Christmas Lights Around Montreal

As the days get shorter and colder in December, Montreal starts to become a little magical as the various Christmas displays appear around the city. Here are a few neighbourhoods worth braving the cold to enjoy the lights.

Old Montreal

When you add some white snow and Christmas lights to the cobblestone streets, old stone buildings, Notre Dame cathedral, and Marche Bonsecours, Old Montreal transforms into a Christmas wonderland. It's a great neighbourhood to explore in early December to get into the holiday spirit.

Downtown

Every year, downtown Montreal has impressive Christmas light displays along and around St. Catherine's, McGill-College, Crescent Street and Place Ville Marie. Wrap up your walk with the charming classic mechanical window display at Ogilvy's, which has been a family destination for generations.

Plateau Mont Royal

Plateau Mont Royal has a different Christmas display in the square around metro Mont Royal. From there, enjoy the lights along Mont Royal, St. Laurent and St. Denis.

Square around metro Mont Royal, Dec. 2012

The Village

Each year, there is usually a colourful light display along St. Catherine between St. Andre and Papineau.

St. Catherine's looking toward The Village, Dec. 2012

While the weather is not too cold, it's a good time to grab your camera and get out and enjoy the Christmas lights while the season lasts. Happy holidays!

MEETin Invasion!

Monty, our MEETin Montreal mascot, at Jean Talon Market

Each year, one of the MEETin cities hosts an annual global celebration with the help of a bunch of enthusiastic volunteers. In 2010, D and I had a fabulous time at the MEETin Amsterdam celebration where we explored the city with locals and made new friends from Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, London and all over the USA. We must have also done a great job talking about how fun Montreal is because this year the MEETin Celebration regulars decided to gather in Montreal. To help us out with the organizing, the Celebration became an Invasion, where event planners from the other MEETin cities would plan and host events in Montreal.

Sept 18 to 22, we welcomed about 40 people from Amsterdam, LA, Portland, San Francisco, San Antonio, Austin, Denver, New York, Boston, Providence, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, DC, Virginia Beach and Sacramento.  Over 4 crazy days and nights, D and I joined them at events ranging from poutine lunch, to museum visits, to dancing at an 80s night club. D even finally became a MEETin member and hosted an event of his own at Dieu du Ciel, his favourite microbrewery.

One of the best parts about having visitors in town is that we took the opportunity sample the poutine we had been meaning to try for years, reacquaint ourselves with favourites in our neighbourhood, like St. Viateur Bagel Café, Schwartz's, and Chez Chose, or discover something new like the cafe near where I work that asked D what country of origin he preferred for his coffee.

Below are just a few pictures from the weekend. A big thanks to all the fabulous Meeps who came to Montreal and made it such a fun four days! We'll keep in touch and will see you again at another Celebration.

Poutine lunch on the terrasse at La Banquise

Caught the Chihuly exhibit at the MBAM

Roses from Snooky The Rose Man at House of Jazz

My very first beer... ever! 15th Anniversary Porter at Dieu du Ciel

Mothershuckers at Jean Talon Market

Making The Best Of Business Travel

I didn't blog much in May and June because I was away a fair amount - twice on business.  Like everyone early in their career, I thought business travel would be so sexy.  Then I got a job where I had to travel every month.  That's when I learned that it can take a lot of energy, so I learned a few things about how to make the best of business travel.

Downtown Frankfurt after a day of rain

In May, I spent a week in Frankfurt for work.  Fortunately, D and I spent about 24 hours in Frankfurt about 20 months earlier.  We saw more then than I did in my week in May - I was working that much.  How can you make the best of a situation like that?

1. Bring your camera
• I was lucky to get a room with a great view and was able to go for a short walk around the hotel.  By having my travel camera with me, I was able to get a great shot of downtown Frankfurt on a moody night (above) and feel a little like a tourist during my walk.  During my last visit, D and I saw a life-sized Batman statue on a street I knew wasn't far from the hotel.  So, I was on a mission to get a picture.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find it again - but the quest was fun!
2. Practice your German
• I got to practice - just a little bit. Still, it was fun to practice the language... and help a colleague buy his dinner.
3. Eat like a local
• In Germany, the main meal is traditionally at lunch with sandwiches and cold cuts in the evening.  The company I was working with always made sure we had a decent lunch, often with food Germans typically eat. For dinner, I raided a grocery store near the hotel, buying bread, cheese, wine, chocolate and an antipasti plate.  Yeah, antipasti is Italian, but cultures are crossing borders in Europe, just like in North America.  

Zombies at E3

In June, I was honoured to be sent to E3 - the biggest trade show in the video game industry.  It was a working trip.  I spent a good part of the three days working in the booth, providing support to press VIPs as they played a demo of our game.  I also spent a good part of my time in the hotel room, answering emails and providing support to the team back at the office.  Still, I managed to walk around the exhibition floor and have some fun outside of the show. Best tips from this trip are:

1. Bring your spouse
• This was the first time D came along with me on a business trip.  I am SO glad he came.  We got him a free affiliate pass (he is affiliated with the video game industry), so he got to take in the show floor and do some networking on his own. Still, checking out the show floor and trying out some games with him was fun.  When a show event didn't work out one evening, we decided to try a delicious urban farm restaurant. I love my colleagues, but I have been seeing them a lot lately, so it was needed change to spend some time with my husband in a work context.
2. Finally meet some people... in person
•  In our uber-connected world, we often do business over email, telephone and web meetings. While it can work well for the day-to-day, it still makes a big difference to meet the people you are working with face-to-face. Since my time was limited, I only met with the people I currently work with and past partners I particularly enjoyed working with.  That is a lot more useful and enjoyable way to spend precious time.
3. Take care of some (long overdue) personal business
• Nothing feels better than being able to take care of some long overdue personal business - no matter where you are! It only took an hour and it's DONE.
4. Bad flight schedule? No problem! Visit a favorite place.
• I was booked on the red-eye flight back to Montreal and I couldn't get D on the same flight. Ugh. Well, LA is only about two hours away from San Diego, so I decided to rent a car and spend the afternoon at the San Diego Zoo.  Last time I visited was 2001, so I was looking forward to taking my DSLR and adding to a collection of photos originally shot in film.  In addition, due to an accident on the highway, it took me twice as long as expected to drive to San Diego, but I was treated to a drive through Cleveland National Forest, west of Temecula.  So, the next time you are booked on a less-than-ideal flight, take the opportunity to visit a favorite place or a new place. 

Turtle photo bomber!

Related articles

• Infographic: Business Travel
• Making the Most Out of Business Travel

And Autumn Passes Into Winter...

Autumn is spectacular in Quebec.  Fortunately, I was able to get out and enjoy it in between work and attending a conference in Vancouver.  Since pictures speak a thousand words, I'll share a few of the photos I took over the past three months.

Anyone know what these are?

I concluded my monthly visits to the Montreal Botanical Gardens in late September, catching the last of the vegetable gardens and the Dahlias.  It was also the start of the Chinese lantern festival and one of the best displays in the past five years. Unfortunately, I forgot my bike light so I could not stay until it was dark.

Thanksgiving weekend, we did a roadtrip up to Bois Franc for the annual Balade Gourmande during which local farms open their doors and sell their harvest goodies.  We visited a cranberry farm, a game fowl (pheasants, quail, guinea fowl, etc.) farm, Fromagerie du Presbytère, a coffee roaster (for D, of course), a flour mill and concluded with a deer farm.

Colourful pheasant at Faisanderie St. Albert

Right before leaving for Vancouver, I participated in Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photo Walk.  I joined a group that walked around Atwater Market early Saturday morning.  It was a beautiful day, but it was too early for me to feel particularly creative. 

Autumn at Atwater Market

That evening, I participated in my third Light the Night Walk. Our team raised over $2000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and we agreed it was the best walk out of the three years.

Although it's not Quebec, I thought I may as well share a Fall photo from my week in Vancouver:

View of North Vancouver from the Conference Centre

For the past three years, I have had perfect weather for a photo walk on the first weekend of November.  This year... it was freezing cold!  However, the light was perfect for shooting reflections in the glass skyscrapers downtown.  It was one of the most creative photo walks I've had in a long time.

Place Ville-Marie

As the Christmas lights came out, I started to carry my camera in my work backpack so I could snap pictures of the lights as I walked around work and home.  The display along St. Catherine in the neighbourhood where I work is particularly festive:

Christmas Lights leading into The Village

I hope to get some photos with both lights and snow between Christmas and New Year. 

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Wish This Was A Summer Vacation Report

Yesterday, a friend posted "It smells like autumn."  NOoooo! It can't be!  I'm not ready for the summer to be over yet.  Where did it go?

My friends and family already know the answer.  Yes, once again, I spent too much time at work.  Once I am able to talk about the project I'm working on, that statement won't seem so sad.  It's an important project, so the effort is worth it and the results are good so far.

In my free time I did manage to enjoy the summer somewhat.  So far, I've kept my promise to myself and visited my favorite place in the city once a month: Montreal Botanical Gardens.  I am particularly delighted with my July visit when I decided to photograph lilies in the evening.  I had never visited during lily season and the flowering brook garden was in full blooming glory.  Below are a few of my favorite shots.

A couple week later, I bought my new toy: a Canon S100.  I've been frustrated with my old point-and-shoot camera for quite awhile and I don't always want to carry my DSLR with me.  So, as a reward for successfully passing an important milestone on my project at work, I invested in my photo habit.  I'm carrying that camera with me everywhere and I'm gradually figuring out all the features.  It's almost as good as my DSLR but WAY more compact.  It can also do HDR, but I haven't had an appropriate subject to try it out yet.  Of all the creative modes, I'm enjoying the toy camera and the spot color modes the most.  

The major festivals came and went.  Now that I no longer work beside Place des Arts, I didn't even walk through the festival area and take in the free concerts/activities.  At least D and I went to see one of the fireworks shows from La Ronde.  It was our anniversary, so we got the gold seats and it was worth it!  We also had a great afternoon at La Ronde... it didn't (really) rain! 

Finally, just this weekend, I got out on my bike!  I hosted a MEETin event to cycle along the Lachine Canal.  It turned out to be a bigger adventure, resulting in a tour of Verdun.  The weather was amazing! Since I was the only person with a camera, I did not take any scenic pictures along the way.  Still, it was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  Every time I go cycling, I wonder why I don't do it more often.  Montreal is a great city for cycling, especially when the weather is like it was yesterday.  

Hmmmm... maybe I should start a photo blog instead?  I would probably post more often!

Renewing My Love Affair With Montreal

Back in September, I finally got around to doing one of the items on my Montreal bucket list:  cycle along the Lachine canal from Old Montreal to Dorval.  I hadn't ridden my bike in years, so I was a bit shaky at the start, but as my confidence increased I remembered how much fun it was to feel the wind in my face as I passed through the Old Port to Griffintown and so on.  It was also the day I decided to renew my love affair with Montreal.

For most of 2011 I wasn't sure I would be staying in Montreal.  While I like living in Montreal, the work culture does not always align with my values.  At the end of September, though, it looked like I would be getting a new job in Montreal, so I knew I would be staying for while.  Plus,  a couple of friends were moving to the city and their excitement was already starting to rub off on me.  I remember how much fun I had when I first moved to Montreal.  There is so much to see, do and experience here and it's all easily accessible.  With respect to my social and personal life, this is the best city in which I have ever lived.  It's the only major city where I've lived where I can randomly run into someone I know (and don't work with) while walking down the street or riding the metro.

So, to renew my love affair with Montreal in 2012, I will do more of the following things I love to do here:

• Embrace winter (if it ever comes).  Go skating, tobogganing, maybe even snowshoeing - at least once a week.  Find and enjoy more tea or hot chocolate.
• Embrace summer (when it comes).  Find and enjoy new terrasses.  Eat outside on my own. Finally attend a show at the Just For Laughs festival.  Spend time at the Jazz Festival.  Have a picnic in a park.  Watch the fireworks from Jacques Cartier bridge.  Find and enjoy more shop-made ice cream.
• Walk or ride my bike just for the fun of it.  I got a bike bell in Amsterdam.  I should use it :)
• More solo street photography (outside of my monthly MEETin photo walks).
• Go to Jean Talon or Atwater market every week.
• Go to the Botanical Gardens (my favorite) or some other park once a month.
• Visit museums.  We have A LOT of museums in Montreal and admission is inexpensive.  Hmmm... I really should get an Access Montreal card.
• Explore more restaurants, especially in my own neighbourhood and around work.
• Wear fashionable clothes.  Yes, I like living in a city where I can dress nicely.  Now if I only worked in an industry that didn't think I had a job interview or a hot date every time I dressed up...

With all these plans for adventures in Montreal, I really should revive this blog and share my stories again.  My professional blog will get more attention, so I'll try to update this one once a month.

Happy 2012 everyone!

The Sound of Om

I've been thinking about restarting my blog for awhile. Two friends recently started blogging (links on the right), giving me an extra push to get back to my own. It's a sunny Easter weekend, so there is no better time.

I returned to a regular yoga practice in late January and I'm slowly finding my way back to the zen, strength and flexibility that it provides.  I attend a Level 1/2 Ashtanga flow class every Sunday morning and I try to catch a class one evening a week after work.  Each class always starts and ends with the group "Om", followed by a short chant.  After a couple of weeks of this routine, I noticed that each class quickly reaches a natural harmony and each class chants "Om" in a different key.   It gives me goosebumps!  Since the instructor usually starts off the chant, I first thought the key was the key of their voice and the rest of us just naturally matched it.  However, after several Sunday morning classes with the same instructor, it's clear that's not the case.   Of course, if the class has more male baritones or female sopranos, it has an effect on the final harmony.

Om is believed to be the basic sound of the world, resonating throughout the body so that it penetrates to the centre of one's being.   If that's really the case, then the key reflects the unique sound of our unique collective world that day.   It's not just the unique combination of voices coming to class that day, it's also a unique reflection on the day.  In the dark, cold evenings of late January/early February, the harmonies were deeper, darker and likely on the flat side.   By listening to the chants of a yoga class, you can tell if the group has mostly had good days or bad days.  These observations aren't profound; it's the observation itself that I find fascinating.  It's the aural equivalent of stopping to smell the roses.  I am enjoying the fact that I am taking a moment in my day to observe and reflect on something as simple as the sound of Om.

It's also the act of these observations that is inspiring me to return to my blog.  Most of 2009 was documented in photos, which I shared with friends on Facebook and unconnected family members with a photo calendar.  After taking SO many photos in the past year, I find that my passion for it is waning as my photographs return to being snapshots.   Plus, photography is not an outlet for all my creativity.  A picture may be a thousand words, but some thoughts need words, not pictures, to express.   So, along with finding a new balance in my life with yoga in 2010, I will also work on finding a balance between my written and visual creativity.   For Christmas, I got a copy of Wreck This Journal.  So far it's been sitting on my nightstand, but I promise to completely wreck that journal with creativity before the end of the year.

It will be a fun journey :)

Fall Vacations!

Mental note for next year: take my vacation in the summer with everyone else. Considering I don't have children, that statement seems like I've lost all sense of reason. Why would I take vacation at the same time as everyone else? Well, insanity set in after everyone else got back from vacation after Labour Day, so my fall vacations felt like great escapes worthy of at least a little respect from the great Houdini.

The first escape was to Quebec City the first weekend after Labour Day. This year is Quebec's 400th Anniversary so I wanted to see Vieux Quebec before the end of the year and before the winter. It was also a weekend getaway for D and I - the first in over a year. We had a great time walking around the old city and the Citadelle. I was even treated to a horse and carriage ride. We're thinking we would like to go back for the Winter Carnival.

The next weekend I flew to San Francisco to spend a week in northern California. It was basically a photo vacation; I had to show California to my new camera. It was also an opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet some of their new babies. It was nice to have an extra week of summer weather and visit almost all of my favourite places. I took about 138 pictures in San Francisco, 160 pictures at Stanford, Los Gatos, 17 Mile Drive and Point Lobos, and a whopping 320 pictures at Yosemite. The 17 Mile Drive and Point Lobos were as spectacular as I remembered them, but the entry fees doubled over the past five years. (It was still worth it!) Because it was mainly a photo vacation, I made a point of exploring almost all of Yosemite Valley and even drove up to Glacier Point. I saw more of Yosemite on this trip than I have with all my other trips their combined. Capturing wildlife with my camera, though, was more challenging on this trip. I had some great potential shots of pelicans at Point Lobos and deer and racoons at Yosemite, but I didn't have my camera ready. The exception was the squirrel at Wayburn Point - it was like he was a professional model. It was tough choosing that as my favourite picture to post on this blog.

The weekend after I got back from California, I joined the xtreme foodies gang on another trip to Vermont. The mission this time was microbrewery tasting and viewing the fall colours. Most of the day was spent on a very scenic drive through Vermont. The fall colours were gorgeous and we were treated to rural postcard scenes with cows, sheep and even a camel (!). The beer samplers in the group enjoyed the offerings at Otter Creek microbrewery and other microbrews over lunch and dinner. We made it to Magic Hat brewery... just in time for closing. At least we got some interesting photos there. It was the same case for the wildflower farm. Another mental note to self... pass on Vermont red wine. It wasn't bad; it just wasn't worth ordering.

In addition to the vacations, both MEETin and my alumni association have been active. For Alumni, we held a successful wine tasting at a lovely home in Outremont. As we walked to the metro, we spotted a wild fox hanging out in the very civilized neighbourhood. The MEETin "in search of" dinners are starting up again with a Portugese bistro. A group of us went the the Chinese lantern festival at the Botanical Gardens where we viewed and photographed the largest display of silk lanterns outside of China. We also started up a German conversation group which will be meeting monthly, which I fear will continually affirm that my German is better than my French. I really, really, really need to start going to the weekly French conversation group. Yesterday was the inaugural event for a series of teashop visits. For $4 per person, we sampled three different teas for which our hostess made two large tea pots for 7 people. Needless to say we were all well caffeinated after that event. Good thing I could balance my tea buzz with red wine and lots of cheese at a party afterwards.

I missed the homestyle Japanese dinner with my Mom's visit over Thanksgiving. I more than made up for it by cooking a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner. It was the first time my Mom has been in Montreal since landing in Montreal when she emigrated from Germany 48 years ago almost to the day. While she was in Montreal, I showed her Old Montreal, Atwater Market, Jean Talon Market and a bit of the shopping in the Underground City. We had gorgeous sunny weather - a perfect time to visit here. I love Fall in this corner of the country.

On the move

It has been another adventure in moving this past month. The previous owners moved out of my condo in mid-June, so I have been spending the past few weeks making it home. I've painted the bedrooms, moved in most of my stuff and I am in the process of getting settled - finally! The move itself went remarkably well, but my new appliances are late, so I'm living without a fridge and stove until next week. Good thing I always plan an overlap when I do local moves, so my refrigerated and frozen food is still living at my old place. I still have some odds and ends to take care of at my old place, so at least my food isn't getting lonely ;) Meanwhile, I'm learning all the good or not-so-good take-out places in my new neighbourhood.


I have also been on the move with various road trips. On my birthday, I drove to Ottawa to order a digital SLR camera as a gift to myself. It was a beautiful summer day and a roadtrip was a great way to spend it. The next weekend, the Extreme Foodie group from MeetIn did a roadtrip to Marieville in the Eastern Townships for the Slow Food Festival, followed by wine tasting... somewhere around there. The Slow Food Festival featured a variety of locally produced food, mostly organic. The week after was the St. Jean-Baptiste long weekend, so I drove to Ottawa to pick up my new toy, then to Stouffville to visit friends, then to Whitby for a pig roast and hot tub party. Men in a mid-life crisis really should avoid the alcohol and hot tub combination. I was merely an observer, but it was like watching a train wreck. The next morning I drove with a friend to Kitchener to hang out there for the weekend. We decided to try out my new camera in Stratford - the most photogenic town in the area and one of my personal favourites. I drove back to Montreal the next day. At least I'm putting the kilometres on my car before I sell it this weekend. A blog exclusive picture from Stratford is above.

I'm still maintaining my local social life, though at a slower pace. To add to the list of MeetIn dinners, we experienced the best of Malaysian, Northern Indian, Persian, and Italian. We also went to see U2 3D at the Imax, followed by a late dinner in Chinatown. For an event of a different pace, we also had a strawberry picking event in the West Island. One of the best things about summer are strawberries that are red all the way through the fruit. For a 40th birthday party from the Alumni crowd, I experienced a very trendy Greek restaurant. It seemed like the place to be that night. Speaking of the Alumni crowd, we held our first Alumni award dinner in five years -- a cocktail dinatoire at the McCord Museum. Everyone had a great time and I got to wear "the perfect dress". At work, the movie night in June was to see Kung Fu Panda. Ever since I started working in the game industry, I can't watch 3D animated films the same way. Every once in awhile I caught myself looking at the art and wondering what techniques were used to create it. I do have an increased appreciation, though, of what goes into those movies. OK, so maybe it would have been better to say my social life was at a slowing pace. The rest of July and August will be slower.


Summer is festival season in Montreal. I enjoyed bits and pieces of the Jazz festival on my way home from work every night, since the festival was literally next door. I tried to attend the big Bran Van 3000 street party after a quick MeetIn dinner at a cafe in the Gay Village (yes, that's what it's called). According to the Gazette the next morning, there were 100,000 people crammed in the street between Place des Arts and Complexe Desjardins. After spending the whole day painting, my tolerance for crowds was at an all-time low so I felt like toothpaste in a tightly squeezed tube. I tried to find a better spot with no luck, so I went home... where I promptly fell asleep. Just For Laughs is on right now. I plan on going to see the street performances in the Latin Quarter tomorrow night. I have been too swamped with moving to get tickets to one of the shows. Next year...

Woosh! Part 1 - So Many Photos

Woosh! Where did April and May go? There were a lot of adventures and they are becoming a blur. I thought I'd write my updates in several parts, based on some major themes this spring. Montreal went from winter to spring/summer almost instantaneously. With the warm sunny weather, my camera has been getting quite a workout.

The first weekend of April was gorgeous, so my camera and I walked around Old Montreal. Basilica Notre Dame, Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, architecture spanning about three centuries, cobblestone streets, and fabulous art galleries were all part of the 92 photos I took that day. I also started coveting digital SLR cameras that day. Everywhere I went there were other locals taking pictures with some pretty cool cameras. Suddenly, my little Kodak felt limited. I'm still very happy with how my photos turned out. I've been consistently posting my favourites on Facebook. I'll put fresh ones here.

The next week, a few of us from Meetin went to the annual butterflies fly free at the Botanical Gardens. I was like a kid in a candy store, taking 135 pictures of plants, flowers and butterflies, as well as thinking about which plants I want to make part of my soon to be jungle at home.

The photo above is a blog exclusive. I didn't put my photos from the Cabane a Sucre and hike on Mt. St. Gregoire. Cabane a Sucre, or Sugar Shack, is a Quebec tradition, involving a lot of food and maple syrup, but not so much on the shack part. The feasting occurs in very large halls reminiscent of those used for Oktoberfest. It was during the hockey playoffs, so there were a lot of Canadiens jerseys and "Go, Habs, go!" chants. To burn off our meal, we hiked up Mt. St. Gregoire. The views were beautiful, but didn't translate so well on camera - the browns and yellows really washed out in the sunshine. It was only the end of April, but I got SO sunburned.

I wore my sunscreen a couple weeks later for the hike on Mont Royal and the tamtams at Parc Mont Royal. The views from the mountain (relative to the rest of the geography, it's a mountain) were fantastic. One guy described the tamtams as a timewarp back to 1967. Every summer Sunday people gather at Parc Mont Royal, play drums, dance, play, partake in Vancouver's finest export (grown locally, I'm sure), whatever. There was even someone dressed as an apostle, carrying a flagstaff. I still need to edit that photo.

Fabulous friends visited from Vancouver over the long weekend and into the next week. It was an action-packed tourist weekend, including partying in Old Montreal, shopping downtown (and buying the perfect dress), a boat trip from Old Port, and La Ronde in the rain. I think I saw more of Montreal in four days than I have the previous four months. Thanks, J! Both sets of friends are also BSG fans. I now have a renewed passion for the series, just to see whether our speculations were right.

The last photo adventure was a walking tour of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve last weekend. In addition to pictures of the Olympic Stadium, Marche Maisonneuve, and a variety of other historical buildings, I also added to my collection of pictures of doors and front stairs. I'll be printing my favorites and replacing some vacation photos soon.

The walking tour wasn't the only adventure last weekend. A group of us, all from MeetIn, went on a foodie roadtrip to the Eastern townships. We planned to go to the chocolate festival in Bromont, but didn't quite make it. We wound up touring farms and towns... and I forgot my camera! I've got a great picture of a goat on my cell phone.

Stay tuned for Woosh! Part 2...