Atlanta,Georgia: November 22-25, 2008

Weather has been sunny for the most part during our trip. Just one day with a bit of rain in Atlanta. En route to Atlanta, we met Edith at a rest stop along the highway which was also a museum. Edith showed us some cotton plants and gave us quite a talk in her fine Southern accent. We also were quite excited to see cotton fields along the highway between Savannah and Atlanta.

Without question, the highlight of our time in Atlanta was that spent at Stone Mountain Park. This is regarded as the top attraction in Georgia and we now understand why. What an incredible park! We enjoyed the carving of President Davies, and Generals Jackson and Lee on the side of the mountain. Apparently this was a project that took well over 50 years to complete. Also at Stone Mountain, we toured a plantation and also went to the top of the mountain on the gondola. We also saw some lovely Canada Geese at the Carillon by Stone Mountain. Then, we came back that night to see Stone Mountain's Christmas lights display and the fireworks. WOW! What an extravaganza. We'll save those photos for Christmas.

The highlight of our time in the city itself was a tour of the Martin Luther King Junior Historic Site which is operated by the National Parks Service. We toured the Welcome Centre, MLK's birthplace home and saw the crypt where he and his wife are buried.

Now, it's back to Canada and snow!

Savannah, Georgia: November 18-21,2008

We didn't really clue in that Atlanta's airport is officially regarded as the busiest in the world until we landed there on the morning of November 18th. Thankfully, we had assistance to get us by the six subway train stops we had to ride through to get to the baggage claim area. Then it was onto the shuttle bus (easily as big as a Toronto city bus) to the Alamo airport car rental location (probably bigger than most car dealership lots). Luck was with us here as the staff at Alamo were happy to upgrade us to a 2008 Toyota Sienna LE minivan for no extra charge. In our flashy red "cruise-mobile", we hit the highway to complete the four-hour drive to Savannah only to discover we had forgotten the GPS car charger adapter at home. Fortunately, the GPS had enough charge in it to save its own life and it located a shopping mall off the highway in Atlanta en route to Savannah which had a Radio Shack on the lower floor and a new power charger cord. Now, at least, we'll have a spare one when we get back home.

Regrettably, temperatures in this neck of the woods have been running about 20 degrees Fahrenheit lower than normal. On Tuesday evening, there was a record low temperature set at 27 degrees Fahrenheit and day temperatures for Wednesday were only in the mid-50s. Although Thursday will be warmer in the high 60s, temperatures are supposed to fall again. Although this might be disappointing for some, we're not complaining because it has been much much colder at home and we hear there was also a bit of a snow storm. And the skies here have been perfectly clear and sunny since our arrival and they are expected to stay that way for the duration of our stay. We certainly won't be complaining about rain.

Savannah is definitely an interesting and historic town and on Wednesday, we drove through a trolley tour route in our own vehicle (minus the continual chatter of a tour guide). We may have missed some important information but the young gentleman working at the front desk of the SpringHill Suites hotel couldn't remember any facts from a trolley tour he had taken not so long ago either. We were delighted to find ourselves inside the beautiful Cathedral of St. John the Baptist which is one of the biggest cathedrals in the American South and has a great history attached to it. We moved on to the Riverwalk which is one of the highlights of the city of Savannah along with the oak trees hanging with Spanish Moss. We stopped there to eat our lunch and take a few photos.

While in Savannah, we also enjoyed a Riverboat Cruise on the Georgia Queen on a beautiful, warm, Thursday afternoon where we caught this pelican in mid-flight. We were also able to attend the "Christmas Made In The South" Arts and Crafts Festival at the Savannah Trade and Convention Centre where we purchased several Christmas gifts. Stay tuned for our blog reports from Atlanta where we'll be staying from November 22 through November 25.

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania: November 1-5, 2008

It's deja vu, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania as we were here last in March, 2007 staying at the Marrriott Springhill Suites, Monroeville. On Sunday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Symphony, shown here in Heinz Hall performed Mozart's 22nd Piano Concerto with young, up-and-coming twenty-eight-year-old pianist, Jonathan Biss. This was followed by an AWESOME performance of Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony which was being recorded live for PentaTone Records. The PSO's recordings of Brahms four symphonies are brilliant and have received outstanding acclaim so this newest recording will not be an exception. The bonus following the concert was dinner at the Cheesecake Factory which has become our favourite place to eat across various cities in the USA. Be sure to click on our Cheesecake Factory video in this blog. The portrait of Lorraine was also taken at the Cheesecake Factory.


On Monday morning, we visited Karen and Gordon Pawson and their four children at Holiday Park Baptist Church in the suburbs of Pittsburgh where Gordon is the pastor. It was our first time meeting Mackenzie who was born this past winter. Trevor and Karen enjoyed playing through some music for trumpet and piano during our visit at the church.

A highlight on Tuesday was our visit to Frank Lloyd-Wright's architectural masterpiece, Falling Water, in the hills south of Pittsburgh. The weather has cooperated marvellously as we've had spectacular weather for our entire time in the United States.

The finale of our sojourn was an evening visit to Karen and Gordon and family at their home in Export, Pennsylvania where we had dinner.

Then, even later in the evening on television back at the hotel, we watched the election returns as Barack Obama became the new president of the United States of America.

Lethbridge, Alberta: September 26-28

Paula and James also have a new baby. At least, she's equally demanding of attention as a baby would require. Marley is a new puppy they acquired in July and she is very much the centre of attention.

The Japanese Gardens in Lethbridge, a gift from the government to the Japanese people for atrocities suffered following the attack on Pearl Harbour, is a peaceful symbol in the heart of Lethbridge. The gardens are directly beside Henderson Lake where we walked and had lunch. 

If you'd like to buy a puppy, the two little Bishon-Shitsu puppies pictured with Paula are the last two of the litter and the owner would like to find a good home for them.

On Sunday afternoon, it's back to Calgary for our flight to Toronto and home to Bradford.

Avery Bonus: Brooks: September 26, 2008

Grandpa Andrew, Trevor's brother arrived in Brooks after a late night flight into Calgary from Toronto. We had a chance to drop by for lunch and some more photo ops before hitting the road for Lethbridge.

Check out the videos of Avery.

En Route To Calgary & Brooks, Alberta: September 24-25, 2008

After returning on the ferry to the mainland, it was off to Vancouver Airport to return our car rental. En route to Calgary, we had a bit of success taking a couple of photos from the airplane. The aerial shots of Vancouver and the Rocky Mountains are somewhat presentable, so you see them here. While we met Stephane Dion's brother in guise of a legislature guide in Victoria, we saw the real Jack Layton's Air Canada charter jet taking off from Calgary airport just seconds after our own plane landed. 

We were off to Brooks, Alberta, a city of about 14,000 people, one-and-a-half hours southwest of Calgary. Brooks is a booming Alberta oil town. And as you see, we met up with Trevor's niece Sharon and her husband Nathan who live in Brooks. Not to mention that this was our first time meeting the new addition to our family, Avery who was born on March 4.

The Brooks Aqueduct, an engineering feat which has been preserved as a historic monument, is pictured here. This structure carried water from Lake Newell to the farms of the region and was built by CP Rail. It was a great idea but there were some unforeseen problems with the aqueduct and it didn't work quite as well as they'd hoped. However, it is quite a dramatic structure and a good discussion piece. We were also quite excited to spot a group of pronghorns on the prairie just outside of brooks.

As you see, there were many great photo ops with Avery. We're off to Lethbridge to see Paula, James and their new puppy before returning to Ontario on Sunday. More soon from Lethbridge.