Canada Road trip Part One Sept. 2014

Sept. 6 and 7 2014
We decided to leave a day earlier than planned so we set out Sat AM without a definite destination. I had thought about over nighting in Bangor Maine but it was only 2:00 PM when we arrived. Then we headed to Calais Maine and realized we were only about 45 minutes away from a picturesque town I had read about, St Andrews New Brunswick so we forged ahead. No problems with customs and we arrived in St Andrews at about 5:45 PM. The time was an hour ahead of Eastern time. We drove around a bit and decided on the St. Andrews Motel that was right on the waters edge. We sat on our balcony and watched a beautiful sunset until about the final ten minutes when the skies clouded over. We then took a short walk down the street to the Lobster Pub and had a fun dinner eating at the bar with locals. They told us up until about two weeks ago you could not cross the street. Tonight there was not even a car on the street. We had noisy people above us so we we up at midnight, then for the day at 7:00 AM ugghhhhh.. We took a long walk around the town it was a beautiful spot. We left at 11:00 AM and meandered up to our B and B here in St. John. We drove through the worlds largest Sardine factory town and by several beautiful bays. We arrived at our B and. B The Fundy Inn and were told check I was not till 4:00 PM. We had three hours to kill so we drove around including several stops at the reversing falls, and through the downtown. I almost booked us at the downtown Hilton. When we drove by we saw that it was cordoned off and surrounded by police and fire rescue. We heard on the news tonight it was because of an Ebola scare. We checked in at 4:00 on the dot. Jon got to watch the Patriots loose. We are waiting to go to dinner. There are no nearby restaurants except foe fast food so that will probably be where we end up. We are up early at 6:00 AM tomorrow together to Moncton by 9:00 AM then no more schedules for us ! This B and B is in a residential neighborhood so hopefully it will be a quiet night ! It is still quite warm mid 70s today. Last week when we got home from Branson was the warmest week of the entire summer ! It should be cooling down this week.

We loved St. Andrews - this is 7:00 PM - only one car coming down Main St. !

View from our balcony - it started out looking like a good sunset, but then the clouds started creeping in !

Getting cloudier !

Last rays of light shining through...

Jon reading up for the next day's activities

What we do when no one is around….

Quaint waterfront - St. Andrews

Luckily we did not miss the turn off to Black's Harbor - Home of the World's Largest Sardine Factory !

Black Harbor Sardine boats I presume

These guys were hiding waiting for the Sardines to be unloaded

Coast - northbound to St. John

We passed Bedrock on our way

Bridge to St John

Downtown St John - reminded me of Back Bay in Boston

the Hilton in the background - home of the famed 2014 Ebola scare !

Buzz Buzz

Reversing falls St Johns - and what you see is what you get - High tide the water goes one way, low tide it goes the other !

Jon pondering why he let me drag him on another vacation….

Sept 8 2014
We were exhausted last night and ended up at the first restaurant which was lousy Chinese. We were up at 6:00 AM and on the road at 7:00 AM to drive to Moncton to see the tidal bore. The tidal bore occurred on the Chocolate River when the tide switches resulting in a powerful wave when the opposing tides meet. We watched a surfer actually ride the wave. I read that in July two guys surfed the tidal bore for two miles and broke a world record for the longest wave ever surfed. Next we headed to Hopewell rocks. This is an area that at high tide rocks are halfway covered. At low tide which is about 39 feet you can walk on the ocean floor and all around the base of the rocks. We arrived at high tide then headed south to Alma, a tiny town on the Bay of Fundy, then through the Fundy National park. There were spectacular sweeping views of the Bay of Fundy everywhere. We then headed back to Hopewell Rocks to walk on the ocean bottom at low tide. All the towering rocks were now exposed to their base and resembled upside down flower pots. We arrived back at our hotel The Rodd Moncton which we had checked into in the AM because it is located downtown right on the river with a viewing platform to watch the tidal bore. We walked down Main Street to a restaurant called The Pump House. We ended up sitting at the bar next to some guys from Attleboro MA. After dinner we walked a pathway along the river and at 10:00 PM we were treated to our second tidal bore of the day but this time we got to watch it from the light of the full moon. We could not wait to get out of St. John it was really a disappointment just a dirty industrial town but we love Moncton and actually wish we were staying another night.

Now this was mildly entertaining - I commented to Jon - wow - look at fog

Next thing you know - in the thick of it - same truck

Then - real pea soup !

AM hot air ballon

Arriving at Moncton and checking out the Chocolate River and waiting for the Tidal Bore - very low tide

I've got my camera ready

We can hear a slight roar now

And here comes the tidal bore - you can see the guy on surfboard toward the right side of the wave he is just getting ready to get up

Surf City on the tidal bore !

Right in front of us…..

Off to Hopewell Rocks - first we have to make way for ducklings

This is a good aerial shot of the Bay of Fundy. The arrow indicates where Hopewell Rocks is in New Brunswick. The island to the north is Prince Edward Island, and Nova scotia is on the east side of the Bay of Fundy.

Walking down a path to the Hopewell Rocks

Here we are - you can see the tide is up

Jon on the ladder - you can see the area is high with water

This shot is about 6 hours later at low tide - you can literally walk on the ocean's bottom

10:00 AM

Same area 4:00 PM

Jon and I - you can see the wet sea weed still covering the base of the rocks

With the tide out - these are the rocks they call the flower pots

Jon and I

On route to Alma - I love to see laundry on the line

John Deere

Yes - we did sample the Sticky buns and ended up with a box of goodies to go

Jon in Alma

Driving through Fundy National Park

Fundy National park

Once we got out of Fundy National Park, we decided to take some back roads back to Moncton - Gypsy just called the route "road."

Our kind of place - the regulars at the Pump House in Moncton have their own beer mugs !!

Jon and I at the Pump House in Moncton

Full Moon over Moncton - we got to catch a glimpse of the PM tidal bore

Sept 9 2014
We were up and back on the trail starting at Magnetic Hill which is an illusion that your car is being pulled up a hill backward when your car is in neutral. We then drove to PEI crossing on one long 8 mile bridge. Jon hates driving on bridges and was white knuckled despite my efforts to help him stay calm by pondering out loud about how many people actually drove off the bridge, what would happen with if an emergency vehicle needed to pass, when was the time they inspected the bridge etc.... We could not figure out what the toll was for the bridge. We took the first exit off the bridge to stop at the visitors center and learned you only pay on departure from the Island to the tune of 45.00 per vehicle. We decided to knock off the west section of the island today. We stopped in the town of Summerfield, then at a massive Catholic church on the water with a beautiful cemetary. I asked Jon what people did in the winter in this area and then we stumbled upon a site of houses built with glass bottles. We ate lunch at a pub called The Landing and had great scallop wrapped in bacon sandwiches. I am beginning to learn that there are many tasty dishes all having to do with being wrapped in bacon…...The whole area was incredibly green with large fields of rolled hay and miles of farms and flower fields. We circled back to Charlottetown which is the big city located on the waterfront in the middle of the island. We checked into a large Inn, the Harbor House, and we have a king suite on the top floor. We took a stroll about the had dinner at a brewery the Gahan. We just back in and it is already 9:00 PM. We are having amazing sunny days in the 70 s perfect for tooling about. Tommorow more island exploring.

We started the day at Magnetic Hill

Heading to the bridge to PEI

Once we could see land again, Jon started to relax

Moose caution

We drove about half of the North Cape Coastal Drive

This was a beautiful cemetery at the Carmel Notre Dame church

The Chapel at the houses that were built all out of bottles

The alter at the bottle house church

Another house built from bottles

The bar in the bottle house

A glimpse of the bridge and one of the thousands of fields we passed full of rolled hay bundles.

Back in Charlottetown we were fascinated by this chalkboard with spaces to fill in what you would like to do before you die.

Jon wants to meet the author of the second idea…...

Sept 10, 2014
Up and at 'em ! Started with a big breakfast here at the Inn then off to Cavendish to see the Anna of Green Gables House. It was in north central PEI then we drove to the north east side which had beautiful coastline. The scenery was pretty similar everywhere we drove miles of farms and dotted shorelines. We were on a mission to buy some PEI potatoes which we succeeded in. We were driving around all day, then had cocktails on our porch then headed into town to the Hunter Ale House. We had a great meal and good conversation at the bar. We have really enjoyed Charlottetown which reminded us of a large version of St. Augustine. Tomorrow we catch the 11:15 AM ferry and start touring Nova Scotia.

The quaint village of North Rustico

Potatoes and Lobster rule here !

Pulling traps

Potato fields on the north west coast

Anna of Green Gables house

Jon horsing around

Ta Da - Anna of Green Gables house

These are some serious sunflowers

Potato crops on the east side too !

North East sea side

Now that we know where the world begins….

I can smell a winery miles away !

Path to beach - looked like Cape Cod

After watching Jon attempt to relax in the freezing cold ocean - I declined to try it out

PEI was endless farms

Blue horizon

Fishing shacks

Things that make you go hmmpphhh - bus only parking, but handicap restricted and a parking meter

You can not go wrong at Hunter's Ale House !

Sept 11,12 and 13 2014

Thursday. am we caught the ferry from PEI to Nova Scotia then drove several hours arriving at the Silver Lake Lodge at about 4:00 PM on Cape Breton. We checked into our room which is a cute chalet with a wood burning stove and balcony that over looks Bras d'Or Lake. We headed into town and walked about. The town is really cute. We got back and ate dinner at the Lodge restaurant. Up yesterday and on the road to the Cabot Trail. It was a full day with scenery stops and gifts shops. It was a broodish weather day with the sun in and out. We did not get back till 5:30 and had ressies for the Ceildiah at 7:30 so we had some wine and headed into town. The Ceildiah was toe tapping fabulous ! Today we had a full driving and touring at the Fort at Louisburg. Tomorrow on to Halifax !