Hello from Our Final Hoorah in Canada

We crossed New Brunswick fairly quickly cutting through the heart of the province.It was a pretty drive as the autumn leaves have just begun to show a bit of fall color changing. We had a lovely time along the St. John River all day walking around King’s Landing. It is a 19th century reconstructed historical village depicting life in early New Brunswick. The various interpreters dressed in 1800s period costumes were ever so willing to share many interesting and fascinating tidbits with us. Entering the settlement’s numerous buildings we were able to see an old saw mill in operation, a printer making signs, blacksmith forging iron fittings, the King’s Tavern serving food and drink, and various farmhouse folks performing their daily tasks.

King's Landing ladies visit the Hagerman House 1880

Ladies dawning their fashions around the village

Sawmill runs from the nearby pond feeding the water wheel turning

Betsy the horse walks on a thread mill which turns the blade to cut logs

Finally a drive about 15 kilometers north to see the world’s longest covered bridge at Hartland, New Brunswick was a must do before departing Canada. As we pulled up to the entrance of the bridge there was a height restriction of 10 feet posted, so unfortunately the rig couldn’t cross the bridge. 

Hartland Covered Bridge

Canada has been a grand odyssey filled with terrific memories these past four months while traveling across its wonderful nation. There are doers and dreamers and we DID IT in the best way possible. The border crossing put us into the USA at Houlton, Maine today. 

"We LOVED being along for the ride. It was a BLAST!"  Madeline, Yukon, and Gaspe (The Three Little Travelin Bears)

The next phase of the trip finds us heading off as leaf peepers to enjoy quaint little hamlets in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.






"Hey honey wanna find a summer cottage in New England to buy?"
"Well how about a grand B&B Inn along a river so all our family and friends can come join us as guests too. "
"There ARE possibilities you know."

Feel free to tune into the blog any day to keep up on the road adventures ahead throughout October. Blessings and Happy Fall to you...

Good Tidings from the Bay of Fundy’s Hopewell Rocks and Cape Enrage

Hopewell Rocks at low tide in the Bay of Fundy

Well, we have crossed back into New Brunswick starting off with visiting the Bay of Fundy. At Hopewell Rocks where they have pillars of eroded sea cliffs called ”the flower pots”people can walk around in the mudflats during low tide. The catch is you must walk down this steep stair well along the sea cliffs to get to the bottom at the shoreline. Since it was low tide we dawned our rubber boots so we could walk out quite a ways and take a look at the awesome rocks and scenery. You could see where the algae line was as to where the tide will rise and return six hours later. The tidal change the day we came varied 27 feet. On a blue moon it has been as much as a 44 foot tidal change. Christa maintained she planned to give herself a mud facial at the flats, but at the last minute chickened out settling for a face tattoo instead Always a kid at heart. 

Remember what does down has to go back up

This stairwell photo is only half of what there was to climb. You gotta just do it and forget the metal see through grates below your feet. Vertigo anyone?

Mid tide level here about 10 feet

Best to skiddadle folks as the water level rises to the algae on the cliffs

Kayakker bliss... they won't be climbing the stairwell

The following day we returned to catch the high tide and took a drive to Cape Enrage near Fundy Bay National Park to explore the lighthouse grounds. 

Cape Enrage Lighthouse

And to imagine a year ago the lady could barely make it up three stairs learning how to walk again.

 

Sawmill Bridge in Harvey, New Brunswick

It was windy and cold up there so splurging for lunch at the light keeper house café proved to be an epicurean delight. Chef Jeremy Wilbur actually came to the table to chat and serve us with an incredible scrumptious meal. He had prepared the best sea chowder we’ve ever tasted, tossed walnut salad with fresh blue berries and figs, and lobster poutine in moray cream sauce with Armenian cheese curds topped with piri piri sauce and fried yam strips.

Returning to camp we spotted a prairie chicken crossing the road, blue heron standing in the marshland, and wooden covered Sawmill Bridge built in 1905 along the way. Now this is one way to enjoy the good life in retirement. We plan to explore through New Brunswick in the coming week before crossing back into the USA to catch the changing autumn foliage in upper New England. 

Taking the road less traveled by through the woods while leaving only footprints behind

Greetings from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

Good Day from Peggy’s Cove to Chester, Nova Scotia

Quit work and name your sailboat

Driving along Hwy 333 and 329 on the coastline southwest of Halifax around the shore of St. Margarets Bay and Mahone Bay brought some of our best maritime moments on the trip. Peggy’s Cove is a famous tourist attraction. Little did we expect when we first arrived at 10:45 am that there would be three tour buses from Halifax cruise ships with people every where. We immediately bailed from the scene and made plans to return in the evening towards sunset instead. Our campsite was only 5 miles away so we figured we might have a better chance at Peggy’s Cove without droves of tourists.

See all those morning tourists at Peggy's Cove... there were 300 more too!

Spending the rest of the day along an Atlantic coast drive lead us among the charming villages that line the coast toward Chester. In that community we were pleasantly surprised with its tree-lined streets and elegant residences that have been a favorite summer resort for vacationers from America’s East Coast for more than a century and a half.With two harbors and access to the bay with its 365 small islands, beautiful Chester is a yachtsman’s paradise. Enjoy a glimpse of a number of Nova Scotia’s most attractive villages and small towns. Elemental harshness and cozy domesticity exist side by side in the tiny fishing port called Peggy’s Cove. 

We were able to catch the cove at dusk and its lighthouse at sunset.Off to find the next horizons… 

Have a good day!

Dusk at Peggy's Cove Light House

Dusk ... See any tourists around?

Anyone like to buy this little run about?

Margaret Bay dories

Just a little summer cottage

More summer retreats at Mahone Bay

Catching the evening sunlight at Peggy's Cove

JR catches the sunset at Peggy's Cove

and Christa catches JR in the sunset... This is a keeper!

Lobster traps line the roads

Gotta love those buoys

Greetings… Once Again from Nova Scotia

Gotta Come to Newfoundland to Get Screeched

Signal Hill

We have wrapped up our adventures in Newfoundland by spending the last four days in St, John. It is both the largest city and the capitol of the province. A drive up Signal Hill gave a spectacular view below of St. John and The Narrows which is the entrance to the harbor. The name Jelly Bean Row is appropriate for all St. John’s colorful buildings. Chabot Tower atop the hill was established in 1792 as a military lookout to signal the arrival of ships. Originally the French had control of Signal Hill until the British ceased an attack and took control of it later on The Hill was used primarily as a wireless transmitting station across the Atlantic for many years. Guglielmo Marconi was the signal operator first to hear the distress call from the Titanic 365 miles out at sea.

Cape Spear new modern lighthouse aides ships into St. John Harbor

Signal Hill Outlook at St. John Harbor

Meet Mercedes a Newfoundland Labrador

Enjoying a hike atop Signal Hill in St. John

In Quidi Vidi which is a small fishing village cove we had an authentic Newfoundland experience at one of the fishing sheds. Each of us took the chance to get screeched. Neither of us knew what it was about but now we are certified “Newfies”. Basically you swash a big mouthful of Newfoundland Screech Rum, hold it awhile, swallow it down, and then kiss the lips of a cod fish. The Newfoundlanders were generous enough to send us off afterwards with some fresh cod caught that morning. The cod was even cleaned into fillets as well

Oh Boy... Gotta love that Screech

JR goes lip to lip with a cod fish

Next a drive out to Cape Spear placed us at the most easterly point of land in North America. JR wanted to climb down the rocky cliffs to the Atlantic but it was far too dangerous. Thank goodness he reconsidered. We did have a lovely hike in the cool sea breeze climbing up the hillside to explore the cape’s two lighthouses. One of them built in 1836 happens to be the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland.

Cape Spear Lighthouse #1

Cape Spear Light House #2 The oldest in North America

Visiting The Rooms , a provincial museum and art gallery set above the colorful Jelly Bean Row houses, St. John the Baptist Catholic Basilica and St. Andrews churches, shopping on Waterfront Street and enjoying bowls of Atlantic seafood chowder at one of the many Irish pubs along George Street Alley finished up our sightseeing in St. John.

On the hilltop above Placentia Bay to see the fortification at Castle Hill built in 1662 by the French as a stronghold against the British topped off our last historical site.

We catch the long sixteen hour ferry crossing overnight from Argentia, Nfld back to Sydney, Nova Scotia on Thursday, September 9th. Then we will be off exploring more of that beautiful maritime province once again for a few weeks.

Battening Down and Heading to Eastern Newfoundland

As soon as we heard Hurricane Earl was about to hit Halifax, Nova Scotia tracking its movement toward Newfoundland has been a high priority for us. The decision was to head inland and position ourselves out of the eye of the storm. We caught some morning sunrise cloud cover from the hurricane in the central part of the island along with rain. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A day’s side excursion adventure northward in the Toad with Yukon up the Bonavista Peninsula that jets out into the Atlantic Ocean gave us decent sunny weather. Rugged coastal landscape of sea cliffs, harbor inlets, and enchanting small village coves are seen along the Discovery Trail. 

Morning rainbow as Hurricane Earl winds approach at Gander

 

 

Trinity was a quaint and charming old fishing village set in a cove with two grand churches and about fifteen colorful 19th century historic buildings . A theater group in costume does a walk about in town for the tourists. 

Trinity and its colorful builfings

Trinity Cove  morning reflections

 

At Ellison we were on a mission to discover puffins nesting out on the mounds atop a small island visible to the eye. Most of them were hiding in their burrows to protect their young from the sea gulls as predators. JR caught a few puffins in flight bringing small capien fish to their young in the burrows. A puffin lays only one egg per year. 

Puffins hide in nesting burrows to avoid sea gull predators

Puffin in flight with fish for its offspring

Had we been there three weeks earlier hundreds of puffins would have been visible we are told. 

Next a bull moose was spotted grazing off the roadside. It posed without the least bit of concern and thankfully wasn’t on the move crossing the road. The count so far for the year is twenty-five damaged vehicle accidents in Newfoundland due to moose crossing the road. We actually saw the side of a car smashed in by a moose. On several other places moose blood has been spotted marking the road as we pass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just another Newfoundland moose

Bonavista is one of the oldest cod fishing villages in Newfoundland in the early days. Today the cod season is only open for three weeks a year to any Newfoundler. The fishing industry as a whole has become a dwindling way of making a livelihood due to overharvesting. We caught the monument of Italian explorer John Cabot who first stepped ashore in the New World at Cape Bonaventure in 1497. 

 

Cape Bonavista Lighthouse

One cannot help but miss the red and white lighthouse built in 1843 at the tip of the windy cape Ryan Premises National Historical Site had several buildings with displays about the early cod fishing. He owned the busy fishing merchant’s processing facility in 1899. It was a fun day, but driving three hundred miles was worth the adventure. Off to bed really tired, we found the remains of Hurricane Earl descending 40 mph winds rocking the Chateau all night long. Sailors would say it is time to batten down the hatches. We have made it safely to the capitol at St. John. The winds are gusty as you can imagine. 

Evening approaches at Cape Bonavista.

 

A Newfoundland Afternoon with the Vikings

Looks like Leif Erickson to me

The Hall main compound built of peat bog

Cheers from L’Anse aux Meadows which is the first Viking settlement in North America dating back to 1000 AD. It is the only authenticated Viking site in the New World. Located at the very tip of the Great Northern Peninsula we have been able to see Labrador just across the strait. This area is often known as Iceberg Alley. In 1960 a Norwegian husband and wife archeological team uncovered the remnants of eight buildings here where the Norse expedition from Greenland settled. The original excavations that took place are overgrown with grasses now, but the mounds are very apparent. Peat from the surrounding bogs was cut and dried for roofing and wall insulation. Enjoy a few photos we captured of some reconstructed sod compounds like the Vikings once lived in here at this World Heritage Site.

The large hall was built for someone with high status like Leif Erickson. It contains a small private room and communal living and working quarters for the rest of the crew.


Lower-status living quarters were a place for roasting bog ore before smelting and quarters for the Irish slaves they brought.

Catching a walrus is no easy task

Store rooms were used possibly for furs,firewood, and perishable items.


History maintains the North America settlement existed ten to twelve years before native aborigines attacked. Also there was a need for the young men of the expedition to return to Iceland to help support the home colony. It takes a hearty soul to live in the harsh long winters October to June in Newfoundland even today. So far we have not experienced the phenominal winds one often hears about here.