Down East with the Cousins

[Jeff]

For those of us that are not in Digby the best place to buy Scallops in places like Colo, Mt, UT, ETC is Costco.

Ron:

Enjoy! I have always enjoyed scallops but seldom eat the small 1/2" diameter ones you will find at Costco, etc. The ones here are 1"-11/2" inches in diameter and soooo tender and sweet.

I have about 5 lbs in the freezer now and will top off before we leave.

 

[Ron]

The last scallops I had from costco were about one inch in diameter.  The ones from costco are not filled with water just to make them weigh more like so many are that we fine in regular grocery stores.  I suspect they are not as good as the ones available in Digby but they are good.

 

[Jeff]

Saturday:  Our Last Day in Nova Scotia

We spent today visiting two of the primary early settlements of Nova Scotia, the Acadian settlements of Publico and the British community of Yarmouth.The drive down the southwest coast of Nova Scotia is primarily through Acadian communities until you arrive in Yarmouth.

Yarmouth was settled by Massachusetts settlers in 1761 and was primarily a shipbuilding/fishing/lobstering based industry. As wooden ships disappeared the town did maintain a financial base that included railroads and ferry service to the US which is still in place.We enjoyed a trip out to Cape Fourchu and the Yarmouth Bar to see the lighthouse that is maintained by a volunteer organization that mans the museum, gift shop, and tea room.

After lunch in Yarmouth we drove around the tip of Nova Scotia to the oldest continuously occupied Acadian community in Canada, the community of West Publico. The area still reflects it's Acadia heritage and customs with displays of salt hay stacks and other Acadian practices including the dikes built to claim the salt marshes for farming.

Jeff satisfied his ongoing curiosity of the Acadian culture of Nova Scotia at the West Publico Acadian Museum where the couple who were in charge were delighted to fill us in on their family's history. Originally settled by Peter Mius d'Entremont in 1651 his descendants occupied the area until being deported in 1755 to Massachusetts and then returned in 1762 and have lived there since. We were told 80% of the residents of West Publico are descendants of Peter d'Entremont.

The drive back to Digby was in drizzle and fog so we are ready to catch the ferry in the morning over to Saint John New Brunswick and hopefully sunny weather.

 

[Jeff]

I happened to check our position on the MotoSat map a few minutes ago and got quite a shock; everyone has left Atlantic Canada! For the past few months there have been dozens of MotoSat users shown all over the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland and tonight we are the only one in Nova Scotia, none in NB, one in Newfoundland, one on PEI, and four or five in Maine, including the Brewers.

The season is really over. We have enjoyed the great service and no lines everywhere we go now. We plan to spend two or three days in the Saint John area before we cross back into Maine this week and head down to Cape Cod by next weekend.

Hope the weather holds.

 

[Wendy]

Sometimes the "off season" is the best season. Of course, sometimes, the weather turns on you ! You just keep on enjoying your trip. Remember, you're in an RV and if things get bad, you can always leave !!

Wendy

 

[Jeff]

Will do, thanks Wendy.

 

[Luca1369]

I just wanted to thank you for all the great photos!  I was traveling with you vicariously and will miss it. 

Steve

 

[KodiakRV]

...The drive back to Digby was in drizzle and fog so we are ready to catch the ferry in the morning over to Saint John New Brunswick and hopefully sunny weather.

Did you consider the Cat Ferry from Yarmouth to Bar Harbor?  We did that by car once and enjoyed a smooth, fast trip.  Don't know how big an RV they can handle, though...

 

[Jeff]

Steve:

Thanks, glad you are enjoying following along. We aren't quite done yet.


Kodiak:

The Cat handles most RV's so size is not a problem.

We started this trip in Northern Maine and missed the Saint John area which we want to see. We also left our case of wine and our liquor with my uncle who lives in Lubec, ME so we going back to Saint John and then through Calais to pick up our stash.

 

[Luca1369]

Thanks, glad you are enjoying following along. We aren't quite done yet.

Sorry Jeff,

    For some reason I had gotten into my mind that once you left Nova Scotia the photos would end...this is good news!

Steve

 

[Jeff]

Sunday:   Saint John, NB

We were up at 5:30AM this morning and were one of the first in line at the Digby ferry terminal for the ferry across the Bay of Fundy to Saint John, New Brunswick. The morning was dry but foggy so we didn't see anything from the time we left the Annapolis Basin at Digby until we were inside the harbor at Saint John and nosing into the dock three hours later.

We are staying at Rockwood Park inside the city. It is convenient to downtown and is a large city park with plenty of space. The campground isn't the greatest but will do for the three days or so that we will be here.We drove around the city center this afternoon and stopped by the Reversing Falls, one of the main tourists attractions in Saint John. The river was near ebb tide so we visited the visitor's information center and decided to return for dinner around 6:00PM at low tide to see the river in its natural state of fresh water flowing to the sea.

The Saint John River is not only a big one with tributaries up in northern Maine and Quebec but one of the deepest with a tremendous flow rate at low tide but will stop and flow upriver when the Bay of Fundy 40 foot tide comes in. We will return here tomorrow on the city bus tour at high tide. We have decided to pass on the jet boat ride through the rapids as it is a wet ride and the temperatures are becoming quite cool.

We plan on seeing Saint John on a city bus tour in the morning and visiting the City Market and Museum after lunch.

 

[Jeff]

Monday:  Foggy Old Saint John

We are not having great luck in the St (Saint) John ('s)! Today turned out just the same as the day we did the city tour in St John's, Newfoundland, so foggy the tour bus driver was telling us to "imagine" what the view was like!

We met the city transit tour bus n the campground at 10:00AM and traveled about the city seeing old homes and hearing a brief history of the city and its primary employer and benefactor, the Irving family. KC Irving started in the oil delivery business here in the 1920's and expanded into automobiles, refining, retailing, trucking, forestry, paper mills, and just about any other business that supported his other endeavors.

We revisited the Reversing Falls but decided to pass on the boat rides that are available over the rapids. After a few minutes of watching harbor seals catching fish we climbed up to Marcello Tower and saw less than we did last night, nothing but a dim outline in the fog!

Our stop at the City Market was a chance to see the roof that is designed as an upside down hull of a boat to carry the winter snow loads. It was a chance to sample the foods and coffee offered by themany local vendors. Brad our tour bus driver also arranged for us to tour the Imperial Theater, a local theater that had deteriorated over the years as it passed from live shows, to a movie theater, to a church, and then was saved and restored by local citizens led by a cab driver.

We were back in the campground by 12:30PM and had lunch at home. The weather was still dreary so Sue decided to stay in and Jeff headed downtown for the NB Museum a tour of the natural history and industrial-ship building sections of the museum. No photos we allowed even though he skipped the art portions of the 3 story complex.

We headed over to the east side of town for dinner and a movie, two movies actually, "The Woman" for Sue and "A Righteous Kill" for Jeff. We find only a few movies that we both enjoy. We did climb back to Marcello Tower for the 3rd time as the sun finally broke through around 4:30PM and allowed a view of the city.

We decided we have seen enough of Saint John through the fog so we are moving down the coast to St Andrews By-The-Sea in the morning before crossing back into Maine Wednesday.

 

[Jeff]

Tuesday:   Passamaquoddy Bay

Being on an extended RV trip as we are can have its ups and downs but today is what makes up for days like yesterday. We really did not enjoy Saint John very much, probably mostly because of the campground and weather but we were definitely ready to leave this morning. We awoke to a beautiful blue sky and got on the road by 8:30AM to have as much of today as possible to see the St Andrews area before crossing to Calais, ME Wednesday morning to meet Jeff's Uncle Carroll and Kevin for lunch.

We drove about 50 miles down the coast to the Kiwanis Oceanfront Campground in St Andrews that friends Tim and Jan Lynch stayed in a few years ago and Betty Brewer mentioned to us a couple of weeks ago. We came around the corner and saw the campground looking over Passamaquody Bay and knew we had made the right decision in leaving the Saint John area. After checking in and pulling into our campsite looking out across the bay Jeff called Carroll and postponed Calais until Thursday; we just have to spend a couple of days here enjoying the glorious view!

We did drive up to St Stephens, the NB side of the border crossing, this afternoon to visit the Ganong Chocolate Museum. Ganong's is a fifth generation maker of candies and boxed chocolates in St Stephens that still make their signature candies like the Chicken Wing, a cinnamon flavored pink, hard candy jacket over a chocolate center that was created in 1885! Now being charged $4.00 to enter a businesses museum might seem expensive but when they set out trays of their boxed chocolates to sample as you watch videos and tour the museum it gets to be real reasonable, especially after going next door to the Chocolatier and seeing what fine chocolates cost! It was a bad day for weight control but Jeff got the price of admission back several times over!

We then returned to St Andrews following the Passamaquoddy River down to St Croix Island, the first French winter settlement in Atlantic Canada. Pierre de Monts and his cartographer Samuel de Champlain chose this small island as their first wintering location while exploring Le Cadie (Nova Scotia) in 1604. Unfortunately they were late getting established and did not consider the consequences of being stranded on the island by ice and a harsh winter. 35 of the 70 men died of scurvy and sickness that winter and caused the party to choose Port Royal as the location of the Habitation the following summer.

We went down to the waterfront at St Andrews for dinner and strolled around the beautiful little seaside town admiring the murals and boats moored in the harbor. This is obviously a tourist destination with golf courses, a large hotel and many good restaurants. We will enjoy our stay here! The sun was setting as we returned to the motorhome and it is getting quite cool; fall is coming!

 

[Wendy]

More nice pictures guys. I looove the whale charter boat....now that's a sailboat !!

Glad you're still enjoying your Canada trip.

Like the "upside down hull" for a roof at City Market (is that the same City Market as we have here in the SW, owned by Kroger?). But you really want to see a great "upside down boat hull" you need to visit Scotty's Castle in Death Valley....we were always having visitors ask us if it was "an inverted pirate ship."

Enjoy the last few days of your Canada stay.

Wendy
Cortez CO

 

[Jeff]

Thanks Wendy.

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

Jeff, that's why I was suggesting an early fall rally in St Andrews when the subject was being discussed a few months ago.  St Andrews is a delightful tourist town with lots of amenities.  Enjoy what's left of your stay, then enjoy the rest of your trip east.

 

[Jeff]

Ed:

Right on! We will be crossing into Maine in the morning and have had a great time this summer.

 

[Jeff]

Wednesday:  Our Last Day in Canada

Today will be our last day in Atlantic Canada and it marks two months since we crossed the border up at Fort Fairfield, ME to Perth-Andover New Brunswick.
We did do a little sightseeing today by making an early trip at low tide across the tidal flats to Ministers Island, the summer home of Canadian Railway magnate Sir William Van Horne. Sir William was credited with completing the Trans Canada RR and chose St Andrews as his family's summer residence. He purchased the island from Loyalist Anglican Church minister Rev Samuel Andrews' family. Andrews settled the island in 1778 and his residency there gave it its name.

The Van Horne home went through decline at the hands of several owners after the Van Horne daughter, the last of the family, passed away in the 1970's. New Brunswick finally stepped in and named it a historic site and assumed control. It oversees operation by a trust that is restoring the property to its original state.Access to the island is by boat except for 2 1/2 hours twice a day at low tide when you can drive across a sand bar connecting the island to the mainland, which is how we got there this morning. The staff provides a tour and a great explanation of the family history as well as the features of the house and large barn complex.

We were back at the campground by 11:00am where Sue decided to spend the day while Jeff headed back to St Stephens for a round of golf. We had an early dinner in St Andrews and were back well before dark to enjoy a last evening on Passamaquoddy Bay.
Our 62 days in Atlantic Canada have been one of the highlights of our retirement travels and we will enjoy the music, photos, and memories we carry back with us. Our traveling included 3,000 miles in the motorhome, 4500 in the CRV, and six ferry crossings.

We cross over to Calais Maine in the morning.

 

[KodiakRV]

Great trip!  Thanks for sharing your thoughts and pictures.  Some day, Lord willing, we'll get there...

 

[Lorna]

Thanks Jeff and Sue for your great trip reports and pictures.  Have a safe and good trip down the east coast and we will see you in Florida.