Travel accessories

So, it appears that travel is in my future - and lots of it. Looking at the year ahead, it looks like I'll be in the Arctic for 6 weeks, and then heading to warmer climates after that - perhaps Hawaii. Who knows.

Considering the travel and locations I plan to go, I'm considering the accessories that may be required for these trips. First thing I'm considering is a satellite phone (I have good luggage already). Turns out that while some phones are quite expensive, I've been able to find one that seems relatively inexpensive.

So, what else will I need? Only time will tell...

Washington - Photos

Ok, I know that I haven't written for a few days. We've just been so busy! In the meantime, I'm posting a few photos for you to look at. No descriptions at this point, just photos. Descriptions are to follow. I'd put some in, but then I won't be out there taking any!

The idea of the photos is first the trip down, our visit to the Dulles Air and Space Museum, (Space Shuttle, Enola Gay, etc.). Next day was Chinatown and the other Air and Space Museum. I've also put in a photo of the actual model of the Starship Enterprise that was used for the original series for Tim. Wish you could see the real thing.

After that, Arlington Cemetery. Very interesting. It also had a couple of monuments for the crew of the two space shuttle accidents.

Well, you'll hear more when I get around to showing them to you all. Until then...

Photos

Day 2 - Lots of Miles

It's interesting to see the difference in the driving methods in the States. For example, in Canada, when we have a highway, it's slowest cars in the right-hand lane, fastest in the left (inside) lane. And if there are more than two lanes, it's just a variation (still left-right, fastest-slowest).

But here? Nope. There are almost always at least three lanes - no big deal. The difference is that the centre lane is the slowest lane, and the other lanes are passing lanes. Which means you can get passed on both sides, with cars merging into the centre lane. Makes it interesting when you see two cars trying to both merge into the centre lane at the same time. Surprisingly enough, few accidents, or at least we only saw a few.

Another thing that made the drive interesting was the timing of our trip. Up in Canada, we had our long weekend last week - Victoria Day weekend. The first long weekend of the summer (ok, sort of summer). For the States, it's this weekend. We went around Boston and New York when everyone decided to head out of town for the long weekend! We were stuck in traffic on the I-95 at a standstill for a LONG time yesterday. Two lanes of traffic were trying to merge into our five lanes. It was hot. People wanted to be anywhere else. Including us. We did finally get out of that area, and into a rest stop off the highway, where we fought through lots of crowds to use the washroom and get something cold to drink. It was almost as long to get out of the parking lot - apparently pedestrians don't comprehend the concept of vehicles backing up, or driving in the roadway! Melanie has officially designated New Jersey as her least-favourite state. I'm leaning that way, although my experience with different states is more limited.

We took photos, but we haven't had the chance to download them off the camera - I must do that before we head to the Air and Space Museum. Oooh, aaah.

More later!

Day 1 - Halifax, NS to Manchester, CT

We're on the road again! Today we left Halifax at 7:30 in the morning. Pretty early for me, but we were eager to get on the go. After several bathroom breaks (Mel's meds at work...) and my coffee stops (bathroom breaks - again), we finally made it to the border a little after 1 pm. Incredibly, it only took a minute, with only a couple of questions, and we were on our way! It was the easiest crossing we've ever had at St. Stephen / Calais.

After that, we busted it to the town named in appreciation of all I've done...Brewer, Maine. Ok, maybe not. But hey, I like the name - no bias there, eh? It took only $36 to fill up the car, even though the tank was almost empty. In comparison, it typically takes about $55 or so to do it. We kicked in the a/c and kept going.

Oh, did I mention the temperature? When we left Halifax, it was 6 degrees C. It went to 16 in NB, and then all the way to 30 in Maine. Actually, we were guessing what the highest temperature would be. I said 32 C in Bangor. Melanie said 36. By the time we left Maine, it reached a whopping 37 degrees! For you that only understand F, that works out to 104 degrees. Actually, I liked it.

One of the games we've been playing to pass time is looking to see if we can see any other Mazda 3's. Why? Well, last time we were here in Maine we didn't see a single one. None. Nada. But we knew of at least one that would be in the area.

We knew that Melanie's folks were going to be coming back from D.C. today, and that we'd be passing them at some point. After going through Bangor, we suddenly see a Mazda 3! The same colour as her folks' car. And it appeared to have NS plates. Wait a second...yep. That was them. We didn't see another one until Portland. They started popping up soon after that. Seems that nobody in Maine buys them. Odd folk, our neighbours.

Tonight we made it to the hotel here in Connecticut at 8:00 pm local time, 13 hours after leaving. Not bad, really. And tomorrow we do it all over again, until we get to Melanie's brother's family's home.

Stay tuned for photos (when we start taking them - yeah, just been driving so far. But soon!)

Look out D.C., here we come!

Looks like the Brewers are on the road again. Last time was to Montreal and Quebec City, in Quebec. This time? Washington, D.C.!

We're only going to have a little over a week to get everything in, and there are so many things we want to see and do. Me, I'm a space and aviation buff, so I'm checking out the new Air and Space Museum at the Dulles International Airport. They have one of the actual space shuttles there. We're also going to make a trip to D.C.'s Chinatown. It's supposed to be incredible.

There are other spots we might check out, but we'll see how that goes when we leave on Friday. I know, this is early, but I'm off to do a few days work in Northern NB, so I won't have the option to write before then...

Melanie and I will be sure to keep you up to date on our travels! Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

La Ronde - Six Flags

Ok, more details on the La Ronde trip, now that we've caught our collective breath, here's a bit about what we did that day. If you're interested.

After arriving at the Park, we were told that there was the potential that it could close early, due to bad weather. It'd been raining off and on during the morning, but had stopped at that point.

Still, we decided to risk it and keep going. Once we walked in the park, we decided to get in all the stuff we'd like to do in case the weather turned. My main goal? Ride as many of the roller coasters as possible. I'd never been on one before, but I sure planned on getting some in that day.

First stop for me was the Cobra. This ride goes at over 75 km/h, flipping (or inverting) the riders over once. I got in the passenger area, which in this case wasn't a seat. On this ride, the rider is standing up for the whole trip. Strapped in, the ride began to move ahead. And that's when it hit me what I was doing. Up, up, up the ride went. Melanie watched from the ground, taking photos along the way.

Yeah, I'm in that photo. At that point, I started to think about what I was doing. That thinking didn't last long, since I was soon hurtled down the other side of the metal hill. I won't tell you what I was thinking at that point, as there may be children and other fragile eyes reading this. But by the end, I was loving it. I was nothing but grins by the time I got off that ride.

Next up...the Vampire. All told, this had to be my favourite. I did it not once, but several times. It was THAT good. Over 80 km/h, with not one, not two, but 5 inversions! Awesome.

I'm on top, in the middle of the arch. And loving it. Oh, did I mention that you're hanging from the thing, your feet dangling in mid-air? I'd say pointing at the ground, but that didn't happen that much.

Another great ride there was the Monster. This ride is the second largest wooden roller coaster in the world. Mom, don't worry. No inversions on this one. Just one large, rattling, 20-year old wooden roller coaster, travelling at 96 km/h.

One of the highlights of the trip to La Ronde was the newest ride, Goliath. This ride takes you over 1 kilometer of track, with an inital drop of 171 feet, travelling at 110 km/h. That's highway speeds. Sweet. But going up the steep incline, I remember thinking "man, this is SO not right...". While hurtling down the hill, that was reinforced. I recall noting that I seemed to feel like I was almost floating at times, due to the negative G-forces from the dips and so on. I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say, I was floating. But the next time I was on the ride (yes, I went again...), I noticed that I was much more secure in the seat. Was it due to the confidence in the ride and myself? No, I realized that my harness hadn't been secure enough the first trip. Oops. That could have ended badly. But the ride was fun.

Not to be left out, Melanie went on a number of rides as well. She wasn't allowed to go on some of the more wild rides, but she still managed to get some real thrills from going on the other rides. In particular, she did a few of the water rides, as well as another ride or two. Quite the adventurer!

The other time she had her heart rate go up was when I was on the Orbite. This ride puts you in seats, which surround a tower. Without warning, the thing fires you like an ejection seat (but still around the tower) and high above the park. Awesome for me, heart-in-the-throat for Melanie. But all in all, a great day!

More on our adventures later...

Matt

We're in Quebec City now. And it's been a long day. We walked a good portion of the historic area of Quebec, the section known as Old Quebec. The weather held out for us, with only a little drizzle. But that didn't matter, because the city made up for it.

I won't go in to it all at the moment, but we can sure tell you stories about how incredible this city is. It's just how we picture Europe would be. Seriously. But without the Krispy Kreme donuts we had in Montreal before leaving. Mmmm...

The food here is incredible. The culture, unbelievable. The exhaustion, formidable. So, off to get some rest.

We'll put some pictures up tomorrow for you all to check out. Ok, I'll put up a couple, but without captions. Hey, we're tired, and it's late!

Oh, and if anyone wants to travel, just three letters to remember...CAA. Lots of discounts from it, and great hotel rooms because of it.

And no, that's not a paid endorsement. But if they ARE reading this and want to reimburse us....

Just a thought.