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Baltimore has two historic towers, made for vastly different purposes.

First up is the Phoenix Shot Tower. When completed in 1828 it was the tallest structure in America, rising to a height of 234′.

A shot tower was used to make bullets by carrying the molten lead to the top of the tower and dropping chunks of it down the height. The falling motion formed them into round balls, where at the bottom they landed in vats of water.

The interior was a massive staircase with the open space for the projectiles to fall.

The manual elevator had a unique emergency brake, essentially used to slow it enough for someone to get it stopped.

While there are taller buildings in Baltimore, the Phoenix Shot Tower still stands out.

Nearby is the Bromo Seltzer Clock Tower. Rising 289′ above the streets the clock tower was used as offices for the Bromo Seltzer Company, as well as offering all of Baltimore the Time of Day since 1911.

There are 4 large clock hands.

The original hands are on display inside the clock tower.

Which is still letting the people of Baltimore know what time it is.

The World’s Fair has been held in New York City twice, once in 1939 and a second time in 1964-65. Both times it occurred in the Queens at the Flushing Meadows Park.

There are only a few reminders of what once was, but they are very cool.

First up – The Unispehere. Viewable from the entire area it makes an impressive entrance sight.

As you arrive from the subway station  you are greeting with some mosaics in the sidewalk. The one pictures shows the building that was the New York City Pavilion in 1939, now the Queens Museum.

Nearby is the United States Tennis Association’s complex including the 30,000 seat Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Within the Queens Museum is a 10,000 square foot model of New York City with over 900,000 individual buildings.

Still remaining from the fair are the towers from the New York State Pavilion. Little used (except in the movie Men in Black), they are rusting away.

As we walked back to the 7 Train to Manhattan we passed the Corona Rail Depot and a stunning number of subway cars.

Montana, as with much of the northwest has had a busy forest fire season. The haze and light smoke was very noticeable in our visit to Glacier National Park.  The free range cows didn’t seem to mind.

Most of the scenes were somewhat obscured with haze, but still visually stunning.

The hike to St Mary’s Waterfalls was worth the effort.

The smoke provided some unusual patterns in the otherwise clear skies.

Glacier is losing it’s namesakes at a rapid pace. We saw very little, mostly because they are so high up with the haze what is left was blocked from view.

The ‘Going to the Sun’ Road is a spectacular drive.

Lake McDonald offers tours – we skipped that option.

The Aladdin Shrine is a  fraternity based on fun and fellowship. Their main charitable effort is support of pediatric hospitals where the children are treated regardless of ability to pay.

One of their signature events is a circus, with the Columbus one being held at the Celeste Center. This circus featured mostly human performers, with only a couple of animal acts.

It opened with all the upcoming acts gathering in the center ring.

High Wire Trapeze Performers, whose exit was dropping onto the netting below.

A really great unicycle rider.

Ladies who climbed ropes and performed aerial ballet.

Clowns.

A group known as the Chicago Boyz who performed amazing talent with jump ropes and the ability fly over clowns.

The rope ladies came back with hula hoop skills.

And finally there was a small midway was set up.

We casually started our day with breakfast at our hotel then we were off on our drive from New Brunswick to Nova Scotia. We traveled Route 6 to the Visitor Center when we entered Nova Scotia, there the guides advised us to drive the scenic way through towns rather than take the freeway.

Nova Scotia names towns in English and also the Celtic language. We passed through Amherst, Pugwash, and Tatamagoush; driving for 5 1/2 hours until we arrived at Cape Breton Island, technically leaving the North American mainland.

Cape Breton looks similar to Pennsylvania with the high ridges, which makes sense as we are where the Appalachians meet the sea. Midway across the island we lunched at the Red Barn Restaurant on lobster roll and shrimp pasta.

As we reached the shore of Bras d’Or Lake we came upon a small (population 833) native community of Waycobah where the street and stop signs were printed in their first nation language. The stop sign was a red octagon shape but NAQA’SI was written on it rather than STOP.

Our destination for the day was the north end of the island, North Sidney, where we were going to catch a Marine Atlantic ferry boat to Newfoundland.

We arrived in North Sydney about 2:30 p.m. and lined up our car in Lane 9. We waited inside the terminal for awhile then readied ourselves and the car at 4 p.m. The first line of motorcycles started to board for the ship scheduled to leave at 5:30 p.m.

We drove onto the ferry with a few hundred other cars (the boat has a capacity of 660 cars) on the G5 deck and took the elevator to deck eight to our cabin. Our cabin had two twin beds and an ocean view. We also had a private bath with a shower.

After we put away our luggage, we went out on the open deck as the ferry started to pull away from the dock. The sun shone and a soft breeze blew. We wandered about Deck 7, the main deck, and its two restaurants, bar, and lounge. The top deck, Deck 10, gave us a last look of land as the ferry moved into the Cabot Strait.

The ship has a restaurant that offered a buffet, which was mediocre and expensive. After dinner we walked back and forth on Deck 10 for some exercise for about a mile against a stiff breeze. We stayed out until the sun set for us to get colorful sky photos. Our cabin seemed too warm so maintenance came in to adjust the damper in the ventilation system making it more comfortable.

After dark, we went onto the top deck to look at the stars but the lights of the ship masked the sky and only a few stars were seen. We went to bed as the ship sailed smoothly except for its vibration with its movement, even though we could see three to six foot white caps on the water. Thankfully we had a smooth ride all the way from Cape Breton Island to Argentia, Newfoundland, during the eighteen hour trip.