Lunenberg Harbour

Wednesday, - July 18, 2007

Well, another day without wi-fi, sure do hope we can get connected tomorrow night at our new park, they say they have free wi-fi so here’s hoping.

We woke up to a gorgeous sunny morning so headed out to Lunenburg, it was about a 1-1/4 hour drive but all through the country so not too busy. We drove through Mahone Bay which is very pretty, I can see why Jane has a home here as well as at Whipporwill! Lunenberg was very busy, there were 3 Tall Ships there so not a parking spot to be found and I had visions of walking 3 or 4 blocks down to the harbour then having to walk back up, but fortunately we found the information centre and the gal there said to park at the community centre and there was a free shuttle bus to the harbour front, sounded good to us. We took the shuttle bus in and wandered around for a while then stopped for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the harbour.


From there we went to Peggy’s Cove but by the time we got there it was quite overcast, still it is very pretty. We stopped at the memorial to Swiss Air 111, it is a very nice memorial and very sad to think of all those people (229) losing their lives. We walked around the harbour at Peggy’s Cove then out to the lighthouse, I mailed a couple of post cards from there so the recipients should have a special cancellation stamp on their postcards.


We came back and John got us hooked up as it is supposed to be raining in the morning, so better to hook up when it is dry. I had put a pot roast in the slow cooker this morning so dinner was ready when we got back – nice and easy.


We are on the 45th parallel here, the same as Lions Head, which surprised me. John seems to think Bannister Hill is the 45th parallel but if not it is right around there, I know the sign at Clark’s Corners says half way to the North Pole so we are definitely on the same latitude.

Sailing Ships

Another Part of the Waterfront

Waterfront from Citadel with St. George Island

Bagpipers at Citadel

Halifax Harbour

Tuesday - July 17, 2007

Today is our grandson Brent’s 15th birthday – Happy Birthday Brent, it was good to talk to you a while ago.

Today was a gorgeous day, very sunny and hot. We drove into Dartmouth and took the ferry over to Halifax, a nice ferry ride with a good view of the Halifax waterfront going over and Dartmouth coming back, and no hassle with having to drive into Halifax and try to find a place to park.

We walked up to the Citadel, oh my aching hip, and got there in plenty of time to hear them fire the noon canon and watch the display in the courtyard with the bagpipes and drums – very nice. We visited the military museum there, wandered around then headed back down to the harbour area. We stopped at an old cemetery on the way back down to the harbour – it had a lot of very old, fancy stones in it. There was a large cruise ship in the harbour so lots of people off the cruise boat wandering around. I chatted for a couple of minutes with a couple off the ship and it is a Carnival Cruise out of New York – 5 days with stops at St. John’s and Halifax. We just took our time walking along the harbour enjoying the view and all the boats and stopped at a restaurant and had a lobster sandwich and salad for lunch – very good!

On the way home we hit a couple of hotels hoping to get onto the internet but no luck so I am way behind with my blog – hopefully tomorrow we will find a hot spot so I can check my e-mail, post my blog etc.

We are now all closed up for the evening in the hopes of avoiding all those nasty little critters!!

Our Trailer at Riverland Campground, Elmsdale, NS

Monday - July 16, 2007

Well, I didn’t get lucky – no wif-fi again. Today was quite a nice day, mostly sunny and at one point the temperature on the truck was 81, so quite warm. The drive was good but not much in the way of scenery, mostly trees, but we must say the Trans Canada is a good highway and we sure by-passed Fredericton, Moncton etc, without seeing a thing. The traffic was quite light today so all in all a good drive.

We are now at Elmsdale, NS which is about 40 minutes from Halifax, a nice park and Passport America so quite cheap, but no wi-fi. We are here until Thursday so plan on doing Halifax tomorrow and then on Wednesday doing Peggy’s Cove etc. so we hope the weather continues to co-operate. It is supposed to rain tonight but tomorrow it is supposed to be sunny with some clouds, so here’s hoping. The fellow in the trailer beside us, who is a local, said that there are black flies and no-seeums here so we are making sure that we are closed up tight before dark!

When we got here I made reservations at Arms of Gold Park near the ferry for 4 nights, then we can tour out from there, so we are now all set for camping spots until we get on the ferry next Monday morning.

View of the River from our Front Yard

Our Trailer Along the St. John River

Sunday - July 15, 2007

Well, yesterday’s internet was short lived – I couldn’t get my pictures posted last night so thought I would try to do it this morning before we left and no internet again – very frustrating.


It rained pretty well all night last night but thankfully stopped about 7 this morning so we were able to get away without getting wet. It was cloudy all morning driving but we didn’t get rain until we crossed into New Brunswick and just when we stopped at the Welcome Centre it started to pour, but by the time we had lunch it had stopped again so we didn’t get wet going into the Welcome Centre. Today’s drive was pretty, very hilly and nice scenery, just too bad it wasn’t sunny. We stopped for the night at Woodstock, NB and are at a park right on the St. John River and it is a Passport America Park so only cost $16.50. After we got set up we took our chairs down by the water and sat for a while before dinner, it was very pretty and relaxing. Of course there is no wi-fi here so I won’t be doing any posting tonight. Could I be lucky and get it tomorrow night?

An Interesting Sky Behind Us While we are Looking at the River

Montmorency Falls

Sailboat on St. Lawrence

Saturday - July 14, 2007

Saturday – July 14 - We woke up to sun this morning and it stayed sunny until mid afternoon when it clouded over, but it hasn’t rained, so that is a bonus.

I did some laundry this morning then this afternoon we went into town and got some groceries, fuel, found a motel to get internet then drove down by the St. Lawrence and enjoyed the view across the river – actually it was a wonderful view of Montmorency Falls.

We are really impressed with the people here, everyone goes out of their way to try to speak English and we try to use our little bit of French. It was a riot at the grocery store with the check out clerk and I trying to get it straight that I wanted some cash back but we did get it straight. She called over a young fellow who spoke English and he had a lot of questions about where we lived etc. It is interesting here, the cost of fuel is the same at every gas station - $1.14/litre for gas and $1.039/litre for diesel, no bargains to be had anywhere!!

When we got back I went to download some pictures and lo and behold we had internet so I guess they have it working again. Hopefully I will be able to get today’s diary and a couple of pictures posted tonight. After dinner we sat out for quite a while but it finally got too damp so I had to come in and do dishes – what a bummer. They are calling for rain tomorrow so John got us all hooked up and ready to go in the morning so if it is raining it won’t be much to do to get on the road.

Friday - July 13, 2007

Today was funny weather wise, it was sunny when we got up then it rained for a bit before we left the park and rained for about the first half hour then the sun came out and it was mainly sunny all the way to Levis. We got here about 2 and within an hour it was overcast and had started to rain again and is suddenly quite windy.

We got here and found out their internet isn’t working – grrrr, she said they are trying to get it going but have been having a lot of problems with it. Hopefully they will get it going as it appears that there is no one around us with an internet dish.

Tonight we went out and had a pizza for dinner, we haven’t been out for pizza since before Christmas at Casa Grande so decided it was time. It was a very busy restaurant but we only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table and the pizza was very good. We came back and went for a walk around but had to cut it short as it started to rain.

Thursday - July 12, 2007

Today our oldest grandson is 19 – Happy Birthday Kevin! It was a nice day today, sunny with some clouds and not too hot. Taking the lesser highways is certainly slower than the 401 etc. but much nicer and more relaxing. We enjoyed the drive from Marmora and saw lots of places where we have never been before, we are now at Alfred, which is on Hwy.17, about 20 km west of Hawkesville, where we will cross over into Quebec.


We are at Evergreen Camping which is much nicer than last night and cheaper, I really think KOA’s are way over priced! (Have I mentioned that before!). All the trailers here are quite new and very nicely set up, most of the permanent ones have nice add-a-rooms and they are all very well kept. There is no wi-fi here so I won’t be able to post this until tomorrow as I know the park we are going to has internet.

Wednesday, - July 11, 2007

Well, here we are, on the road again! We got away from Green Acres about 9:30 and had good weather, some sun and some cloud but no rain, so we were happy. We called Kel on the way through Port Perry but there was no place to park and meet her for lunch so we kept going and then found a school at the turn from Hwy. 35 to 7A so pulled in there and had lunch.


We decided to stop in Marmora as the KOA advertised pull thrus that we could fit in without having to unhook. We take up the whole site and we really do dislike these old KOA’s, you pay top dollar for so so facilities and sites, but sometimes they are the only place to stop. They didn’t advertise WiFi but I did get hooked on so that is one bonus, I can at least get this posted today. If we didn’t stop here it would be about another 2 hours before we could find another park with long enough sites so decided to call it a day early. We have reservations in Levis for Friday and Saturday nights so we will have a couple of easy days to get there.

Wednesday - May 2 - We woke up to sun this morning which was nice but it was quite cool, only in the mid 40’s, but by this afternoon it got up to the mid 50’s. We got away from London about noon and arrived in Kincardine shortly before 2 so had lots of time to get situated on our site and start sorting things out. The trailer needs a super good cleaning so that will be first thing on my agenda for tomorrow.

It’s nice to be back and we are looking forward to getting settled in. This will be the end of my blog until we go on the road again, which will hopefully be mid July when we head for Newfoundland.

We traveled a total of 20,145 km from the time we left on November 17^th till we arrived back here today, a lot of kilometers but we sure saw a lot of wonderful places and things and had an absolutely great time.

Tuesday - May 1 - We had a good visit with Doug & Fran last night, it has been about a year since we have seen them so lots of catching up to do.

We woke up to a bit of rain this morning, but fortunately not a lot and then it cleared off by the time we were ready to leave. We stopped and fueled up - diesel was $2.759 so not too bad a price then stopped at the duty free as there were a couple of Estee Lauder things I wanted to pick up. We crossed the bridge and we were the only car there, so drove right up and after a few questions we were told we had been randomly picked for an inspection - great! There were a few more questions then we had to pull over and one customs gal went through the inside of the truck with a fine tooth comb and a fellow checked the trailer. John was able to go in with him and John said he checked the bedroom, under the bed and one cupboard in the hallway (John said he got dive bombed by a box of Kleenex when he opened the cupboard door!) and that was it, They were all very nice and friendly and we were out of there within about 10 minutes.

We got to London about 11:30 hoping to see Andy but he was busy when we got there but after a while Steve said they could look at the furnace and step if we could wait another hour. To make a long story short we got our furnace and step fixed and decided that by then it was almost 5 so we might as well stay here for the night. We finally got to talk to Andy at about 7:00 p.m., after they had closed and everyone had gone he came out to the trailer and we had a good chat. We had a lot of questions about the solar system, the back-up camera, etc which we wanted to ask him so it was worth the wait as he gave us some good hints and answered a lot of our questions.

When they said they could do the furnace and step John got us unhitched then we went to Tim’s for lunch, it has been a long time since we were there and it was good. By the time we got through with Andy it was 8 so we decided to go to Swiss Chalet for dinner, so now I am happy - I have had my Timmy’s and Swiss Chalet. Sure do wish they had them in the southern states!

After our chat with Andy there are a couple of things they are going to check out in the morning so we hope to be out of here by noon at the latest and get up to Kincardine and get set up.

Monday - April 30 - Well, we made it to Port Huron about 3, a good drive and another nice day. We started out looking for fuel this morning and ouch, it was $2.989 in northern Indiana. Lesson learned, fill up when it is cheap as it was still $2.659 until after Indianapolis where it jumped about $0.30/gallon. We just got enough to get us here and it is $2.759 here so will fill up on the way out tomorrow morning.

The weather was in the mid 60’s all the way until about 10 miles from here, all of a sudden it was 55, welcome back!! I think the blanket will go on the bed tonight!

I thought I would get this done and posted as by the time Doug & Fran leave and we clean up I probably won’t feel like it as it will be too late.

Sunday - April 29 - We are now where we began our journey, the KOA at Auburn, Indiana - we were here our first night out on November 17th. They now say they have wi-fi but we can’t log on, go figure! The young fellow checking people didn’t seem particularly friendly or helpful so I think it would be a waste of time to go over and tell him the wi-fi isn’t working, I guess I will just have to wait till tomorrow night.

Have we lucked out for driving weather, today was another beautiful, sunny day in the high 70’s. We bought diesel fuel in Horse Cave, KY at $2.659/Gal which was about $0.30/Gal cheaper than unleaded, gotta love it!

We had a lot of traffic from Cave City through Louisville, but once we got into Indiana it calmed down a bit, thankfully. We have gone from late spring in Kentucky to early spring here, the trees are just starting to bud and the blossoms are just coming out on the trees. The weather is still warm so I am not complaining as I think it is another night without having to put the electric blanket back on! Tomorrow we are heading for the KOA at Port Huron and John’s brother and sister-in-law are coming for dinner - it has been a year since we have seen them so we are looking forward to the visit.

Saturday - April 28 - Today was a travel day, we left Gadsden and drove to Cave City KY, a nice drive and a nice day. We had a bit of cloud, but it was mostly sunny and warm. Tonight we are at Cave Country RV Park, which is a nice little park which opened last year. Other than the drive a quiet day but I think that by tomorrow night we might have to put the electric blanket back on the bed - GRR!

Friday - April 27 - Today was fairly nice, sunny first thing this morning, then it clouded over for a couple of hours, then sun again with the temperature reaching the mid 70’s.

I did some cleaning and laundry this morning, I hope that will be it for laundry until we get to Green Acres. This afternoon we went back to Wal Mart as John wanted to get a Sirius radio for the truck and they were on sale real cheap there. This one is smaller than the one we have so he is going to install it in the truck then install the other one in the trailer, that way we have it wherever we are. We went to get gas and by paying cash (debit was considered cash) we got it for $2.709/gal so a really good deal.

Tonight we went out for dinner, there is a seafood restaurant down the road and it was really good. We both had seafood platters with broiled crawfish tails and I had scampi and John had boiled shrimp, we came home stuffed! When we got back we went for a walk around the park to try to shake our dinner down.

Thursday - April 26 - Well, this morning we woke up to the forecast rain, it rained all morning then cleared off in the afternoon.

There is a by-pass right here by the park so we took it today as it is one of the possible routes out of here on Saturday. It turned out to be good and shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, there was a Wal Mart on our route so we got our shopping done. Wal Mart is good for most things but the one thing that is hard to find anywhere down here is fresh, good looking veggies and Wal Mart is really bad for that. We took another way back and found a couple more grocery stores so after stopping at both of them I think I am now ready for the run home. I have stocked up on a few things that are much cheaper here than home, and then before we leave in the fall I will stock up on things from home that we can’t get down here.

We found diesel for $2.759/gal. (the normal is $2.859) so will go back and fill up the truck tomorrow so we will be good to go on Saturday.

Little River Canyon

Our Site at River Country Campground

Wednesday -April 25 - Today was another nice day with temperatures in the low 80’s, it was partly cloudy but mostly sunny. We decided to do some touring today as it is supposed to rain tomorrow so that will be a good shopping day.

The Lookout Mountain Parkway is a parkway that runs from Gadsden to Chatanooga so we decided to drive a portion of it today, it is 100 miles long so we weren’t about to do the whole thing but wanted to do some of it. We got into back country Alabama and it was real hillbilly country - decrepit houses with rotting vehicles sitting all over the place and some houses well on the way to falling down. Then we hit a scenic loop to Little River Canyon and what a beautiful drive. We were on the canyon side of the road and it was a verrrry long way down, sure wouldn’t want to do that drive in a RV or towing an RV as the road was very hilly and twisty and turny. There were a number of lookouts and it was beautiful looking down into the canyon, there was a river running through the base of the canyon which you could hear - very nice. At a couple of the lookouts there were absolutely gorgeous homes at the top of the canyon on the other side, quite a difference from what we had seen on the way there.

After the canyon we went further along and all of a sudden we were running along the rim of the mountain and there were some fabulous homes sitting right on the top looking down into a valley - quite a view they had - I don’t think this is where the poor folks live.

We got back to Gadsden and came home for a while then went out for dinner and after dinner we stopped at a mall for a bit. The mall looked quite new but was totally dead, hardly anyone there. I checked out Sears and a couple of other stores but didn’t buy anything.

Tuesday - April 24 - Today was a good driving day, it was sunny but also partly cloudy so not too hot in the truck. We took Highway 431 from Eufaula to Gadsden, a good drive and not too busy except in a couple of the cities we went through. John doesn’t particularly like driving on the back roads as they don’t have much in the line of a shoulder, but they do have better scenery than the interstate.

We arrived at River Country Campground in Gadsden around 2:45 and picked out a site and got set up. The park is located on the Coosa River and we can sit in the trailer and look out at the river - very pretty, and, we have wi-fi here, hallelujah!! We got set up and went for a walk down by the river, other than that we haven’t started to explore this area - tomorrow hopefully! While John was setting up I did some cleaning and washed the floors - badly needed but I don’t like to do them before we travel as somehow they seem to get really dirty on the road. Now that that is out of the way so I can spend the next few days enjoying the area and not worrying about getting the cleaning done.

Monday - April 23 - We decided to stay here another day so went down to the office this morning to pay for another day and hopefully do laundry. The laundry was busy so we decided to go into town and do it there, so that was a couple of hours gone. We stopped at the grocery store and got some catfish for dinner, filled up with fuel and then came home. John got us hooked up to leave tomorrow and I read, another lazy day!

Sunday - April 22 - Today was another nice day, sure do like this weather. We didn’t do an awful lot, talked to family and friends on the phone, read and went into town late this afternoon and bought a deli cooked chicken for dinner.

Our Site at Lakepoint State Park

House That Was for Sale

Saturday - April 21 - Sure do like this weather, today was another gorgeous day. This afternoon we went back into Eufaula and drove around a bit looking at all the gorgeous old homes, then parked and walked up and down Randolph Street which has many of these old mansions on it so it was a good way to get a look at them. Eufaula has 62 buildings registered with historic designations and about 55 of these are homes, which I think is quite amazing for a town this size! One of the historic homes is for sale so we picked up a brochure, it is over 3000 square feet and is listed for $350,000 and the taxes are $634.45/year (can you believe that!).

We then went to Fendall Hall which is the only home owned by the state and open year round to the public, all the other buildings, except the Shorter home, are still private homes and only open to the public during Pilgrimage. We got there about 3:00 and the woman who works there said we had lots of time to tour it before she closed at 4 then asked if we wanted a guided tour which we said would be nice. It was very interesting and reminded us a bit of Castle Kilbride with all the murals painted on the walls. There was also a little stove like the one that mom had, only this one was black and about twice as high with a stove pipe coming up, and there were all the little pots and pans sitting on it. She said that she hadn’t had time yet to research the stove but thought perhaps it was a salesman’s demo. We told her about mom’s and that we had seen one just like it at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit and that is exactly what it was, a salesman’s demo.

We had a chance to ask lots of questions so of course we asked about property taxes as we couldn’t believe the taxes on the house we had seen for sale, apparently they are trying to instigate market value assessment but not having much luck - sound familiar? All of a sudden I looked at my watch and it was 4:30, so we apologized profusely for keeping her late but she said she it wasn’t a problem as she is usually there till 5 and there was a dinner there tonight so she would be there till that was over. The informal dining room had been set up for the dinner, apparently it was high school graduation night and some parents had arranged for a dinner for their kids at the home prior to the graduation ceremony. Both the Fendell and Shorter mansions are available to rent for special occasions, she said they mainly do showers, small family dinners etc. at Fendell and most of the weddings are at the Shorter Mansion as they can accommodate larger groups.

All in all another nice day.

Bottom of Provindence Canyon

Providence Canyon

Friday - April 20 - Today was another gorgeous sunny day, but not quite as hot as yesterday. There is a wonderful section of old homes here in Eufaula and the Shorter Home, which is the headquarters of the Eufaula Heritage Association, is open to the public so we decided to tour it today. It is a beautiful home and there is a large museum on the 2^nd floor, very interesting.

After that we drove into Georgia to Provindence State Canyon. This is an interesting place, the canyon only formed in the mid 1800’s due to poor farming practices, the pioneers cleared the land then ploughed it and the rain created rivulets which eroded the land and the canyon was created, quite unique to other canyons. The colours in the canyon were gorgeous, but interestingly it didn’t look like solid rock like the Grand Canyon, Palo Duro Canyon etc. do.

We did a circuitous route and ended up back at the park, a nice day. We stopped at a place where I cold get an internet connection and I managed to post Wednesday and Thursday’s blogs and check my e-mail.

Thursday - April 19 - Today was a gorgeous, hot, sunny day. There is a golf course here so this afternoon we went over to play a game, it was $10 for 9 holes if you walked so that is what we opted for - big mistake as the holes are very LONNNNG. I was totally wiped by the time we were done, if we play again it will definitely be with a cart!

We got back about 5 and I had a rest for about 20 minutes then was ready to go again. Nothing else new or exciting today.

Wednesday - April 18 - We woke up to cloud this morning and they were calling for rain so we decided to drive up to Columbus, GA and then back to Phenix City, AL and do a return home that way. It was a nice day, we met lots of logging trucks on our way to Columbus, so logging must be a big business in this area.

Columbus is quite a large city and very busy. We found an information centre with a very helpful young lady who gave us lots of tips should we want to head through Georgia to Virginia. We then stopped at a Wal Mart and picked up a couple of groceries, then back through Phenix City to Eufaula. We came back into town and found a place with wi-fi so I got yesterday’s diary uploaded to my blog and downloaded our e-mail - enjoyed your e-mail Nan and also your newsy one Jacky. I will reply when we have internet again. The sun came out late this afternoon and it was lovely, so much for the rain. Hopefully tomorrow will be nice as we want to get in a golf game.

I think John’s efforts in sealing up the trailer worked as there is no sign of any more mice - thank goodness!!

Tuesday - April 17 - Today was another beautiful day, sunny and in the 70’s.

Last night, just as I was ready to go to bed, I saw a VERY LARGE mouse head down the hallway floor, that ended my being tired and I didn’t really want to go to bed but did eventually. We went on a hunt and search for mouse traps (we knew we had bought a couple of them in Waterloo) and John finally found them and set up a couple. Fortunately, our new found friend liked peanut butter and he was in the trap this morning, although I had nightmares all night about it running around the trailer!!

I puttzed around this morning and John went out and checked under the trailer to see where our friend could have gotten in, then we went out this afternoon in search of a Laundromat, diesel fuel, some foam to seal up the underside of the trailer and somewhere to download our e-mail and post my blog. We were successful on all our missions, but for fuel we crossed over into Georgia where diesel was $0.10/gallon cheaper than here in Alabama. When we got back John used the foam where he thought that maybe we had some space for friends to get in so hopefully we have solved the problem.

Monday - April 16 - Today was a nice sunny day and it reached a high of 70, so quite pleasant. We had a good trip to Eufaula, the roads were good and the traffic was light.

We are at Lakepoint State Park which is a really nice park, it is quiet and quite peaceful. The sites are large with lots of space between your neighbour and there are full hookups. The only downsides are that there is no wi-fi and no cable TV so we aren’t getting a lot of TV channels and can’t access any of the news on the internet. Bummer11 We will have to go into town tomorrow and see what we can access.

Sunday - April 15 - Today was sunny off and on but very windy all day and only got up to about 63. John worked on tax returns and I read, then this afternoon we went out and stocked up on some groceries. We came home and put them away, then went out about 6:30 for dinner, we went to Mikee’s Seafood and it was very good.

We have found Gulf Shores much busier than when we were last here and just not as nice as we remembered, we have enjoyed our stay but won’t be rushing back any time soon.

Saturday - April 14 - Today was sunny off and on but warm. We did some cleaning then sat outside and read for quite a while. Later we started printing all the T3s etc. so John can do our tax returns.

We were under a severe storm warning starting, then tornado warnings - not nice. We had the weather channel on watching where the storm was, and it hit us about 8 with torrential rains, very strong winds and thunder and lightning. Fortunately it only lasted about 20 minutes and then was over with no damage, thank goodness. We came home this way to avoid all the tornadoes in the mid west, hmmm! The weather this year has certainly been unusual everywhere, look at home and how it is still cold there and they are still calling for snow. A tornado hit a Dallas suburb yesterday, what a mess. The Dallas area certainly seems to get its share of bad weather and tornadoes.

This One Was Pretty

Heron Waiting for Lunch

Home That We Were Glad To See Still Standing

Friday - April 13 - Today was another beautiful day so we decided to drive over to Pensacola Beach which is like Hatteras, a spit of land with ocean on one side and the bay on the other. It costs $1.00 to get onto the Beach, free to come back.

We left the park here and took the ocean drive to go over to Pensacola. There is a large bridge over Perdido Bay so we stopped down under the bridge to watch the boats and look over to Orange Beach. The last time we were here there was an absolutely gorgeous multi-million dollar home right on the beach and we were curious to see if it had survived Hurricane Ivan in 2004, and I am glad to say it did. There were a lot of fishermen down there and 3 herons just standing around waiting for a free meal, we talked to one fellow for a bit and he said as soon as a fish is thrown into a pail the herons make a grab for it.

One thing that amazes us is the number of huge, new homes going up along the ocean and numerous huge new hotels and condos, and all are being built up high on stilts. At Flounders, where we had lunch, there was a mirror on the way to the Ladies with a mark as to how high the water had risen when Ivan hit and it was up to my waist. Sure would make a mess of things.

The beaches here are so much nicer than the beaches in Texas, there we found them quite dirty with lots of seaweed and the water is very brown, here it is beautiful white sand, very little seaweed, and the water is a beautiful blue, green. There were a lot of people on the beaches today, apparently it is spring school break somewhere as there were lots of kids - next week is spring school break for this area. We stopped for lunch

Can You See the Osprey in the Nest?

Serenity

Mirror Lake

Another View of Bellingrath House

A Small Home on the Fowl River

Bellingrath Home & Front Garden

Thursday - April 12 - Today was a gorgeous day, sunny and in the low 80’s. We decided to go to Bellingrath Gardens, it is south of Mobile so about 60 miles from here but having been there a number of years ago we knew it would be worth the drive.

The gardens were the creation of Mr. & Mrs. Walter Bellingrath. Mr. Bellingrath had the first coca cola distributorship in Mobile and was a very successful business man. His doctor suggested he find something to do for relaxation so he bought a fishing camp on the Fowl River, his wife then decided that it would be a good place for gardens so they purchased another 60 acres and hired the best architect in Mobile and developed the gardens, which were opened to the public in 1934.

In 1935 they built Bellingrath Home which is 10,500 square feet in size and is English Renaissance style. Mrs. Bellingrath had a very large collection of decorative art which is showcased in the home and is beautiful. Mrs. Bellingrath died in 1943 at the age of 64 and since they had no children, when Mr. Bellingrath died in 1955 at the age of 86, his estate had been converted to the Bellingrath-Morse Foundation to oversee the gardens and open the house to the public and it continues to be open to the public.

While there we took a cruise on the Fowl River aboard the Southern Belle River Cruiser. This river is home to 11 pairs of Osprey and their nests are amazing, they are huge and weigh over 140 lbs. We could see heads sticking out of the nests but didn’t get a good view of the Osprey other than that. The cruise was very informative and enjoyable.

Coming home we drove along the east side of Mobile Bay through some pretty little towns and couldn’t believe the number of new homes being built along the bay. They are all being built on very high stilts in order to protect them from flooding in the case of another hurricane, they look quite funny up on their stilts and there sure are lots of stairs to get in and out. When we got back we went to Doc’s Seafood Shack for a shrimp dinner which was very good.

Wednesday - April 11 - Today was overcast until about 3 then the sun came out and it turned beautiful. We had a quiet day, I read and just took it easy, then when the sun came out we went for a nice walk. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm & sunny so we are planning on going to Bellengrath Gardens.

Tuesday - April 10 - Today was a wet one, it rained early this morning then the sun came out so John went out and washed the trailer and truck - he wanted to make sure it would rain! And it did, it started to rain before he was finished washing and rained off and on all day with a very heavy rain and thunderstorm this evening.

There is a new Camping World back towards Mobile so we drove up there then came back and drove around Orange Beach and Gulf Shores where Ivan hit in 2004. There are so many new places here, it is hard to imagine a hurricane ever came through. We drove through Gulf Shores State Park and that is where we saw what Ivan had done, the sites used to be very private with lots of trees, now there are no trees - everything is open. They have just reopened the park and there are all new cement pads and hookups, which were badly needed before Ivan, but there are very few trees and where there are still some they are totally dead, very sad. The park is very large so it was the front part closest to the beach and where the camping is that took the brunt of the storm, at the back of the park there are still lots of trees and bush and it still looks the same. There is a new Wal Mart just behind the park so we stopped and got a couple of things there then came home and did laundry.

The internet here is very iffy, I can’t get on tonight so hopefully will be able to get on in the morning and get this posted.

Mr. Alligator

Egret in Swamp

Cypress Stand in Swamp

Houseboat in Swamp

Monday - April 9 - Today we left Abbeville for Gulf Shores, Alabama. Interstate 10 is a terrible highway in places through Louisiana, we were doing lots of bouncing!! Fortunately it was better through Mississippi and Alabama. Going through Mississippi we couldn’t see the coast at all, but Bucaneer State Park, where we stayed a number of years ago, is still closed from the hurricane as well as bridges along the coast. I guess it will take many years to get everything repaired.

We crossed the Atchafalaya Basin which is located in mid Louisiana and is about 20 miles in width from east to west and 150 miles in length. It consists of about 595,000 acres and is the nation’s largest swamp wilderness containing bottomland hardwoods, cypress stands, swamplands, bayous and back water lakes. There is abundant wildlife in the basin - alligators, snakes, bears, cougars, many species of fish, etc. etc. Interstate 10 crosses the basin on elevated pillars and is a continuous bridge for over 18 miles. We spent about a week in this area a few years ago and found it very fascinating. I didn’t get any pictures yesterday but will post a couple that we took a few years ago.

We are at Gulf Breezes RV Park in Gulf Shores for a week. The people next to us arrived yesterday as well and are from Barrie and it turns out they go to the same park as we are going to next winter in Yuma, in fact they will be about 5 or 6 sites down from us. They have been going there since it opened about 5 years ago and love it, so it was nice to talk to someone who stays there.

Sunday - April 8 - Happy Easter everyone, hope you all had a nice day. Today was fairly quiet, we did some cleaning this morning and then went to the potluck dinner at 2. All the food was very good and there was a ton of it. We were just finishing eating when Betty’s aunt came in, today was her 90^th birthday and she didn’t look a day over 70. She still lives in her own house and does all her own work except cut the grass, she walks two miles a day, drives and goes to dances - amazing. She has also had two bouts of cancer, but said she doesn’t have time for that nonsense! Certainly an inspiration.