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!