September 26~ A Celebration of Life~ Happy Birthday, Dad

I know that I wrote a post a while back about my dad and how his Alzheimer's disease had progressed to the point that he no longer recognized us and how difficult it was for Mom to accept.  Dad now is no longer suffering from that debilitating disease but it did not make it any easier for us to accept the reality of his death.  As it would work out, we buried Dad on what would have been his 89th birthday.  I have thought that perhaps he was not too happy about me saying goodbye when I left on my trip and mentioned that I would miss his birthday. I guess he actually did get me back for his birthday after all.
I felt a little guilty as I was driving home from Nova Scotia, knowing that my brother and sister had to make the majority of decisions for the funeral arrangements.  I will say that the viewing was well attended by friends and family paying their respects to Dad and the service was a wonderful celebratory service.  My sincere thanks to all who came and shared with our family.  The flowers were absolutely beautiful.  The VFW and the American Legion provided a moving graveside military service that was very much appreciated by our family.  Following the service we met back at the church where we were provided with a lunch by one of the bereavement teams from our church.  We watched a slide show that tried to capture the life of Bob Wilson, our father and we shared stories with our cousins and friends.  Sadly, Dad was the last of his siblings to die, the end of a generation.  I guess it is time for us to step up now.  Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Our annual hayride for the Community Presbyterian Church in Columbus

Me and Dad

Me and Dad

Mom, Dad, Judy & Me and our Studebaker 

Dad, fishing in Lake Erie

Dad also liked to camp, Mom, not so much!

I think I was taking this photo, Bob & Judy in the front

Dad with his Indian motorcycle, after HS

Dad's brothers, Richard, Walter, sister Kate and his mom.

Our family and Grandpa Wilson

Dad's HS graduation picture

Dad and Luke, reading a farm book.

Merchant Marines

Sunday & Monday, September 21, 22

The farthest north that we traveled in Nova Scotia was to Bay St. Lawrence where we stayed at Burton's Sunset Oasis.  The motel efficiency was perched high overlooking the bay and Cape North.  The owner was, as he explained, a lighthouse brat and had grown up at the lighthouse on Money Point.  He also said that the lighthouse had been dismantled and moved to Ottawa and his family home had been burned down by the Coast Guard.  The land where the hotel stood had belonged to his grandparents, Scottish immigrants that had farmed the land and raised sheep and cattle.

The view from Burton's Sunset Oasis

Looking towards Cape North

The valley below, dotted with farm homes

When we left, we headed southeast to finish the Cabot Trail.  Our plan was to do several of the smaller hikes so that we could see more variety rather than to do a longer hike that would only let us view a limited habitat.  We started with a waterfall hike, followed by a bog or fen trail, then a lake and lastly a coastline trail.  They were all beautiful in their own ways and we enjoyed them all.

A whale watching overlook, or Look Off, as the Canadians call it

An insect eating Pitcher Plant

This was the view as we drove along the coastline

After this beautiful day we continued our drive to Charlos Cove and the Sea Wind Motel. We were running late and we drove the last 2 hours in the dark and it began raining.  Sorry to say we didn't get pictures of  the 100 year old cottage, the Liza Jane, that we stayed in. It was basic, no TV or internet and we had no phone service.  Breakfast at the hotel the next morning was stellar, Blueberry stuffed French toast.  AWESOME!!
After our filling breakfast we continued south towards Halifax.  It was still extremely windy from the storm the night before but the sun was trying to come out as we wound our way down the coastline.  At one point we seemed to be on the wrong road as we came to a dead end with a river at the end of the road.  Sharon thinking we had taken a wrong road immediately said that we needed to turn around.  As we looked closer at the map we realized that we were on the correct road, we just didn't see the small print that said "ferry".  It ran every 30 minutes so we figured that we would save time and money if we took the ferry.  Even our navigation instructed us to drive onto the ferry. I'm so glad we did because our other option would not have allowed us to stop at the Bickerton Lighthouse.  It wasn't that the lighthouse was anything spectacular but because of the storm and the wind, the waves were crashing along the shore which exhibited the enormous power of the ocean.  Unfortunately, the fog and mist in the air made it difficult to see how beautiful it was.

My navigation telling us to board the ferry, even had a little ferry icon in the upper left corner!

These were the last photos that I took on this trip.  When we arrived in Halifax at the Best Western, I had a message to call Trish.  The news that I had hoped would not come until I arrived back home found me mid way through our trip.  My dad had taken an abrupt turn for the worse and would die later this evening.  Sharon and I slept until 4 a.m. and then began our 24 hour drive back home.  I had said my good-byes to Dad before I left and although his death was expected, it was unexpected.  I thank God that I had my very good friend to share the arduous drive back to Ohio. We will be back to finish this trip.