Staycation in the Times of COVID

COVID has certainly made 2020 a strange year so far. We've had a cancelled cruise, a cancelled family reunion, and a cancelled trip to see Patrick and Krysten get married. But hardest of all was Jim's sister's cancer returning and being unable to go visit her. Joanne passed away on August 12 and it has been a difficult time.

We decided to get away for a few days to St. Andrews. All we wanted was a balcony overlooking the water and some quiet after a hectic month.

We hadn't stayed at the St. Andrews Inn before, but we liked the photos of the water view on their site.

 

And it didn't disappoint...

Definitely low tide...

But so peaceful...pretty much just the sounds of seagulls.

Tide coming in...

We headed down the street to the Red Herring pub for dinner...past the Windsor House where we've stayed before. Love those huge flower baskets!

The Treadwell Inn where we'll be staying on a return visit in September. We tried to make a reservation for dinner here, but no go. Note to self: book early in September.

St. Andrews is not exactly the bustling tourist spot you see most summers. The barricades all the way down the street were apparently put in place to make it a one-way street and to give restaurants more seating options outside, but we didn't notice many that were taking advantage of it.

A cat!

It looked like lots of people were enjoying the outdoor patio at the Red Herring...

A picture of the Kennedy Hotel in 1881...

Looking pretty much the same in 2020.

Signs, signs...

Dinner was great. The service and food were excellent and we could see many health and safety practices in place dealing with all the COVID restrictions. It certainly has become a different world in a few short months.

A lovely mural...

Another cat...this one was pretty friendly.

Lots of pretty flowers...

And a lovely sunset...

This is a typical pastime for Jim when we're on a cruise. Apparently, you can do it on land as well!

After talking about going to Kingsbrae Garden for many years, we finally decided to do it.

I had seen a picture of these spectacular "trees" on-line and was surprised to see them in the parking lot. 

Aren't they gorgeous?

An interesting art installation...

We were met at the entrance by a staff person who asked all the usual COVID-related questions before sending us inside to pay.

The Knot and Rose Garden...

A bee in a rose...

They smelled so good!

Through the tunnel to the orchard...

Looking back at the entrance...

The orchard...

Lots of bees!

Some neat sculptures...

Huh! A white peacock...who knew?

So peaceful...

Although these paths would definitely not be wheelchair friendly, you can request a golf cart and a driver to take you on a tour.

More interesting sculptures...

A picture perfect day!

The children's area...

These looked interesting...

Flowers in teapots!

A goat...

"Get me out of here!"

"Never mind, buddy. I already asked her." 

Lush grasses...

More goats...they loved these cable reels.

Claypot figures...

Alpaca butts...

The bee garden...

Another neat sculpture...

Lots of black-eyed Susans...

I'm not actually sure what these were. Looked like tiny houses...

We were at the end of the tour (so we thought). It seemed like a good time to go for lunch.

Wait a minute...another area to explore.

I'm sure there is a map somewhere that corresponds with all these sculptures, but we didn't have it.

This was interesting...

Avocado!

Some big cardinals...

It really would have been nice to know what some of these were, but...moving on!

A turtle with a big bee on its back...

He looked like he was ready for lunch too!

Wait a minute...didn't this used to be in front of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery?

Yup!

In front of its previous home...

And yes...time for lunch. I guessing the tent is for weddings and special occasions.

Lunch was very good although we had a bit of a wait...

Not that much of a wait!

Yum...I was thirsty!

I would highly recommend the Garden when you're in St. Andrews.

And, of course, no trip to St. Andrews would be complete without a photo of the Algonquin Resort.  You can see how little rain we've had with the brown lawns.

Signs everywhere...this is our new normal. 

Here is a photo of Jim and his sister, Joanne, in St. Andrews when we visited in 2014 with her. Unable to visit Joanne in Edmonton before she passed, we had watched her funeral on-line that afternoon. We were pretty sad that we couldn't be there.

We had been to this restaurant with her, so we went there for dinner and raised a glass in her honour.

Joanne was always a lot of fun and had posed in front of this lobster when we last visited.

The sun set on a good, but sad, day.

A beautiful sunrise the next morning...

To remind us that life goes on...

It was a good getaway...we'll be back in September.