A big day for the lobster fishermen....

A hub of activity today in the Tignish area.  The lobster fishermen who have been out at sea since May 1st are facing cut off day today.  This means that all lobster traps must be lifted and all lobsters caught have to be declared and weighed in order to be paid for their products.

According to all we talked with, the local boys have had one of their best seasons for many years.  Today they are really scrambling to get everything in on time.  I assume the local fisheries and oceans employees are very "by the book" and will not allow any products to be declared past today's deadline.

We peeked inside one of the Co-op's storage areas and in the picture above, the storage tubs are full of lobsters and this locker area holds thousands of live lobsters ready for shipping.

We feel that we are quite lucky.  We not only fell into a great and friendly place to stay last night but a clear, warm, and sunny day to see the activity at the docks is a once in a year thing.

We're in Charletttown tonite for 2 days.  Hope to see the Canada Day parade tomorrow and just relax a couple of days.  We did drive thru Cavendish today and saw some of the "Our Annie of Green Gables" stuff ... bot a book for my grand-kids and now we are early into the hotel today.

Life is Good...

Across NB and onto PEI... feels like holidays!

Today we drove south from the Gaspe region in Quebec and right thru New Brunswick to PEI.  The scenery in Northern New Brunswick was great.. rugged with lakes and rivers and a gazillion trees.  We followed the Madapedia River where salmon fishing season just opened and took a few photos of fly fishermen fishing beside one of several covered bridges in the region.

We got to PEI and decided to find a hotel in Summerside and found that there was a huge HUGE biker rally there this weekend... no problem... we'll just drive to the next town and find something.  Well, I did manage to get a great pic of the Confederation Bridge with a huge potatoe field in the foreground.. and we did manage to find the nicest little hotel,.. we're the only guests in a convent hotel in Tignish which is almost at the end of the world in NW PEI... 

Had a great supper of wings and beer at the local legion and now enjoying the huge common room watching CFL football and downloading pics..

No...  haven't done any golfing yet but.... Yeah.... Life is Good!

more miles... nice miles...

We hit the trail this morning.  Took a ferry across the St Lawrence and of course the Chateau Frontenac was the predominant landmark so one more photo of the Chateau.

The drive today followed closely with the St Lawrence where we saw several "salties" probably bound for duluth as well as more beautiful green fields and huge farms.  The last pic above is our hotel for tonite.. a very nice little place and our dinner of fresh seafood and (Julie had meat pie).. was great!

We made it to a town called St Flavie in the Gaspe area and tomorrow we hit south thru New Brunswick and probably onto PEI by tomorrow afternoon... although we lose another hour to ADT but that's no big deal.  We will probably stay on the island for 3-4 days before our planned ferry to Nova Scotia and up the Cabot Trail.

In spite of the rain, our spirits are high and dry and....

Life is Good!

Beautiful Quebec City...

So Jewels and I headed out early today to take in the sights of old Quebec.  It was raining and wet when we started but we had a very nice sunny day to enjoy the many beautiful sights of this city.

From the boardwalk at the Chateau Frontenac to the street scenes in the old city, all was wonderful.  Even caught a mixed relationship happening between a couple of wet and zealous leaves!!

Quiet dinner tonite.. four sore and tired feet when we got back to our hotel..

Life is Good!

OK.. here we go with the Jim signs...

In my travels I have noticed a lot of businesses that are "Jim's" whatever.  I have decided to take as many pics as I can of the businesses that have been named after me.

I don't intend to post the all.  I'll just keep them in a separate file and post the really interesting ones.

Like todays.  Number one pic is a very appropriate photo.  Those who know me well know I have developed a habit of stopping along my trail to make a deposit at my favorite ...uhhhhh... place of rest.

So, here's number one... more to follow.

Life is Good!

On holidays out EAST!

The past couple of days we've been driving... long hard days on the road and tonite we're in a lovely  spot, Quebec City.

Took a few pics along the way ... a few on the south shore of Lake Superior.  It's quite different than the Duluth side with sandy beaches and looks a bit more like a regular lake and not the damn Ocean.

Today after two days of the Canadian Shield with rocks and pine, we entered farming country and it was a nice change.  We drove thru several smaller towns and although they looked like they were on the "poor side",  everything was always very neat and well tended to.  The farm houses and barns were colorful, painted in neat colors, and surrounded with colorful gardens.

We drove thru Ottawa and although we didn't stop we got a great view of the parliament buildings and included a photo of Canada's capital buildings.

It pissed rain all afternoon and evening.  We have only one day planned in Quebec City and are hoping for a nice day tomorrow to take in the sights of this charming city.

Life is GOOD....

Chester Creek isn't a lazy little creek anymore!

Went over to Chester to check out the trail and the creek.  The creek has become a raging river and it's just pounding down the bowl.

We took a little walk up the trail to the first bridge.. kind of scary as there are washouts and you wonder how the trail is standing up..

Live is Good!

mort pics from the rain storm

Jewels and I took a drive around the neighborhood this morning.  So scary what the rain has done to the roads.  Makes you wonder as you drive along just how solid the base is.  We're getting more warnings for extreme thunderstorms heading our way again today.

Life is tuff sometimes!

Big BIG rains...

It's been raining here almost steady the past 12 hours.  Roads are closed, sinkholes everywhere.  The Zoo is closed and animals have gotten loose.  Tee hee.. found a seal playing on a street near the downtown area..

The pic above is a sinkhole at an intersection just down the road from our house.  Jay Cooke park where we hiked just the other day is closed and roads washed out.  I'm going to try get out and take some photos later today..

Life is still good!

Hiking in Jay Cooke Park Yesterday

Jewels and I got ambitious yesterday.  The water was running high on the St Louis River and it was such a nice day (+90F) so we decided to chew off a long hike (for us) at Jay Park.

Of course we got started in the heat of the day around noon and the trail was fairly demanding considering it's rated as a moderate trek.  A lot of low wet spots, a couple of places where the trail collapsed, and so very hot.  Total trek was about 6 miles and we were both dragging our butts when we finally arrived back at the parking lot almost 4 hours later.

But it was fun and the scenery magnificent and the company was great.

Life is Good!

Nice to be back in Duluth

First day home in Duluth.. absolutely gorgeous morning.  We drove out to Brighton Beach and just sat on the rocks and soaked up some D vitamins from the sun.  Lovely way to start the day... we'll bring some coffee next time.

Got the lawn mower started later today and got a start on the many "little" chores available for the next few days...

Very nice to be home... Life is Good!

Back Home.. finally!

Well.. after a great visit with my kids on Vancouver Island I finally made it back home to Duluth.  A long long long drive but I had a great time.

Thought I'd re post a few pics off Jill's facebook.  They turned out so nice and it just makes me feel good to go over them.

Looks like the first couple of weeks of June will involve working up a sweat.  Lots of yard work waiting for me when I got back.  Looking forward to get some dirt under my fingernails... Yeah Right!!

Life is Good!