Category Archives: vacation

vacation 2012: part 5

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There were plans made yesterday to visit Echo rock.  I’ve never been there.  Have heard a lot about it, but have never actually seen it.  So I was sort of looking forward to it.

At the last minute, however, the rest of the clan made the decision to go to Huntsville and buy groceries.  Yay.
Not a lot of Curling Clubs in Atlanta…..
Actually, it wasn’t a bad trip.  For one thing, Diane let me drive her car – a new Subaru Outback.  Since the Outback is on my extremely short list of cars that I’m considering (to replace my aging and expensive Audi), I was really rather pleased to be able to drive one for an extended period and on a few different road types. It drove really well and remains at the top of my list.  On the highway – with the A/C at max – it cruised along at about 30 MPG, and it did a great job smoothing out the bumps when I took an alternate way home along the (dirt and gravel) Midlothian Road.  Had to brake hard twice when I got on the Nippissing Road – once for a quail (which was wholly unimpressed with the car’s horn) and again when the Thompson Road driveway suddenly appeared on my left before I was ready for it.
I’m a bit baffled why it doesn’t have a temperature gauge (it has, instead, a needle that swings wildly and is supposed to tell you how economically you’re driving); but other than that, it’s a nice car.  Now I just have to decide when I’m actually going to commit myself to 3-5 more years of car payments.
While in Huntsville, we ate at a river on the docks (I believe the restaurant is called “On the Docks”).  I had a burger, served to me by a young woman who looks exactly like the Olson twins.  
Upon our return to Camp Ulvik, we immediately hopped into quiet mode.  For me, that meant practicing the big horn for a couple of hours.  I read a number of different etudes from my Arban’s Cornet Method – nearly broke my fingers (and my chops) on variations of Yankee Doodle, Blue Bells of Scotland, and America.  Fun pieces all, though.  I might try to concentrate on one of more of them today.
Dinner last night was prepared by Diane and Don and consisted of flank steak, baked beans, and salad.  Great stuff.  
Nellie the amazing wonder puppy
The after-dinner gaming hour turned into an extended bullshit session – I played with the dog and listened to my iPod – until everyone agreed that bed sounded really good at around 10:30.  That being the case, I fell into the lake a few times, took some pictures of Indian Point (it’s really not getting dark here at all this year….at least not before midnight), splurged on a cell phone call to Amy, and finally drifted off to sleep listening to the water slapping against the boats downstairs.
What a great way to fall asleep.
TWD

vacation 2012: part 4

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Karl and Diane Neuse arrived a little before dinner last night, which was good because it was Karl’s job to make dinner.

Ahmic Lake

He didn’t, of course.  Instead, Cy baked a pork roast and some green beans – good stuff.

I spent a couple of hours practicing the big horn in the boathouse yesterday – chops got sore, but the sound is beginning to come back.  One more week to get things in order….

Not much to report from last night.  All of us tottered off to our beds not long after dinner – around 9:30, I suppose.  I slept like a rock and woke up at 6:30.  Took a bath in the lake and started the day.

This morning, I went exploring to the west of Magnetawan.  Basically, I followed route 520 for an hour or so.  Found the Whitestone Cemetery and a few lots for sale in Whitestone on the shore of a tiny little lake – more likely a pond.  Definitely not Whitestone Lake, at any rate.

Just returned to Ulvik about 45 minutes ago and am writing this while I wait for the kitchen to clear out so I can make a couple sandwiches.  After scarfing them, I’ll probably take a quick swim and hit the horn some more.

vacation 2012: part 3

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I woke up at 6:15 this morning, and blinked.

When I next awoke, it was 8:30.
Yesterday was a lazy day for the most part.  In the morning, I made plans to go to Huntsville to pick up, among other things, a micro SD card for my GPS unit.  I believe I mentioned earlier that I needed to load maps of Canada on the thing.  After purchasing the maps, however, I learned that I didn’t have enough space on the device to load them.  Hence the need for the SD card.
I wrote a blog entry two or three years ago in which I confessed to having a mental block when it comes to Huntsville, Ontario.  Somewhere in the darkest recesses of my brain, I have stored away a vital piece of information about that city; and that piece of information is wrong.  Huntsville, you see, is SOUTH of Magnetawan, but I seem to be convinced that it lies to the NORTH.  For that reason, I will turn in the wrong direction, either going to or coming from Huntsville, about 75% of the time.  Yesterday, therefore, I started up a mantra, which I repeated to myself all the way along the road between Magnetawan and Burk’s Falls.  This is a trip of probably 10 miles, and it is the easiest way to get to Canada 11, which is the highway between Burk’s Falls and Huntsville.  The phrase that I kept repeating to myself during this trip was as follows:

When you get to Burk’s Falls, head south on Highway 11.

 It should, therefore, come as no surprise to to anyone that I got to Burk’s Falls and promptly turned north on highway 11.

Once again, I’m sharing the boathouse with a nest
full of soon-to-be baby birds!

To my credit, I realized my mistake almost immediately (like, within a mile or two), but there are very few places on 11 where one can turn around; so I decided that I’d just go to North Bay, Ontario (about 60 miles north), which – like Huntsville – has a Wal-Mart (and therefore would have a micro SD card).  So I drove to North Bay, which is a nice little city and used to be one of the main stops on the road between Montreal and Vancouver.  It lies on the shores of Lake Nippissing and is a great vacation destination should you ever wish to travel north in Ontario.

It also appeared to be closed yesterday.  The whole town had taken the day off as far as I could tell.  And the Wal-Mart looked as if it had been closed for a month.

So I got turned around and headed south on highway 11 – all the way back to Burk’s Falls and then another 40 miles or so to Huntsville, where I went to the Wal-Mart as originally envisioned and picked up my SD card.

Canada maps have now been loaded onto the GPS….and I only had to go 120 miles out of my way to get it done.

After getting back to the camp, I sweet-talked Cy into playing a few games of tennis with me.  As it was rather warm on the court (temps were in the mid-80’s yesterday), we only played 7 games and gave up when I had a 4-3 lead.  We finished the set this morning (I took it, 7-5), but Cy got her revenge and won a second set (also 7-5).  I guess we’ll go for the tie-breaker tomorrow.

Got back to my boathouse after this morning’s tennis and fell in the lake for a few minutes before practicing the tuba for 40 minutes or so.  After that, Don and I capped the chimneys on the main cabin.

Most of the clan sat on the dock for quiet time today.  I checked my work email and uploaded a bunch of photos to both Facebook and the SmugMug gallery mentioned a few days ago.

Think I’m going to go take a walk and then fall in the lake.

Dinner last night, cooked by Don Peddy, consisted of cheeseburgers and some potato salad (made by Julie Peddy).  As always, the food is great.

Karl and Diane Neuse are scheduled to arrive sometime tonight.  Looking forward to catching up with them!

TWD

vacation 2012: part 2

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It is a gorgeous morning on Ahmic Lake.

I woke up in my boathouse retreat about 10 minutes ago after nearly 8 hours of sleep and am listening to a few birds as I type this.  Other than those avian noisemakers, it is virtually silent.  The wind hasn’t started up yet this morning, so I don’t even hear any waves slapping against the dock or pushing the boats around downstairs.  This won’t last long, I’m sure – there’s certain to be a boat or two cruising by before I’m long into this narrative.  I can live with that.

Life on the Magnetawan River

I arrived at Camp Ulvik at about 8:00 Saturday night after a really nice drive from Cornwall, VT.  The trip began somewhat inauspiciously when I discovered, in Shoreham, that the updates that I’d applied to my GPS unit last week had completely wiped out all Canadian data and I was unable to get directions to Magnetawan.  This isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds – I was making the trip before GPS existed, after all – but if the weather hadn’t been perfect all day on Saturday then I might have been a bit stressed.  As it happened, however, I managed to find my way to Cornwall, Ontario; and then I used a method that I’d employed once in the 1990s to get here: I headed west until I saw signs to towns or landmarks that jogged my memory.  Kingston, Ottawa, Algonquin, Huntsville, etc.

I was met at the camp by Cy, “T”, Don & Julie Peddy, and the Peddy’s new puppy, Nellie.  Dinner was barbecued ribs, cole slaw and mashed potatoes, and all of us hit the sack fairly early.

Yesterday morning was devoted mainly to getting the camp connected to the internet.  Whoever closed things up last September hadn’t stored the DSL modem and routers in their normal spot in the basement; and I tried unsuccessfully to connect with an older modem for about an hour before, mainly out of frustration, I had an inspiration and checked an upstairs closet in the farmhouse and found the missing equipment.  Once that was recovered, it was a short business to get things up and running.

One of the floats in the Magnetawan Canada Day Parade

After having a crumpet for breakfast, I joined the rest of the gang for a trip into town to catch Magnetawan’s Canada Day Parade.  It was, by necessity in a town of 300, rather short; but it had a patriotic charm that reminded me of July 4th celebrations from my days in Shoreham in the 1970’s.  Bunting, flags, old cars, kids on bicycles, dogs decked out in flags…all in all, a very pleasant diversion.

After the parade, there was a cake cutting (happy 145th birthday, Canada!) it the town center/library/hockey rink, and 60 or 70 people broke into “Oh, Canada” seemingly spontaneously.  It sounded great.

As do I.

I walked the two and a half miles back to the camp and the remainder of the day was a typical Ahmic afternoon.  Had a nap, followed by a great dinner (“T” grilled some chicken breasts and Julie pitched in with a salad), and then the 5 of us played Oh Hell until 11:00 or so.

Managed to get Amy on a video call at about 11:30 – sadly, she will not be able to visit next week (a tenuous plan that had been formed proved to be too impractical), but we had a nice talk before I toddled off to take a few shots of the moon and hit the sack.

The high temperature yesterday, by the way, was probably about 85.  I’m told that it hit 106 in Atlanta and 111 in other parts of Georgia.  I’m quite happy to be where I am, deer flies and all.

Laptop battery running low, and I’m short on time.  Later, all.

TWD

vacation 2012: part 1

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Yeah.

So I said that I’d try to write something every day while I was on vacation.  I lied.

Ruins of the British soldiers barracks at Crown Point, NY

It is now Friday evening, and Cy, “T”, Dad, Diane and I have just returned to the Cornwall house from dinner in Middlebury – Dad’s treat!  Most in the group got some variant of Thai food.  I opted for a sushi plate, which was quite good.  We’re all back at the house now (it’s about 9:00).  Cy and “T” are busying themselves with last-minute packing details (the three of us are leaving for Magnetawan in the morning), Diane and I are both playing on our computers and Dad is doing his best to take pictures of the incredible sky using an old point-and-shoot camera – I haven’t the heart to tell him that it’s never going to work.

The new Champlain Bridge

The GBB’s concert last night went fairly well.  The crowd seemed to be larger than last year’s was, and it was extremely receptive of the band, which sounded pretty good – and I should know, because I  was late getting back to the stage and watched the first selection of the concert’s second half (West Side Story) from the picnic grounds.  All of the folks in the band who I talked to had a great trip and – judging by several of their posts on Facebook – we wouldn’t be averse to making a third trip to Middlebury.  This won’t happen next year, of course (we’re booked for the international trombone federation in Columbus), but maybe in 2014.

Champlain Lighthouse

I spent most of yesterday tooling around Shoreham in the morning – driving on a bunch of dirt roads near Lake Champlain, eating a late breakfast at the Halfway House, visiting Mom’s tree by the historical society….just reacquainting myself with the old hometown.  Around noon, I went to Middlebury and walked around the cemetery – took a number of pictures, but nothing really caught my eye.  At one o’clock, I hooked up with Cy and the two of us moved percussion equipment from the fine arts building to the stage (a trip of about 200 yards).  The rest of the day was sort of hectic – sound check at 4:00, back to Cornwall for a quick shower, back to the stage for the performance.  After the gig, Cy and I and one of the percussionists moved all the percussion equipment back to the fine arts center and then he and I went to the Two Brothers Tavern in town for a bit of supper.  I ended up getting back to the house at around midnight last night and crashed.  Totally exhausted.

On Wednesday, the day after I arrived in Cornwall, I slept until nearly 9:00, went for a quick 2-mile walk on Clark Road, and then drove to Crown Point, NY.  Spent several hours there walking around the ruins of the two forts on the site (one British, one French).  I never knew that there was an actual historic site there, so it was fun.  Both of the forts were pre-revolution.  The French one – Fort St. Frederic – was built in the 1730s and was never taken (the French destroyed in in 1759 when faced with an overwhelming British force during the French & Indian (aka 7 Years) War.  Almost immediately, the British began construction of a much larger fortification – which was never finished and was taken by American forces in 1775.  Both sets of ruins have been declared National Historic Sites and have not been reconstructed.

Seagull as seen from the top of the Champlain Bridge

Also at the site is the newly-completed (2011) Champlain Bridge, which is really what I drove over there to see.

Wednesday evening I was back at Cy’s place where we hosted a small gathering of GBB members who were in town along with many of their hosts.  I’d been expecting only 5 or 6 people, so it was great to have closer to 10 (maybe 18-20, hosts included).  We hung around, eating chips, drinking good local beer and socializing until perhaps 9:30, when a good number of the band – myself included – went to the Two Brothers  Tavern (they must love us there), ostensibly to play trivia.  As it turned out, we were far too late for the trivia contest, so I ended up playing darts with Matt (the previously-mentioned percussionist) for about two hours before coming back to Cornwall.

House on the Vermont side of the Champlain Bridge

As I stated earlier, tomorrow is a travel day and I probably won’t have much to say.  If I get to Ahmic early enough, however, there may be some pictures.

More pictures from the last three days, by the way, are here.  I’ll continue to add to that album as the vacation continues.

TWD

Canada 2010 – Day 3

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“Brisk” would be the word for today.

I woke up precisely at 7:00 (I have no idea why), and knew immediately that the outside temperature was fairly cool.  As it _MG_3675turned out, it was in the low 50s, and it stayed in the 50s all day.  The boathouse this morning was wrapped in a thick fog bank, making the islands in the lake pretty much invisible.

Not to be deterred, I made my way to the lake and splashed in for a bath – which wasn’t at all bad.  The water temperature was quite a bit higher than the air, and it was really sort of interesting to be swimming around without being able to see more than a couple of feet in any direction.

Had a bagel for breakfast, exchanged pleasantries with everyone _MG_3682 else, and then set out in search of cemeteries at about 10:30.  Rather than going through town, I headed in the opposite direction (south) and found a small cemetery about 6 miles down the road, in the Midlothian region – I’m not sure if that’s an actual town or not.  Spent some time there, then headed east down a dirt road and quickly found another graveyard, which I photographed for another 30 minutes or so.

Not knowing what else to do, I continued east and eventually ended up in Burke’s Falls – the “big city” (of about 2000) near Magnetawan.  From there, I continued east to Sundridge, then looped back to the west and ended up on the outskirts of Parry IMG_3651 Sound (the *real* big city in the area) before heading back towards camp.  Found one more cemetery on the was back to town, then took a short sidetrip through Ahmic Harbour.  Eventually made it back to the camp at about 3:00 this afternoon.

I failed to mention that during all of this circular driving, the weather was gorgeous.  The temperature was always between 55 and 60, but the skies were a brilliant blue, the sun was shining, and it was very comfortable.  Back at the camp, however, it remained cloudy and drizzly and it felt very chilly.  For the first time since I arrived, I was not comfortable wearing shorts and had to put on a pair of jeans._MG_3683

I did some reading, then watched as Dad, “T” and Don made intricate plans and replans in their attempt to re-attach the flagpole to the dock.  The last I heard of the plan was that they needed to go to town (tomorrow) for 24 two-inch screws, a hex driver, and I don’t know what else.  My idea was, I thought, quite a bit simpler: drill a hole in the dock.

I took a walk while they continued to refine their plans, and ended up missing a call from Betsy.  Called her back 90 minutes later and had a nice chat, then headed up to the main cabin to eat.

Dinner, created by Don and Julie Peddy, consisted of fresh corn on the cob, tomato and cucumber salad, steak, and venison that Don shot in North Carolina sometime last spring.  To call it amazing would be to undersell it – and considering that I hadn’t eaten since the bagel, I thought I did a great job of stopping myself at two helpings._MG_3705

After dinner, the seven of us chowed down on brownies (baked this afternoon by Cy) and ice cream in honor of “T”’s 68th birthday.  His presents included a new Magnetawan sweatshirt and a bag of almond M&M’s – I didn’t get him anything, as I had no idea that it was his birthday.

The evening’s entertainment came in the form of a spirited game of _MG_3717Mexican Train (dominoes), which was won by, I think, Julie Peddy.

The party broke up at 10:30 (funny – when I first started spending my summer vacations at Ahmic, we’d play cards until 1:30 AM every night), and I made my way down to the dock for my evening pitch- black dip in the lake, which was quite nice in spite of the remaining chill in the air.  The water temperature is still holding at 72…I don’t know how long that’s going to last if we don’t get some sun soon.

TWD  

Canada 2010 – Day 1

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Well, it took an extra 2 months, but my vacation has finally arrived.  I’m currently sitting in the left-side living quarters over the boathouse of Camp Ulvik on Ahmic Lake in Magnetawan, Ontario.  My sister Dianne is residing in the right-side quarters, Dad is in the honeymoon cottage, about 100 yards down the lake, and Cy and T are in their usual cottage near the main cabin.  As far as I know, no Cy catches up on some reading in the main cabin one is in the farmhouse at this point, but I think Dr. and Julie Peddy are due at the camp tomorrow.

I rolled into camp at about 2 o’clock this morning after driving for just about 19 hours from Duluth.  I’m not sure exactly what took me so long this year – I usually plan on around 17 or 18 hours.  Originally, I’d planned to leave the house at about 3 o’clock Sunday morning, but Chris and I went to the LSU/UNC football game at the Georgia Dome on Saturday night, and I didn’t get to sleep until about 2:00 AM Sunday.  Got up at 6:30 and was on the road within an hour.

The drive up was fairly uneventful, although the weather was absolutely gorgeous the entire way.  My check engine light came on a couple of times,  but I was able to check and clear it with the handy-dandy OBD2 scanner that I got for my iPhone, which was really nice.  Not knowing why the light comes on tends to make me crazy, so it’s great to actually SEE that it’s nothing important and just make it go away.

I talked to T when I was still in Ohio and he told me that it had been raining for most of the day, but sunshine was forecast for the rest of the week.  When I finally arrived at the camp, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the stars were unbelievable.  IMG_3575 For those of you who haven’t had a chance to see a night sky with virtually no light pollution, it’s an amazing sight. 

But I digress.  The sky was nice when I arrived.  The temperature was 38 degrees and there was a very slight breeze blowing.  I crawled under the down comforter in my boathouse room and was asleep in seconds. 

I slept until about 11 this morning, when I awoke to light drizzles and overcast skies.  So much for the forecast.  The temp was probably in the 50s and there was NO WAY I was going in the lake, so I took a shower in the farmhouse and them joined the family in the main cabin for greetings and lunch.  Then we broke up for “quiet time.” 

I had intended to take a nap (no kidding), but instead spent an hour or so practicing my tuba, which I brought with me this year.  I’m glad I did, as I sounded pretty good.  The boathouse gives a reallyIMG_3561 nice warm rich sound somehow.  Between etudes, I laid on my bed and listened to the rain and wind whip around the boathouse – a very nice late summer storm helped to make it a perfect boathouse day.

Later in the afternoon, everyone reconvened at the main cabin and chatted awhile before being joined by Dexter and Carol Kelly who spend a few months every year at Indian Point, just across the lake from Ulvik.  They livened up the evening talking about nothing in particular over cheese and crackers, and we talked them into staying for dinner, which was prepared by Dianne and T and consisted of some sort of beef stroganoff thing over rice, a mixed salad and a corn/onion/tomato salad.  Very good stuff.

Dinner and dessert lasted until about 9 tonight.  There was some IMG_3576discussion about playing cards afterwards, but I begged off – still tired.  I did get in my first skinny dip of the season about a half an hour ago – the water temperature is lovely.   I wouldn’t begin to guess what it is, but it’s not at all cold.  It’s actually another beautiful night.  Air temperature is in the high 60s and the ever-present Ahmic breeze is wafting through my boathouse as I type this.