NEW BRUNSWICK

Friday, September 23

Today we came over to New Brunswick.  We drove through Moncton and our first stop was Hopewell Rocks - the place to see the 'flowerpots' and the splendour of the Bay of Fundy tides.  We arrived here when it was still low tide so we were able to go down to the beach and walk around the great rock sculptures made from the power of water erosion and the constant changing of the tides.  The girls and I had a great time walking in the mud (the girls) and looking at the beauty in the rocks.  It is amazing to think that these towering rocks are only small islands in the water when the tide is in and the beach we have been walking on becomes the ocean floor. 

 Looking down to the Hopewell rocks from the path.

 This one is called Dino Rock - can you guess why.

 We found an underwater tunnel - okay we cheated and found it on dry land.

Can you find the wizened old face in the rock?

Another look at the flowerpots.

Yes, the girls found the mud flats.

The girls found another pet but once again mom made them put it back - no creepy crawlies.

Saturday, September 24

We drove on to Fundy National Park today.  At the entrance of the park is a small town named Alma.  We stopped here to explore a large beach that was there because the tide was out.  The girls had a great time finding shells, rocks, sea glass, and any other treasure they could find.  I even found a small piece of old pottery that had been tumbled around for a long time in the ocean so it had the softened edges that you find on sea glass.  It was also very amazing to see huge fishing boats sitting down on the mud and tied to the dock at the same time.  Yes, the tides are huge here in the Bay of Fundy.  After our stop in Alma we continued on to Hunter Lake. 

 Our first covered bridge sighting - The Sawmill Creek Bridge was built in 1905 and was used until 1975 when it was replaced by a new non-covered bridge.

 A store front in the town of Alma.

 What the harbour looks like when the tide is out.

 The girls gem hunting on the beach.

 Victoria is caught.

 Victoria wanted to take my picture for the blog - so here it is.

This is something you won't find at home.

Sunday,  September 25

We had a wonderful time with the Rod and Eleanor McLean family here at Hunter Lake.  They have a great place with loads of land and a lake.  This was Katrina's dream home with lots of land, a lake and HORSES! The girls had a great time with Emily who is 11.  On Sunday we walked next door and had meeting with Rod's parents.  Rod and Eleanor were so hospitable and accommodating.  We had both Saturday supper and Sunday lunch with them and it was Deanna's 16th birthday so I hope she didn't feel ripped off because we invaded her party.  We got to go to the afternoon gospel meeting and then had supper together before we headed off to St. Andrew for the night.

Katrina, Emily, Juanna, and Victoria had a great time together.

For all you airplane lovers here is a couple shots of Rod's plane.

Darryl, Mitchell, Emily, Rod, Eleanor, and Deanna McLean

Monday, September 26

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!!

Last night we spent the night at an amazing campsite in St. Andrews.  St. Andrews is a lovely little town that juts out into the Bay of Fundy so from our campground we were surrounded on three sides by water.  It was so amazing to see the sunrise this morning on a beautiful clear blue day with the water all around.  We went on a walk by the water and the girls once again collected gems from the beach.  It was a beautifully warm day and we were glad to be outside and enjoying it.  In the early afternoon we went over to St. Stephen where the girls and I toured the Chocolate Museum.  It was a very interesting tour we got to see where cocoa comes from and some of the history of chocolate and then we got to see a video tour of the chocolate factory.  Ganong chocolates have been made here in this factory from 1873 until 1975 when it moved to the new and present day location down the road (still in St. Stephen).  We even got to witness one lady hand dipping chocolates.  There are only four ladies doing hand-dipping now and no new people have been trained since the 1960's.  It was amazing to watch the precision and artfulness of this task.  But, we must admit the best part of the tour was the unlimited supply of free chocolate samples.  Yes, I left with a tummy ache from too much chocolate.  We had to take a visit to the chocolate shop after the tour and load up on some chocolate for later.  After our visit to St. Stephen we headed back up to New River Beach Provincial Park for an earlier end to our travels for the day and time to once again head down to the beach and enjoy the end of another beautiful day.

The twins outside at the campsite in St. Andrews.

The girls shell creature.

Chocolate Museum and Ganong candy store out front.

A lady hand dipping peanut butter cup chocolates.

The girls in the sweet seat.

Cute bench made to look lite a lobster trap.

New River Beach Provincial Park

Kent and Daisy on the beach.

Enjoying the beauty all around us and the warm weather.

Tuesday, September 27

Okay, today was not a great day - not because of the scenery or the weather - Kent woke up feeling rotten and throwing up.  We convinced him to stay laying down and I drove us back into St John to witness the Reversing Falls.  Everyone is sad to be leaving the ocean, but we can't get home if we don't leave the East coast.  From here we started up towards Fredericton where we had lunch and picked up another load of groceries.  We continued west and stopped in Hartland to see the world's longest covered bridge. We were surprised to find that is still in use as a single lane crossing.  The bridge is 1282 feet long. The girls and I walked across and back. We pulled into a campsite just outside of Grand Falls for the night and now we have the twins rolling around complaining of tummy aches. :(  Let's hope Victoria and I can avoid it.  We can't complain because this is the first anyone has got a little under the weather since we left.  So we are hoping it is a 24 hour thing.

The girls at the reversing falls.

Reversing falls - it is hard to show in a picture - the water is going up the river because the tide is coming in. 

The world's longest covered bridge.  It is 1282 feet long and is still used as a single lane bridge in Hartland.  No lights control the traffic just a stop sign at the entrance so you can look for any traffic.

Wednesday, September 29

Our last day in New Brunswick started off with a rough night with three out of five being sick to their stomachs.  Now it is my turn to feel awful today.  We went into Grand Falls around noon and took a walking tour of the falls and the gorge.  It is hard to show the grandeur of this gorge in photos.  Now it is off to Quebec.

Gorge of Grand Falls.

Grand Falls

The with Malabeam who courageously saved her village by leading the attacking Mohawks over the falls to their death.

Katrina and Victoria riding some very slow bikes.

Not a bad place to have to do your schoolwork.

A very cute dog - Daisy - sunning herself.

NOVA SCOTIA

Okay where did we leave off seems like a long time since we have done an update.

Friday, September 16

We did the 6 hour ferry crossing from Port-aux-Basques and arrived back in Nova Scotia around 7:00 this morning.  We headed straight over to the Fortress of Louisbourg and arrived there before the doors opened so we were able to catch a few minutes of sleep before cleaning up and going to see the sights.  (On the ferry crossing we were not able to get a cabin so we spent the night trying to sleep in chairs.)  The Fortress of Louisbourg is definitely worth a visit, the staff are very knowledgeable and friendly, the fortress is beautifully restored and the experience was a lot of fun.  We got to witness the cannon firing and changing of the guards and toured through many of the homes and businesses set up there. Then we enjoyed a 1700 meal in the tavern where we were provided with only a large spoon and mega sized cloth napkin with which to eat our meal.  It was quite fun to watch the girls try and eat their french toast this way.  All the staff in the fortress are dressed in and act as though the year is 1754 which makes the visit great fun.  The children loved this experience and hopefully have learnt a lot. 

 The entry gate to the Fortress of Louisbourg.

 A lady demonstrating life as a lady in 1754 doing an acceptible past time - making lace.

 The girls found a place to play dress-up.  They are guarding their tower.

 The girls with a 'real' solider.

As you can see the fort has been very well recreated and is hard to believe it is not authentic when you are going through.

Aagh - this is getting very frustrating I have lost the next two days worth of entries three times now!! :{

Sunday, September 18

We had a lovely meeting at David and Maxine Conrad's.  Martin and Wanda Baker invited us over to their place for lunch following.  We had a very nice lunch with Martin and Wanda, their children Dale-Marie and Dana where both home so we got to see them as well.  They also had Reg and Geraldine and Wanda's mom Eva and following lunch Wanda's brother Brent, his wife, Nora and their son, Luke stopped by.  We had a great afternoon of visiting and Reg and Gerry had us down to their place for a pizza supper after that - I hope we didn't wear out our welcome.  The Baker's live on a quiet three house street and all the homes are homes of the friends.  At the end of the road is a lake and the last lot on the street is owned by Martin and Wanda and Brent and Nora.  It is a great one acre piece of land bordered on one side by a creek with no home but a beach, dock, trees, and lots of space for enjoying the perfect holiday retreat without driving hours (how perfect).  Martin gave us permission to camp down on this beach lot.  Can't beat it - great campsite with power, privacy and right on the lake, doesn't get any better than that.

Reg, Martin, Wanda, Dale-Marie, and Geraldine Baker.

Monday, September 19

Today Reg and Geraldine came with us to be our own personal tour guides as we toured Peggy's Cove and Lunenburg.  First stop Peggy's Cove - Beautiful!  This is just as beautiful as in the pictures, only complaint - too crowded.  The cruise ships that come into Halifax send bus loads of tourists out here and hence makes it a very busy spot.  In spite of this, we enjoyed our walk on the rocks by the lighthouse and then down through the darling fishing community.  We enjoyed a great lunch up by the lighthouse and had fun poking through the various shops.  We continued down the coast to Mahone Bay.  Mahone Bay has been said to be the prettiest town in Canada and I would say it is defiantly up their.  It hugs the waterfront with lots of old beautiful homes and three grand old churches right beside each other looking over the water.  Not only is the town beautiful but when you look out to the bay you see all the fishing boats and sailboats.  Now on to Lunenburg another beautiful old town.  Lunenburg was established in 1753 and is said to be the best surviving example of a planned British colonial settlement.  All colonial settlements were to be built in the rectangular grid layout and almost two thirds of the old town buildings date back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  We drove down the streets lined with beautiful grand, colorful homes and down to the harbour where we toured through the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.  Museums are always more interesting when you have a personal connection and with Reg as our tour guide we got to see and learn more than if we (land-locked folks) had gone on our own.  Fishermen all love to share fishing stories and Reg was a lobster fisher and a sword fisherman in his younger years.  The museum entry fee also gives you access to the two boats anchored out on the wharf so we toured through them as well.  The Bluenose II is housed here but is currently undergoing an overhaul so we did not get to see our boat on the dime. :(  It would have been fun to explore more of the town on foot but with 80 year old tour guides you can't over do it.  So we headed back and stopped for supper at Swiss Chalet on our way home (yes, this is the restaurant of choice when you reach retirement age).  We didn't get Reg and Gerry home until 8:00 so we thought we didn't need to extend our visit any longer and went back down to the beach for the night.

The unique landscape close to Peggy's Cove.

Fomous deGarthe Monument houring the gallant fishermen of Peggy's Cove. 

 The girls climbing on the rocks around the lighthouse.

The lighthouse at Peggy's Cove.

Looking down into Peggy's Cove.

 Now this really is beautiful isn't it.

 Another darling fishing community.

 The town of Mahone Bay.

 The girls made a new friend at the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg.

 A model of the Bluenose II.

 Reg talking fishing with the other fishermen.

One of the buildings along the harbour in Lunenburg.

Tuesday, September 20

With plans to visit Halifax today we headed up the street to say good-bye to Reg and Geraldine and here they were all ready to go with us for the day.  So once again we had our tour guides with us and we went to see the sights.  We parked downtown on the harbour front and toured on foot the length of the harbour.  We walked down to the historic properties at the north end of the harbour and had fish and chips at Salty's.  The historic properties are a wharfside collection of very old stone and timber-frame structures, which were originally built in the 19th century to hold the booty captured by privateers. Now they house specialty and gift shops, pubs, restaurants and coffee shops.  From here we headed back south and walked past the various boats along the harbour and the buildings on the harbour front.  We stopped in at NovaScotian Crystal which consists of a showroom with an attached workshop where we witnessed mouth blown hand cut crystal being made right there.  We saw Theodore Too the tugboat tried up to the wharf but he only goes out on weekends this time of year so we were not able to take a harbour cruise on him.  We enjoyed the beautiful warm sunshine and walked all the way down to Pier 21.  Kent, the girls and myself went in and toured through the Pier 21 museum.  Pier 21 was a very busy port where over a million immigrants entered Canada, where the 'home children' were received and where Canadian military personnel passed through between 1928 and 1971.  This brought us to close to 4:00 and Reg was worried about getting caught in the rush hour traffic so we headed back to drop off Reg and Geraldine.  We decided to return to the KOA we had stayed at on Saturday night because we wanted to head over to the Annapolis Valley the next day.  We had a great time with the Baker's and they made us feel very welcome and at home. 

 The historic properties of Halifax.

The harbourfront boardwalk.

 Looking up one of the streets from the harbour.

Victoria, Katrina, Juanna, Kent, Reg and Geraldine with Stephen's Island in the background.

Glass blowing.

Some of the many boats in the harbour today:

 A pilot boat.

 A dory.

 A tall ship you can tour the habour in.

 A sailboat and a cruiseship.

 Passenger ferry from Dartsmouth to Halifax.

The girls and Theodore Too.  Now wouldn't that be a fun way to tour the Halifax habour.

 Juanna on a bench at Pier 21.

Outside Pier 21.

Wednesday, September 21

Even though it will put us a couple days behind schedule we want to go and see Caleb and Rebbecca in New Minas so we are waiting another day in the Halifax area.  We went into a little shopping district to find an Old Navy because we are thinking we could use a few more warm tops.  So, today was a day of shopping.  We got a hold of Glenn Andersen and he made arrangements for us to join him for Wednesday night meeting. It was very nice to see Glenn again it has been about 9 years since they lived in Kelowna.  We didn't get to Sheila or Moira but Glen did bring Riley with him.

Thursday, September 22

We drove over to the Annapolis Valley this morning and it is a beautiful area - reminds us of the Okanagan with lots of orchards and vineyards.  We drove through the pretty little town of Wolfville and found the Grand Prè National Historic Site where the British entered this Acadian village in August 1755 and began the Geat Uprooting or Le Grand Dérangement.  This another interesting look ino the life of the Acadian people and the terrible treatment they received from the English.  Now over to New Minas.  Caleb had found us a campsite across the road from the housing community where they live so we went and got set up.  Caleb came over with Brook and Cabe and took us back to their place.  We had a lovely time visiting and the children got along great with Jade, Brook and Cabe.  Rebbecca made supper for us and after supper Mia (formerly Woods) came by with her four children and their exchange student from Germany for some dessert.  We had a very nice evening and it was great to see the Caleb Howden family.

Vineyard in Wolfville. 

 Statue of Evangeline the fictional heroine of Henry Logfellow.

Caleb and Rebbecca with Cabe, Brook and Jade.

Farewell to Nova Scotia!