Road Trip 2010- Portland to Gettysburg (Pt1)

Hello again and over the period 23 April to 12 May we enjoyed great holiday in the USA.

Our first overnight stay was at Portland, Maine, USA which is a 5 hour drive from where we live in Canada. While we did not venture far from our motel that night we did enjoy the lovely tulips which were everywhere to be seen in this area. The next day we were on our way to Scranton, Pennsylvania and on the way enjoyed many beautiful sights such as this rippling stream. Scranton has a number of lovely homes as you will see below and over the road from this dwelling we enjoyed a great meal with lovely people at Anna Maria's Restaurant. We were made to feel so welcome by Lee and Jackie and enjoyed spicy calamari, orange ruffy, veal marsala, salad, pasta & freshly baked bread.

From Scranton we travelled to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the sight of some of the bloodiest fighting during the American Civil war. We stayed at the Battlefield B&B which is situated on Southern Calvary Field, on the Southern end of the battlefield. This B&B is a fantastic place to stay and Florence and her staff were outstanding. Each morning of our stay commenced with a history lesson which gave us a greater understanding of the civil war period. We were entertained by a Musicologist who introduced us to the music of the civil war and history behind the tunes. Another day we heard from Mr Horace Greeley ( in period costume) editor of the New York Tribune before, during and after the civil war who gave a excellent monologue of his life and thoughts during the civil war and finally a history of the house which is now the B&B. To see more of what the B&B is like please have a look at http://www.gettysburgbattlefield.com/

Gettysburg is a very pretty place as well as an education centre, below is a photo of one of the great buildings located at the Gettysburg College. We found a nice French Cafe in town which served NZ Lamb and the waiter named Donnie, a final year student at the University in town who had been on exchange for one semester at Wagga Wagga, NSW. We left some of our Ozzie wine for him.


The battlefield tour of Gettysburg is an emotional journey which leaves one with an overwhelming sadness at the massive loss of life during the fierce 3 day battle that occurred here in July 1863. So many young men lost their lives here, some of whom did not even really appreciate what they were fighting for.

The area is very well preserved and so peaceful now that the guns are now silent. Thoughout the battlefield cannons remain in position, pointing in the same direction as they did in the battles. There are many monuments located around the battlefield and below is an example of the many that are now there to remember the fallen and to educate those who come to visit.

The photo below shows the attack line of the centre of Pickett's Charge where 12,000 men on a frontage of 1 mile advanced across the open ground with very few of them making it to the stone wall in the foreground before being repulsed with a resulting 50% casualties. Such a tragedy.


We have more to follow on the road trip which we will post in a week or so as on Monday we are off to Halifax, NS to meet Ross's sister Toni, who is flying in from London and will be staying with us until the end of May. We are so looking forward to seeing her.

So all the best and stay happy, safe and well.

Love Bev, Ross and Murphy

Easter & Beyond

This is actually the end of this blog but seeing as it is happening now I have just included the 2 photos below. As we were about to publish this update and head into town for a bit of shopping, it started to snow out of nowhere, today is forecast to be 11C and we were planning to work in the yard after coming home. If you click on the shots and enlarge them it is far more obvious - I will never again make a comment about Melbourne's changeable weather.

Hello again and we know that Easter has come and gone but we just wanted to let you all know that we were thinking of you over this period.

We started our Easter by attending the French Catholic Church in Fredericton which you can see below.

New Brunswick is the only Province in Canada which is legislated as a bilinguil Province and this church forms part of a large French School in Fredericton. We found the Church serene and very peaceful as we thought of our many much loved family and friends.

Later that day Debbie and George our lovely friends joined us for an Eater Friday supper which included sushi, crab cakes, lobster tails, salad and for dessert fresh fruit skewers with a passionfruit sauce. We had a lovely day as we hope you did also.

Easter Sunday provided a bright sunny day so we went to Ormocto a town about a 20 minute drive from where we live and sat and enjoyed a picnic lunch and the lovely weather and the pleasant surroundings. Murphy had a great day as she got to explore the surroundings and gave the accasional energentic bark as a another dog came unto her sight. She slept very well that night.

The picnic areas are all in good condition and are well used by the locals as soon as the sunny weather starts to appear.

Next Wednesday Ross sits for his final exam for this semester and on 23 April we are off to the USA for a holiday. We are travelling through New England to Gettysberg VA, then down to Myrtle Beach SC, then to Savanah GA, Memphis and Nashville TN, then make our way home on an as yet undetermined route but will try and catch up with Scott Wright in Wisconsin on the way.

Toni, Ross's sister will becoming for a visit about mid May and we are so looking forward to seeing her.

In preparation for our trip Murphy went to Rachael her groomer so she is ready for the trip. The photo below is taken on the back deck and Murphy has just returned home with her short back and sides.

We will have lots to show and tell after our US trip so until our next update stay happy, safe and well.

Love Bev, Ross and Murphy

Spring is here - almost

With time just flying by this semester (only 4 weeks to final exams) we have not had much of a chance to travel but recently took the time to drive west of here to Grand Bay and it really brought home how quickly spring (begins 20 March here) was approaching with ice and snow melting accompanied by beautiful weather. Apparently it has been one of the warmest winters on record for Canada.


It is also the time to open up the house and use areas we don't normally use in winter. The shot below is the fantastic sunroom at the back of the house and as you can see we are using it already as an eating and relaxing area.

You have seen this area below a number of times during the seasons and this shot was taken on Sunday the 21st. The idea was to show how little snow was left and that the time to plant the veggie garden is almost here.

Mother nature here hates being taken for granted and just to make the point she decided that more snow was required so the two shots below show what happened during the next 24 hours.

Since then it has rained continually but it is easing and a sunny day is forecast for Friday. It is obviously not only Melbourne that can have many changes of weather in a short period.

With the long summer break coming up we are off at the end of April to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a few days then to Savannah, Memphis, Nashville, Gettysburg and the Great Lakes, eventually making our way back to Fredericton via Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. All up we think we will be away for nearly 4 weeks and cover around 5000 miles.

We also intend to have a week in New York during the break and will get there by driving to Boston and then taking the train to Manhattan.

Until our next update please stay safe and well.

Love Bev, Ross and Murphy

Ross's 60th

Neil and Monica White (deceased) would be delighted to know that their eldest son Ross Leslie White celebrated his 60th birthday on 13 February and is having the time of his life.

Below are photo's of Ross's first birthday dinner at the lovely home of Jacqueline and John Wilt. We had a great night and Jacqueline had gone to a lot of trouble decorating their home with banners such as 'Over the Hill' and presented Ross with a ribbon which he is wearing stating that he is now officially 'old'. I made the cake.

After a great Chinese dinner Jacqueline and John introduced us to Rummoli, a card game which Ross understood and I was hopeless however, we had a fun time with lots of laughter which is always good therapy.


Then it was onto the next party which Ross shared with George our great neighbour, who also celebrates his birthday this month. The party was a great opportunity to try some new recipes. Below is a photo of Ross and our friends.

This birthday cake was made by Kathy and it was delicious.

The Beaver Dam folks had a great time with lots of fun and laughter so a great big thank you to everyone who contributed to ensuring Ross had a great 60th.

Until next time stay happy, safe and well.

Love Bev, Ross and Murphy

Bar Harbor, Maine

We have been on our travels once again and recently took the opportunity to spend a few days in Bar Harbor, Maine, USA. Bar Harbor is about a 4 hour drive from Fredericton and even though it is still winter over here any chance we get to travel we just get up and go.

As you will see from the photos below there are some magnificant homes in Bar Harbor most of which are fortunate enough to have a sea view.

The photo below is of the Bar Harbor Waterfront building which has parkland surrounding it with great views of the waterways.

We took advantage of the sunny weather and travelled around the area and it was interesting to see up close the fishing huts and to see families our for the day. In the Green hut below Mum and daughter were sitting comfortably inside the hut while dad and son were about to have fun in their skidoos riding over the frozen lake.

We stayed for 3 nights in Bar Harbor and our accommodation was at a cottage called Far Niente which you can see in the photo below. This was a lovely cottage all fully contained and to see more of what this cottage had to offer please click onto http://www.far-niente.com/index.htm

Far Niente is owned by John Kurgan and his lovely wife Holly Duane who have lived in Bar Harbor for the last 7 years and were very friendly and made us so welcome. John and Hollly are musicians and on the Saturday evening we had dinner together at one of the many good resturants in this location. We had the most enjoyable evening and we are planning to return to this lovely area in September when all the trees will be wrapped in Fall colours.

Until next update stay happy, safe and well.

Love Bev, Ross and Murphy

PEI Revisited

Hello again from snowy Canada. Last week we decided while the sun was shining and there were no snow storm warnings we would have a couple of days away in one of our favourite parts of this lovely country so we ventured back to Prince Edward Island. As we had seen a lot of this island during the summer beak we decided to go to Summerside which is located on the south west side of the island as we had not been to this area.


As we passed the Summerside Yacht Club we were taken with this sign - something that we would never see in Australia is this combination of sporting activities.






In keeping with how fishermen in Canada maintain their sporting interests during the many months of ice and snow they have used their initiative and use a fishing hut which is placed over the frozen river surface. They cut holes about 12 inches across and fish through this. The insides of these huts are amazing and some are funished with all the luxuries of home. They can be purchased with all mod cons from flat screen TVs and a variety of modes of heating and in some cases they look better than some homes we have been in over our life. To get an idea of some of the best ones have a look at http://www.jamesmaurer.com/ice-fishing-house-plans.asp

Our travels took us through some very pretty places as you will see in the photo below.

Our return trip saw us driving in continual snow and as you can see from the photo below visability was very poor and as the roads had not been cleared the trip home was very slow and tedious and this is the Trans Canada Highway.

As Ross has a reduced university workload this semester we are intending to see more of the sights of the Maritime Provinces which of course will be dependent on the weather.

In closing may we take the opportunity to wish you all a happy Australia Day.

Love Ross, Bev and Murphy.

New Year

It was so good to be able to spend New Year with Ross, Murphy and our friends in Canada as this time last year I was back in Australia sitting with my lovely father who finally passed away on 7 January. So for us 2009 has really sped by and we are looking forward to 2010 being full of good cheer and great happiness.

Our New Year Celebrations started with drinks and nibbles with our friends followed by supper. The evening flew past so quickly as we welcomed the New Year with a glass of Moet Champagne

Over the past few days we have a storm warning and a wind warning. It has continued to snow heavily over the period and dumped about 50 cms of snow all up. The temperature has been between -3C and +2C so relatively mild but still indoor weather. Even Murphy hasn't spent as much time out on the deck as she usually does.

Well, happy New Year to you all and may 2010 be the best one yet.

Love Bev, Ross and Murphy