Two Days in St. John, New Brunswick

Days 63 & 64 of trip, Monday and Tuesday, July 11 and 12, 2014

What a great 2 days we've had in this historical industrial/harbour city! It has really been fun and different with our campsite overlooking the city, trains, and businesses, and hearing the sounds all day and night as the heartbeat of industry goes on. In contrast, Rockwood Municipal Park is simply gorgeous, with every view carefully designed to provide rest and beauty for the eyes. 

Yesterday we had a chance to get to know our camp neighbors briefly, before they headed for home to Quebec City after their month-long trip. Denis and Judith both retired as journalists in the television industry. Their first Language is French, but thank goodness they both do quite well with English...because my high school and college French classes were a long time ago!

Curt and I took a little time to explore Rockwood Park. I'll show you some of the beautiful sights we found:

I could show you photo after photo. There are so many lovely views in this park!

Then we headed into town. Back when we were at Fundy National Park a few weeks ago, I posted a photo of Cliff and Carolyn, a couple we met there. They own and operate an auto service and repair shop, so Curt told them that when we returned to St. John, he would contact them for an oil change for the truck. We found them...Charlotte Street Auto...and they did a wonderful job with the truck. Here's Carolyn in front of the shop:

While the truck was in the shop, Curt and I headed through the uptown area, through the parks, 

and we found the City Market, the oldest continually operating market in Canada (dates back to the 1870's). It was a wonderful place!

We had lunch and checked out all the booths and vendors. What a riot of color and texture!

As we walked around town more after the market, we saw many examples of an architectural feature that we first learned about in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The "Lunenburg Bump" is a dormer that's part of an octagon that protrudes from the facade of the house. Not only in Lunenburg, though, the Bump has been incorporated into houses we've since seen in Digby, Nova Scotia, and now in St. John, New Brunswick. I'm sure the Lunenburg Bump is seen all over the Maritime Provinces. here are a few examples:

 Now when you see this characteristic dormer, you can point it out and impress your friends with your knowledge of maritime architecture!

Today, Tuesday, we stayed in the park all day. After all, what prettier place could we be? Relaxed around camp, visited the Interpretive Center, took a hike through the arboretum, enjoyed the  Fisher Lakes some more (which made us homesick for our friends Dean and Judy Fisher), and all in all, had a lovely day! Curt swam in Lily Lake while I worked on some music (writing a new song).

Then tonight after work, Cliff and Carolyn met us here at our campsite, and together we went out for dinner at Lily's Garden, a delightful restaurant here in the park overlooking Lily Lake. We talked and laughed and shared stories until the restaurant closed, then came back to the pop-up and continued the party. What a wonderful evening with new friends. Since they both love to travel, I'm sure the four of us will meet again somewhere!

This is our last night at St. John. Tomorrow we start in the direction of Lubec, Maine again. But we'll make an overnight stop in the historic town of St. Andrews, New Brunswick, north of Eastport, Maine. We realized a few days ago that we had planned to intersperse the occasional B&B among our camping days, yet we haven't stayed in a B&B since our first night out, June 10! So we'll be treating ourselves to a REAL bed and a gourmet breakfast...and I'm really looking forward to soaking in the claw foot tub!

Last Days in Nova Scotia

Days 61 and 62 of trip, Saturday and Sunday, August 9 & 10, 2014

Yesterday (Saturday) we woke up after a night of steady rain. Once again, our trusty little Jayco Baja kept us warm and dry. We had to move to a different campsite with everything soaking wet on the outside, but once the sun came out, all was dry in no time.

About this moving to a different campsite thing... Many of the Canadian campgrounds seem to have a different type of reservation system than we're used to. They assign specific campsites as people make reservations, and much of the time we're reserving sites just by a number, having no idea where it's located or what it looks like. Consequently, unless you have reserved your specific siite months in advance, you get to choose from the fragments that are left...which often means that you change campsites within the same campground several times during your stay. This has happened to us in the last 3 campgrounds. Though we reserved 5 nights, we stayed in 3 different sites. I think it's not so bad if you have a hard side travel trailer. You just hook up and go. But in a pop-up, you have to unhook the propane stove and stow it, pack everything away so you can fold in the tent ends, clamp down the top, raise the stabilizer pads, hitch up the trailer, move it, and undo everything you just did to set up on the other side of the campground. I'm not much of a complainer, but I must admit, this multi-site camping has gotten to be rather inconvenient... And a little tiresome!

But we made the move, once again, and decided on another in-camp day after our all-day trip to Lunenburg the day before. In the afternoon Vivian came over to our new campsite and she and I spent a couple of hours playing mandolin together in the little screen room that Curt and I like to set up when we camp. What fun to learn from one another and teach each other things we have learned!

I put a wonderful stew in the crock pot (our new favorite camping appliance, since it allows us to do other things and return to camp with a hot meal ready!), and we invited Vivian and Dennis over for our last dinner together. It's amazing how much the two couples have in common, and we have SO enjoyed our time with them!

Just as they were leaving, the full moon topped the pine trees. Here's the view from our campsite:

Apparently this mom is a "super moon," which, I think, means that the moon is closer to the earth than usual.  It looked pretty super to us!

This morning it was pack-up time again. We had several hours to drive to catch the 3-hour ferry from Digby, Nova Scotia to St. John, New Brunswick. The moment we got everything packed up and stepped into the truck, the rain started. We were SO grateful that it hadn't started an hour earlier!

The drive was lovely. The rain receded, and we saw some beautiful farms along the way. Here's one:

These are salmon farms where they cultivate the salmon that we eat that weren't caught in the wild. 

We arrived early at the ferry (better to be a couple hours early than one minute late!!!....especially when it only runs twice a day, and you're taking the second one!). So we checked in, then went into the town of Digby to explore a little and have a late lunch. All the streets in Digby were blocked off. Turns out today was their big annual Scallop Fest. So for lunch, of course we had to have the world-famous Digby scallops! It's a picturesque little fishing town...not as tourist oriented as Lunenburg seemed to be, and we liked it better for that.

Here's Digby's Main Street, where they were having a classic auto contest as part of the Scallop Fest:

And my favorite of the cars. Better hope there's not a pebble on the road!

Back to the ferry to board. Here she is at dock, waiting for us all to drive on:

We spent the three hours on board in several enjoyable pursuits...reading, knitting (me, not Curt), sipping Starbucks tea, watching a film on whale research in the Bay of Fundy, and enjoying the sea air and the view. 

Here's our last glimpse of Nova Scotia in the distance,

And our first view of St. John, N.B. 

It was funny...though we were the second vehicle on the ferry, we were the very last ones off. They place the vehicles very tightly on the ferry, of course, so they can get more on. They loaded the two pop-up trailers first, against a wall and under an overhang, stacked the cars behind us, and the semis alongside us. As we were getting in our vehicles ready to leave, Curt struck up a conversation with the man driving the car pulling the pop-up trailer ahead of us. His battery had died on the ferry ride. There was nothing we could do but sit behind him until vehicles were off, and they drove a truck back in from the bow of the ferry to give him a jump. We always like to be the last ones at a party!

Now we're settled into our new campground...and we get to stay in the same site all three days that we plan to be here! Hurrah!

This is a unique experience, though. We've never camped in a Municipal Park before. St. John has a lovely 2200 acre park right in the middle of this big, industrial city, and that's where we are. Our campsite overlooks the city...not exactly a wilderness view, but very interesting! 

This park is the largest municipal park in Canada, and it was was designed by the son of Calvert Vaux, the partner of the man who designed Central Park in New York City. 

As soon as we finished setting up camp, we looked up and saw the "super moon" in the sky. A little different setting than last night's view...

We've already heard several trains go by (just below us!), and there's lots of traffic noise. But somehow, I don't think it's going to bother us a bit. It's all part of the adventure!

Halifax and Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

days 58, 59 and 60 of trip, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, August 6, 7, and 8, 2014

We DID end up having a relaxing day in camp on Wednesday, and it was a real treat after Tuesday's long drive. No photos of that day...it's not very exciting to look at pictures of 2 people tidying up camp, doing laundry, lounging around the pool, reading, and cooking, so I thought I'd spare you the boredom. We met our camp neighbors, Annette and Bob, from British Columbia. They were getting ready to fly back home after a month's vacation with their family in a rented motor home. So when they cleaned our their fridge and cupboards, we were the grateful recipients of their bounty! 

We also reconnected with Dennis and Vivian whom we met on PEI, and who are camped around the loop from us here, and had a wonderful evening of conversation, music, tea & cookies.

Wednesday we headed into Halifax in the early afternoon. We had heard that it was the week for the buskers to be doing their music and various acts all over the streets of Halifax, but alas, that turned out to be last week. However, we headed for the Maritime Museum and had a terrific time around the Harbour. 

The nets in the museum chandlery reminded me of my cousins' grandfather, whom I only knew as Papa Kjar. He and his wife emigrated from Denmark (as did my mother's parents) in the early 1900s. 

Papa was a fishnet maker, and he would sit on the sidewalk outside his house in Jacksonville, Florida every day, knotting his fishnets by hand. As Jacksonville became more and more urbanized, he was soon dwarfed by the increasing commercial development on his street, but still he sat outside making fishnets. Pedestrians would stop and visit with him, and he would explain what he was doing in his thick Danish accent. He always managed to sell the fishnets; they were such a work of fine old-world craftsmanship that even though Jacksonville was no longer a fishing town, people just wanted to have one of his nets for the esthetic value. Papa was always very kind to me. he would pat me on my head and call me "Le'el Kahen," and he would let me sit and watch him work, explaining the process very patiently. I wish I remembered it!

We toured the historic research vessel, the Acadia. Since my Dad was on ships in the Navy, I've always loved them. They have a unique smell that I've experienced nowhere else, which always brings back memories.

The Admiral's daughter at the helm.

Here are a few shots of Halifax Harbour. A very picturesque place!

Aren't the clouds magnificent in these photos? I've never seen clouds like the ones here in the Maritime Provinces!

We went into the last shop in North America that still makes crystal by hand, blowing glass and cutting the designs into it, Nova Scotian Crystal.

We were fortunate enough to catch one of the master craftsmen at work. Between his thumb and forefinger you can barely see one of the decorative grooves he has just cut into the crystal vase. He was so precise and sure-handed; it was fascinating to watch him.

We returned back to camp to a crockpot of homemade French onion soup that had been simmering all day (thanks to the bounty of onions from Anita and Bob!). We took the soup over to Dennis and Vivian's motor home and shared a delicious dinner with them.

Today we visited the picturesque harbour town of Lunenburg. We knew Vivian and Dennis were heading there as well, but since none of us had ever been there, we didn't know how to arrange to meet each other. So we just left it that if we saw each other there, that would be great, but we weren't going to spend a lot of our sightseeing time searching. As Curt and I drive through the many crowded streets looking for nonexistent parking places, we figured that we'd be touring the city alone. Finally we found a full parking lot right next to the harbour, and we had to wait about 10 minutes until a parking space opened up. As we sat there in the truck, Dennis and Vivian were eating lunch at an outdoor restaurant just above us. Dennis was wondering why that truck was just sitting there, and it gradually dawned on him, when he saw Curt's washtub bass in the bed of the pickup, that it was us. So the four of us managed to enjoy the town together after all!

Lunch overlooking the harbour.

The Bluenose was a beautiful historic racing and fishing sailing vessel that was built in Lunenburg Harbour and launched in 1921. She was an undefeated schooner and was a great source of pride for Nova Scotia. In 1946 she stuck a reef off Haiti and sank. However, the ship had become such a legend and a symbol of Nova Scotian fishing and sailing prowess that the Bluenose II was built and launched in 1963. Curt had read about this magnificent vessel and was hoping that she would be at harbour when we arrived. We were in luck! She is being restored, so though we couldn't board her or take a sail on her (as he had hoped), we did get to see her up close in all her splendor. What a treat!

Facing the stern.

The cabin and mainsail.

Facing the bow, with Lunenburg in the background.

A point of interest for me was finding a handweaver's shop. The weaver was taking a day off today, but her apprentice, Karen, was delightful, and she answered all my questions. She had even been to Austin, Texas! I've always enjoyed fiber arts, so I was just as happy finding this shop as Curt was in finding the Bluenose II !

Just a few more miscellaneous shots of Lunenburg, it's buildings, murals, and some picturesque scenes I liked:

And the cutest shot of Vivian and Dennis!

Tonight we're snug and warm in our pop-up with rain coming down steadily on the roof. Curt is reading and I'm reliving the day...an altogether cozy evening. Tomorrow is our last day on Nova Scotia, and then Sunday we'll take the ferry back to New Brunswick. We're headed back toward the States within the week. We've loved our visit to Canada!