Illinois

Up to St. Louis and crossed into Illinois to drive straight north to Art’s cousin, Shirley, in Rockford. Shirley lives with daughter Tammy and her husband Eric and their 2 cute little girls. With Eric’s solidly Swedish heritage, it was only logical that we try a local Swedish restaurant. Good choice! The Swedish pot roast with allspice and lingonberry sauce was fork tender and very tasty. They have a nice home and stay super busy-as do most young families.

Missouri

Westward a bit more through KY, passing by Paducah en route to Jackson, MO. Went there to visit Ken and Mary Peters. Jane and Mary met at a Girl Scout meeting 60 years ago next month. We don’t see them often enough, but enjoy being with them. We spent time at the county fair; it was our first of the year, and we ate the foods you only eat at fairs. It was our first time eating deep fried Oreos and Twinkies and curly potato chips.

Those and corn dogs are reserved as fair food. No carnival rides after those treats!

Kentucky

Heading south. From Gettysburg to Charleston, WV. We were pleasantly surprised to find what we saw of WV beautifully green and with good highways, good rest stops and friendly folks. We had no reason to expect otherwise, but enjoyed it and could easily visit again. Went on to Corbin, KY to visit Jane’s brother, Kirk. Melinda was away, but Kirk showed us around the little town and we had the obligatory supper at Sanders’ Café. That’s “Sanders” as in “Colonel Sanders” of KFC fame. Corbin was where it all began. Please say a prayer for Kirk and Mel to sell their home soon so that they can return to Florida and be closer to family. Grandkids do tug.
We had stopped on the way to visit the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea. We saw pottery, weavings, paintings, wooden items and foods all native. Ate lunch and chose from the section of regional specialties. Tried a “Hot Brown” sandwich. Sounds like a hot roast beef san with gravy, eh? Not so. It’s made with white bread, ham and turkey, then topped with a totally concealing cover of thick white sauce and garnished with two bacon strips and a slice of tomato. We were glad to experience a popular local dish but preferred the corn pudding side dish. Pictures.

Cape Cod

Skipped getting capitol pictures in Massachusetts as the idea of driving in downtown Boston at mid-day on the Friday before a holiday held no appeal. Headed on down to Mashpee, Cape Cod. Eric, Tanya, Mackenzie and Mason were vacationing there with Tanya’s dad, sister and brother and their families. Her brother, Chris, and sister, Cheryl, are now in the same medical practice there. Stayed over the Labor Day weekend and took in the glass museum at Sandwich, seafood meals in Provincetown and Sandwich, poking about in Hyannis and Hyannisport, a half day trip to Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, and a nice visit with Jane’s cousin Susan.

We hadn’t seen Mackenzie (27 months) and Mason (6 months) since May so were delighted to have the time with them. They grow so fast and are so much fun! Went to a little Zooquarium which had some aquatic and domestic animals. It was fun to watch Mackenzie go up to the areas of each animal and talk them with the sounds she knew they should make. She keeps us on our toes with the connections she is able to make from her observations. Her speech is very clear, and like her “Nanabug”, there is no shortage of it. The Phoenix Four went from Cape Cod to Ottawa to see Tara and Greg. Pictures here.

New Hampshire

From Maine we scooted on over to New Hampshire to visit Ellie and Michael Kahn. Ellie and Jane have been friends since they pledged Delta Zeta at U of O in ’58 and through nursing school, etc. We are looking forward to visits from them as they ponder retiring to OR “someday”. Ellie showed us some of the view spots in the North Conway area of the White Mountains. Of course, the highlight of the visit was the time with good friends, but another delight was coming back to their home and seeing a huge, barred owl sitting on the deck railing. It was breathtakingly beautiful, and we watched where it flew but did not see it again. We do hope it sticks around for Kahns to enjoy again.
On to Epsom, NH to see Bill & Dotty Dodge, friends from embassy days and many visits since we met in ’69. They spend summers at a lakeside cottage Dotty’s folks had. They know the area well and knew just where to go for more investigation on John McEldowney. We went to archives, museum of history and the state library. Did manage to get some info and can access more from there once we get home and review a book of family history. Since we were doing that searching in Concord, we took pictures of the state capitol. Bill and Dotty were married the same day and year as we were, but 4 hours earlier. We have enjoyed Anniversary dinners together in several countries over several years. More photos here.

Maine

Once we left the lobster expedition in Bass Harbor, Maine, (see Lobster blog below) we traveled to Ocean Park, Maine, via L.L. Bean and Cabela’s, to visit Jane’s Cousin Carol Fraley and her family and co-incidentally visit her sister and brother-in-law, from Salem, Oregon, who were also visiting Carol at the time.

Carol usually lives in New Hampshire, but was at the beach in a rental house that she and her family have been renting for 2 weeks each summer for 29 years as a family get-together/retreat.

We had fun playing at the beach, lazing around and, yes, dining on more fresh lobster.

Carol’s son and his wonderful young family were also visiting, so it made for multi-generational fun and a playful time. Three grandmothers, two grandfathers and just two grandchildren there upon whom to be doted! See photos here.

Sailing

Well, we did it. 11 days of sailing and motoring from Gaspe, Quebec to Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. Some days were rough and some calm. We managed several days of sailing, even though the trip was to move the boat from point A to point B. (Make passage, rather than dawdling along for sailing sake)
We were at anchor 3 nights, two nights were spent in one area waiting out a storm. We got in late and dropped anchor behind a barrier beach, but was tossed around a bit all night, so moved anchorage the next day to a more protected spot. Waiting out the storm paid off as the 3rd day was good weather with good winds. The other nights were able to tie up at yacht clubs, or public piers.
We could not get over how many lobster traps were out. Virtually hundreds of them in the gulf of St. Lawrence. In some places we played dodgem to avoid running over lobster trap marker floats and rope tethers. The numerous and variable colored floats looked like it might if a giant bag of M&M’s had been thrown out across a small table.
At Charlottetown, P.E.I., all of the yacht club and public anchorages were full. While we were refueling; however, they mentioned that one of their members had just taken his 50 foot motor cruiser out for 2 weeks and we could tie up at that member’s slip for a day or two if we wanted. It was late, so we did tie up for two days and waited out another storm. Having a “day off" gave us the opportunity to explore Charlottetown and view a parade that was held for “old home week" Nice parade that went on for over an hour and a half. It turns out that the slip we tied up at is owned and usually occupied by the owner of one of Canada’s largest grocery chains. (Sobey)
In the past, Jane has had problems with motion sickness on boats. We tried a new medication this time and it worked like a charm. She was not sick at all during the 11 days and on the final day she went without medication and did just fine. The final day was one of the roughest of the trip, so she now knows she can go boating without worry of motion sickness. GREAT!!! The medicine is Meclizine HCl, an over the counter product.
Moving the boat from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Bras D’Or lake meant traversing a lock that had a major highway swing bridge across it. The bridge was swung open for our passage, holding up traffic in both directions. Apparently it is a fairly common occurence as there did not appear to be any angst at having traffic held up for one boat, but it was new to us!
The trip was a great opportunity to learn a little bit more about sailing from a master sailor on a notably seaworthy yacht.

This beautiful boat is owned by New Zealand friends who live in England. Art has crewed for Dick twice up the Inside Passage to Alaska. Pictures here

Lobster

Before we left on our Summer Sojourn, we had contacted a former co-worker in Maine who has been Lobstering since his retirement some 20 years ago. Jerry and JoAnn Walls had said, " Yes, by all means drop by." When we were ready to leave Canada and head West to Maine, we sent the Walls an email to arrange timing. They responded with an email that said, in effect, would we like to go out on their lobster boat and pull dinner, or drive over to Bar Harbor and site see. Holy Moly ! Go out on a lobster boat and catch dinner? YES!
Jerry and JoAnn kindly did take us out on their boat and we did pull traps for dinner. Rather, Jerry pulled them. Some of them are over 300 feet deep and weigh LOTS! (he uses a winch) The Walls have someting like 480 traps out and it takes them about 3 days to pull them all. After the 3rd day, they start all over. Jerry rises at 3 am and is out until about 3 in the afternoon. When he gets home, he is on call as an ambulance driver. Whoever said retirement was boring needs to spend a day with Jerry ! We brought 7 lobster home for dinner and had a feast that evening. The following day they sent us off with fresh lobster sandwiches. Jerry lobsters for about 6 months, then pulls his boat and traps for the winter. Boat side prices for lobster, when we were there, was about $2.90 a pound. Most restaurants in New England are charging up to $25 a pound for Lobster dinner. Jerry makes his own traps and floats in a really nice spacious work barn. Their home is Jerry's boy hood home that he has extensively remodeled and modernized. It is a very attractive and comfortable New England style home in Bass Harbor, Maine. Their daughters and their families live nearby so all in all, retirement for them is great. Click here for photos of the adventure.