_______________________________________________________________________________

Okay, so it’s time for another confession and this one is a little embarrassing. Until last fall, I had never seen the sunrise.

It’s not that I’ve never been awake at that ungodly hour of the day. It’s not that I don’t enjoy nature and all the beauties it has to offer. It’s not that I haven’t often thought I’d like to enjoy a beautiful sunrise. All of those things are true.

To be perfectly honest, and I’m somewhat ashamed to admit this, it’s really just one of those things I’ve never gotten around to doing. A few years ago, when Steve and I were doing a lot of sea kayaking, we often talked about getting up really early one morning and heading out to see the sunrise from the water. But we never did.

Now I have to admit I’m not a morning person. Given my choice about the way the world works, I’d prefer to start my day around 9 a.m., spend an hour or so drinking coffee and reading a magazine or a good novel, then have a hot shower and face the day. The rest of the world just doesn’t seem to agree with me.

So what does this have to do with riding around on motorcycles with our biker dog, you ask? The answer is easy. It was Jake who got me up to see the sunrise. He didn’t do it on purpose. He just woke up really early and, being in a strange place, decided he should go make friends with a bush or a tree.

That normally would have left me less than thrilled. Remember, I’m not a morning person. But as I stood outside our cabin watching the sun come up over the Northumberland Strait, I was actually kind of thankful that Jake woke me up. It was a beautiful sunrise. Jake and I watched the colours streak across the water, then went back inside and tumbled back into bed.

My only real regret was that, not realizing I was about to see my first sunrise, I didn’t take a camera outside with me that morning. I have no photo to help me remember the colours and the stillness, which of course means I’m going to have to get up that early some other day and see it all over again.

Luckily, it wasn’t our only encounter with the sun last summer, despite the wet weather. As part of our grand tour of lighthouses, we also headed to Prim Point, just outside Digby, and were lucky enough to arrive there just as the sun was beginning to go down. Jake and Steve checked out the view of the harbour, while I wandered around taking shots of the bikes basking in the light.

It wasn’t as good as the sunrise, but RoadDog and I did get to sleep in that morning.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

It’s time for another tale about another lighthouse.

Last week, I started telling you about our grand tour of lighthouses and I’m going to continue that this time around by recounting our afternoon at Sandy Point. Talk about an undiscovered gem.

When Steve and I reviewed our list of lighthouses, we really didn’t know much about them. I’m not sure if Sandy Point was on the main list or if it was one of the extras we decided to check out. With our bike club’s grand tour, there is usually a list of locations to visit and photograph, each worth a point toward the total. But there’s typically another option, where members can go to several extra locations which also add up to a point. That’s how it was with the lighthouses — we could take photos of the bikes at three Nova Scotia lighthouses that weren’t on the list — and that’s what we opted to do because there were a couple of places we just weren’t going to get to visit. That goes back to that whole thing where we just couldn’t seem to get to Cape Breton last year.

Anyway, on a sunny afternoon in August, much to our delight, we ended up at the Sandy Point lighthouse not too far from Shelburne. As I recall, we drove down a dirt driveway and there in front of us, surrounded by water, sat the lighthouse with the sun shining on the water. It was a fantastic spot.

There was lots of parking and benches to sit and enjoy the view, even a couple of horseshoe pits, although we didn’t give that a try. I can just see Jake chasing after a horseshoe and somehow getting tangled up with it around his body, or grabbing it out of the sand and trying to run with a horseshoe in his mouth. That just didn’t seem like a good idea with our always-ready-to-play-chase RoadDog.

When we arrived, there were children playing in the water off a small beach while a woman watched them from the shore. There’s also a big recreation centre with public washrooms (always a welcome idea since I admit to drinking a lot of Tim’s tea) and a canteen with … you guessed it … ice cream cones. Yay!

We probably spent close to an hour at Sandy Point and could have stayed longer if we’d had more time to spare, but I remember we were anxious to get on to Shelburne to check out the sites there as well. But we’ll remember Sandy Point and some sunny day when we don’t know where to go we’ll head back there. I know our RoadDog will be happy to go along for the ride to enjoy the view (but no horseshoes).

_____________________________________________________________________________

southshorenow.ca is currently undergoing a server transfer which is impacting blog postings. Sorry for the delay, but I’ll post a new RoadDog tale as soon as the problems are cleared, which should be in the next day or two. Please come back.

________________________________________________________________________________

I know I wrote last year about our motorcycle club’s grand tour — the list of places we visit and photograph our bikes to earn points for patches. It’s a fun thing we do every year.

While the patches are supposed to be the reward, Steve and I decided a few years back that the real reward is discovering interesting places we most likely wouldn’t have gone without the encouragement. A couple of club members take on the task of making a list each year and, I have to say, they do a fantastic job. Thanks to their hard work and ingenuity, we’ve visited some wonderful places.

Last year — wow, 2008 is now last year — “Jake’s Grand Tour with Steve and Lisa,” as we’ve dubbed it, was all about lighthouses. Now, I have to admit until last summer I had actually visited very few lighthouses. It was just something that had never occurred to me to do. I had been to Peggy’s Cove lots of times and had driven by the lighthouse in Barrington for sure, but I’m not certain what other lighthouses I’d seen up close. Last year’s grand tour changed that.

We visited a lot of lighthouses, more than a dozen. In some cases, as with Liverpool’s Fort Point, we just pulled up on our bikes, took a photo and kept riding. That was a really cold day and all three of us were anxious to grab a Tim’s. In other instances, we toured the lighthouses or the grounds around them. It was great — far more than just a chance to stretch our legs and give Jake a few minutes to run around a bit. Oh yes, have no fear there, not only did I ride my bike to all of those lighthouses (in one case over beach rock, I might add), but Jake went along for the ride to all of the locations.

At the very top of my list of previously undiscovered wonders, I’d have to say would be Cape Forchu, at the tip of the province beyond Yarmouth. What a spot! I have to confess, I liked it far better than Peggy’s Cove, but that’s just my own opinion.

We arrived there on a foggy morning in August and it was so beautiful. The lighthouse itself sits on rocks towering over the road. After climbing up, we looked down at our bikes and they looked so tiny amid the landscape. There’s lots to explore at Cape Forchu, paths and rocks that Jake happily scrambled over, while Steve and I tried to read various signboards explaining some of the history of the place. There’s also a small museum and gift shop, and they offer guided tours, but for me the best thing about the visit was the scenery. The fog shrouded some of the view, but it also added something special to it all.

Cape Forchu was a great start to our day and we’d recommend it to anyone who has the time to stop and explore. RoadDog certainly enjoyed it.

________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

It seems like New Year’s has become a time to reflect back on the past year and look ahead to the year to come.

It was a busy year in our little household, complete with a major kitchen reno, some work-related trials and tribulations, and the new adventures of me riding my own bike rather than spending so much time “hanging off the back” of Steve’s bike.

Our RoadDog, as usual, just went along for the ride. Jake really is a trooper and from the confusion of the kitchen reno right through his initial anxiety with me not be on the same motorcycle with my boys, he hung in there and adapted well. Of course, all the Timbits always help smooth the way.

Steve and I are already talking about spring (yes, I know it’s early January, but a girl’s gotta dream) and some of the road trips we’re hoping to enjoy on our bikes. Last year’s wet weather put a damper on our travels, but we’re really hoping to squeeze in one long road trip this summer, possibly back to Maine and New Hampshire, or we also have some other possibilities in mind. And I’m determined to ride the Cabot Trail in 2009. I will! I will! I will!

With Jake’s new carrier, he’ll be set to go whenever we are. In the meantime, our supposedly cold-loving Cairn is content to spend a lot of time asleep by the wood stove. He still enjoys the great outdoors, particularly the snow and walks in the park, but sometimes when I see him stretched out by the stove I can’t help but wonder if he isn’t dreaming about spring too.

___________________________________________________________________________