Tag Archives: New Brunswick

PEI and Nova Scotia

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It’s been several months since we traveled to Canada for our fortieth wedding anniversary, but it’s better late than never to finish up the story of our trip…

In my last post, A Taste of Canada, we had just crossed the Confederation Bridge onto Prince Edward Island. What we hadn’t realized was that it was Old Home Week, a local ‘family fun’ celebration that originated over a hundred years ago.

On our first morning there, we had planned to visit nearby Charlottetown. It looked to be a charming city with a boardwalk and plenty to keep us busy. But as we drove toward the city, we could tell something was up. People were parking along the streets and walking toward the downtown area. Up ahead we could see road closures. Apparently a parade was about to start. We pulled over to re-group and quickly turned around and headed to the north shore of the island instead, away from the crowds.

We found a bike trail in Morrell and spent the morning biking from there to St. Peter’s — about a seven mile trip. We stopped for lunch and then biked back. Such beautiful, peaceful scenery! And a surprise bird encounter along the way. (I should also mention a few other surprise encounters: several other Massachusetts residents spending time on the bike trail that day.)

After our bike ride, we traveled west, following the northern coast, to check out Brackley Beach in Prince Edward Island National Park. Apparently, a rain shower had just passed through, even though we encountered nothing but sunny skies on our way. The rain made the dark sand even darker, almost muddy. Very different from the Cape Cod beaches we’re used to.

We rounded out the day with a stop at P.E.I. Brewing.

The next morning was my birthday. And as a special treat we’d booked a ride on the ferry from P.E.I. to Nova Scotia. This would cut off several hours of driving. We’d never taken the van on a ferry before. I’m not a huge fan of boats, so I had mixed feelings about the whole idea. At least we got to drive through Charlottetown on our way. While we waited to get in the ferry line (we were so early that the ferry before ours hadn’t left yet), we checked out a nearby lighthouse.

The ferry trip lasted about seventy five minutes, but felt much shorter. Before we knew it, we were disembarking in Nova Scotia. We scoped out our reserved campsite before heading to quaint downtown Pictou for an early dinner.

Our campsite backed up to an inlet and offered a beautiful view. The photos aren’t great, but they’re evidence of the Short-billed Dowitcher, the Lesser Yellowleg, and the Great Blue Heron right in our backyard.

The view behind our van was nice, but the campground itself felt more like someone’s hilly backyard and the bathroom facility was extremely ‘rustic’. We decided not to stay a second night.

After realizing we didn’t have enough time to enjoy a coastal drive around Cape Breton, we thought a night in a hotel in Halifax might be a nice change of pace, along with another ferry trip back to New Brunswick. To make a long story a lot shorter, that didn’t work out. We made a ‘non-refundable’ reservation at the Marriott Harbourfront, only to discover that our van couldn’t fit in their parking garage and the parking lot they sent us to, blocks away, was closed. It took a little pleading at the front desk to cancel the reservation. And there was no room for us on the ferry, either. Oh, well.

But before we arrived in Halifax, we stopped in Antigonish for a walk and a bike ride. And a quick peek at St. Francis Xavier University.

We also stopped at Good Robot Brewing in Halifax, right across the street from Halifax Common, a large green space with recreational fields, facilities, and walking paths in between and around them.

We ate lunch and took a long walk around the Common. After leaving Halifax with no place to say for the night, we found a KOA close by. With room for us. Whew!

The next morning we aimed the van toward New Brunswick. After a stop in Amherst, Nova Scotia, for a hike around Amherst Point Bird Sanctuary, we took a detour to check out a monarch sculpture in Dieppe, New Brunswick (thanks, Tricia S.), before landing back at Rockwood Park in St. John, which we’d left a mere four days earlier.

It was drizzling and foggy the next morning as we headed west for one last stop before crossing the border into the U.S. St. Andrews did not disappoint. We first visited Kingsbrae Gardens.

After the gardens, we drove downtown to have lunch in the seaside town.

We left Canada mid-afternoon that day with a bucket-load of memories and a camera card full of beautiful images to help us remember. We spent the night once again parked in our son’s Maine driveway before heading home the next day. And of course, we made a couple of stops on the way: Mast Landing Audubon Sanctuary in Freeport for a walk/run, Mast Landing Brewery, and lunch at Bissell Brothers in Portland.

A Taste of Canada

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We spent two weeks on the road recently, traveling north through Maine and into Canada. You can catch up on the first few days of our trip in Northbound! and Forty Years…and Counting.

After hiking Cadillac Mountain, the rest of our stay at Blackwoods in Acadia was a little more tame. We found a trail just down the road at Sieur de Monts for an easy walk, went back to sit on the rocks at the ocean again, and did some birding along the way.

The day we left Acadia and headed for the Canadian border, we first stopped at Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge in Baring, Maine. We checked out a few trails, including their Woodcock Trail, but, unfortunately, didn’t spot any woodcocks that day.

We left Moosehorn and before we knew it we were at the border and heading for St. John, New Brunswick. The campground was nestled in beautiful Rockwood Park in St. John. We had to drive through the city of St. John to get to the park. And city driving in a large vehicle is not fun. We didn’t feel especially motivated to go back into the city after that.

We spent the rest of our time in St. John at Rockwood Park. There were walking trails, birds, a pond, and even a restaurant. And the food there was some of the best we had on our whole trip. I’m not one to take pictures of my meals, but oh, those lobster potato skins!!

Along one of the paths around the pond, we spotted a series of monuments that had been erected celebrating the provinces of Canada.

Our plan was to spend two nights each in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Neither of us had been to these provinces, so we wanted at least a taste of each.

After two nights in Rockwood Park, we drove from the campground toward Prince Edward Island, making our way through Fundy National Park.

We stopped at Hopewell Rocks in the Bay of Fundy, an attraction recommended to us by more than one person. The tide was receding, so we were able to go down onto the beach to see these huge rocks up close. Apparently, when the tide comes in, the water rises as much as fifty feet! So, our timing was perfect.

From Hopewell Rocks we drove to P.E.I. over the eight-mile long Confederation Bridge. Later that afternoon, we arrived at our Campground in Harrington, P.E.I., just north of Charlottetown, which we intended to explore the next day.

But when we pulled into Pine Hills RV Park, we discovered we’d arrived in the middle of ‘Old Home Week’. It felt a little like landing in someone else’s neighborhood back yard where everyone knew each other and were ready to party. Oops!

We adapted and revised our plans the next day. But more on those new plans later… 😉