The Squamidian Report – Aug. 2 / 08
Issue #323
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Just when I was beginning thinking there was nothing to write about for this week’s issue, mother earth comes to my rescue with a big rockslide that has the Sea to Sky highway closed till sometime next week. And actually, it wasn’t really even a rockslide, it was a collapsing cliff. A large section of cliff that overhung the highway let go and collapsed down onto the highway and the railway tracks that run between the highway and the waters of Howe Sound. The tracks were pushed out into the water and the track bed and highway were left buried under 50 ft of rock rubble.
The resulting highway closure meant that Squamish and Whistler are now cut off from the rest of the world unless you have the time to head north to Pemberton and over the Duffy to Lillooet where you can catch highway 12 down to #1 toward Hope and back in through the Frazer Valley. That’s about an 8-hour drive if the weather is good. With the highway shut down, all the tourists in Whistler are stranded. The commuters in Squamish are stranded and no supplies can get in except by boat.
The local airplane and helicopter charter companies have seized the moment to gouge the hell out of anyone who has to get back to the city or the airport. One report has a helicopter company charging eight hundred dollars per seat for the 35-minute ride from Whistler to Vancouver. Even the water taxis are charging 5 times the normal rate and are still booked full. Sue flew into Vancouver from Edmonton on Thursday and had to get a motel for the night. She then took it upon herself to join the many other motorists who have to get past the rock fall and drive the long way around, over the Duffy. Because of the extra traffic on a high, narrow mountain road that is not at all meant for it, authorities have posted RCMP along the route and traffic control people at the narrow single lane wooden bridges.
Sue made it home by early Friday evening a bit tired but otherwise just fine.
As it turned out, even though getting to the other side of the blockage was expensive or down right impossible for most, we were sent to Lions Bay on Thursday to fix a water main. The construction company that is doing the re-build of the Sea to Sky highway has us do their pipe work as they do not have the people that can do it. They also have people housed in Squamish that work on the Lions Bay section of the project. So they have a private chartered passenger boat that continually shuttles workers back and forth around the slide. They run from Britannia to the Lions Bay marina and back. We simply gathered up the hand tools we would need and walked on board. The ride up the Sound was very interesting, as I’ve never seen the Sound or the surrounding mountainsides from that prospective.
The highway looks very tenuous indeed when viewed from the water, a fragile thread hanging along the sides of the cliff faces. There are dozens of places along there that look like they could fail, and probably will at some point in time. The rock fall is larger than it looks on TV and some of the chunks of rock are down right huge. Clearing the mess will be quite a chore.
At Lions Bay we walked off the boat and were met by a foreman for the highway construction company and driven to the site where the water main needed work. The work at this location had been put off for weeks and was holding things up because it is at a narrow spot where it had been impossible to close down a traffic lane. With the highway now closed, we had a window to do the work. In fact, the closure is an opportunity for the highway construction to make up some time, and they are putting it to good use. They supplied us with an excavator for me to run and a dump tuck to move material for us. Once we had the work finished, we decided to walk back down to the marina, an easy half hour stroll, and caught the next boat back to Britannia. It was a different, but longer day than usual.
Current estimate for the highway to be re-opened, next Tuesday. Lets hope so, if it isn’t ready by then, Sue will have to drive back over the Duffy and down the Fraser Canyon to Hope, then up the Fraser Valley to Vancouver.
*
Kind of interesting how doing certain activities can trigger old memories. As you know, I’ve got a small blueberry patch out back and those berries are ripening now, so I go out and enjoy a handful or so every day now. What you may not know is that there is also a raspberry patch out there. Now, I like raspberries almost as much as I like blueberries, but Sue only likes the raspberries, not the blueberries. So it is only decent of my to leave the raspberries for her. However, she doesn’t bother to go out and pick them so they are hanging there ripely on the canes. Now, under those circumstances, I can’t be faulted for helping myself to a handful or so once in a while.
Now here is where the memory thing comes in. We had just had some badly needed rain and I was out enjoying some blueberries when my wandering eyes landed on the juicy red raspberries. The plants and leaves were wet from the just ended shower, so my hands were wet as well. Flashback to when I was a young kid…
Back on the farm half a century ago daily activities were dictated by the weather. If it were sunny and dry out the field activities such as haying must by necessity take precedence. But if it were wet out the hay had to be left for dryer conditions to move in. On those wet day the drudgery jobs would be done, such as mending fences or cleaning stalls in the barn. However, if the local wild raspberries were ripe, the picking thereof would take precedence. So off we would go to the bushy fence lines and marshy lower field areas where the berries grew.
Trudging through waist high wet grass and shouldering though soaking brush over our heads made for soaked to the skin cold wet misery. Hands so wet they would be wrinkled up, and feet so wet that they sloshed inside your shoes as you walked. And the very worst part of the whole thing would be the relentless droves of hungry mosquitoes. Their constant buzzing and biting would be enough to drive a kid totally nuts. Misery at its unimaginable worst. I hated those outing with every fiber of my being.
However, those days and years are very long gone. It was an interesting memory to have surfaced, having being buried for so long. There are several differences though, this time I didn’t get soaked, or even wet besides my hands, and there are absolutely on mosquitoes here to make life miserable.
doug
****
****
Hello
everyone!
Well here
we are, back at it for another week!
Chapter
Two
As you
may recall, we were just off the boat from the whale watching last week. We
decided to take a look around Provincetown and enjoy the atmosphere. We were
prepared for whatever may happen after reading about Provincetown being largely
made up of Gay population. We noticed right away that there was an
overabundance of men wearing extremely short cut off jean shorts and no shirts
riding bicycles around town. They all seemed to be smiling and winking at one
another an awful lot. I guess this is their way of letting one another know
that they are available. While walking through the trendy part of the village
where all the touristy stores and restaurants are we couldn’t help notice all
the happy couples both paired as two males as well as two females holding
hands. There wasn’t a frown among them. They were all smiling and laughing and
enjoying the day. Carole remarked on how talented the street musicians were.
There were many of them playing their guitars and other instruments and singing
at the top of their lungs. There must have been a particularly generous crowd
in town that day as most of the guitar cases were brimming with bills ranging
from 1’s to 20’s and loads of change as well. As we walked the main street of
P-town we heard an amazing voice coming from behind us. As we turned to look at
the source, we were shocked to see a well tanned man wearing a mid thigh tight
skirt, a white blouse and 3” high platform heeled white shoes. He had long
blond hair that hung to mid way on his chest (his flat chest) and he stood
about 6’ 6” tall. He was pulling a children’s wagon with a sandwich style sign
board on it that read “76 Years Young and LIVING MY DREAMS!” There was also
posted on the sign an 8”x10” colour picture of a soldier in full battle gear
sitting on a wall in a desert town. On the picture it said “My grandson Jimmy
now serving his 3rd term with the US Marines in Iraq”. On the front
of the wagon was a large ghetto blaster that was playing the instrumental
version of “Summer Wind” by Frank Sinatra. If we hadn’t turned around to look
at this man, we would have sworn that we were being serenaded by Frank himself.
The man had a voice that was a perfect match to “The Chairman Of The Board”
himself. I’m tellin’ you this guy missed his calling! He should have been in
Vegas the way he was singing. He went on to sing several more Sinatra songs and
each one was amazing. We stood on the curb and listened as he crooned and the
crown swooned. I couldn’t help but wonder if his grandson Jimmy had an 8x10 pic
of his grandfather in full dress tacked to the head board of his bunk in camp
in Iraq??? Hard to imagine he’d be as proud of grandpa as grandpa claimed to be
of him. Oh well, to each his own!
Our next
move was to step into a Ben and Gerry’s Ice Cream shop for a cone. It was
almost 100F in the sun that day and an ice cream sounded good. We entered the
shop and as we stood in line we couldn’t help notice the very large “chocolate
dipped” banana’s on a stick in the freezer display case. With everything so
obviously intended to emphasize the Gay Lifestyle of P-town we both started to
laugh out loud at the sight of these phallic symbols laying on a tray virtually
daring someone to purchase one and orally enjoy it as he or she walked down
main street Gay Town USA! Hahahahhaaaa…….! We laughed so hard at the thought
that we had to leave B & G’s and look elsewhere for our treat. Just the
thought of partaking of one of those big chocolate bananas in public was about
as shocking as most of the couples we’d seen that day. We finally decided to go
into a corner store and buy an ice cream bar. There was a small table at the
window with a couple of stools where we sat to enjoy our cool treats. I was
fully expecting someone to step up behind me as I approached the table and
offer to “push in my stool”! Hahahaha….. LOL.. YUCK! Trust me, we heard so many
Gay jokes expressed by the inhabitants of this quaint village that no one was
offended with that type of humor and we managed to accept their “out of the
closet” way of living pretty readily. Somehow you get used to seeing and
hearing these antics pretty quickly. You don’t have to agree with it but there
isn’t anything you can do about it when you’re there. You have two choices, put
up with it or leave! The activities were somewhat shocking but none of it was
crude or pornographic, just unusual to us! In fact, when we were sitting at the
table by the window of the ice cream store, there was a short fat bald white
guy that stopped right in front of the window and smiled as he was approached
by the biggest, blackest, most muscular “Line Backer” type bare chested man
I’ve ever seen and giggled with excitement as he was embraced and kissed full
on the lips by said “Line Backer”. They laughed and hugged for about a minute
as they greeted each other as if they hadn’t seen one another in a long time.
Carole and I were shocked a little, not to mention embarrassed a little by
their antics. It wasn’t the kind of activity we are used to seeing and I guess
we looked as much out of place with our shocked looks on our faces to them as
they did to us! LOL! What a surprise it was to witness such a happening! They finally
walked away hand in hand and we finished our ice cream and headed on back to
the car. The sights and sounds of this beautiful village were as much a
highlight of our day as the whale watching trip was and I’m sure we’ll never
forget the happenings of that visit. We headed back to our motel which was
about 60 miles south. On the way back we decided to stop in at a roadside
restaurant called Rookie’s for some fish and chips. They served us the best
Fish & Chips meal we’ve ever had. It was a very large fillet of Haddock and
a huge plate of home made chips. The old couple that ran the place had done so
for over 40 years and the lady that served us was the owner. She said they took
great pride in their Fish & Chips and it showed. There is nothing served in
KW area anyway, that comes anywhere close to the quality of this meal. Rockway
Restaurant in Kitchener that is now out of business after 70 some years and
specialized in Fish & Chips couldn’t hold a candle to this plate of food. I
guess that’s what you can expect when you’re eating seafood of a sort that’s
caught that same day just offshore from the very establishment that’s serving
it! Fresh and delicious to say the least!
*
The fifth
day, we packed up our things and headed inland to visit Plymouth Mass. This is
the town that lays claim to having hosted the very first landing of the
Pilgrims that settled the United States. They had actually landed on the tip of
Cape Cod at Province Town first but after a few weeks there, they decided they
couldn’t grow any decent crops on the sand that makes up the Cape. So, they
loaded everything onto the Mayflower once more and sailed west once more until
they landed ashore at Plymouth approximately 60 miles across the bay from
P-town. We drove to Plymouth in about 2 hours. The drive along the old highway
that skirts the coast of Mass is a winding scenic one that takes you through
tiny fishing villages. Most of the coast is inhabited by retired millionaires
now and their homes are beautiful. There are still many many quaint shanties
and fishing docks that can be seen as well. We happened on to a beautiful
seaside motel just south of Plymouth and decided to check in for the night. It
happened to be the only motel right on the shore line in the Plymouth area. It
had a huge concrete patio that overlooked the Atlantic and there was a long
staircase that led down from the patio to the seashore. When the tide was out,
there was a 150m of beautiful sandy beach and when it was in, you stepped off
the bottom step into about 2 feet of water. Of course this meant that the
bottom of the swimming area was nothing but lovely sand as far as you could
swim at high tide. We spent almost all the next day basking in the sun and
swimming in the chilly but refreshing Atlantic Ocean. The water was very calm
in that area because it was actually still part of Cape Cod Bay. We liked the
place so much that we stayed for a second night and day. We visited Plymouth
that evening and also the next day. We managed to see Plymouth Rock and to
board and learn about the Mayflower II. It’s a replica of the actual Mayflower
that landed there in 1620. The replica was built from the same plans and using
the very same method of construction that was used to build the original ship.
The Mayflower II was built in the same ship yards in Plymouth England as the
original. It was launched in 1957 and was sailed by a US Navy Captain and his
hand picked crew from Plymouth England to Plymouth Massachusetts to it’s
present home dockside in the harbour. The tour of the ship was very interesting
as they have actors playing the parts of the original crew members. They talk
to you and answer your questions in the language of 1620 with British accents
and all. They stay in character as they describe their responsibilities during
the voyage. If you ever get to visit Plymouth this ship is worth the effort to
go and see.
*
We left
Plymouth the third morning and drove into Boston to the South Station. This is
the main bus and rail station that serves all of Boston. There we parked on the
roof and boarded a trolley that takes you around a circuit of historic
buildings and locations known as “Old Town” Boston. We visited many famous
spots that pertain to everything from the Boston Tea Party to the Old North
Church where Paul Reveres famous candle’s warned that the “British Were
Coming”. You know, “One if by land, Two if by sea!” The Old North Church is in
the midst of so much modern construction that from the seat on the tour trolley
you could only see the top 30’ of the steeple of the church. If you actually
wanted to see the whole church, you had to walk up a steep incline of a very
narrow street about 4 blocks long until you reached the small plot of property
where it sits amidst the huge sky scrapers of today’s city centre of Boston. On
a 100 degree day in mid July it just wasn’t worth the trek for a peek at the
old church. We stayed on the trolley and took in the sites from the relative
comfort of the tight leather seats. As we approached site number 7 on the tour
the driver mentioned that the famous Cheers Bar of TV fame was just across the
park from that stop and if you wanted to visit it you could walk through the
park to the north side for a look. Carole and I got off at that stop and walked
through a lovely park to the far side. Once across the park, we were happy to
see the Cheers sign and awnings on the front of the exact building we’d seen so
many times on the television show “CHEERS”. We had our pictures taken in front
of the bar and then descended the stairs to the famous Cheers wooden door. We
entered the bar and as we did so, Carole chimed out “NORM”!!! an exclamation
heard loud and clear as cast member George Wendt who played “Norm” entered the
Cheers Bar. We were ushered to a table in the bar and sat and enjoyed a “Carla
Burger and Fries” and of course I had to have a Beer with my food in this
famous establishment. I asked the waitress for a Boston Ale and she served it
to me in one of the famous Cheers glass mugs that I was allowed to take home as
a souvenir. We also enjoyed the meal and when we were ready to leave I asked
the waitress if I could buy a menu as a keepsake as well. She said she could
get into trouble if she got caught but she slipped a menu into a Cheers bag for
me along with my mug and told me that if I got caught taking it out, that I was
on my own. LOL! SO, I have a couple of great keepsakes from Cheers to remember
the day with. We visited the souvenir shop on the second floor and bought a tee
shirt and a ball cap as well. As we exited Cheers, there was a peddle cab
waiting by the curb. I asked Carole if she wanted to take the cab back to our
bus stop and in that heat she readily agreed. The driver took us on a leisurely
ride around the park and ended up back at the bus stop just in time to catch
our tour bus to complete the tour. The peddle cab ride cost whatever you wanted
to pay so I gave the young driver the $6.00 I had in my pocket and he was quite
happy with that. We passed the famous Boston Common as we left the stop by
Cheers. This is an area of about 30 acres in the center of Old Town Boston that
was dedicated to the use of the “common” Bostonian for eternity by the original
council of the town of Boston. It is used by thousands to this day for any
“common/decent” use. If you have cattle and you wish to have them graze on the
Boston Common, you are most welcome to do so without protest. The tour and our
stop at Cheers had taken up most of the day and we were looking forward to
getting out of the heat. We left the South Station and headed to North Boston to
a section of Boston called Malden. I have a friend that is on the Malden Fire
Department and we managed to find his station where we dropped off a pair of
Waterloo Fire Department uniform shirts for his collection. I had contacted him
before our trip but he wasn’t available the day we were in town to meet and
have a visit. We’ve decided to plan another time to go to Malden for a visit
with Jim and his family. In the meantime he’s very happy that we were able to
drop off the shirts for him.
*
Our next
destination was the old town of Salem Massachusetts. This is the famous town
where the witch trials took place so many years ago. There is a museum and a
park dedicated to the story of these trials. If you take a day or two you can
tour all of the houses where the accused and later cleared witches lived and
practiced their witchcraft. We opted to take a walk around the downtown area
and take in the stores that cater to the tourists. We picked up a couple of
quick souvenirs there and headed out of town to find a motel for the night. We
had had a long hot day and needed a long shower and something good to eat. I
suppose if you were more in tune with all the history of Salem you might find
this town more interesting but with our limited knowledge of the happenings we
didn’t find this town had much to offer us.
*
We had
planned to drive across the top of Massachusetts and meet up with Hwy 91
northbound that divides New Hampshire and Vermont. The next morning after
leaving Salem, we did just that. Highway 91 is a noted scenic drive north
toward Quebec. We decided to drive north and then northwest to Burlington
Vermont where we would catch a Ferry to take us across the middle of Lake
Champlain to land in New York State. We managed to make the drive in two days
to Burlington VT and the next day we caught the Ferry at 8:30am. The Ferry ride
was our first and we didn’t know what to expect. As we pulled out of port we
commented on how quiet the Ferry was. You could barely hear the engines of this
massive craft. I suppose it’s not the size of the Ferries that ply the waters
of British Columbia but it was a good size for its purpose. Lake Champlain was
once designated the 6th “Great Lake” by president Bill Clinton but
that only lasted two days until congress put the kybosh to his idea. Although
it connects to the St Lawrence River it’s still too remote to be considered one
of the Great Lakes. We crossed the lake at its widest point which is only 10
miles. This hardly qualifies it to be big enough to be a Great Lake. I think
letting the Americans have one Great Lake to them selves is quite enough, don’t
you? LOL! They can have Lake Michigan for their very own, its bad enough that
we have to share the rest of them with the US. LOL! We landed in a place called
Port Kent NY. It’s just a blip on the shore of the lake and in 2 minutes we
were out of there and on the open road once again. We traveled about 2 km from
the lake and came across a beautiful natural sight called “Ausable Chasm”. It’s
very much like looking at the Elora Gorge only the river that passes through it
is much faster and a tad larger. We could have taken a walking tour down into
the gorge but decided that the 352 steps down and back up were too much on the
old legs after all the walking we’d already done during the trip. We settled
for a few pictures of the Chasm and got back on the road.
Our next
stop was a city close to the eastern end of Lake Ontario called Watertown. We
settled in there for the night in a nice motel. We managed to find this “Days
Inn” with a continental breakfast. We tried whenever we could to do this so we
wouldn’t have to go out to eat each morning. If you’re traveling you really do
save a good bit of money if you don’t have to buy breakfast every morning. We
figured we’d saved at least $15.00 per day by staying in places that included a
“Continental Breakfast”. This leg of our trip was picked as we went along and
there were no planned specific stops along the way. We did however make a point
of sticking to the smaller two lane highways. We picked highway 30 for the trip
from Port Kent to Watertown and then down to believe it or not “MEXICO”! Yes
folks, we actually stopped in Mexico before turning west toward Rochester.
MEXICO NY that is! LOL! This is why we like to stick to the back country smaller
highways because we find we like coming across these small but interesting
places that you don’t always hear about. Of course these towns capitalize on
their names as well. Mexico NY had a large Mexican restaurant in the center of
town. We don’t like Mexican food and it wasn’t time to eat so we just breezed
through town after taking a brief look around. Our next stop was Rochester NY.
This city as it turned out is a very clean and beautiful city. We were
surprised to see how nice it was. I don’t know why but I had visions of it
being a dirty dingy industrial port town on the south shore of Lake Ontario. To
the contrary, Rochester is a modern, well kept very friendly city. We stopped
at a “Friendly’s” restaurant for an Ice Cream cone and while there, the young
lady that served us suggested we take a look at a mall down the road before
leaving on our journey home. We back tracked about a mile to the Greek Ridge
Mall. WOW! What a HUGE mall this is! We parked our car and entered the mall. We
were looking for a “Dress Barn” store that she had told us was just in front of
the Sears store. Little did we know that Sears was at the complete opposite end
of the mall to where we entered. We checked the floor plan of the mall once
inside and noticed the Sears store at the other end. I said “What the heck, how
long a walk can it be to get to Sears?” “Why don’t be just walk over to it in
stead of taking the car around to the other side?” Well, we walked and walked
and walked AND walked! It took us a good 15 minutes of hard and fast walking to
make it to the Dress Barn that Carole wanted to check out. I said I’d sit on
the mall bench outside the store and wait for her. After sitting there for
about 10 minutes or so Carole came out smiling with a package or two in hand.
It’s a good thing the long walk wasn’t for nothing! She had found a couple of
items she really liked and that made the effort worth while. We began our walk
back to the car and after about 2 minutes I suggested that I leave Carole at
the closest entrance and walk back for the car myself and then pick her up
after driving all the way around. That was a good idea but the mall is so large
and has so many wings that I made a wrong turn somewhere and it took me almost
20 minutes just to find the last hallway that I had to use to get out to the
car. LOL! What a schmazzle it was to find my way out! Oh well, it gave Carole a
few minutes to relax with the seagulls outside the mall while I drove back to
get her. We left Rochester with the thought that we just might visit that town
again sometime. The rest of the drive was uneventful from Rochester to Niagara
Falls as we meandered along Route 104 within sight of Lake Ontario. There were
many old cars sitting beside the road with for sale signs on them. This was a
car shopper paradise if you wanted an older car or truck. Lots of vehicles from
the 50’s and 60’s on peoples lawns for sale. The one thing we did notice as we
drove the entire route of our holiday was what Doug already commented on and
that was the cleanliness of the States. There was not one piece of litter along
any of the roads we traveled. I’m not sure who does their roadside maintenance
whether it be paid staff of the state or local prison “Chain Gangs” but whoever
does this job needs to be commended for a job well done. Their highways and
byways are also very well manicured. Even the lawns along the highways out in
the wilderness of the Adirondack Mountains are cut with huge mowers and there
is NO LITTER on their roadsides either! It’s amazing how clean the entire
countryside is down there. Canada could really take a lesson from the US when
it comes to cleaning up our messy roadways. People down there just DO NOT
litter! The other thing that stands out in our memories is the courtesy that is
shown to other motorists as we drove along our way. We would be waiting to pull
out of a motel or parking lot on Cap Cod and the moving traffic would stop and
wave us out into the flow. If they didn’t do this, we would have sat for long
periods of time before finding an opening to pull out. When we were in
Plymouth, I was standing at the roadside trying to take a picture across the
road at a B&B house that was architecturally very nice and we were amazed
that the traffic passing by had stopped to allow me to take the picture without
the cars in it! You tell me, where in Canada would that ever happen! When I had
taken the shot, the drivers waved and drove away.
We
managed to reach Niagara Falls by early evening and tried to locate a motel in
which to spend the night. We figured we’d drive the last 150km to Kitchener in
the morning. The motel we chose and usually stay in was full for the night when
I checked. So, we decided to cross the boarder and head for home right then.
After all, we were only about an hour and a half away. Off we went and by 11pm
we were pulling in our driveway with a car load of stuff and memories form a
really great vacation.
Adam and
Bailey were happy to see us and we were both glad to be home for a good nights
sleep in our own bed.
That’s it
for the vacation story!
I hope
you all enjoyed taking the trip along with me once more! We have a lot of great
memories and pictures
from our adventure to New England.
Thanks
for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next time in The
Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
Next time
you see someone litter, let them know that it’s not appreciated and maybe we’ll
soon have a cleaner more pleasant Ontario in which to live!
PPS: Oh
ya…..and did I mention we also visited Lake Placid while traveling through NY
State?
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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