Our Stay in the Old City of Quebec

After a few flight delays we finally made it to Quebec City from Toronto after dark.  We had booked a room in one of the oldest parts of the city - at the Acadia Hotel.

The scene above shows how narrow the streets are in this part of town.

This is the bar at the Italian restaurant where we had a late supper.  The streets were full of Saturday evening revelers and it seemed almost like New Orleans with all the French being spoken.

Here is our room in the old Acadia Hotel.  We are on the third floor with no elevator.   

There are no modern hotels/motels in the old city of Quebec.  Our hotel is like many others.  Do you see anything familiar in the picture above?

 Yes - that is Karen above out on our balcony from our room.

This morning we plan to explore and board our ship in the afternoon.

Our old hotel has provided a unique experience.

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Miles Behind Us - Still Miles To Go

This is more of a test than an valid blog entry.

We Spent Friday night at the Wingate Hotel across from Detroit Metro Airport because we had to be at the airport at 7:30 am per Air Canada.

We are now sitting at the Toronto International Airport waiting for our afternoon flight to Quebec City.

 The weather is clear and warm and except for a few hardware and Verizon issues it appears that if you are reading this - -- our blog is still operational.

More to come from Quebec City!

We hope.

✈

A Few Happenings Since Spring 2019

In August Karen and Bill celebrated their 46th wedding anniversary with a trip to the casino and a concert at Interlochen to see Vince Gill.

 Also in August we held our 5th annual Grandpa/Grandma Camp with eight of our nine grandchildren.  Camp included a trip to Petoskey and a tour of the Kilwins Chocolate Shop and of course 18 holes of miniature golf on the way home.

Another small August trip took us to Lake Michigan with the Hummels to watch the sun set in the west.

In July Bill attended his 49th consecutive "canoe/golf" trip with three of his buddies that took the group to the Manitoulin Islands in Canada aboard the M.S. Chi-Cheemaun.

In June Bill and Karen spent a weekend at the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island.

In May we traveled to Chicago to see our granddaughter, Mary McGovern, receive her first communion.

Bill got home from Texas in time to tap some Maple trees and boil enough sap to keep the family in maple syrup for the summer.

Now that September is here we will be embarking on a more extended trip to the Northeast so keep in touch to see what happens next.

✈  🚢 

A Very Snowy Homecoming

Late Tuesday morning, 3/5/2019, we picked up our old bird in Lansing and drove deeper into the freezing weather that we had been driving in since southern Arkansas.  Conditions got worse!

Not only was it bitter cold but this is what our house (actually garage) looked like from the street.  Thank God that our neighbor, Francis, had been keeping the driveway plowed so we could get into it.

While Bill struggled to get the garage doors open, Karen used her gym conditioning to shovel this path to the house.

Finally making it into the house - this is what our riverside deck looked like from inside.

Dang : that show is heavy!

Notice the thermometer reading.

The deck upstairs was in no better condition.

We have a lot of work to do, and we are both praying for some warm weather to give us a little help..

We were told that this is the most snow up here since 1987!

As the sun went down it was so miserable outside that this flock of turkeys roosted in the trees above the house for a little extra warmth.

Now for the good news:

Our Frederic house is warm and everything inside seems to be working just fine.

After 6400 miles on the road is is good to be home.

(Kinda)

⛄

Space Center Houston - Part 2

We spent most of Saturday at the NASA center so we are showing a few more pictures of what we experienced:

In one building we walked around a huge Saturn 5 rocket that was about as long as a football field.

This display shows (from left to right) in three sections how mission control has changed from the 1960's to today.

This is actual mission control today that we got to visit from a walkway above.

This is a technician's desk at mission control.  

The desks were rather quiet on a Saturday although the International Space Station was being tracked.

In a huge training building we got to see these simulators that astronauts used to learn and train for space work.

The training was done in what was called the mockup facility.

The NASA Space Center Houston was a fascinating place to spend a day.

We watched most of the movie presentations and took both tram tours.  We came away with a much better understanding of the history and future of the U.S. Space Program.

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We Visit Space Center Houston

On Friday afternoon we booked into a Comfort Suites Hotel in Webster, Texas which is about 20 miles southeast of downtown Houston.  On Saturday morning we drove a few miles to Space Center Houston which is the main home of NASA.  It is a huge campus with a museum and many displays besides the buildings of research, development, and training.

In this picture above the space shuttle is being transported back to Florida from one of its many flights.
and...

..here are both aircraft on display above that we had to walk past as we entered NASA Houston.

Bill poses for a picture inside  the shuttle.

Karen walks in the large Boeing aircraft that transported the shuttles.
.

The main Space Center Houston museum is gigantic with hundreds of displays, theaters, stores, and even a large cafeteria.  Trams take visitors on tours around the complex.
More to come tomorrow.
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We Put Miss Kitty into Hibernation

On Friday morning, 3/1/2019, we drove east about 20 miles to Dixie Storage in La Feria, Texas.

We parked her in her new spot about 10 am and headed for Houston.

May she rest in peace until we see her again.

🚌