"Unforgettable, that's what you are Unforgettable, though near or far" Nat "King" Cole got us off to a velvet start today as we headed out of Halifax for Prince Edward Island. First, a note about Halifax that I left out yesterday. On December 6, 1917, an ammunition ship blew up in Halifax harbor after colliding at slow speed with another ship. THe collision started a fire and the ship drifted out of control to the area of Pier 6, then exploded with the force of about 2400 metric tons of TNT, the largest man-made explosion prior to the development of nuclear weapons ( the "Little Boy" bomb dropped on Hiroshima was give a yield of about 16,000 tons of TNT, while the "Fat Man" dropped Nagasaki yielded about 21,000 tons). The effect, occurring immediately next to ... read more

"Everything I do I do it for you" With Bryan Adams starting us off on our journey, we headed out from St. John to Hopewell ROcks, one of the most common places from which to view the famous tides of the Bay of Fundy. Since childhood, I have wanted to see this natural phenomenon, so my bucket list just got a little smaller. THe Bay of Fundy is a long, narrow bay situated between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The tides here are traditionally considered the highest in the world, with the highest die ever recorded being 70.1 feet during a gale which occurred during a spring tide. More commonly, the tides average about 45 feet vertical range at the Minas Basin in the extreme northeast of the bay. Twice a day, tidal forces move over ... read more

"Give me reasons to believe That you would do the same for me" We had to backtrack a couple of miles to get some blood pressure medication for Jan, then with bass drum thumping and Philip Phillips slashing his guitar we were Gone, Gone, Gone to Maine. We deliberately took a slight detour to take the road through Smugglers Notch and Stowe which Men's Journal had just listed as one of the 20 most thrilling rides in America. It was beautiful, but totally devoid of thrills. I should re-write their article from my own experiences (driving over 17 miles coming down from King's Canyon without once touching the gas is one I might list, or the one lane road along the ridgeline in Grand Staircase-Escalante, or the road BEYOND Hana, or the West Maui Mountain road ... read more

With Betty programmed for the Visitors' Center in Concord, and with banjoes wailing as Mumford and Son promised to wait for us, we headed out of our hotel for Concord, site of the start of the American Revolution and nexus for the transcendentalist movement in literature. With many places closed at this relatively early time on Sunday morning, we started our visit with Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Buried there in are many of the early American literary luminaries, as well as Daniel Chester French, sculptor of both the Lincoln statue in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and the Minuteman statue at the old North Bridge. Author Ridge holds the remains of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Henry Thoreau, and Margaret Sidney. On April 19, 1775, the British in Boston decided that they needed ... read more

A few thoughts Visiting Positano this time of year is pretty good. Some of the restaurants and hotels are not yet open for the season but many good ones are and you don't usually need reservations. The temp can require a light jacket or fleece at times, but it is very pleasant generally, particularly in the sun. You are glad of the cooler temps when climbing the hill once or twice a day. Looks like everyone will be open around the 15th. You can stay at the beach area, and then you have to walk up to much of the shopping and restaurants. You can stay higher and then you must walk down to many good restaurants and shopping. No matter where you stay you are going to be walking up and down steep hills a ... read more