WARNING:
This letter is long and there are many many pictures to look at.
So for the squeamish hit go back.....
6 Days of driving, 4300 kms and the family
survived. The Murano is fairly comfortable and roomy but we are
not petite people. Our teenagers coped fine and seemed to enjoy
the trip. (They may say differently??) Jason played his game boy
a lot and Amanda occasionally went into her music filled headphone
"bubble" I only managed to craft a potholder and a dishcloth -
too busy looking at the scenery, travel book or map. Kevin did
most of the driving.
Driving wasn't so bad - perhaps Kevin has a different opinion - we
stopped often - for coffee or a bathroom break and sometimes to Jasons
cry for food.
The weather was almost perfect. Luggage was minimal as we were
staying in hotels and a friends cottage. Thank you so much Tom
and Vicki. Unfortunately we spent so little time actually in the
cottage, never arriving in the daylight from any of our day trips.
We took a lot of pictures and have posted them in this location at
photobucket - login
katscraft - password our last name. Go to trip 2007 (the
remainder of the albums has not been changed in awhile). Using the
slideshow will prevent you from seeing the picture titles.
Most of
the pics were from a moving vehicle - you will see some reflection and
a few marks on the windshield but for the most part they turned
out well - I have cropped out the mirrors and usually the
wipers. We took 400 pics but didn't post them all.
Thank goodness for you. Oh, Amanda had a camera as well - not
much room but she was able to take some pretty good pics - they will
have an "a" after the D# (ie Day number).
DAY 1.
We had an early start, crossing the border at Cornwall, over a very
rough bridge that Kev says he "won't be riding the bike over".
The trip started off a bit odd, first problem happened just after
crossing the border where we hit a traffic circle and the nav system
(me) was
unsure of which exit to take (the signage sucked). We went
around the traffic circle twice - so what, I am sure the Customs agents
got a laugh.
The countryside was
very pretty but the traveling was slow thru the states. On the
whole trip we saw very little construction but the first day was spent
winding our way thru the mountains on slow roads. Not many
interstates run east and west
in that part of the country.
The mountains were great, I guess they were the White Mtns and Green
Mtns. But nothing beats driving thru the Rockies.....
Original plan was to get to Plattsburg and take a ferry across Lake
Champlain but to avoid getting held up at the ferry we drove around the
lake (I never made a reservation). Its not like we had never been
on a ferry being from Vancouver Island and all - we were to catch the
PEI ferry anyways.....
So a pretty but uneventful drive thru the states with a lovely picnic
spot - we had almost given up on finding a good rest area and were
going to pull on the shoulder for a bite but then found the spot by a
small lake. Ran into some bikers from Ontario that we chatted
with.
Burlington, Montpelier, St Johnsbury (all in Vermont) were the largest
urban areas we went thru until we arrived in Bangor. Of course we
could have found more built up areas and an interstate if we had gone
further south. The town of Mooers NY, its name stands out to us
(we chuckled as we thought of cows) but it is not an uncommon name and
is actually famous in the scientific world. But we remembered the
town name later on in the trip, especially outside an ice cream shop in
PEI..
We drove thru the states of New York, Vermont and New Hampshire and
stayed the night in Bangor Maine. We arrived at a decent time and
didn't try to rush with an early start.
DAY 2
This day started off slow as we tried to find a Bangor Harley
dealership so Kev could get a t-shirt. In spite of following
directions, the first one was impossible to find but the second one was
easier - however they didn't open til 10. So we set off -
shirtless.
Couple more hours we were back in Canada in St. Stephen NB and next to
the Bay of Fundy. No US shopping accomplished, much to
Amanda's disappointment.
Our first touristy stop was the Reversing Falls in Saint John NB - the
tour book sounded impressive but it wasn't really - it was neat to see
the river go backwards as the tide came in - creating some white rapids
but that was all. By now our continental breakfast had wore off
and we had to get lunch.
We found a mall and some fast food and discovered that Amanda had
created a travel log - more to track the cute guys she had seen then
the sites/events.
The Bay of Fundy was awesome. One of the highlights of the
trip. We are not hikers or cyclers but the park there would be
fantastic if you were. We thoroughly enjoyed the Hopewell Cape
and the Flower Pot Rocks - The E.T, Bear and Mother-In-Law rocks were
perfect - the Lovers Arch was fitting as well. It is easy to
embarrass (gross out) your teen if you smooch under the arch in public
- which we just had to do.
The walk to the rocks was very nice - although Kevs feet were killing
him - time for new shoes or insoles. It was very priceless when a
couple walked by us - the woman slapped her partner for not looking at
the scenery when they passed us and he wasn't looking at my chest or
Kevs butt - so he must have looked at Amanda.
The redness of the rocks and the cliffs was so unusual - the water was
reddish as well. I guess I thought it was only PEI that had red
soil.
I really enjoyed the river beds - pictures could not capture the
unusualness of them. To see them so red and intricately
carved-looking waiting for high tide again. Nothing could
grow in them as they spent half the day empty - then the tide would
come in and fill them up again. Right from the Bay of Fundy to
Moncton the river was drained - the beds were by no means shallow - at
least 6-7 ft of water had to go back into the river and the river ran
from the Bay of Fundy to Moncton which was 30 min away by
car. We found later this same phenomenon happens on the
Nova Scotia side too.
It was time to get a move on and make some tracks to the cottage still
about 3 hrs away - traveling from Moncton to Amherst NS (beautiful old
houses) was quick but the hwy to the cottage was slow and windy.
A late supper at a fish and chip shop in Pugwash also lost us some
daylight - the food was alright, the place was very not clean but we
were hungry and restaurants were few and far between. We ran into
a Quebec man who was all of 4 ft tall, riding his 250cc motorcycle
across Canada. He was very french and very talkative. This
is probably where Amanda has written in her log about the shirtless
young men she saw. Also this is where Kev asked whomever he could
where he could get some beer at this time of night - he knew the
teenaged boys would know.
In the dark, we saw little of River John and Cape John where would be
staying for at least two nights - we did find the landmarks that Tom
had given us. Such as the windmill and the grocery store but we
got to the cape in pitch black and tried to follow Toms scrawled
instructions - which were fine except they included no distances so we
couldn't tell if we had gone too far or not. But eventually
the cottage was found.
Once we arrived at the cottage - it was then that Kevin remembered that
Tom told him to bring a screwdriver and a flashlight - neither of which
we had. After scrambling around the cottage in the dark to find
the power panel, we finally found the breaker, turned on the lights and
could see the flashlight left hanging by the door.
DAY 3
Breakfast at the cottage and on the road again. The plan on day 3
was to whip thru PEI and then head off the Halifax. But there
simply wasn't enough time for all that in one day. So partway
thru the day the trip was extended by a day and Amanda had to call her
boss and make sure that taking Saturday off was okay. I didn't
want that rushed feeling but wanted this trip to see as much as we
could. It was highly unlikely that there would be another chance
like this for a family trip.
So we took the winding road back and cut across to NB at Tidnish and
soon found ourselves on the Confederation Bridge - a long bridge across
the Northumberland Strait - at least 13 kms. As you see by our
photos we have a fascination with them, to the kids - it
was just another bridge.
Kev required directions all the time - quite normal and I was the
navigator as per normal. But Kev got very tired of my saying go
"this way" or "that way" with only a quick point and no "left" or
"right". So the official KNav was born - an arrow cut out of the
PEI travel book. Strawberries on one side and chocolate on the
other, I left it on the strawberry side to avoid temptation. It
started out as KatKat but KNav sounded better - so instead of saying
turn this way or that - I would turn the homemade arrow. It
wasn't as perfect as the GPS that Kevin would love to have but it
worked at least when I was the navigator. Except for some
intersections where I had to often point out that KNav read maps very
well but not designed to read signs......
As we were on PEI, we wanted to see the northeasternmost coast of it
and so we set off. It is a small island criss-crossed with many
roads but not always direct ones. In Cornwall/Charlottetown we
found a Harley dealer where Kev found it both open and having t-shirts
plus a 2008 Harley. Spent a bit of time there and ran into fellow
Ontarians. Looking at my watch and all that we still wanted to do
- the decision was made to try to extend the trip. With
that settled, we set off touring more of PEI than was originally
planned. We are not Anne of Green Gables fans - however we
traveled to Cavendish (a very touristy area). Jason tried donairs
but Amanda stuck to pizza and we all enjoyed the famous "Cows" ice
cream (thought of Mooers) and did a bit of shopping in the "attract the
tourist" boardwalk area. .
Next of course we checked out the beach. Disappointed that
we had to pay to see it - I am sure we could have found somewhere else
had we been more savvy but a lot of the area on the Atlantic coast of
the island was run by the provincial parks service. So we paid
for a day pass and stayed for less than an hour. Jason dived in
and Amanda grumbled about being in her jeans and us not telling her to
bring her swim suit. Once again Jason did not like the
salty-tasting, eye-stinging water but he wasn't as surprised as he was
on his first ocean dip in the Pacific.
After the beach we drove around the north coast and although a bit
confused and navigation stressed around Greenwich, it was off to
Naufrage/St. Margarets where we tried to get close ups of a lighthouse,
red soil and of course potatoes. We often saw rivers with rows
and rows of buoys on them - we can only guess at why they are there -
perhaps bait traps??
Then we had to hustle to get the last ferry off the island. We
took some wicked back roads but it was too late to get there so we
veered over to Charlottetown instead, knowing that to show up at 730
for a 730 departure of the LAST ferry wasn't going to cut it. The
75 minute ferry ride would have saved Kevin 2 hours of driving and I am
sure he needed the break, especially as the ferry comes out in NS
pretty close to River John. It was going to cost us to get off
the island - either $40 for the bridge or $60 for the ferry.
We ended up taking a slightly different road back to River John - so
glad we didn't run into any wildlife either animal or human as we drove
in the dark in the back roads of Nova Scotia and yet another
dark return to the cottage.
DAY 4
Originally the start of our drive back day - it became the drive to
Halifax day. First a quick breakfast then a drive around Cape
John - just to get a closer look at the place we were staying.
Off in the distance across the bay we saw our River John nightly
beacon(the windmill). At the cape we saw more parked fishing
boats and empty lobster traps (I guess it is not fishing season) then
we headed to Pictou (Pic-toe, proper pronunciation I'm told) for the
drive to Truro.
We detoured at Truro in the hopes of seeing a Tidal Bore - the guide
book sounded pretty good and the rafting company would have loved to
have had us but it was pretty expensive. As it was, it was too
far out of our way. If Seal Cove had been close by I would
have enjoyed that as well. But we headed off to Halifax after
running into the shortest school bus we had ever seen, just had to turn
around and get a picture.
Amanda wore her usual jeans - she brought a skirt but found that
everytime she wore it that day it would be rainy but if she left her
jeans on it would stay nice. So she wore jeans. The weather
stayed nice, except at the cottage apparently.
Halifax was very much a highlight, a very clean city - could have
easily spent much more time there. Beautiful city with a
fantastic waterfront - sure wish Kingston would improve its
waterfront. See pictures of our naval ships and subs as well as
the waterfront. The name of the file is meant to help you determine the
subject when you go to photobucket. Absolutely priceless moment was
going thru the toll bridge on the Angus L MacDonald Bridge - it cost 75
cents but Kevs aim was so poor that the quarters flew everywhere except
the large bin designed to catch the change.
You could get whale watching tours or other ships tours for a price of
course. Unlike Cavendish market area where I am sure the locals
avoid - the waterfront in Halifax is great for both tourists and locals
and had a pretty fancy casino too. We wandered and chatted with a
couple visiting from Ohio on our way to Pier 21, a historic and major
immigration gateway.
Saw a magnificent yacht at the pier - it was 100 ft long and they were
from Florida - there were 5 people traveling and the guy said it would
take them about a month to get home. Kev googled it at the hotel
in Edmundston and found out it was worth 4 mil.
There were plenty of museums to visit but we had no time for that, we
drove around the citadel without going in - expecting it to be similar
to Fort Henry. We also drove around the shipyards and then it was
off to Peggys Cove. I considered not going but how could I not -
I am sure my grandmother went there with one of her daughters so I
wanted to do the same. Peggys Cove was another highlight, a foggy
one, but glad we went. It would have been fantastic in the
daytime and better yet to have seen some (water) wildlife.
Then it was a nice drive back to Truro. We had had an unusually
expensive Smittys lunch on the way down in Truro but on the way up a
much more reasonably priced supper at Swiss Chalet - still boggles the
mind that Smittys was so expensive. Next it was a severe
navigation struggle to find the back road (a different one) back to
River John. The maps were clear but the Truro signs were
not. The back road appeared to cut a lot of time off vice going
around thru Pictou again - besides if you are going to drive why take
the same route each time. We finally found our way back to the
cottage in the dark of course. The linen we had left to dry
outside was wet so we draped it all over the cottage so it would dry
overnight.
DAY 5
Pack and go at a reasonable time. Said goodbye to the helpful windmill
(which told us we were nearing the cottage) and the Atlantic Ocean and
took yet another back road to Oxford then to Amherst where all we could
find was a Smittys. We ate our breakfast there, fortunately this time
we made much better choices and the bill was better.
In NB we found the rain and most of this day was a wet one. Near
Moncton we went to Magnetic Hill - unbelievably the car rolled back
uphill. Kevin could not believe it. Tom says it is just an
illusion - you are actually going downhill but it is a pretty darn good
illusion even if it does cost you five bucks. The waterpark and
zoo at Magnetic Hill were completely not busy - however the rain
was. Alas we weren't stopping anyway.
Reading the tour book found us next at Hartland where there exists the
longest covered bridge. So we drove thru it - so did the guy at
the other end. Not sure how you are supposed to tell if the other
guy stopped at the stop sign before you when you can barely see
him. So we drove towards each other wondering if we could
fit or one of us would have to reverse but two vehicles do fit side by
side in that bridge.
Next reading the tour book had us stopping in Grand Falls - telling us
it was the best thing this side of Niagara. It was pretty and the
drop was substantial but it would have been much more impressive if the
water had been flowing thru the dam. As there was no place to
stop except for the pay parking place you will find our photos are
taken from the car.
So we arrived at our hotel in Edmundston NB - a very french area in the
late aftn. The "chateau" was very nice, well priced and had the
requisite pool and hot tub. The directions to it from the tour
book were horrible and we had some extremely frustrated times looking
for Church St. while crisscrossing De L'Eglise street often. Ha
ha Eglise is Church in french - the CAA writers have a sense of
humour.....I complained to the desk clerk who heard the story
before. He couldn't even find his own hotel following those
directions. Next we wandered up and down De L'Eglise
looking for a restaurant. We finally settled on Spillys - which
is ironically across from the hotel - who knew it would take us several
minutes of walking the streets to find it. De L'Eglise is a rough
looking street but Spillys provided awesome food. Jason was
disappointed in the lack of french fries but the cover of the menu
explained it as they were a "non-fried food" restaurant. Very extensive
menu and very chef like. The Chateau Edmundston sounded expensive
but was reasonable compared to the others in the tour book. It
was also attached to a small mall which Amanda and I utilized after
dinner before the pool and hot tub. Apparently there was a proper sized
mall in the town but after the trouble to find the hotel I wasn't that
interested in finding the mall.
DAY 6
Well the final day of traveling started out poorly - neither Kev nor I
had slept well and Kevin was feeling horribly ill. We woke up
early and were on the road before long. Up til now I had driven
only twice in the 5 days previous and perhaps for an hour each time -
it appeared that I had to drive the whole way home that day - only 800+
kms. I much prefer the passenger seat when I am with Mr. back
seat driver but he was barely conscious. He is not a great
navigator - even worse when sick - so Amanda got handed the map -
pretty straightforward trip except for Montreal which we tried to
skirt. We did get a bit turned around in Montreal but we found
our way. Missed reading a sign - hey even KNav can't drive and read
signs in Montreal. I think Kev pulled himself awake for that part
- no way he was sleeping thru Montreal with someone else at the
wheel. Thru Quebec, we stopped often for the bathroom or munchies
and of course meals - Kevin stayed in the car - he simply couldn't
handle food. He thinks it may have been food poisoning at Spillys
but considering that neither Jason nor I feel 100% since we got home I
think it is just the flu, it could have been the cheese the three of us
ate?. Kevin traditionally suffers the most when there is a bug
going around. I jokingly told him that I knew he didn't want to
drive thru Quebec but I didn't know he didn't want to drive thru it
that much....
We arrived home by supper to long grass, a green pool, very weedy
gardens and affection starved kitties. Their bowls of food were
empty - note the word bowls - we had put out plenty and our neighbour
checked up on them. They have been sucky since (the cats not the
neighbours). Weasel and Sassy will no doubt revert to their
uncaring selves shortly.
So that was our trip in 5000 words or less. I would go back and
tour Nova Scotia again in a heartbeat. New Brunswick and PEI
maybe - the states I would do on its own in small trips. PEI strikes me
as a great relaxing holiday spot, like the equivilent to a Canadian
tropical island, without the tropics. For many this is a lot of
driving but for us we prefer it to sitting around in a cottage for a
few weeks. We have always put excessive mileage on our vehicles
and have often traveled by car. No plans to change that practice
- except in future it may just be Kev and I via motorcycle. I
haven't quite got my butt on that thing yet and certainly haven't
figured out how I am going to knit or crochet while riding but
someday......
Headline - MOTORIST HIT BY KNITTING NEEDLES AND BALL OF YARN -
puts another spin on hooked on crochet.....