Author: Debi

With retirement comes the opportunity for new experiences. Debi has a passion for music, singing, theatre, and travel. With her BMEd and MEd she had an extensive career which included elementary music education, performing, vocal instruction, choral conducting, musical theatre directing, and clinician work. She has, for the most part, retired from this very successful music career. But really, does one ever retire from music? I think not. So now the stage is set for the next act: interweaving her love for music, travel, and whatever else comes her way. Wherever her travels take her Debi shares her exploits: musical adventures, local interests, historical sites, local cuisine, the journey there and back, plus whatever life sends her. She'll share the hits and the misses, the successes and the failures, as well as any helpful hints she discovers along the way.

THE MIND IS INTERESTING

“The mind is a curious thing…“

Shelley Peterson – Stagestruck

It sure is.

As I mentioned before in previous years we took three days and two nights to travel to Gulf Shores. This year? Four days and three nights. But my mind hasn’t totally grasped that fact. Yesterday I couldn’t stop thinking we only had one more day of travelling. Ugh. Nope. So today I kept thinking we should be there. At least we will be tomorrow. I must admit that taking the extra day/night has made it less stressful. For one thing we’ve been able to take a bit longer at rest stops including short walks. That’s a positive.

It’s also played with our recognition of places and scenery. We’d think we never saw landmarks before and then realize it was because we had always driven that area in the dark. Had to get our minds around that.

Something I forgot about the restaurant last night. Seniors meals were for age 62 and older. That’s certainly different. Never heard that age used before. Interesting. I have no idea why.

Here’s a few odds and ends we’ve experienced this trip:

* We’ve seen more cars from Quebec and Ontario than usual. Plus NOVA SCOTIA. We’ve never seen one down here from there. Although our first year we saw one from PEI. That was such a treat. I was so excited. I was wildly waving my arms at the car. Fun.

* Bringing protein bars was a brilliant idea. We leave so early in the mornings that we don’t have breakfast. After driving for about two hours we always hit a rest stop, walk, and eat a bar. Works well.

* We saw a lot, and I do mean a lot, of police vehicles on the road today. Both cars and motorcycles. Stopping vehicles and issuing tickets. Not us. It is November 30th. Think that has anything to do with it?

* The strangest thing we heard was a doctor advertising on the radio looking for patients. Well I never. Can you imagine that? I don’t think so. We’d never hear that on PEI. We can only wish.

Tonight we’re in Chattanooga, Tennessee at The Best Western.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattanooga,_Tennessee

Nice large room. Especially nice that there’s a restaurant in the hotel. No driving around to find one. Perfect.

The best part of today? 15C. Richard was in shorts and T shirt. Me? Not quite so brave. Short sleeved shirt and sandals but with my long leggings. Maybe capris tomorrow.

As of today we’ve been in PEI, NB, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and Tennessee. Just Alabama left for tomorrow.

If You Could Read My Mind – Gordon Lightfoot

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OOPSIES

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.“

Oscar Wilde

Yes. We had a few today.

Nothing major.

A couple of times we took a wrong exit but quickly got back on track. At some gas stations Richard’s charge card wouldn’t work while at others it did. Bizarre. Hopefully the bank got it sorted. 🤞🏼

Weather wise it was a fabulous day for driving. Clear. Sunny. Thankful for that.

Traffic wise. There was substantial. Made it tiring for the driver. Thank goodness I am not the driver.

Tonight we’re at the Quality Inn located in Chambersburg, PA.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambersburg,_Pennsylvania

Lovely large room. And after a long, tiring day did I ever want a bath. Nope. Sadly only a shower. 😢 Not complaining (well not much).

Went to a local restaurant for supper. We’d never have known about it if the front desk manager hadn’t mentioned it.

Read about them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063957941186

What a find. Great food. You always know you’ll enjoy your meal when you see locals eating there. Great service. Our waitress was super friendly. At one time we counted eleven employees at the front. And not just hanging around chatting. Great prices. Our order included a small salad, roast turkey club sandwich (real turkey), a large salad with chicken, and a coffee. All for under $30. Paid at the counter and it was the first time in a long while that I was given a paper receipt for me to write down the tip. And yes I gave our waitress a large tip.

Two more days and then we relax.

Crosstown Traffic – Jimi Hendrix

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AND AWAY WE GO!

So we’re off again to Gulf Shores, Alabama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Shores,_Alabama

Packed a little lighter this year making it much easier to see out the back. Yes! Guess we’re just slow learners.

A few differences this year:

* In order to create an easier trip down (previous years we did it in 3 days 2 nights, driving 16 hours the first day) we opted to take 4 days and 3 nights. Oh my. We’re getting older.

* We could only rent our lovely beach house, Two,Views, for three months. They said March wasn’t available. Boo Hoo 😢 Luckily we were able to book a condo, annoyingly a month ago we were informed it was sold and we’d have to find other accommodations. Ahhhhh So frustrating. We’ll look when we get down there.

Richard has talked for years about actually seeing wildlife i.e. bears and moose while driving through New Brunswick. Although it wasn’t in NB he finally got his wish.

I must admit it was an easier drive today. More relaxed. But it felt really weird being off the road so early. 3:00pm.

We did make a few stops. Oromocto for gas and bathroom. Starbucks in Bangor for breakfast and bathroom. A rest stop got the wildlife 😊 and bathroom. Old Orchard Beach. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Orchard_Beach,_Maine And Ogunquit, today’s final destination. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogunquit,_Maine Before going to walk the Marginal Way we stopped for the bathroom. (Notice the common thread?) We’ve walked the Marginal Way https://newengland.com/travel/maine/marginal-way-ogunquit-maine/ many times. Wish I could say we did again today but I hadn’t packed warm enough clothes so we only completed part of it. But a walk and fresh air which was much needed. And beautiful waves. We could even hear the crashing sounds. Outstanding.

The turret in Beachmere Inn https://beachmereinn.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAvJarBhA1EiwAGgZl0Ckjlt1DJiQ2L9ifTiM3P0qnAmnC4–CdxVLPnleglKjhH1vKk7qrhoCjMcQAvD_BwE is where we’ve stayed our previous vacations.

So now in for the night. We’ve found it more cost effective to buy food for supper at a grocery store and then eat at the hotel. SMART

Listen to these great lyrics.

When It Comes My Turn – David Myles https://davidmyles.com/pages/biography

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PEI BEACHES 83

The summer of 2019 I challenged myself to visit 100 beaches. Sadly I didn’t reach my goal. Hurricane Dorian squashed that. So I decided to use this current summer to finalize that quest.

This past Saturday, as we were on our way to Darnley for a birthday bonfire, we decided to hit up a beach that previously we were unable to find. Today? Yay. Success.

Branders Beach

How we missed it last time I have no idea. It’s not really difficult to find. Take Branders Pond Road and it leads you there. What confused me before was trying to find the County Line Road. I’m didn’t realize there were so many. I was only familiar with the one in Margate. When I was young my parents would drop me off on that County Line Road and I’d run across the fields and meet them at Grammie’s house. Fun times.

Now if you’re worried about getting your car dirty then choose a different beach. It’s on a dirt road. But just look at our beautiful red soil.

https://chalkboardpublishing.com/quizzes/topic-prince-edward-islands-bright-red-soil/#:~:text=Prince%20Edward%20Island%20is%20formed,white%20sand%20beaches%20there%20pink.

The beach was beautiful. Not crowded, although I heard that it had been the previous day.

And some pockets of water where little ones can play.

We had a lovely walk and surprisingly found sea glass. Not used to finding so much at one time on the North Shore.

Here:

*Dirt road

*Have to park along the side of the road

*No washrooms

* Unsupervised beach

*Beautiful beach. Less crowded than others

Then off we went to Cabot Beach Provincial Park for a picnic. (I introduced you to this beach in 2019. PEI Beaches #36) We ate in a nicely sheltered gazebo. But there were a few bugs. 😝

https://www.tourismpei.com/what-to-do/beaches-parks/cabot-beach-provincial-park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabot_Beach_Provincial_Park

And ended the day at a birthday bonfire for Jared. Roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. He sure has a great spot.

What a beautiful day! And evening!

Beaches in Mind – The Beach Boys

Enjoy the beaches this summer.

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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I’M BACK

There’s no place like home.
The Wizard of Oz

Started feeling that familiar pull of the heart while driving through New Brunswick towards PEI. Then even stronger while crossing Confederation Bridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_Bridge

We have a system for driving to and from Alabama. First day is a very long drive but a relatively easy drive. Second day is a harder drive so don’t drive quite as long. Third day is the easiest and shortest drive.

Slept later.

Left Saco, Maine at 6:15 am

Drove to Old Orchard Beach (only 15 minute drive) for a little walk on the beach. It was cool, 2C, but nice and refreshing.

Drove to Starbucks in Bangor for breakfast, coffee for Richard and matcha tea latte for me. Bought an extra latte to put in the lovely travel mug my best friend Lynn gave me. Thanks so much.

Crossed the US/Canadian border at 12:15. Relatively easy. Seven vehicles in front of us. And no problems.

Arrived in Borden at 4:45. Sweet. Perfect driving conditions today.

Car unloaded. Will put things away tomorrow. There’s so much to do. I wanted to do it all today because that’s the way I am but instead took it easy.

Travelled 832 km through Maine, New Brunswick, and PEI today.

Scenery that awaited us.

This is My Island ~ Prince Edward Island – Eddy Quinn & Fiddler’s Sons

Melanie Myers Photos

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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DRIVING HOME DAY 2

You feel fine, and then, when your body can’t keep fighting, you don’t.
Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember

And that’s me today. Super tired. Left knee is really aching. One more day of driving and then take it easy. Eventually.

Awake at 4:30 am

On the road at 5:03

Grrrr.

Rain.

And more rain.

Positive note, it stopped at 1:00

Drove 1140 km through ten states: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

New York was a quicker route that what we’ve previously taken but the traffic was much heavier.

Difficult day of driving but Richard did a superb job. We always find this second day is the worst. Tomorrow will be much easier.

Drove behind this truck for a while.

Supper at a rest stop on the side of the road in Maine. Moose and flagpole on its lawn. The flag is at half staff to honour the victims of the shooting at the elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/biden-orders-flags-lowered-to-half-staff-to-honor-victims-of-nashville-school-shooting/2857164

Jackie Edwards – Lucky Old Sun

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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DRIVING HOME DAY 1

Take care of your car in the garage, and the car will take care of you on the road.
Amit Kalantri

So far so good. Car is taking care of us.

Up at 3:30 am.

On the road at 4:00

Drove 1338 km. through four states: Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Arrived in Lexington, Virginia 6:30 pm.

Ate at IHOP. Why you ask? We stopped for gas and it was pouring rain. The IHOP was a part of the Shell gas station. Eating there stopped us from getting completely soaked. That worked out well.

On to Howard Johnson for, hopefully, a good night’s sleep. 🤞🏼

Mostly a great day of driving. We made sure to stop every 2-3 hours for the washroom and a walk about. A few times there was bumper to bumper traffic but not too bad. The worst was the last two hours driving in the rain.

A few things I’ll share.

At one of the rest stops I saw a car from Ontario so went and said “Hi” to some fellow Canadians from Toronto, Ontario.

Richard has been obsessed with trying boiled peanuts. Today I saw this on the outside window at a Shell.

So bought him a dish. I tried one. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. Not my cup of tea. Richard ate about ten. Weren’t his fav either. I know many people love them but not us.

Heard an ad on the radio for a concert. My ears perked up when I heard the name Christina Bouey. https://www.christinabouey.com/biography

What? How amazing is that. She’s playing at Symphony of the Mountains in Tennessee. https://symphonyofthemountains.org/

Very tired. Bath and bed. Night.

Christina Bouey – Sibelius Violin Concerto in D Minor Op. 47

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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BAGS ARE PACKED, READY TO GO

To travel is to take a journey into yourself.
Danny Kaye

Today’s journey?

Dig deep. Get the car packed. Not easy.

But that was put off till later.

First went to the gym and yoga for one last time. Important as for the next three or four days there will be none. Small walks but mostly sitting in the car.

Last visit to Happy Pappy’s Coffeehouse. Splurged and had Chicken Salad Croissants. Delicious. Love how they put grapes in it.

Home and did a bit of organizing. But not too much as it was a bright, sunny day and the deck was calling.

So we rotated between sunning on the deck and organizing. Back and forth all afternoon.

Our local heron, George, has been around more often this last week. Might possibly be the lure of some spring breakers fishing and he’s hoping for a fish.

Thank goodness. Car is packed. Few things to add in the morning. Alarm set for 3:30 am. That is early.

Then one last little treat. Mimosas.

Leaving on a Jet Plane – Peter, Paul, and Mary

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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OLÉ

I’m a better person when I’m tan and holding a margarita.
Unknown

What to do? What to do? What to do?

Organize.

And then reorganize.

That was the first part of my morning. Trying to get most things packed and find extra little spaces to fit things. The car will get packed tomorrow afternoon (Richard cleaned it this morning) but I like to have most things organized today.

Off to the gym and then out for lunch. Not much left to eat in the house. Suits me just fine. We did so much better this year. Our first year we had so much food left over. The second year not as much. But this year. Success. Most everything gone.

I chose the spot. Not Richard’s fav but he relented. Cactus Cantina. https://www.mycactuscantina.com/

I rarely order an alcoholic drink but today was the day. I had a Margarita. Strong but tasty. First sip gave me a ‘brain freeze’. Haven’t had one of those in forever. Along with it I had Chicken Fajitas. I knew from a previous visit that this entrée was delicious and it’s so enormous that I’d have lots to take home. Supper tomorrow night. Yay. This meal reminded me of Mexico. I’ve been to Mexico three times. Once with friends Bob and Diane (Cancun). Once with friends Lynn and Garth (Puerto Vallarta). And once with my daughter (Puerto Vallarta). Great memories. Both times in Puerto Vallarta I had the margaritas and fajitas at the same lovely, quaint restaurant. The second time it took my daughter and I a while to find it. Up and down many side streets. But our persistence paid off.

Richard’s entrée order was the Cactus Bowl plus he ordered a coffee. Here’s the insanely weird part. The waitress said they don’t sell coffee. Bizarre right? She leaves. Richard shows me that it’s listed in the menu. But what can you do. She said they don’t sell it. She returns with two waters, my margarita, and a coffee. Says she never knew they sold coffee. That in her ten years of working there no one she served had ever ordered a coffee. Blew my mind.

Meal was great and as I anticipated I’ll be having it again tomorrow. Terrific.

Back home. Laundry and reading. Trying to finish my book before returning it to the library tomorrow. The joys of things winding down.

Back when I taught music in elementary school this was a song I’d often play in June for my kindergarten and grade one classes. They’d love to dance around the room, improvising their movements. Such fun. Hope it brings a smile to your face and makes you get up and dance too.

Hot Hot Hot – Sesame Street (Elmo)

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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ICE CREAM

Life is like ice cream. Enjoy it before it melts.
Unknown

What a quote. Love it.❤️ That’s where I am today. Enjoying every last minute here.

Last Monday of yoga and gym.

Last trip to the library.

Last Starbucks Macha Latte.

Last shopping at Publix.

And most importantly.

Last trip to The Wharf for my most favourite ice cream in the world. (at least for now) Chocolate Peanut Butter.

Oops. Started eating it before I remembered to take a photo.

Again weather app called for rain all day. So far not a drop. So bonus. It’s 3:00 here and I’m sitting on the deck. Not sunny but warm. 26 C. Nothing better. Except my Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream. Haha.

I simply couldn’t have a post with ice cream in it and not use the song Ice Cream. I could not count the number of times (many more than counting my fingers and toes) I have watched Anne of Green Gables:The Musical https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables:_The_Musical at the Confederation Centre of the Arts https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_Centre_of_the_Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlottetown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward_Island

Anne of Green Gables, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables written by Lucy Maud Montgomery, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Maud_Montgomery is a huge part of PEI. Loved by locals and tourists alike.

I’m extremely disappointed that this musical won’t be running at the Confederation of the Arts this summer. 😢 For me it was the heart and soul of the Charlottetown Festival. It was named by Guinness World Records as the “longest-running annual musical theatre production” in the world, (over 50 years). A record lost and never to be recovered.

If interested in further information, here are some online articles about it not returning this summer.

https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/anne-of-green-gables-the-musical-not-returning-to-charlottetown-festival-until-2024-100799223/

https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/beloved-anne-of-green-gables-musical-no-longer-an-annual-production-on-p-e-i-1.6167582

https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/opinion/commentary-decision-about-anne-of-green-gables-the-musical-based-on-money-100800140/

Ice Cream – Anne of Green Gable

Take care and stay healthy.

As always, thanks for your interest and thank you for reading.

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