Today’s post is 2000 words, 15 photos, a 9 minute read. Enjoy!
Hi everyone,
Last week I took you on a reminisce tour of 2023, evaluated my resolutions, and set new ones for 2024. If you missed that post click here. I’ll continue the reminisce by reintroducing you to some interesting people I met along the ways.
Let’s get started.
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
It was my 20th time attending the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2023. It was also my last time. I explained why in the two posts I made about my two posts about JazzFest. Click here and here for those posts.
Every year that I attended, I met some interesting people. Most of the time it was fleeting and sometimes our connection was more in depth. This year, we had a fun conversation with the fella below while we waited in line to get through security and on to the Fairgrounds.
“I should mention the gates open at 11 AM and the music ends at 7 PM. On the first day, we arrived at about 10:30. After parking ($30 for the day), we got in line for security screening and having our tickets scanned. The line to get in was long, here’s what it looked like.”
“While we were standing in line we chatted with this fellow. He’s been coming to JazzFest for many years. He’s a local (it was locals day at JazzFest, with a significant discount on tickets) and is acquainted with many of the performers. He was dressed for the occasion, it was a hot day with a high of 85. I should mention, his pants matched his shirt. An interesting, nice fella.”
Toronto
It was in early June when we spent six glorious days in Toronto. We were there on a Friendship Force Journey and their club did a bang up job of showing us the sites and culture of this big city by Lake Ontario. One of our days was an excursion to the CN Tower that defines the city skyline. While we’re enjoying the view and trying to take a selfie, this voice asked us if she could take the photo. That’s when we met Carra. Here’s what I wrote about our brief encounter.
“Meet Carra. While my Traveling Partner and I were trying to take a selfie with Toronto in the background, this outgoing young woman approached us and offered to take our photo with my iPhone. For a moment, I was a bit skeptical, you never know if someone will pocket the phone and scram. But knowing there was a line for the elevators, there was no way for a thief to escape, besides that I have a loud voice and can make a lot of commotion.
After Carra took our photo and returned my iPhone, we had a pleasant chat. She asked us where we were from and why we were in Toronto. After we shared, she told us that she’s from Oklahoma and works as a waitress and is able to get time off to travel. She was in New York to meet up with some mates and decided to pop across the border to check out Toronto for a couple of days. She told us that she loves to travel and uses her waitressing skills to earn her keep when doing international travel. When traveling, one never knows when an interesting person enters your bubble. We were honored to have Carra enter ours.”
Click here to read the whole blog.
Berta
We met Breta when we were on a long walk with Monica, our Toronto host. Our brief encounter with Berta was delightful and so was my story about her.
“We met Berta on the walking trail. She’s originally from Slovenia once part of Yugoslavia. She’s has been in Canada for over 50 years. Now retired, Berta splits her time between her home in Toronto and a house she owns in Slovenia. She told us that she walks at least an hour a day even when it’s cold and snowy. Berta was a delight to talk with and inspiration to keep active.”
To read more, click here.
Marie and Marie
In mid-June we participated in a Road Scholar program in Quebec City. The first day, we met two women named Marie.
The guide for our group was Marie Bussières, a native of Quebec City and native French speaker. She was delightful, helpful, and interesting. Below is the one photo I have of this Marie, she’s the woman with the reddish hair and white sweater. The fellow in the red jacket is Brandon, our guide at The Citadelle. 
“Marie Legroulx, a local historian gave an hour lecture on the history of Quebec City. She did a remarkable job. Fortunately, I read one of the suggested books prior to the start of the program. That helped but Marie brought that history to life.”
“Her lecture was followed by a two-hour walking tour of Upper Old Town Quebec. Marie took us to through the streets pointing out historical points of interest and interesting architecture.”
For more on Quebec City, click here.
Mike and Greg
After completing the program in Quebec City, we crossed the border back into the United States. We were headed to Acadia National Park in Maine. Below is the story of our exciting adventure on this drive.
“After lunch, we continued on the 201 that follows the Kennebec River for several miles. We were admiring the River when I got a red alert on the dashboard that one of my tires was low on air. Fortunately, there was a scenic pullout right where this happened. By the time I stopped and got off the car, the rear driver side tire was expending its last breath of air. My Traveling Partner and I stood there for a minute just looking at the tire like that would help restore its function.”
“The trunk was full of our traveling gear, we were on the road for three weeks. When I extracted the donut spare and the jack kit from the trunk I realized it had never been used. I began to jack up the car when a couple of fellows pulled up in an old pickup. They asked my Traveling Partner if we needed some help. She immediately said: “Yes, he’s got a bum knee and it’s hard for him to kneel.” With that, the younger of the two old guys took over the jacking, removing the flat, and installing the spare. When the car was back in equilibrium with the spare attached and the trunk put back together, I offered Mike and Greg payment for their trouble. They flat out rejected my offer with this statement: “We’re from Maine, this is what we do, help each other out.” Then they proceeded to tell me to stop at VIP Tire in Skowhagen, a town about 15 miles down the road. Mike said, “They are real good folks that work there, tell them I sent you.” Then they jumped back in their pickup and headed in the opposite direction. We figured that they were traveling north so had to turn around and come back to help out a couple of strangers. I can’t tell you how grateful we were for this kindness.”
Chris Brown
After purchasing a new tire, we proceeded to Acadia and settled into our hotel for the evening. The next day we set off to explore the park. There are an abundance of turnouts along the scenic highway. At one of those turnouts, we struck up a conversation with Chris where we learned a very critical piece of information about Acadia.
“At one of the turnouts, we observed a flight of cormorants drying their wings on a rock a ways offshore. For this photo, I pulled out my 70-200 mm telephoto lens, even that wasn’t enough to get a real close look.”
“While we were watching the birds, we struck up a conversation with the woman in the photo below. Her name is Chris Brown. The one critical piece of information she shared with us was about the popovers served at the Jordon Pond House further up the road. This is the only restaurant in Acadia National Park. Their view of Jordon Pond is spectacular. Since 1893, this restaurant has been serving popovers for afternoon tea plus a full menu of other selections. But most visitors come for the popovers. Thanks to Chris, we learned of this local tradition.
Erin and Adam
We met this delightful couple just after sunrise on Cadillac Mountain part of Acadia National Park. We couldn’t see much due to the heavy fog so tried to make the best of a less than optimal situation.
“On our walk around the Cadillac Mountain Summit, we came across this couple, Adam and Erin from Massachusetts. We chatted about photography for a few minutes. We learned they are graphic artists, Adam uses a vintage 16 mm camera with a film canister that takes about 2.5 minutes of video. Erin is taking photos and video with a 360 degree digital camera that she is holding in her hand. Somehow, please don’t ask me how, they combine the 16 mm and 360 video into short experimental films. Unfortunately, I didn’t ask them the name of their business. A fun, chance meeting with interesting people.”
For the whole story about Cadillac Mountain, click here.
Tina
This isn’t the first time I’ve met Tina. Our Friendship Force club has taken visiting Ambassadors to Hinchley’s several times over the years. We also got to know her through our involvement in 4-H. She’s a dynamo. Here’s was wrote about her during our August visit to the farm.
“Tina Hinchley is the most enthusiastic spokesperson for agriculture and dairying that I’ve ever met. Part of her mission is to educate everyone who listens to know where their food comes from especially the milk, cream, butter, cheese, yogurt, and all the products produced by dairy cows. Tina, Duane, her husband, and Anna, her daughter took us on a tour of their farm located near Cambridge, Wisconsin. In the photo below, Tina talks about the importance of corn as feed for the cows. She also explained how the early season drought in the Midwest affected the crop yield.”
Check the Hinchley Dairy Farm website read more about their tours and ag advocacy.
Amy and Chris
In late October, we were headed to Houston with two stops at national parks on the way down. One of those stops was at Hot Springs National Park where water bubbles out the ground from 47 natural hot springs. It was drizzling the day of our visit so we spent some time going through the museum at the park visitor center when we met Amy and Chris.
“There are two of the historic bathhouses still offering bath and spa treatments. The Buckstaff is the longest continually running bathhouse that began offering services in 1912. It’s privately owned and operates under a concessions contract with the National Park Service. A typical bath package consisting of a whirlpool mineral bath and massage and runs about $100. Of course there are add on services that will increase the bill.”
“The other bathhouse is the Quapaw. In addition to private baths, they offer access to a public thermal pool for $25 and a steam cave for $15. The remaining six bathhouses are gift shops and the park visitor center.
We had no interest in trying out one of the bathhouses. That is until we met Amy and Chris (pictured below) while checking out the park interpretive center. They’re from Decatur, Illinois and recently married. They told us they went to one of the baths the day prior and found the experience relaxing and invigorating. After the bath, they were so relaxed, they couldn’t do anything else for the rest of the day. Oh yes, they raved about their bathhouse experience for several minutes. Given more time before heading onward and the continuing rain, we might have tried it out. Maybe next time to relieve the aches and pains of our aging bodies!”
To read more about our time at Hot Springs, click here.
There are many more interesting people that I met but these stand out from the crowd. That does it for this week.
Until next week, happy travels!
Tom