St John's Harbor |
On July 4, we flew from Helena MT, and landed at St John’s Newfoundland 20 hr later. We stayed with my Aunt Catherine and had a busy 10 days. Catherine took us out for a special dinner at Mallard Cottage, and we attended a Shakespeare in the Park play. Apparently, my taste in Shakespeare has not changed since high school. Pat and I hiked several sections of the East Coast Trail. We were too late to see icebergs and not lucky enough to see whales.
Hiking the East Coast Trail |
Bacon Cove, Conception Harbor |
Alpine Lake near Beartooth Highway |
Pictograph Cave SP in MT SE of Billings we visited the Pictograph Cave State Park.
There were over 100 rock paintings from 200-2000 yrs. old. Due to weathering
and other factors, far fewer are currently visible. We also toured the
Yellowstone Art Museum, which I found disappointing. Pat flew back to MD for a few days to attend the funeral of
her Aunt Janice. Janice and husband Mehrl had owned and run the Mayne’s Tree
Farm in Buckeystown. They also loved to travel. |
Sunset at Placid Lake, MT through a wildfire haze In mid-Sept we started our RV trip back to MD. One problem
with leaving a residence vacant for 6 -8 months is that a squatter could move
in. This was one of the reasons we bought a secure condo in MD. Well, we were
gone less than two weeks when our property was taken over by a big strong brute,
pushing 340 lbs. The neighbors called it in and before long he was surrounded
by officials. Feeling cornered he made a 30-foot dash up our large cottonwood
tree. The Fish and Wildlife Officer felt he had no choice but to shoot the
black bear with a tranquillizer dart. Apparently the first part of his body to
feel the effects of this shot was his sphincter muscle, as a flood of bear poo poured
down on the roof of our shed. The bear eventually fell to the ground, and was
badly injured as a result of the fall. Later that day the bear died from those
injuries. F&W should have known better. |
His last stand
Mushroom of the Year |
Sunrise in Siouxland |
Field of Dreams Pitcher One of our stops on the trip back to MD was Dyersville, IA, home
of the Field of Dreams. We lucked out because shortly after we arrived a tour bus
pulled in and the tourists were given a talk by the pitcher from the movie. We
just happened to overhear the presentation. It was interesting to learn that
after the movie was complete, the land was returned to its original condition,
except for the pitcher’s mound. After the movie was released, tourists from all
over the world started showing up at the site looking for the Field of Dreams. Finally,
the landowner figured the best thing to do was to convert his field back into
the movie set at his own expense. Isn’t it ironic that the theme “Build it and they will come”
was actually true, except that the movie executives and land owner didn’t believe
it. Of course, the same mistake was made with the Hobbit sets in NZ. When will
they learn? |