Nova Scotia ~ Our Return

01 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Travels

Tags

Aspy Fault, Cabot Trail, Canada, Cape Breton, Highlands of Cape Breton, John Cabot, Little Narrows, Meat Cove, Nova Scotia, Provincial Parks

Forty-four Junes ago Ed and I went to Nova Scotia for our honeymoon staying in Halifax for five nights. Even though we didn’t get off the southern hard coast much, we loved it and always wanted to come again. Now, after all these years we have made it back. However, having never seen the icebergs in Newfoundland, we decided they were a priority and not having a good idea about how long into summer they last and knowing we have to pass back this way, we cut our visit here short. So, we jumped onto the Trans Canada to circle Cape Breton on the way to North Sydney and the ferry, but I am getting ahead of myself…

The first thing we noticed is the red dirt of PEI is gone but still pretty.

Coming into the province from New Brunswick on the Trans Canada Hwy 104 we took 302 just outside of Amherst over to 242, the scenic route heading for Joggins Fossil Cliffs. Large seams of coal were the big draw here starting back in 1686, but the fossil record of the 310 million year old rainforest ecosystem is what earned the cliffs a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation.

A nice example of Stigmaria, fossilized tree roots of a lycopsid tree.

Running back on Collector Highway 242 to 320 and then Trunk Highway 2 we drove through huge hills or perhaps little mountains covered with forests with a lovely mix of conifers and deciduous trees. As near as I can figure it, “collector” is like our general route, “trunk” is like a county route, provincial is equal to state and then there’s the Trans Canada which even though the number changes is equal to our interstates.

The lighthouse at Five Islands Park.

We were headed to Truro to see the tidal bore created as the Bay of Fundy tide flows up the Salmon River. A tidal bore is created when the incoming tide flows into a narrow river or bay of out flowing water with enough force to create a wave. Depending on the size of the tide, as you probably know they vary with the moon, season, and wind force, a tidal bore maybe several inches or many feet tall. While not an overwhelming sight, it was still very cool to watch and see it roll up the river past us.

Here it comes!

We drove to Whycocomagh Provincial Park where we were practically the only folks there. Having arrived with lots of daylight to spare we headed out for the ferry at Little Narrows.

This is a cabled ferry but not like our White’s Ferry boat at home, the Gen. Jubal A. Early.

For $7 we crossed and headed off on what the map has marked as a scenic route and a place called Washabuck Center. Who could resist? We didn’t know for sure where we went but it turns out there are also Upper Washabuck and Lower Washabuck and somewhere in the middle is perhaps the worst road we’ve ever been on! A car passed us at one point and you should have seen the shocked look on the driver’s face when he saw us in our RV! We survived and so did Whack-A-Mole Wheels 🙂

This is before the road really got bad and we have since encountered much worse.

NOTE: Fellow campers, we have stayed in a growing number of provincial parks which range from dry camping to 3-way (water, electric, sewer) sites and most are very nice. Be sure to check them out.

The Cabot Trail around Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada is a world famous drive and with good reason.

The Highlands, as they are called, are an extension of the Appalachian Mountains and a plateau. The interior holding no roads or development and very few trails is a wilderness. This is the Aspy Fault which was created in the Ordovician period when two continental plates collided forming the Appalachians.

We headed north to do the route counter-clockwise planning to catch the ferry to Newfoundland at North Sydney on the eastern side of Nova Scotia. From the road we spied the Calvin United Whale Cove Cemetery on the hillside at Margaree Harbour and headed out the dirt road for a look.

Just bury me here because this is the view…

behind to the left…

and behind to the right. Look how pristine the water is.

We spent two nights at Hideaway Campground & Oyster Market at Dingwall were we not only had a lovely view, but a good dinner of their farm raised oysters and very sweet lobster off their son’s boat.

Our view from the bench where we enjoyed our wine in the evening at Hideaway Campground.

We diverted off the Cabot Trail and headed further up the northern peninsula for the village of Capstick where the paved road ends and then on up the dirt road to Meat Cove the most northern community in Nova Scotia and the tip of the province.

Bay St. Lawrence on the way to Capstick.

The village of Meat Cove is the end of the road in Nova Scotia.

On the way back we stopped at Cabot’s Landing Provincial Park on Aspy Bay where some believe John Cabot landed in 1497. There is little known for sure and some disagreement, but suffice to say everyone agrees he was the first European to land in North America except for the Norsemen but that’s an upcoming blog post 🙂

This is the suspected landing site of John Cabot’s expedition in 1497.

Dingwall Harbour on a quiet Sunday morning.

We spent this night at Broad Cove Campground back in the national park, and suggest fellow campers, that it also be a stop for the night on your trip.

On the eastern side of the Cabot Trail the roads are rougher, much steeper and not as pretty. Maybe in the future they’ll be improved like those bits under construction over on the western side. We did take a short walk at Cape Smokey and saw Lady Slippers!

This is a wide section of path on Cape Smokey, but…

there are Lady Slippers.

Next blog posting…..Newfoundland!

Embedded in the cliff at Joggins Fossils Cliffs is a section of tree trunk.

A piece of Stigmaria fossil that shows the pith of the root.

Inverness Beach Boardwalk at Inverness, Nova Scotia.

Into the Highlands of Cape Breton. We ate lunch along the small cove in this photo.

There are four languages spoken on Cape Breton: English, Gaelic, French and Mi’kmaq. This is in English and Gaelic though.

Dingwall Harbour.

Marker for John Cabot’s landing.

Fog cascading over the highlands along the road to Cape North and Meat Cove.

Green Cove where we stopped to have lunch.

At Green Cove there is a terrific example of granite intrusions (pink) into cracks in the gneiss bedrock.

Cape Smokey.

Meat Cove proper. Not much once you get here but the drive and views are really nice.

Prince Edward Island ~ Red, Green & Blue

24 Saturday Jun 2017

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Travels

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

Acadia, Anne of Green Gables, Canada, Confederation Bridge, Fishing Harbors, Lighthouses, Lobster, Lucy Maude Montgomery, PEI, Prince Edward Island, Wind Energy, Wind Energy Institute of Canada, Wind Turbines

From New Brunswick we headed across the 8 mile long Confederation Bridge which since it’s opening in 1997 has opened Prince Edward Island (PEI) to easy accessibility, something that was actually put to a vote by the citizens before construction could begin! At the visitor center we discovered that at least for tourists, the island is “divided” into touring sections, Points East Coastal Drive, Central Coastal Drive and the North Cape Coastal Drive. Having now done a lot of it, they do indeed each have a different feel to them. The one thing that is very consistent however, are the colors of PEI: RED ~ GREEN ~ BLUE.

Look how crystal clear the water is.

Crossing over the bridge deposits one on the southern Red Sands Shore of the central section where we headed east following the mapped coastal road (it varies from 10 to Trans Canada Highway to 19) arriving at the cute town of Victoria just about lunch time. The Lobster Barn Pub & Eatery had those magic words lobster and pub so of course in we went 🙂 Put it on your list if you get this way…YUM!

Continuing on along the coast to just outside of the capital city of Charlottetown we headed northwest towards New Glasgow Highlands Campground where we had reservations for the next couple of nights. Fellow RVer’s put this place on your list, not only is it private, pretty, and have all the amenities, we can’t say enough about how wonderful the owners Marlene and Les are.

It’s never a good thing to hear a loud “BANG!!” come from the rear end, but we knew right away what it was and actually had the spare part. The wonderful campground owner, Les Andrews let us park in front of his garage, loaned us his pump jack, some extra tools and a roller cart so Ed could replace the sway bar bracket that broke in two places. Welcome to the people of PEI!

The red (due to iron-oxide i.e.rust) sandy soil of PEI, the warm summers, cold winters and moisture retaining ability of the dirt is perfect for growing potatoes. In fact it is so perfect that they are the top producer of excellent spuds in all of Canada. With our visit coinciding with spring, the turned, hilled red earth of the potato fields in the surrounding, incredibly green rolling countryside was quite unlike any other landscape we’ve seen.

This is as close as we got to capturing the ethereal green, rich red and deep blue of the sky. It doesn’t come close.

Almost every time we told anyone that we were coming to PEI the response from females was, “Oh that was/is my favorite book!” or “Oh I have always wanted to see PEI and Anne’s home!” or “You are going to Green Gables aren’t you?” As a child I too, of course, read Lucy Maude Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and clearly having so many of our dear readers in love with Anne’s story we thought that we’d better go, and we did 🙂

Green Gables

Anne’s bedroom

Blue is also the color of Prince Edward Island, water and sky. To the north is the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the southern shore the Northumberland Strait. Scattered all about are streams and rivers flowing out the many fingers into the coves and bays which form the picturesque harbors for the many fishing vessels that produce PEI’s other main crop, shellfish. While lobster is the main crop they also farm oysters and their famously delicious mussels.

Unloaded and headed for his slip.

Oysters and mussels are extensively farmed in the cold, clean and quiet waters of PEI’s coves and rivers.

…and we did our best to help the local fisherman. This was at The Blue Mussel Cafe in North Rustico where we sat on the rooftop deck. Put it on your MVL.

We drove up the North Cape which is heavily Acadian. Acadia, (New France) was the colony settled by the French in Northeastern America as early as the mid 1500’s. By the mid 1700’s and years of fighting with the English the Acadians were forcibly removed or fled to among other places Louisiana and New Orleans, hence the strong Acadian (Cajun) influence in that area. The history of the Acadian people in this whole region is rich with strife, suffering, conflict and compromise which was just finally completely settled in 2003. We leave it to you to do some very interesting reading.

The North end of the island has very few towns or people. It is considerably more flat and we did not find it nearly as pretty, but our visit to The Wind Energy Institute of Canada was interesting.

When you see those big windmills with that little thing on top? This is that thing and it’s called a nacelle. It is where the spinning motion of the blades is converted to electrical energy and sent to the main power grid. Each of the three blades attaches to the hole behind Ed.

This is a single blade. It is 90 ft. long.

We stopped at Cedar Dunes Provincial Park to see the West Point Lighthouse where we enjoyed seeing the small museum as we climbed to the top.

On the backside of the West Point Light is a two storey arm of hotel rooms. You can also stay in one room in the lighthouse, but we saw the room and it ain’t worth the money and doesn’t feel like a lighthouse.

Nobody bigger than Ed is getting through this hatch into the lightroom at the top.

We had thought to spend the night at Linkletter Provincial Park but with the recent rains it was a bit of a swamp so we chose not to and headed back to New Glasgow Highlands.

Next morning we headed east on the coastal road crossing into the Points East section of the island. We took the short side trip to Red Head Harbor on St. Peters Bay and the prettiest harbor yet.

Classic, quiet and beautiful.

Directly across the bay is Greenwich, PEI National Park where we did the fabulous boardwalk trip out to the shore. Put this in on your MVL (Must Visit List).

One of our prettiest walks ever. The boardwalk floats across the large shallow pond behind the dunes.

We stopped at the East Point Lighthouse and later stopped at Basin Head and paid to see the Fisheries Museum…really sad ( they did try though), unfortunately, don’t waste your money. At Red Point Provincial Park we stopped for the night. It presented some serious leveling issues but the view was pretty and I literally ran about a quarter of a mile to see Northern Gannets diving for their dinner…..really fun 🙂

The squawking and carrying on as they dive bombed for dinner was one of the coolest things Marti ever saw.

Our last morning we ate at the Blue Fin in Souris where Ed ordered the Hungry Man Breakfast and it was more than he could finish. Continuing down the coastal road to Charlottetown we walked around the old section and stopped for a drink and shared a good lobster dip at the John Brown Richmond Street Grill. We like this town and it would have been fun to spend more time poking around.

This street is closed to traffic during the season and we were there just in time for the beginning of the season. Down here is John Brown Richmond Street Grill.

Ed and I have heard nothing but rave reviews about Prince Edward Island for years and we are very happy to have spent a week seeing the sights. We met many friendly people, saw gorgeous farm country, quaint harbors, lots of lighthouses and had some very good seafood. No trip to the Canadian Maritimes would be complete without a tour of PEI, and yet we don’t feel the desire to explore it further. Can’t say why, just the way we feel. That being said we’re sure most folks will love it, especially the Central Coast so do put it on your MVL!

Victoria, a small and very quaint fishing village in the Central Coast region.

and a similar scene in Red Head Harbor.

Red sandstone cliffs eroding creates the red beaches and muddy waters.

This buggy parked outside of Green Gables has a straw hat with red braids attached for tourist to put on and pretend they are Anne. No.

In Green Gable’s kitchen is this wood stove which is pretty rare and very low to the floor for heating.

Walking off that chowder and mussels lunch in North Rustico.

There are churches everywhere on PEI. Almost all of them are classically, exquisitely beautiful, all with tall steeples.

St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church.

The coming and going of the workboats and the expert skippering of them is a real ballet on the water as they come in to unload their lobster catch.

Yummmm

… and then there’s kids being kids at Northport pier. That water was really cold, they practically bounced off it screaming, “Cold, cold, cold!!!”. But five minutes later they did it again.

Lobster boats coming in is just a classic PEI scene on the water. We were told that a commercial lobstering license trades for approximately $1,000,000. The government only issued so many and they only become available as a waterman retires and has not passed it on to his heirs. Unlike, the USA, there is a season for fishing lobsters, cod and snow crabs. With lobster at $7 a pound at the dock the men are currently doing pretty well.

Green, red and blue. Oh, and dandelions are EVERYWHERE!

This is designated a Heritage Farm and we think it’s because they grow the best dandelions. No kidding, this scene repeats itself everywhere on PEI. We have never seen so many dandelions.

Along the floating Greenwich Boardwalk.

Looking over the dunes down to the beach, where…

Marti found some broken lobster trap bits. The rectangular openings are intended as escape portals for little lobsters who used to get attacked and killed by the bigger lobsters who were also caught in the trap. Really. BTW, Marti wants you to know those bumps in her pockets are water bottles and not rocks, which she is reputed to pick up.

East Point Lighthouse.

The day is done at Northport Harbor. The watermen make an extremely hard and dangerous job look so easy and fun when the weather is pretty. Most of us wouldn’t last a half a day.

The view from atop the West Point Lighthouse.

Ed, your bus driver doing half his job. His other job is bartending and Marti says he’s very good at it. We will catch you on the next province, Nova Scotia.

Hello Ontario! ~ Au Revoir Quebec!

06 Tuesday Oct 2015

Posted by Ed and Marti Kirkpatrick in Travels, Uncategorized

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Canada, Costello PA, Frontenac, Ontario, Poutine, Quebec, Sundridge

Hello! Thank you all for bearing with us and our summer long disappearing act. We are thrilled to say Ed’s surgery went well, especially considering after the fact when the doctor told us he had been pretty worried! As they say, all’s well that ends well. We did however receive the sad news that our kitty Flea passed away. He had a good life and thanks to the kindness of the purchasers of our home, he got to stay on the farm he loved.

Ed did some repairs and upgrades to the RV, I gave it a good scrubbing inside while he did the outside and we hauled all the stuff we’d moved into the apartment back into our little wheeled house and we headed out on September 22^nd. Going up 15N into Pennsylvania over to Lewisburg where we picked up Rt 45 and then 322N driving through beautiful farm country to State College. We stopped for the night in Woodland, happy to be back on the road.

A beautiful, pristine round barn near State College, PA. Don’t see these often.

We were headed for Costello, Pennsylvania in Potter County where my Dad was born so I could say “hello” to my great grandparents Robert & Janetta Campbell Deppa. Robert came from Scotland when he was 8 and fought in the Civil War figuring as did many that when the North won he would then be a US citizen. Not so. After the war he also married Janetta who was all of 15 and a half. She is also for whom one of my nieces is named. We had been to the cemetery back in 2001 and it was overgrown and a mess. Volunteers have now cleaned it up and it looks lovely, although they also changed the name after well over 100 years.

Fern Woods in the Pennsylvania mountains…

From there driving on up into New York and many small towns on our way eventually to the Peace Bridge crossing into Canada and the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) towards Toronto and on past to Alliston, Ontario. We have noticed before that small towns in New York are generally very clean. Folks seem to take pride in their homes, yards and towns no matter how poor they might be. It’s nice.

An old truck at the cranberry farm.

We poked around Ontario for a couple of days. Stopped at Johnston’s Cranberry Farm where we sampled their cranberry and blueberry wines, won’t need to do that again. We drove to Penetanguishene just because a town with a name like that ought to be visited and had our first poutine (French fries and cheese curd covered with gravy) at the “World Famous Dock Lunch”; nope on both counts.

Went to the French River because in elementary school when we were taught about Canada the only places I remember being mentioned were the French River and the St. Lawrence River/Seaway. At the French River Provincial Park visitor center there is a 512ft. long, 12ft.wide bridge built 90ft. over the French River for and by snowmobile enthusiasts! They take their winter entertainment very seriously 🙂

Built by the French River Snow Voyageurs Snowmobile Club.

We hiked the one mile wooded trail to the Rocellet Falls. The rock of the Canadian Shield creates a sidewalk thru the woods, except for the spots where the tree roots unable to penetrate the shield and clinging to what dirt is available, make an ankle-twisting maze. It was a lovely walk and the falls are very pretty.

We visited our dear friend Beverley at her sister Wendy’s cottage on Deer Lake in Sundridge and had a wonderful time.

Marti goes for a boat ride on Deer Lake with our friend Beverley. Fraser was Captain and Wendy was Co-captain. I sat in the middle for balance.

They took us on a boat ride and out to Burk’s Falls see the Screaming Heads. Concrete castings about 16 feet tall scattered across the landscape, these heads, hands and rearing horses are odd and fun. There were also many large to huge metal bar pyramids and a few geodesic domes throughout the place. Oh, and a giant string web in the woods! One of those “you gotta see this” places 🙂

Screaming Heads reminiscent of Edvard Munch's "Scream".

Screaming Heads reminiscent of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”.

After Ontario we headed to Quebec and Quebec City. This is a major MVP (Must Visit Place)! We stayed across the St. Lawrence at the Campground Transit and took the short Levis Ferry ride across to Old Quebec City.

On the ferry from Levis…

If you can’t make it to France, this is the next best thing. Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain this walled city is incredibly beautiful. With a commanding view of the river, the French, who finally lost it to the English in 1763 and the Americans who could not defeat it and so ensured that Canada would belong to England, the city is proud of its history. Inside the original walls it has such a European feel and with the population still speaking French we felt we must have traveled a lot farther than our odometer said (even in metric). We spent two windy days wandering around and will be back for sure. Plus, there’s this amazing, not too expensive, attic condo in the heart of the Old City that is calling my name…..