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Safe and Home

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On our last day, we had planned a tour of the former Kingston Federal Penitentiary. We have never been in a jail before, or at least not a real one, and Kingston is or was Maximum Security.  The reality of this tour is that at certain times and locations, actual former guards and even a former warden described what we were seeing and how life in prison really works. The picture below is a visiting area, kind of like you would see on a movie or TV show, where the convicted person sits on one side of the glass and the visitor on the other.  There was also a meeting room which can be used for those individuals in jail who are not a threat to their visitors or others. This was a central area inside the various cell units.  400+ prisoners could be held in Kingston. The experience of this tour was enlightening, it made both of us thankful that we have not travelled down the path in life where we would have had to be calling this place our home. Thi...
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Almost Home

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We left Sherbrooke this morning, heading back to Ontario. Before leaving we thought we would share a Tim Horton's ad in Quebec. We could have made it all of the way home today, but we are sticking to our plan of 4 hours per day in the van. So tonight we are staying in Prescott. We have one more tour planned for tomorrow and then we will stop by to have a short visit with friends before finally arriving home. Just for the record, not one car gave us a honk while we were in the US. We've had lots of honks since we've been back in Canada though !! It'll soon be time to wash the car but it's been fun having the "Just Married" message on the back for our road trip!! This trip has been wonderful and we are looking forward to being home tomorrow. .
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Back in Canada

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We are back in Canada and yes we escaped Hotel California. If you know the song, there is one verse that says "You can check in anytime you like but you can never leave". These lyrics came through my head last night in Kingfield Maine, as I swear we were the only people in this hotel with at least 100 rooms.  Was it a dive, haunted, or was the lovely older lady at the front desk a serial killer?  Why are we the only people staying in this hotel, and what did everyone else know that we didn't? I'm happy to say we had a good nights sleep, no ghosts and there was even an urn of coffee in the lobby.  No innkeeper, but a sign saying that she would be there by 9:00 am,  There was a tray to leave your keys if you check out before 9.  The tray was empty, yes I'm convinced we were alone in this rather old but large hotel. So off we went this morning after checking out, up through the back roads of Maine.  We took a not much travelled route to a small border cros...
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And Then There Was Nothing,

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So today we leave the Atlantic Provinces and work our way home.  We still are trying to limit our travels to 4 hours in the van.  Before leaving St Andrews, we wanted to check out a couple more spots that we had not visited. First was Ministers Island, where this is a strict time that you can visit and you also must leave by a certain time. The reason is that the road going over to this island is underwater during high tide.  We couldn't go over yesterday and didn't have the time to go over today, but we did want to take a picture of this on again, off again road. Next was a visit to Katy's Cove, a great place to swim with it's own beach.  A local resident here explained to me that they can close gates to avoid the loss of water during low tides here so it is always available to swim.  After a few days they release the water from the cove and allow new water to come in, keeping the water clean and always ready for anyone who wants to come to the beac...
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St, Andrews by the Sea - a jewel

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So we slept in today, I mean really slept in.  Let's just say that the free breakfast included with our room stopped serving at 11, and we had to rush a bit to make it before time was up. We went to the local Aquarium today for a visit, a nice small, simple place.  There was an exhibit where you could reach in to pick up Star Fish, Hermit crabs, other crabs etc.  It was fun pushing all of the kids out of the way to get to these creatures. They had a tank full of salmon and yes Bruce, I did find that flounder you asked about earlier in our trip. Next we went to Kingsbrae Gardens.  Barb loves gardening and flowers, so we walked through this place to see what they had.  We were disappointed since many of the gardens and flowers were not identified with a sign.  A lady working there explained that gardens with signs we were expecting is a Botanical Garden, while Kingsbrae is a horticultural garden.  Here they just display the diff...
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