Our First Trip without Kids!
It may seem crazy, but we’ve never left our kids for a trip before and it’s been twenty years. We live in Boston far from relatives, and we relied on babysitters from Boston College which is nearby. The thing about college students is that they are really busy. You can get them for a night but they have class, and jobs, and things to do.
Our kids also played a lot of sports. One very bad season, each of our three kids played both town and club soccer which meant 12 practices and 6 games a week. Even with carpools, the logistics were mind-numbing. It made me wish that I had paid more attention to Logistics class at business school. Even the thought of trying to map out the carpools of who had to be dropped off where and when made me give up. Not to mention, my babysitters don’t have cars that seat 7.
It’s easier now to leave our kids. Our oldest is off at college and honestly, she has the most anxiety about separation. Our middle child can drive and our youngest is very good at feeding himself. The time was finally right for leaving our kids behind.
My husband had talked about Cabot Links for years. It’s in the middle-of-nowhere Nova Scotia without much for non-golfing wives to do. There isn’t a spa, for example. Our waitress said that she drove two hours one way just to get her nails done which is why she is doing a nails course in order to offer this service to guests in the future.
Cabot Links is set up as a destination golf spot with two spectacular courses right on the ocean. One is even up against ocean cliffs. There are several restaurants with wonderful food. Even the rooms come with a putting area!
I opted to be the photographer of the trip and walked the course — 2 rounds in one day — which made for great exercise since both courses totaled fifteen miles. The course and weather reminded my husband of Scotland. We had torrential rain, light rain, light wind, and partially sunny skies. It was quite an adventure.
It was good that we started off at Cabot Links. On its own, this is a wonderfully challenging and gorgeous course, but it can’t hold a candle to its newer neighbor, Cabot Cliffs. Nestled into the ocean cliffs, this course is simply spectacular. It was totally worth the hike!
I’m working on my golf game these days since I might play a round for our next “no kids” golf trip. September is a perfect time. The weather is still nice, and the shoulder season is less crowded and expensive.
There are a few more courses in the United States similar to this one — destination golf with nothing else to do. Several are by the same developer as Cabot Links. He has an interesting backstory as a greeting card entrepreneur (founder of American Greetings) who turned his passion for golf into creating the ultimate destination golf resorts.
My only criticism of Cabot Links is the logo, based on the ship that Italian explorer John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) sailed on behalf of King Henry VII of England in search of a shorter route to Asia. This celebrates colonialism where another nation subjugates the original people living on the land, in this case, the Miꞌkmaq or Miꞌgmaq who are the Waycobah First Nations people indigenous to Canada’s Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the northeastern region of Maine.
Here’s more about the Waycobah First Nations People:
Waycobah First Nation residential school survivors make regalia for youth as part of healing process
A short history: Maritime First Nations
p.s. Related posts:
Native American Residential Schools #OwnVoices Book List
Father’s Day Gift Ideas Especially for Golf Widows
Top 6: Best Golf Books for Dads
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Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- 2023 INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist
- Green Earth Book Award longlist
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Amazon / Scholastic / Signed or Inscribed by Me
My family of origin comes from Nova Scotia. I first went there when I was 3, but didn’t get back there again for another 50 years when my son, aunt, and I went last year! We loved it. We spent time with one cousin in the Halifax area, then down to Digby County where so much of my family still resides. I felt like I was related to nearly everyone I saw in Comeauville.
I’m planning another trip back with friends, probably in 2021. It’s a beautiful part of the world with very down-to-earth people.
Oh, and I’m also part Mi’kmaq on my grandfather’s side!