Reset search
Scott PaulScott Paul
SatelliteEdit route
traveled in 6 countries Read more Lethbridge, Canada
  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 93

    Great

    August 30, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    We are truly returning home, highways, place names, and roadside trading posts now familiar and anticipated. Today included reprise trips to a propane filling station in Sault St Marie, and a gas station/market near Pancake Bay to replenish our charcuterie larder — smoked trout and maple butter will tantalize our taste buds well into Manitoba.

    Today and for the next few days our road travels will skirt Lake Superior. Beautiful open water that rivals any other lake, ocean or seaway that we’ve seen. It lives up to all the adjectives, including the Tony Tiger moniker of …. Grrreat!

    It’s a word that my father often used. Great. “ That’s just great,” he would say when I told him of Marita’s or Julilla’s progress in school or a piano recital, or a holiday, or the bounty of a garden harvest.

    On travels, one has the time to reflect and analyze one’s past, one’s character and look for clues to how you became you. For all the adversity in his life, my father Bob Paul remained open to acknowledging the grandeur of the world. That there is greatness in the world deserving of recognition. And I think that’s just … great.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 92

    A Day to Remember

    August 29, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Bike fences, gum trees, and a random war memorial … it was a hodgepodge of a day here on Manitoulin Island. We have returned to rural, the traffic bedlam of Toronto mercifully in the rear view mirror.

    Recently the island has become an artists’ Mecca, according to a local chainsaw carver who we chatted up having stopped to see a sleepy forest spirit carved into an old tree. A couple hours before a long line of painted bikes fenced off an artist’s front lawn in such contrast to the old, rough cut zig zag fencing we first encountered last night.

    I will remember the Cup and Saucer Trail for the views of the Niagara Escarpment at the summit, the pouring rain, but also the “gum trees” — colourful wads of gum thumbed onto two different trees. I’ve seen small locks affixed to chain link fences around the world but the gum trees are a first for me.

    At a rural crossroads where the nearest town was perhaps 20 kilometres away, there was an impressive war monument recognizing the island men who fought and died in 20th century wars. Given the size of Manitoulin Island I was blown away by the size and repair of the memorial. Lest we forget.

    Yes, a day to remember for many reasons.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 91

    Skinny Side of August

    August 28, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    These golden days of August find us on the Bruce Peninsula. Campers are enjoying the last days of summer as students prepare to go back to school, their parents back to work.

    It has been a wee bit cooler than I expected as days grow shorter, long pants, and sleeves preferred over their shorter counterparts, and there is a pronounced coolness in the morning air.

    The ferries on this trip have been a real delight. Today we crossed from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island by ferry, and it is an opportunity for some downtime, away from the daily regimen of travel. A time to sit and reflect, leaving the driving to someone else.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 90

    I’ll Huff …

    August 27, 2023 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    … and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house down. Well the good residents of Owen Sound have nothing to fear. Their brick houses are the best we’ve seen in our travels. Historied buildings one after another on each block. Most of them in fine repair.

    With the Bruce Trail being just a brick’s throw away and a municipal treasure of a park close by I could see myself living here!    Read more

  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 89

    Farmers’ Market

    August 26, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Whenever we can, we search out and attend farmers markets. We’ve had some success, but none like the fantastic Orillia farmers market today.

    It was held outside, and there were 50 or so vendors, selling everything from honey, to fresh corn, to fresh vegetables, and hand painted linen shirts. Wasps crawled over Coronation grapes, while a long-haired guitarist busked for change.

    We are in the heart of cottage country and the produce could not be any fresher or sweeter. The corn here is challenging their Taber rivals.

    It was a quintessential farmers market, and it will be hard to top in the month we have left before returning to our own farmers market in Lethbridge.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 88

    Bonus Time

    August 25, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Setting out from Lethbridge three months ago, we vowed to give Toronto and the dreaded Highway 401 a wide berth. Note to self. Resolutions are made to be broken.

    When Julilla said she would be arriving at Lester B Pearson airport in August to renew friendships, forged during her undergrad degree in Hamilton, we were delighted — not for the airport’s vicinity to the urban snarl they call Toronto but rather the opportunity for seeing our lovely daughter.

    So this afternoon we travelled from Peterborough to Toronto, first via a toll road, and then onto the dreaded 401, six lanes of seething madness during rush-hour. We abandoned Finnegan at a local Vietnamese restaurant near the terminal and hired an Uber to take us the last leg — perhaps the best money we have spent on this entire trip.

    It was a joy to see Julilla after many months of only hearing her voice on the telephone. Virtual hugs just aren’t enough. So, thanks to Julilla for giving us bonus time on this extended road trip and will see you at Thanksgiving.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 85

    Rosie

    August 22, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Our bank of travel memories is often filled with a remembrance of a perfect sunset, the joy of a mountain summit hike, a seafood meal on an outdoor patio, chilled wine glass of rose at hand.

    On this cross- Canada expedition a canine has managed to inveigle her way into the top 10 list. Rosie did not make a great impression when we first met her in June, passing through Ottawa on our way to the Maritimes. Laura, her master and member of my online writing group, had rescued Rosie from a home where she had been neglected.

    She was excitable and yapping — not so endearing. But before we left the leafy haven Laura calls home, Rosie had won me over. If she had a shirt, that’s where you would find Rosie’s emotions. So happy when been petted and scratched, mournful eyes when she realized we were leaving.

    On our return trip to Ottawa here in August, Rosie greeted us like long lost friends. Tail wagging vigorously back and forth and often looking at Coleen and I beseechingly from under the kitchen table. Hey, remember me she seemed to be saying.

    Yes, Rosie. We’ll be remembering you.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 84

    Facing the Grave

    August 21, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Death seems a little closer in the Maritimes and Quebec. Driving through small towns, cemeteries are always near, sometimes bisected by the main road. Cemeteries out west often seem tucked away — hidden from view.

    There is history here of course, centuries of European settlements which predate Confederation. A corollary of those lived experiences, is there have been centuries of death as well.

    We attended a music festival in Cape Breton which featured local talent, including a choir led by a tall, grey haired, white collared cleric. He spoke of the now dead composer of the song they were about to sing. The songwriter had been contemplating death in the lyrics — or as the preacher put it “facing the grave.”

    Easy to do out this way, as reminders of those who came before never seems more than a stone’s throw away.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 82

    Who Cut the Cheese?

    August 19, 2023 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    I will remember Newfoundland for its fish and brewis, Nova Scotia for its fiddles, New Brunswick for the mussels, and PEI for their small-hall ceilidhs, and Quebec for ….

    In a word … cheese. Delectable, goat and sheep cheese which we have found at small farms and grocery stores. And today we acquired two more cheeses unexpectedly.

    At today’s Saturday farmers market , we donated to two women raising money for breast cancer. The energetic road warriors are going to Morocco for a desert road rally. As we handed over cash they gave us small packages of cheese from a nearby cheese maker (Bedouin Cheese) who has been enlisted as one of their sponsors. So appropos.

    That made nine cheeses and counting in our small van fridge. Each time we open the door it’s like we’ve stepped into a fromagerie … whiffs of Gruyère, Boursin, Haloumi, and a few mystery cheeses fill the cabin.

    I’m reminded of that old commercial which talked about how to incentivize your adult children to leave home … stop cooking with cheese. Apparently, a lesson Coleen and I never took to heart.    Read more

  • TravelerCanada Road Trip 2023
    Day 80

    Happiest … when?

    August 17, 2023 in Canada ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    When are you the happiest? Singing in the shower or perhaps drinking that first coffee of the morning before the day gets hectic?

    For me, I’m happiest on the trail, whether it’s my boots tramping along some pine needle covered trail, or cross-country skis softly whooshing through the snow, or tires rolling on a bike path.

    I blame Coleen of course for this love affair with nature. She recruited me for many a mountain hike during our courtship. Which reminds me to amend my earlier statement. I’m happiest on a trail with my paramour — Coleen.

    Today’s happiness was a 10 kilometre hike in Frontenac Park. Even the occasional rain shower didn’t dampen my spirits.    Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English