The Adventures of Sunsette -- Nova Scotia again, May 6

[fishy]

Great photos! It's neat that there's still ice.

We have covered bridges here in America, too- I didn't know they had them anywhere else. It's sort of a rural thing.

[davidd]

These captions answer most of the questions I posed on the Flickr posts of these pictures! About the tide range that leaves the boats grounded, about the depth of the caves, and about the "spring-like" sunshine!

Not exactly "spring-like" temperatures... yet... it sounds like! Was there much wind?

The 2-lane covered bridge is a new one? Did they build it like that to emulate the style of an original bridge on the site, or is there a reason to still build covered bridges in that area? Did they leave the original bridge intact?

Annoying dogs on the beach -- yeah. Sucks. I think any beach that allows dogs should also allow beach-goers to carry firearms. There are over 4.5-million dog bites in the US each year. Around 13,000 dog-mauling hospitalizations, and about 50 dog attack deaths. Plus... they're just annoying.

So cool that you turned around and back-tracked just to see where "Duck Pond Road" led. You and I could "road trip" together, no problem... except that we'd never get to where we were going because of constantly getting side-tracked!

I'm happy for you that you worked in a little adventure... without rain.

If the weather stays clear and sunny like this, you could simply drive inland to catch the solar eclipse rather than heading to the States again.

[Alliecat]

“We’re on a plaaaaaane!  Woohoo!  Apparently Air Canada realized that VIPPs* were traveling, because we got our own seat again.”

*Very Important Plastic People


“The sun is always out above the clouds. You just gotta keep climbing.”

[davidd]

Your own seat? OMG - I had to fly twice last week, two separate flights each way, so four flights total, and every one was packed to the scuppers! Miserable eggsperience!

Those girls are gonna be declaring themselves residents of Texas at this rate! Then maybe they can sponsor your immigration to the States!

What part this time?

You'll be spending quite a while in Texas if you're already on your way. The eclipse isn't until the 8th, right?

[fishy]

Wow, have fun!

[Alliecat]

“Frig, Mum! This is not what we signed up for!!”

[davidd]

You're doing a whirlwind tour, huh?

Oh... wait! How long is this forecast in effect? I'll be spending Wednesday night in Wichita Falls!  

[Alliecat]

“Here we are again! Things have not been going particularly swimmingly… Aside from the bad weather forecast, there was a racket with baggage claim — the suitcase came this time but they were unloaded at a different terminal like 20 miles away — and then at the hotel, and then with getting a working phone. Then we had the aforementioned tornado warning. And yesterday Mum found the poison ivy in the backyard so we lost an entire day hunting for stuff to decontaminate shoes. (BRAND NEW shoes, of COURSE.)
“We were also warned about some little stinging nettle-y thing but we haven’t seen that [yet].”

“Today we planned to go to a dinosaur-track park but thanks to all the recent rain, the tracks are not visible. So we went to Cleburne State Park instead.
“Texas Hiking Lesson Number One: stay in the middle of the trail, keep your elbows in, and DON’T EFFING TOUCH ANYTHING!! Especially if it’s green!!!”





“This is a spillway from a lake.”



The trails were lined with poison ivy – ugh! Mum was very, very, very careful.  Bluebonnets are tiny lupines, a fraction of the size of ours at home. They are really cute and incredibly fragrant.”

[fishy]

It comes into season a bit later, but the tiny orange American flower "jewelweed" (Impatiens capensis) can be squashed onto skin to treat poison ivy etc. If you're ever down here closer to summer.

[fishy]

Great photos! Love the background of little purple flowers.

[Alliecat]

“Thank you fishy! We have heard of jewelweed. We're pretty sure we got things decontaminated.
“Today we went to Dallas Arboretum, which was ranked as one of the best gardens in the world by Architectural Digest magazine. It was really lovely. We’ve had two totally cloudless perfect hot days. WHYYYYY can’t the eclipse have been today???!?”  





“We found some wild orchids, and there were lovely little fern dells like this. All the plants are different here!”



“You can see where the architectural interest is. This fabulous deep sunken garden is called the ‘poetry garden’ – we didn’t see any poetry, but there were cool tile murals on the walls, and this neat fountain.”



“Look who we found! This amazing statue looks right at you. It’s beautifully done.”



“Bless your adventurous heart, Amelia. We agree!”  

“Thanks for reading!
“Love, Sunsette    ”

[Alliecat]

“I guess everything really is bigger in Texas. Look what we found!”



“We went to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. These were a little happier looking giraffes than the one that Scarlett got her picture taken with last October.”



“Mum said we might get eaten by mistake so we didn’t get to feed them. She did though. They are very gentle.”



“These are scimitar-horned oryx. Just like at the previous wildlife tour last October, we were the last car out ”

“Thanks for reading.
“Love, Sunsette    ”

[Alliecat]

“WE SAW IT!!!!!!!!!
“It’s impossible to describe the nerve-wracking obsessing Mum did over forecasts for days and days; we couldn’t dictate it all on this tiny phone. But wow – it was crazy.
“We woke up to mostly clear, then solid cloud and some fog within an hour, and Mum pretty much gave up. With some holes in the clouds a bit later she decided to go to the park, and although there were some clouds off and on, there were enough holes to see most of the partial phases and then it cleared for totality. There are no words.”








“This is a bad phone snapshot of Mum’s camera screen. A proper look will have to wait until we get home and download them.”

“Love, Sunsette    ”

[fishy]

Looks great! I'm so happy you had fun.

[Alliecat]

“Thank you!
“We went to the Dallas Aquarium. It was pouring rain so therefore, so did everyone else.”


“Look at these cool little critters! They posed with me!”



“Scarlett liked the flamingoes because she said they were a great colour.”



“Mum really likes botanical gardens. We went to the one in Fort Worth. There was a butterfly conservatory.”



“The Japanese garden was very nice.”



“The light was too difficult to get a good picture of this very cool we-sized tree.”



“After that we went to the Fort Worth ‘Water Gardens’, which was more interesting than it looked like it would be at first glance. Not really a garden, but an installation of very large bricks and blocks with some pools and running water, and this cool pool.”



“And today we went to the Chisholm Trail museum, which we should have left a little more time for. Some local history.”



“While we are not generally fans of pointy plants, it is quite a novelty to see things growing outside that you would only ever find in indoor pots at home. And this little one was so neat!!”



“Finally, this is our housesit buddy, Sir Tipsy Hustle.  OK, Mum added the ‘sir’, because he’s so beautiful she said he needed a title.”




“Thanks for reading!
“Love, Sunsette  ”