Day 4--Tonight in Austria

Greetings to Andy and Leigh Ann.

It is always a good start when you begin the day in worship to God. We look forward to Sundays on these trips as we worship with new friends (and some old friends) who are our brothers and sisters in the Lord. Before the service, those of us who worship regularly with our dear friend, Andy, posed to send him a greeting. Andy, we miss you and Leigh Ann. We wish you could have made this trip with us, and daily send up prayers for your improved health.

After our worship service this morning we boarded the bus and began our departure from Switzerland. Right before we crossed the border between Switzerland and Liechtenstein, we came very near the area of Switzerland that was depicted in the story of Heidi. It is a very beautiful area, and a definite “must-return-to” place. It was not on the itinerary this time.

We drove across the Rhine River and entered Leichtenstein, a small independent country located between Switzerland and Austria. We had a little time in the capitol city, Vaduz, for our lunch stop. Margaret and I walked through the town and took photographs of the hilltop castle that houses the country’s monarch (Prince-something-or-the-other). Shortly after lunch we crossed the border into Austria at Feldkirch, so in only a few short hours we had been in three different countries…all beautiful.

The castle at Leichtenstein

The drive from the Leichtenstein border to Innsbruck, Austria must have been exceptionally scenic, if you use Elizabeth’s reasoning of the previous day, because there were so many tunnels that I almost got the feeling that we were on an underground tour. Once we got out of one tunnel and began to “ooh” and “aaah” over the scenery, suddenly we were back in another tunnel. One of the tunnels was through the Arlberg Pass, and that single tunnel was about seven miles long. I understand that tunnels are the only way to get acceptable roads through such mountainous terrain, but I hated missing what I knew must have been spectacular scenery above us.

Innsbruck is such an interesting town. The Inn River, which originates in the Swiss Alps, cuts through the town, and there are lovely pastel colored buildings on either side of the river.

The walking tour leaves...and street scene in Innsbruck

We went on a walking tour of the old portion of the city. It began to sprinkle a little as we left the hotel, but our group donned hooded jackets, rain gear, and did not let a few drops of rain daunt out spirits. The drizzle lasted only a few minutes, anyway. We walked through the area of the Imperial Palace, which was originally built in the 15-16 century. Then on down to the heart of the old city where we saw the Goldeses Dachl (Golden Roof), which is a bayed window built my Emperor Maximillian so he could watch events taking place in the street below. It supposedly has 2,657 gold-plated tiles on the roof, but our guide told us that they were not actually gold, just gave that appearance. I think it was my mother who taught me “All that glitters is not gold”. Apply that proverb in this case.

The old watchtower and views of Innsbruck from the top

When we completed our guided tour, Margaret and I wandered down to the river to take photographs. (Yes, unbelievers, Margaret is taking many pictures…and enjoying it!) I had read about a 187-foot-high watchtower, the Stradtturn, which was built between 1442 and 1450. It is located in the old district where we were walking, and I decided to climb the 148 steps to a platform that offered a 360-degree view of Innsbruck. With dramatic mountains surrounding the city, the view was wonderful today, and would be absolutely spectacular on a clear, sunny day. This is another item on the “must-return-to” list!

Dinner tonight was an event as the group honored the Browns on their 45th wedding anniversary (which was actually two days ago). Also, the waiter at our table was obviously learning English. He was able to read our name tags, and when he got to me he said, “Jane…oh…Jane, me Tarzan!” Obviously his exposure to literature in the English language was somewhat limited, but it gave the group a good laugh.

At dinner tonight I took photos of the people on the tour so anyone out there that is keeping up with the blog because you have friends or loved ones on the tour can see that your special person is still with us. I think the only “missing person” in this collection of photos is Mike. He elected to take a nap in lieu of dinner tonight.

I am having more that usual internet problems tonight, so can’t be sure I’ll get this posted. If not, I’ll try again tomorrow. I hope each of you had a special day of worship and had time to spend with your loved ones. Please continue to pray for our safe journey, as we pray for all of our families back home. Until tomorrow….

Day 3--A Day in the Alps

I told you yesterday that I was a bit sleep-deprived. This morning Ferrell read my blog and pointed out that I had a major mis-type in yesterday’s post. I am really smart enough to know the difference between, UBS and UPS (especially since my son-in-law, Daryl works for UPS!). It is UBS that is headquartered in Switzerland…not UPS. Please overlook any other spelling/grammar errors. We correct only the “biggies”.

Breakfast this morning was on the seventh-floor terrace of the hotel, where we had eaten dinner last night. From our tables we could view street scenes in Lucerne below us, and the mountains near the hotel. Is this a dream, or what?

View of Lucerne from the terrace.

The skies were still overcast when we left Lucerne, and of course I was hoping for a sunny, cloudless day. We traveled from Lucerne to an area called the Bernese Oberland, a beautiful area in the Swiss Alps. While we were on the bus headed in that direction, Ferrell mentioned that this was his mother’s 96th birthday, and we all sang “Happy Birthday to Vera”. It is also Olen’s mother’s birthday, and I hope Mom had a good day, also.

We drove through the Bruenig pass, which took us through several tunnels. Finally there was a place where the bus could pull off the road so we could take photographs. While we were making photographs and taking in the breathtaking scenery, Elizabeth asked me if I knew why there were so many tunnels in the area. I attempted a reasonable answer, but she said the “real” reason was that humans would not be able to take in such an overload of fantastic scenery and they had to have black-out areas on the roads in the form of tunnels for our sanity! Hmmmm.

We made a stop in the small village of Brienz at a woodcarver’s shop. The shop had been in his family since 1835, and had been in operation ever since. Four years ago an avalanche covered the little village and completely destroyed the shop, but they built back and are continuing in business. The carvings were beautiful, but unfortunately very expensive.

Janet and Ann posed beside one of the woodcarver's creations

We went to Truemmelback Falls, which is 10 glacial waterfalls inside a mountain. We were told that 5,000 gallons of water go over the falls every second. We took an elevator inside the mountain to one level for viewing and then we walked several levels above that. Very interesting.

Lunch stop was at a lovely village of Lauterbrunnen. By the time we arrived there, the sun had come out and the weather was beautiful. We were given a little over an hour for lunch, and were told there were several little lunch choices along the single road that went through Lauterbrunnen. I really wished for my husband, whose attitude in situations like this is always, “We can eat at home. Let’s walk around and see what there is to see here.” Going on the assumption that would be what he would want me to do, I broke with the group and walked all over the little town, munching on my peanut butter crackers as I walked along. I explored areas that probably weren’t meant to be explored, took an abundance of photos and just sat and viewed the typically-Swiss postcard-views. I stopped at a small bakery and bought a drink and some Swiss dessert (chocolate, of course!). I had a very special lunch break!

Views of scenes during the lunch stop

After lunch we drove to the town of Grindelwald. It is one of the most popular destination in the Alps, and has views of the snow-capped mountains and glaciers in the distance. Grindelwald is said to be the village located at the highest elevation that can be reached by car, and in my estimation it can barely be reached by bus. Those roads were narrow and steep for our big bus.

Scenes of Grindelwald

We drove back to Lucerne for the night. On the drive back, I reached across the aisle in the bus and tapped Janet on the arm. “When we were students together at Florida College, did you ever dream that we would be touring Switzerland together nearly 50 years later?” It is hard to believe the amazing turns and twists down the pathway we take in life, isn’t it?

We had dinner on the seventh-floor terrace again, and are about to call it a day. It has been a great day. I hope all of you have had a memorable day, also. This is a beautiful world we live in. Be thankful for it today…and always.

Day 2--Time for a nap!

To say it was a short night would be a terrible understatement. Most of us got a couple 10-20-minute naps between the time they finished serving dinner on the plane and the time they began serving breakfast. We arrived in Zurich about 8 AM Zurich time, which would be some unearthly hour (1 AM?) Alabama time. Remember, we had already eaten breakfast by that time!

By 9:30 we had collected all the luggage that arrived on the flight with us. Steve and Harriet and someone else (Charles and Nancy, I think) did not get their luggage, but they were assured that it would arrive tomorrow. (We’ve heard that story before, haven’t we?) We met our guide, Esther Peters, and boarded our bus for a tour of Zurich. The bus is nice. I don’t think Ferrell secured this bus through Rent-A-Wreck like Olen did on our last vacation!

The weather in Zurich today was very cool…jacket weather…and overcast all day. I was disappointed in the photos I took today. We are hoping for clear weather tomorrow.

Switzerland as a whole is the epitome of “neutral”. They have no alliances and have participated in no foreign conflicts even through two world wars. It is land-locked and the Alps make up about 60% of the country.

The city of Zurich is very interesting. I knew it was a capital of finance and holds a prestigious place in international banking, but it is also the international headquarters for Google, and UPS. The Limmat River runs north-south through the city of Zurich and has several elegant low bridges connecting the areas on either side.

While in Zurich, we stopped at a church building called the Grossmunster. The Grossmunster is known for its twin towers and it was from the pulpit there that Ulrich Zwingli preached about the reformation. We viewed the statue while Ferrell gave us a brief explanation of the influence of Zwingli on religions during his time, and how he still influences us today. (Yes, Olen, I took photos you can use for your Bible class!)

Ferrell talks to the group.

We had some free time to spend in downtown Zurich, so several of us spent a few minutes inside the Groosmunster. One of the two towers was open for visitors, and three of us climbed the 187 steps to the top of the tower for a bird’s eye view of Zurich. The view was wonderful, but sadly the overcast skies did not help the photography. However, that is the way it looked when we were here…and we are very glad to be here!

View from the tower of the Grossmunster.

Brittany C, Jane, Julie--We went t0 the top!

We drove from Zurich to Lucerne. I think Lucerne is about 37 miles from Zurich, but keep in mind that I got my information on distances from a colorful website called “Mapcrow”. By this time we were all extremely sleep-deprived, and when the guide finished talking and looked around, all but 6 on the bus were sound asleep!

In Lucerne we went to the Lion Monument, which is a massive figure of a dying lion pierced by a spear. It was carved out of a cliff face by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorwaldsen in 1821. After that stop, we arrived at our hotel, but it was still early in the afternoon. Margaret and I decided to go for a walk. I convinced her that the famous Chapel Bridge was within walking distance of our hotel, so we walked down to that area and rambled around for about an hour. Chapel Bridge is a covered footbridge spanning the Reuss River. It was originally built in the 14th Century, and is the oldest wooden bridge in Europe. It was partly destroyed by fire in 1993, but has been rebuilt.

Chapel Bridge

We have had a great day, but the bed in the motel is looking really good about now. Today is September 11, a day Americans all over the world pause to remember the horrible events that took place in 2001. For me, personally, September 11 also marks our daughter, Barbara Jo’s, birthday “several” years ago. Also, today was Grandparents Day at Athens Bible School. Several of the grandmothers send their best wishes from Switzerland. Ida Nell, Fran, Margaret and I will have to go and eat lunch with our grands at a later date, I suppose. We hope you all had a wonderful day.

Now it is time for a snooze!

Day 1---The Journey begins

On a sultry summer afternoon over a half-century ago, a delightful little orphan-girl named Heidi jumped out of a dusty volume I had checked out of the public library in Lakeland, Florida, and took up residence in my heart. She has been with me ever since, and from that summer on, I always wished I could see Heidi’s land…that beautiful land of the Alps she loved so much. Even the opening sentences in the book, “…a footpath winds through green and shady meadows to the foot of the mountains, which on this side look down from their stern and lofty heights upon the valley below…” made me desire to actually see those sights for myself. But, during those post-war years in a small town in central Florida these were only dreams, and more than likely would always remain as “only dreams”.

But, here I am…many, many years later…about to board a plane that will take me to see Heidi’s beautiful Alps, along with many other unbelievable sights. I need to pinch myself to believe it is actually happening. What an adventure lies ahead! How thankful I am that little Heidi worked her magic on my imagination so many years ago. I always believed that reading could take me to wonderful places. It has…and it still does! An airline ticket and a passport help, of course!

The “cast of characters” for this journey may sound a bit familiar. We give only first names, but if you know any of these characters, you will be able to fill in the blanks. First of all, we have the “North Alabama Bunch”: Katherine, Shirley, Mike and Peggy, Margaret, Ann, Fran, Ida Nell and her daughter Julie, Steve and Harriet, Joe and Danny. Also, we have north-Alabamians Brittany and Brittany to add some name-confusion to the pot. (We will have to refer to them as Brittany C. and Brittany M, I suppose!)

Kathy and Judy (the California “girls”) represent their state along with David and Lorain. Tennessee is well-represented by Eleanor, Charles and Nancy, Susan, and Janet. Chasity (Susan’s daughter) is from Georgia, and Pat is from Kentucky. Ed and Rena are from Kentucky part of the year and Florida the other part. (You can guess which part of the year they spend in sunny Florida!) Bernard and Doris are also from Florida. Rounding out the Florida group we have Ferrell and Elizabeth, without whom we would all be staying at home! Thanks for all your wonderful planning, Ferrell.

Enough chatter. It is time to leave! Wheels up! Away we go!

One week and counting...

“You’re going on another trip?” I get this question from time to time.

Yes, I am going on another trip! To me, travel is one of the real joys of being a senior citizen. We are no longer responsible for paying college tuition or outrageous insurance on a fleet of cars driven by teenage children. Olen and I have never owned a boat, and do not have a motor home. We never spent a dime on alcohol or cigarettes. We don’t drive expensive vehicles. I love my ’05 mini-van and Olen drives a truck. We rarely go to the movies, and would just as soon eat a Whopper Jr. as go to an expensive restaurant. We are not extravagant people…but we LOVE to travel.

A new laptop, a few guidebooks and I am ready to go!

My slightly skewed reasoning works this way: God made this beautiful world and in some strange way it is my responsibility to see and appreciate as much of it as possible during my lifetime. Fortunately, my precious husband shares my enthusiasm for travel.

However, this “journey” I am about to make is different. I am going with Ferrell and Elizabeth Jenkins on a tour of Switzerland, Austria and Italy without Olen. I have always dreamed of a trip like this, and at the time of the deadline for signing up for this trip, our family situation was not such that we thought we could both be gone that far away for that long. So, Olen graciously insisted that I go on the trip and use this opportunity to “scout out” places both of us could return to together when the time is right.

It won’t be the same without him by my side, but I plan to enjoy it…in a different way. Margaret, who has been my friend for over forty years, as agreed to be my roommate. We are looking forward to a great trip. We fly from Huntsville on the morning of September 10, and join the rest of the tour group in Atlanta, where we will fly non-stop to Zurich, Switzerland over night.

I will attempt to send back posts to this blog (including photos) each day…or whenever I have internet access…so you are invited to join us on this “journey” to Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Ferrell Jenkins writes a much more educational blog, and you should read his posts at ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com. Ferrell posts the important things on the tour while I focus on people, places and feelings, with much less respect for grammar, spelling and historic details. Both of us thoroughly enjoy the trip…each in our own way.

Please pray for a safe and enjoyable journey for all of us on this remarkable “journey”.

Jane of White Barn meets Anne of Green Gables

The last day of a vacation always seems to be one of the best, and today was no exception. It is going to be very difficult to leave this beautiful island in the morning, but all good things must come to an end, I suppose.

This morning we headed to the north shore of the island and were thankful that the rain that had been predicted for today did not materialize. We were under cloudy skies until mid-afternoon, but no rain. We drove through an especially picturesque area around the village of Hunter River, and one photo of that area is included in my photos of the day. Our first stop was at the Anne of Green Gables National Park. If you are not familiar with Anne, this will have very little meaning to you, but to those of us who are “kindred spirits”, you will understand the significance of this visit.

While we were touring the house that inspired the novels, two young men approached us. They were from South Korea and were equipped with large video cameras. They explained that they were making a documentary and wanted to interview us about Anne of Green Gables. I had plenty to say since Anne is one of my favorite characters. However, I was especially proud of Olen as he was able to answer their questions with factual knowledge of Anne and the historic background of the books. So, if you ever go to South Korea and happen to view a documentary about Anne of Green Gables, look for us!

We toured and photographed the entire property, even walked down Anne’s “Lovers’ Lane” (photo of us by the bridge), and through her “Haunted Wood”. We went to the Lucy Maud Montgomery Cavendish home, where she was living when she wrote “Anne“. At the visitor center there was a lady, Jennie Macneill, who is married to the grandson of the grandparents of Lucy Maud Montgomery. Lucy Montgomery was raised by her grandparents, and Mrs. Macneill talked to us at length about the history, the area, and how she and her husband lovingly keep the area as it can be seen today. (She is the lady shown in the photo.)

From “Anne’s land” we drove only a few minutes to “Olen’s land”…the Glascow Hills Gold Club. This is the most gorgeous golf course I have ever seen, admitting that my exposure to golf courses is less than generous. It is located on the top of a hill overlooking a beautiful valley with farms and white-steepled church buildings. We had lunch at the clubhouse overlooking the course, and after lunch Olen rented clubs to play a round. Even with a golf cart, it took almost five hours to play the course with all the hills involved. My self-portrait shows how I contributed to the afternoon’s events, but I thoroughly enjoyed being the driver and taking in the scenery.

Such a great day! Tomorrow it is back to reality. I must admit I am a bit reluctant to check the suitcase I have only had in my possession since Sunday night, but I suppose it won’t qualify as carry-on size. We have three legs to our all-day flight home. I wonder what the odds are that I will ever see my suitcase again?

So, another “journey” comes to an end. Thanks to those of you who have made this journey with me through the blog. It won’t be long until my next “journey”. I’m scheduled to leave for Switzerland, Austria and Italy on September 10. If you want to check back about that time, I’ll try to take you on another blog-journey. I predict that the journey in September will be a bit more predictable than this one…and I might even have a suitcase the whole time. Who knows!

Taking "mood pictures"

Olen’s suitcase arrived this morning. We knew when that happened it was going to be a great day. It was much cooler today, overcast, with light rainfall predicted. Undaunted, we picked up our cameras, umbrella, and jackets and left for a day of sightseeing.

Today we took what we refer to as “mood pictures”. That is what we call the experience when the weather isn’t really good for photography, but we take photos anyway…occasionally with positive results. We drove over to the eastern shore of the island to view some of the inlets and harbors instead of the farmlands and hillsides located in the interior of the island. It was drizzling rain by the time we reached our destination, and although the windshield wipers on our trusty travel-truck did work, they seemed to have a mind of their own, and went from slow to fast occasionally for no apparent reason. As long as they kept the windshield clear, it was ok with us.

We went to the harbor at Montaugue (shown in the photo), and then went to the Panmure Island lighthouse (also shown in a photo) where the drizzle was so light it was almost a mist…so fine it looked like tiny snowflakes falling. We followed the coastline most of the day before returning to Charlottetown. While in the downtown area we decided to take an hour-long tour of Charlottetown on a bright red, double-decker bus that was brought to Charlottetown from London in 1973.

While on the tour, the guide pointed out a local Pizza Delight that had set up business in the old jail in Charlottetown. We decided that would be an interesting spot for dinner, after a brief shopping stop at The Anne of Green Gables Store. We made no major purchases, but I would loved to have bought the Anne hat (complete with braids and red hair), but I will lucky to get home with my carry-on and the one piece of checked luggage I now have.

Tomorrow is our last day on Prince Edward Island. The weather report does not look any better for tomorrow, but we will just take more “mood photography”. If it does rain, I am afraid Olen will not get in his round of golf, and I will be sorry about that. We will do whatever we can, but we WILL enjoy our last day here. Enjoy your day!

Back in Charlottetown, PEI

We are back in Charlottetown tonight, after a bright, sunny day that was full of special experiences for us. To begin the day, we ate our lovely breakfast prepared by Kelly and Jon at the Bed and Breakfast. We questioned Kelly about running a B&B, which has been her dream for years. She said she loved what she was doing, but she and Jon had to supplement their income with other jobs in addition. Other than being an innkeeper, Kelly also works as a Yoga instructor, bar tender at a local pub, interior decorator, and does website designs! Whew!

As we were leaving the B&B we got a phone call from Northwest. One of the suitcases has been located! Of course, at this point we are in Nova Scotia, and the suitcase is in Prince Edward Island, but we were thankful that it would be there this evening when we returned. We wondered about whose suitcase it might be…mine with clothes and make-up in it, or Olen’s suitcase with the camera battery charger, GPS unit, binoculars, camera long-lens, and other “useful” items. (We were to find out later in the day that it was, of course, my suitcase that finally showed up. Olen‘s is still AWOL.)

We drove to Kentville for worship service. Mama always taught me to wear my best clothes when I attend worship service “to show respect”. Unfortunately, this morning my “best” was a pair of blue jeans and a Wal-Mart shirt. I was somewhat concerned about my attire for worship until we arrived at the building and noticed that Olen and I were dressed like the regular members. Incidentally, we drove over 400 miles to attend the worship service, and took two days to do it. Of course, to be perfectly fair, we combined this trip to worship with some local sightseeing, but nevertheless, I wonder how many of you readers traveled 400 miles to worship today! There were only about 30 in attendance at the service, but they were extremely friendly, and very sympathetic to our suitcase plight. They had no regular preacher, but one of the elders did a very good job of connecting their daily Bible readings with lessons for life. We were glad we had been there.

After the worship service, we drove to Maitland to view a tidal bore from a platform over the Shubenacadie River. A tidal bore is caused by rapidly rising tides, for which the Bay of Fundy is famous. The rising tide enters bays and inlets so rapidly that it literally “piles up” the water as it moves into the bay because it is being squeezed into a much smaller space. This “pile of water” looks similar to a wave on the beach and can be the size of a ripple or several feet high as the tide flows over outgoing river water. After watching the bore at Maitland, we drove down the road to Truro and found a place to view the bore before it arrived in that area. We were not alone in our chosen viewing area. There were other “bore-ing” people there with us. (Sorry, that one was just too corny, but I was unable to resist.)

I was expecting to view a tidal bore of epic proportions; something I could photograph and use as a visual in Bible class to illustrate the Israelites crossing the Red Sea (which was a miracle, not a tidal bore), but what I saw today was interesting, but the bore itself was only about a foot high. Not what I expected, but I do understand that sometimes the bores are much more impressive.

We drove through Nova Scotia and a portion of another Canadian province, New Brunswick, until we reached the Confederation Bridge which connects New Brunswick on the mainland to Prince Edward Island. Built in 1997, it is one of the longest bridges in the world, about 7.8 miles. Photos for today include shots of the tidal bore and the Confederation Bridge.

The farmers here are cutting hay and baling it. On the hillside fields it makes lovely sights to enjoy, but also reminds us that the summer is drawing to a close much too fast.

We are thinking about the grandchildren tonight. At home, school starts tomorrow. When the doors open at Athens Bible School in the morning, nine of our ten grandchildren will be in classes there. We are thankful that they have this opportunity and want to wish them all a happy and successful year. Special thoughts are with little Elizabeth Ann, who will be marking her first day of kindergarten tomorrow. The rest of you children know the ropes at school. Study, work hard, and makes lots of friends this year. Love to all of you.

On to Nova Scotia

This is the post for Saturday. We had some difficulties with the internet lat evening, but it is fine this morning.

We had heavy rains and thunder storms during the night last night, and the skies were still in the process of clearing most of the day. This morning we drove from Charlottetown to Woods Island where we took the ferry across the Northumberland Strait from Prince Edward Island to Nova Scotia, another of Canada’s provinces. The car ferry was fairly expensive, and they did not give any discount for our truck. You would have thought it would have earned a senior discount or rattletrap ticket or something! Not so. We paid the same as any “normal” vehicle!

After the rains of last night, it has been cooler today. As we were leaving Prince Edward Island I took the snapshot of the dock shown in the photo. All of those “boxes” on the dock are lobster traps. Needless to say, lobster fishing is a big industry on the island.

The crossing took over an hour. We landed at Pictou, drove to Truro, and then followed the coast road along the southern edge of the Bay of Fundy, stopping a few times for photos and sightseeing. One was a stop at Burncoat Head in the Minas Basin, where they have the greatest average tide in the world (47.5 ft.) and have actually recorded a high tide of 53.6 feet! We were there during low tide and I took four of the photos there, experimenting with shots when the sun was out, and some with cloud cover.

Tonight we are staying at a Bed and Breakfast called the Phoenix Hollow Bed and Breakfast in Windsor, Nova Scotia. This is a lovely home, built in 1873, but recently purchased by an interesting young couple who have totally renovated the property. It still has the charm of days gone by with modern conveniences like flat-screen TV sets, and even high-speed, wireless internet in the guest rooms.

Tomorrow we plan to enjoy our lovely breakfast and then drive to Kentville for worship. Our plan is to return to Truro that afternoon, and hopefully view the tidal bore (more on that tomorrow) before returning to Prince Edward Island for the remainder of our trip.

Interesting (?) events of the day: Still no word on the suitcases. Same old story there. We have stopped worrying about them…most of the time. This evening Olen helped himself to a piece of toffee candy from the bowl on the desk in the parlor and managed to pull out two of his crowns. He stuck them back in using the toothpaste that was given to us by the motel in Charlottetown when our suitcases didn’t arrive. Talk about “making do”…

Hopefully all of you enjoyed your Saturday as much as we did.