2024 Christmas/Hannukah letter

The Toronto Maple Leafs are sitting atop the Atlantic division and the dream machine is in full swing. 2024 was the year of fairy tales, some with happy endings and some that end with Little Red Riding Hood being eaten by the wolf. 

In the happy ending department Hannah is adulting in Boston with a graduate degree, a job, a car, a synagogue and best of all a partner in the buddy movie of life, welcome Adam. Hannah's job has her in her happy place every day, working with infants under three as a Developmental Specialist. The next generation in Massachusetts is getting an awesome start. Living in the US has its pros and cons and rooting for the Celtics and Bruins is one of them.

In a follow-up to last year, Maggie and David are still running and running some more. As if Around the Bay is not enough, they ran around the clock on relay teams at Sulphur Springs, and had their biggest cheerleader out for the Chilly Half (as they run by Nana Barb's building).  In the Fall, Maggie ran the Chicago marathon cheered on by David, Carolyn and Hannah along with crew from her running club in Hamilton. It was the culmination of many 8AM club runs in all kinds of weather and personal conditions (just ask Bandit to see her dog-strava, it is pretty impressive). As I write, they are hard at work on another “grind” project, renovating  the basement apartment. Unlike on HGTV, it is a tremendous amount of work and we are hoping for a happy ending in early 2025, as a lot of the hardest work (drywalling and flooring!) has been done. 

Typical of the Grimms brothers, in March Carolyn and I were deep in the forests around Asheville, North Carolina when a gremlin (rock maybe) pulled off the rear derailleur on her bike. We were nearly 20 KMs from civilization and a little concerned. With some Bike Pirate skills, some luck and the help of some “trail angels” behind us we managed to rig her bike into a single speed and limp back to the car.  We also spent the month of June touring around Brittany full of wind and rain, climbs to stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean, old friends, new friends, and crepes. It was fun and we will probably go back in 2025 – France is a big country with a lot of bakeries to see. 

Carolyn continues to log miles like a long-haul trucker with Maggie and David in Hamilton, Barb in Burlington and Hannah in Boston. She likes a good road trip as long as there are some acts of service at the destination.  

Of course, the biggest fever dream is a global political lurch to the right full of nationalistic fervour and isolationism. It is led by the US but it is certainly not limited to them. There is a full buffet of crises that are tough to watch and even harder to look away from.  Hopefully something good comes out of it. That is the point of the tale, to make you believe in the triumph of good over evil.

We are lucky that we are all in relatively good health and get to spend quality family time together over the holidays. We are excited about some big family get-togethers in 2025 (foreshadowing). Wishing you and your extended family and friends a good holiday and a great 2025.

Chilly Half, Burlington, ON

Tufts Graduation, Somerville, MA

Mont St Michel, France 

Chicago Marathon Finish Line, Chicago IL

Cheers to 2025 from our family to yours. 

Manitoulin Island - Day 4 (final day)

Today our route took us from Providence Bay back north across the island into Gore Bay and then into Kagawong to complete our loop. 200+ km 4 days and every kind of weather. 

The ride today was farms and fields, woods and rock. Very pretty scenery, and then often scruffy northern Ontario. 

And pure blue sky all day long. 

We did 40 k to get to Gore Bay for lunch, to find a street festival and "The Codmother" restaurant.  Lunch was chicken pot pie soup and club sandwiches. And coleslaw. Every meal seems to involve coleslaw here. 

We had been told that we would see plenty of deer here. But we didn't see any at lunchtime...

The last 25 k of the trip took us home to Kagawong, with the final 10 a straight shot on the side of the hwy. A tail wind helped, it was quite an impressive finish, deserving of the celebratory ice cream stop.

There were some flat out tough stretches today, but the roads remained smooth and the drivers remained patient and the 4 of us are a good team. 

We drove back to Gore Bay for dinner and we found the deer! I stopped counting after seeing 7 on the way in and out of the restaurant. And on the drive home we avoided the deer and found the lovely views of the Bay. 

We are happy to have such great touring friends who we can sing and laugh with, while we ride and camp and enjoy this beautiful province.

Thanks for following along on our adventure.

Best photo of the trip...

"Honey, I shrunk the men" 

Manitoulin Island - Day 3

Good morning sunshine! What a perfect campsite we had last night, with the sun rising over the water to wake us up this morning. 

Photo credit Blaine Lang (above) 

Breakfast at the beach for us.

And the crows decided that they wanted to share my breakfast too!

We agreed today we'd all wear our Gaspe kit, and it made for lots (and lots and lots) of conversation and attention, even a few car honks.  

Photo credit: Blaine Lang (above)

Photo credit: Blaine Lang (two above)

We headed to Mindemoya for lunch. Sadly "Mum's" restaurant has closed so we carried on to The Grill. All day breakfast for all of us, as we had a very informative conversation with the table next to us.  After explaining we have not actually cycled all the way from Gaspe, and we are English speakers... Well after that it didn't matter if we spoke we just had to nod politely and listen as the story of the last 15 years "since we moved up here to the island" was told to us. First local friends. 

And then as our food arrived another table exclaimed "you go ahead and eat all those carbs, you will need them for these hills." 🤣🤣

This second local friend was very chatty. As we went to pay she called across the restaurant that she would like to pay for our meals 🙃. When we paid for ourselves, she called Anne Marie a "little brat", and as we walked out the door she said "travel safe you kids.". Too funny, she couldn't have been much more than 10 years older than any of us. 

Finally, before we left the parking lot, we befriended two guys getting in their pick up truck. They pointed out several deer across the road, and asked about our jerseys (his father was born in Gaspe!), and they shared some local knowledge about Wikwemikong, the roads and the interesting trails and trail / stray dogs. Wishing us safe travels, away they went. 

We cycled along quiet roads after lunch. Once again on "Lakeshore Road", this time along Lake Mindemoya.  

An easy riding today, smooth, straight roads and only small rolling hills. 

The quiet roads delivered us to Providence Bay.  And a big comfy chair. 

There was ice cream involved in the afternoon activities.  And then off to our Providence Bay Tent and Trailer Park to set up in a sheltered site, with enough sun to dry our towels and enough shade to keep us cool. 

Down on the boardwalk. Down by the Bay...

The dunes are quite impressive here, protected by this boardwalk that runs at least a kilometer.  

Our personal chefs made us a chopped salad for dinner. 

"Yes Chef!" is alive and well on Manitoulin. 

Back to the beach for the sunset with Blaine and Anne Marie, to finish a very good cycle touring day. 

Day is done. 

Gone the sun. 

Manitoulin Island - Day 2

Rain warning. Yes. We were warned. And still it was shocking just how much rain fell. Wow. 

We were fine, mostly. A few drips from the supporting cords, leaving my Thermarest T-shirt cover wet, and settling under Marc's kit bag. But we were prepared with waterproof bags and we aren't made of sugar 😋

Our neighboring campsite however, was flooded! 

The ducks were very happy this morning. And as our neighbor said, "when you get to your campsite and there are ducks, you should beware that you may end up with a pond". 🤣

Breakfast under a roof and warming ourselves by the dryer vents helped to start the day warm and dry. 

Today we cycled south. Mostly along Hwy 6 which was once again not too busy, and wonderfully smooth with a wide clean shoulder. A big climb to start which paid off with a beautiful view. 

First stop Ten Mile Trading Post. 

We sailed down the highway, a with a great tail wind and we were losing elevation so we were FAST.  Safe smooth rolling hills and tail wind. We figure the cycling Gods were apologizing for last night's weather. 

At one point we saw five Sandhill cranes take flight from a field to our left, and they can soar, rarely having to move their broad wings. Two more appeared on the side of the road beside us, in the wildflowers. They didn't seem fussed by us riding by and all four of us came within 6 feet of them. Beautiful red heads, and light brown and white feathers. 

Lunch in Manitowaning.  We pulled off Hwy 6 for a little break and found a cute little town. An old port that had converted the warehouse to a theatre. 

 And a pretty lighthouse and United Church. 

We found the local coffee shop that was serving lunch, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so, worth the stop, and a grocery store for snacks. Jackpot really. 

After lunch we turned off the highway and took "Lake Shore Road".  Enjoying the quiet road, we saw no cars for many kilometers. Very pretty wild flowers on the roadside, and thick forest.

Being on an island we are never far from water with nice views and quiet fishermen enjoying nature. 

Most of the road was hard packed gravel, but it changed to looser gravel and became a bit of a challenge. Slow going for sure. We turned a corner and had to climb a small hill of very loose gravel. We gave each other safety room, and slowed for a tough climb. And that's when a car came behind us "Car Back!". The car slowed and was patient. Perfect. 

And then as we were all on the hill, climbing, we looked up and saw....

This is an Overland Expedition Truck (RV). This photo is from Google, but this is the same as the vehicle we encountered 😳

Oh my goodness. I truly thought it was some sort of army machine or construction vehicle.  The brand name across the front read MAN. It took the whole road, or so it seemed to me.  Speechless. Well actually, I did yell out one word, not fit for the blog. 

It all worked out. The vehicles waited for us all to grind our way up the hill and get to the safety of the shoulder. But I still might dream of this tonight. It was more like a nightmare. But it was fine. 

The final bit of road had some wet spots. Like really wet. Puddles. Unavoidable ones. And we all got a bit dirty...

We arrived to find a warm welcome at South Bay Resort.  We had our pick of campsites as they are mostly seasonal here, we are the exception.

And Blaine and Anne Marie have their site, tent up and dried out too. 

Dinner at the Pierside, across from the Chichi ma Ferry terminal, enjoying local fish and (too many) chips. 

The sun is setting, and the wind is easing and the clouds are giving way to clear skies. 

Strava stats for today. 

Thanks for reading and commenting. Always fun to have company on our adventures.