The finished kitchen, dining room

In October we hired a contractor to redo our dining room and kitchen. What started out as an enhanced dining room with a closet for coats and boots, turned out to be much more.

It was finished just before Christmas and we are enjoying the new look.

A few pictures are here.

Long Point

We, for the first time ever, managed to go to Long Point in late October. It was a glorious day with temperatures reaching 26c with nice breezes over Lake Erie.

Joe went into the chilly waters of 15c but I stayed on shore. We walked the shoreline and just hung out on the sand spit.

I took a few pictures and they are here on Picasa.

Vancouver Victoria and beyond

We have been travelling and have found some beauty in Vancouver, Victoria, Merritt, Golden and stops in between.. We are now back in Banff where we visited the Banff Springs Hotel and stayed another night in the city.

Pictures are on Picasa:

Vancouver

Victoria

Radium Hot Springs

Banff Springs Hotel

Clearwater and Kelowna

We travelled to Clearwater where we stayed in a resort off the main road. I really mean; off. It was a dirt road, fine the first day because it was dry, but the second day it had rained and got very muddy. However, our accommodation at the Alpine Meadows resort was worth the drive. It was on several acres of land if not hundreds. There were several cottages that were likely built in the last 2 - 3 years. The property had a lake, hot tub and picnic and bbq areas.

We left the following morning and went about 10 km. in the mud to a river crossing with a barge that could take only 2 cars at a time. The road to this barge was very twisting and turning and was high above the valley below. Lots of hair-pin turns.

We are now in Kelowna, a pretty little city on Lake Okanogan.

We are about to leave now for Vancouver and will report about that later.

Pictures of Clearwater

Pictures of Kelowna

Miscellaneous Pictures

Western Trip 2012

Joe, Warren and I are making our way to Vancouver and Victoria. We headed out on Wednesday on a flight from Breslau to Calgary. After spending a day in Calgary, we rented a car and are on our travels through the mountains.

Day 2 was in Banff where we stayed in a very comfortable room with 3 queen beds. Perfect for 3 big guys.

Day 3 took us to Lake Louise for lunch. We walked around the beautiful lake and hotel. Outstanding. This was followed by Jasper where we are planning on taking one of those trams joing two mountains.

I have uploaded some of our pictures thus far on Picasa.

Calgary

Banff

Lake Louise

I will be posting more pictures as our travels continue.

Tobermory and Bruce Peninsula

Again this year, we went to the pretty little town at the end of the Bruce Peninsula. The weather certainly was  exceptional and the company of my brother Warren, his friend, MaryAnn and my partner, Joe was great.

We spent a few hours a Halfway Log Dump just after checking into our hotel room at Blue Bay Hotel. The 'dump' is just as it has looked since I started going up there in the early 80's. There are many more people than back then but the park is a national treasure. After a picnic lunch we walked down the trail to Georgian Bay. Warren and I both went into the water and put on our snorkels. The water was cool but refreshing.

Back at Tobermory we went to a very popular restaurant and motel (Grandview) for a meal. Warren and MaryAnn had the salmon and Joe had the whitefish, I settled for the pecan chicken breast. We had beer and good conversations.

The next day, Warren and MaryAnn took a ride on the Glass Bottom Boat for 2 hours while Joe and I went to Singing Sand Beach part of the Bruce Peninsula National Park. I haven't been to this park before but it is a long beach of sand and the water is very shallow. It is great for families with young children.

Even though this destination comes up every year, it is still a great place to visit.

More pictures of this excursion and others are on Picasa.

Our new kitties

We've adopted a couple of kittens from my brother and sister-in-law (Randy and Patty RBPaints). We named them TicTac and Toe.

Here is a picture of them.

More pictures here.

We've had them for over a week and they are growing very fast. I'm sure they're a couple of pounds heavier today than last week.

Don't be fooled that the black cat (Toe) is totally black. He has grey and brown streaks through his coat. Almost like black on black.

42nd Street

Last week we went to the Stratford Shakespearean Festival to see Cynthia Dale in 42nd Street. A very entertaining songs and dance play.

Niagara-on-the-lake

For the second year in a row, we went to Niagara-on-the-lake and enjoyed the town and the play. This year we saw the musical; 'Ragtime.' The story and music was exceptional. We stayed at a very cosy bed and breakfast about 4 blocks from the festival theatre. It was very charming the hosts were very accommodating.

As always, I have posted some pictures from the excursion on Picasa.

Port Colborne

Twice a year I spend time with my brothers. This spring we made a change and went to Port Colborne and rented a cottage/home on Lake Erie.

Pictures on Picasa.

Naples Botanical Gardens

We visited the botanical gardens in Naples and we were impressed. The flora of the area is very tropical or sub-tropical with themes of Brazil and the Caribbean.

Most of the photos shown in Picasa are by Joe and they are quite impressive.

Key West

We visited Key West for the second time in 32 years. The pictures are worth a thousand words.

The homes are very typical of a tropical paradise with many verandahs and screened porches.

We rented an electric car to see the city in style. Lots of people and vehicle traffic to keep your eyes moving.

The flora is very attractive with lots of blooms.

My pictures are on this site.

Trip to Florida

We started our journey on March 12 and made it down to Wytheville Virginia the first day. The next day we were in Myrtle Beach where we met up with my brother and sister-in-law. We spent several days in the sunshine and warmth of the beach and went to the gardens of Brookgreen.

Our next stop was Charleston S. C. and we took in the plantation of Boone Hall, the city of Charleston and a buggy ride through the old town.

We spent a night in Wildwood Florida before arriving at our destination of Naples.

I have uploaded some pictures of Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Naples on Picasa.

Toronto

We took a small mini holiday to Toronto on Monday this week. We stayed at one of the most luxurious hotels close to the lake shore. The Fairmont Royal York is a very beautiful hotel right downtown. The room was overlooking the train station and part of Lake Ontario was in view.

We were in Toronto for Winterlicious. The restaurant that we chose was the Beir Markt on the Esplanade. The meal was exceptional with a 3 course meal for $35.

We took in the Barrel Works just south of St Lawrence Market, which was interesting what can be done with a very old factory district.

We found that one night on the town was a nice break from the daily routine and would do it again.

More pictures on Picasa.

Punta Cana

We just returned from a very exciting, fun, leisurely, sun-filled trip to the Dominican Republic. Except for a 3 hour delay in getting on the plane due to mechanical problems, we were off to the beaches of Punta Cana.

The temperatures soared to around 28c each day but with the cool waters of the Caribbean Sea and the crystal clear waters of the pool, we survived the heat.

We took an ecological discovery of a park just outside our compound that featured beaches, parks, golf courses and a iguanas. This was all taken in while we rode on Segways.

It was the first time for all of us to travel to the tropics and it was truly beautiful. Lots of sand beaches and lush tropical forests.

It may very well be an annual pilgrimage.

More pictures of our excursion are on Pacasa.

First adventure of the year

Well, we're just about to leave. Our adventure south begins shortly.