Lupins, Louisbourg and Lighthouses Day 2

We woke up to a beautiful looking day.  From our hotel room we could see the big fiddle.  We enjoyed some breakfast and then went to explore Sydney.  Along the sides of the roads were wild Lupins growing all over the place. They were in full bloom and very pretty to see.  We found an information booth and decided to go check out the Fortess of Louisbourg.  It was about a half hour drive so we decided to enjoy some lunch in the town of Louisbourg first.  We found a small restaurant on the water called The Lobster Kettle. We enjoyed some seafood chowder and a seafood wrap.  Next we went to see The Fortress of Louisbourg.  It was very interesting walking through the old buildings that had been restored.  They fired off two cannon shots while we were there.  We saw a drastic change in the weather as the fog moved in and the temperatures started dropping.  It even started to rain a bit.   On our way home we made a stop to check out a lighthouse.  Apparently there were ruins from 2 lighthouses and one of them was from the first lighthouse built in Canada.  Interesting the things you learn.

In the evening we went to the Governor's Pub and Eatery.  They were celebrating Kitchenfest there and had a few people playing for the evening.  They played celtic tunes on the fiddle and guitar.  Was very enjoyable.

From Halifax to Sydney Day 1

We arrived at the airport a little after 5:00 am.  Check in went smoothly and we had a fairly long walk to  where our flight took off from.  Managed to grab a bagel and coffee for breakfast before leaving. Our plane was delayed 45 minutes because of delays from connecting flights.  The flight to Ottawa was really quick and smooth.  Passengers unloaded and new passengers came on the plane which took around 1/2 hour and than we were off to Halifax.  Arrived in Halifax around noon.  By the time we reached the baggage counter our luggage was there already.  There was hardly any lineup at the car rental and we were on our way approximately 10 minutes later.  We are driving a Volvo.  Nice ride.  Because we turned our GPS on when there was no satellite available the GPS kept thinking we were in Toronto.  Lawrence managed to figure out the way to go with no GPS.  We thought we would go to the liquor store and the grocery store first only to find out because it was Canada Day everything was closed.  We didn't plan that right.  We found some parking and than had some lunch at The Foggy Goggles.  We had purchased tickets for The Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo which we both really enjoyed.  We heard marching bands, saw Celtic dancers, had an Olympian trampoline artist perform, the Flying Grampas (who were trampoline artists as well) and much more.  One guy was jumping rope while sitting on his bum.  You were not allowed to take pictures but we did purchase a book on the performers.  After the show we had a 4.5 hour drive to get to Sydney so we decided to head there right away.  Most of the ride was watching a lot of trees.  We learned a few things about the vehicle we were driving as well.  Every time Lawrence would wander a little on the road the car would beep at him. While driving with cruise control if you drove too close to the car in front of you the car would slow right down.  While driving with the high beams on if a car was coming towards you the high beams turned off automatically.   Unfortunately the most scenic part of the drive was in the dark.  We arrived at the hotel at 11:00. We are relaxing with our bottled water and looking forward to exploring tomorrow.

Double Dose - Sandpiper Bay and The Thistle

Today we are playing 2 rounds of golf to make up for a round that was cancelled earlier in the week.  We started out at Sandpiper Bay.  The course was nice but my golfing was not great.  Still had fun though.  We saw a small alligator this morning.  When we completed our round we rushed to the Thistle to see if we could get an earlier tee time than the 1:57 time we had.  They were willing to let us tee off in fifteen minutes so we quickly ate our lunch and prepared to start our round.  By the seventh hole it started to thunder and lightning.  We didn't feel safe on the course so we headed in.  The rain started as we were heading back.  We waited for a while and then Grace went in to see if we could get a rain check.  They said legally we should only be getting a rain check for nine holes but they gave us one for eighteen holes.

We headed back home and did a little bit of last minute shopping.  We arrived home and slowly started packing up for the ride home tomorrow.  We ate dinner at the condo and Ralph and Grace cooked up a delicious flounder and cauliflower wth some left over Nasi. It was so yummy.  For dessert we are having peach pie and ice cream.  What a great way to end our vacation.

I am a winner.  We had our final draws for prizes and i got the lowest amount of putts on the front 9.  Whohoo.

Heritage Club

Today we got to play a round at the Heritage Club.  We started out great with a 7:30 start, but by the 10th hole we had to wait long periods of time for the last 9 holes played.  This course included lunch and 1 glass of wine for Grace and I and the boys were able to get 2 beers.  It took us almost 5 1/2 hours to complete the course.

We did a little shopping afterwards and then decided to go back to the hotel for a swim in the ocean.
We had a blast in the water.

For dinner we tried a new place and went to the Wicked Tuna.  The meal was delicious and the fish was very fresh.  We walked around the Pier and then went home.  Plans are starting to come in place as we slowly prepare to get ready to pack and go home.

Boohoo, no True Blue. But Caledonia here we come.

Today did not go as originally planned.  We were up early, had breakfast and headed off to True Blue.  We got to the course only to find out it was closed.  What a disappointment.  They had told us Caledonia was open but we could only get a 12:27 tee-off time.  We booked it and did a little exploring in the morning.
We were there early and enjoyed some lunch here.  Once we were ready, the gentleman who sells the fish stew soup for donations was there so we each had a little bit of soup.  This time it was really salty  and hard to eat.  You still like to help out people.

Grace and Lawrence both played good games here with Grace breaking the 100 mark this year.  After the game we quickly packed the cars and drove to a favourite Grill Cheese and Crab Cake place for supper.  It was so yummy.

We arrived home and immediately went for a hot tub.  Felt really good on the back.

We did some laundry and watched the movie the judge on tv.  We did our daily prize draw and Ralph was the lucky winner again.  We were all really tired and went to bed early.

Splish splash golf.

5:30 wake-up calls sure come early.   We got up, packed our golf equipment, had breakfast and headed off to Wachesaw Plantation East.  We were the first to tee-off at 7:30.  The course was extremely wet and we had to play cart path rules.  I had problems when my ball landed in the long curly grass as it was very difficult to hit out of it.  We saw bunches of turtles sunning along the sides of the ponds.  When you walked on the course it was like the water was trying to pull your shoes off.  We ate our lunch at this course and then headed off to International Club to play our second round.  The course was not as wet but still wet enough.  My top and legs had mud splatter all over them.  It was cool to see some Hawks flying around here.

Grace's Fitbit said we walked over 22,000 steps today.  I feel it in my legs and feet.  After we finished our round we raced home for the special golfers evening the Caribbean holds.  You get free pizza and 2 drinks tickets.  You also get to put your name in a draw for a hat or towel.  None of us won this round.  We had a little bit of grocery shopping to do so we did that before going back to the room.  Ralph heated up some left over Nasi as Grace and I updated our blog.

Early Wake Up Calls Start Again

Today we finally get to play a round.  After breakfast we picked up a Starbucks and headed to North Carolina to play The Pearl.

The course was pretty wet and we were feeling the spray from our shots.  Some of the bunkers were pretty filled up with water.  Still, water and all it felt good to be golfing again.

From booking our courses through the Carribean we were each given a $100.00 gift certificate that can be used for clothes, golf or food.  What a pleasant surprise as we did not know this was coming.

We were playing a game that Grace created that involved 3 balls.  One for par 3, one for par 4 and one for par 5.  This was to go through all golf games we play.  If you lose your ball you can no longer collect points.  My par 5 ball is gone already.

We also played a hole where we had to use the same club for the entire hole.  Ralph won this round with a 7.  Didn't help our score but it was fun.

We stayed in and made some Nasi for dinner tonight.  It was nice to relax and catch up on some reading.  It won't be a late night as tomorrow we are playing 2 rounds.

Another great day on vacation.