Hopewell Rocks New Brunswick June 24 25

Hopewell Rocks High Tide  "Flower Pots"

Hopewell Rocks Low Tide

June 24 and 25 -- Since the weather was not cooperating, we arrived in Moncton New Brunswick ahead of schedule in the afternoon on Sunday June 24.  This allowed us to drive down to our destination at Hopewell Rocks in the Bay of Fundy so we could witness high tide.  The Bay of Fundy experiences some of the largest tidal changes on the planet.  The area around Hopewell Cape sees tides ranging from 36 to 45 feet.  The river flows backwards twice daily as the water is compressed into the narrow bay.  The erosion caused by this tidal change accounts for the “flower pot rocks” at Hopewell Rocks.  Three hours before and after low tide, visitors can walk down on the ocean floor. We returned Monday morning at low tide and hiked around the park taking photos from the same vantage points as the day before.  We were glad that we saved this for the end of the trip – it was certainly the highlight.  The Fundy Coast was definitely our favorite part of New Brunswick. 

Diamond Rock High Tide

Diamond Rock Low Tide

The Flats at High Tide

The Flats at Low Tide

A Face for Emilio

For my son Chocolate River Hribernik

Our time in the Maritime Provinces was coming to a close and it was time to head back to Michigan.  In the future, we plan to fly to St. John’s, Newfoundland and rent a car to tour the province. We will have to plan the trip to coincide with one of the maritime music festivals.  The festivals really get into full swing in July after the end of the Canadian school year. 

Nova Scotia Mainland June 21 22 23

June 21 -- After saying good bye to Cape Breton Island we made our way to Halifax along the southeast shore.  Fishing is definitely the principal means of life in this part of Nova Scotia.  Quaint fishing villages dot the rocky coast.  Much of the scenery is like northern Michigan or the UP.  At one point the road ended at a ferry dock – it was not real clear on the map, so we were a bit surprised.  The ferry captain said it happens all the time.  

Country Harbour Ferry Rte 211 Nova Scotia

It was a long day of driving and sight seeing, so we were looking forward to a day of walking around Halifax on Friday.

The weather was overcast and rainy most of the time we were on the mainland of Nova Scotia, so we did not take so many photos.  We walked all around downtown Halifax including the waterfront and the fortress at the Citadel.  In the evening we did a mini pub crawl to three pubs that had live music.  Unfortunately none of the featured musicians played maritime or Celtic music, but they were all entertaining.  

Historic Properties on the Waterfront in Halifax

View of Halifax from the Citadel

 

Saturday we left Halifax and drove along the southwest coast to Peggy’s Cove and Lunenburg.   The landscape in the Peggy’s Cove area is different from anywhere else on the mainland.  It is a barren rocky coastline that looks like a nuclear bomb was dropped there sometime in the last 50,000 years.  It is one of those things that you cannot capture on film. 

Peggy's Cove Lighthouse

Peggy's Cove

From there we drove down to Lunenburg, a well preserved 19^th century town that was a shipbuilding center and home to The Bluenose and Bluenose II, famous racing schooners (pictured on the Canadian Dime).  Since the weather was unpleasant, we headed across the mainland to our evening destination, The King George Inn Bed and Breakfast in Annapolis Royal on the northwest side of the mainland along the Bay of Fundy.   Faith, our innkeeper, made sure that our stay at the King George would be memorable.  She upgraded our room, arranged dinner plans for us and set up a great Victorian style breakfast before we headed out on our way.

Guests Leaving the King George

The King George Inn B&B Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia

 

The weather was still overcast and rainy on Sunday as we made our way from Annapolis Royal to Moncton New Brunswick.  We did spend some time identifying the historic buildings in Annapolis Royal and driving to Port Royal.  Champlain established the first settlement in Canada at Port Royal in 1608 and there is a reconstruction of the settlement on this site.

Reconstruction of Champlain's Settlement at Port Royal

Cape Breton Island June 20 21

Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia could not be any stronger contrast to Prince Edward Island.  The rocky cliffs in the Highlands National Park rise up from the sea to summits of nearly 1800 feet.  The terrain is rugged and untamed.  Alexander Graham Bell chose the highlands, which reminded him of his native Scotland,  to build his summer home near Baddeck.  He performed experiments with aviation, genetics and collaborated and funded development of hydrofoils there.  Baddeck is home to a very informative museum dedicated to Bell.  We arrived in Baddeck Tuesday evening.  Wednesday we drove the Cabot Trail through the Highlands National Park and drove all the way out to Bay St. Lawrence on the northeast end of the cape.  John and Sebastian Cabot came ashore here in 1497.  I wonder what words they uttered when the stumbled upon this place thinking this was the New World. 

Wednesday evening we drove over to the seaport city of Sydney and had dinner before returning to Baddeck.

Cape  Breton Highlands National Park

I could not resist taking a photo of this sign on a Scottish craft shop.

















Caught this photo of a fisherman checking his lobster traps.

Lobster Fisherman

Thursday morning we toured the Alexander Graham Bell Museum and then headed on to Halifax along the southern coast of  Nova Scotia. 

Prince Edward Island June 18 19

We both loved Prince Edward Island.  It is like a pair of comfortable old slippers.  Most of the island is devoted to farming potatoes, cattle and dairy cattle, so if the fields aren't planted in potatoes they are probably growing hay.  The other principal industry is fishing -- lobsters, oysters, clams, scallops and haddock.  The soil and rocks have high iron oxide content that results in red soil on most of the island.  The east side beaches in PEI National Park are nice beige sand but most of the coastline is rocky red cliffs.  This makes a striking contrast with the tranquil, domesticated agricultural countryside that makes up most of the island's interior.  Golf seems to be very popular and fits with the whole civilized nature of  PEI. Charlottetown is situated on a very sheltered natural harbor.  We walked most of the older part of the city and had dinner at downtown pub.

Lighthouse at Wood Islands

The first day we drove around the eastern side of the island and visited the lighthouse at Wood Islands where you can take the ferry to Nova Scotia.  We stopped at a number of  Provincial Parks and drove through Montague -- had to take a photo.  We stopped in PEI National Park to take a hike and to check out the nice sand beaches before heading into Charlottetown for dinner.






 

Rocky Coast on East End of  Island

Yes there is a Montague on PEI

One of many overcrowded beaches in PEI National Park

Farm Home of Lucy Maud Montgomery

The second day we drove out to Cavendish to the home of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables. We then drove around the west end of the island and had lunch in Summerside before leaving PEI on our way to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.  We figured we better keep moving before we decided to just spend the rest of the summer there.

June 16 and 17

June 16 - We headed east out of Montreal on HWY 20 early Saturday morning bound for Campbellton, New Brunswick.  And of course we were delayed by construction almost immediately around Montreal.  Once on our way, we took HWY 20 all the way to Mont-Juli, Quebec on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  We then headed southeast on Hwy 132 across the neck of Quebec's Gaspe peninsula to Campbellton, New Brunswick. The scenery along this route reminded us of northern Michigan transitioning into upstate New York or even Colorado.  We did not expect northern New Brunswick and southeastern Quebec to be so well populated. I guess we should not have been surprised, since the Atlantic Provinces were settled early along with New England.  We made it to Campbellton at 7PM Atlantic Daylight time and had logged over 1100 miles thus far on the trip.

Mountainous Terrain in Gaspe Peninsula Quebec

June 17 -  We got an early start out of Campbellton, NB on our way down the Acadian Coastline.  We followed Hwy 134 to Bathurst.  (Cottages, homes and towns all the way along the coast.)  From Bathurst, we continued on the Acadian Coast route along Hwy 11 to Miramichi passing rugged cliffs and fishing ports like Caraquet.

Acadian Coastline in New Brunswick

We continued on Hwy 11 to the Kouchibouguac National Park where we stretched our legs on the beach and had a picnic lunch before proceeding on to our destination:  Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Beach in Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick

It was 68 degrees and the wind was about 25 knots, but the Canadians were sure enjoying it and the water was surprisingly warm.

DAYS 1 AND 2 JUNE 14 AND 15, 2012

June 14.  Our trip to the Canadian Maritime Provinces started on a tense note.  We had reserved a compact car with Hertz for the trip.  When we arrived at Hertz at Woodward and Thirteen Mile Road, the attendant informed us that he had no cars available (just like the Seinfeld episode) and he immediately called other locations to see if they had a car for us.  Eventually he located a Toyota Prius for us and we were on our way about an hour late.  The Prius is great though as it will easily pay for itself in the savings on fuel.  The only other hiccup was a semi roll over accident around Kingston, Ontario on the 401 that cost us another hour and a half.  Again the Prius sipped fuel while we sat idle and the engine only started a couple of times to recharge the batteries.  We reached our destination in Montreal and crashed after dinner.

Notre Dame

June 15.  Originally we thought we could spend a couple of days in Montreal and a couple of days in Quebec City on our way to the maritimes.  After planning the itinerary and realizing  Newfoundland was going to have to wait for another time, we decided to also do a separate trip back to Montreal, Quebec City and Ottawa at a later date.  We did spend the day in Montreal in historic old Montreal.  We toured Rue St. Paul, the cathedral of Notre Dame and the waterfront.  I think we walked about 15 miles and had a great lunch at a small cafe.  We also sampled the smoked meat sandwich on rye (similar to corned beef or pastrami) and poutine (fries with gravy and cheese curds) for dinner.  YUM!!!  (Hey Bill Swerski, I think I have a cheese curd lodged in lining of my heart)  Apparently this is a Montreal favorite.

Early Stone Building in Old Montreal

The riverfront

Smoke meat sandwich and poutine