This is the train tracks across the interstate-equivalent thing I mentioned. Can you believe this? Blows my mind.Saturday, July 24, 2010
I just had to share this picture.
This is the train tracks across the interstate-equivalent thing I mentioned. Can you believe this? Blows my mind.
All good things...
...must come to end. And even though this amazing vacation ended nearly two weeks ago, I thought I ought to do one more entry to have a full record of the trip.
So, pretty much right after I posted the last entry in St. Martins, we were getting ready to go to bed when we hear fire engine sirens and then realize that they are IN the campground! Dad and I went outside to see if we could see what was going on and ended up pointing a few of the volunteer firemen (in their own cars) in the direction we had seen the fire truck go, but we didn't walk as far as the actual fire site. We didn't want to seem obviously nosy, but you could see a huge cloud of smoke rising over the campground. When we left the next morning, we did deliberately drive down the road that the burnt-out camper was on and it was awful. Completely gutted. Luckily, the owners had not been in it the previous night and it didn't seem that either of their neighbors had been there either. They all appeared to be "perms" (as dad calls them) - people who leave their camper at a campground all the time.
Before leaving, we also enjoyed the view of the Bay of Fundy - the mist coming off the bay in the early morning was beautiful.
From St. Martins, we had about 100 miles to get to the border at St. Stephen. We wanted to hit the duty-free shop and stock up on some more candy and last-minute souvenirs. The border in "downtown" St. Stephen is TINY and we drove right past the duty-free shop - which looked like it was closed. So before crossing the border, we turned around and went to the New Brunswick visitor's centre and found out that the shop had actually been closed since the opening of the new border crossing point. This border had only been opened about 6 months earlier, when they completed an extension of Trans-Canada 1, and so it didn't show up on the GPS. So we did a little backtracking and headed to that border, getting excited when we saw that the duty-free was a big building.
We were sadly disappointed when we found out that the big building was pretty much empty. They really didn't have much at all, which really bummed us out. But again, our last visit to a duty-free shop was at the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls, which is a much bigger tourist spot. All we bought was a box of Allsorts licorice (mom) and a bottle of Malibu rum (me). Then we headed to the actual border.
Much to our relief, we were all allowed back in the country. Two border agents did come on board the motorhome and they ended up confiscating our grapes and tomatoes. The grapes they took because we didn't have the original bag which stated their country of origin and the tomatoes they took because apparently in the last couple months there has been a big issue with Canada importing tomatoes from whatever country and then sticking a "Grown in Canada" sticker on them. Don't talk to mom about it - she is still mad! (They were really good tomatoes.)
Dad said, "They're probably going to go have lunch now. With the mayonaise they took off the last camper and the loaf of bread they confiscated yesterday!"
But anyway. It was good to be back in the States - we headed back down Route 9 with the Star-Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful playing on the stereo. :)
We went back to Christie's - which we all agreed looks much nicer in the sunshine. Dad visited with the ducks again and the next morning we had one last breakfast at Tim Hortons. I really wish I'd bought myself a can of Tim's coffee - I don't know why I didn't think of it! Anyway, it was just a short ride down 95 to Freeport, ME - aka the town that the Bean family built. Here is the flagship L.L. Bean store, as well as an L.L. Bean outlet, the Boat & Bike store, the Hunting and Fishing store and the Home store. Amazingly, I really didn't spend TOO much money while we there. We met up with Stephen, Erica and Silas again - they had been in Maine for about a week visiting with Erica's adopted family, the Marshalls. After about 6 hours of shopping, we followed them back to the Marshalls' house, where we "camped" in their driveway and spent a nice evening visiting.
The next day, all the Macumbers departed Maine and drove about 5 hours to Erica's sister's house in Massachusetts. We "camped" in Jessica and Scootie's yard and again enjoyed a nice visit. Silas got to play with his cousin Carter, who is five, and we got to see Erica's new neice, Kenzie Jo, who was born in February. On Saturday morning, Jessica drove us over to Canaan, CT (only about a mile away) and showed us where their grandmother lives - unfortunately, she was visiting family in Colorado and Arizona, so we weren't able to see her.
From Massachusetts, we went through Connecticut and into New York. Following the GPS instructions, we got on the Taconic State Parkway, which is apparently intended to primarily be a commuter highway for Duchess & Westchester County residents to use to get into NYC. As we were getting on, we saw a small sign that read "passenger vehicles only." This caused quite a bit of consternation - did we qualify? Were we too big? And if we weren't supposed to be on this road, what could we do about it now? We were on the entrance ramp - we couldn't exactly go into reverse. And it is a limited-access road - there wasn't really anywhere to get off. We were only supposed to drive it for about 17 miles, so we decided we'd risk it. And with a mile and a half to go, dad got pulled over by a NY state trooper. Turns out it's illegal for anything besides a car or very small pick-up to drive on a parkway in New York State. Luckily, it was pretty obvious we were from out-of-state and clueless, so the trooper let dad off with a warning. We stopped for a Starbucks break and all agreed that the experience had actually been scarier than the re-entry border crossing!
Anyway, eventually we made it to the campground in Milford, PA, which was kind of an odd place. It's not so much a campground as it is an exclusive summer trailer-park. It's almost entirely permanent summer residents with about 10 spaces reserved for Coast-to-Coast members. It was on the edge of a big hunting preserve along the Delaware River and in the morning, we saw an honest-to-God BEAR just strolling down the road in front of the camper. Scared us all half to death! We also saw a deer on the way out.
From Milford, we drove through the rest of PA, through Maryland and into Virginia. I finally got a meal at the Cracker Barrel (a road trip requirement as far as I'm concerned) and then we made it to Shenandoah Crossing Resort in Gordonsville. This place was fancy. Each campsite had a furnished patio and a gas grill. Some also had an outdoor sink and counter space and a few even had a private Jacuzzi. At the bath house, there were three shower rooms that were completely private rooms with heat lamps and fans and a huge shower. Dad and I walked to the lodge that was within walking distance and saw the general store, meeting room area, arcade, fitness room, life-size chess board and the incredible outdoor pool complex. They had a sprinkler area for little kids, a hot tub, a small pool that only went four feet deep, a larger pool that went up to about 6 ft and I think another hot tub. We didn't see the other lodge, with the restaurant (that you could eat at and charge to your campsite, like at a hotel!) and the indoor pool. We also didn't see the lake or the equestrian center. This place was insane! Definitely the kind of place you could come and stay at for like a week. And only about an hour's ride from DC, so you could do siteseeing there too. Of course, we didn't get there until about 8 or 8:30, so it was too late to enjoy anything, but oh well.
Monday morning, we got up and headed down 29 to come home. It rained most of the way, which was pretty miserable, but it was so nice to finally be home, after nearly 4,000 miles!
It was truly an incredible trip - we had so much fun! Don't think we're gonna do any major driving for a while, but we've got plenty of ideas - I want to do the 'Little House' trail - Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Kansas and Missouri - and mom and dad really want to drive the old Route 66. And there's always the fancy RV park at Disney to think about trying out!
So, pretty much right after I posted the last entry in St. Martins, we were getting ready to go to bed when we hear fire engine sirens and then realize that they are IN the campground! Dad and I went outside to see if we could see what was going on and ended up pointing a few of the volunteer firemen (in their own cars) in the direction we had seen the fire truck go, but we didn't walk as far as the actual fire site. We didn't want to seem obviously nosy, but you could see a huge cloud of smoke rising over the campground. When we left the next morning, we did deliberately drive down the road that the burnt-out camper was on and it was awful. Completely gutted. Luckily, the owners had not been in it the previous night and it didn't seem that either of their neighbors had been there either. They all appeared to be "perms" (as dad calls them) - people who leave their camper at a campground all the time.
Before leaving, we also enjoyed the view of the Bay of Fundy - the mist coming off the bay in the early morning was beautiful.
From St. Martins, we had about 100 miles to get to the border at St. Stephen. We wanted to hit the duty-free shop and stock up on some more candy and last-minute souvenirs. The border in "downtown" St. Stephen is TINY and we drove right past the duty-free shop - which looked like it was closed. So before crossing the border, we turned around and went to the New Brunswick visitor's centre and found out that the shop had actually been closed since the opening of the new border crossing point. This border had only been opened about 6 months earlier, when they completed an extension of Trans-Canada 1, and so it didn't show up on the GPS. So we did a little backtracking and headed to that border, getting excited when we saw that the duty-free was a big building.
We were sadly disappointed when we found out that the big building was pretty much empty. They really didn't have much at all, which really bummed us out. But again, our last visit to a duty-free shop was at the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls, which is a much bigger tourist spot. All we bought was a box of Allsorts licorice (mom) and a bottle of Malibu rum (me). Then we headed to the actual border.
Much to our relief, we were all allowed back in the country. Two border agents did come on board the motorhome and they ended up confiscating our grapes and tomatoes. The grapes they took because we didn't have the original bag which stated their country of origin and the tomatoes they took because apparently in the last couple months there has been a big issue with Canada importing tomatoes from whatever country and then sticking a "Grown in Canada" sticker on them. Don't talk to mom about it - she is still mad! (They were really good tomatoes.)
Dad said, "They're probably going to go have lunch now. With the mayonaise they took off the last camper and the loaf of bread they confiscated yesterday!"
But anyway. It was good to be back in the States - we headed back down Route 9 with the Star-Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful playing on the stereo. :)
We went back to Christie's - which we all agreed looks much nicer in the sunshine. Dad visited with the ducks again and the next morning we had one last breakfast at Tim Hortons. I really wish I'd bought myself a can of Tim's coffee - I don't know why I didn't think of it! Anyway, it was just a short ride down 95 to Freeport, ME - aka the town that the Bean family built. Here is the flagship L.L. Bean store, as well as an L.L. Bean outlet, the Boat & Bike store, the Hunting and Fishing store and the Home store. Amazingly, I really didn't spend TOO much money while we there. We met up with Stephen, Erica and Silas again - they had been in Maine for about a week visiting with Erica's adopted family, the Marshalls. After about 6 hours of shopping, we followed them back to the Marshalls' house, where we "camped" in their driveway and spent a nice evening visiting.
The next day, all the Macumbers departed Maine and drove about 5 hours to Erica's sister's house in Massachusetts. We "camped" in Jessica and Scootie's yard and again enjoyed a nice visit. Silas got to play with his cousin Carter, who is five, and we got to see Erica's new neice, Kenzie Jo, who was born in February. On Saturday morning, Jessica drove us over to Canaan, CT (only about a mile away) and showed us where their grandmother lives - unfortunately, she was visiting family in Colorado and Arizona, so we weren't able to see her.
From Massachusetts, we went through Connecticut and into New York. Following the GPS instructions, we got on the Taconic State Parkway, which is apparently intended to primarily be a commuter highway for Duchess & Westchester County residents to use to get into NYC. As we were getting on, we saw a small sign that read "passenger vehicles only." This caused quite a bit of consternation - did we qualify? Were we too big? And if we weren't supposed to be on this road, what could we do about it now? We were on the entrance ramp - we couldn't exactly go into reverse. And it is a limited-access road - there wasn't really anywhere to get off. We were only supposed to drive it for about 17 miles, so we decided we'd risk it. And with a mile and a half to go, dad got pulled over by a NY state trooper. Turns out it's illegal for anything besides a car or very small pick-up to drive on a parkway in New York State. Luckily, it was pretty obvious we were from out-of-state and clueless, so the trooper let dad off with a warning. We stopped for a Starbucks break and all agreed that the experience had actually been scarier than the re-entry border crossing!
Anyway, eventually we made it to the campground in Milford, PA, which was kind of an odd place. It's not so much a campground as it is an exclusive summer trailer-park. It's almost entirely permanent summer residents with about 10 spaces reserved for Coast-to-Coast members. It was on the edge of a big hunting preserve along the Delaware River and in the morning, we saw an honest-to-God BEAR just strolling down the road in front of the camper. Scared us all half to death! We also saw a deer on the way out.
From Milford, we drove through the rest of PA, through Maryland and into Virginia. I finally got a meal at the Cracker Barrel (a road trip requirement as far as I'm concerned) and then we made it to Shenandoah Crossing Resort in Gordonsville. This place was fancy. Each campsite had a furnished patio and a gas grill. Some also had an outdoor sink and counter space and a few even had a private Jacuzzi. At the bath house, there were three shower rooms that were completely private rooms with heat lamps and fans and a huge shower. Dad and I walked to the lodge that was within walking distance and saw the general store, meeting room area, arcade, fitness room, life-size chess board and the incredible outdoor pool complex. They had a sprinkler area for little kids, a hot tub, a small pool that only went four feet deep, a larger pool that went up to about 6 ft and I think another hot tub. We didn't see the other lodge, with the restaurant (that you could eat at and charge to your campsite, like at a hotel!) and the indoor pool. We also didn't see the lake or the equestrian center. This place was insane! Definitely the kind of place you could come and stay at for like a week. And only about an hour's ride from DC, so you could do siteseeing there too. Of course, we didn't get there until about 8 or 8:30, so it was too late to enjoy anything, but oh well.
Monday morning, we got up and headed down 29 to come home. It rained most of the way, which was pretty miserable, but it was so nice to finally be home, after nearly 4,000 miles!
It was truly an incredible trip - we had so much fun! Don't think we're gonna do any major driving for a while, but we've got plenty of ideas - I want to do the 'Little House' trail - Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Kansas and Missouri - and mom and dad really want to drive the old Route 66. And there's always the fancy RV park at Disney to think about trying out!
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
St. Martins, NB
Well, let's see. I left off in Lunenburg on Saturday, so let's catch ya'll up on the last 3 days. Sunday morning we got up and moved to the Oakhill Pines Campground in Bridgewater, about 12 miles from Lunenburg. We stopped in Mahone Bay on the way and did a little shopping, mostly at Amos Pewter. Pewter is a big thing in Nova Scotia and Amos is one of the very best. They had so many beautiful pieces. It took forever for us to decide what we wanted to buy! I got a penguin necklace and matching earrings as well as a little cat figurine. My aunt Susan also got me a penguin ornament for my Christmas tree, which was very sweet of her.
From Mahone Bay we went on to Bridgewater, got settled at the campground and then used the rental car to shuttle over to Uncle Ivan and Aunt Shirley's house. Ivan is my father's mother's youngest brother and the one Rodenhiser sibling still living. He turned 80 in April and Shirley just turned 78 in June and they are shap as tacks and the cutest things ever. I had apparently met them once before, at my Nana's funeral, but I was 7, so I really don't remember. Ivan took Dad, Joan and I over to the Bridgewater cemetary and we saw the graves for Uncle Valson, Aunt Olive and Uncle Barney and my great-grandparents, Morris & Eva Ann Rodenhiser. There were also the graves of another uncle and an aunt, both of whom died very young. It seems like it should be creepy, but it was kind of neat. There were Rodenhisers, Hirtles and Conrads all over the cemetary - probably half the people in town are 3rd cousins or something.
When we got back to Ivan and Shirley's, dad's cousin Jo-Anne, her husband Alan and her daughter Alexis were there. Alexis is 16 and plays hockey on the girls' team. She seemed like a really good kid. Shirley made us a fantastic dinner and there was delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert. After dinner, most of us drove outside of town to see Jo-Anne and Alan's new house on the lake, which is not quite complete, but is going to be an amazing home. They have a great view from their back deck!
Monday was a nice restful day - Joan flew home to Toronto, so Susan and Pat were gone most of the mid-day driving her to the airport in Halifax. While they were gone, mom got some laundry done and we all just kinda vegged. When Pat & Susan returned, we went back to the cemetary and also to the Bridgewater veterans memorial, which has my grandfather's name on it.
Then we went grocery shopping and went a little crazy buying candy that we can't get in the States - Bounty and Coffee Crisp and Smarties and dark chocolate KitKats (yes, I found them!). Dad got to buy real Canadian bacon to have for breakfast and it was delicious this morning with scrambled eggs. I was also excited to find dill pickle Lay's chips - we don't seem to sell them at home anymore.
Then we had dinner at the A&W, which, as far as fast food joints go, wasn't so great, but it was fun to eat somewhere new and get your root beer in a frosted mug!
We went back to visit with Ivan and Shirley briefly and then stopped by Jo-Anne and Alan's house in town and met their sons, Cale & Ryland. Cale is 22 or 23, I think, and just finished university and Ryland is 19. Both were very nice, polite boys.
We said our goodbyes at the campground this morning and Ivan and Shirley surprised us by showing up to say goodbye as well. We then started the long trip home, heading west to New Brunswick. We spent a fortune at the Nova Scotia welcome center shop and we are now camped on the Bay of Funday in St. Martins, NB. We are literally on the bay - it's just a short walk to the shore.
I've been surprised by how very French it is in NB - all my previous visits here have always been to Ontario, which is pretty solidly English. My impression was always that it was pretty exclusively Quebec that was French, but apparently that's not quite the case. But, that's what traveling is for, right - to learn new things.
Tomorrow we get back in the States and spend a couple days in Maine. Can't wait to get to L.L.Bean! :)
From Mahone Bay we went on to Bridgewater, got settled at the campground and then used the rental car to shuttle over to Uncle Ivan and Aunt Shirley's house. Ivan is my father's mother's youngest brother and the one Rodenhiser sibling still living. He turned 80 in April and Shirley just turned 78 in June and they are shap as tacks and the cutest things ever. I had apparently met them once before, at my Nana's funeral, but I was 7, so I really don't remember. Ivan took Dad, Joan and I over to the Bridgewater cemetary and we saw the graves for Uncle Valson, Aunt Olive and Uncle Barney and my great-grandparents, Morris & Eva Ann Rodenhiser. There were also the graves of another uncle and an aunt, both of whom died very young. It seems like it should be creepy, but it was kind of neat. There were Rodenhisers, Hirtles and Conrads all over the cemetary - probably half the people in town are 3rd cousins or something.
When we got back to Ivan and Shirley's, dad's cousin Jo-Anne, her husband Alan and her daughter Alexis were there. Alexis is 16 and plays hockey on the girls' team. She seemed like a really good kid. Shirley made us a fantastic dinner and there was delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert. After dinner, most of us drove outside of town to see Jo-Anne and Alan's new house on the lake, which is not quite complete, but is going to be an amazing home. They have a great view from their back deck!
Monday was a nice restful day - Joan flew home to Toronto, so Susan and Pat were gone most of the mid-day driving her to the airport in Halifax. While they were gone, mom got some laundry done and we all just kinda vegged. When Pat & Susan returned, we went back to the cemetary and also to the Bridgewater veterans memorial, which has my grandfather's name on it.
Then we went grocery shopping and went a little crazy buying candy that we can't get in the States - Bounty and Coffee Crisp and Smarties and dark chocolate KitKats (yes, I found them!). Dad got to buy real Canadian bacon to have for breakfast and it was delicious this morning with scrambled eggs. I was also excited to find dill pickle Lay's chips - we don't seem to sell them at home anymore.
Then we had dinner at the A&W, which, as far as fast food joints go, wasn't so great, but it was fun to eat somewhere new and get your root beer in a frosted mug!
We went back to visit with Ivan and Shirley briefly and then stopped by Jo-Anne and Alan's house in town and met their sons, Cale & Ryland. Cale is 22 or 23, I think, and just finished university and Ryland is 19. Both were very nice, polite boys.
We said our goodbyes at the campground this morning and Ivan and Shirley surprised us by showing up to say goodbye as well. We then started the long trip home, heading west to New Brunswick. We spent a fortune at the Nova Scotia welcome center shop and we are now camped on the Bay of Funday in St. Martins, NB. We are literally on the bay - it's just a short walk to the shore.
I've been surprised by how very French it is in NB - all my previous visits here have always been to Ontario, which is pretty solidly English. My impression was always that it was pretty exclusively Quebec that was French, but apparently that's not quite the case. But, that's what traveling is for, right - to learn new things.
Tomorrow we get back in the States and spend a couple days in Maine. Can't wait to get to L.L.Bean! :)
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Lunenburg, NS - I'm not sure what number day anymore!
Well, there is a lot to catch up on! We haven't had decent wifi since we left Cavendish and our wifi code actually expired around 7 pm the night before we left!
We are up to over 2100 miles now, which is more than half the mileage for the trip and we're just today at the halfway point. We've been gone a week and a day and we'll be home in a week and a day. So that's good. Most of the rest of our driving days are easy days. Tomorrow we'll move to a new campground just 12 miles away in Bridgewater, where my grandmother and an aunt and an uncle were born.
I'm sitting on the sidewalk outside the visitor centre in Lunenburg, which is also the office for the campground we're at. Across from me is a monument to the founders of Lunenburg, listing the family names and I found Hirtle, which is a name on our family tree about 4 generations back, so that's kinda cool. If I look through the trees, I can just see the harbour below. It's absolutely gorgeous today.
Wednesday we got up and left the campground, driving along the Shore Road through PEI national park. We stopped and walked down on the beach for a minute, so I finally got to really see the red sand beaches and cliffs of Cavendish and stick my toe in the ocean. (Freezing!) Then we stopped in North Rustico to mail some postcards and then drove to Charlottetown, where we stopped at the Girl Guide office and chatted with the intern running the office for the summer. We didn't get his name, but he was a very nice guy, probably late teens or early 20s and he was placed there through a government program. He was incredibly knowledgable about the Guides, though, probably because he has nothing else to do but sit there and read the literature. He gave me several patches, some different flyers and catalogs and a box of Girl Guide cookies. The office was even smaller than Norcross, with about 3 rooms and a basement, which he said was a mess. Lady Powell might even be hiding down there somewhere!
After Charlottetown, we went to Wood Islands to get the ferry to Nova Scotia. I thoroughly enjoyed riding the ferry, much better than the bridge. The sailing took about an hour and the sun came out for the first time in days, so it made for a beautiful afternoon. The ferry lands at Caribou and we drove from there to a Walmart in Antigonish, because we needed milk. Then we had to decide if we needed a 1 L or a 2 L of milk! Also, the Walmart employees here still wear vests, which seemed weird to me, since it's been about 4 years since they took ours away.
Anyway, we drove onto Cape Breton Island, to Baddeck. The campground itself was okay, but the internet connection sucked. You had to hike way up a hill to the bathhouse and stand at the washing machine to get connected. So I decided to just not bother for a few days. The campsites were not level at all there, so Dad really struggled getting the camper to where he felt it was "just right." He tried 3 different campsites before he was kinda, sorta satisfied.
Thursday morning we got up and drove the Cabot Trail. It is about 185 miles and winds up and around the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. There was some truly gorgeous scenery. I'll get the pictures on Facebook eventually. We stopped for gas in Cheticamp, which is still very, very French - "la couer d'Acadienne." (I think i got that right.) Their harbour was very pretty. On the other side of the island, things are still very, very Scottish - the road signs on that side are in English and in Gaelic. Fascinating! I bought myself a scarf in the Nova Scotia tartan - a lovely blue with green accents. Everyone said the Cabot Trail should take 6-8 hours - we drove that sucker in less than 5.
So we had time to stop at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site - we were debating if we wanted to pay to go through the museum, but ultimately decided we would. And then we found out that because it was Canada Day, all national parks were free admittance! So that was awesome.
I was pleasantly suprised by the museum - Alexander Graham Bell did a whole lot more than just the telephone. He worked with deaf people his entire life and essentially invented the hearing aid. He also made the worlds fastest boat and the first machine to fly in Canada. He was really a very interesting man. He did a lot of work with Helen Keller, which, even though I've read a lot about her before, I had never realized.
Friday, we left Baddeck and Cape Breton and headed for the South Shore. We stopped at Peggy's Cove, one of the most photographed spots in Canada (probably in the world, really) and that's where we met up with my Aunts Pat & Susan and my cousin Joan. We walked on the rocks at Peggy's Cove - words cannot do justice to how incredibly beautiful it is there. It is unreal.
From Peggy's Cove, we finally made it to Lunenburg and had dinner last night at a restaurant overlooking the harbour. Our campsite looks out at the back harbour and it's just beautiful. We are close enough to Old Town to walk, but there's a very steep hill involved so I've only walked some of the time. Now that Pat, Susan and Joan are with us, we have a car, so that is great.
Today we went back down to Old Town and went to see the Bluenose II, a very famous schooner. It's won many races and it's image is on the back of the Canadian dime. We were lucky to get to walk on it, because on Monday they will begin tearing it down and restoring the hull, which will take about two years.
That brings us to now! Hopefully I will not have to go quite as long before the next dispatch. We are having a great time visiting and making each other crazy. :)
Tomorrow we'll go to Mahone Bay on our way to Bridgewater. Aunt Pat says the shopping is better there than here.
See you next time!
We are up to over 2100 miles now, which is more than half the mileage for the trip and we're just today at the halfway point. We've been gone a week and a day and we'll be home in a week and a day. So that's good. Most of the rest of our driving days are easy days. Tomorrow we'll move to a new campground just 12 miles away in Bridgewater, where my grandmother and an aunt and an uncle were born.
I'm sitting on the sidewalk outside the visitor centre in Lunenburg, which is also the office for the campground we're at. Across from me is a monument to the founders of Lunenburg, listing the family names and I found Hirtle, which is a name on our family tree about 4 generations back, so that's kinda cool. If I look through the trees, I can just see the harbour below. It's absolutely gorgeous today.
Wednesday we got up and left the campground, driving along the Shore Road through PEI national park. We stopped and walked down on the beach for a minute, so I finally got to really see the red sand beaches and cliffs of Cavendish and stick my toe in the ocean. (Freezing!) Then we stopped in North Rustico to mail some postcards and then drove to Charlottetown, where we stopped at the Girl Guide office and chatted with the intern running the office for the summer. We didn't get his name, but he was a very nice guy, probably late teens or early 20s and he was placed there through a government program. He was incredibly knowledgable about the Guides, though, probably because he has nothing else to do but sit there and read the literature. He gave me several patches, some different flyers and catalogs and a box of Girl Guide cookies. The office was even smaller than Norcross, with about 3 rooms and a basement, which he said was a mess. Lady Powell might even be hiding down there somewhere!
After Charlottetown, we went to Wood Islands to get the ferry to Nova Scotia. I thoroughly enjoyed riding the ferry, much better than the bridge. The sailing took about an hour and the sun came out for the first time in days, so it made for a beautiful afternoon. The ferry lands at Caribou and we drove from there to a Walmart in Antigonish, because we needed milk. Then we had to decide if we needed a 1 L or a 2 L of milk! Also, the Walmart employees here still wear vests, which seemed weird to me, since it's been about 4 years since they took ours away.
Anyway, we drove onto Cape Breton Island, to Baddeck. The campground itself was okay, but the internet connection sucked. You had to hike way up a hill to the bathhouse and stand at the washing machine to get connected. So I decided to just not bother for a few days. The campsites were not level at all there, so Dad really struggled getting the camper to where he felt it was "just right." He tried 3 different campsites before he was kinda, sorta satisfied.
Thursday morning we got up and drove the Cabot Trail. It is about 185 miles and winds up and around the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. There was some truly gorgeous scenery. I'll get the pictures on Facebook eventually. We stopped for gas in Cheticamp, which is still very, very French - "la couer d'Acadienne." (I think i got that right.) Their harbour was very pretty. On the other side of the island, things are still very, very Scottish - the road signs on that side are in English and in Gaelic. Fascinating! I bought myself a scarf in the Nova Scotia tartan - a lovely blue with green accents. Everyone said the Cabot Trail should take 6-8 hours - we drove that sucker in less than 5.
So we had time to stop at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site - we were debating if we wanted to pay to go through the museum, but ultimately decided we would. And then we found out that because it was Canada Day, all national parks were free admittance! So that was awesome.
I was pleasantly suprised by the museum - Alexander Graham Bell did a whole lot more than just the telephone. He worked with deaf people his entire life and essentially invented the hearing aid. He also made the worlds fastest boat and the first machine to fly in Canada. He was really a very interesting man. He did a lot of work with Helen Keller, which, even though I've read a lot about her before, I had never realized.
Friday, we left Baddeck and Cape Breton and headed for the South Shore. We stopped at Peggy's Cove, one of the most photographed spots in Canada (probably in the world, really) and that's where we met up with my Aunts Pat & Susan and my cousin Joan. We walked on the rocks at Peggy's Cove - words cannot do justice to how incredibly beautiful it is there. It is unreal.
From Peggy's Cove, we finally made it to Lunenburg and had dinner last night at a restaurant overlooking the harbour. Our campsite looks out at the back harbour and it's just beautiful. We are close enough to Old Town to walk, but there's a very steep hill involved so I've only walked some of the time. Now that Pat, Susan and Joan are with us, we have a car, so that is great.
Today we went back down to Old Town and went to see the Bluenose II, a very famous schooner. It's won many races and it's image is on the back of the Canadian dime. We were lucky to get to walk on it, because on Monday they will begin tearing it down and restoring the hull, which will take about two years.
That brings us to now! Hopefully I will not have to go quite as long before the next dispatch. We are having a great time visiting and making each other crazy. :)
Tomorrow we'll go to Mahone Bay on our way to Bridgewater. Aunt Pat says the shopping is better there than here.
See you next time!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
