Day 12 - Goodbye PEI, Goodbye Maritimes, we are on our way home:(

It was a very hot day today. At 11:00 it was 30 degrees and very hunid when we were at North Cape. We visited the wind farm at North Cape and saw seals sunning themselves on a reef. It was very cool!

We had a few more "off the beaten track stops today" and dipped our toes in the red ocean.

 What would a visit to PEI be without a stop at the potato museum? It was actually very interesting

So after the west side of the island off we headed to the end of our tranvels. We are now in Fredricton for the night before starting off on the road home tomorrow.

It was an awesome holiday better than we expected.

So this will be our last entry to the blog.

Goodbye Maritimes we will be back!

From the road, S & S

Day 11 - Beach Bum Day

It was sweltering hot today! At 10:00am it was 24 degrees. We hit a high of 35degrees (plus humidity) at 5:30.  So, off we went to play at the beach. It was gorgeous and enough breeze and lots of water to keep comfortable (barely!).

Of course we did not pack "beach stuff", so I had to buy a beach umbrella for my fair Scottish skin! The beach was relatively quiet as is everywhere around here. I had a chance to do a little "family" reading today. While in Capre Breton I picked up a book on the genealogy of the MacDonalds callled "Fair is the Place". It is the family history/genealogy of our MacDonald family (my grandmother MacDonnalds side) from (somewhat) present day back to the 1600's. Very interesting! I can't wait to share with all the family back home!

We picked the perfect time to visit. Kids have started back to school and the season is winding down. PEI is very different from Novas Scotia but beautiful in its own way. Gorgeous farmland and rolling hills down to the ocean. We are still consuming as much fresh seafood as we can handle, like preparing for the winter hibernation.

We are now having a relaxing evening, sitting outside in the garden area of the motel, with vino in hand, updating the blog.

Steve has been checking our real estate in case we win the lottery and don't go back home, but more likely retirement planning.

We hope to get an early (Steve's idea not mine) start in the morning heading to the North Cape (west side of PEI) and start our journey back home.


So goodnight from PEI.
 
From the road, S & S

Day 10 - Good bye Nova Scotial Hello PEI

We left New Glascow, NS this morning and headed east towards NB/PEI. We travelled along the Northumberland Shore trail to Pictou (pronounced Pic-toe) and toured the historic town and saw the ship Hector (a replica). Unfortunately, the Hector Museum was closed "until further notice". We are not sure why. A very pretty town and very scottish. There were clan badges as banners all along the waterfront.

Our next stop was a lavendar farm east of Tatamagouche. It was heavenly. They explained the processing used to make the various products. Did you know that you can cook and bake with lavendar? I learned something new today, I even tried lavendar jelly; very interesting.

Continuing on we drove through Malagash, Wallace and Pugwash. Pugwash also has very strong Scottish  heritage, even the street signs are in english and gaelic.

Contuing on through small towns we took a short cut to New Brunswick and then headed to PEI via the Confederation Bridge. Cool bridge! Of course I missed the picture!

PEI is very different terrain from NS. Potatoes and farms everywhere! We did not get to the coast in time to check out the red beaches before dark but we have arrived in Cavendish where we plan to spend two nights. Guess what? It is now "off-season" (as of today) and we found a lovely little motel for $54/night. Best deal of our trip.

We can't wait to visit the beach tomorrow. Stay tuned for more tales.

From the road, S & S

Day 9 - MacDonald's Day in Mulgrave

We spent a great night at the The Cove Motel in Auld Cove. I would recommend this motel to everyone. The cabin was great, the staff were super friendly the food was delicious!

After breakfast and laundry we set off to visit the MacDonald family in Mulgrave. Gail (daughter Mary MacDonald Ryan) and George Freer arranged for some family members to come to their house to visit. Joanie (daughter of Frank MacDonald), Jane (daughter of Lawrence MacDonald) and Mike (son of Michael MacDonald) and Gail's sister Marie arrived armed and ready to share family history. It was wonderful to hear all the stories and history of the MacDonald of the area.

Mike brought me a copy of a photo of my great grandfather Alexander taken aboard the CNR Scotia Ferry on which he worked. Having never seen a picture this is very exciting. (Don't worry everyone I will make sure everyone gets a copy of the pic once I am home)

Alexander at top right

George and Gail took us on a tour of the Mulgrave Heritage Centre, it was quite evident that they were quite a driving force behing the creation, development and on going support of this Centre. The community contributions were wonderful. Quite a project to be proud of! The building itself was designed to like the Scotia II, the CNR ferry which was an intergral part of the Towns history. You can see the website here: http://www.guysboroughcountyheritage.ca/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=14&MMN_position=15:15

After the Museum, we drove around the corner to see the house that my grandfather built in 1925/26.

All in all this was a GREAT DAY! I am so happy to have met family who I have spoken to on the telephone but never in person.

L to R - Sandi (me), Steve, Jane, Joanie, Marie, Gail and George

So left we Mulgrave with tears in my eyes and a promise that I would be back again, but this time for longer. after dinner on Monday and set off to New Glascow for the night.

We are off to PEI tomorrow. I warned Steve that we are heading home just in time to miss Earl's visit, he thinks we should stay! 

Keep you posted.

From the road, S & S

Day 8 - Pleasant Bay to Auld's Cove

We awoke to perfect weather! Beautiful blue skys without a cloud.

After a quick breakfast at the motel, we set off to the harbour at Pleasant Bay to board Captain Mark's boat for a whale watching cruise. Guess what ... WE SAW WHALES!

There was a pod/family of approximately 20 pilot whales within 30-40 feet of the boat. They were very gentle when they rose out of the water and went back down. There were a couple of babies following their mama. Along the shore we saw a few harbour and gray seals resting on the rocks. They were very hard to see because we could not get very close.

After leaving Pleasant Bay we headed west along the Cabot Trail to the Skyline hiking trail. During the hike to the top of the cliff Steve came across a mama moose and her babes and then a big bull moose. He came face to face with the bull moose right in the middle of the trail.  I think they scared / surprised each other; the moose stared Steve down and then started walking towards him. As Steve put it, all of a sudden the trail went dark with the size of the moose and its antlers filled the width of the trail. Steve gave the big guy a wide berth before he realized that the camera was not on and he had to get organized to take the picture and only managed to get a picture of his backside.

Mama

We continued on our way and left Cape Breton today. And yes, I did manage to bring Steve with me. He was not able to find a new house on such short notice :)!

We arrived this evening in Auld's Cove, just outside Mulgrave, the hometown of my grandparents. I spoke with Cousin Gail tonight and she had graciously arranged for a mini reunion tomorrow. I will have the opportunity to meet some MacDonald cousins (Dad's cousins, my first cousins once removed). I am so excited!

So MacDonalds, stay tuned for tomorrows blog to see pics of the 'fam!

From the road, S & S

Day 7 or is it still Day 6?

I was so tired last night when we arrived in Sydney that I did not even know how to get out of the hotel this morning. When we opened our door, I did not know which way to go!

Anyway, I am making this entry from over looking the Bay of St. Lawrence at Pleasant Bay Cape Breton, the Maritime Whale Watching Capital! We certainly hope so, we have already booked our whale watching adventure for tomorrow morning at 9:30am. We can actually see the boat from the deck of our motel room.

We left Sydney this morning around 9:30 and headed to Glace Bay, where the first trans-Atlantic telecommunication took place. What a let down for sites! Other than knowing the history of the location we stopped at there was not much to see. Let me correct that...  there was a whole lot of water! It over looks the ocean but the Parks Canada "museum" does not have much of the remains of the buildings or towers that were there.

After leaving Glace Bay, we drove back around Sydney toward North Sydney and then on to Cape Breton. I think that I could leave Steve here and I would not hear from him again! The scenery is breath-taking. The mountains and the oceans are amazing! The roads twisted and turned, up and down through the mountains of the Cape. I think we must have stopped every 1/2 km because it took us hours to get around the top and to Pleasant Bay. The trip from Sydney, return is approximately 8 hours. It took us close to six hours with all the "look-off" stops and the off "the beaten track" trails to get less than half way around! Lorraine would have had her eyes closed for much of the trip, because the roads were often right along the edge of the cliffs.

The road wound up and down the mountains, going up and down 250m in height. SPECTACULAR! There were some little villages but nothing like along the coast that we saw before. There were not really any fishing villages. I think that it was because of the mountainous terrain.

We made a quick stop at Treasurer and Tartans where the very nice shop-keeper directed us to a very nice motel in Pleasant Bay. We bought a few trinkets and were on our way again.

Once we were on top of one of the last mountains, we came across cars and people all over the road. Why you ask? What do you think this is Canada after all.... it was a moose not more than 15 feet off the side of the road, having dinner. She (as we had it confirmed by a hunter) was just leisurely having dinner without taking any notice of the 20-30 people clicking away with their cameras. We were there about 15 minutes and she did not make any motions to cross the road but kept on eating.

We easily found the motel in Pleasant Bay. Quite nice, with a balcony that over looks the ocean/bay. We then went up the road for a bit to eat. There special was a lobster and crab combo. Guess what we had? and it was delicious. I have also acquired a taste for Nova Scotia wine, in particular, Jost. Very nice with the dinner. Of, did I mention that the restaurant also over looked the beautiful water. It was a great day!

Upon return to the motel and while walking along the beach we came upon a fiddle player which was our evenings entertainment.

We head off at 9:30 tomorrow morning for a whale adventure. Whale sightings are guaranteed but we have heard that before.

Good night from Cape Breton.

This picture is taken from our motel room at Pleasant Bay.

From the road, S & S

Day 6 - Steve, where are we now?

We left Halifax at 8am this morning in the sunshine and just arrived (10pm) in Sydney. What a long day! It was a good thing that the scenery/drive was so nice. Steve, did I really say that I would do this? I haven't even slept while you were driving yet!! If you knwo me then you know that I don't like to drive for long periods of time and I usually fall asleep before we get to the highway, BUT I am very proud of myself that I have made it this far.

After leaving Halifax we drove to Fisherman's Cove. A very nice little fishing village ('ya I know that you knew that it was a fishing village by the name:)) Unfortunately, because we were on the road so early nothing was open, but we had a look around anyway.

Steve and I talked about taking roads off the beaten path... well today we did. We were up and down every little lane and side road we found (hence the 12 hours to get to Sydney!) After Fisherman's Cover, we saw Cow Bay, Chezzetcook, Jeddore, Ship Harbour, Sheet Harbour, Quoddy, Moosehead, Liscomb and every little village in between.

We stopped for a visit at the Port Bickerton Lighthouse and had a tour of the light-keepers house and scenic views of the Atlantic Ocean.

After leaving the lighthouse, we continued east missing the ferry at Isaacs Harbour by 4 minutes and then waiting for its next trip for 1/2 hour. By the way have we mentioned that much of our driving we had not had much of a selection of radio stations, so we have been using my ipod. We are on song 334. After the ferry we continued each towards Guysborough. We had a quick stop at a couple of cemeteries to see if we could find Alex or Ada but no luck. We will get back to this search after CB.

We finally made it to Cape Breton just after 6:30pm. Again we thought we would try a little some villages and headed to Arichat. It was a little disappointing but we did manage to take a few good pictures.

So we are in Sydney tonight. Not sure what tomorrow brings but we know that the weather will be good through the weekend.

So long for now,

From the road, S & S

Day 5 - It must be Halifax

We awoke to the Halifax fog this morning. It was a damp and drizzlie.

We headed to downtown Halifax and the harbour area. We visited Pier 21, walked along the pier and stopped in a few shops. The old downtown buildings are very nice. It surprised me how well kept the old houses were in the area.

There was a cruise ship docked outside Pier 21, man oh man what a size up close. It was actually bigger than the building. Steve was quite interested to hear that this cruise was from New York and toured the maritimes and Newfoundland. Can I hear more vacation plans be made!

We also toured Alexander Keith's Brewery. The tour was great and Steve enjoyed the beer! After a few more pictures of the Navy fleet we headed off to the Citadel.

A visit to the Citadel really remind you of the history of Halifax and how much you fogot from high school history!! Although it was still rainy and dirzzling it was quite a site. I never really understood the size until we visited and were reminded of how many soldiers/people were housed and worked there. The views of the harbour were great but would have been better if it was sunny.

We drove back to the hotel via Bedford and then toured downtown Dartmouth. All very nice but I still like a little town.

We are heading east tomorrow to Cape Breton. The weather is suppose to be better tomorrow.

More reports tomorrow.

From the road S & S.

Day 4

Sorry for the short post but Steve is having a nap and I need my map to know where we stopped but I left it in the car. I will post some more info later tonight.

Last nights no-tell motel was definitely not as nice as the night before. It was clean but needed some serious updating.

Left Yarmouth early this morning and headed south to Shelburne. A very pretty little village. From Shelburne we continued east to Liverpool, Bridgewater and then Lunenburg. All very nice.


We have arrived in Halifax.If I can wake Steve up we are heading to the Nova Scotia Archives to do some research. I hope to find some info to fill in the holes.
 
We will post again later tonight.
 
S :)

End of Day 3 - Yarmouth

Very full day today!

After reaching Digby we headed to the end of Digby Neck, Brier Island. 60kms and 2 ferry rides later we reached Brier Island. WOW! The island is just 2 kms wide and 5 kms long but packed with views and vistas. Then went to find Steve's name sake at Seal Cove.

We drove to the Coast Guard Station at the remote corner of the island and hiked along the coastline trail to Seal Cove. This is definitely Steve's kind of vacation, he got to see the scenery and play in the rocks.

After our hike and picnic lunch we headed back to the other end of the island to Western Light, at the south western tip. Again WOW!

Today was the day that I saw what I expected NS to look like. The drive took us past many little fishing villages at high tide and then the tide was out on our way back. Really cool!

After leaving Digby Neck we headed to Bear River to see a tidel village on stilts. Not quite what we expected but the low tide showed us why the buildings were on stilts.

Returning to Digby we headed to Fundy Dockside for dinner. Scallops of course! They were very good. It was even better as we sat on the patio overlooking the Digby harbour. It was quite the maritime experience today.

We have now landed at Yarmouth in another "no-tell" motel. Not quite as nice as last night but fine.

Day 3 begins

We are posting from the car this morning. We awoke to blue skies and sunshine. It is expected to be in the mid 20s today. Great travel weather.

The "no-Tell" motel was quite nice. The beds were very comfortable and we slept well and had trouble getting going this morning.

A quick bit at Timmy's and a stop at the grocery store for a picnic lunch and off we went to the Annapolis Valley MacDonald Museum. Unfortunately it was the a different branch and did not belong to our tree. This archive is for MacDonalds from the Springfield area. So we get an earlier start than anticipated.

We are on the road to Digby,m the scallop capital of the world! Can you guess what might be in the menu today. We are planning to go to Digby Long Neck a pennisula that goes out to the Bay. We might even try whale watching as long as no one tells them we are coming. You know what happened last time we went (non)whale watching and almost had to go to the Bermuda triangle to try and find whales without results.

Our plan is to make Yarmouth tonight. Post 'ya later!

From the road, Steve and Sandi

End of Day 2

Amelia slept in! (Our GPS) She sent us in the wrong direction and we missed the Flower Pot Islands. It was too far to go back. So we headed off to NS.

We took the Glooscap Trail from Amherst westwardly staying away from major highways and took all the back roads through the northwest of NS staying close to the Bay of Fundy. Unfortunately, some of these back road turned out to be not roads at all but dirt trails. I am positive that we heard banjos playing but we did not hear any pigs squealing so we were safe!

Our first stop was Cape D"Or to see a lighthouse and the rock cliffs. WOW!!! What a place! Again it was a dirt road but this time we saw cars so we knew it was safe. Arriving at the top of the cliffs, we walked down a path that descended 300 feet to the rock point where lighthouse was located. The walk down was okay but the walk back up was a killer, especially in flip flops!

Driving along we came to Parrsboro around 2pm and stopped for lunch at the Bare Bones Bistro where we had our first taste of fresh seafood; lobster and flounder. It was delicious!

Back on the road after lunch heading to Truro and the ride would rival any rollercoaster. Lots of ups, downs, twists and turns. It would appear that some of the houses being in close proximaty to the Bay of Fundy have a difficult time retaining paint. There were some beautiful homes but almost as many run down shacks.

From Truro we headed south towards Wolfville and Kentville. Wolfville is a very nice university town home to Acadia University with beautiful stately homes. Quaint shops and restaurants.

Decided we would make a run for Digby which was about 150 km from Kentville. But on the way we spied a sign for the MacDonald Museum, of course Sandi has to investigate to see if there is any direct link to Sir John A. So we pulled off the road at Middleton, NS and booked the honeymoon suite at the "No Tell" motel (this is Steve's description, I think it is quite fine (it is clean)) complete with bed-bugs (not) to help keep you warm at night. Checked in and went for dinner at Pasta Jax and Ribs. Steve had lobster and Sandi had ribs with peach and ginger sauce; with a local Jost chardonnay. VERY GOOD!

We are now back at the suite and preparing for tomorrows travels!

More from the road tomorrow! Good night!

P.S. If you don't hear from us tomorrow call the pest control the bed bugs must have eaten us!!!

Today's totals: 11 hours driving; 650 kms

Start of Day 2

Here we are at 7:33am (Atlantic time) have a continental breakfast and then on our way to see the low tide at the Bay of Fundy.

We are still planning on driving counter-clockwise around the island but do not have any plans on paper!!

And off we go!

Day 1 update

After 11.5 hours and 1100 kms. we have arrived in Moncton.  We didn't quite make it to Cape Hopewell; it was another 1.5 hour drive. The most notable change since we were here 25 years ago is the highway through New Brunswick...it was grreat!  Four lanes of "new" highway and the speed limit was 110 (or maybe a little bit more).  Practically the entire length of the highway is lined with "moose & deer" fence but we didn't see so much as a squirrel.  I hope the moose don't tell the whales that we are coming!

So far the nicest scenary was just west of Riviere du Loup in the St. Lawrence Basin:

Heading out early tomorrow morning to the Bay of Fundy and Cape Hopewell to see the "Flower Pot Islands"
Stay tuned for day number two's report.

Cheers!

Day 1

7:52 am - Yes Steve... I actually was ready to leave before the stated time of departure.

Man I love technology. Imagine creating this blog in real time, in the car!!!! So forgive any typos sometimes they happen on the bumps.

Rainy and overcast; great weather for driving!

We left Morin Heights to drive Linda to Montreal and then made our way to Highway 20. Encountered Quebec's fifth season, construction almosty all the way from Montreal to Quebec City.

Reached Quebec City at noon, stopped for gas and a few groceries. Welcomed to the provincial capital by a lunatic driver that almost rolled his van!

Our goal is to reach Hopewell Cape to get up early tomorrow too see the low tides and the Flower Pot Islands.