I'm back from Nova Scotia. Great trip. I haven't read but a few of the posts that have been placed here while I was gone, but I should get caught up by the end of the week.

Nova Scotia was having great weather when we arrived. It was sunny and in the low 20's most of the time. I needed a sweater only at night. The sun felt like it does many degrees of latitude to the south. We visited numerous little seaports and fishing villages and an old fort that has been largely restored. We gawked at lighthouses and stone building from the 19th century.

The trip included travel by car, jet airliners, a propeller plane, a minivan, a bus and the fastest ferry boat I have ever seen. They call it The Cat and it takes you from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth in about two hours. Cruising speed is about 50 miles per hour. (42 nautical) Fog slowed it to 36 nautical on the way back. Even that is about twice as fast as a cruise ship and faster than the 15 foot fiber glass runabout that I used to have. I always thought of ferryboats as slow, ponderous, rather ugly craft, but The Cat changed all of that.

We saw a deer, but no moose, sea gulls but no puffins, and dolphins but no whales.

We also got up in the middle of the night to watch the tidal bore come in from the Bay of Fundy. Worth it.

I found the people of Nova Scotia to be friendly like the Hawaiians. They seem to go out of their way to be nice. Prices are good, and the exchange rate makes them even better. Your vacation dollar goes a lot further in Canada. Gas is high, but I guess it is everywhere.

Willette ate seafood at least twice every day we were there. That made her very happy.

People in Boston still say Bah Hahbah when speaking of Bar Harbor. I don't know why.

We flew Knoxville to Chicago to Boston going up and Boston to Washington to Knoxville coming home. (The airlines are still in good working order.) We dodged thunderstorms in a Jetstream 41 all the way home from Washington to Knoxville. Those pilots did a great job and topped it off with a good smooth landing.

Now where shall I go next?
Howard