Driving in New York City - don't do it!

Well folks this will be the last blog entry we write as soon we will be home in Bonnie Scotland and then you will get to hear these stories in person and will be able to come and watch and be bored by our mammoth slide show!!!

We left you last time when we were about to go and watch an ice hockey match and what a match it was. Our friend Ben was brilliant and we felt very proud!!! Gavin adored the game as within the first 10 minutes a fight broke out and the referee simply stands and looks on. Helmets, jerseys and gloves were lost in this fight!!!

We left glorious Halifax and travelled to the Bay of Fundy and in particular to Hopewell Rocks. Hopewell Rocks experiences the highest tides in the world and it is really cool as you can walk on the ocean floor at low tide around these huge rocks and then you can watch high tide come in. It comes in at 2 metres an hour so you don't want to get stuck out there!!!
Low tide

High tide

Then we journeyed towards America and crossed the border into Maine where we met a very rude American border control man and had an experience just before crossing where I left my handbag with all our passports, bank cards, etc in a coffee shop!!! So that day was slightly stressful, thankfully we went back to the coffee shop and my bag was still there with everything in it. Maine was beautiful and the fall colours were spectacular, we would have liked to have spent more time there but unfortunately you can't do everything...... just means we will have to come back one day!

Foolishly we drove towards New York City which was interesting driving. I am sure I could use a lot of other words but we will settle with that one. Let's just say we wouldn't advise anyone to drive in New York City....at one stage we were nearly lost in the Broncs. Anyway we found our hotel with the help of a lovely lady and parked the car in the garage and were able to take the subway into downtown Manhattan. It was wonderful, New York City is everything you imagine and more. We did all the tourist things: The Statue of Liberty, Where the twin towers once stood, the empire state building, 34th street, times square, central park, Tribeca markets and soho shopping..... so much to do in only a couple of days. The highlight though was going to broadway to see the musical of The Lion King, it was breathtaking and something we will always remember.
Times Square

Manhatten

Central Park

We then travelled back to Teen Ranch and had a few relaxing days just seeing friends we had made during the summer. I managed to ride again every day which was just wonderful... there is nothing like galloping across a field just you and your trusty steed!

Hope your looking after yourselves, see you in a couple of weeks!

Camping again!

So we are happy to report that we have taken very easily back to camping and it is much warmer than when we last camped so that is good!

Our first stop on the trip East was in Quebec City. The french city was celebrating it's 400th anniversary which is old in Canada terms so we thought we would check it out. It felt like being in France and no one spoke english so we struggled through with the little french we knew!!! It was a beautiful city though and had an old part which was enclosed in a wall which reminded us of Bergamo in Italy.


On we travelled to one of the highlights which was Prince Edward Island. It is so beautiful but it has an extra bonus of being where Anne of Greengables is set. Me being the huge fan I am dragged poor Gav around all the tourist sites. We walked down Lovers Lane and through the Haunted Woods!! The first night we were there we splashed out and went to the musical and it was amazing and even Gav loved it. The other famous thing about PEI is the national park. PEI has red soil and so the cliff edges where the sea meets land are just spectacular!
Greengables

Lovers Lane

National Park

Beautiful red sand

Next we went to Nova Scotia which means New Scotland. We headed up to Cape Breton and did a famous drive called the Cabot Trail. It was spectacular and at points we could really have been in Scotland.

We got off the roads though and hiked in to the forest and it was amazing as we saw a moose and her calf! It was so brilliant and we were so close to them. They were not bothered by us at all which was good as we had earlier heard of a story where the mum moose had chased this guy because they get kinda protective over their babies!!!! We stood and watched them for ages and it was simply wonderful.

We are now in Halifax which is the capital of Nova Scotia and we are staying with some friends we met while at Teen Ranch. It is really great to see them again and tomorrow we are going to see and Ice Hockey game with them so that will be cool. Their son plays at quite a high level so we are going to be groupies and watch his team!!!!

Hope you guys are all well.

To the East Coast we go

Hey everyone

How are you all doing? We hope you are well and that you have had a good summer. We left Teen Ranch yesterday and are now in Oakville with our relatives. It was sad to leave the ranch as we had met lots of brilliant people. However, we are going to pop back for a wee visit after we finish our travelling on the East Coast.

We had a great time at our friend's cottage. We did loads of relaxing, fishing and went out in Drew's little speedboat which was so fun. The highlight though was that we saw a moose! It was so awesome and we were so close to her. Apparently she has been down there all summer and she wasn't in the least bit worried about us. So we are so happy that we saw a moose as I really wanted to see one close up before we left for home.

I have been continuing to do lots of riding and last week as I was riding 3 times a day as I was working in the barn again and going out with kids on trail rides, one that started at 6am which meant being up pretty early to catch the horses. It was a bit strange running about in the dark trying to round up a herd of horses when I couldn't really see them!!!!!!!!!!!

Gav has been doing lots of fishing and he caught a beauty of a brook trout a few days ago. He had spotted it sitting in the same place everyday so he went out to hunt it and came back a happy man.

We are picking up our rental car on Tuesday and heading east for our last trip before coming home. The old tent is waiting to be unpacked and reassembled and I'm afraid to say that we have got quite used to our luxury at Teen Ranch so I am not sure how we will adapt to the tent again. The plan is to head up to Prince Edward Island which is where Anne of Greengables is set. whoo hooo, I can't wait to see it. Then we are going to go to Halifax in Nova Scotia (which means New Scotland!) to see some friends we met at Teen Ranch. Then head down to the east coast of America via the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick and hopefully check out Boston and New York City. So a busy wee plan with lots of driving but we are confident we can do it. The tickets are booked home and we will be arriving back in Scotland at the start of October, scary or what! We have been away over a year now but the time has gone so fast.

Lots of love
Gav and Jess

Downtown Toronto with a Limo

Hey there guys

How are you all doing? We are doing grand and can't believe we only have 3 weeks left of camp before our tent has to come out again.

I realised in my last post I didn't explain the crafts bit in the title... what an idiot I am! The reason crafts was in the title is that is what I am doing all summer. They put me in charge of crafts (they must be mad). I am enjoying it though as I basically get to chill out with the kids all day.

I am also happy to report that my tailbone is much better and I have been out riding again. I have been riding a thoroughbred called Champ and he is a pure delight and I wish I could bring him home with me. (Mum I think we should go hunting for a thoroughbred when I get home).

Me and Champ


They also asked me to be a Riding Instructor last week so I got to teach kids all morning which was brilliant. So by the end of the week they were going over little cross rail jumps which was fantastic. I was so proud of them. On a saturday morning when they are picked up we do a little show for their parents so that went well and I think their parents were really proud too.

Last weekend we had an amazing treat and rented a Limo with a few other international people who are working at the Ranch. We went to downtown toronto for a meal and a cruise around! It was so much fun (the last time I was in a limo was on my hen night!) and Gav had never been in a limo before. We had such a good night and we went to Wayne Gretzky's restaurant as we had some hockey guys with us who were keen to see all the memorabilia. So Gav took some pictures for Mr Lawrence Sum as we know how big a fan you are.

Gav has been getting some fishing in as Teen Ranch have a small loch that is stocked with brook trout so someone has lent him a fly rod for the summer which is really great. He is continuing to play hockey and all the kids love to come and tell me how great he is and they can't believe he has never played before. They all love the charm of the irish man and seem to be disappointed when they hear I am his wife!!
Here is the man in his gear:


This weekend we have managed to get an extra 2 days off and we are going up to a cottage for the weekend with some of our friends!!! Can't wait.

Kids, Crafts, Hockey and Horse riding

Hey folks

So it has been ages since we last posted something about our adventures (and this post has taken us about 4 weeks to write, as we have been catching moments as we get them). So we will try and keep this brief and tell you the main bits. We are now at Teen Ranch and having a whole different adventure. We now have our own room with a queen size bed and our own bathroom, it is blissful! The tent has been aired out and is safely packed away until September.

Mum, Dad and Sarah came out for a visit which was amazingly good but we only saw them for a couple of days so it was sad again when we said goodbye.

The other sad thing was Johnny wasn't able to come as he was best man at a wedding and he got himself yest another promotion at the Hilton!!!! Can you tell I am so chuffed... that is 2 promotions in 9 months, well done wee man! Sarah was at another camp for 2 weeks and so we also got to see her last weekend.
Sarah, me and two cute bunnies

We had such a good time and our friend Drew took us to Toronto and let's just say we had a very different day which included visiting a funeral parlour and seeing our first dead body!!! We will tell you about that when we get home or you can quizz Sarah the next time you see her.
Sarah and Drew (notice the coffin beside them, don't worry no one was in that one!)


The old folks were grand and we went to Niagara Falls with them which was great.

You can go behind the falls in tunnels that they have carved out and you get totally soaked as the falls are right in front of you. There is only a tiny fence so I am not sure how safe it is but hey ho. Gav was very excited to introduce his father in law to the famous Tim Horton Donuts and so they had a good bonding session over coffee and donuts!

I have been getting in some horse riding which has been wonderful. I took Gav out a few weeks ago now and it was great fun. He even managed to canter so I was so proud of him. I was on a horse called Rocket which is known by all to be a bit mental and very fast (as his name suggests) so Gav did good to hang on to his horse while I tried to keep mine from bolting off with me!!!
Me and Rocket

However, two weeks ago I had a pretty bad fall (I still can't walk very fast!!) but I didn't break anything which was a blessing. I was riding a very young horse and he had a bucking fit which my friend described as "brutal". I am only glad he didn't trample me. For once I wore a helmet and it was just as well as my head also whacked the ground with a thud. Hee hee, the joys of horse riding! I am hoping to get back on this week at some point so lets hope it is a better experience.

Gav has also found out that he has a talent for ice hockey and has become a goal keeper! They were down on staff the first week we were here so asked Gav if he would help out and go in goals. Gav being the kind man he is said "sure no problem" but failed to mention that he had never played and couldn't ice skate! So his debut involved getting Kevin (a professional ice hockey player) to push him to the goals..... you can imagine the opposing teams smiles as they watched this. However, they quickly disappeared as it turns out Gav has a natural talent and the craziness to stop the pucks flying into his head! So he has been asked back every day since then!!!! There is one funny story however.. a famous hockey player called Mike Gartner (google him to find out how good he is!) was down playing for a couple of days and Gav is again in goals. Mike shoots the puck and Gav manages to save it (the luck of the Irish!). Mike comes down the wing again and shoots again and Gav saves again. Gav then shouts to him "Is that all you've got?!!" That was when the director of Teen Ranch told Gav who he was!
Isn't he mean!


There have been many nights of dress up to entertain the kids that are here and so many laughs have been had. The most recent was to dress up as your nationality. I can tell you right now Gav did the Irish proud and came to dinner as a leprachaun. It was a very interesting outfit.


Hope you are all doing well and we will try and post again soon.
Love
Gav and Jess

The hills are alive with the sound of bears and avalanches

Howdy all

Basically our time in the west has come to an end and now we are preparing to head to Toronto. Over the last week we have travelled down from Jasper to Banff along the icefield parkway and nothing could have prepared us for the mountains that we drove through.

driving along a section of the icefield parkway

Along this drive we have been treated to the sights of Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Emerald lake and many more that we will have to tell you about when we get home (that is if anyone will listen!) as sadly time and space on this does not permit.


The view from the top of the rockpile at Moraine Lake (As you can see we were well prepared for the walk!)

We are both so glad to have experienced the rockies at this time of year as it is both before the big tourist rush but also it is amazing to see the mountains covered in snow. Yoho is considered to be the coniseur's choice of resorts in the rockies, and as we are very cultured people we decided to spend a few days here walking and exploring the area. When we arrived at the campsite we saw all these posters warning us not to walk along the path beside our tent site as there was a female Grizzly with cubs who wouldn't take to kindly to stupid tourists. We gathered that we fitted this bill quite well and didn't move too far from our tent! The other campsite that we stayed in was surrounded by an electric fence to keep the bears out! The Mckinley's only stay at the classiest of places........it's ok though we can bear it......
From this campsite we did probably one of the worst and probably one of the best walks we have ever done in our lives. Before arriving at the rockies we had all these grand plans of doing lots of alpine walks, of course neither of us had really fully understood how big these lumps of rocks are! There is also the other little detail that most of these are closed as they are deemed unwalkable due to the snow. However, on this day we set off on this walk that was described as a steady steep climb with good views (we were walking to two old fire look outs ontop of this mountain). We had no doubt in our minds that we would make the upper lookout so we set out with high hopes and full of energy. Very soon this was gone and both of us were puffing like anything, i can't remember the last walk that i found so difficult. I like to think that my suffering was a result of carrying the backpack and the alpine conditions rather than my advancing years. Well that's my excuse and i am sticking to it! To make things worse every step we walked we encountered piles of bear droppings and scrapings in the ground. Thankfully between a mixture of stubbornness and mutual encouragment we reached the upper look out and whilst doing an impression of a hyperventilating pig we were rewarded with the most magnificent views. Basically we were looking down this corridor of huge mountains and just sitting there with this view infront of us everything seemed right in the world!


At the top, it was worth it!

We also did this other walk which took us a bit off road and led us into this natural amphitheatre (produced by a ring of mountains) and the foot of a glacier.


Arrivial at the amphitheatre

Once again the national park wardens had given us good news about this walk and filled us full of confidence with more talk of bears and the added spice of avalanches! It was during this walk that i became the most worried about the threat of our furry friends and i decided to grab two rocks and bang them together to make noise. I was always told at school that my musical talent was severly lacking so for once in my life i was confident that i could make a worthwhile noise. Jess on the other hand picked up a stick. It was only on our way back that i decided to ask her why she had decided to pick up probably one of the smallest sticks available. She said that it was her intention to find another one but she couldn't (admittedly they are hard to come by in forests) and therefore decided that she would hold onto it in case she had to defend us against a bear. My wife is talented in many many ways but i have to admit i had no faith in her successfully fending off a bear with what was essentially a glorified toothpick and therefore continued to bang my rocks together.
As you can probably guess from us writing this that we have managed to stay clear of bear attacks (we have now seen 13!!).


Jess and her toothpick

The other thing that we have done since our last post is the horse riding. I managed to last 3 hours and it was actually quite a pleasurable experience. We were able to see the rockies in a different way and Jess was in her element. So much so that Jess decided to have another go in Banff, i thought i best quit whilst ahead and had a wee potter about town on just the two legs.


Jess and her trusty steed

In a couple of days time we are flying to Toronto and we are not sure how much internet access we will have so our blogs may start to become less frequent. This has seemingly come at a bad time as we have gathered a bit of a cult following (of one, my brother who actually has started making demands regarding the content! So at the end of this blog we will put a few wee additional pictures of wildlife to make him happy, after all he is a Chelsea fan and needs a good cheering up!).

Oh and a wee side note, a couple of weeks ago we went to see the new Narnia film (Prince Caspian). Look out for the bit that the kids step back into Narnia for the first time, we were there on that exact beach and walked under the stone arch (Cathedral cove, New Zealand). I also swam where the kids swam, infact this is where i went swimming and realised after i got out i had the hire car keys in my pocket!

See you all soon

Gav and Jess


BONUS BLOG FEATURES (Especially for those feeling a little blue and needing cheered up!)

Animal Gallery


Elk


Mountain Goat


Golden crested ground squirrel


Bald Eagle


Mule Deer


Elk Stag


Bighorn Sheep

P.S we have finally saw a Moose, Jess was thrilled but unfortunately the picture we got didn't make the McKinley blog grade as it was too far away. But with our trusty binoculars we could see it perfectly and identified it as a female.

The Gypsy Life

Hi there all!

Writing to you from the top of the rockies, we are now in Jasper and i can tell you that the scenery is absolutely awesome! For the last three weeks we have been driving past mountains and wondering can they get any better than this, simply the answer is yes! We have been camping in this campsite for the last three nights which is in the middle of the forest and it is such a blessing to wake up/go to sleep in such beautiful surroundings. Today we are going for a trail ride up into the mountains (after i promised my bruised backside that i would never put it through such a terrifying ordeal again, but love makes you do strange/stupid things) and as it is a cracking day hopefully we should get perfect views of the surrounding mountains and down into the lakes.
It struck us the other day that we have been living in a tent for the guts of 5 months, i never thought it would be so easy to turn into a gypsie! But the life of a gyppo isn't so bad and for any of you wanting to make the change here is a little insight of what you can expect. The main bonus of life on the road is that you can decide to live where ever you want and for how long. Normally at night times we decide where we will go the next day, here is a picture of my lovely wife out with the maps looking for the next site.



Unfortunately with this style of living you have to sacrifice the comforts in life, however you learn to make do. Most place we stay at are ensuite but you have to use a little imagination. Here is my Bathroom. The only problem is that there is no door and sometimes you get the feeling that others are watching, which makes bath times a little awkward (plus my rubber duck keeps on swimming away).



Jess now has the lovely big kitchen that she has always wanted.........



Now and again we have guests round for dinner, but to be honest it their table manners can be disgraceful!



After dinner we like to go for a walk in our back garden, we have some lovely views but to be honest it is a nightmare to keep on top of the lawns!



We also have lots of pets, we like to call this one yogi (or sir, depends what mood he is in!).



So that gives you all a little taster of what the day to day life for the McKinley's is like these days. Anyone tempted to give the gypsie life a go?



Oh aye i almost forgot to tell you that our last couple of days on Vancouver island were very eventful! On Wednesday 21st May Jess and i went to see the champions league final between Man Utd and Chelsea. What a day! Brilliant match and brilliant atmosphere! There were about 50 Man Utd fans and 4 Chelsea fans in the pub we went to watch it. I got a little bit carried away with the shouting and singing and i think Jess got a little bit of an insight into a side of her husband that she had never seen before. To cut a long story short we won the game after extra time and penalties and it took me until Sunday before i could speak again. I shouted a little bit too much.........
The game had robbed both of us of a lot of energy and we were looking forward to a good nights sleep. After dinner we read a little of our books and played cards then decided to go and get ready for bed. On our way back to the tent we were remarking at how cold it was and infact this might have been the coldest night since arriving in Canada. When we got back to the car we both asked each other if we had the keys. You know that sickening feeling you get when you know something has gone really wrong (probably the feeling the Chelsea fans still have). We shone the torch through the car window and surely enough there were the car keys. All nice and safe behind the locked door! What makes it all worse is that the previous night we had torrential rain and therefore decided to keep all our sleeping bags ect in the car incase they got wet. We had nothing and even no money in our pockets! We were totally helpless!
I started thinking about this documentary i had seen on TV a few years ago when they got ex car thieves to break into cars to show how easy it was and i had a brief glimmer of hope that i could remember how they did it. Jess sadly hadn't saw this programme as when i turned round there she was trying to pick the lock with nail clippers and then a TRAVEL ADAPTER! Seeing that we weren't going to pick the lock, i had decided that this was the chance to fulfill the desire in life to break a car window (it's a bloke thing) however after two laps of the car deciding which window to break Jess talked me out of it.
Thankfully the owner of the campsite was still up when we banged on his door at 10.30pm and he was so helpful and called a tow truck guy that said it would be no problem to break into our car. What made it so much better is that when the tow truck guy arrived the couple camping near us turned up and said that they had a breakdown card that allowed us to have the service for free! What started off as a nightmare turned into a miracle! What a good God we have! If anyone knows me well they will know that i have an obsessive compulsive disorder about locking doors/fridges ect! I fear this has put me back years in my recovery. Now Jess and i are constantly asking each other if we have keys.
Well time has escaped me, i have to go and get punished by that horse. I am sure Jess will write soon to tell you how great it was!
Oh a brief note to say that our bear sighting tally is now up to 9!

Catch you all soon

Gav and Jess (the gyppos)