Prince Edward Island

Days 49 & 50 of trip, Monday and Tuesday, July 28 and 29, 2014

Before leaving New Brunswick, we needed to make one last stop Monday morning in the little town of Alma. Our friends Carolyn and Cliff had told us that Collins Seafood sold vacuum packed lobster already taken out of the shell. That sounded like paradise to us! So we stopped by and visited Kelsey again.

She showed us a live yellow lobster that had been caught. It's due to a rare genetic mutation. The odds of finding one, according to Wikipedia, are one in thirty million! You can't tell it from the photo here, but he was MAD about being picked up. He flipped his tail back and fort trying to break Kelsey's hold on him, but she hung on!

Driving from Bay of Fundy National Park up through Moncton and back down to the Confederation

Bridge to PEI was a scenic journey. It looked much like the photos I've shown you before, so I didn't take a lot of pictures. 

I took a few photos of the 8-mile long Confederation Bridge we traveled from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island, but from ground level you couldn't tell now spectacular it is. So below, I pirated a photo from a calendar. Much better view! This bridge takes 10-14 minutes to,cross. pretty impressive!

After checking into the campground we set up,camp. This time it was a real adventure. We had been getting pretty smug about how efficient we were at setting up and breaking camp, and we'd given ourselves lots of compliments on our skills. Well, this time we sure didn't make it look easy! Between the hordes of mosquitos (which are just going to be a fact of life, I guess, on an island) and the soggy ground that made it hard to get anything level, the task that usually takes us 20-25 minutes took closer to an hour and a half. We were hoping the nearby campers weren't watching us from the windows of their motor homes! Pride goeth before a fall.

That evening we met some neighboring campers, Millie and Wayne, who were having an impromptu music session in their motor home. So we squeezed in among them, and Dewey and Diane, and Mike and Anne, and played and sang songs till quiet hour at 11pm. What a great time! Mike is a former professional Nashville musician (for 20-plus years), so he knows every old country-western song out there, and he made the rest of us sound pretty good!

Tuesday we decided to take in a little of the Anne of Green Gables historical information. Now for you guys who probably don't know (and a few women who might not be familiar), Anne of Green Gables is the first in a series of classic children's books that have been extremely popular (especially among girls) for generations. Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author, lived and wrote the books here on Prince Edward Island. Though the books are fiction, the places in the novels were real, so there's a huge amount of interest in seeing the places where Anne had her adventures. So popular, in fact, that there's even a National Park where L.M. Montgomery  lived, and of the house that she used as the setting for Green Gables, the house where Anne "lived." Truly, a person could spend several days to a week here, taking in all the "Anne" attractions, and many do. We decided to limit ourselves to the National Park and to skip the museums, plays, and theme parks. They seem geared more toward families,with children. Maybe someday I can come back with a few granddaughters and experience that.

But it was lovely and peaceful, strolling around the grounds, through the woods, and seeing all the places that L.M. Montgomery wrote about in her books (many of which, I forgot to mention, have been made into quality movies. Our girls really enjoyed both the books and movies...many times!). Green Gables has been restored and furnished with period pieces, and many things which were mentioned in the books. It looks MUCH nicer today than it would have when it was actually a working farm owned by L.M. Montgomery's relatives.

After we explored Green Gables, inside and out, down the lane and in the barn, we headed for the part of th coast that's also part of the National Park. This is the Gulf of St. Lawrence,  and it's absolutely breathtaking! (Both in the beauty and the water temperature!)

Everything we've heard about the beauty of the island is true so far. Wherever we drive, there are stunning views, charming villages, scenic rolling farmlands....simply beauty everywhere!

My favorite land views so far are the patchwork farms alternating hay and potato crops.

Last night we had another jam session. We put up a sign at the campground office to invite others to come. We ended up with 2 more guitars (played by Ivor and his wife, Brenda), another mandolin (played by Vivian from Bend, Oregon), and a fiddle played by Cecil from Nova Scotia. Also a singer from Wales. So we had a wonderful time. Naturally, we outgrew the motor home, so the campground let us use a room where they'd hold concerts on the weekends. 

Too bad we won't be here this weekend. Some champion fiddlers from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, will be performing. But we've already made our reservations and we'll be AT Cape Breton! Hope we'll be able to hear some of their famous fiddlers there.

After the jam we visited new friends from Bend, Oregon, Vivian and Dennis, in their motor home. We talked till LATE in the night, finding so much in common. 

This was a day of Round-Number Landmarks for us. Our 50th day of the trip, the odometer turned over to 4,000 miles, and the 2,000th reader logged onto this blog. I see I've picked up readers from Germany, Venezuela, Poland, Russia, and the Ukraine, as well as Canada and the U.S. Welcome, all of you...and thank you for reading. That keeps me motivated to write!

Two Relaxing Days at Bay of Fundy N.P.

Days 47 and 48 of trip, Saturday & Sunday, July 26 & 27

Ahhhh...two days hanging out around camp, just to relax and enjoy our surroundings. It is the weekend, after all!

We just worked at camp chores Saturday morning. In the afternoon Curt wanted to go swimming, but I felt more like hanging out in camp. So he headed to the Park's saltwater pool for a couple of hours. It's a large pool, overlooking the ocean. 

I wandered around the campground and found a lovely spot overlooking the ocean, where I happily knitted for a couple of hours, listening to the waves roll in below. It was heavenly!

Then we found the place where you can walk cown the steep steps (122 to be exact!) into the little town of Alma. 

Now Alma is no booming metropolis...you can pretty well walk it end to end in about 6 minutes. There's not a lot of tourist fluff there...one gift shop, several inns, and about half a dozen seafood places, all featuring Bay of Fundy lobster.

I told myself I wouldn't write about any more lobster meals, but this one was a unique experience. We checked out the menus at a couple of restaurants and decided we really didn't want to spend that much money. So we found a place off the street, overlooking the water, that wasn't really a restaurant...it was more of a lobster shop where you could go in and buy lobster live or cooked, and take it home to eat it. Here's their live tank, with a couple of the big guys coming up to the surface:

There was one table in the shop, so we asked the girl behind the counter, Kelsey, if we could eat a lobster there. She helped us pick one out, heated up some butter for us, and we were as happy as could be. No drinks, coleslaw, corn, potatoes, rolls, or anything else usually served with lobster...just lobster and butter. Period. We figured we could get our veggies after we got back to the camper. This was not exactly fine dining, but it was delicious eating, and who were we to complain about the ambiance? We spent less than 1/3 of what we would have spent in a restaurant, and we got only the very best part of the meal! Thanks, Kelsey!

Plus we worked off all that butter taking the 122 steps back up into the campground.

Yesterday we hung around the campground for most of the day. Met a great couple, Cliff and Carolyn Chaisson who were camped in a pop-up trailer next to us. They're a fun loving couple, and they gave us all kinds of ideas of things to do on our trip. 

We'll be seeing them again, for sure. Curt has been wondering where he could get the oil changed in the truck. Turns out that Cliff and Carolyn own Charlotte Street Auto in St. John, New Brunswick, so that's the first stop when we get off the ferry from Nova Scotia next week.

We met several other couples and families around the campground, and just enjoyed a day of visiting. I did get a chance to snap a few photos of some of the flowers and scenery in the park:

Then we spent time doing some necessary details, like making reservations for the next leg of our trip (a 2-hour process with the technological challenges we have up here!) and beginning to organize the camper for traveling. So we're all set for 4 days on Prince Edward Island, and at least 4 more in Nova Scotia. 

I love Texas, but I've never really made friends with the heat in the summer there. THIS is what I love...high temperatures in the mid 70s to 80, coolish nights, and a good rain every few days to keep things cool and green. It's been a long time since I've experienced this type of weather, and I can't get enough of it!

Next time you hear from me , we'll be on Prince Edward Island. See you then!

OOPS!

That was supposed to be FUNDY National Park!

Funy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada

Day 46 of trip, Friday, July 25 

We were up early Friday morning to make the 45 minute drive to Hopewell Rocks, north of here near the very tip of the Bay of Fundy. We wanted to catch the low tide so we could see the "Flowerpot Rocks" we've heard so much about. Low tide was 6 a.m., and Curt wanted to get up at 5 so we could be there for the lowest  point. Now that we're in the Atlantic time zone, that translates to 3 am for those of you in Central, and 2 am for our friends and family in Mountain time. So you can appreciate why I resisted a little about the 5:00 idea. It turned out to be a great thing! We left the campsite a little after 7 a.m. And arrived at Hopewell Rocks at 7:59, just in time for the 8:00 opening. Who knew there was a gate? We sure didn't, and apparently neither did the people in the 50 or so cars that were all waiting outside the gate. Not knowing what was going on, we drove right up to the gate to read the sign just as the man swung it open, so we were the first ones through. Although we were getting glares from the other people parked all along the roadsides (those arrogant Texans!), there was nothing we could do but drive on through at the head of the line, to make room for the rest to follow. Not arrogance, really... As we're fond of saying, it's all in the timing! And blind luck timed that one for us.

There was still plenty of low tide left (and plenty of time and space) for all of us to spend a couple of happy hours among the flowerpot rocks before the tide (rising 5 vertical feet an hour on flat water) came far enough in for us to scramble back up the steep steps and get out of the way before it came rushing up in that constricted cove. Here is a taste of what we saw:

Check out that fog...there's a huge ocean out there!

Curt doing what he loves best...going where no one else dares. Who, me? Danger? Where?

Or just playing...here he's rock surfing on the beach.

This exhibit from the Visitors Center shows where we've been, where we are and where we're going. In the very lower left is Lubec, Maine and Campobello Island, N.B. The arrow shows Hopewell Rocks, and you can see the fingers of the very upper end of the Bay of Fundy. 

This shot of the Bay of Fundy's upper end shows the small province of Prince Edward Island (called PEI around here) above. That's where we're headed tomorrow (Monday) to stay for 4 days. Nova Scotia is the larger province to the right, slanting southwest to northeast. From PEI we will take a ferry to Nova Scotia on Friday. There we'll go to the very northernmost tip, Cape Breton (home of some of the world's best musicians, especially fiddle players). We'll stay at Cape Breton Highlands National Park 4 days before catching another ferry from Nova Scotia back to St. John, New Brunswick on the mainland.

But back to last Friday. We did a lot of driving and hiking, both in and out of the National Park. Saw a couple of lovely covered bridges mad hiked some beautiful trails through fir forests down to he ocean.

View out the window of the Sawmill Covered Bridge.

Point Wolfe Bridge

View out the window of the Point Wolfe Bridge.

A couple of shots of hiking trails we walked:

This is a typical view from the truck as we drive...fog rolling in and defining 3 layers of mountain coves joking the sea. It's spectacular!

We wrapped up Friday evening attending a variety show put on by the Park. It was "Molly Kool's Kitchen Party" and it intertwined local history, folklore, humor, traditional music, dancing, and refreshments all in one lively, delightful family-friendly hour. Made me want to hold a kitchen party with all of our friends. But we have to get a kitchen first!

Brother and sister duo Sarah (age 8) and John (age 6). Boy, could they play!

I never knew how many people you could get dancing in a dark kitchen! The cabin was the childhood home of Molly Kool, North America's first woman sea captain. 

Deeper into Canada

Days 42-45 of trip, Monday-Thursday, July 21-24, 2014

Whew! It's been a long time since I've written. Seems like we've been doing a lot of packing and unpacking of the camper. But we're on the move again, after our 2 1/2 week stay in the Lubec/Campobello area. We enjoyed ourselves so much there that we'll probably try to stop back by on the return trip.

Monday was stay-around-camp-and- organize day. We had gotten a little sloppy, staying in one place for so long. So we did laundry and re packed the trailer and the truck for the next leg of the trip. The campground was deserted all day except for us, so we had no competition for the laundromat. 

There's our little camper, all by itself at the end of the campsites.

I came out of the laundromat at the campground and found Curt throwing washers, so a friendly battle ensued. He won, but I'll get him next time! We thought about all the people in Lukenbach who were probably throwing washers at the same time. Some things are the same...north or south, Canada or the U.S .

I forgot to mention that over the weekend we made friends with a nice family in the campground from Maine, Chad, Amy and 6 year old Camden. Camden was such a delight, always cheerful, always wanting to know where we'd been and if we'd had a nice time. When he found out I was a music teacher, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. It was their last night there, and even though it was almost dark and the mosquitos were vicious, I just had to pull out the ukuleles and give him a lesson. He was thrilled, and he caught on really quickly. So we played and sang Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Are You Sleeping, Brother John until way past BOTH our bedtimes (much to the delight of at least a thousand mosquitos). So, now that I've taught ukulele in Canada, I can say I teach music internationally!

Tuesday I spent much of the day at a watercolor painting class. I'd overheard someone talking about it last week when we were in Jocie's Porch, and I got all the details so I could attend this week. I just happened to have my watercolor paint supplies with me, so this was the perfect opportunity to break them out. We had a wonderful time learning to paint birch trees! While I painted, Curt enjoyed some quiet time and then explored Campobello Island a bit more.

Here's our teacher, Ellie Carbone, demonstrating a technique.

And this is the whole class, with my unfinished birch tree painting in the foreground.

That night we met Lynne and Larry for a final dinner together, then played cards at their house till way too late! Crossed the border back into Canada at midnight.

Nevertheless, we were up early Wednesday, and we got the camper packed and headed out of Herring Cove Provincial Park. Made a couple of quick stops in Lubec, and we were off. 

Goodbye, voracious mosquitos!

Wednesday (yesterday) evening we arrived at New River Beach Provincial Park. It was a quick intermediate stop, so we didn't do the full camp set-up. We skipped putting up the labor-intensive awning and the little separate screen room that we really enjoy using on longer stays. Instead we spent our time down on the beach, enjoying walking, running and playing in the evening fog at low tide. I LOVE the smell of the ocean!

The dark band about1/3 of the way up the cliff shows you how high the tide gets.

Curt exploring the rocks in the distance. Don't you love the green covered tree roots in the foreground? I'm not sure how that happens, but it looks really unique! 

Up till last night we've been pretty lucky with the rain. Every time we had big rains, we were able to stay put a day to two till the camper dried. This morning, things were different. It rained steadily all night, and we had to fold up the camper wet. I don't know if you can see in the photo how wet the tent sides were, but I assure you, water was running off them as we folded everything in.

It rained off and on all day as we traveled farther northeast, deeper into Canada, but it made the spectacular scenery even more green and beautiful. In weather like that I love to knit, so that's what I did all day in the car. Hence, very few photos. Here's one of the seaport city of Saint Johns, New Brunswick:

We made it to Fundy National Park about 5 p.m., and barely got a campsite! We weren't sure what to expect as we unfolded the wet camper, but everything has been so well designed in our little Jayco that nothing was wet inside. Hurrah! We'll sleep,we'll again tonight.

We had a chance to take a quick trip to a nearby beach at low tide and walk around a bit. That tiny finger of blue land you see in the distance at the left of the photo is part of Nova Scotia (It doesn't look like it in the photo, but there is a LOT of water between us and Nova Scotia!) That'll be where we head next, after we spend a few days exploring around the Bay of Fundy.

The little village of Alma, taken from the beach:

This is how we saw the beach at about 6 pm as the tide was just starting to come in. About an hour later Curt had to run down to Alma to pick up something at the general,store, and he said the entire beach was underwater! 

But tomorrow we'll see even more dramatic sights, so I'll be sure to keep you posted with what's happening way up North!