on Thanksgiving Sunday...

Hello, from Ormstown, Quebec... On Friday, a travel day, all worked out well... Flew via Porter Airlines, thro' Toronto, on to Montreal where Brent and Nicole were waiting for me... Yesterday, Nicole took me to Blair's for lunch which is an apple orchard with a great big restaurant featuring homemade everything, yum!!! Out back are picnic tables with live music, quite a popular spot with both Americans (very near the US border, New York state) and Canadians (all the way from Montreal, about an hour to hour and a half's drive)... I have never had corn/tomato soup so tried it, yum with homemade buns, double yum!!, finishing off with apple crisp, hard choice with all the choice of pies, again all homemade... Great place featuring all kinds of preserves, pickles, maple syrup, honey, pies, buns, wish I lived closer to take advantage... Mid afternoon, two of B & N's daughters arrived from Montreal, very nice to meet Meredith, met Andrea in Nfld in 2013 when meeting Nicole for the first time... Nicole made Boeuf Bourguignon last night, it was exceptional, yum! yum! We enjoyed a quiet evening... Today after a lazy morning, I joined Brent, Nicole and their girls for a Thanksgiving get together, with Brent's side of the family for a pot luck, in a local church hall with about 50 people attending... Good food, felt very welcome... I just returned from a walk around Ormstown, now enjoying my first beer of the day... After all that food for lunch, very light for dinner, huh?? Well, peeps, tomorrow at 6:00 am Brent is driving me into Montreal to catch a flgt to YVR departing at 8:40 so this time tomorrow I will be home... I plan on taking transit to B C Ferries at Tsawwassen, walking on, then on the other end public transit to home... This has been an excellent holiday :) but time to get back to reality, first shift at Canadian Tire is 9:00 am Wednesday... Hope all is well with all of you, thanx for ta king the time to keep up to date wit me aND my travels... Helen

Gosh, 1 more day then back to Canada...

Happy Thursday, everyone... Yesterday, kind of got off the track of investigating museums, etc... I am tuckered out so took the day off... Went to Union Station to see about the river cruise, deciding to go today, then hopefully attend a performance at Kennedy Centre, wish me luck!! Since the first hockey game between Capitols/Boston was yesterday went over to the Capitol One Centre to inquire about ticket prices... $296. USD was the cheapest price (ouch!), also since the centre has new ice, it was really cold in there, not dressed for it (83 outside),so would have meant either going back to the hotel to change for the 7:30 start or buying a hoodie, decided against it... Understand there was a great celebration plus the Cap's won, yahoo!! Since in the area, walked over to Ford Theatre which is right beside Madame Taussaud's, decided to do both... Madame Taussaud's has all the president's plus a few celebrities, really enjoyed it... I walked over to the White House, always lots of black SUV's plus helicopters about... I must mention, the pictures in the media showing people just outside the fence - wrongo!! In the front of the building the viewing is from the street, about a long block away, same thing at the back and many, many, many Homeland men/women about, plus serious fencing... Also, always entourages of police and black SUV's always going by, lights/sirens flashing... Quite interesting... I did my 1st shopping at Off Sak's and pretty much just had something to eat then back to the hotel, think I was in bed around 8:00... Today will pack before heading out, then hopefully spend time at the mall, one more look at the Washington Monument, making my way to where the river cruise starts then the Kennedy Centre, should be a relaxing day... Observations: Washington is a beautiful city, very clean, very helpful people, both tour guides, police and private citizens... The Metro is very clean, and very light, think it is only about 40 years old, seems 1976 rings a bell, maybe for the 200 year birthday/anniversary celebrations ?!? I am staying in Arlington at BWI, shuttles every half hour on the hour either to a Metro station or the airport which is very near, great hotel, clean with breakfast... I have always felt safe and gosh, am enjoying being here... Well, this will probably be my last post from these great U S of America so until Canada... Happy Thanksgiving to all of you heading out to be with family over the long weekend... Helen

Happy Wednesday :)

Hi guys and gals... On Monday got back on the Hop On/Hop Off bus, first getting off at The Lincoln Memorial, what a powerful monument, great view of the mall and of course, on a hot sunny day... The Lincoln Monument, so far, is a hi-lite, gosh!! Got back on the bus, now off to Arlington Cemetery to see the final resting place of the Kennedy family, again very powerful, off by themselves overlooking Arlington Cemetery, did not realize the property was so large... The next stop I got off at was very near the White House so with The Washington Hotel right there decided to cool off with a beer and a bite to eat... According to tour guides, the Washington Hotel was/is?? a place where powerful Washington people would meet friends??? for a little down time, if you get my drift, again, according to tour guides... While there, so many black SUV's, windows blacked out drove by, kind of exciting!! Back on the bus, went back to stop #1, Union Station, to do a little shopping, grab a coffee then wait for the night tour... At 7:30 we headed off and saw Washington at night, how beautiful!! The Capital, White House, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the Mall, also all the buildings of the Smithsonian, gosh, I enjoyed it and to be cooler, what a blessing!! Yesterday, headed off on my own first stop - Canadian Embassy, boy - disappointing!!! I walked over to the building of The National Museum of American History and spent the entire morning and afternoon there... How well done, so many topics, items, videos and very, very interesting... I saw Edith and Archie's chair, too cool!! My feet were getting tired and I was museumed out so took advice of people I met on the night tour and took the subway to King Street/Old Town of Alexandria for dinner, such a quaint little town, very enjoyable to sit on a patio, sipping a beer while having dinner... Would highly recommend visiting the town... Then back to my hotel... Today will see about the river cruise (part of the Hop On/Hop Off), maybe see about the 1st game of the Stanley Cup winners - The Capitals and possibly John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts, but we will see what I get up to, so say tuned, all... Helen

From Philly to TrumpTown...

Hello, from Arlington, Va... Back to Philly... On Thursday went on a Hop On/Hop Off bus tour, in the city of love/brotherly love... What a warm sunny day to be sitting in an open air trolly... I went all around the city, City Hall, Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross House, East Penn and of course the statue of Rocky, to name a few hi-lites... Rocky is no longer on the top step of The Museum of Art, the powers that be argued that it was not art so much as a commercial happening so Rocky was taken away... The city fought to bring him back so now he sits in a designated area, street level, right beside the museum... The skyline is fabulous, so many flowers all throughout the city with the beginning of the beautiful autumn colour in the trees... After completing the tour, had lunch at a neighbourhood pub before viewing Eastern State Penitentiary, built in 1829... One of AL Capone's homes, just for a year, appr. 100 years later either late 1920's or early 30's... Sure was something to see, slowly the city is restoring the property, lots to go and a huge area... I viewed Alcatraz on my 65th birthday, thought that was bad until this... Don’t know why the prisons interest me but they do... On the way back to the hotel, our trolly bus got hit by a transit bus in the middle of rush hour, ouch!! No one was hurt but we were in the middle of the city so the horns started honking, actually was quite exciting... All passengers got off making their way to wherever... My concern was to make it back to the hotel in time to set up tix for Friday, made it... Friday I was picked up at the hotel to tour Amish Country at 8:00 which involved 2 1/2 hrs travel on Amtrak to Lancaster County where I joined a few Utah ladies also on tour... We first viewed a film right from the beginning in Switzerland, didn't know that was the originating place... There were several screens, almost a 3D effect, great filming... After we were shown a one room school room (took me back to my first 4 grades 'cause that's what was small town Saskatchewan), then a typical home, very plain but boy very serviceable, no electricity but running hot/cold water, so many pieces oF furniture were made, even games because no TV, radio, internet, etc... Found it all really interesting, then time for lunch... After we had a tour of the countryside where Amish, Mormon and English (thats what Amish call us) live peacefully in a beautiful countryside, was really impressed of the beauty of the rolling countryside and all yards/farms so well maintained, very neat 'n tidy!! We stopped at a shop that offered baking, lots of quilted items, Halloween decorations, etc... Then back to the city, bid the Utah gals goodbye and off on the subway to my first, ever, major league ball game, wahoo!!! Phillies playing the Atlanta Braves... Had no trouble on the subway, got to the game, even got a certificate of my first Phillies game... Gosh, it was too cool to be there, they didn't win, tho' but that didn't bother me just super to be in the moment, wahoo!!! Saturday was a travel day, once again travelling on Amtrak, boy is that ever a sweet way to travel!! Arrived in Washington early afternoon... Union station is fabulous!!, a mall within itself but the building is as cool as Grand Central Station in NYC as is Philadelphia Penn, grand old buildings!! Grabbed a cab to this hotel in Arlington passing by the Capital bldg, a glimpse of the White House, and The Pentagon, geezlouise!! Once arriving here took care of some housekeeping, namely washing clothes in the laundry facilities, clean clothes = priceless!! Also walked to the nearest grocery store and stocked up on beer, teehee!! Today, Sunday, took the subway back to Union Station for a Hop On/Hop Off Tour... I have been touring all day and currently toured out, hahaha!! My goodness, saw Georgetown, the Capital Building, Ford Theatre, White House, Arlington Cemetery, the Mall, Washington Monument, the Pentagon, again, just so many of the actual buildings that up until this morning had been pictures, am in seventh heaven!! I have a 2 day tour so tomorrow will actually get off the bus and do some close ups before investigating the Smithsonian, rode by all those buildings today so am looking forward to Tues., Wed., & Thurs... I have also signed up for a night tour, for tomorrow and also a river tour on the Potomac sometime this week, was closed today and tomorrow because of flooding... I have to say even tho' I am enjoying this, am getting a little homesick for my quiet little life in Victoria and I miss my car, what a weenie, huh?? The weather has been brilliant, very hot, glad I brought light clothes... Philly was hot and humid, clothes sticking to you, yuck!, here hot but not humid, think I got sunburned today... This trip is absolutely fabulous, worth waiting for but my Visa card is about to melt, help!! hahahaha!!! Geezlouise, another long blog but gotta' tell you I have been doing a lot and havin' fun, yahoo!! Stay tuned... Helen

Now this is more like it :)

Hello, again... Remember the title, okay?? Because Brent had been having trouble with his knee and we were certainly doing a lot of walking, it just got so worse, he and Nicole decided they had better get back to Canada and have it tended to so decided to leave for Ormstown first thing on Tuesday morning... He insisted they buy me fare on Amtrak, not necessary but insisted so before venturing off to the "summer cottages" at Newport drove over to the train station in Providence to do it, then on to Newport... I will give you the link, which is Newportmansions.org if you want to look them up... We viewed The Breakers, Marble House (had lunch in the Chinese Tea House), then carried on to Rosecliff finishing up at The Elms, fabulous, fabulous, fabulous and very decadent, wow!! Give the site a look, if ever in the vicinity, please do yourself a favour and check them out... This is and has been possible by The Preservation Society of Newport County who being very considerate, organized a shuttle service for whoever wants to park their car at the Tourist Info Booth and hop on/hop off... Most definitely worth it... Did I mention I really liked Salem, geezlouise!! You say witch like it's a bad thing! haha!! Anywho, Brent and Nicole dropped me at the train station 6:00 am, Tuesday, and off they set... Received an email they got home safe and sound without incident, doctors appt today, I believe... I boarded Amtrak for appr. a 5 hr journey, settling in with a coffee and the paper... I have taken the train before, really enjoy it, great way to travel... We even went thro' NYC Penn Station, almost got off there, haha!! Love New Yawk!! Quite a few passengers got on and a gentleman sat beside me, we got to talking and found out he is a professional live theatre actor, his wife directs and acts... He recently played Pete Rose, disgraced ball player because of gambling, at a theatre in Dayton which he follows up with, "Don't bother putting Dayton on your bucket list, not worth it, nothing there", haha!! He is going into rehearsals in Washington playing King John at the Folger Theatre, opening in a month... Found him interesting to talk to and you gotta know the conversation came around to Trump... I think I represented Canada well having a informed conversation about US politics, held my own, that's for sure... Time to get off at Philadelphia Penn Station, what a gorgeous building, wow, took time to just stand there taking it all in... I must mention that I changed the reservation to a more central area as do not have B & N's vehicle so hopped in a cab heading for the Penrose Hotel on Penrose Avenue... As soon as I went in had the feeling this is not as advertised... That morning before leaving Providence checked my email and found the hotel had emailed me informing me the elevators are not working, this is a 12 floor bldg... I had replied requesting a 1sr or 2nd floor... I registered, one of the guys behind the counter carried my bag up to my room on the 2nd floor which meant walking up 3 floors as no rooms on the 1st floor... The room was awful, scary really, very bare bones but needed a lot of TLC to bring it up to standards... I tried to turn on the tap, the handle ended up in the sink, walked over to the tub, no water, yuck!! After taking a look around, decided to try and resurrect my previous reservation which I did so phoned down to the desk telling them I just couldn't stay there... I was told since I booked with Booking,com I would have to get their okay to cancel which I did, thank heavens... When all was said and done, asked to have a cab ordered to take me across the river to my hotel in New Jersey, was told cabbies don't like to take customers over there, in the mean time the heavens had opened up sending torrential rain, just sheeting, wow!! Forgot to mention that when getting off the train it was like stepping into a sauna, the humidity is wicked, still is... After a few phone calls found a cabbie willing to take me to my hotel in N J still in the monsoons and by this time rush hour to beat!! This hotel was so much better in appearance, a Best Western, my room was super, everything was good until Chris, behind the desk, when asked where a person could get a drink with dinner (a badly needed drink) he replied that liquor licenses are not very common in that area - too expensive, to which I replied, "You're kidding, of course!", he wasn't but called a cab for me suggesting Cafe Hollywood... Off I went and really enjoyed my meal and the 2 beer I inhaled, geezlouise, long day!! Nothing fancy but enjoyed the Caesar salad and the Tomato/Vodka Sauce with Pennè... I have to say because of being in N J paying respect to The Sopranos and The Godfather, the "gravy", not sauce was excellent... Then a cab back to the hotel, same company and from what I gathered, having teeth was not on the requirements list for the drivers... This morning, cancelled that reservation, way in the middle of nowhere and made one where I am now, Philadelphia 201 Hotel... When I went for some toast at breakfast which is supplied by Best Western, there was a family finishing up their breakfast and when the man walked by I said "This is something I have never done before but would you be driving back to Philadelphia??" To my surprise, after explaining my situation said, absolutely!,but let us run our daughter to the airport first... A couple of hours later Rick, Janet and I headed off but they suggested we go by Dover, state capital of Delaware, which we did, great afternoon!! Rick and Janet live in the bay area of San Francisco and have driven across the states on an extended holiday... The family business is an electrical business that was started by their family in 1961, very nice people and very kind to me... They dropped me off at the hotel and when I registered, don't know how it happened but was given access to "preferred guest" privileges including free access to the 26th floor where happy hour was on the house, pretty nifty, huh?? I gotta' say after that Penrose Hotel fiasco feels real good, therefore "Now this is more like it"... I have already been shopping, had happy hour and a light dinner in the restaurant down stairs before blogging, with beer in tow, haha!! Gosh, just walking thro' the streets, love being here, hearing the sound of the honking horns, just like NYC... When on the 26th floor, great view of the city, wouldn't you know, a thunder and lightening storm, wahoo!! So on to tomorrow for hopefully a city tour, maybe Amish Country, Liberty Bell, hugging Rocky and by gosh, may be able to go to a ball game on Friday, they are in town so tomorrow morning will go down to the concierge and see what I can arrange... Boy, this has been long, hope you are still awake, haha!! I will keep you posted... Helen

Hello from Providence, R I... Driving to Boston was a day of travelling, stopping in at Applebee's for lunch, then on to Boston in good time... All the accommodation is Best Western, great room, in Boston, but was happy I was with Brent and Nicole because while a great hotel, not such a nice location... For dinner we took a cab to Wahlbergers, by Fenway Park, unfortunately no game, darn!! Wahlbergers is a sports bar, not what I expected, thought it would be more of a restaurant than fast food, but the burger was really great... The hotel ran shuttles to "T" subway so the next morning off we started for a day in downtown Boston, just perfect weather... We purchased tix for the trolley tour, very informative, then went on a harbour tour, sweet to see from the water... While on the harbour tour, the Constitution was doing a "turning" exercise (to keep apoearance the same, re:sunshine on her) when she fired the cannons at least 10 times... That was a special treat, even the narrator had not been that close during the cannons being fired... At Quincy Market we had lunch at "Cheers", super spot then the three of us split up for destinations unknown, haha!! Brent took the trolley to the harbour and went on a PT boat, Nicole went shopping and so did I... Quincy Market is a fabulous spot, food & drink, lots of tourista items, so much to see in such a short time, also lots of buskers... When I was travelling in 2013 was there for the lighting of the Christmas tree that the city of Halifax has been sending ever since the great fire in the Halifax Harbour, early 1900s, (a lot of Bostonians, firemen and citizens came to help Halifax), was great to be back there especially on a warmer day... For dinner we decided to walk to Little Italy, in the north end, very first settlement of Boston... We had a meal of pasta after enjoying the open market on Hanover Street, even live entertainment, quite cool!! After a super day, headed back to the hotel... Gosh, Montezuma's revenge happened for me, spending most of the night in the bathroom, narrowed down the cause to probably to Cheers, hate to say it, but can't think it would be anything else, Enuf said... We all were to go to Harvard/Cambridge the next day but still feeling at a loss without a bathroom, Brent and Nicole headed off... I stayed pretty much in bed until early afternoon. Feeling better for dinner the 3 of us went to Olive Garden... We are certainly hitting all the familiar spots aren't we, huh?? haha!! An early night 'cause we are driving to Salem, then on to Providence for 2 nights... Salem was too cool, loved it!!! We took an hours trolley tourof the town, learned so much about Salem then toured the Salem Witch Museum, also an hours show, I bought way too many articles, love the saying: You say witch like it is a bad thing!!, now have a tee with the saying on it, double sweet!! It turns out no witches were burned to death but 19 were hanged, 1 man crushed to death by bolders piled on his chest... 1692 was the only year fatalities happened but the term "witch" continues today especially around halloween... Hopefully I will be able, one day, to return to putsy along going in all the shops, super town, loved being there... This afternoon headed off to Providence where we are presently... So far a great trip, enjoying immensely!! Tomorrow of to Newport to view estates, The Breakers built by the Vanderbilts, turn on the 1900s so will catch you up after we have made the trip... 'til the next time... Helen

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Hi, all... (from Ormstown, Quebec) Back to the beginning... I left my condo at 3:15 am on the 18th, no, I didn't go to bed just watched TV until leaving, to catch the shuttle at 3:45 am taking me to YYJ for my 6:00 am flgt to Calgary (+3, ouch), then on to Montreal... During the Calgary/Montreal flgt (3hrs :30 min) I treated myself to a "Bistro Box" containing baked corn crackers, 3 types of cheeses, red pepper jelly, mixture of dried cranberries, chocolate and sunflower seeds washing it down with some Prosecco, teehee!! We arrived a whole half hour early, shock, shock!! Nicole was waiting at the luggage carousel, we joined Brent curbside and off we went... Great catching up with them, had a great salmon dinner then Helen went to bed, great trip, absolutely... Today we met Brent’s brother, Yves in Montreal, he proceeded to drive us around the city... We first went to neighbourhoods, very treed, with outdoor curving staircases, streets full of curvy staircases on the outside, (to save living space inside the buildings)... Every multi-unit building had to allow a green space area in front of the building, way ahead of the Green Party, huh?? Then, we went to Yves (pronounced Eve) favourite bagel shop Fairmont Bagels, my goodness, nothing but bagels with customers lined out the door (Leonard Cohen's neighbourhood, at one time)... We waited in line for warm bagels, d - e - l - i - c - i - o - u - s!!! Oh my goodness!! Prior to arriving I told the three of them my conversation with a lady when I was here in 2013 about who have the best bagels, Montreal or New York City, guess what the consensus was?? both with the 2013 lady and N, B & Y... We then drove to Mount Royal walking around Beaver Lake, very picturesque, at the top of park which in the winter is excellent tobogganing, even a man made ice rink with a pavilion to leave your boots and after to get a hot chocolate, sweet!! Further on we came across a chalet which has a fabulous lookout of downtown Montreal and with N, B & Y input, now have an idea of all the skyscrapers as well as the historical, religious and corporate buildings... It was nice to hear the history and also was nice to be outside walking on a beautiful autumn day with the very beginning of the changing of the colours on the deciduous trees... We then headed back downtown for lunch at Ruebens, a super spot and apparently on hockey game nights, the popular choice for a beverage, or two, as well as some good Montreal style smoked meat... With my order really wanted some Poutine - which was super... After lunch drove down to old Montreal, walking the cobble stoned streets, fabulous!! Had done that in 2013, was nice to be back... Then on back to Ormstown for a quiet night, with a few beer, haha!! On to Boston tomorrow, stay tuned... h