Our travel adventures: April 2016

Hi All…..Holy Turtles….how fast does the time go. Tonight is our last night on the road (overnight in Bangor) , after driving two 12 hour days . We hope to make it to PEI tomorrow, Monday.

Now I’ll pick up from our last blog. We had a wonderful week with friends of Lillian & Eric from St. John, NB…Bonnie & Butch. We took a drive down the West Coast from Clearwater Beach to St. Pete’s Beach and stayed overnight with Joanne Keefe. We had a lovely evening of dancing/music/card playing. We then spent another day with Aunt Mae in Largo. We also went to Universal Studios. We loved it and I didn’t even get sick on any of the rides we went on…hehe. My favourite ride, as it was in 1994….is still “E.T.”. Jerry’s favourite ride was “Transformers”. We also did some more visiting, went to see Jerry’s cousin, Claude & Myrna Gavin and an ex-co-worker, Paul & Judy McKnight. Jerry kept up his runs every second day…and my bike rides were fewer in my last two weeks.

We and The Classen’s took a trip to Key West, the southernmost tip of Florida for a bit of sight seeing. It’s a lovely place…but we needed a lot more time than just overnight there. It has beautiful scenery and was well worth the long drive.

We truly enjoyed our stay in Davenport with the Classens…the company….the food…the wine…the pool…the card games…the shopping (even for groceries), the trips….and most of all the camaraderie.

Thanks for listening…..it was fun keeping you all up-to-date!!

Jerry’s Final Facts (includes tomorrow, the final day)

Kms traveled for total trip: 11,423

Most kms driven in one day: 1380

Gas expenditure: $771 Cdn

Distance ran: 210 km (all Jerry)

Distance Biked: 600 km (mostly Jerry)

Distanced hiked: (50 km) (both Jerry and Noreen)

Number of hugs: 50 (mostly Noreen)

Number of unexpected accidents while running : 2 (Jerry)

Top 6 ‘activity’ favourites: Being with friends and family, Great Smoky Mountain National Park, Key West, Madeira Beach, Myrtle Beach and Universal Studios.

Jerry & Noreen…..signing off….until our next travel adventure!! xoxo


Jerry found dumbells in the garage!

Dance night with Joanne Keefe

Great day with Aunt Mae

Eric, Lillian, Bonnie, Butch!

Believe It Or Not...Jerry asked this guy for directions at Universal!

Touching the Gulf of Mexico waters...on our way to Key West.

At Key West

Key West Art!

Tried to capture the different blues in the water

How many lobsters would these catch in Northport...hehe?

During our hail storm!

OK….it’s been awhile…I know…but the time just seems to ‘fly’ by when you’re having fun…hehe!

Well, the big excitement here since my last blog was getting our ‘play-by-play’ updates of my sister, Charlene’s big tournament for the Armed Forces….her team won the 2016 CAF National Women's Hockey Championship held at CFB Borden. Awesome week and Congrats to Charlene and the whole team.

Also, since my last blog we celebrated Jean’s birthday here…she doesn’t like any fuss, but Lillian had picked up a cake for her and we sang to her. We did have ‘pool classes’ as promised by Eric; and Pauline enjoyed them….I think…hehe. We are getting lots of bike rides in, walks, Jerry is still getting his runs (more on this later) and I’m even getting some ‘gym ball classes’ in, led by Lillian.

Jerry, Art & Eric went to another Blue Jay game while we women went to tour the Ridge Island Groves, which has an orange/pear orchard, they grow their own strawberries/blueberries, make their own ice cream, raise chickens and it goes on. We bought some delicious oranges to take back to our house; they grow so many different kinds. Very interesting place

We attended Good Friday and Easter Sunday mass and the churches down here are always packed. We had to sit in the overflow at the Easter Sunday mass and we were there 20 minutes early. Also stuck in traffic trying to get out of the parking lot. We spent some time with Pauline/Errol…had a barbecue at their spot. They are now on the road to Nashville before they head homeward bound.

We took Jean/Art to Old Town and Celebration for a tour around. They left last Tuesday, March 29^th….we had a great visit while they were here….even got some ‘joker rummy’ and ‘crap’ games in with them. I think she got two pairs of socks knitted while she was here..hehe...am I right Jean?

Jerry and I got some visiting done this week, we went to Madeira Beach to visit my ‘old’ bosses, Barb & Max, then visited a work-buddy of Jerry’s, Lorne Clow and his wife in Largo. Then we stayed overnight in St. Pete’s Beach and the next morning before going to visit Joanne Keefe in St. Pete’s Beach (which we found out later was a 4 minute walk from our hotel) Jerry decided to go for his 10km run early that morning….as we told Joanne we’d be there between 9:30-10am. Well, I am patiently waiting for Jerry to get home to have his shower….it is now 9:45am….no Jerry yet. So I was just getting ready to get in the vehicle to go look for him…and the door opens. YES…HE GOT LOST. Instead of running his normal 10km run…it ended up being 17km….oh well, he got his long run in now…he says..hehe! So we get our visit in with Joanne, then off to Largo to visit Jerry’s Aunt Mae. We spent the afternoon with her and Jerry cooked her some fish. We’re going back next week to see her as she loves to get company and she’s here until the end of April.

On our way to Largo and St. Pete's, we did the 'Courtney-Campbell' trail. It is a 15km (one way) trail alongside a bridge that takes you from Tampa to Clearwater. We parked on one end, and did the return trip. On this trail we seen bikers/walkers/roller bladers and in-line skaters...a well used trail for sure. I've attached some pics.

Last week we had 3 days with rain…but sporadic and able to get walks in between the drops. We had a lovely day of 92 yesterday and today we have thunder squalls…great day to do the paper work and write my blog…hehe.

Next week we are looking forward to some company, Butch & Bonnie…close friends of Lillian & Eric’s. They are coming from St. John, NB for a week. We’ll be making more memories.

As I write this, my nephew Kane Arsenault is in the hockey Provincials in Ch’town, PE…good luck Kane! And, my sister, Charlene Arsenault, is playing in a hockey tournament in Ch’town…good luck Charlene!

Chat later….hope you’re all doing well….stay safe!! xo