On Family Day in Ontario, Monday Feb 15th, three of us headed out to the Adirondacks to snowshoe a trail we haven't tried before. It was a gradual ascent to a little peak with a great view, called Owl Head Lookout. This trail was off Highway 9 between the Town of Keene and Elizabethtown. There was not much snow surprisingly, but as we continued our ascent there was enough snow on the packed-down trail that we kept our snowshoes on. As we arrived at the top, we had to take our snowshoes off due to the steepness and the patches of bear
rock, dirt and ice that were exposed. We had a full 360 view that took in the Green Mountains of Vermont, Rocky Peak Ridge, the north side of Giant with Giant's peak in the clouds, then continuing clockwise, we saw Mt Hopkins, Mt Hurricane with its little firetire clearly visible, and a myriad of little forested hills with its base covered in snow. We were able to eat our lunch at the top, sitting on a rock, with occasional gusts of cold wind. This did not hamper our enjoyment of taking in the view and snapping pictures, while eating our sandwiches. I also carried a thermos of hot chocolat
e which was still piping hot and was a welcome treat to accompany my egg-salad sandwich and granola bar. We stayed about half an hour and then headed down to try our next little hike up Owl's Head. Yes, Owl's Head, another owl. It was the day for the Owls! This hike was off Highway 73 heading back towards Lake Placid. This little peak offered great 360 views taking in Pitchoff, Cascade, Porter, and looking back at where we came from near Mt Hurricane, Lake Champlain, and Giant Mountain with its peak no longer in the clouds. The clouds had lifted a bit t
o reveal its peak. There was about the same amount of snow on this trail as well with a dry rocky top with some roots and short trees and patches of soft dense snow. Both hikes were just the right combination to allow us our time travel there and back without travelling in the dark. These would definitely be on the list to do again at any time of the year.
Here it is February 28th and we are in Miami for the night and boarding our cruise ship tomorrow. We had a long of day of travelling from Ottawa transfering in Detroit, with our sights on Miami. Detroit's airport is very nice. The tunnel going from one section of the airport to the other under the tarmac as planes rolled overhead was quite an experience. Everywhere were escalaters and walking sidewalks. The tunnel itself was quite long with a walking sidewalk through a tunnel where the walls changed colours, every panel had lighting and an artwork imprint that created a kind of "northern lighting" effect. The colours changed from blue to green to red to blended and panels each taking on its own colour. It was most enchanting. There was some kind of music but I was so taken with the colour that I was not conscious of 
what music was playing. We left Detroit at 9:20 after a late boarding of luggage and de-icing the plane. We actually sat on the plane for almost an hour before actually taking off. We arrived in Miami at 11:30 pm and boarded the shuttle taxi to the Holiday Inn in Miami Port where we arrived by 12:30 am. We had coctails and pizza and somewhere in there 
we got a little bit of sleep, almost 3am when we actually got to bed, as I'm writing this now and we have set the alarm for 8am to take advantage of the day, go to breakfast and spend lots of time getting acquainted with the ship before it leaves at 4pm. The adventure at sea begins. Stay tuned for
our next internet connection. Good night!!! 
