Page 85 - Card Photo Flipbook-December 2022

Travel with Bob (later years)
After the children had moved on Helen was able to join with Bob in attending various medical 83
conferences and visiting many areas – too numerous to list. For example visiting New Orleans
several times before and after Katrina fascinated Helen. Royal St. (one south of Bourbon St.) had
many excellent craft and antique stores. Indeed, pre-planned visits to craft stores accompanied
any trips that Helen took. “I fondly recall the two of you [Helen and Bob] mapping out local
needlework, knitting and train shops to visit during conferences …” Paula James. While Helen had
her store there was an annual Needlework Convention at the Toronto International Center. In this
setting Bob became “The Registered Accompanying Spouse” – an opposite of how Helen was
listed at medical conventions. Garden railway conventions became a big annual event and an
inspiration for the TH&B. These include trips to Chicago, Denver, Phoenix/Tucson, San Francisco
Bay area and Seattle/Tacoma. These meetings included plenaries, exhibitors, and workshops.
Notably they involved driving all over the local area to visit multiple home backyard layouts. Using
maps only (no GPS) Helen never got us lost finding the houses.
A number of other trips occurred and Helen became a seasoned “cruiser”. Their 50th anniversary
was spent on an Alaska cruise. Among other trips, two of note were with Sharon and Scott to
Scotland in 2004 where she stayed in Plockton – the site of the filming a favorite BBC series
“Hamish Macbeth” and to Melbourne, Australia in 2014 where Helen was amazed at seeing the
return of the little penguins from the Tasmanian Sea at dusk. Helen liked to explore any city that
she visited and two of her favorites were Quebec City and San Francisco. Both involved hiking up
big hills. In SF Bob preferred to tackle the hills by cable car, but not Helen, she preferred to walk
up (“half way to the stars”) and down again!