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Cadillac Mountain Sunrise
I woke at 1:15AM, three and a half hours of sleep left. Darn, I did math, now my brain is awake. Breathe slowly and try to get back to sleep. 2:30, wonder what time it is now? 3:30, really? just sleep until the alarm goes off already! 4:30 both of us are awake but we might as well just lay here for 15 more minutes! Finally, my iPhone alarm goes off and I accidentally hit snooze – as if! I’m so used to just waking up at 5:30 every morning, that when I need to set an alarm to get up earlier my whole system breaks down. So why all of the fuss?
We had a reservation to watch the sunrise on Cadillac mountain! It is the first place to see the sun come up in the USA. I guess that is a cool feature. The recommendation from all of Jane’s research was to get there an hour before sunrise, which was very good advice because of course the sky starts to glow well before.
It is so cool to be sitting up there looking at the ocean and all of the little islands, and everyone around you is whispering, because its dark and nobody wants to spoil the vibe. We watch a cruise ship come into the area waiting to deposit its passengers in Bar Harbor for the day. We hear lots of fishing boats heading out, and we can see lots of moving points of light on the water.
We can tell there are some clouds on the horizon so there should be some nice color. And there is!
6:35 comes and the sun is obscured by the clouds on the horizon, but we wait a bit longer and are rewarded with a glorious sunrise! The volume level goes up all around us, and people leave their spots and start wandering around more. Everyone seems very happy! A beautiful sunrise and the promise of a new day.
What a great way to start your morning. Next we think that maybe some Popovers from the cafe at Jordan’s pond might be a good way to celebrate a successful sunrise, so we stop, but sadly they do not open until 9. It is only 7:30, so we head back to the camper for some pancakes instead.
Later some more hiking and another trip to Bar Harbor to find the internet. My coffee grinder has broken down, so I’ll try to see if I can find a replacement or at least by some ground coffee for future mornings. We only have a week left, time has gone so quickly.
Acadia Day One
Lets get going by 9 Jane said. No problem, time for coffee and morning puzzles etc. My watch and phone said it was only about 8:15 and Jane was pacing, “ready??” Her iPad said it was 9:15. Some of our devices had not made the switch from Atlantic to Eastern timezone. Not surprising given the lack of internet connectivity around Acadia.
The result was that we got an early start on our hike up the Beehive Trail, which was good because we definitely beat the rush. Here are some pics to highlight our hike/climb.
Yep, this hike features vertical climbs up metal rungs. A couple were even past vertical. I must admit that the pictures definitely look more dangerous than it felt at the time.
The climb was definitely worth it as you could see forever, and it was beautiful.
With the hike finished we headed back to the camper. The sun and solar panels had already done their job of recharging the batteries for the camper. We had worked up an appetite so I cooked some hash browns, bacon and scrambled eggs on the griddle.
Acadia has highways, park roads, and carriage roads. The last are thanks to the Rockefeller’s from way back. The carriage roads are for bikers and hikers and horses only. So it is a great way to see the park free from traffic. Getting to the carriage roads from our campground, however, is a bit of a challenge. We had to start on one of the park roads for a few miles and then walk our bikes up the bank to the carriage road once we got there.
We really enjoyed Jordan’s pond and Eagle Lake and the Bubble Pond… The fall colors were really brilliant
The last bit of our ride was back to hiking. To get from the carriage road to the highway that brings us back to our campground required some fancy maneuvering!
With plenty of exercise for the day, we rested for a few minutes and then went in to Bar Harbor where we had a dinner reservation. Bar Harbor was busy I can’t imagine what it is like there during the summer months. But we found a brewery with good WiFi to catch up on a few things and then walked around the shops before heading to Geddy’s for some calamari and pizza.
It was not a late night, as we need to get up at 4:45AM to drive up to Cadillac mountain to watch the sunrise…
Halifax for Jane's big six oh
Halifax has a nice food scene and a pretty boardwalk along the bay. We saw several cruise ships leave and arrive, and got to try a local specialty. A Donair.
A Halifax Donair shares some history with a Gyro, except that they are made from beef and have a special Halifax sauce. Crispy thin sliced beef with a creamy, sweet, garlic sauce with plenty of tomatoes and onions. We split one from a shop on the boardwalk so as not to spoil our appetites for Jane’s birthday dinner.
The boardwalk was fine, but I wouldn’t say spectacular. We found a nice Irish pub for some drinks, and they had a live band. So it was fun to sit and listen. Not as cool as the ceilidh back on Cape Breton, but still good.
Birthday dinner was at The Bicycle Thief restaurant. It was a very nice meal, Jane had Seared Atlantic Halibut with brown butter & parmigiano fregola, charred asparagus, vino bianco, roasted sweet tomatoes, lemon & caper beurre blanc. I had Old-School Lobster Thermidor, Whole NS Lobster, wild mushrooms, shallots, Brandy crema, gratinéed with breadcrumbs, gruyère & parmigiano, truffle spaghettini & fresh asparagus. Both were delicious. We had a nice bottle of Chardonnay from Long Meadow Range in Anderson Valley. For desert we split the Creme brulee… slightly warm, with a really crispy crust, in short perfect. Top that off with a little sip of Port or Courvoisier and you have completed a near perfect meal.
Riding the Adventure Trail in Nova Scotia
The plan was to bike about 14 miles to Lunenburg, have some lunch at a brewery, and then bike back to where we parked. Drive back to the camper and make some Peruvian chicken for dinner. That was the plan. It was a beautiful day, It was a beautiful ride, although the trail was a bit soft in a number of places, and in a few it was completely washed out.
However, 15 miles into the 14 mile ride we called a halt to consult the map. Somewhere along the way we had missed a turn that we didn’t even know to look for. Now we were almost to Bridgewater, quite a distance from Lunenburg.
What to do now? Trying to make a triangle out of the situation was not a good solution. No trails from here to there, and the distance would have made the ride too long. So, we decide to turn back, maybe stop at a brewery along the way back, and see where to go. Riding along and discussing the options further, we decide to just head back to the truck and then drive from there to Lunenburg. Jane really wanted to see Lunenburg as it is a UNESCO site.
To get there we had to drive through Mahone Bay. What a zoo! We drove into their annual Scarecrow Festival! People everywhere. Cars everywhere. Astronaut scarecrows, firefighter scarecrows, They were everywhere. Kind of funny and clever. One of the few things we didn’t take a picture of, sadly.
Eventually we made it to Lunenburg where we found a good viewpoint to take a photo of the town, with its colorful buildings and tall ships in the harbor.
Around four O’clock we parked and walked to the Shipwreck Brewery tap room. The smell of pizza was a little overwhelming as we walked in! We hadn’t much to eat, and had just ridden 30 miles. After looking at the menu we decided the chicken could wait! One small pizza and one lobster roll to go with our beers please.
The Cabot Trail
I have to admit I was a little whiney. Not yet 7am and Jane was ready to go. It was barely even light outside. But we had to get going. We are driving the Cabot Trail today, around Cape Breton island including many many short stops in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Spoiler alert… even though I was a bit grumpy starting out this was one of my favorite days. This drive is just so beautiful. In Jane’s notes it was described by some other blogger as follows:
The Cabot Trail is a road that hugs the Gulf of St. Lawrence on the rugged northwestern edge of Nova Scotia, where around every bend you want to pull over, spew expletives of joy at the stupendous vista, and take another snapshot.
Our first fun stop was to take the worlds shortest ferry ride on the Englishtown ferry. We had a lovely chat with the ferryman during our three minute crossing which covered everything from the state of education to English Premier League football, to the relative strength of various hurricanes, to whether the Packers (he saw our Wisconsin license plate) would win their Thursday night football game. We covered a lot of ground!
Our next stop was Middle head. A really nice hike which we cut short because we were still worried about time. Jane had read that it was really difficult to get the whole loop done in a day
After that it was just turnout after turnout of stopping to take in the scenery. Our next real goal was to do the Skyline hike.
The skyline hike was four miles out and back. With a set of boardwalk steps at the end that give you a pretty spectacular view of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
More scenery followed the Skyline hike…until we arrived in Cheticamp, where we decided to stop for lunch at the Doryman’s pub, rather than eat another day’s worth of turkey and salami sandwiches. We had a great view of the bay and I had fish and chips and Jane had chowder. The chowder was great. My irish red ale was also very good. We think that our waitress secretly could not believe that Jane would like the IPA she ordered and so brought her a bud light instead.
At the end of the trail, Jane made a “wrong turn” that led us to the Big Spruce brewery instead of our camp ground. We enjoyed a couple of pints before heading back to relax for the evening. We made a campfire, thanks to our neighbor who gave us some nice dry kindling and paper to get it going! We were still very full from our mid afternoon meal that we warmed up some leftover pizza on the Traeger for an evening snack.
The Table
Last night we had a fabulous dinner experience! On Prince Edward Island there is an old church, that once was a barn, but is now a restaurant. It is open every night for dinner for one seating of around 20 people. Their menu says they are “a love letter to Canadian food and wine.” The menu changes every week, and they don’t repeat, ever, at least not in 8 years.
All the foods are local, that is they use ingredients from PEI that mostly come from just a few km away. They don’t use any ingredients that are not grown in Canada. So, no lemon, or lime, or black pepper. Instead they make pepper from the flower cluster of the Green Alder, They are super creative and the food was just awesome. One of the highlights of the night was the Halibut. One of their friends/suppliers, a fisherman, showed up on their door a couple of days ago to let them know he had a 50 pound Halibut he had just caught, he thought they might want it. We are glad they did!
The kitchen area is open for everyone to see the small staff working to prepare the next course. And before you eat the course the chef explains what you are getting. Then as you are eating he walks around to answer questions or just chat with every table. They pair each course with a Canadian wine. The result is a 7 course meal that goes from 5:30 - 9pm, a beautiful night of food and drink.
- roasted carrots, marinated carrots, cows’s blue cheese fritters, basil aioli. The blue cheese fritters (Choux batter with blue cheese mixed in) were better than any fried cheese curds I’ve had in my life!
- celery root soup, roasted celery root, pickled mustard seeds, celery.
- french river halibut, clam cream, dill oil potato, chives. SOOOO GOOD. We were imagining the staff milking the clams, but it turns out it is more like homemade clam sauce mixed with cream and then reduced.
- belle river rock crab mezzalunes, charred tomato aioli, cured egg yolk. What? Cured egg yolk salted and dried and then they grate it over the pasta! I’m gonna try it.
- cold water shrimp, our bread, herbs, crispy shallots. The chef described it as a mid meal snack! Yummy.
- braised island short rib, potato puree, market vegetables, ox tail jus. I’ve hated beets for 50 of my 59 years. But I have to admit that these were not bad!
- geoff’s apples, maple granola, mint oil, whipped sweet clover cheesecake. The apples were warm, but still crunchy, and the whipped cheesecake was like a thick whipped cream. A delicious ending.
Jane’s favorites: The carrots and the Halibut
Brad’s favorites: The Halibut, the carrots were a big surprise and the fritters were just so good. Learning about cured egg yolks.
Prince Edward Island
This morning we woke up at almost 7AM (Atlantic Time) way late for us usually. I lost whatever unspoken contest we had, and got out of bed to turn on the heater! We like keeping the heat off overnight and sleeping in the cold rather than having the heat kick on and off.
We decided to drive to the beach to see if we could see more than last night, and we ended up finding a very nice board walk with some great views
From there it was only a 3 hour drive to our campground on Prince Edward Island. I can’t imaging what a zoo this place must be during the summer but at this time of the year it was very quiet. They had assigned us a pretty lousy campsite but the nice person checking us in just said to drive around and pick whatever spot we liked, and give her a call on the off chance that someone else was going to be here and had booked that site. Even with all of that it took us more than an hour to get situated. The sites were so uneven and once we got the camper in a decent position the steps would not go down far enough! In and out, up and down… Usually it takes us about 10 minutes to back in and level up. It took us almost an hour!
We had hoped to bike, but it was very cloudy and windy today so we didn’t have any desire to bike. So we drove the coastline, and around the area. Here’s a very attractive photo of the shoreline with a not so attractive picture of my shirt blowing in the wind.
A more interesting picture of the beach.
The National Park closed last week, and things have shut down very quickly. So most of the shops and attractions were closed for the season. Thankfully our dinner place for the evening was not one of them!
It was a four course dinner experience. You got a 1 pound lobster plus unlimited chowder and mussels and salad and desert. it was all very good and we had the nicest server who talked with us and answered all of our questions about the area. This place goes through 20,000 pounds of lobster and 90,000 pounds of mussels every year. They have a huge lobster holding area that they feed with fresh and salt water to keep them happy/slightly sedated before they are cooked for us. The mussels are also locally “cultivated” and were delicous.
Here I am diligently working on my Lobster!
Bless the Broken Road
No I haven’t suddenly become a Rascal Flatts fan! But 40km into the 120km stretch of NB 108 (New Brunswick 108 East) that phrase came into my mind. Why? Because it is quite possibly the worst stretch of highway we have ever been directed to drive by any maps application ever. Not counting the horrible dike road incident at Lake Chilcot Arkansas in 2021. That was clearly not a highway. The first warning was that there was no gas or service for 120km. The next bad sign was that the speed limit was 80km/h but we couldn’t drive more than about 50! The road was broken! When Jane posted on the RV group about our experience this was the reply.
Who or what gave you the option of taking the 108? When it was called the Renous shortcut way back when, that road was take at your own risk, things have not changed.
The road was broken for miles and miles.
But God bless it!! it was beautiful. And totally devoid of cell service!
Our stomachs (and bladders) were churning from the bumps so badly that we stopped at the first gas station 1.7 km from the end of the road. But their network was down. So gas was cash only. Ummm we have some US$ but very few loonies. Thankfully gas (at least petrol) was not the point of the stop. So we moved on. Never have we been so happy to get on a smooth highway!
And we arrived at the Kouchibouguac campground on Saint-Louis Lagoon on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Eight hours after our six hour drive started. But… this is why we call it an adventure! You never know what you are going to encounter…
Our first order of business after getting the camper settled, by which I mean picking up everything that was strewn all over the floor. Everything from an entire box of frozen meat from the freezer to cans of soda and ice trays. What a mess. After getting it all cleaned up we decided to walk down the trail toward Kelly’s beach… Unfortunately we discovered that the bridge to the beach had been removed for the season! Grrrr 2.2 km of constant mosquitos for nothing! Adventure! We turned around and headed back to the camper.
Life is not so bad! Bless the Broken Road.
Catching Up
I’ve missed a couple of days along the way, so with today being a “day of rest” I thought I could catch us up.
Corning
This is going way back, but I did forget to write about our trip to the Corning Museum of Glass. Very very cool. We are not “museum people” but this was fun, educational, interesting, interactive, … Who knew there was so much different science and engineering behind “glass!” We started with a glass etching experience and then went to the hot shop to see them blow a huge glass light fixture. If you have never seen a glass blowing demonstration you really should. Mathematics, Physics, Art, Engineering, it’s all there.
Here is Jane etching her glass. I made a Runestone glass!
Montreal
We drove from Stowe to Montreal, beautiful scenery but we are still too early for the change in color. We knew that going in that we were likely too early for some places and would be too late for others by the time we were finished. But it was pretty. Kind of funny crossing the border. I know it’s no joke, But kind of odd to the average tourist. Do you have any firearms? No. Do you own any firearms? No. Do you have any defensive weapons… like pepper spray or a hunting knife? Ummm no. Does the hatchet for splitting wood count? What about my chef’s knife? We are towing a camper after all. Then there were the questions about alcohol… Of course we have some wine in the camper. Are you visiting anyone? No. Do you know anyone? No. Will you meet anyone? Ummm, I imagine we might meet people while we are camping or eating out… it’s hard to not meet people.
My vision of Montreal was influenced way to much by the Canada pavilion at EPCOT. It was nice, but felt more big city than anything, even in old town. It was cool to see the city at sunset, especially the Olympic stadium in the distance.
In the morning we took a short bike ride, and got an even better view. A very cool structure.
Maybe the oddest thing we saw was a driver missing the corner and plowing into the retaining wall right on the edge of a restaurant. People pulled out their phones and started filming, then the driver and the passenger tried to switch places. It was hard to tell what was going on, and we had to catch our ferry so we didn’t wait until the police came.
Just before we fell asleep Jane said “I smell skunk”. Yes, there it was the distinct smell of skunk. Was there a skunk under the camper? Did one of the stray cats around the campground get into it with a skunk and was now lurking around our campsite? Should I go out into the dark and try to figure it out? In the words of Marlin Perkins “I’ll stay safely in the camper” We will never know, the smell was gone in the morning.
Quebec City
Quebec city definitely had more of an old European vibe to it! We enjoyed our walk, even if it did involve over 310 stairs! We walked and wandered and then enjoyed a wonderful Italian dinner in the upper town. After dinner we made our way back through the streets toward the ferry.
And enjoyed the view of Château Frontenac as we headed across the river.
Today is mostly a day of rest, doing laundry and catching up on some work… But we did get in a 26 mile ride along the river this afternoon.
You can see Château Frontenac in the daylight along with a couple of cruise ships. We also saw the last bridge across the river as we head toward the ocean.
The plan for tonight is to relax, have a some burgers at our campsite, and prepare for a long (8 hour) drive tomorrow to New Brunswick. We will be happy to get back to a province where English is the dominant language! It has been so long since we have visited a country where we do not speak the accepted/dominant language. Of course the Canadians are very welcoming, friendly, nice, and do their best to understand us. Especially if we try to greet them in French or say a few words. TIL that when you are biking in Quebec you can’t expect people to understand “on your left” instead one should say “à ta gauche” I’m not sure “on your left” is a universal bike thing, or whether I’m just really bad ad saying it, but it did not get the normal response!
Waterfalls
Today our goal was to explore some of the other state parks and hikes near Watkins Glen, verifying whether Ithaca really is “Gorges”, and try out a few wineries on the shores of Cayuga lake. It was a good day!
We started out with the Gorge Hike at Robert Treman State Park. We were there early enough to get some beautiful morning light.
The hike takes you to the top of Lucifer Falls, and then you descend The view looking back and up is also amazing, but then you realize you have a lot of climbing to do to get back where you started. But it was such a beautiful morning and we almost had the trail to ourselves.
After this hike we made a quick stop at Buttermilk Falls just on the edge of Ithaca.
We were noticing that the falls were a bit dry compared to the descriptions and other pictures we have seen.
Both Jane and I have been to Ithaca before, back when Kaia was doing her college search. But, that was in much cooler weather. It was nice to be able to explore. The motto of Ithaca is “Ithaca is gorges,” and it is a very pretty town, very hilly, but areas and paths along the waterfalls leading right to campus.
We headed over to the shore of Cayuga lake at Taughannock Falls state park. We at our sandwiches and enjoyed the lake, and I answered a couple of emails on my iPad. Our post lunch hike was to the falls. It was a nice flat hike leading back to the falls, where we also saw a group of Perigrine Falcons circling. These falcons can dive at speeds of 200mph to knock out their prey!
Although high, the water flow at these falls was very low. So after our hike we continued north along the lake to check out some wineries: Sheldrake Point, the Thirsty Owl, and Buttonwood grove. All had great views of the lake so we could sip and enjoy the view. We thought that the Thirsty Owl should be introduced to the Thirsty Otter in Balsam Lake. We are learning that there are lots of good wines in the region if not what we are used to. Most are more of a German style like a dry Riesling or even a dry Gewurstraminer on the white side. While the reds tend to be a little more traditional, but with Cab Franck being a bit more prevalent. We definitely found something to like everywhere.
We finished our wine tasting a little too early to head back to town for a dinner out. So we stopped at a the Finger Lakes Distillery along the way to enjoy the waning sun and more lake views, and a cocktail.
Next stop Stowe Vermont!
Two Hikes: Letchworth and Watkins Glen
We started this morning with a hike from the upper to middle to lower falls at Letchworth State Park, and ended with the Gorge hike at Watkins Glenn. What a great day of waterfalls!
I have already had to rethink my opinion of New York State, which is totally based on my experience with New York City and “New Yorkers”. The rural parts of New York are amazing!
We spent last night at Letchworth state park, which claims to be the number one state park in the USA. I don’t know how you can possibly back up such a claim, but as the pundits say, Letchworth belongs in the conversation! Beautiful, well kept, great hiking options …
I don’t think our neighbors would vote for it… When we pulled into our loop and saw the water station we pulled over… Before we got out of the truck a guy on a bike pulled up to tell us “some guy just jack-knifed his camper, and is blocking the road. You might want to take your time! So we did, and even then the poor couple was no closer to a solution. They had unhooked their truck from the camper but were trying to reconnect in completely the wrong way! Husband and wife were barely talking to each other. But they did offer to move so that we could try to get around. We did, and we were all settled before they got into their site.
We had not thought to take anything out of the freezer for dinner, so we took out a couple of stakes and I put them in the sous vide while we headed to Eddy’s to watch the sunset! It was very nice with a great view of the river gorge and the sun disappearing behind the bluffs!
The morning was quite cool, we had to turn on the heat for a few minutes to take the chill out of the air. We dressed in layers and headed out towards middle and upper falls. Our plan was to hike from there down to the lower falls and back, about a 4 mile hike.
It was a great morning for a hike. There was almost nobody else on the trail. We did meet a couple from Ohio who had just come from Watkins Glen, so they had good advice for us on how to do the gorge hike.
After showers and some tacos for lunch we packed up camp and headed for Watkins Glen. It was just a two hour drive, and on much better roads than the route we took to Letchworth!!
The campground sits high above the village of Watkins Glen, and the gorge hike starts way down low. So we descended and then started the long trek back upwards. But it was spectacular.
After all of that hiking and climbing we were definitely hungry and sleepy campers. We hooked up our fire pit, and sat around the fire with some warmed up pasta and wine and just relaxed. By bedtime a light rain had started so we had that sound to put us to sleep for the night.
Day One Cabin to Indiana Dunes NP
Mostly just a travel day, but with a short hike at the end. Going through Chicago is never fun, but gave us the quote of the day from Jane: “Oh my gosh we are getting passed by an Oscar Meyer Weiner!”
The Indiana Dunes National Park is the newest National Park. It is located right along the shore of Lake Michigan, with plenty of beaches and sand dunes to explore. Here we are on the beach, Jane is pointing at downtown Chicago, which we could just make out through the haze.
It was a very nice campground, but no electricity so we decided to cook over an open fire. We had bought a bundle of wood at the gas station but it was very wet, so it was a struggle but we eventually had enough coals for some turkey burgers. It was a very nice night to enjoy the fire, but we have a long day of driving to get to New York so it was an early night.
Where does all our stuff come from? Going through the Canal.
I grew up in farm country so I’m pretty familiar with how food gets to the grocery store. But what about all the other stuff we buy at all the other stores? Well here is a clue for you…
One thing this trip through the panama canal has made me realize is just how amazing, complex, and expensive the global shipping system is. Have you ever wondered how much it costs for a ship to go through the Panama canal? Take a guess? Our cruise ship cost about $370,000 and larger ships can cost over a million!
I can’t even begin to guess the value of everything in those containers but just think about it. Cars, wood, electronics, furniture, carpet, gas, oil, grain, it all makes its way around the world in giant ships. In Colon there is a huge duty free area where buyers go and order containers of various things. Oh, I like these shorts I’ll take 2 containers of medium 1 of large, etc…
Going through the Panama canal you really see where this all comes together, literally, to fit through a bunch of locks that are a thousand feet long and 160 feet wide. Plus the new locks for the even bigger ships.
Our route through the canal started at the Gatun locks. These take you up 85 feet to lake Gatun. You can see our ship the Celebrity Millenium in the background just entering the first lock. The white and blue ship is a car carrier heading the opposite direction.
Here we are in the lock looking backward you can see a tanker heading out.
We then travelled across the lake (formed by damming the Chagres river) to the Pedro Miguel locks which stepped us down about 50 feet and then on the the Miraflores locks which took us down to the Pacific Ocean.
This sequence just shows us at the Miraflores locks dropping down the final step before we head out.
Panama City in the background.
The whole thing is such an engineering marvel. And not done with new technology! Much of the canal has not changed since it was built over 100 years ago. No pumps are used, it is all gravity fed. Which means that in order for the locks to work they are draining the lake. Of course it is refilled by the river, but each ship uses about 52 million gallons of water to traverse the locks. The rainy season has not been very rainy this year so the lake level is down which means some ships can’t go through, or they have to unload some cargo before they go. One interesting addition that helps conserve water is that now we can use water from the side going down to halfway fill the side going up. This is a nice bit of recycling that saves about 50% of the water.
A Day in Panama
After docking in Colon we joined our tour group for the day to see some of the sites in Panama. This tour included stops at the new locks – Wide enough for the “neo” class ships that do not fit in the original canal. It also included a stop and boat ride on Lake Gatun where we visited the village of some indigenous people and looked for wildlife along the shore.
I had this idea (probably from childhood) that the Panama canal was one long canal. Which is not true at all. The canal is actually a series of locks that bring the ship up into lake Gatun then you cross lake Gatun and go down some more locks to bring you back to the ocean. So, the constraints on the ships are really the size of the locks. In 2016 they opened a new set of locks at each end to support the really large ships. Now the main constraint is really on the depth of the water in the lake.
Here is a view of both sets of locks on the Atlantic side:
The left side is the new lock which runs one way, They go one way for half the day and then the other way the other half of the day. the right side is the old locks which run both ways most of the time, but they can shut it down and switch to one way traffic if they have maintenance to do.
Here is a view of the village we stopped at.
Greenskeeper's Revenge!
Today the mens club event was very fun. The obstacles on the course were a great mid season reminder that I just play for fun.
The first hole there was a tractor parked right next to what we locally refer to as Gilligan’s Island. The tractor was right where I like to hit it, so of course I started out with a bang!
Number 11 we had to tee off in the trees and shoot over another tree to get on the green.
Number 15 the tractor was parked in front of the green. Its hard enough to chip onto that hole without the obstacle.
On the first hole we had to putt with a hockey stick! Happy Gilmore!!It was hilarious nobody knew how hard to hit it with a stick.
Some of the other holes had hose or rakes or other obstructions laid out in front of the green. Not to mention that the pin placements were diabolical! Right on the edge of the green by the water, right on top of a hill. A couple of the tee boxes were moved into the waste bunker areas near the tees.
My partner and I ended up tied for 2nd, so we even won a couple of bucks in pro shop cash.
Bowling
Bowling for the first time in well over a decade. I’ve never bowled at a place where the score is kept automatically for you.
A fun night out with friends from Heritage Palms.
The Joys of Winter Flying
This morning I got Wordle in 2! Here is Proof:
Wordle 564 2/6*
⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨
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Since I won’t post this until tomorrow, I’ll tell you my first guess. It was DELAY. I know there are better words but my personal practice on wordle is to sit and think about my day for a few minutes and then try to come up with a good starting word that is somehow related to those thoughts. Sort of a Wordle meditation. I have rules, I’m not going to use double letters, its not going to be super obscure, or use letters that are too rare. Although QUEST would not be out of the question.
Now you may be wondering why DELAY was my word today. Well, it all started yesterday afternoon, in Minnesota, under a winter storm warning. I could see traffic on the I-35W bridge over the Missippi was slow from the window in our condo, then I couldn’t see the bridge at all. Not good. We were scheduled to fly back to Palm Springs at 6:07PM, so after some discussion we put on our backpacks at 2:40PM and headed for the light rail station near US Bank stadium, about 8 blocks or so. The going was slow and we didn’t know how the trains were doing but we were pretty sure it was a better option than Uber or Lyft. We got to the station at 3:07 and had about 10 minutes to wait for the Blue Line toward the Mall of America. Things were running much smoother than anticipated so we arrived at the airport way ahead of our typical 90 minutes before departure. We knew we needed some extra time to grab an early bite to eat since dinner time would come somewhere over Denver.
About halfway into our dinner the Flighty app told me that our flight had just been delayed. I was a little surprised because I had been following the progress of our plane and I knew it was already at the airport. Must be a crew issue I thought. So we stretched out our meal, watched the people for a while and then headed to our gate. Sure enough we were waiting for a crew that was now “flying around the weather.” That sort of flying continued for some time as small delay after small delay started to add up.
Finally, a crew was located, and we started the boarding process. After about 20 minutes on the plane we saw the captain and co-pilot arrive and they announced that there would be a bit more delay as they did their inspection and pre-flight paperwork. Then there was more waiting until an announcement was made that the ground crews could not keep up with the freezing rain and they were closing the airport! I’ve never seen this happen in Minnesota!! We are hearty, we don’t shut down our airports for mere rain and sleet and snow. That kind of behavior is reserved for wimpy east coast sorts. 🤪
It seems that as we were sitting on the plane another plane had slid off the end of the runway. Ok, that might be a pretty good indicator that its time to close up shop for a while. So we had to get off the plane again. The gate agent assured us that the airport would open again around 10 or 10:30 PM and that we would be underway as soon as possible. Ummm I wonder what that means? You can’t just shut down everything and then get 100’s of delayed flights through de-icing and on the runway in a few minutes.
We decided to bag it. Lets just get on the delta app and click on that nice little button that says reschedule. It really is not that big of an inconvenience for us to wait another day or two to escape the cold and snow. As I was talking to another passenger I said the hardest thing for me was that I had to cancel my tee time for tomorrow. Yeah, first world problems I know. Unfortunately the little button on the app didn’t work. Probably because we had already boarded… The app helpfully suggested an 800 number to call to straighten out the problem. Unfortunately the sole purpose of the voice on the 800 number is to convince you that using delta.com or the app on your phone is really by far the better option than waiting on what was a very long hold queue due to extremely high call volume. Delta if you are listening this is an area for improvement in what I must admit is quite a good app under most circumstances.
I went up to ask the gate agent what we could do? If we simply walk away now can we rebook later tonight? first thing tomorrow? Can you release us so that we can rebook ourselves? Instead she got on her terminal and rebooked us for this morning at 8:55. Thanks helpful gate agent! I wish I had caught your name. Next stop light rail station!
The path to the light rail station at MSP involves two fairly long escalators. At the bottom of the first we were intercepted by transit police. Crap, I thought they have closed the light rail and we are going to have to wait hours for a very expensive Uber in this weather. Nope, just a short delay due to a suspicious object on the tracks. Maybe no more than 5 minutes, unless it really is a bomb. Luckily the bomb dog was back up the escalator in no time apparently having no interest in said suspicious object. To make a long story short we were home and ready for bed before they reopened the airport!
At 6:40 AM we begin to retrace our steps to the airport once again. This morning the sidewalks are actually worse than they were 16 hours ago.
Here we are on our way back to the light rail stations in the snow.
Back at the airport, we stop at the first kiosk we see to get new boarding passes which thankfully had our TSA PreCheck status on them! Then up to security. Man am I glad we have PreCheck! A stop at Caribou for some coffee and bagels and then down to the end of the G concourse. Flighty and Delta agree we are still on time, but it is snowing like crazy. We find some seats in the gate area and then realize that we are sitting next to someone we know! From Decorah Iowa! She and her husband are on their way to spend a month in Palm Springs. Chatting with them passes the time, and soon the agent announces pre-boarding – well it takes her a few tries as one of their mics makes them sound like the adults in the Charlie Brown TV shows – this is all looking too good to be true!
Soon enough we board but with all of the changes we have lost our nice aisle seats and are consigned to a middle and a window. The window is moderately interesting as we can see that about six inches of snow have accumulated on the wing! This is going to take some serious de-icing! As we are trying to get to our seats the nice lady on the aisle asks us to be careful as her cat is in a carrier under the seat! Hmmmm, I am extremely allergic to cats! The allergist at mayo said I am the most cat allergic patient he’s ever had. We have a short conversation about that and she is very needlessly apologetic (she didn’t know she would be seated next to me!). But she informs the flight attendant and they discuss an option of her moving across the aisle and up a row to a seat that hasn’t filled yet in an effort to put more distance between me and the cat. Although the flight is booked full it looks like there is definitely some room for maneuvering.
In an amazing stroke of luck, the flight attendant returns in a few minutes and asks if we would be willing to move back two rows and occupy exit row seats! Well that would certainly improve my odds of not finishing the flight with itchy eyes and wheezy lungs! And the nice cat lady gets a whole row to herself as a bonus.
After getting settled into our lovely exit row seats the pilot informs us there will be a short delay. We are waiting for a couple of connecting passengers, so please everybody stay in the seats you were assigned… Ummm, but the flight attendant said it was OK to move. A further delay was announced as the baggage carts are having a hard time getting around in the snow. Yes, indeed when you see one of the giant pushback tugs towing the baggage carts you know there are some real problems with traction.
Finally the boarding doors are closed, and we breath a big sigh of relief. We are warned that the waiting is not over, and de-icing and takeoff is still a ways in our future. In fact during the pushback process we apparently get stuck and we are rocked back and forth a few times before we finally get back far enough to fire up the engines. De-icing does take a lot of time! It turns out we had two coats, one to remove the ice and another to prevent more ice which turns the wings an interesting color green. That is to provide a visible signal of which parts of the wings have been treated and presumably will let them know when the chemicals are no longer doing their job, and reapplication is needed. Anyway, after de-icing we get to watch a parade. A parade of yellow vehicles plowing and brushing and throwing down all manner of chemicals on the runway to try to keep it safe for really large vehicles going hundreds of miles per hour that need to stop fast. You can kinda-sorta see them in this picture out out window…
We are second in line for takeoff for at least 15 minutes! I don’t see any planes landing, I see an SUV driving down the runway with flashing lights. I’m waiting for the announcement that we are going to have to return for more de-icing or even worse, return to our gate. But then the engines fire up and we begin to taxi to take our turn! As I look down the runway I realize that we are taking off blind! Visibility isn’t even good enough to see the far end of the runway, maybe not even halfway… and then the pilot does one of those power takeoff maneuvers when he stands on the brakes and revs the jet engines to get more power, like we are on some kind of aircraft carrier.
Seconds later we are hurtling down the runway into the snow and fog then clouds; eventually we break through and see some blue sky and are on our way! On our way to sunny Palm Springs, with no snow on the ground, and where our friends are surely complaining that it is only 64 degrees!
So long Minnesota… I’m seriously re-thinking my quick visit back in February! Will the grandkids hate me if we just FaceTime? Do I really need to go to Minneapolis to see the musical version of To Kill a Mockingbird? If I don’t see Minnesota until April can anyone blame me? Oh and the Wordle answer was LAYER, as in Ogers are like onions, as in always dress in. I’m going to call that nothing but skill.
New Instructor Dashboard
I’ve been working on a new instructor dashboard the last week using Plotly + Dash. Its taken a while to wrap my head around the declarative style, and to learn the ins and out of plotly. But I’m getting there. Let me know if you want a closer look and would like to give me feedback! In the meantime here is a preview.
Favorite photos of 2022
Inspired by the latest episode of Hemispheric Views, I decided to choose some of my favorite photos of the year. It is really hard.
From our hike in the Zion Narrows
From Antelope Canyon, I chose this because it was cool, and because our guide taught me some new tricks of iPhone photography! Do you see the Bison?
From our early morning start in Grand Teton National Park. I love the light in this one.
From our fall trip to the North shore. I just like the color of the moss looking out over Lake Superior.
From our driving trip going back to California at Cedar Breaks National Monument. An early snow against the red rocks was really cool.
And finally one of the many winter wonderland pictures I took after the great snowfall we had a couple weeks ago. I would not want to be standing on this spot when the wind gusts and blows all that snow down!
Shoutout to @canion, @burk, and @martinfeld, for a great podcast.