Dave and the girls on beautiful deserted Kure Beach, North Carolina at sunset
Beach season is here. Time to make a beeline out of the city and get bare foot in the sand.
There’s something about a mile-long strip of beach that is irresistible. The sound of the surf thundering onto shore, watching and waiting for the whitecaps to crest the waves, beach combing for the perfect shell, and that wonderful feeling of warm sand between your toes as you walk for miles.
On our final night in Kure Beach, North Carolina in April, the girls and I went for one last walk on the beach. I watched them race along the deserted beach as the moon shimmered on the waves and knew, in that moment, I was completely happy.
This week’s #HappyAct is to feel the sand in your toes and find a stretch of sand to explore. Here is a list of some of our favourite beaches closer to home and further afar and pictures from some of our favourite family beach vacations.
MacGregor Point provincial park on Lake Huron (we camped here a couple of years ago for four nights and thought it was one of the nicest provincial parks we’d been to)
Martin Luther King memorial in Washington, DC at night
Recently I was in Washington DC and spent some time at the Smithsonian in the Museum of American History, learning about Americans at war, the civil rights movement and American culture.
Last year, we spent the day at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, touring the battlefields and learning about how the Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the Civil War. If you go, make sure you pay the extra admission to see the Cyclorama, an amazing 360 degree oil painting of the battle that comes to life with music and digital effects.
75% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the US border. We share the largest undefended border in the world, yet every time I travel to the States I’m struck as much by the differences between our two great nations, as by the similarities that make us neighbours and friends.
One of the things I admire most about our neighbours to the south is their staunch belief in democracy, equality and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and their undying faith that theirs is one of the greatest nations in the world. As Canadians we are far more self-deprecating.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau once said about living next to our neighbours to the south, ““Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”
I think the United States is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. This week, I thought I would share some of my favourite places in the U.S. We are always looking for suggestions for our next trip, so please share your favourites in the comments.
Most majestic city: Washington, DC
Best outlet shopping: Frankenmuth, Michigan
Favourite city: San Francisco, California
Best theatre: New York, New York
Best music city: Nashville, Tennessee (with New Orleans a close second)
Most beautiful mountain range: The Grand Tetons in Wyoming
Most spiritual area: Sedona, Arizona
Most precarious drive: Mount Washington, New Hampshire
Wackiest tourist attraction: The corn palace in Mitchell, South Dakota
Prettiest town: Woodstock, Vermont
This week’s #HappyAct is to visit our neighbours to the south and go on your own pursuit of happiness in the good ol’ US of A. If you live in the States, pick a region you haven’t explored yet, and spend time in your own backyard. Be sure to leave a comment about where I should explore next.
Main street Broadway in music city, Nashville, TN
Enjoying the New York city skyline at sunset at the top of the Rockefeller Centre
This week is a milestone for my blog. It has been exactly one year since I started on this journey of doing one happy act a week and inviting others to join me. With any venture, at some point you have to take stock and see if what you are doing is making a difference
So if money could buy happiness, here’s the million dollar question. After one year of happy acts, am I happier? Oddly enough, I think the answer is yes.
Not, in the “OMG, I have a fabulous new job, get to travel the world and meet fabulous people” way (mainly because I have the same old job, travel only occasionally and usually to Napanee, and only get to meet new people at parent council meetings or at work), but in a more subtle and sublime way. And I suspect the reason why all boils done to one revealing truth: self-awarenesss.
There were many reasons I started this blog. Being happier myself wasn’t one of them (the irony). But by simply being more aware of what makes me happy and actively engaging in acts of happiness, I think I am happier.
This week’s #HappyAct is a double assignment. First, take stock. Are you happy? Why or why not? What parts of your life are you satisfied with? What aspects are leaving you feeling less fulfilled? Pinpoint one thing you would like to focus on or change, and make it a goal this year to be happier in this realm of your life. I did this recently when I cleared some columns on the spreadsheet of life. Your second act is to keep joining me each week in this journey of discovery and help me by sharing the happy by sharing an occasional post or two.
Like next week’s post, where I’ll share what I think is the key to happiness—don’t miss it!
Like most Canadians I long for the sounds of spring. The returning honks of Canadian geese gracing the sky on their flight path home, the high pitched chirps of spring peepers in the early evening, and the sounds of rushing water as our lakes, streams and rivers run free, washing away the remains of winter. They are music to my winter weary ears.
As I write this, I look out at my lake and it is still frozen, covered with a fresh skiff of snow. Most people think ice breaks up on the lakes. It doesn’t. It turns blacks, and then honeycombs before sinking, so one day you come home to the marvelous sight of open, shimmering water and the promise of warm, summery days ahead.
One of our favourite walks in the spring is to our secret waterfall. I don’t know how many people on our road know about it. We are the only people we ever see there. It only runs for a few weeks during the spring run off, but it is magnificent. We throw sticks at the top and watch anxiously to see if they navigate the rushing waters and make it over the crests of the rock to the pools below. The kids make forts and splunk in the channels, getting soakers but not caring. The dogs splash and drink from the cool, fresh water. It is a magical place.
This week’s Happy Act is to go for a hike to a waterfall and be lulled by its soothing sounds. Here is my list of favourite waterfalls in our region and some farther afield for you to discover.
Jones Falls on the Rideau canal: a beautiful afternoon hike off of Highway 15, featuring a stone arch dam built in the 1830’s. Park in the upper parking lot and follow the trail along the dam down to the canal below.
Bedford Mills cascade: small, but spectacular scenery off of Division Street north of Kingston half way to Westport. We’ve done a family photo shoot here.
The Waterfall Tearoom in Yarker—yummy homemade fare overlooking a gorgeous little waterfall, open from Victoria Day to Thanksgiving.
Elora Gorge on the Grand River—my girlfriends and I had lunch in the restaurant overlooking these falls a couple of years ago on one of our girls’ weekends.
Niagara Falls—never disappoints, I’ve never seen them from the American side though…maybe next visit
Happy Act 