2019.10.16 – Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada and leaving Maine

Over many thousands of years the tides have created these formations on the coastal rocks.  This area known as the Hopewell Rocks is located in the Rocks Provincial Park in New Brunswick.  You can only walk on the beach to see these amazing structures during low tide when the water recedes over 100 yards.

If you look to the left, you see how high the tide can get

With the tide out a huge mud flat is left

 One morning we drove into downtown Moncton, the largest city in New Brunswick, to watch the Bore tide come in.  There are only 3 spots on earth that have such a tidal incursion.  It was so interesting to see the water surge in, some spots over two feet high.  Sorry, we tried and tried to upload a video of this for you to watch, but we're doing something wrong.

We drove out to see a light station at Cape Enrage.  It was a twisty windy road, about 15 kilometers, but we made it, glad we were driving our car (the towed) and not the coach. 

Cape Enrage

We drove through a portion of the Fundi National Park to find Dickson Falls, a delightful little stream that seemed to have falls after falls after falls ending up in the Bay of Fundi.

Dixon Falls

When we left Fundi National park, we drove into the little town of Alma, where Jerry noticed the boats were not in water, but were shored up on stands and resting on the bottom of the harbor.  The water was at low tide so the boats had to be setup so they didn’t topple.

Leaving Canada, back to Maine

After leaving the turning leaves in Canada we wanted to spend a little more time in Maine, near Acadia National Park, now one of our favorite spots.  While there we drove to Bucksport, ME to see Fort Knox. To get there we crossed this lovely suspension bridge.  The Penobscot Narrows Observatory Bridge has the world’s tallest bridge observatory.  I stayed behind while Jerry and some friends, Don and Menika, took the elevator to the top.  They thought there were wonderful views.

Bucksport, ME

That’s covers our travels this year.  We are now back in Texas and the blog will be quiet for a while.  Our plans are to winter here, splitting our time between the San Antonio area and far south Texas along the Rio Grande when the weather turns colder.  Safe travels and happy trails to all.

2019.09.28 – Nova Scotia Canada

Nova Scotia, Canada

We visited Sydney, NS, which is a port town on the Atlantic.  In this Irish/Acadian town we saw the world’s largest fiddle and discovered a lovely yarn shop that had some quilled greeting cards that were gorgeous.

The world's largest fiddle.

Information about the fiddle.

A quilled greeting card.

We also visited the Alexander Graham Bell museum.  He was an inventor, scientist and engineer.  However, most of all, he wanted to be known as a teacher of the deaf.

Alexander Graham Bell

The Alexander G. Bell museum in Baddeck.  His summer home, which is not open to visitors, is on the far side of the hill in the background.

While we wandered around Baddeck we found that a National Geographic cruise ship was in port.  Bell was one of the co-founders of National Geographic.

Jerry drove the Cabot Trail and took these great pictures.

Coastline near the Cheticamp lighthouse on the western edge of the Cabot Trail

Green Cove on the Cabot Trail

Sunset from our camp site.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Halifax is a lovely place.  The following pictures highlight our adventures.

If you look really hard, you can see our campground and our coach in the left background just beyond the rock wall.

This is the classic photo from the Lunenburg harbor

More Lunenburg harbor

These are the blue rocks just outside Lunenburg.

Peggy's Cove near Halifax

The light house in Peggy's Cove.

These next 2 are morning shots on the mirror like water in a little cove just around the corner from our campground. 

Sunsets were wonderful at our campground.  This is taken just a few steps from our door.

Our last evening in Halifax.  Just stunning!

Coming is our blog entry for the New Brunswick area and the Bay of Fundy highlighting the incredible tides, highest in the world at 38 feet twice a day.  Tomorrow though we head back to the States for some more Maine lobster rolls  and then a two week saunter back to south Texas, friends, Tex-Mex and Whataburger. 

2019.09.22 – Prince Edward Island, Canada (PEI)

 It was around the tenth of September when we first arrived on the PEI and hurricane Dorian was a concern.  It uprooted trees in places and blew down entire corn fields.  We were without electricity for the first day and a half at our campground.  After that, it was  smooth sailing on this beautiful island.

If there are any Anne of Green Gables fans out there, we stayed only a few miles from where it all took place.  This is the birthplace and home of the author, Lucy Maud Montgomery.  Anne of Green Gables is such a big deal here Linda was inspired to read the book which she thoroughly enjoyed.  She even attended the play, Anne of Green Gables, in Charlottetown, the islands largest city.

The PEI is a beautiful place.  The houses are well kept and the yards/fields are manicured.  Rolling green hills abound.  We highly recommend it.

While driving around the island, Jerry took these pictures.

  

There are a LOT of churches on the PEI.  Notice the spire.

This is the bridge connecting Nova Scotia to the PEI.  It's 10 miles long!  Needless to say it's a toll bridge.

There are a lot of light houses as well.

This is Dalvay by the Sea.  It used to be a private summer home but is now a hotel within the Prince Edward Islands National Park.

2019.09.16 – a recap of our Vermont adventures

While searching for more picture opportunities, we accidentally came upon the von Trapp family lodge.  A quick turn here and there and we were THERE.  The lodge was very nice and the best part was we were able to take a tour.  Of course, the REAL family was not as “The Sound of Music” depicted it, but I guess that’s Hollywood.  Their website is https://www.trappfamily.com

Jerry is fascinated with covered bridges.  Here are a few of the pictures he took

Of course, since we were driving right by the Ben and Jerry original factory, we had to stop for a tour.  😊  Alas, Ben and Jerry no longer participate.  Their website is https://www.benjerry.com/

We heard about the St. Gaudin national park from a friend of ours (thanks, Yvonne D).  We were in the area because Jerry was taking pictures of, what else but, covered bridges.  St Gaudin was a great sculpture.  For more info, visit their website https://www.nps.gov/saga/index.htm/

We visited the Ethan Allen homestead.  This is NOT the furniture manufacturer, but a strong-willed man, who enjoyed a good fight.  We learned about how folks back then grew flax and made their own clothes with that flax, which was a very labor intensive process.  For more info, their website is http://www.ethanallenhomestead.org/

We had one storm that did some damage to the park.  I was concerned at the time of the storm, since there were lots of tall trees around us.  But, we were lucky and didn’t have any damage.  However, there were several downed and damaged trees in the park.

We heard of a chocolate factory.  Naturally, we took a tour, which wasn’t really a tour, but more of a lecture.  We got to watch the workers make hollow Santas!  And we did get a taste of the chocolate bases, which were dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate.  Here’s their website https://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/

We also visited the Vermont Teddy Bear factory and saw how these cute lil bears are made.  Hope you can read how the first bear came about.  There is even a teddy bear hospital available for the those in need of special attention.  They do ship, and here’s their website https://www.vermontteddybear.com/

We visited the Shelburne Museum.  Jerry doesn’t like that name because it isn’t the typical museum.  This is a collection of structures, which contain different art forms, such as quilts, decoys, pictures, sculptures, and it just goes on.  Here’s their website https://shelburnemuseum.org/

A round barn with various types of buggies

Yep, this is a boat that was brought to this land locked spot

We had some good friends, Fred and Hilary, visit.  We met this crazy couple while in Alaska.  What fun!!

Here are flowers that were in the Knight Point Vermont state park.

From Vermont, we headed for the Price Edward Island, Canada.  That will be in our next entry.