysburg, PA, the location of the turning point in the Civil War with the north winning. We had a bit of a drive so didn't arrive at Gettysburg National Military Park until 11 AM. We were really surprised to see so many people! But then I remembered that they just opened up their new Visitor Center last month. It was really well done! First there was background info on the Civil War. Info on the battle (July 1, 2, and 3, 1863) was organized into Day 1, 2, and 3 with a short movie as well as artifacts. All the battles left over 51,000 soldiers dead, wounded or missing. What a horrible battle! And, of course, this is where President Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg address at the dedication of the cemetery in November 1863. There are a number of tours and we took advantage of one about the battle on Day 3. We could have done a self-guided car tour of the battlefields but that will have to wait for another visit.

We spent the night at Sandy's sister's house in Stanardsville, VA.
Oct. 11-12. Fredericksburg, VA. We visited with Gail and Dale Ganott and arrived in Fredericksburg by mid afternoon. We visited a friend of mine from Middlebush. Kathy Sellers Wilson and her husband, Rob, took us on a little tour of the town. After dinner we went to a concert at their church. (It was Julie's birthday and she's in Vancouver, BC filming 2 episodes of "Supernatural" on the CW network. We called her but had to leave "Happy Birthday to you" in a message.)

Our first stop on this gorgeous fall day was the Fredericksburg National Military Park Battlefield Visitor Center. They had a small museum with a movie. The major battles here were in December 1862 and May 1863, so before the Gettysburg battles. We took a guided tour as well which was very helpful. He helped us visualize the soldiers and the actual battle at that site. The Confederates won this battle mainly because of geography. They were hidden from view in a sunken road behind a stone wall. We walked around the battlefield and found a small cemetery which was from before the Civil War. The gate showed the impact of cannon fire.














Before we left there Julie called to say she and Michael were engaged!!! We're so happy for them!

We walked down to the Kenmore House which was built in 1775 by Fielding, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Betty Washington Lewis, George Washington's sister. The interior had colorful paint and wallpaper and beautiful decorative plaster ceilings. No one knows who did the gorgeous plaster work.




























We walked downtown which has been renovated and filled with shops. The last stop was really fun. The Hugh Mercer Apothecary was a museum of 2 role players from 1784. One explained all the liquids and herbs that Dr. Mercer used to heal people. The other showed the other tools of his trade, including live leeches! (We had hoped to visit the Rising Sun Tavern which has a tour but we ran out of time.)














Thanks to Kathy and Rob for their hospitality! Kathy's mother lives nearby and we all had dinner together on Sunday. I think it was especially fun for her seeing me "all grown up." As we drove south from Fredericksburg we saw a number of fields of cotton on the side of the road. Wow! My first thought was seeing pictures of slaves picking cotton in fields like this.














Oct. 13-14. St. Augustine, FL. This city has really pretty Spanish architecture. There are lots of things to see in America's oldest city but we only had one day. (I had read that parking was scarce so we parked in a lot behind the Visitor Center.) We started with a tour of Flagler College, the former Ponce de Leon Hotel built in 1888. There was a short movie followed by a student-led tour. What an amazingly beautiful woman's dorm! It's one of the finest examples of Spanish Renaissance Architecture in the US. Henry Flagler made his money in real estate, railroads, and as a partner with Rockefeller in Standard Oil. He wanted to build a place for rich northerners to come down by train for January through March. There are Tiffany stained glass windows , murals, and gorgeous architecture. Even the dining room chairs were amazing.




























The fountain in the front courtyard was a creative sun dial. It was surrounded by 12 frogs spouting water. The frog in the right picture is saluting. He represents 12 o'clock. It really was accurate but off by an hour because it was daylight savings time.


The Lightner Museum (old Alcazar Hotel) across the street was the playground, and also a small hotel, also built by Flagler. It was built in 1887 and is one of the earliest poured concrete building. It has a beautiful courtyard with a stone arched bridge over a pond. It housed the gym, sauna, and the largest indoor pool where swimming competitions were held. It closed in 1932 and was purchased by Chicogoan Otto Lightner in 1946 to house his collections of antiquities from all over the world. Two years later it became a museum. The three floors had a little bit of everything including a mummy and a shrunken head. We saw a demonstration of mechanized musical instruments, the precursors to the juke box and player piano. And I really loved this cradle! The museum definitely has something for everyone!




























The St. Augustine Visitor Center had an interesting video about the struggle of the early peoples of St. Augustine focusing on one family.

The Old St. Augustine Village Museum and the Fort will have to wait until the next visit.

Wednesday morning we had a great visit with friends from Amherst, Patrick and Dianne Smith. Patrick was the middle school orchestra leader and string teacher. Dianne taught voice and was Julie's voice teacher at Holyoke Community College. They also lived below us in Greenleaves for a year. They retired to Jacksonville but continue to teach in the area.

It was a great week reconnecting with friends and family and seeing historical areas of our great country.

Next stop: our home in Fort Myers, Florida!

San Francisco, Davis, Sacramento 9.08

Saturday, Sept. 20-Wednesday, Sept. 24. Hearing that we were heading for San Francisco, our friends George and Scott told us we shouldn't miss the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the de Young Museum, part of Golden Gate Park. Fortunately for us he told us in plenty of time for me to look at the website and get a timed admission ticket. (This was a very popular special exhibit!) Chihuly is a glass artist who makes incredibly gorgeous pieces. We first saw his work in the Bellagio Hotel ceiling in Las Vegas last summer. We spent a long time admiring his work and I took lots of pictures. We loved it so much we bought a poster showing his glass in a boat that we'll put up in Florida. They were also showing an interesting movie about a workshop he did which showed him creating on paper and other artists implementing his design. It really helped us appreciate the glass pieces knowing a little bit about how they were created. We poked around at other exhibits but the Chihuly exhibit really was the best! Since there are a lot of things to see at Golden Gate Park, next time we'll make time to visit the arboretum and conservatory of flowers.






































































We left San Francisco and drove north to Napa and dinner with Jim & Dianne Rubins. We had a wonderful visit!

Scott and Libby let us use their apartment since they were in Duluth vacationing with her parents. We enjoyed taking long walks through the UC Davis campus and downtown. The weather was great - sunny skies with cool temps in the morning and then up to the low to high 80's. Sunday night we wanted to see how "Mad Men" did in the Emmy's but they have no TV. We could have gone to their club house but it was on from 8 to 10 PM and decided not to. Instead we checked out the winners online. We made a good decision. Julie watched with friends and said it was so boring, that is, until "Mad Men" won for best drama. Yeah!!

Monday we had a really good tour of the Sacramento Capitol building and saw a movie about CA history. That night we picked Scott and Libby up at the airport. (Here also is Scott's and Libby's apartment. Do we have enough laptops?)














Tuesday we took a scenic drive through Napa to Santa Rosa. First stop was the Luther Burbank Home & Gardens. The town and home and his gardens were beautiful. We were happy to be able to get in on a tour. We learned that Mr. Burbank was a horticultural genius born in Massachusetts. Over his lifetime he introduced more than 800 new varieties of plants. Among his varieties still popular today are the Russet potato and the Shasta daisy. He developed so many varieties but had patents for none since he died in 1926 before there were patents for plants. Here are just a couple of flowers in his garden.


Libby hadn't seen the redwoods yet so we headed to Armstrong Redwoods State Park in Guerneville. It's north of Muir Woods and is on a smaller scale. We checked out some huge trees and then went on a pretty steep 4 mile hike. It was fun just visiting with Scott and Libby. We topped off the day at a Thai restaurant in Santa Rosa.




























Wednesday was convocation for UC Davis at the Mondavi Center (funded by Mr. Mondavi of the Mondavi wine family). We decided to go at the end and saw the marching band play. After there were great refreshments! We noticed they were really into making sure that people recycled properly. The plates and utensils were made from corn starch! We wandered through campus (lots of bikes!) down to the weekly farmers market, bought some things and then saw a band and singers at the park where the market is. It was fun to see so many people, families, kids, and students just out enjoying themselves. Scott said they don't usually buy much here since the Dixon market has better prices.














We really enjoyed our time in Davis. Thanks to Scott and Libby for letting us use their apartment! We said goodbye to California until December when we'll visit again.

LA to San Francisco 9.08

Friends had told us to take our time driving up the coast since there were so many beautiful vistas and places to visit. And they were right!

Tuesday, Sept. 16 - Friday, Sept. 19. Santa Barbara, Solvang, Hwy 1, Salinas, Monterey, Carmel, Santa Cruz. From Santa Monica we took the 405 to 101 to Santa Barbara. What a beautiful town! We took a guided tour in a van where we sat up high. We saw the pier and the waterfront with its tall palms, lots of bikes for rent, Old Town, the Santa Barbara Mission, and the Courthouse among other things. It's an expensive town to live in but great to visit.


































We love the look of Norfolk Island Pines!

It was an informative tour and helped us get situated and decide where to go next. We chose the courthouse. It was built in 1926. The tile work was beautiful. There was even a huge room filled with murals of historical events. The last picture of the white building was the jail. Pretty nice looking jail! It isn't used anymore though.





























The view from the top (3rd floor) of the courthouse where the clock is was great!














How nice to see tiles in the sidewalk and benches.














We took a detour to see Solvang, a Danish town. One article said to be sure to try out one of the bakeries. We liked the Danish style architecture downtown and the pastries were really good! A nice afternoon snack.














Between Santa Barbara and north of Solvang there were brown hills and cattle as well as fields of crops and grapes.



We spent the night in San Luis Obispo and drove off to our scheduled tour at the Hearst Castle the next morning. It's farther north on the coast with an amazing setting. John Randolph Hearst, of Hearst newspapers and magazines, was quite an entrepreneur. He also was very conscious of appearances. He often entertained movie stars and directors and people in the highest social class. His home was built on 40,000 acres that his father had originally bought in 1865. It was very pretty Spanish architecture and not over-the-top like we had anticipated. (He did drive his architect crazy since he changed his mind a lot!!) It has 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and a private zoo. We saw the zebras grazing with some horses near the road. Getting an invitation to the Hearst home was coveted in the 1920's and 30's. His wife and children preferred Long Island. So he had a mistress in California! First we saw a National Geographic movie called "Building the Dream" which gave us a lot of info on Hearst and the actual building of the house. A bus took us to the top so the views were awesome just driving up there. There were a number of different tours offered but ours was just a general one.










































Hearst was big into recycling before it was even a word. He collected used chairs, panels, doors, lamps, etc. to use in his home. The indoor pool was pretty amazing with a high dive which Johnny Weismuller, Olympian swimmer and "Tarzan" used.




























Elephant Seal Point was just north of San Simeon. We saw lots of seals but you couldn't get very close. There were also many places to stop along the road to take in the beautiful scenery!










































We drove up Big Sur and took a hike at Molera State Park. We saw the results of the fires that had burned in September.














Seemingly never ending beautiful scenery!














We spent the night in Salinas and learned a bit about that city and its location in a lush valley. It's the salad capital of the US. The majority of US lettuce greens are grown here. We also saw acres and acres of broccoli. Castroville, north of Salinas, is the artichoke capital. We found a great authentic Mexican restaurant for dinner in Salinas.

Monterey Aquarium (in Monterey) is on Cannery Row, the old fish canning factories made famous by John Steinbeck. We were here with Scott and Julie 17 years ago and thought it was fabulous. Now they've added to it and it's even better! We watched them feed the cute little penguins. And the jellyfish were really interesting to watch.

































The starfish in the touching pool were such pretty colors and shapes. And the sea anemones were fun to watch. I had never seen so many live sand dollars.




























Here's my favorite tropical fish, the Moorish Idol and an outdoor porch at the aquarium where we watched the sea lions and birds.














The last time I drove the scenic 17 Mile Pebble Beach Drive was with my parents in 1964. I don't remember much except the Pebble Beach golf course on the cliffs. It also goes through the Del Monte Forest. We paid $9.25 to drive it. We could use that money as credit in a restaurant on the drive but they're very expensive so we didn't. People live on these roads but you just follow the red line. There are 21 stops. The drive was once a trail on which covered wagons carried guests from the Hotel Del Monte to picnic grounds along Pebble Beach over 100 years ago. We loved the beach with all the cairns. The appropriately named Bird Rock was covered with sea lions, harbor seals, and birds.














We saw some unique houses and estate homes.




























I had to get a picture (the one on the right) of the famous "lone cypress" whose picture is actually copyrighted. (I can't sell the picture.) It's a symbol of fortitude and is the eternal symbol of the Pebble Beach Company.









We stopped at the Lodge at Pebble Beach to check out restaurant prices - a bit steep for us but there were lots of people. We enjoyed the view from the outdoor cafe overlooking the 18th hole. Quite a golf course!














We drove through Carmel and then down Ocean Avenue to Scenic Road to check out the beach. Of course the town and beach were beautiful! This is where Clint Eastwood was the mayor in the 80's.














Santa Cruz beach boardwalk has the oldest beach amusement park in California. We were there too early for the rides to be going but there were lots of people playing volleyball. Under the pier rested many sea lions on the pilings. They're fun to watch and are they loud!




























If you've never heard a sea lion, click on the video.



More beautiful scenery between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay.


Half Moon Bay Golf Links is near San Francisco. We took a walk to the beach at the Ritz Carlton and enjoyed the golf course, the nice houses, and the beautiful scenery. We thought it was nice that they let the public enjoy all this!




























The drive up the coast was gorgeous. We saw clouds, sun, fog with most temperatures in the 60's. Unforgettable! On to San Francisco!

LA (Santa Monica) 9.08

After our trip to Canada, we spent 3 days at the Mullins' house going through 2 weeks of mail, dealing with things, and repacking. Finally we were ready to fly out to California to see the kids.

Sept. 11- 15. Santa Monica. We got a great price on a one way car rental at Santa Ana Airport (much cheaper than the LA Airport). It was only an hour's drive from Julie's. Believe it or not, traffic wasn't too bad. And it was nice to have warm, sunny weather.

The first day we dealt with transferring the title of our '93 Camry to Julie. This also involved her getting her CA license and getting a smog inspection for the car. That afternoon Julie had an audition in Burbank. We drove by lots of movie studios, dropped her off and then hung out in a park. We had a 7 PM date with our friends, George & Scott at the Hollywood Bowl, the outdoor amphitheater. We were having dinner and then seeing the LA Philharmonic & Brian Wilson (formerly of the Beach Boys). It was really neat to be there. George and Scott have box seats fairly close to stage. They provide small tables that hang over the edge of the "boxes" for a meal or just drinks. They had brought a delicious vegan dinner of lentils, falafel balls, heriloom tomatoes, and pie and wine from New Zealand in honor of Michael. The orchestra was great. We were really shocked at Brian Wilson, though. He showed no emotion at all. He also doesn't have much of a voice. But the people accompanying him were excellent. It was fun to hear the songs and they had people dancing in the aisles and singing along. At the end they had fireworks to celebrate the end of the summer season. It was great to see George and Scott. And we thank them for the wonderful seats and the wonderful meal! (See the bottom of this for a short video clip of "California Girls.")


Julie's and Michael's apartment is pretty good sized and really nice. It's in a great location. They can walk to everything, the beach and famous Santa Monica pier, the Farmer's Market, library and the coop. Their neighborhood is a mix of apartments & single family houses. The first few days we were there it was hazy until late morning and then in the low 70's and breezy - not warm enough for me to have a bathing suit on but lovely for any outdoor activity. That's one thing they love about Santa Monica. It can be 80 in LA and 70 in Santa Monica!




























There was a cool electric car on her street and my favorite flower, the Bird-of-Paradise.



















The beach is pretty amazing. First of all it's at the bottom of cliffs (palisades) and the beach is really wide. There are lots of beach volleyball nets set up. Right at the edge of the beach there's a biking/walking path 22 miles long from Malibu to Torrance. We walked to the beach every day just for exercise. Way off in the distance of the first picture you can see the amusement park at the pier. The water is pretty chilly here but there were a few brave souls.














This cool looking gnarled tree was at the top of the cliff. I liked the sign on the apartment building across from the beach advertising free sunsets!
One night Michael had to work (as a waiter at the Wilshire Restaurant) but the 3 of us went to the Getty Center. You park at the bottom of the Santa Monica Mountains and then take a tram to the top. It's a beautiful setting - the view, landscaping and buildings are really amazing. The buildings house paintings, sculpture, and furniture from 1600 to 1900. We definitely will go back. (If you drive, you pay to park but museum is free.)








Sunday Will Matthews came over for lunch. We hadn't seen Will in about 3 years so it was great to see him. He's still doing the voice of a cartoon character and also writes comedy in hopes of getting work as a writer. We met Michael's parents, Jim and Sylvia, for dinner at Real Food Daily, an excellent vegan & organic restaurant. On the way to the restaurant we walked to the beach again & down 3rd Street Promenade which is closed to traffic. There's lots of music, street performers, and very expensive stores. We had hoped to watch Julie on "Mad Men" but they don't have a TV!







Monday Julie took us down to Main Street, south of the 10. At the Visitor's Center we picked up a guide to historic buildings downtown to use at another time. We walked down Main Street and window shopped. The stores were more reasonably priced than 3rd Street. Here's a picture of the other side of the pier amusement park. And we saw this really interesting building with fake windows!














In the afternoon Michael took us on a hike to some pools at Malibu Creek State Park up in the brown mountains. (They turn green during the winter rains.) When we arrived the film crew from "Cold Case" was finishing up their shoot. The pools were really pretty but had slippery rocks at the edge. Michael was the only one who went in the water and got refreshed!




We always love to spend time with Julie and Michael and their cute cats, Clovis and Teela. Although it was a little challenging to figure out where the cats should be for the night in their one bedroom apartment. (They like to rise with the sun!!) Clovis liked to play with his "Duckie" or jump up to catch a toy while Teela preferred playing with a twist tie. They were fun to watch!




























We really had a great visit! Santa Monica is a really nice to place to live and Julie and Michael are really happy with their apartment and its location. They hope to be there for a few years!

Next trip: Coastal California.

Prince Edward Island

Sunday, Aug. 31. Windmills, Seaweed Pie & a Traffic Light. We planned on checking out the Agricultural Exposition in Wellington, a french area, in western PEI. But when we got there the exhibits had been taken down and there was nothing to see until the afternoon. So we left and headed up to the northern most end of the island, North Cape.The landscape is much more flat on this side but we saw plenty of potato fields like we had in the center of the island.
We knew we had arrived when we saw the tall windmills. The North Cape Interpretive Centre featured an aquarium and displays about the wind research facility. We were impressed to learn that it supplies 5% of the island's electricity. A real plus to this visit was seeing Irish Moss being raked along the shore. It was then taken by truck to roads on the cape and spread out to dry. We talked to a woman spreading (on a Sunday). She said it took a day to dry but she wasn't sure it would dry since the sun had just come out in the afternoon. After it was dry it was packed into a bale and sent to many locations to be processed into carrageenan, a thickening agent used in ice cream, cosmetics, etc. Years ago horses pulled rakes on the shore to pick it up. It was pretty amazing to think that they were still doing this all by hand and drying it on the dirt. (We found out later that it's not all dried this way.) We went on a long walk on the Black Marsh Nature Trail which leads through an open bog. We even saw cranberries growing there. Our next stop was Miminegash where we planned on having Seaweed Pie at the Seaweed Pie Cafe. We had no idea what we were going to have. It turned out it was a sponge cake bottom and a creamy, but not too sweet, and slightly green topping. It came with a choice of strawberry, raspberry or blueberry sauce. It really was very tasty. Of course, the fun part was just thinking we were eating seaweed. The waitress actually showed us how they cook the seaweed down and remove the slightly thick, clear carrageenan. It was very cool to think that they actually did this all from scratch! At one intersection we saw a traffic signal different from any others we've seen, red square, diamond yellow and circle green.


Monday, Sept. 1. Rain Storm and Our Fill of "Anne". The wind and rain started during the night and kept up all day. It was so windy that David and Betsy in the second floor bed could feel the house move! We decided to stay home. We ended up watching TV, reading, and watching the movie version of "Anne of Green Gables". It was a nice way to spend an ugly day. Oh, in the morning David noticed that the track to the sliding glass door was filled with water. The carpet in front of the door was soaked. We mopped it up but it kept coming in. I called "Sandy" at the management office and he came to check it out. David ended up readjusting the door and that seemed to do the trick. We had tickets for the musical, "Anne of Green Gables" in Charlottetown, about 40 minutes away and had planned on having dinner there. Fortunately the rain had let up and when we arrived the sun actually came out. We had an excellent dinner at Mavor's Bistro right in the Confederation Centre where the play was performed. Mavor Moore, the father of Canadian Musical Theatre, was instrumental in getting the center built. The play was excellent! Of course, we were all reminded of the Amherst Community Theater production and who played which part. This was a very professional performance. In the lobby there was a glass case showing a miniature Green Gables and all the characters on the lawn - all done in sugar! It was created by a Japanese man and was pretty amazing.














Here's a mussel farm in one of the harbors and some beautiful scenery.










C

















Tuesday, Sept. 2. Green Gables and Cavendish. It was a beautiful sunny day so we headed to Green Gables Heritage Site where Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the Anne books, grew up. It was the inspiration for many parts of the series. There was a museum about her, a barn, the Green Gables house and also trails in the Haunted Woods and Balsam Hollow. I loved the quotes from her books scattered here and there along the trails. For instance, by the brook there was a quote. "Brooks are always in good spirits. They never do anything but laugh." Doesn't that just sound like something Anne would say?














Two more Annes!


Next stop was not far away. It was the Cavendish Beach National Park, on the north central shore of PEI. What a fabulous park! We had a picnic lunch with our Raspberry Cordial from the Green Gables store.



What beautiful red cliffs!! They're so striking next to the green grass at the edge and the blue of the water (at least when the sun's shining). We did a couple of hikes, one across a marshy area on a movable boardwalk. For dinner we got lobsters and mussels and cooked them ourselves. M-m-m-m! The house we're renting was someone's summer home so it's incredibly well equipped. They had everything we needed to cook our delicious meal.





They have amazing facilities here. A picnic shelter with a stove and sink?? Here's a modern gabled house that was near the house we rented.













We saw very few pleasure boats here since so many people earn their living on boats. (Where we saw a lot was in the Charlottetown where a number of people (not fisherman!) have summer homes.) We stopped at a scenic viewpoint and heard this bagpipe player announcing that the bus was leaving.



Wednesday, Sept. 3. North Rustico, Dalvay, and Chalottetown. Sun again!! We walked on the boardwalk down to the picturesque North Rustico harbor and lighthouse. There were many idle lobster traps waiting for fall season to begin.





























The road to Dalvay Park runs next to the Confederation Trail, the old railroad now bike/hike trail. The Dalvay Resort was gorgeous!




We hiked on the Bubbling Brook trail and were supposed to see birds but didn't so it wasn't that interesting. At the very least we had a good half hour power walk. We were lucky that the rain didn't start until 2 minutes after we got back to our car. We drove in the rain all the way to Charlottetown where it cleared up. Lucky us! We parked by the Visitor's Center and saw the cruise ship, Maasdam, in port. (I had previously found out that there were ships there on Sunday and Wednesday so to avoid the most popular "Anne" tourist areas on those days.) In front of Founders' Hall there was a sand sculpture of a potato, that important PEI crop.


We took a headset tour of Founders' Hall which gave us a good history of the Confederation of Canada with its 10 provinces and 3 territories. Then we took a little walk on the boardwalk by the harbor and watched the cruise ship move away from the dock and then turn 180 degrees to head out to sea. Our evening entertainment was a Ceilidh, this time a family of 2 brothers and 2 sisters who entertained us with step dancing, fiddle playing and singing. It was great! It was at the Stanley Bridge Community Hall and it was packed, probably about 130 people. The Woman's Institute, who sponsors the ceilidhs, sold strawberries on ice cream for $3. The Ross family entertains here every Monday and Wednesday night from about July through mid September. It's a little fuzzy but it will give you a good idea as to the fiddle playing and step dancing.


Thursday, Sept. 4. Shipbuilding and Summerside. (It's been between 62 and 72 every day in Canada. We had not expected to wear our long pants so much!) We love the countryside, sometimes rolling, sometimes flat. Pine trees separate the patchwork fields.


The woman from the Stanley Bridge Women's Institute, who talked to us last night before the intermission, said that every little village has a Women's Institute and that in the early 70's the prime minister asked all of them all over PEI to take charge of the movement to clean up the island at the grassroots level. Boy, did it work! Most everything is very neat here. On the whole, people mow their lawns, keep their yards neat, and keep their houses in good repair. And there's no litter. There are groups of 3 recycle bins everywhere!


We started out with a cloudy morning but hoped for sun. We stopped at a craft store on our way to Port Hill and learned about making white ash baskets. The woman was kind enough to show us how she takes a long bit of ash, shaves it, pounds it and then splits it. Then she splits the strips again and smooths them. In Port Hill we visited the Green Park Shipbuilding Museum. It was small and we learned a bit about shipbuilding. There were hundreds of ships built in PEI. (Also, many ship wrecks on the coast!!) The museum was old and could be updated with the information presented better. What was really interesting was a visit to the beautiful Yeo House, built in 1868 by the son of the person who started the shipyard. We were the only ones there so got a personal tour. The guide knew her stuff as she'd worked there for 31 years! We saw lacemaking, spinning wheel, etc. We never heard of dusting with a goose feather. By the time we got done with the tour the sun came out.




We then drove to Summerside. First stop was the Wyatt Heritage Properties. We could have taken a tour but there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we really wanted to be outside. So we opted for buying the $3 book and doing a self-guided tour. There are some really beautiful and interesting houses in Summerside. We saw this cool sailor carving on the trunk of a tree. There are also a number of murals depicting the town's history which were done in 2001. We lasted about 1/2 hour and then headed down to the water and the boardwalk. There were some shops where we saw the original "PEI (red) Dirt Shirt." We had a nice walk along the cove on this beautiful afternoon.


On the way home we tried to find the house that Bill Read's sister, Ginger, recently had moved to a spot near the Tryon Lighthouse. But we really couldn't find it. We went to the New London Lobster Restaurant for dinner. It was recommended by the owners and also by a woman we met in Summerside. We parked and noticed a car from Massachusetts with a Cape Cod Hospital parking sticker. We ended up sitting next to them and asked if he knew someone that Betsy and David knew. Sure enough, they did! We all had really good dinners at reasonable prices. Tomorrow's our last day in PEI and we hope the forecast is correct for sun all day.

Friday, Sept. 5. Sunny - all day!! We spent the day at the newest National Park at Greenwich, about 1 3/4 hours east of us on the north coast. The scenery was great.




























As we came upon the town of St. Peters we had a glorious sight of the St. Peters Bay. We saw many rows of mussels in the bay. The people in the boat are pulling in mussel socks where the mussels have grown. I'm not sure if the dark scattered buoys are for mussels or crabs.



The Interpretation Center opened in 2001 was excellent! There were many displays with short videos and even a map of the park that you could walk on. I really liked the exhibit of Micmac baskets. They're really unique.


One special thing about this park was its parabolic sand dunes, formed because of a combination of their location on a peninsula and the winds. The hike to the dunes were through fields, woods and finally a floating boardwalk. The boardwalk was above what should have been a dried up swamp was filled with water because of all the rain they had had. (It wouldn't have been as pretty if it had been dry.) The beach had waves rolling in one after the other.















There were red pebbles and rocks worn smooth from the water but the wave action leaches out the iron from the rocks so the sand dunes are mostly whitish although the sand has some red and black grains in it.














I also loved all the spider webs all along the boardwalk. I figured out that I could get a good picture if I just used the flash.


We just couldn't get enough of the sun. It was so nice to have it all day. We heard that this was PEI's rainiest summer. I guess that was the case in Amherst too although all the time we were in Canada getting rained on Amherst was dry! We ended the day with some PEI ice cream and then mussels and cod for dinner. Delicious! A great last day here.

We all loved PEI. It was so beautiful! We really didn't walk on the Confederation Trail as there was too much else to explore.

Saturday, Sept. 6. Back to Ogunquit, ME. We had planned to be in Fundy National Park, see the big tide and go kayaking and hiking but the prediction of heavy wind and rain made us change our plans. We drove to Ogunquit. It worked out great since it starting raining when we were almost in Ogunquit. We stopped at the DeLorme Map Company near Freeport (exit 17) and enjoyed the huge physical globe they have. It was also fun exploring the book store. We found some really funny books that some people will get as Christmas gifts!

Sunday, Sept. 7. Beautiful Ogunquit! We were really glad we made the decision to come home early since it poured all night and today the rain was over New Brunswick. It wouldn't have been much fun hiking. Instead we took a lovely walk on the beach at low tide and thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and warm temperature.

Next trip: California to see the kids.

Fort Myers to Amherst

May 2008. We had a great trip back to Amherst! We were so happy to be able to spend a couple of days over Memorial Day weekend in Fairfax, VA with friends who used to live in Amherst, Mark and Karen Paster. Their daughter, Nicole, used to be on the swim team with Julie. Mark just retired and bought time on a sailboat with 3 others. We had a great sail on the Chesapeake and enjoyed seeing the Naval Academy in Annapolis. After the trip we had a great dinner in Annapolis.