Blogs from North America - page 23

October 24, Tuesday Today was a lots of walking and exploring day – chilly, like 50, but sunny for much of the day. NO RAIN, that’s really all that matters. We enjoyed a lie in – the bed is very comfortable! Till about 7:30 ish, and were off on a 4.5 mile walk. Both coats, hat and gloves were needed to start with, much less to end! It was probably a mile too long, but at least there was only about 450’ change in elevation. It mostly followed the river, which was nice. LOTS of mountain bike trails off to the sides, but we sedately followed the biking, walking, cross country trail. When it’s snowing, this entire place must be hopping indeed. There’s much more to do than ski, obviously. Only a few chickadees and a ... read more

Savannah, Georgia is sublime. There have been a handful of places that I’ve been reluctant to leave on this trip. I was heartbroken to leave Savannah. What is so marvelous about this small Southern city? Forsyth park, Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room, Bonaventure Cemetery, E. Shavers Bookstores (both of them), Bull Street, Riverfront, Doki Doki, Leopolds, Slyders, SCAD, Tybee Beach, Tequila & Tacos, The Wayne Mansion, Vintage & Thrift Stores... The moss laden trees lining street after street of houses, from very small charming bungalows to mansions that would rival any in California. The city has managed to maintain the famed southern hospitality without seeming too sweetly hospitable. The modernity of Savannah doesn't overshadow the old fashioned appeal. We have been to a couple of dozen towns and cities on this trip and without a moment's hesitation, ... read more

We were away from our lovely spacious Montreal flat by 8:15, fortunately heading away from the main flow of traffic. Within 30 mins we were out of the city and into the calmer countryside. As we drove northwest towards the national park, we realized that we were indeed late for the leaves, but the tamaracks were still brilliant. Kent Ohio has some of these artic wonders – deciduous but with needles. A local told us that the recent rains and winds made everything fall a bit early. Once at the park we dutifully paid our entrance, even though no one was there. The roads were sometimes paved, sometimes not, but were a lot better than the state parks in upper Michigan where we go looking for petosky stones. We were soon rewarded by seeing a Rough ... read more

Another long day of adventures in French-speaking Montreal. We didn’t rush to awake, which made for a lovely lie-in. We walked the 3 blocks to the closest Metro station, Cadillac, and figured out how to ask for 2 day passes, and which line and platform and even negotiated the change of lines half way in. We were about 8 stops to the east of where we wanted to go in the Old Town, also called the Old Port, full of cobble-stoned streets and shops that didn’t look very busy. The Basilica was busy with morning mass until 12:30. A kindly lady saw us reading our maps, asked where we wanted to go and gave us a hint. We walked past the Basilica and just wandered a few circles in the Old Town until it was after ... read more

For about the past six months, we’ve been living and working in Aurora, the second largest city in Illinois, just 35 miles west of Chicago. When most people think of Chicago, they think of the United States' fourth largest city with about 3 million inhabitants. Toss in the total number of people that live in the suburbs and that total swells to about 10 million. We are going to save all that for the next blog and spend our time here describing some of the unique and cool things we did outside of this area. We’ve managed to do a lot of exploring and certainly do not want to provide a blow-by-blow of every weekend, but did want to talk about some of the highlights. If you are in the area visiting and venture away from ... read more