Honeymoon Part 3 | Emily Sees Lake Louisa

Dave's Uncle Randy was kind enough to bring his Jet-Ski over so that we could ride around the lake Dave grew up on.  So for the last day away from life and Louisville, we saw Lake Louisa and the connected Crooked River.

The swamp on one side of Dave's childhood home is full of springs, and that water feeds into Lake Louisa, which is on the other side.  The water then flows through Crooked River to a series of lakes and rivers called the Florida Chain of Lakes.  It actually flows all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.  Though the water in Lake Louisa is tea-colored from all the cypress trees, it is actually one of the cleanest in Florida because of the springs.

After a nice dinner at Dave's sister's home, we slept and flew home to Louisville.  There life awaited us in the form of a clogged toilet and massive pile of wedding presents.  It sure didn't take long for the stresses of life to find their way back into our lives, but they are much sweeter when you go through them together.  We can still remember enjoying the trip so throughly and yet longing to be home doing what we are doing now: living life together.  And now here we are, making each other's dreams come true.

Honeymoon Part 3 | Emily Sees Some of Dave's Childhood

The son of a Peat Miner in Central Florida, Dave spent much of his childhood amongst two of Florida's great staples: Disney and Wetlands.  So we spent the next two days touring the mine, Disney's property, and some of the lake/swamp area of Florida.  We started with the peat mine, where Dave's father has been hard at work for nearly thirty years.  Here Dave got to re-live his summer days of operating the front-end loaded and show Emily a little of how it's done.  Emily also got to tour the operation and learn that, yes, one man's dirt and refuse is another man's treasure.  And that second man will indeed pay a lot of money for it.

We then toured Disney's property.  Although we didn't have time to justify spending 80 bucks each on tickets to the parks, there was plenty to see on the grounds alone.  The most fun part was the marketplace known as Downtown Disney.

On the way home Emily got to see another Florida staple- orange groves:

Honeymoon Part 3 | Clermont, FL

Some beloved friends, Raymond and Meghan Johnson, had served us to humbly throughout our wedding week and continued to do so by watching our apartment and even taking us to the airport that Monday.  We flew to Orlando, FL, and Dave's family picked us up and took us to his hometown of Clermont.  Once there, Dave's parents honored us with a party for all those who weren't able to travel to Mississippi for the wedding.

This is most of Dave's side of the family, minus a few who couldn't make it:

And this is Myra Barnes, Dave's Grandmother, with the two of us:

Honeymoon Part 2.5 | Driving to Louisville

We hoped that we could visit Ellis Island and perhaps the Statue of Liberty once we got off the boat.  Then we could get most of the driving done that evening and arrive in Louisville the next day.  The thoughts of immigration to a so-called promised land had Dave thinking of the Christian life and eager to show Emily what in the world he meant.  We didn't imagine we'd be off the boat until around noon, so an hour or so on Ellis Island would have us right on schedule.

But then the boat was done with us at by 8:30 and the people at Ellis Island said we should be prepared to wait several hours in line.  Thus, plans changed and we drove all the way home in one day.  This was nice, as we got to spend two nights in our own home and even attend church with some friends.  We also got to attend our home church in Sunday evening and then boarded a plane Monday morning for Dave's hometown, Clermont, FL.

The drive that day may have been the most beautiful part of the trip.  Clouds followed us all the way, and the leaves were in peak turn.  The clouds only  brought out the colors of the leaves, and we marveled in what God had made over and over again.

Honeymoon Part 2 | Boston, Massachusetts

After another day at sea, our final port of call was Boston, Massachusetts.  Boston is called the walking city for a reason, and we definitely participated.  Just paying two dollars for a bus ticket got us inside the subway station, which got us all the way across town.  We then walked back, seeing all of the Freedom Trail and enjoying a nice lobster/hamburger lunch along the way.  It's a beautiful city, with the added benefit that living there is good for your health.  I'd hate to get a blister in that city, though.

Emily took a picture of me eating my lunch.  After she took it the camera never stopped taking the picture, so I looked at it for a minute and eventually it stopped.  This is what came out of the whole thing:

On the way out of the city we were treated to the best sunset of the week.  While Emily read, Dave went up and took this picture, making for the first time we spent a half-hour apart in about a week.  We had never been in the same city that long before this!

We would then spend another day at sea and arrive safely back in New Jersey.  What a great cruise it was.

Honeymoon Part 2 | Halifax, Nova Scotia

Our second Canadian port of call was Halifax, Nova Scotia.  We landed at Pier 22, right next to the famous Pier 21.  Acting as somewhat of an Ellis Island for Canada, Pier 21 now has a museam remembering those who emmigrated there in the early and mid 20th Century.  We watched a great movie there and then searched the records for Dave's Canadian ancestors.  But the fact that thier name was a transliteration from the Cryillic Alphabet and that we only know the English way of saying it or spelling it, combined with the fact that we didn't know what country they came from (many immigrants came through countries other than thier home country) meant that we did not find them.  Of course, they may have just come through another port. 

Afterwards we walked the town and found whatever beautiful church was in the area, as was becoming our tradition.  The area's churches were beautiful and we eventually found the first Protestant church in Canada.  That was very interesting to us, as it may have been the first group of Believers in the whole country.  After the humbling immigration video we were expecting a run-down group of persecuted believers, but instead we found a glorious building with a seat for the queen!  Quite the opposite.  Since the church was at one time the site of some great missionary activity, we left a note for one of our missionary friends who is visiting the area now.  We are praying that he can bring revival to areas where the Gospel has come and gone or bring it for the first time to many of the frontier places in Canada. 

We found a great piece of maple candy.  We can still remember how great it tasted!

And when we got back, we had a monkey waiting for us:

Honeymoon Part 2 | Saint John, New Brunswick

Our third Port of Call was Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.  Once we arrived we met a friendly park guide, who I had previously talked to on the phone.  Somehow she remembered my name and everything about me, which is a sign of a very good hospitality worker.  She pointed us to a beautiful church that still has Boston's Coat of Arms from the Revolutionary Way days, a courthouse that has the only self-supporting spiral staircase in the world, and a place called The Reversing Falls. 

It was after this that Emily took her first step onto Canadian Soil.  Now Costa Rica is the only country Dave has been to and Emily hasn't.  (Meanwhile, Emily can't count the number of countries she has been to.)

We soon found our way to the church: 

Boston's Coat of Arms:

The locals were very friendly, and very proud of thier city.  After we saw the church, someone pointed us to the courthouse.  Fortunately, that was exactly what we were looking for.:

From there we walked to the other side of the city and saw the Reversing Falls.  Despite what the locals tell you, it really is better termed the "Reversing Rapids."  It basically amounts to a freshwater river that flows through the side of a salt water bay, where there happens to be the largest tide in the world.  Because of this, the water right at the border of these two flows violently in during high tide and violent out during low tide.  EIther direction would be fun to raft through. We walked to it, trekked over the bridge across it, and had a snack at the reasturant overlooking it.

On the way back, Emily was very excited to see some otters in the bay:

Honeymoon Part 2 | Bar Harbor, Maine

Our second port of call was Bar Harbor, Maine, where Acadia National Park sits.  Sadly, the national park was mostly closed for the season (we had just missed it!) but we did get to see some beautiful seascapes and walk a nice town.  All in all, it was probably the least eventful stop of the trip, but it was still a lovely place to walk around and Dave appreciated the faith displayed by the windows in the town's church.   

This last window quotes ". . . and the sea shall give up it's dead."  A very meaningful verse for this port town.