The big reason for our detour back into the U.S. is Yellowstone National Park. DH was eager to see how it matched up against her memories of the Saturday morning adventures of one of her favourite childhood heroes- Yogi Bear of "pic-a-nic basket" fame. The plot of most of Yogi's cartoons centered on his antics in the fictional Jellystone Park- a variant of the real Yellowstone National Park. Yogi, accompanied by his constant companion Boo-Boo Bear, would ofte...

Sitting in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan we had a choice to make. We could turn left and head up to my old stomping grounds when I was an underground miner earning money for University- Flin Flon, Manitoba. Past detours that I've made into my somewhat foggy past have proven entirely unsuccessful- not only have some of my former hometowns changed dramatically but my somewhat faulty memory has left us wandering aimlessly looking for something I might recognize. Our o...

Apparently St Maarten/St Martin is all about racing. This Caribbean island is divided between European colonial masters and folklore has it that the formal division was the result of a race between a Dutch and French participant who were supposed to speed walk in opposite directions around the circumference. Outside of Herve V, it would probably not surprise anyone to learn that the French runner was accused of cheating by running, and, as a result, the French po...