In the Deep South

Moving on from Florida, we made a brief stop in Alabama, at the outlet mall in Foley. We each got some new footwear, all this touristing wears out shoes quickly. We spent one night in Mississippi, in Gulfport. Miles and miles of beautiful sand beach along this area of the Gulf of Mexico, very similar to Pensacola Beach. But it was chilly, windy and the surf was pretty rough. The houses are built on pilings at least 1 and sometimes 2 stories off the ground, so I guess we'd be safe to say they have water issues. The next day we drove into Louisiana and arrived in New Orleans!

Denis braving the GoM (Gulf of Mexico)



We decided we wouldn't want to carry groceries up to these places!

We had coffee and beignets at Café du Monde, that's the way to start the day! Better than Starbucks! After a visit to the French Market and wandering around the French Quarter we shared a muffuletta at the Central Grocery (similar to Edmonton's Italian Centre shop, just smaller). Muffuletta is a 10' round Italian sandwich, with all Denis' favourite things; we had enough for the next day, they are huge, good thing they are cut in quarters.  We did some touring on the trolleys because it was cold and windy. We did walk along the levee (riverwalk) to the cruise ship terminal and its very high-end outlet mall. We also walked around the Garden District and Bourbon Street on our last day enjoying a bit warmer weather. There are still obvious signs of the devastation of Catrina, many buildings in the poorer areas that have not been repaired or torn down.  We listened to some live music in the Musical Legends Park, we went to Preservation Hall but did not go back for the show at night. We visited the Destrehan Plantation as we were leaving the New Orleans area. 

Me trying to convince Denis we should have 'Dinner at Antoine's'

But he preferred the ambiance and the food at the Central Grocery

Then we were on the move again, following as close to the coast as possible, no more sandy beaches it was  bayous and swamps, miles of bridges and causeways! We were in Lake Charles, Louisiana for a night and then into Texas.

We didn't take a picture of the 'watch out for snakes sign' at the other end of the parking lot. Note that the 'beast' has shiny new hubcaps, Denis feels much better!

We managed to avoid the Houston area and headed for Galveston, back to the beaches, houses on pilings and people trying to surf. We stayed at a state park on Galveston Island with the beach just across the dunes. We had a nice evening with our neighbours who were from Ontario.

Next stop San Antonio! We parked our trailer and before we were set up our neighbour came over to chat because he saw our trailer was from Grande Prairie and he is also! We enjoyed visiting with them and maybe meeting up later in Arizona. We visited the Alamo and have walked a mile or two along the Riverwalk.  Also took the Rio (river) taxi tour. There are more people friendly spaces in the city centre than any other city I've been to. Fountains, manmade waterfalls and the restored village (La Villita). We went up in the Tower of Americas, very similar to Calgary Tower, 100+ feet taller; but as Denis pointed out less than half as high as the CN Tower. It was a beautiful clear day and we got a great bird's eye view of the city. We also made a mandatory visit to the Mexican market but managed to escape without too buying much.

Across the alley, oh no it's the plaza from the Alamo!

Enjoying the Riverwalk

Today is American Thanksgiving and there is a turkey dinner at the resort so we'll get a turkey fix. Friday we are going to the Christmas light up and boat parade (so actual floats) along the Riverwalk.

 

South and further south

Continuing to chase some warmer weather we drove through the beautiful Virginia countryside. Walton’s Mountain scenery, went through Rattlesnake Hollow, we didn’t stop. Stayed in Danville just north of the North Carolina border.

Halloween day we put our beach bum costumes on and went to Myrtle Beach, nice sunny day but a bit windy, we waded but didn't swim. First time at the beach on October 31! We walked along the board walk, the place is a long string of casinos, hotels and amusement parks.

Trick or treat!

Next stop Charleston. We spent a chilly, rainy Saturday doing a driving tour of the old town and then went to the market. Four blocks (covered) of all kinds of merchandise, we missed the farmer's market but it is not covered so we likely wouldn't have stayed long. Temp was 11 but it felt much colder, I was shivering in my 'fall' jacket. The weather improved a bit the next day and we went to Fort Sumter, that's where the American Civil war started. On our way again, we stopped and toured the Middleton Plantation, the oldest formal gardens in North America.

We made it to Florida! We spent 3 days at a very nice resort and took day trips to Cocoa Beach and Denis got to spend the day at the Kennedy Space Centre.

Welcome to NASA (space cadet, Denis!)

In the rocket garden!

We were thinking of staying for the winter but we've more country to see. Another night at a nice but very different resort.

We're now in Pensacola Beach for a week.

Camped amongst the big boys!

Heading South

We crossed into Maine and of course we managed to head into a storm; severe rain and flooding along the coast but we are sitting high and mostly dry in a Walmart parking lot in Bangor, once again all campgrounds are closed. We're planning a long drive south tomorrow, Denis feels his tan fading and wants to get back into his shorts and sandals!

It's raining so much we are thinking we should explore our options, maybe put pontoons on the trailer and turn it into an ark. But 'the beast' got new tires yesterday so we should be well grounded.

We headed south from Bangor, through Augusta then Portland and into New Hampshire (live free or die) for a short spell. On into Massachusetts and then spent a good portion of the afternoon trying to skirt Boston. The good news is... we found a campground that's open! I saw a post of pics of snowmen from the Fairview/Hines Creek area so I guess I better stop whining about the rain.

I woke up to sunshine this morning, amazing how my outlook improves! We went to Plymouth and saw 'the rock', the Mayflower II and walked around the waterfront. Then it was off to Cape Cod, we were creeping along in stop and go traffic because there was construction on the bridge and a lot of others wanted to enjoy the beautiful day there. After the bridge the congestion decreased and we toured through the historic towns and byways. Denis is certainly missing the Miata, he could really zoom-zoom around here!

Driving again, mostly west today. We left Massachusetts and travelled through Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and stopped for the day just south of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Leaving Scranton, we headed south, took a wrong turn and decided to stop at Gettysburg. We visited the eternal flame monument on the battlefield, there are enough cannons, guns, monuments and storyboards to keep Denis occupied for a long time. The town is very interesting also, many beautifully preserved historic buildings. We crossed into Maryland and then into Virginia for a mile or two and then into West Virginia.
 

Hey David, he's thinking this would be one for the front lawn!

We are camped at Harper's Ferry another famous civil war battleground. We had a small plumbing issue so Denis got parts and did the repairs. Beautiful day (28 degrees) we drove to the historic town site and wandered around. The town is on the point where the Shenandoah River runs into the Potomac.

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This morning we drove to Rockville, on the outskirts of Washington and took the metro (subway) in to Union Station. What a beautiful train station! We headed out to the 'mall' (sorry girls no shopping). We started at the Capitol building, wandered around the exhibits, but didn't take the tour. The dome is covered in scaffolding but not tarped in like it would be at home so we could kind of see it. We made a small detour so Denis could take a picture of the Canadian Embassy and he wanted to drop in for a visit but I wouldn't let him. We continued along the mall then stopped for lunch, Denis was disappointed with Washington's version of Montreal smoked meat. Fortified by lunch we continued to the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial and on to the Lincoln Memorial. We got a glimpse of the Whitehouse but the Obamas were not receiving visitors so we kept on going. We would both have loved to spend all day at the Smithsonian but I guess that will have to be next time. If we live to be 105 we might get to visit some of the art galleries, museums and historic sites we're missing this trip.

Washington Monument from Lincoln Memorial

Here's a little catch up on the maps, so far we've missed Vermont & New Hampshire

I'm Back

Oct 15 - I arrived back Halifax just after 7:00 pm, it was a long flight, 7 hours. I had a  great trip home, the weather was wonderful, my drive to Peace River couldn't have been better. The valley was lovely, lots of leaves left and the sun was shining! I managed to see almost everyone and shared Thanksgiving with some of my dear ones. Denis wasn't so fortunate the weather didn't cooperate and he bruised his heel, he was eager to move on when I got back so we drove to Truro that night.

Oct 16 - The tidal bore was only a ripple this morning. After a brief stop at the Masstown fish  market we headed for New Brunswick. Stopped for lunch at Memramcook and visited the Lefebvre Monument Historical site (Acadian heritage site). We continued into Moncton where we experienced Magnetic Hill and stopped at the Magnetic Hill Winery. We've been busy finalizing our insurance so we can 'fly south' and leave this chilly weather behind.

Beautiful Reflection

Oct 17 - Left Moncton heading to St. John via Hillsborough. The morning was rainy but it let up and we walked down to the Hopewell Rocks. also known as the Flower Pots because the Fundy Tides have eroded the lower portions leaving formations that resemble giant flower pots at low tide and I guess they'd look like floating flower pots at high tide. We drove through the Fundy National Park but we are finding that most places are closed for the season. We finally found a covered bridge we could drive through at St. Martins, well there was a small one at Magnetic Hill. We bought cooked lobster at Alma, the season opened here on Tuesday.

Low tide at the Hopewell Rocks

Covered bridge at St. Martin's

Oct 18 - We started our day at the farmer's market, then went to see the Reversing Falls, which are more reversing rapids from what we saw. We toured around and saw Fort Howe lookout, the Carlton Martello tower and the Fort La Tour site as well as walking trail sculptures.

Oct 19 - We had a lovely drive along the river to Fredericton. Along the way we made a brief stop in the village of Gagetown. Once we arrived in Fredericton we drove downtown and then walked around the historic buildings but we didn't dally because it was chilly and windy. We drove around a bit more and then hunkered down in the trailer with the furnace on, definitely time to head to warmer climes!

Oct 20 - On the road to St. Stephen, another pretty drive, a few places all the leaves are down but most trees still have quite a bit of colour. Sandra said her New Brunswick drive was like driving the Shaftsbury Trail all day and I agree. I stopped at the Briggs & Little woolen mill in Harvey but somehow we missed the giant fiddle, tribute to Don Messer. We found a place to leave the trailer and looked around the town (St. Stephen), that was after we finally found the town office to get a map, all the visitor info centres are closed. We went to or called all the campgrounds in the area but no luck they closed October 15 or earlier. It is an interesting town just across the St. Croix river from Calais, Maine. There was a cotton mill until 1957 which employed up to 1000 people, all that's left is the monument. Now the town's claim to fame is chocolate, the Ganong factory, I guess it's called a chocolatier but it is a good sized factory.

Cotton workers monument, the base is the lintel of the building

We drove to Saint Andrews, on the way we had to pass up a winery because we are already having to drink up our reserves before we cross the border. Saint Andrews is a very tourist oriented town (summer visitors) lots of restaurants, neat shops along mainstreet, whale watching and fishing trips. There's a huge resort hotel, the Algonquin, parts of which date from the 1880's. We visited the historic blockhouse and there were cannons! We saw a couple houses with cannons on the lawn, I'll have to keep an eye on Denis or there'll be one on our front lawn. On the way back to St. Stephen we stopped at St. Croix Island National historic site, across from the actual island. It was the first place the French attempted habitation, but they found it too harsh, after the first winter they moved to Port Royal.

Oct 21 - The temperature this morning was 0.3, heading across the border tomorrow and we'll spend a couple days getting to somewhat warmer temperatures. We toured the chocolate museum and learned about chocolate making and the Ganong family. The company is run by the 5th generation of Ganongs who are very involved in and committed to St. Stephen, very nice to see. And the tour included free samples, we are on chocolate overload now!

Nova Scotia Sep 21 - 30

Sep 21 – we enjoyed a lazy morning and then went to Peggy’s Cove. It was a beautiful day, and we were able to walk out on the rocks in front of and around the lighthouse. We met Sandra there, she was staying at an inn just down the road. On the way back to the campground we bought lobster and Sandra came for supper, now she’s hooked on lobster. It started raining about 5:00 and rained hard all night.

A calm day at Peggy's Cove

On the rocks at Peggy's Cove

Sep 22 – after the night of rain the sun came out and we drove to Sandra’s and took her car in to Halifax, Denis driving. We spent several hours at the Citadel, then went down to Pier 21, visited the farmers market and walked along the waterfront. There were 3 cruise ships in port so it was busy. We had lunch at a Japanese restaurant on the wharf. We continued our waterfront walk, toured around a bit more and then headed back. We decided to check in at Peggy’s Cove on the way by, what a difference, the waves were crashing where we had walked on the rocks the day before and the spray was reaching the parking lot.

Demonstrating the uniform of British soldiers of the 18th century

 

Beautiful day on the waterfront, Halifax

Sep 23 – said good bye to Sandra as she is off to Cape Breton. We took our empty propane bottle to fill at Costco, we’ve discovered it’s less than half as much as anywhere else. We drove up to Windsor and toured the Glooscap Trail, stopped at the Walton lighthouse which was once a busy seaport shipping barite. We continued on to Truro then headed back towards our campground and luckily found a farmer’s market a few miles from our base.

Sep 24 – we drove to Chester and took the ferry to Tancook Island. We were surprised at the number of people who were going over then we noticed a TV camera. It turns out there was a town hall meeting regarding the ferry service, both CBC and CTV news and a newspaper reporter were attending. We checked the online news that night and we managed to get in a few shots on the newscast. We visited the Oak Island display in Chester, that’s as close as Denis can get to the treasure because they only do the tours in the summer. We made another quick visit to Peggy’s Cove and all was peaceful once again. On the way back I got Denis to drop me off at the Peggy of the Cove gallery. There really was a Peggy, apparently as a child she was rescued from a ship that wrecked on the rocks there. They asked me to sign the guest book and I noticed that the person who signed 3 lines previously was from Peace River and had been there an hour earlier.

Sep 25 – moving on from our week on St Margaret’s Bay we toured a bit around Bedford and Sackville and ended up in Dartmouth. We checked out the Schubenacadie Canal, at one time there was a water route from Halifax harbour all the way to Cobequid Bay (that's through the middle of Nova Scotia). It became obsolete when the railroad was built. 

Sep 26 – we went into Halifax again, visited the Prince of Wales Tower. We went back to the waterfront and continued from where we left off on our previous visit. Had a seafood lunch on the waterfront and shopped a bit around the ‘historic properties’ shops.

Sep 27 – left Dartmouth and drove to Truro, found another farmer’s market and visited the Stanfield’s outlet store. We watched the tidal bore come in and it’s definitely more impressive in the day light (last time I was here we got up in the middle of the night to sit outside wrapped in blankets and not see much).

 

Tidal Bore - We think we were there at the wrong phase of the moon and maybe the wrong time of year but the river definitely changed direction and the sand bars were quickly flooded.

Denis is a bit upset today, the beast lost a hubcap! All the rough roads in Newfoundland and we were on the Trans Canada, hit a very rough bridge approach and there it went.

Sep 28 - we got an early start, left the trailer at Five Islands campground and drove towards Cape Chignecto. Saw quite a bit of territory, Parsboro, Spencer's Island, Joggins, Amherst, Springhill, etc. We arrived at Joggins at high tide, not a good time to see the fossil cliffs. Amherst has an abundance of lovely old buildings built with red sandstone. The leaves are turning and it was a beautiful sunny day so we really enjoyed the drive. There are many blueberry fields, and the plants turn a vibrant maroon red.

Sep 29 - another leisurely morning, then we headed back to Bedford to be near the airport.

Sep 30 - we drove to Cow Bay and stopped at Rainbow Beach but it was too windy to enjoy a walk on the beach. We revisited Fisherman's Cove at Eastern Passage and had fish & chips for lunch, did a little shopping and then came back to the trailer so I could pack.

Yup I'm flying home for 2 weeks to catch up on a few things, especially some grandkid hugs! Denis will stay here and do some maintenance on the equipment. So no blog for a couple weeks.

Nova Scotia - Sep 15 - 20

Sep 15 - we went back to Digby, walked along the Admiral's Walk on the harbour front. Tide was low, it's amazing to see all the boats stranded there until the next high tide. From there we wandered along  on the coastal drive, we visited an old granite church and the tallest wooden church in North America. We stopped at a couple lighthouses, at one Denis bought me a pair of gloves from the gift shop. We ate lunch at Weymouth, which was a ship building centre  and now a very sleepy town. Continued on to Yarmouth and had supper at Rudder's Seafood Restaurant & Brew Pub, Denis and Sandra enjoyed the beer and we all recommend the seafood.

Digby scallop fleet at low tide

Sep 16 - Denis enjoyed a visit to the Firefighter's Museum and I ambled around downtown and visited a small gallery and bought a couple prints. When we met up again we walked along the waterfront, after lunch we drove to Cap Forchu lighthouse. Then we took to the road again, saw the oldest courthouse/jail in Canada in Tusket. We bought Eel Lake oysters directly from the sea harvester, an oyster shucker I'm not! I managed to gouge myself in two places and the oyster was still safe inside it's shell. Now I see there's an oyster shucking glove to go along with the oyster knife, maybe it's made of kevlar. We camped for the night at Wood's Harbour.

Sep 17 - we continued along the road less travelled to Barrington where I visited the woolen mill and Denis checked out the Seal Island lighthouse museum, a replica of the actual lighthouse. We visited the Baccaro and Clark's Harbour lighthouses on our way to Shelburne. We camped at The Islands campground across the harbour from the town. It's a very interesting town, the movie the Scarlet Letter was filmed there. For the movie they demolished and rebuilt one building and built another. They say that one intersection is unique in North America as all four houses were built before 1785, only slightly spoiled by the satellite dishes sticking out. We found a fish monger and bought lobsters for supper.

Sep 18 - we visited the Black Loyalist Historic site in Birchtown. We enjoyed the lobster so much we bought more before we left town. The town of Shelburne was all geared up for a cruise ship visit but the captain decided he didn't want to come into the bay so the businesses are very disappointed. We wandered along to Liverpool and tried to visit the Hank Snow museum, their hours sign said they should be open but the 'Sorry we're closed' sign was up. Sandra had visited it the day before. We had to make do with a visit to Fort Point historic site and bonus - a lighthouse and cannons!

Fort Point - lighthouse, cannons and non-operating pulp mill across the bay

The google car passed us near Vogelers Cove and then again at Broad Cove where we had stopped to watch some surfers. Will have to check Google some time later when they revise that area! We camped for the night at Risser's Beach Prov. Pk.

Sep 19 - we toured around the area and visited Petite Riviere winery. After picking up the trailer we headed up to Bridgewater. We decided to book into a spot for a week and found a place near Peggy's Cove. We'll do day trips from here. We've clocked up 20,000 km, Denis says he now understands how Glen and Debby put on 27,000 km.

Sep 20 - we backtracked and visited the Swissair flight 111 crash memorial at Bayswater. On to Lunenburg, another great place to visit. The Bluenose II was in port so we ogled it along with 5 bus loads of other tourists. We had lunch with Sandra and then walked around the beautiful old buildings. The old town has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. We found ourselves at the Ironworks Distillery so made a stop there, Denis got rum, no surprise and I got Rhubarb Esprit, no surprise either, everyone knows how much I like rhubarb! We drove to Blue Rocks, couldn't see any blue rocks, guess it's just the name of the village. Then we headed out to The Ovens which are some sea caves in an area where gold was found in 1861 but the rush didn't last long.


Beer, sunshine & Bluenose II in the background, he's holding up the lobster alarm

Note the gloves, it's been darn cold here!

Sep 21 - backtracking again today we visited Mahone Bay another beautiful town, then toured around Chester and had a late lunch. All the little towns are very pretty, built around the bays with boats bobbing on them. We came back a bit early and cooked a small pork loin, I think we were both surprised how much we enjoyed the change from seafood, but it's back to seafood tomorrow. Tonight there was entertainment at our campground, a kitchen party, but it was outside and you had to bundle up; it's been pretty chilly! Down 2 degrees a couple nights ago.

Nova Scotia Sep 10 - 14

Sep 10 - we headed northwest from Dartmouth towards the Bay of Fundy, Denis had a winery all scoped out. We arrived at Avondale Sky winery just as they opened at 11:00, a bit early but we forced ourselves to taste a couple wines. The tasting room is an old church that was moved to the site by floating it down the river on a barge. We continued on from there to Grand Pre where we camped in the Land of Evangeline campground. After lunch we continued our touring in Sandra's car, went to Blomidon winery and stopped in Medford for ice cream and to watch the tide recede, at least 15 feet while we were there. On our afternoon tour we went to Kentville and had beer in a bar in the former Cornwallis Inn, which in the 1930's was a grand CP hotel. It's now being used as offices and businesses on the main and lower floors and apartments upstairs. There are glimpses of its former grandeur but kind of shabby. We stopped at the Wolfville Farmer's Market for supper and bought lovely homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers. We wandered around and took pictures of the beautiful old buildings of Acadia University then back to the campground to check out the tide flats at Evangeline Beach.

Bearded Birdhouses in Canning

Clock Tower, Kentville with Cornwallis Inn in the background

Sep 11 - we started our day a few miles down the road at the UNESCO World Heritage/National Historic site - the Landscape of Grand Pre where  the Acadians dyked and drained 2745 acres of tide flats. After 2 to 3 years it was naturally desalinated and became very fertile land. The basic premise of the valves they used is still used today although the materials have changed. And then the English deported them. We were back to Wolfville and after a few issues with parking the truck and trailer we went  to Paddy's Brew Pub for lunch. We continued the trek westward and with some difficulty found our way onto CFB Greenwood to visit the Aviation Museum. Leaving Greenwood we continued to Dunromin Campground, just outside Annapolis Royal and we are done roaming for 3 days and will do day trips from here.

The church at Grande Pre, reclaimed land and Cape Blomidon in the background

Sep 12 - we went into Annapolis Royal and visited Fort Anne, it is just as beautiful as I remember from 15 years ago and the weather was a bit better. Sandra and I walked around the historic old town while Denis finished his visit to the fort. We had squash and apple soup for lunch, very tasty. Sandra and I visited the Historic Garden and Denis found the German bakery and bought pretzels and rye bread (which is hard to find in the Maritimes). On the way back to the campground Denis and Sandra visited the Tidewater Power Generating facility which we see across the river from the campground.

Oh look, another cannon

Sep 13 - we started the morning at the Annapolis Royal Farmer's Market, they had lots of fresh veggies, bread and other baked goods and crafts,even a winery and distillery. After we stocked up we headed to Port Royal to visit the recreated French 'habitation' from 1605. We really enjoyed our visit especially the knowledgeable costumed interpreters. After lunch we headed to Digby and then drove down the 'neck' to Westport on Brier Island, taking 2 ferries in the process. Denis and I did a short, steep hike (256 stair steps included) to see the Balancing Rock. Then it was back to Digby for a supper of their famous scallops.



Not sure if this one's a big gun or small cannon

Balancing Rock, it's on the lee side of the island

Tomorrow it's on to Yarmouth.