Oh, Canada (and a little bit of the states) Maasdam August 16th through 23rd

Well, while Oosterdam was our last favorite, I think we have switched to Maasdam after our cruise starting in Boston and ending in Montreal from August 16-23, 2008. The ship is great, but the people onboard make all the difference. When a ship first sails, it creates it's own personality, even if it has a match twin, and Maasdam has an excellnet and sublime superstructure, but even better inside with the staff and team on board.

Here are a few memories of the week. . .

My son has a service dog Werin, so I talk about everything through the lens of travelling with a beautiful dog, but a dog that takes preparation and planning.

Susan and Cameron had been travelling visiting family in Nova Scotia for about two weeks prior to the cruise. I took the Regional Amtrak up to Boston, which was uneventful, and met up with Cameron and Susan at the Westin Boston Waterfront. While we could smell the water, and see if from our room, either there had been a huge landfill since the hotel was built or it was misnamed, as it wasn't next to the "front" of water. It was actually connected to the convention center, and very busy with a psychiatrist conference. I met several checking in and all I could say was, "I guess I need to be on my best behavior", which likely gave them enough to talk about for the remainder of their conference. We love the Heavenly Bed and had a great night's sleep.

Taking a cab is generally difficult with a service dog, as many cab drivers don't want a dog to clean up after in their cab, but we had a great driver take us the less than 1 mile to the port in the morning around 11:00am. There were no less than 4 guys waiting around for just us to arrive (at least it seemed that way - weren't they just for us) and they all ran around grabbing our bags. The sweetest welcome agent ran right up to us and took us to fill out our paperwork (one of the secrets of having a service dog, is everyone wants to take care of you, so that they can pet her later). We were swept in, filled out paperwork, were taken up to be checked in and were on the ship in less than 1/2 hour (it was almost like we were in one of those fabulous suites, but alas NO).

Right away, the staff had us wait to the side after boarding so that the front office could get our paperwork on Werin and let us know where her relief area was. What a great team that immediately let us know (as this is usually the first thing we need to do once getting on board). Last year on the Oosterdam, they came by the room, but by that time we were a little frantic, so the immediate attention to Werin's needs was FABULOUS. He depositing area was set up in the aft on deck 5, Main Deck, which was a perfect out of the way location which allowed us to let her off leash to play and run a bit before doing her business. Makes all the difference in the world.

Up to the Lido for lunch, and while the sushi had such a small piece of salmon in it that is really should have been called vegetarian - we had a great meal. Not many had boarded as early as us, so we virtually had the Lido to ourselves to enjoy the window and take our time. Before we knew it it was time to head to the room, just one floor down on the Navigation deck. We headed to A44 right by the elevators and close to the aft pool to see our balcony. While we had a balcony cabin last year on Oosterdam, we knew that this one was a little bit larger and were amazed how much extra room that 50 square feet is.

Once we had looked at the room, we started taking care of business like getting our first two DVDs out at the Explorations Cafe, then getting our thermal suite passes (it makes the cruise), getting Pinnacle Grill reservations, getting the unlimited laundry package, and getting signed up for spa and exercise classes.

Since Cameron is into commercial aircraft we spent the sail away on the balcony, drinking our welcome aboard champagne and naming the aircraft that were going right over our head to land at Logan. Very cool.

Pinnacle Grill for dinner was superb and such a great way to start the cruise (with our Amex passes) and the staff in Pinnacle were tops. Had a great window seat to watch the harbor pass by.

After taking Werin for a walk, we all headed to bed for an early night to get ready for our Bar Harbor tour first thing at 8am "Best of Both Worlds" tour of Acadia National Park, the quaint town and learning more about lobster fishing. "The captain wishes you pleasant dreams" . . .

Could you comment on the ports and things you did? We are considering this cruise for next summer. We'd like to spend a few days in Boston before going and a day or two in Montreal at the end. What would be an absolute must do or must see?

BAR HARBOR (DAY TWO)

Arriving in Bar Harbor, the sun was out early, and our Best of both Worlds tour met in the Rotterdam Lounge with the sun shining in through the windows at 8am. Bar Harbor is a tender port, so there is a little more organization to the departure for tours.

Prior to heading to the Rotterdam Lounge, we had our first room service breakfast, which is our favorite way to wake up on a HAL ship. We ordered poached eggs along with smoked salmon. Both of these are not on the traditional breakfast card for your door, but writing them in is not a problem at all. The poached eggs were great each on their own round of toast and with a hash brown alongside. We ate out on the balcony enjoying the beauty of Maine.

The Verandah cabin on the Maasdam we had was a triple, but had a lot more room when the sofa bed was out for moving around than the Vista Balcony cabin. The sofa bed on the Maasdam does not pull out and extend, but instead flips over, so that you still have all the space surrounding the couch to move around or access the balcony. We did miss however, the curtain between the queen bed and the sofa bed, which is available on the Vista - in essence creating two rooms at night.

Werin, Cameron's service dog, went to her relief area which was a 4x3 box filled with sod. HAL provides a trash can beside. On the Vista last year, the box was on the walking promenade deck, so that the box became a draw for smokers to drop ashes into. While this still took place on the Maasdam, the ashes were fewer.

We boarded the bus after our tender and drove through Acadia National Park, which after a large fire early in the last century had large sections with small growth due to the soil. But the section unaffected by the fire and tremendous trees and growth beside the water. We passed by the beach filmed in "The Cider House Rules" and it was pristine and clear. The Acadia portion of the tour ended at the top of Cadilliac Mountain with a view of the ship and all the islands surrounding us.

The second part of the tour took us to the Lobster Fishing Museum with a live demonstration of trapping and lobster information. Great character with this part of the tour and we enjoyed the stories and comments of our guide, learning a lot about the lobster trade.

Tonight was the first formal night, and we love to dress, so we got our Xmas picture taken in our formals, then after dinner headed to meet with the senior staff at a reception. Captain Andre was a superbly gracious host and we talked at length about Cameron and Werin, along with his three children. In the following days he stopped by to talk several times with us, and we got together multiple times. His stories about the Eurodam prep and times on the Prisendam were great to listen to. Savannah our Cruise Director had a really pleasnt English Accent and the Hotel Manager along with Savannah were all impressed by Werin. However, we were to learn later that over a hundred people were invited to the reception, but only a few of us came, including Sail7Seas, which I'm sure was disappointing to the team, since they had invited so many. I'm not sure why more didn't come, as it was a highlight of our cruise to meet other passengers and our head staff.

We had another relatively early night as we had another 8am start the next morning in Halifax. More to come . . .

Thanks for the reports Peter. They make great reading.

We've been on VEENDAM and RYNDAM, so know we'll love MAASDAM and have booked two cruises on her. We'll do Montreal to FLL this October and then next May cruise from FLL to Montreal. Can't wait! It's a perfect size.

Am enjoying your review -- waiting for more.

Have done your cruise and we loved it.

Picture Set Two:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49079&l=813d4&id=648466808

Picture Set Three:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=49084&l=03314&id=648466808

HALIFAX:

After another great in-room breakfast, we got off the ship and got on our tour to Peggy's Cove. After a short photo stop at the Citadel downtown, we drove through the suburbs of Halifax, to make it to Peggy's Cove. It is a small fishing village caught in a moment of time about hundred years ago. Now a Historical Village, with limited building and modification, it is forever to be a tourist spot to see how the Nova Scotia fisherman lived. Peggy's Cove lighthouse, now a postal office, is also one of the most photographed structures in Nova Scotia. We had an hour to visit and saw lots of the little shops in the village and took our fill of pictures. My son Cameron is very "into" plane crashes right now, so he asked to drive slowly past the memorial for the Swissair crash site, which went down 4 miles off Peggy's Cove. The fog was rolling in as it is prone to do in Peggy's Cove making the scene very forboding. The trip back to town was a great time to get in a few winks and we were back to the dock by about 12:30.

Susan has family in Nova Scotia, so Uncle Don and Aunt Elaine took us to a Canadian tradition for lunch - Smitty's and then we did our own Titanic tour, first to the graveyard of over 100 souls picked up by the ships that went out from Halifax when they heard the call. J. Dawson of Titantic movie fame is there and the whole cemetary is laid out in the shape of the hull of the ship.

We ended up the day at the Halifax wharf, which is walking distance from the Maasdam. The Maritime museum was our favorite, with Titanic relics, not taking from the bottom, but from what was floating as the ship was going down, since many of the ships from Halifax arrived very soon after she went down. A full deck chair (the only one in existence), portions of the first class stairway (yeah, the famous one) and a number of other artifacts were available for view.

Dinner in the dining room was superb as always, and Cameron decided to head up to the Club HAL from 7pm to 9:30pm to play playstation 2 and have fun with the other kids, while Mommy and Daddy saw the show. Werin went along up to Club HAL as was invited along to the activities. After putting Cameron to bed at 9:30pm, we went up to the Crow's Nest for some dancing, then moved to the Piano Bar with Steve for Sing along 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s songs. What fun. There were already "regulars" there, so we joined in, and closed down the Piano Bar every night after that. So much fun and something that we haven't found at home.

In between dinner and the piano bar, we became friends with Kelly in the signature shops, so after Susan saw a Sapphire ring she really liked, Kelly suggested I try a slot machine in the casino right outside the door, which a lady had won $7K on last week. Well I put in $40 and out popped $2200, which paid for rings for Susan and I. WOW!

By about 1am, we were ready to hit the hay, and rest, since our next port was Sydney, and we hadn't planned a thing (YEAH!)

Is that Steve Lynch in the Piano Bar!!!????

Yup - absolutely (along with all us groupies)

I'll tell more tomorrow

Your photos are great and very useful to us. We were not going to visit Peggy's Cove but the photos have made us reconsider. You do have a lovely family.

I have to confess to being a tiny bit jealous over the sunshine you got. The sun seems to have completely deserted this part of the UK this summer.

SYDNEY

The morning started at 7:30am with breakfast being brought to the room. I had forgotten to bring on all my package of one dollar bills for tips, so we were already scrounging for tips for our steward that brought our food in the morning. The Verandah cabins have a great deal of room in them for breakfast, but it takes a dedicated effort to tidy up continually. One of my little pleasures is living in a space small enough that I can organize it every day. It's like being on an episode of "Clean House" and having someone clean your room 2x per day really helps:)

We decided not to book a tour for the day, but in essence create an extra "sea day" by not going ashore until late in the day. Susan had purchased personal trainer sessions to assist her with her knee. Susan had torn her ACL while dancing on the beach in Cabo (a whole other story), and has been going to PT 3x per week, so she wanted to keep it up. Off she went after breakfast, and it was Cameron's day for a shower/bath, so I assisted him in breaking in our jet tub.

I got the water going, but once full Cameron insisted that it needed bubbles, so I put in a little bit of the shampoo. Uh Oh. As the bubbles kept rising and rising and spilling over the tub it looked like an episode of I Love Lucy. Cameron thought it was great, but I finally got the bubbles turned off and cleaned up before we then headed to the Lido pool for a swim.

We had purchased thermal suite passes as part of the overall Well Being Package prior to arrival, which includes Thermal Suite, 2 monogrammed bathrobes, two spa treatments, two exercise classes, 2 sessions in that Pod thing (what is that called again) and cut fruit being brought to the room every day. We loved the fruit as I would never think of ordering it, but it was great to get back to the room and have a piece of melon waiting to freshen you up.

One little secret about Holland America (at least the cruises we have been on) is while the age of passengers tends to be a little older, it means that not EVERYONE is saving or using a deck chair or table by the pool. Even though there were 150 kids on board and it was the summer, we always found space by the pool whenever we needed it. The busiest time in the afternoon when everyone would get back from trips was more challenging, but we didn't find any chair hogs on this trip. I know that some of you gasped with the 150 kids on the Maasdam, but the port heavy itinerary and the Club HAL activities, we really didn't see children (except our own) thoughout. During dinner it was a little more evident, but we enjoyed having others around and it seemed to work out that we were all in the same section.

Love that warm Lido pool to float around in. And while Susan was reading her book in the Thermal Suite we spent the morning away relaxing. Couple of comments on the Thermal Suite. I'll try not to say to much, so that we can get back in next time we are on, but we LOVE them. Especially on the smaller Maasdam as it had the same number of loungers as the Oosterdam along with the same sauna and steamroom, but with about 60% of the passengers. Of course, the pool is much smaller, but I only ever saw one other person in the suite with me whenever I went and we went REALLY often. Somehow those loungers do just the right thing for me to relax me and take the worry away.

Cameron drinks Rice Milk and I thought I had brought enough, but he was running low, so we headed into town to see if we could find a health food store. On the dock in Sydney is a very familiar Canadian tradition. Many towns have this obsession to have the World's biggest/greatest "something" such as a shovel, Paul Bunyan statue, pea, corn . . . you get the picture. So feeling completely at home and signaling that you are in Canada, Sydney has "world's largest" statue right there waiting for when you get off. I think it's a fiddle celebrating Maritime music, but feel free to contradict me it you would like.

At the tourist desk, we got directions to the health food store and walked past town and about 1 mile and a half to the health food store, only to find that Rice Milk in Canada is apparently a staple and can be found only in regular grocery stores. Uggh. So I went back to town and picked up the closest alternative for Cameron -- Gatorade. Well I have no explanation on why he likes Gatorade, but he does. I'm not complaining, as he has never drunk a soda in his life (you should have seen the shock on his face when he was asked about soda cards) so we go with it. Water, Rice Milk or Gatorade.

I find it takes a few days to get into the groove and pattern on board a Holland America ship, and we were in full groove. Dinner at 5:45pm, Grey Goose Martini with dinner, Cordial of the Day afterwards, then Club HAL for Cameron and Werin, followed by our walking towards the casino and shops, then starting the show, picking up Cameron and putting him to bed, then heading out to sing our hearts out with Steve at the Piano Bar. It went like this for the rest of the cruise, with locations for eating mixing it up a bit.

Tomorrow, the ultimate Anne tour on L.M. Montgomery's 100th anniversary.

Your photos are great and very useful to us. We were not going to visit Peggy's Cove but the photos have made us reconsider. You do have a lovely family.

 

I have to confess to being a tiny bit jealous over the sunshine you got. The sun seems to have completely deserted this part of the UK this summer.

Years ago we did a round trip cruise out of New York on the Maasdam -- at that time they had Peggy's Cove with Lobster lunch -- we did it and loved both!!

Great Review!!

We had Steve Lynch on our 23 Ryndam cruise last fall.

Yes -- it is a Big Fiddle. Was the music turned on?

Were the signs on the poles with the fiddles on them still up showing the way to town?

Peter, great commentary and wonderful pictures. I'm reliving our Maasdam journey from two months ago. Sounds like you had yet another splendid adventure. We enjoyed meeting you last year on the "O" (remember the first ever banner wave with canine participation?) Thanks much for taking the time to post your tales.

Great to "see" you Sue! Of course, we remember. Glad you got to enjoy the Maadam as well.

"Sue's Mom -Jan" We really enjoyed Peggy's Cove, but hadn't seen it before. It is well worth seeing. Cute shops and the pics you can take are great. We went early so there wasn't fog (the earliest tour), but we noticed that once it warmed up a bit the fog started rolling in for the later tours. Don't know if that happens every day, but be prepared for any kind of weather.

Great Review!!

 

We had Steve Lynch on our 23 Ryndam cruise last fall.

 

Yes -- it is a Big Fiddle. Was the music turned on?

 

Were the signs on the poles with the fiddles on them still up showing the way to town?

We didn't hear any music turned on. The signs were still there.

once it warmed up a bit the fog started rolling in for the later tours.

Thank you once again. We discussed this over lunch today and had decided upon the 12:45pm tour as we are not early risers. However, we are now going for the 8:30am. :D

This was the day of the longest tour that my wife had been excited about since we booked, the UTLIMATE Anne tour. It is the 100th anniversary of L.M. Montgomery whom had written the Anne books, and as both of us are Canadians, so we needed to make a pilgrimage.

We recovered from our late night singing our hearts out (and a few gray goose martinis) to get up for our breakfast in the room again. Today was a little cloudy. The tour started a little later, but it was full on 6 hours of Anne-mania.

Prince Edward Island is where the confederation of Canada was formed in Confederation Hall in the downtown section, but within minutes we were whisked by rolling hills and farms on our way to our first stop - Silver Bush, L.M's aunt and uncle's home. The home is still run by relatives, and after driving by L.M.'s birthplace, we pulled into Silver Bush, where L.M. spent a lot of time growing up. Some of the inspiration for the Shining Waters Lake was here. We started with having some rasberry cordial with "Anne", but I have to say that Diana got a better deal as our cordial was definately non-alcoholic.

We toured the house and stood by the old wood stove to get warmed up. The scent of cinnamon was from the spices cooking on the top of the stove making the gray and rainy day seem warm and inviting. "Matthew" was outside with a carriage for a quick turn around the yard. After about an hour, we all got back on the bus for our next stop at the National Park re-creation of "Green Gables". The whole house was built close to Cavendish Beach and included the main house, stables, and Matthew's Barn. Loads of fun to walk around, see what has always in our heads when reading the books, and walking through the forest. We only had an hour, but we could have been on the trails and surroundings all day.

We ended the day on Cavendish Beach with a near gale wind coming in, but it made for great pictures of the huge waves crashing on the red rocks and cliffs. The waves reminded me of 17 mile drive in Carmel on the California Coast. Long and stretched and massive.

After stopping at a fisherman's wharf for some pictures, we drove back to town and saw portions of Charlottetown. The tour, even though it was 6 hours didn't include lunch, so although we had grabbed a lobster roll at Green Gables, we decided to have a snack and take in the thermal suite before sail away and dinner.

One of the evening in between shopping, casino hopping and singing with Steve, we had a lovely drink and talk with Sail7Seas (is she going to leave the Maasdam today or stay on forever) and her husband DH. Happy anniversary you two!

DAY AT SEA

I think you are getting the picture that we get into a "bumming around" routine, but that doesn't stop us from spa treatments, so I had a Stone Massage at 8am, then had the Alpha Capsule. After that I rolled into the Thermal Suite for reading and ipod listening. Susan got some treatments as well including another personal trainer session. I then caught up with the cruise consultant to book next year's adventure and we love the Maasdam so much, and not having to change time zones significantly, that we booked for next year on the Maasdam but going the opposite direction from Montreal to Boston.

There has been some talk on the boards about the entertainment on Maasdam, and I do have to say that the entertainment really isn't to our taste in the main showroom. In fact, we only went to two shows and left early from another. We found the production shows to have lots of money spent on costumes and sets, but the singing and dancing was mediocre at best. While there were several good singers, the lip syncing and general feel of the shows felt like in trying to please everyone, it gets so watered down that is pleases few. We went for the comedy act and enjoyed that, but the production numbers we really left behind. The band on board was great and the Crow's Nest we enjoyed, and we can't say enough about the piano bar and Steve, so we had a great time, but for a guy and gal whom regularly enjoy seeing broadway shows we found the main lounge entertainment disappointing.

On our day at Sea I was suprised how much the banks of the Saint Lawrence reminded me of the inside passage in Alaska. The banks became more and more narrow as the day went on so that we could see small villages and towns as we passed. Many boaters came alongside and stayed with us for our journey, which made it fun to wave and enjoy the journey with them.

QUEBEC CITY

What can I say! The best parts of Europe plopped down right on the river. We had never been to Quebec City, but it did not disappoint. Everything we thought about the city was as we expected and more so. Quaint shops, outside dining, artists hawking their wares on the alleys. It was heaven. We had a bright sunny day and took a city tour to start, as I wanted to see the Plains of Abraham that I had heard about from history books.

Werin went on every tour and surprisingly, many guides said that they had never had a guide dog on the tour. Since Cameron is mobile, it is a different and new experience and the laws in Canada haven't kept up with service dog access. In fact, Quebec laws state generally that persons with disabilities should have universal access, but only specific seeing eye dogs in the law specifically. We really learned what a difference the Americans with Disabilities Act made on the United States after this trip. In Canada each province writes the disability access laws, so they vary somewhat. For example in the States virtually any improvement to any public building requires compliance with the ADA and access laws, which produces ramps, chair lifts, elevators and options for multiple disabilities. In Quebec, don't expect any modifications. In fact, in Montreal we saw the greatest variance. We were headed home on the train, and had booked a hotel, the Marriott, connected with the underground city, thinking that we would be able to walk over in the morning with our bags to the train station. However, when we checked it out, it was a maze of escalators and stairs, without any elevators or lifts. Dogs and escalators don't mix, so we had to find alternative routes. We take so much for granted in the states and it was a good lesson on why laws on access are so important and not to be assumed.

In Quebec City we had lunch at the Pinnacle Grill which was not only service dog accessible, but also had the best view of the Cheatau Frontenac in the city. Fab. Those wine flights in the Pinnacle are loads of fun. The Museum of Civilization was across the street from the ship, so we went and saw several exhibits including the most amazing display of gold artifacts I have seen including a million dollar Canadian coin. Local history was also covered in a great display on Quebec history.

I went back into town as Susan and Cameron took Werin for a rest on board and I enjoyed seeing the town from a walkers point of view and finding my way around without a map (You have to get lost in a city before you really know it).

The last night was the Master Chef's dinner, and yes we wore our hats and Cameron really enjoyed it. However, the Master Chef's dinner didn't seem to go with everything else on board and appeared over the top, but we joined in and had fun.

It was a glorious day to be our last before we arrived in Montreal the next morning.

Great reading.

Several years ago we did a shorter version of the Ann of Green Gables -- loved it.

We love Quesbec City -- been there several times and love walking everywhere.

Montreal -- at the end of one of our cruises -- we stayed there for several days and loved it.

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Wonderful review, Peter. I loved reading along and 'reliving' our first week.

It was such a delight meeting you all and we very much enjoyed the bit of time we spent together.

We looked for you the last evening to say our 'goodbyes' and apologize for missing you.

Week two aboard the beautiful Maasdam, was also special.

Thanks for the great review.

We looked for you as well J. Sorry we missed you. What a great way to have your 500 days and 39th anniversary -- Thanks again for all your posts. It was great seeing you around the ship.

MONTREAL

I got up early and walked around on deck before breakfast came. I watched the ship docking and we swung around only about 10-20 feet from the dock. All of us on deck were holding our breath as we came about, but it made it.

Susan and Cameron relaxed in the room, and I walked around on the sports deck for the rest of the morning until it was time to get off at 9am. Customs was totally fine, but the taxi line was a bit out of control with people everywhere and us with probably too many bags. Travelling to Egypt earlier this year, Susan and I took only two carry ons, but with Cameron and the Dog - it seems we have a lot more with us.

We caught a cab to the hotel, the Montreal Marriott downtown and immediately checked our bags in and then looked into a city tour. Well there was one leaving at 10am, which if we ran would just make. Like I said earlier, everyone was not "into" having Werin around, so we showed our license and permit, and they slowly let us on (after asking everyone about allergies) The city tour highlight we thought was the Notre Dame Cathedral. In fact, I think I would have enjoyed just seeing that, then walking around town. The tour went over to the Olympic Stadium, then up Mont Royal. It was a beautiful day for walking and we got our fare share in. Stopped at a Subway for lunch and ate in the park. The Marriott has a great park square in front of it, which was perfect for Werin.

Marriott has great beds as well, and Susan was tired out from the whole cruise, so took a nap, while Cameron and I got caught up on our computer work. Couldn't get the laptop to have access in our room on the cruise (maybe we were too high up), but in the Marriott it was free and speedy. Had a great night lounging around, while we watched everyone going to the free Celene Dion concert in town, to celebrate Quebec's 400 years.

After having one last breakfast in bed at the hotel, we took off for the Gare Centre station for our Amtrak trip back to Philadelphia. The assistance at the train station was SUPERB and the redcaps took all our luggage and got us situated with lots of room on the train. Once we were off, we talked to the conductor about all the best stops for Werin (as it was a 12 hour trip) and they were so accomodating!! Werin performed beautifully and the ride was one of the most scenic in the Amtrak system (we have been cross country and up the West Coast on Amtrak multiple times). The route follows the Hudson river from Lake Champlain, so that you are on the water virtually all the way to New York City. We met lots of interesting people coming and going. Hard to believe it was only $175 for the three of us one way. New York City was thrilling as always and we had a redcap that REALLY helped us get switched to the new train. Don't know how we would have done it without him.

We got home about 10:30 and took our short drive to our house after a fabulous week of adventure. Like I said at the beginning the people make the journey and we met all kinds and types throughout. Everyone was great with Werin and we had a GREAT trip. Thanks to all of your for your tips on the boards, as all those inside tips really make the trip that much better.

Bon Voyage on your next trip!

Peter, since you and Susan are such great Anne of Green Gables fans, I thought I'd mention this in case you're not aware of it. Budge Wilson, with the permission and cooperation of the Montgomery estate, has written a backstory for the series titled Before Green Gables. She does a good job of capturing the flavor of the series and it's an interesting enjoyable read if you're a fan.

OldCodger, great minds think alike. True fans that we are I gave that book to my wife a little bit ago. But thanks for the suggestion! Have a great day!