San Francisco

I'm not sure why, but for a while now I've wanted to go to California. And this year it finally happened. I really had no interest in going to LA, but I did want to go to San Francisco. My friend Angela and I headed out during March Break.

We flew from Syracuse because it was much cheaper than flying from Canada. We had a stop over in Chicago, and then were on our way. We were lucky our first afternoon there because it wasn't raining. It rained the whole rest of the time we were there. People kept saying that it was never that rainy in SF, but we weren't sure we should believe them.

Here is a shot from our first evening. Our hotel was a five minute walk from this beach. We could also see Alcatraz.

Our first day there we took a bus sight seeing tour to figure out our way around the city. It poured the whole time, but took a break (kind of) when we stopped to take photos at the Golden Gate Bridge. The wind did not stop.



View of the city.




A tad bit windy??



Angela and I both wanted to see Alcatraz so we headed out. Thankfully the ferry is covered, unlike our tour bus to Muir Woods, and we didn't get too wet. It's a very cool place to visit and I highly recommend it! Buy your tickets in advance though because there's a good chance there won't be any left by the time you get there.

Alcatraz!



Me in prison.



One thing I regularly do on trips is go whale watching.  Of course it was raining, but we went out anyway. By the time we got back in, 3 hours later, I was soaked through all of my layers. We didn't see any whales, but I got to go out into the Pacific in crazy weather, and lived to tell about it.

Going under the Golden Gate.

Warning: Don't watch this video if you are prone to seasickness!

Another thing I wanted to do while in California was see some big trees. We went to Muir Woods to accomplish this task. I was an amazing place to visit. The trees are so tall that you can't see the tops because they are in the mist.



California
Redwoods

Angela and I also went to a special Irish evening at the California Academy of Sciences. We got a behind the scenes tour, and special entertainment. It was pretty cool.



Jellies!



Living roof on the Academy in Golden Gate Park.

We spent  a lot of our time at Fisherman's Wharf. There were a lot of things to see and do in this very touristy area. As I love bread, I went to Boudin Bakery a few times. I also went to check out the sea lions a few times. You can watch them live here: Sea Lions.

Sour dough turtle. It was hard to eat this guy because he was so cute!

 

 I got to drive down Lombard Street with my cab driver on my way to whale watching. Angela and I also took the trolley to the top of it and walked down the "crookedest street in the world".

Look familiar? We also saw the "Painted Ladies".

While I don't think I'll go to San Francisco again, there are other parts of California I would like to see, so I'm sure I'll be back someday.

English Adventure

My most recent trip to Europe was last summer. My Nan asked me if I wanted to go to England with her and of course I said yes.

We planned to leave as soon as school was out and meet up with Alan and Sue (my second cousins) to have our English adventure. After a bit of a delay in Toronto, we got on our way and finally landed in Birmingham at 4:30 in the morning.

After we got to our B&B, named Green Gables (which thrilled the Anne lover in me), and had a bit of a rest we started out. Our first road trip took us to a lavender farm. I'm not a fan of the scent, but I sure did like the scenery.

Alan very kindly offered to take us to some of the places we wanted to see. On my list were Stonehenge and Bath, and on Nan's was Cornwall.

We took a day trip to my two destinations. They were so worth seeing. I'm a huge fan of history and so I loved Bath. I especially like the Roman Baths which were very cool.

Then we headed to Stonehenge. It was very busy, but I was still able get a few good shots of it.

We headed to Cornwall next...the moors and the seaside. What a beautiful part of the country. We spent a few days here, meeting up with cousin Ben, and driving down some pretty crazy roads.We went to Looe, had a cream tea, and a pasty, and enjoyed the sea.

Looe

Sheep near our B &B

Ponies on Dartmoor

One other thing that Nan wanted to do was go on a boat cruise on the Thames. Alan found one near to where we were staying and we took a leisurely trip, through the locks, to Abingdon.



Sue, Nan and Alan.

Also note Gem in the picture. She came on all of our adventures too.



Another thing we got to do while we were visiting was see Alan's paintings in a gallery and tour his studio. He and Sue are both very talented artists.



Alan showing us his work.



Trip picture Sue did for Nan.

You should check out their websites:

Alan's site

Sue's site

Nan and I had a wonderful time on this trip. We were very sad to say goodbye to Alan, Sue and Gem, but glad to get home.

Nan tucking in to her pie.

Does she do anything else?

Some of you might be wondering if I do anything besides travel and the answer is yes. One of the main things I do is cross stitch. I did it a lot when I was in university (who knows where I found the time) but got out of it when I started teaching. A few years ago, when my cousin was getting married, I picked up a cross stitch magazine and got hooked all over again. Over the past few years I've become addicted to British cross stitch magazines, had a letter with picture published in one and stitched a lot. Here are some of my recent stitches.



Baby gift for a friend.



I stitched this for myself because I love poppies.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this yet, but I really liked it.

I bought this pattern in November 2011 so decided to stitch it over the Christmas holidays.

Baby gift for a friend.

Thank you gift for my 2nd cousin.

My Nan and her Christmas present.



Card for 2nd cousins.



This was my Olympic stitching project.
Two weeks and two days (minus the background).
That's going to take a long time.





These are websites for some of the magazines I like:

 The World of Cross Stitching

Cross Stitcher Magazine

If you are at all interested in cross stitching you should check them out. They are fantastic!

Where next?

So my next trip will take me to Scotland and Ireland during March Break. I'm really excited as I've never been to Scotland before, and last time I was in Ireland I was really sick and missed most of my Dublin stay.
The thing I'm most looking forward to is seeing Edinburgh Castle.

I'm also really looking forward to going to northern Ireland, Belfast to be exact. One of the places we'll be visiting is the Titanic Museum. It should be pretty cool. There's still room if anyone is interested in coming along.

After that, I'm thinking that I'm going to head to Alaska and the Yukon during the summer. It is a cruise and a land tour. It starts in Vancouver and ends in Ancorage. I think it would be a really good experience, and I'm pretty excited about it. The only down side would be that I wouldn't be able to camp in the Yukon so I'd have to go back...I guess that's ok though ;)



Cruise itinerary

This video link is for a possible shore excursion I could take while in Whitehorse. Kluane National Park

Where ever I end up going, I'm sure it will be great. I'm never going to stop travelling until I see all the placed I want to go :)

Blogging Across Canada (sort of) Part 7

Last summer I got the chance to go north. I headed out of Ottawa on the 2.5 hour flight to Iqaluit, Nunavut. This time I travelled with other teachers from across the country.

We spent our first few days exploring and learning about Iqaluit. We met elders, professors, and experts on the North.

The first night we were there we were invited to a traditional feast to celebrate Parks Canada's 100th birthday. As I don't eat meat, there was very little for me to choose from (I had bannock and cake), but everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves.



From left to right: fresh seal, seal that had already been cut up, beluga, fish, and caribou. All of this was raw.



We also toured the legislature. It was pretty cool. This is in the middle of the room, and the chair at the end is where the premier sits.

One of the teachers on this trip was actually from Iqaluit, so we got a bit of a tour from her. She drove us around town and explained many things to us, like the red lights on houses mean they need water delivered, or they need their sewage tanks emptied. We got to see a lot of the new buildings as well.

After we'd spent some time in Iqaluit, we headed northeast to Pangnirtung. It's a beautiful village on Baffin Island. Here we camped, got stranded when the plane decided it was too windy to land, went on a boat trip and slept on the floor of the high school because it poured rain.



Where I slept for two nights.




Standing on snow in July.



View of the town, from the mountain above.

Now that I've been up north, I can't wait to go back. It is such a cool part of Canada that few Canadians actually get to visit. 

These are some sites I will use to help me plan my next trip:
Nunavut Interactive Map
NWT Tourist Map
Yukon Maps

Blogging Across Canada (sort of) Part 6

As I said earlier, I'd been to BC once before in 1986. As I was 7, I didn't remember much about what I'd seen.

We drove the back, northern route, to BC, from Banff. First we headed to Squamish to visit family. We drove along the Fraser River, in a very dry part of the province. It's a huge river.

We also stopped in Whistler to see what they'd prepared for the Olympics.

From there, we went to Vancouver and then to Vancouver Island. When we camped in Vancouver, we stayed at a private campground that was in the city, near Stanley Park, hence, the barbed wire fence :)

In 2009, my mom and I went to Nanaimo, and then Victoria where we went whale watching. It was high on my list of things to do as I've always loved whales. Here's a pic I took on our cruise.

Mom and I stayed on the Island for a few days and toured around. We went to Cathedral Grove to see the huge trees. We went to Tofino, on the west coast of the island to see the surfers. We also went to see the "Goats on the Roof". This is a complex of stores, and the main store has goats living on the roof. It's planted with grass, they drink from the eaves troughs and they sleep in little huts all on the roof. It was pretty cool.



When I went back in 2010, I decided to go up to the tip of the island since I'd been to the bottom already. I camped my way up and finally made it to Port Hardy, the last town on the island. It is a very beautiful island. I stayed at Telegraph Cove for a few days, in the heart of the rain forest. I went on another whale cruise there and saw humpback whales. I also saw lots of puffins and seals. On my way back to Vancouver I took the ferry a lot, seeing many of the coastal communities in the area.

On the way home both times, I went the lower, more southern route. This brought me through the Okanogan area where there are tons of vineyards and orchards. It's very hot and dry in this area. The highlight for me was picking peaches right off the tree and then eating them. Delicious :)

In 2010, I drove past a forest fire being fought. I parked right beside a small river and watched as a helicopter scooped up water to help battle the blaze.

Would I drive out west again? Yes...but I think I'll wait for a little while, and try to fit in some of the northern territories.

 

 

 

These totem poles are in Stanley Park, in Vancouver. My dad's cousin, who works for the city, is responsible for keeping the totem poles painted and looking good. He is often phographed by tourists while painting, because they think he is Aboriginal.