A Journal, with Pictures

Our friends the Yanofskys sent us a card with the “Just Relax” advice, which was so appropriate for the Christmas holiday.

The Montgomerys arrived the Thursday before Christmas from Fort Lauderdale. Friday was spent doing the final preparation and Alexandra visited Santa Claus.

Saturday the Prados otherwise known as the traveling circus arrived. Heidi drove and Gary came over on his boat. The Montgomerys and Prados enjoyed a boat ride which included a up close dolphin encounter.

Heidi helped Jennifer with the annual ginger bread house project. Jennifer then captured some images of her helpers.

Grandma prepared Christmas Eve dinner and then the children made reindeer food and put out cookies and milk for Santa. This year it was decided that the two traveling families would stay at a Villa in near by Shipyard Plantation so the children would all have a real bed and a chance to sleep. Everyone left with great anticipation that Saint Nick would soon be here.

Everyone arrived at Grandma and Grandpa’s house at 8:30 Christmas morning filled with excitement. It was apparent that Santa had stopped and left lots of gifts during the night. What then ensued could best be described as a childrens gift frenzy. Packages were ripped open, paper was flying, gifts of clothes were quickly tossed aside with everything accompanied by much screaming. As I watched I could only think is this the true meaning of Christmas? Once the children’s gifts were opened, they began to play with and examine what Santa had brought them, while the parents and grand parents exchanged gifts.

 

Grandma then prepared brunch for us all before everyone started to either play with or set up their gifts.

Grandma then prepared Christmas Dinner, while the playing and entertainment continued at a high level. There was time for a few more Christmas pictures when the children were ready for dinner, then we all enjoyed our Christmas feast.

After dinner more playing and family time then the children got into their Christmas PJ’s for one last photo and they were off to their Villa’s. Grandma and Grandpa relaxed and enjoyed desert and the sound of silence alone, then went to bed exhausted from a very active day.

Monday everyone played and enjoyed family. Gil and Brenn went to the airport Grandson learned about Grandpa’s airplane. They had lunch and went to a movie. The rest of the family had lunch and went to The Sand Box a children’s activity center. Pizza for dinner and of course lots of time on the new computers and playing with other toys. Tuesday the Prados left early and Wednesday the Montgomerys headed back for Florida. It was a great Christmas family holiday.

The Prado’s celebrated Thanksgiving with Gary’s family so Joyce and I flew from Hilton Head to Fort Lauderdale on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Except for head winds, it was a great flying day and we arrived by noon. We met Jennifer for lunch and picked Alexandra up from school. Mike came home form his office and we enjoyed grilled steaks in perfect Florida weather.

Wednesday was a relaxed day of shopping, preparation for tomorrows feast and more family time. We got to know the newest member of the family, Max, Alexandra’s new black kitten. Max is a piece of work, constantly at play.

We went out to the Weston Bone fish restaurant, which was packed, and had a very nice dinner.

Thursday, Thanksgiving day, the serious cooking got started. Alexandra showed off her skills with her Wi, beating everyone at bowling, tennis and hitting a few home runs. Thank goodness she has gotten tired of golf, since I don’t need to be defeated by a 7 year old. We watched football while the cooking continued and then enjoyed a great Thanksgiving feast. It was a perfect day, accept that evening our beloved 49ers took it on the chin from the Ravens.

Friday we visited the Everglades and Saturday we flew back to Hilton Head. Our flight was great, with a tail wind this time, so we got back in a little over two hours. We had lunch with our friends the Turrisi’s who had spent Thanksgiving on the Island. It was a great Thanksgiving week.

Friday after Thanksgiving Jennifer and Mike organized a trip to the Everglades. We drove to the Shark Valley entrance to the Everglades National Park and had reservations on the guided tram out into the park.

Jose was our guide, who educated us on the flora and fona of the Everglades. We observed creatures and learned how this giant river works. The tram proceeded out to a observation tower that gave us a good view of the vast expanses of this unique place. Alexandra soaked it all in and that evening was spouting facts, including the fact that alligators have 80 teeth. It was a fun and interesting day.

On November fifth, Joyce and I traveled to Savannah to watch Brenn Prado play in the last game of the season. Brenn played offense and defense and was in the mix. The Pirates came from behind to win.

Taking after her mother Alexandra finished her horse show season with a strong performance.

Brother Mike, from Oregon, Joyce and I ( known by Joyce as the three musketeers) planned our almost annual flying vacation to New England and Canada. The primary objective is to help reduce the lobster, shellfish and seafood population. The plan was to fly to New Hampshire first to visit our friends the Yanofsky’s. Harold flies both fixed wing and helicopter, we looked forward to exploring New England from the air. We then planned to spend a day in Portland, Maine sight seeing and lobster eating, before heading to Canada.

On Thursday, September 22nd. our planned departure day the weather between Dayton and New Hampshire was thunderstorms, rain and low ceilings. Worse, the Maine coast was forecasting bad weather on Saturday our planned departure day from New Hampshire. We decided to wait and develop a plan B, which was to fly to Burlington, Vermont if New Hampshire didn’t improve. On Friday the weather had not changed, so plan C was to fly to Burlington on Saturday. The weather improved Saturday, with a forecast of ceilings getting better in Burlington during our flight. As we flew toward Vermont, we had a nice tail wind, but the ceilings stayed at 400 feet, with mist and rain at our destination. When we got to Syracuse, New York, we decided to land and did an instrument approach in to Syracuse to wait for the weather to improve. It never did, so we stayed overnight in Syracuse and developed plan D. Weather permitting we would fly to Bangor, Maine refuel and proceed on to Sydney, Nova Scotia which would put us back on our original schedule.

On Sunday, September 25th. we wait for the weather to improve at Bangor, Maine and get into the air around 10:00 AM. The two hour flight is mostly in the clear and we make an instrument approach, refuel and are off to Sydney Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island. The weather finally is improving as we go north and we have a very pleasant two plus hour flight to Sydney, which is about as far as you can go to the north east. We deal with cross winds on landing and then face the most difficult part of the journey, finding a tie down. It is municipal airport, with no tower. We call Sydney radio and get Charlottetown, on Prince Edward Island, who talks to a airport official in a pick-up truck who we can see. He directs us to a parking spot that has no tie down. We then track him down and after much mis-communication he shows us a field with some time downs. We move our bags to the airport using a wheel barrel that we borrow from a construction sight and it’s welcome to Sydney. We get our rental car and are off to our hotel. Time for dinner and we go to the Governors Place, that turns out to be a very good restaurant and we finally get our Lobster dinner. Turns out that Lobsters are out of season here, but they have some and we do the Prince Edward Island Mussels (lots) and Lobster, we are happy musketeers. The next morning its off to the Cabot Trail.

Day two Cape Breton Island

We have decide to drive the Cabot Trail and leave after breakfast. This is pretty much an all day trip and we have not done our homework but off we go. It about an hour and a half drive to get to the start of the trail, if you don’t take the ferry. We decide not to take the ferry because we don’t want to wait for it and think it won’t save that much time. The scenery is great and the weather is perfect so we play tourist, taking in the rugged coast line, the vistas and small settlements along the coast.

We finally get to the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and stop for lunch at a sea food restaurant. Chowder, clams, fish and chips overlooking the coast, not bad. We then do some more touring until its time to head back. On the way we stop at the Keltic Lodge, which is a premier resort on the coast, with one of the top golf courses in Canada. If we ever want to get away from it all and cool our jets, this would be the place.

From the Keltic Lodge we head back and decide to take the ferry with some concerns, about how long of a wait and ride. We get to the ferry and it turns out to be no wait and its about a 1/4 mile ride and takes about five minutes. Back to Sydney and another fine dinner at the Governors Place and then get ready for our flight in the morning to New Glassgow.

September 27th, Tuesday, we leave Sydney for New Glassgow. Sydney is a funky little municipal airport as we previously described, however the people are very helpful getting us refueled and loaded up. We debated if we needed to refuel for the one hour flight, but in the end why not. We had a perfect VFR day and landed at the Trenton Airport, CYTN. We were met by our friends who we met in the Bahamas in January. We told them, never invite someone with an airplane to visit, because we will come. They were at the airport to greet us and took us to Marc and Shauna’s home for tea and to get re-acquainted. The three couples, Marc and Shauna, Wayne and Carmel and Howie and Marnie were all there. What a treat learning about their lives in New Glassgow, which includes a lot of traveling elsewhere. Marc is a Toyota dealer and loaned us a car and pointed us to our hotel and on to Pitou, Nova Scotia for a little sight seeing. We saw the renovated ship that brought the original Scottish settlers to Nova Scotia, the Hector, and the local fisherman’s museum. After our touring we met at Carmel’s Irish Pub, called the Docks. Carmel is from Ireland and she and Wayne out did themselves with fantastic appetizers and drinks. We then walked to the Bistro that Howie and Wayne formerly owned for dinner. We had a wonderful time with these fun people, who treated us to great food and unbelievable hospitality.

Somehow we found our way back to the hotel, and it was time to check weather for tomorrows flight to Quebec City.

On September 28th. our wonderful hosts in New Glassgow took us to the Trenton airport for our departure to Quebec City. It was a good thing we refueled in Sydney, since they run out of fuel after putting only 5 gallons in our tank. It was clear and beautiful and after we said our goodbyes we lifted off, waggled our wings and headed for Quebec City. Most of the flight was clear, until we got to Quebec City, CYQB, where we did an instrument approach. Our cab driver was direct from the chamber of commerce and took us through the Saint Jeans gate into the walled city of Old Quebec. Old Quebec City is the only remaining walled city in North America. We checked into our quaint Vieux-Quebec (old Quebec) hotel then lunch at a crêpe restaurant then some sight seeing.

The hotel recommended a restaurant for dinner, so I trudged up the hill to check the menu and made a reservation. Trudging up hills is part of the Old Quebec City experience, and at the end of the first day may calves were complaining. That evening we had a superb dinner at restaurant La Cremaillere. We enjoyed French meal with, veal, excellent wine and a desert to die for, oo la la. It turns out the owner is Italian, oh well who cares.

Day Two Quebec City

We signed up for a walking tour that started from our hotel at 9:00 AM. Breakfast basket in the room was more than ample so we were ready for a walk. Sarah our guide, in period costume, did a very nice job of relating the history and pointing out the important sites. This gave an understanding of the history from the fur trading port beginning to the provincial capital of today. Quebec City, particularly the old walled city is very European and as someone said, its Europe without the jet lag. We soaked up history and enjoyed the sites before, guess what, lunch.

Time for lunch at a small French restaurant, then more touring of the city. We passed the giant hotel built by the Canadian Railroad, the Château Frontenac, the fort build to defend Quebec City against the Americans, we never came, and the provincial Parliament, that was flying an American flag, (they must have known we were coming). We made a pass through the old city Irish district, which has a special shopping street.

Outside the walls, Quebec City is a modern bustling place, but the old city has the charm. Dinner on our last evening in Quebec City was at an Italian restaurant near our hotel. Excellent with entertainment and the place was jumping. Back to the hotel, check weather for tomorrow and get ready for Montréal.