Some of you have written to mention that the text on this page where I am leaving entries is green. This makes it hard for you to read because the background is also a shade of green. This is not a universal problem and we have not yet seen this problem first-hand on any computers we've been on so it's difficult to know if we have fixed it. Anyway, I've tinkered with the coding a little and the text you are reading now (and all the entries) should all be in black. Please leave me a note in my email or guestbook if you are having this problem and if it has been fixed.
Sorry for the technical entry but we want to get this fixed up before we leave so as to not create any eye strain on our loyal readers!
love,
k&m
Monday, June 24, 2002
Thursday, June 20, 2002
Addition to that last posting...
First off, I have to say that blogging is so much fun! I recommend that you all start your own blog. Basically, it works like an online journal which can be private or public- and it's so easy and fun to post. Best of all, it's free! Blogging with a guestbook is even better. We really love hearing from everyone, checking our guestbook reminds us how lucky we are to have you in our lives. Don't be shy- post once, post twice, post often!
A few things I forgot to add last time in our 30-minutes-of-free-internet-time-limit haste:
We did make it to Magnetic Hill. For those who have never heard of it, basically it's a small hill that is said to have magnetic strength so it pulls you backwards up it once you have descended it. It was pretty cool, though probably more so for those a tad younger than us. It's funner to do it if you haven't heard much about it, so we'll leave it at that.
We also took a trip to the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck which highlights the many crazy and amazing inventions this guy dabbled in throughout his lifetime. The first discovery of the science of the telephone was the most interesting to us, though that might seem like a rather normal reaction. Oh well, it's pretty amazing how Bell and Watson figured it out. We would have liked to have visited the mansion he called home for the last 37 years of his life, but it was tucked away in the wilderness and is still inhabited by a 97 year old descendant who is not interested in hordes of nosey visitors (what a party pooper!). Him and his wife Mabel are buried somewhere on the outskirts of town, though this is another site visitors aren't exactly directed to. The closest we got to either was seeing them on a large screen in the museum which showed a short bio of the inventor's life.
The last big adventure of Nova Scotia that I neglected to mention last time was Louisbourg. It's a 17th century French village that has been recreated for our modern day enjoyment (kind of like America's Colonial Williamsburg less the over-the-top consumerism aspect). The daily life of settlers is reenacted to give you a real sense of the history. The actors don't step out of character for a moment and if you let yourself forgive the little inconsistencies (like pop cans in the garbages and the fact that everyone is speaking in a rather modern, and English, tongue), you can feel like you've stepped back in time. The town, situated on the coast, is complete with soldiers, innkeepers, workers, and of course, the small crowd of drunks who walk around insulting whomever gets in their way. You'll get hassled if you're wearing red, the colour of the enemy (the English) as Magi found out upon reaching the first gate into town. She was accused by the drawbridge guard of being a spy and finally after believing that she wasn't involved in espionage, asked if we had any talents that would contribute to life in Louisbourg (why else would they let us in?). So, we changed our story about being tourists and pretended we were visiting family. That suited the guard and we were allowed in. They take their history seriously in Louisbourg!
One last thing before we go, we had a comment recently in our guestbook from our good friend Hillary who said that her husband Owen would never, EVER, try camping (silly Brooklyn boy!). Everyone really should give it a try at least once (and preferably for enjoyment, not work). It is very humbling and soothing for the soul.
That's it for now, time for bed.
tothesea,
k&m
A few things I forgot to add last time in our 30-minutes-of-free-internet-time-limit haste:
We did make it to Magnetic Hill. For those who have never heard of it, basically it's a small hill that is said to have magnetic strength so it pulls you backwards up it once you have descended it. It was pretty cool, though probably more so for those a tad younger than us. It's funner to do it if you haven't heard much about it, so we'll leave it at that.
We also took a trip to the Alexander Graham Bell museum in Baddeck which highlights the many crazy and amazing inventions this guy dabbled in throughout his lifetime. The first discovery of the science of the telephone was the most interesting to us, though that might seem like a rather normal reaction. Oh well, it's pretty amazing how Bell and Watson figured it out. We would have liked to have visited the mansion he called home for the last 37 years of his life, but it was tucked away in the wilderness and is still inhabited by a 97 year old descendant who is not interested in hordes of nosey visitors (what a party pooper!). Him and his wife Mabel are buried somewhere on the outskirts of town, though this is another site visitors aren't exactly directed to. The closest we got to either was seeing them on a large screen in the museum which showed a short bio of the inventor's life.
The last big adventure of Nova Scotia that I neglected to mention last time was Louisbourg. It's a 17th century French village that has been recreated for our modern day enjoyment (kind of like America's Colonial Williamsburg less the over-the-top consumerism aspect). The daily life of settlers is reenacted to give you a real sense of the history. The actors don't step out of character for a moment and if you let yourself forgive the little inconsistencies (like pop cans in the garbages and the fact that everyone is speaking in a rather modern, and English, tongue), you can feel like you've stepped back in time. The town, situated on the coast, is complete with soldiers, innkeepers, workers, and of course, the small crowd of drunks who walk around insulting whomever gets in their way. You'll get hassled if you're wearing red, the colour of the enemy (the English) as Magi found out upon reaching the first gate into town. She was accused by the drawbridge guard of being a spy and finally after believing that she wasn't involved in espionage, asked if we had any talents that would contribute to life in Louisbourg (why else would they let us in?). So, we changed our story about being tourists and pretended we were visiting family. That suited the guard and we were allowed in. They take their history seriously in Louisbourg!
One last thing before we go, we had a comment recently in our guestbook from our good friend Hillary who said that her husband Owen would never, EVER, try camping (silly Brooklyn boy!). Everyone really should give it a try at least once (and preferably for enjoyment, not work). It is very humbling and soothing for the soul.
That's it for now, time for bed.
tothesea,
k&m
Wednesday, June 19, 2002
Meat Cove... a great place for vegans
The sun is finally shining! The sky is a piercing deep blue and we are in a beautiful place to take it all in. We've been driving around Cape Breton in Nova Scotia for a few days now and last night we enjoyed the scenery at Meat Cove. Meat Cove is a little town on the very northern tip of Cape Breton and though the facilities were questionable, the view was spectacular and well worth the out-of-the-way trip. We haven't been making campfires at night since we have been keeping up with our usual 9.30pm bedtime but last night we decided to splurge for the $3 bundle of chopped wood and stay up late. Now we wish we had been doing this all along! It's so great to stay up and talk around a fire and it definitely keeps you warm. We can still smell the campfire in our hair since we passed on the showers this morning. It has been quite cold but we decided that we would much rather have cold than have flies.
Surprisingly, there are a lot of American tourists up here. We met a couple of guys from Pittsburgh at the Meat Cove campground last night and aside from Nova Scotia license plates, we see mostly American ones.
Our odometer has clocked us at driving over 3500 kilometres (about 2200 miles) since we left Ottawa. We're at a free internet access place right now (courtesy of Bill and Melinda Gates! - weird) and must be on our way. We'll write again when we can.
Hope everyone is having a great summer! Only a little over a month to go before we head overseas.... stay tuned.
tothesea,
k&m
Surprisingly, there are a lot of American tourists up here. We met a couple of guys from Pittsburgh at the Meat Cove campground last night and aside from Nova Scotia license plates, we see mostly American ones.
Our odometer has clocked us at driving over 3500 kilometres (about 2200 miles) since we left Ottawa. We're at a free internet access place right now (courtesy of Bill and Melinda Gates! - weird) and must be on our way. We'll write again when we can.
Hope everyone is having a great summer! Only a little over a month to go before we head overseas.... stay tuned.
tothesea,
k&m
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Quebec in a Tent
It has been an incredible few days. We are writing this evening because we are not sure when we will be back online and we want to give you an inkling of how our week has been so far. On Monday afternoon we prepared ourselves for our first night of camping by making a trip to Canadian Tire and drove to Quebec City. Following the guidance of some East Coast travel experts (namely the Dunnings), we planned on camping the night outside of the city and taking the ferry into the city the next morning. We drove to the first camping site we found on the outskirts of town. It was about 6.30 pm. Coming from a background of camping in remote, secluded areas we were pretty shocked to see the campsite. It was basically a large clearing with some scattered trees, a mini-village of RVs, and a collection of buildings that each served a purpose- one had a laundromat, another had a restaurant, and in the center of the site was a large building with super clean facilities, warm showers, and flush toilets! It was a nice reintroduction to camping, if you can call it that.
We picked a site at the edge and to the back of the lot. The sky was overcast and we wanted some coverage from the rain and wind that seemed inevitable. A number of the local RV-ers walked by us, some several times, probably wondering why we chose not to set up camp next to them and join them in a game of Bridge.
We set up camp complete with our Coleman stove and our tent & tarp. We made a delicious meal of veggie dogs and tea. By the time we had that all figured out, it was time to wash up and get in the tent since the sun was about to go down. We both slept well and were surprised at how warm the night was. It was raining in the morning when we woke up, so we immediately packed up and drove off regrettably forfeiting our trip to Quebec City. It was 8 am. At some point in this venture, we were supposed to give someone $23. Since the camp office was closed when we entered and when we exited, we drove off with a car full of wet gear to our next destination.
Eleven hours later we reached the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula which is as far as you can go in Quebec without falling into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The views we had all day driving were spectacular and we drove through areas were we felt we could have been in Spain or the south of France. But, we grew tired of driving and really wanted to find a nice spot to camp. A National Park called Forillon was our destination and we had reached it at last. We drove in and were assigned a campsite. This was closer to real camping than the night before. Each site was separated by its neighbour with a wall of trees. We giggled with delight as we parked and began to set up camp. As our tent dried and after we had finished a meal of lentil soup and veggie dogs, we explored the area a little bit. There were no RVs here, just small tents like ours and young rugged-looking 20-something year olds huddling around their campfires.
There was a grassy, narrow trail leading us down to the water. We really were on the tip of the Gaspe and the views were overwhelming. Standing on the sandy beach, we had in front of us ocean for as far as you could see, to the right there were high mountains and steep cliffs blanketed with dense trees, to the left there was a grassy knoll and more water, and behind us was a pink grapefruit-coloured sunset that turned the clouds into cotton candy. Maya ran along the beach, playing with pieces of seaweed and old crab shells. Magi and I watched a seal watching us from the water. It was a crisp, cold windy night so there were no flies. It was perfect.
Our camp was on a small hill right above the ocean so we listened to waves crash and seagulls cry as we fell asleep.
Tonight we are in Miramichi visiting Jeremy, Jennifer, Emerson and the dogs, a couple of German Pinschers named Newt & Dara. It is amazing to see how much Emerson has grown since the last time we saw him only seven months ago (of course, he was only one month old last time). He is a real joyful baby and really damn cute. It is wonderful to be here tonight.
Tomorrow morning we head off again to explore more of the east coast. We plan on reaching Nova Scotia at long last. We will have to fill you in on all that later.
Goodnight!
tothesea,
k&m
We picked a site at the edge and to the back of the lot. The sky was overcast and we wanted some coverage from the rain and wind that seemed inevitable. A number of the local RV-ers walked by us, some several times, probably wondering why we chose not to set up camp next to them and join them in a game of Bridge.
We set up camp complete with our Coleman stove and our tent & tarp. We made a delicious meal of veggie dogs and tea. By the time we had that all figured out, it was time to wash up and get in the tent since the sun was about to go down. We both slept well and were surprised at how warm the night was. It was raining in the morning when we woke up, so we immediately packed up and drove off regrettably forfeiting our trip to Quebec City. It was 8 am. At some point in this venture, we were supposed to give someone $23. Since the camp office was closed when we entered and when we exited, we drove off with a car full of wet gear to our next destination.
Eleven hours later we reached the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula which is as far as you can go in Quebec without falling into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The views we had all day driving were spectacular and we drove through areas were we felt we could have been in Spain or the south of France. But, we grew tired of driving and really wanted to find a nice spot to camp. A National Park called Forillon was our destination and we had reached it at last. We drove in and were assigned a campsite. This was closer to real camping than the night before. Each site was separated by its neighbour with a wall of trees. We giggled with delight as we parked and began to set up camp. As our tent dried and after we had finished a meal of lentil soup and veggie dogs, we explored the area a little bit. There were no RVs here, just small tents like ours and young rugged-looking 20-something year olds huddling around their campfires.
There was a grassy, narrow trail leading us down to the water. We really were on the tip of the Gaspe and the views were overwhelming. Standing on the sandy beach, we had in front of us ocean for as far as you could see, to the right there were high mountains and steep cliffs blanketed with dense trees, to the left there was a grassy knoll and more water, and behind us was a pink grapefruit-coloured sunset that turned the clouds into cotton candy. Maya ran along the beach, playing with pieces of seaweed and old crab shells. Magi and I watched a seal watching us from the water. It was a crisp, cold windy night so there were no flies. It was perfect.
Our camp was on a small hill right above the ocean so we listened to waves crash and seagulls cry as we fell asleep.
Tonight we are in Miramichi visiting Jeremy, Jennifer, Emerson and the dogs, a couple of German Pinschers named Newt & Dara. It is amazing to see how much Emerson has grown since the last time we saw him only seven months ago (of course, he was only one month old last time). He is a real joyful baby and really damn cute. It is wonderful to be here tonight.
Tomorrow morning we head off again to explore more of the east coast. We plan on reaching Nova Scotia at long last. We will have to fill you in on all that later.
Goodnight!
tothesea,
k&m
Sunday, June 09, 2002
to ottawa and back
We spent the last week in Ottawa visiting Krishna's mom. Though it was mainly a week of relaxation, we did get to make our first visit to The National Gallery of Canada. It was really impressive. After learning so much about European and American art, I (Krishna) was really taken aback to see what was happening in Canada's art scene throughout the last few centuries. It had me somewhat ashamed of my ignorance when it comes to art from my own country. On the other hand, it also has me excited to know I have a whole spectrum of art so close at hand that I have not really explored yet.
We were both enthralled with the art of The Group of Seven and especially Lawren S. Harris whose paint application looks as thick and rich as icing. Another impressive section of the museum is the collection of Inuit art. The prints from Nunavut artists, most of all, are beautiful treasures.
Krishna got her 60 day tourist visa for India while we were in Ottawa. It was a painless process and one that makes the trip overseas feel even that much closer to reality.
Another important aspect of our time in Ottawa is that we picked up a third travelling buddy. Maya, mom's 6 lb. terrier, is joining us for the remainder of our travels in Canada. That trip begins tomorrow when we head to Quebec City en route to Halifax which we expect to reach on Friday the 14th. We're going to be camping all along the way. Magi will be introduced to blackflies for the first time! Wish us luck- we're both pretty rusty when it comes to roughing it! Thankfully, we'll have a brief respite from outhouses and meals from the Coleman stove when we visit baby Emerson and co. in Miramichi on Wednesday.
Have a great week everyone!
to the sea,
k&m
We were both enthralled with the art of The Group of Seven and especially Lawren S. Harris whose paint application looks as thick and rich as icing. Another impressive section of the museum is the collection of Inuit art. The prints from Nunavut artists, most of all, are beautiful treasures.
Krishna got her 60 day tourist visa for India while we were in Ottawa. It was a painless process and one that makes the trip overseas feel even that much closer to reality.
Another important aspect of our time in Ottawa is that we picked up a third travelling buddy. Maya, mom's 6 lb. terrier, is joining us for the remainder of our travels in Canada. That trip begins tomorrow when we head to Quebec City en route to Halifax which we expect to reach on Friday the 14th. We're going to be camping all along the way. Magi will be introduced to blackflies for the first time! Wish us luck- we're both pretty rusty when it comes to roughing it! Thankfully, we'll have a brief respite from outhouses and meals from the Coleman stove when we visit baby Emerson and co. in Miramichi on Wednesday.
Have a great week everyone!
to the sea,
k&m