Meandering in the Maritimes: Greenwich National Park

After our hike around the Gables House we hopped in the car and headed to Greenwich. The drive into the small rural area greeted us with views of wondrous bright green hills which seemed greener under the low cloud cover and drizzling rain.

When we pulled into the newly protected adjunct of the Prince Edward Island National Park the rain seemed to turn to a mist so we parked the car and headed out on one of the hiking trails.

It remained misty as we walked through forested areas, over marshland, and finally to the ocean. From there we viewed some very cool, rare parabolic sand dunes called Genenwalle before heading back to Charlottetown.

Meandering in the Maritimes: Anne of Green Gables

Our stop in Charlottetown was brief, as Uncle Bruce laid out a good 24 hour route covering some must see points on the island. Our first stop was the Anne of Green Gables house in Cavendish.
Alissa forced Anne of Green Gables on Matthew like her mother did to her as a child. We ended up checking out the Montgomery house and then a musical on Anne of Green Gables in Charlottetown later that evening. Alissa loved it, Matt tolerated it.

The high point for Matt was the stroll through Parks Canada protected Haunted Woods and Balsam Hollow. These two trails are just outside the house and are described in the Anne of Green Gables books. The trails gave us a feeling of what the landscape would have been before it was inhabited.

If there are any Anne of Green Gable fan's out there click on this link for a virtual tour of the famous house.

Jake Popped the Question and Laura Said “Yes”

Jake gave Laura the ring on Saturday November 13th. He was all romanticy and suave.
The next night we went out to celebrate at Stage, a cool little wine bar in Fernwood Village.

Congrats Jakie and Laura-ie on your engagement.

Meandering in the Maritimes: Red Sand Coast Drive

We stopped for a few minutes on a beach and got our feet in the red sand. Then the rain started spitting on us so we made our way into Charlottetown.

Meandering In the Maritimes: Playing With Newfoundlanders in Victoria By The Sea

We walked to a park spilling out around the old lighthouse which is now Victoria's Seaport Museum. A local with was playing with her three beautiful Newfoundlanders. We they are such beautiful dogs. We played with them until they tired and then we went along.

Meandering In the Maritimes: The Wharf in Victoria By the Sea

We made our way from Halifax in the wee hours of the morning dropping Garret off at the Airport on the way out of town.

We managed to cross over the Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge over frozen waters in the world, to Prince Edward Island. We picked up maps at the information center that just opened minutes before.

Ahead of time, we decided to take the scenic route to Charlottetown along the southern coast, the red sands shore. We were immediately charmed as most are, from the simple country feel and vibrant rolling green pastures.

We stopped in scenic Victoria By the Sea and savored the stillness of this quaint sea-side town. Watching a single stork in the morning still waters brought us profound calm as we peered out from the wharf.

The Olympic Torch's First Stop In Canada

The Olympic torch made its first Canadian stop to rainy Victoria on October 30th. The daughter of a co-worker, and token cancer girl for the city of Victoria (put bluntly by a friend), carried the touch to the festivities.

There was a luminary parade, signing, dancing, protesting...

But honestly, goofing around with fake mustaches at Swan's Pub while watching the drunk old people dance it up to oldies was much more entertaining!

Karon Beach, Phuket

We decided to do one last beach before booking out of Thailand. We decided on one of the classics that made Thailand famous, Phuket. We found an amazing deal on a hotel a 10 minute walk from the beach that was newly renovated in old Spanish décor.

This Beach completely kicked our ass! It was so damn beautiful. Karon Beach was generously covered in densely packed, tiny silk, orangy-white sand granules that felt like heaven beneath our feet. This beach, as far as the actual topographical beach goes, was the most beautiful we have ever visited. No matter how far you went out into the water the sand remained soft, and you could really go far out as it didn't drop off much. The temp was hotter than hot and we paid hard for this beach worship- we both got bad sunstroke!

The most beautiful sunsets were had at this beach. The pictures say it all.

The downside was definitely all the oldies, and Scandinavian families they were EVERYWHERE! Actually we felt more like we were in Sweden or Denmark than Thailand! Which isn't all that bad if you like looking at fat, 60 year old, grandma boobs!

Traditional Thai Therapy And A Touching Story of A Loving Family That Survived The 2005 Tsunami

Note: this is where we left off chronicling our adventures around Asia...
Matt's Beard was getting a bit out of control so we scowled the small island of Phi-Phi in search of a barber to give it a clipping. Finally we fond one. In front of the modest barbershop was a delightfully happy child. He was overflowing with joy as he kicked a small soccer ball back and forth with some tourists.

The lady was just finishing up with some local's hair cut so she, with a big smile, asked me to sit until she finished up. She seemed to glow with the same measure as the child playing in front.

We noticed that someone behind the barber chair was getting a massage. It wasn't your typical, everyday massage (get your mind out of the gutter). A smiling Thai man was hanging from 2 bamboo rods that hung from the ceiling parallel to the bed. He was jumping, stepping, and dancing all over the patient. Massaging them with only his feet!

He really looked authentic and there was an extremely good vibe that emanated from his smiling face. We read the testimonial book and it had only amazing reviews. So we decided that we wanted to give this native Thai healer a crack at us. Alissa was feeling as though something wasn't quite right so she was to go first.

Underneath the testimonial book was a book about the 2004 tsunami. As we waited for our beard trimming and massages, we flipped through the book and read a few of the survival stories. While reading one of the stories we realized that it was about this family.

After the 2004 tsunami struck, the husband (the smiley man giving the massages) gained consciousness and realized that the tidal wave had thrown him way far up in the canopy of some palm trees. He had no way to get down. His wife (the barber), pregnant at the time with their child (who now played in front of the store), was swept out to sea. She remembers gaining consciousness when, another Thai pulled her out of the water, tore off her Buddha pandant, then, after ripping the necklace off, threw her back in the sea. It wasn't until much later, a foreign tourist from the USA jumped in the water and brought her ashore. It was unreal what these people went through, and even more unreal was that they all survived and were just living there lives right in front of us!

After waiting about one hour finally I got my nasty, hippie beard trimmed, and Alissa got the massage.

The man stomped all over Alissa, and moved energy with his feet. He also got right on top of her and pushed on her with all his might. As he stomped, shuffled, and danced on her body, Matthew told me that he learned this kind of healing from his mother, who in turn, learned it from his grandmother. He explained in very broken, heavy accented English that it is rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The whole experience was wild to watch and even wilder to experience as Alissa's innards gurgled, rumbled, bubbled, as his feet purged Alissa of blockages. He was a bit concerned about Alissa's condition, fearing that it might get worse, he insisted that we come first thing tomorrow morning at 7:00AM just before catching the ferry for another free treatment.

These people were excessively nice and were wonderful healers. Later, as you may know, things did get much worse! To this day we are unsure weather his crazy massage made things better or just brought out the worse, either way, it was an amazing experience that we will always remember.