Winter’s over. Looking ahead.

I am happy to report that I managed to survive another long, dark, wet winter in Vancouver without noticable injury. I find that making the most of opportunities helps me to thrive even through the worst of the season. For one thing, the legendary west coast snowfall in 2010-2011 made skiing an easy choice on any sunny day. On those not-so-nice days I took care of a number of inside projects. And when I needed to relax I caught up on my reading, including the epic 950 page Tom Clancy book “Dead or Alive” that I received at Christmas (thanks Scott and Darcie) which was timely given its somewhat parallel story line to the recent killing of Osama bin Laden.

It helped, of course, to escape a couple of times.  I managed to stave off the onset of winter by spending 10 days on Oahu at the end of November. I went to Pearl Harbor for the first time and was really impressed with the way that the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor were described and how the tragedy of that day has been preserved. I also visited the Fort Derussy Army Museum at the south end of Waikiki Beach. A lot of visitors don’t even know that this museum exists. Too bad because it provides an interesting military history of Hawaii from ancient times up to the present. And it’s air conditioned.

The highlight of the winter, though, was going to Florida in February to see the launch of the space shuttle Discovery. I have always wanted to experience the launch and since the program is ending this year I had to make sure to be there. 2011 is a landmark year for the US space program. May 5th marked the 50th anniversary of Scott Carpenter becoming the first American in space. This year is also the 30th year of the shuttle program. Can you believe that NASA has made 133 shuttle missions? Launch number 134 of shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to go tomorrow and the last mission for the shuttle program is currently set for July with the launch of Atlantis. Here’s a useful link if you’re looking for the launch status.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2011/05/sts-135-ksc-realign-schedule-preliminary-july-12-launch/

Don’t wait to make plans if you want to see the Atlantis launch. The crowds have grown tremendously as the program winds down. The media reported that there were 300,000 at the Discovery launch and are forecasting 450,000 for Endeavour. I can’t imagine how many will want to see the final launch. If you want to go, I would advise signing up for the NASA lottery for viewing the launch at Cape Canaveral; otherwise you will have to do what I did and get to a public viewing area on the coast at least 12 hours before launch time to guarantee a spot!!

And be sure to visit the Kennedy Space Center while you’re there. Your admission gives you 2 days to see the sights. Plan to go a couple of days before the launch and you’ll see the shuttle on the launch pad (from a couple of miles away for security). Be sure to leave time to see the Astronaut Hall of Fame a at a separate site near Titusville.

Right now I’m planning my trip to Australia for early 2012. On this trip I’m going to ride the train known as the “Ghan” after the Afgan cameleers that travelled this route across the continent. It runs almost 3000 km from Adelaide north to Darwin, stopping at Alice Springs in the Red Centre.

In the meantime I’ll be making a trip to see family in England and catching up with friends in Denmark who I travelled with a lifetime ago in the South Pacific. I haven’t seen them in almost 30 years so I am really looking forward to that!

For those who were interested in my previous post about my recent trips, here are the links to my articles on Tasmania and the New Orleans Jazz Festival in Canadian Teacher Magazine.

http://www.canadianteachermagazine.com/pdf/CTM-May-June11-tasmania.pdf

http://www.canadianteachermagazine.com/pdf/CTM-Jan11-all-that-jazz.pdf

Happy travels!

Recent travels

It’s been a busy year so far! In February / March I spent a month in Australia which included an amazing trip to Tasmania. And before you ask: yes, I did see the Tasmanian Devil. This trip served in part as practice for retirement and guess what? I found out that I’m pretty good at it! I retired in April and have opened up all kinds of opportunities for more adventures.

My first post-retirement trip was to New Orleans for the Jazz Festival, and then a few days visiting friends in the Bay Area on the way home. Sailing again on San Francisco Bay was a real treat. Now I can feel a few new travel articles bubbling away in my brain so stay tuned!

City of Trees

If you’re in Western Canada and looking for an interesting destination for a short summer road trip, try Boise, Idaho. Here’s a link to my recent article in Canadian Teacher Magazine.

www.canadianteachermagazine.com/pdf/CTM_March10-City-of-Trees.pdf

It’s the last weekend for Winterlude so if you’re planning to go now’s the time! You can read my article about it in the Canadian Teacher Magazine at http://www.canadianteachermagazine.com/pdf/CTM_Jan10_Winterlude.pdf .  You can also find current information at http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/ncc_web_content_page.asp?cid=16297-16298-22877-29498&lang=1 .

I’d love to be there but I’m in Sydney, Australia where it is currently 30C and sunny. Try not to feel too bad for me!!

If you’re tired of the wet and cold of the northern winter, take a look at my recent article on the Big Island of Hawaii at www.canadianteachermagazine.com/pdf/CTM_Nov09_Hawaii.pdf for getaway ideas!

The publishing industry is in a real downturn, like most of the economy, so I don’t have anything being published this fall. But I’ve still been writing travel articles for the Canadian Teacher Magazine in the “After School” section. Check it out at www.CanadianTeacherMagazine.com .

Welcome!

I’m just finishing up the final edits to the novel “Two If By Sea” to send off to our agent in Chicago, Jonathan Scott Literary Agency. This writing project was a lot of fun and I hope that readers will appreciate the accuracy of the scenes in China, Hawaii and the Cook Islands as well as the characters, many of which are reflections of real people. 

In conducting my research on avian influenza I was stunned to learn how great a possibility it is that we will experience a global pandemic and how unprepared much of the world is for such an occurrence. If this novel achieves nothing else, I hope it will alert people to the very real risks that exist and motivate them to contact their local governments to make sure that they have pandemic plans tested and in place.

To see a synopsis of this novel as well as the humorous non-fiction “Beer In The Bilges”, just click on the About page above.