NOTE: This post was written in 2024 and got stranded in the Drafts folder. 🙁
Hope and I are wrapping up a two-week road trip – well, she’s already home and I’m still on the road :-).
Weather-wise, it was somewhat of a lacklustre trip with the remnants of Hurricane Helene following us for about half the trip.
I headed out on Sept. 20 and over-nighted in Lewiston, ME. On the 21st, I stopped at the Portland Head Light, Casco Bay, ME. Dull, overcast but a landmark lighthouse originally commissioned by George Washington.
Next stop, Newark New Jersey, overlooking Liberty Airport. This meshed perfectly with my other passions – flight simming and aviation. I spent hours and hours and hours flying in and out of Newark/KEWR with Virtual United Airlines. Geek alert!
I visited B&H Photo and Video – a photographer’s mecca – and my wallet came out rather unscathed. I travelled light, using only my iPhone. Highlight of the day? A street corner conversation with a possibly over-refreshed Naked Cowboy.
Hope flew into Liberty on Sept. 23 and we pointed the Hyundai’s nose to Maryland, where we visited her aunt Suzy for a few days, and met with her cousin Bill and his wife, Beth.
A few days later, we were on our way to the heartland, Homer City, PA to visit with Hope’s brother Tony and his wife, Joanie, and their 10-year-old Labrador retriever, Murphy. As soon as I walked in the door, Murphy rolled over on his back for a tummy rub, knowing that I was his favourite petter.
Hope attended her high school class’s 50th anniversary and I paid my first visit to the mean streets of Pittsburgh.
On the way back, we met with Hope’s nephews – Jason and his son, Vinny; Nick and his wife Devyyn – in Altoona; then back to Homer City for our final night there.
On Sept. 30, we pointed the Hyundai home to Canada, crossing at Buffalo.
“Irv Weinstein here on Channel 7 News; fire in North Tonawanda, film at 11…” How many times did I hear that while I lived in Toronto? 🙂
We spent three evenings in Burlington, giving Hope a chance to meet my aunt Mary and her adult daughter, Meghan.
We visited Hamilton’s Dundurn Castle – great tour – where some episodes of Murdoch Mysteries were filmed, I believe.
On Oct. 3, I dropped Hope off at Pearson Airport, hit two aviation shops near the airport to get some gifts for the grand-kids, and headed to Orillia, ON, birthplace and resting place for my favourite songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot.
I have been a Lightfoot fan since grade school, and attended my first Lightfoot concert at Montreal’s Place des Arts in 1969. Over 55 years, I have enjoyed his work at Place des Arts, a Mariposa Folk Festival picnic bench, Toronto’s Massey Hall and Sam The Record Man, Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre, and finally, in 2022, at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.
From there, I drove to Québec City, caught some shut-eye and then hit the road for Halifax.
Its been a long time since I’ve had a roadtrip like that; planning another for 2026.
