On the 7th of this month Rick and I took a trip to the Canadian Maritimes. This has been a trip long in coming. Twenty Five years ago we were able to go to Disney's Epcot Center for the first time. While there we saw a movie in the Canadian Experience about the wonders of Canada. Well, something in that movie caught my attention that I thought was super cool. It showed a time-lapse movie of a wharf in the Bay of Fundy with the lobster boats sitting on dry ground about thirty feet below the wharf. The time lapse video showed the tide coming in and lifting these boats to the top of the wharf. The movie explained that the The Bay of Fundy has the highest tidal rise and fall in the world. It really fascinated me seeing this. I determined that I would like to see that phenomenon someday.
And that brings me to this time last year.
We had our trip all planned out to visit Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick.
As the time of our departure got closer Rick started feeling a little sick. It turns out that he had Covid and just a few days after that I got it too:( We were hopeful that after our ten day quarantine that we could still take our trip. We had to have a negative test to be able to get into Canada. While Rick was able to get a clean bill fo health...my test came back positive...even after ten days!!
That changed the direction of our trip last year, to Boston and Maine instead, which ended up being amazing!
So, as this fall was approaching we new we wanted to try the Maritimes again. Our Air Canada flights transferred fairly easy even though I think we had to pay a little bit more from the original flights but we were able to find a scenario that worked for us.
We left on Friday the 7th of this month. We flew directly into Ontario and then on to Halifax arriving pretty late, around 10:00.
After picking up our rental car we drove about thirty minutes to get to the Westin where we stayed for a couple of nights. It was a very nice hotel. At the end of a long day traveling we are always so grateful to have a nice comfy bed to stretch out and rest in.
We woke up the next morning to a little bit of rain but as we looked out of our hotel window we could see that the trees were full of fall color and we cold tell we would not be disappointed in the foliage.
After a nice breakfast in the hotel our first stop was over to the Halifax Temple. We were disappointed just a few days prior to leaving on our trip in finding out that the temple was closed for six weeks right during the time that we would be there. This was a big disappointment because we like to travel places where we can attend the temple. Particularly since we had never been to Halifax. Anyhow, we were able to drive up and get a few pictures.
Next we drove downtown to the Halifax Farmer's Market located right close to the waterfront.
We enjoyed perusing the booths there. Rick bought some spicy honey and I bought a painted Santa made of driftwood. We also got some polish pirogies to munch on and of course, Rick had to stop at the food truck just outside of the market for a lobster roll.
After the market we walked a little ways over to the waterfront and enjoyed looking around. It is always so fun to be close to the ocean. It is such a way of life for people but so different for those (like us) who live inland and know little about sea life.
We stopped and toured a WWII war boat. Pretty cool!
Next we got into the car and drove a little more than an hour to a little fishing village called Nunenburg.
On the way we stopped at a place called Mahones Bay. It was a beautiful little Atlantic town situated on the water. It looked very much like an East
coast postcard. We stopped and walked thru a shop of two but didn't buy anything.
Nunenburg is the most photographed place in Nova Scotia because of the colored buildings along the wharf. It really was picturesque. We ended up getting some dinner at a little place looking over the water.
There were some cute houses in Nunenburg.
We had to get some pictures:)
After a good night's rest and a nice breakfast we drove about an hour up to Truro where we attended church. As we drove thru the neighborhood to get to church we saw a lot of evidence of the hurricane that had passed through the town just two weeks prior tour arriving. Church was great and it was interesting to hear peoples experiences of getting through the hurricane and losing power for over a week. It was wonderful to hear how the sisters helped one another in the aftermath of the storm.
After church we stopped at a park and had a picnic lunch. It was chilly outside so we were trying to hurry. While we were eating we notice a couple of teenage kids, a girl and a boy, come over to the gazebo not far from us. At one point the girl hollered, "Do you love Jesus?" Rick took that as a teaching opportunity😀 and called the kids over. He was able to get a Book of Mormon that we had brought from home and give it to the teenage girl. He explained where it came from and encouraged her to read in 3 Nephi. he had a few questions about what happens when we die and Rick talked to her about that as well. It was nice.
After they left we packed up and headed toward the Ferry that would take us to Prince Edward Island.
The fall colors were beautiful on our drive.
When we got into Caribou, the town that the Ferry leaves from w found out that the 2:00 crossing was not going to take place because of the wind. We had to wait 3 hours for the next ferry crossing and the attendant was very sure that it was going to cross. So we had three hours to wait until the next ferry. We took the opportunity to drive over to a little park area (about fifteen minutes away) and park the car and TAKE A NAP:) It felt great!
After a couple of hours we drove back and were able to get onto the 5:00 ferry. This was our first experience to do something like this and it was pretty cool. The ferry was HUGE! It seems like it could carry upwards of 100 vehicles. There were not even close that many cars. We drove on and parked and then went up to the lounge area. After the ferry started moving we walked outside to watch as we left the harbor. It was pretty chilly out on the deck but we stayed for about fifteen minute just to watch the water and enjoy the experience. It was about an hour ride over to PEI. When the call came for the drivers to get back to their cars we did so and then after docking drove right off the ferry. It was cool how it all worked!
We drove about an hour to get into Charlottetown to the Delta Hotel where we would be staying for the next two nights. This was a nice hotel and we got upgraded to a suite. It was a one bedroom with a separate living area overlooking the water. That night we could see two big cruise ships parked right close outside our window. Pretty neat. After having dinner brought to our room we noticed that one of the cruise ships had left so we sat in our big window seat and watched as the other cruise ship left the dock and headed out to sea.
The next morning was the Monday the 11th and was the Canadian Thanksgiving Holiday. We had found out that the Anne of Green Gables Museum would be open for short hours that day so we headed up to the north shore. It was about an hours drive and we were able to see some beautiful farmland throughout that area. Lots of acreage and farms!
We got to the museum and enjoyed a self guided tour of the house. This house is where Lucy Maude Montgomery, the author, spent many days of her childhood. The home was owned by her aunt and uncle. She enjoyed coming to the home in the summers and spending time with her cousins. It was a nice tour and we got to read up on LM Montgomery's life. She was married here in this home as well as using it as the backdrop of her many books, including her most well known, Anne of Green Gables.
We had to try the raspberry cordial from the gift shop:) It was very sweet!
Most places were closed up for the holiday so we just enjoyed driving around the North Shore and seeing the sights. Here is a lighthouse that we found.
In driving around the island we saw a lot of destruction form the recent hurricane. Thousands of trees were completely uprooted. It was crazy to see a number of trees blown over while even some right next to them were still standing. We could tell that the people had been working hard to clean up their immediate areas. There was lots of cut up wood stacked in peoples yards. We saw a number of people out with chainsaws trying to clean up. We also saw a lot of construction workers working on power lines in different areas. We heard it said that there were still people without power.
One thing we were hoping to do while we were on PEI was to walk along Betty's Trail. A one mile walk around a lake. We thought it would be filled with fall foliage.....well, most of the island did not have any fall foliage because of the storm. When we got to the trailhead it was closed. After checking out the walkway Rick discovered that there were giant trees laying right across the trail. I imagine it was that way around the whole lake. It will probably take years for this trail to get back to being usable. The hurricane was REALLY devastating.
Since we couldn't hike we drove back to our Charlottetown and found a place to eat. We ate at a place called the Swiss Chalet, which was serving something close to a Thanksgiving dinner. They served chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and vegetables as well as dessert. We did not go away hungry!
The next morning we checked out of the hotel and headed South toward New Brunswick. Instead of the ferry we drove across the Confederation Bridge, the eight mile bridge that crosses the Northumberland Straight. We drove into Moncton where we stayed at the Marriott.
Where PEI had almost nothing for fall color New Brunswick made up for it! The fall foliage was spectacular!! I took lots of footage and these pictures do not do it justice but it was everything I wanted to see and more! I loved being up higher than the forest and seeing the colors over the top of the treeline. Truly amazing.
Like I mentioned before one of the main reasons for coming to the Maritimes was to visit the Bay of Fundy. The next morning we drove an hour south to St. Martins, a little fishing town. Right away we could see the tide was out and the boats were about twenty to thirty feet below the dock. We got out and took pictures to document our experience.
Before the tide starting coming in fully we wanted to get over to the caves. We couldn't go in the caves so that was anti climactic but it was still nice to walk around where the water normally is. There was lots of slippery seaweed to walk on!
After the caves we took some time to drive around the area searching for covered bridges. We found a couple but mostly just enjoyed seeing the scenery and fall foliage:)
When we got back to St. Martins the water was filling in quite quickly. We decided to go get a bite to eat and then come back. Rick got a Lobster Roll, of course, and I got a chicken sandwich and fries.
After lunch we came back to the wharf and found all of the boats sitting in water up next to the docks!
I know this phenomenon probably doesn't mean much to others but it was really fascinating and fun for us to see. Life is so different for people who live their lives next to the ocean and it is so fascinating to me. We stopped in another town, called Alma, on our way back to Moncton and the tide had gone out so the boats were at the bottom again. The lobster traps were all set up on the docks. A lady explained to us that the Lobsterman were preparing to leave the next night at 1 AM to set off on their lobster catching for three months! That is such an odd time right? 1 AM? Well, that would be the first high tide of the fishing season. They couldn't leave until the high tide came. It is just an interesting way of life to live your life by the tidal flow. Anyway.....
Here are a couple of pictures (in the same place) with the tide in.
Before we got to Alma we took the scenic drive through Fundy National Park. We stopped a couple of places to check out the views of the Bay but really we got a lot of beautiful views just on the drive. We saw a waterfall and then drove over to the hanging bridge and had to walk across it:)
Before we got back to Moncton we would be driving really close to Hopewell Rocks. We had originally planned to go to Hopewell Rocks Park and were really looking forward to experiencing the "walk on the ocean floor along with seeing the rock formations but found out that it had just closed down the night before we got there. We were super disappointed. Rick wanted to drive over to the rocks just to see what we could even though it was closed. Well, we drove in and found that the gates to get into the parking lot were closed but there were a lot of cars parked outside and people were still going in to see the rocks.We decided that we would come back at low tide the next morning and walk past the gates to see the rocks. It worked splendidly and we were surprised to see A LOT of people helping themselves to the closed park. We had to walk a really long way to access the beach but it was so worth it. The rock formations were so cool to see while the tide was out. We spent a good hour just exploring and taking pictures
We took a lot!
It was super fun and we were so happy to be able to be there!
Afterwards we drove back to Moncton, once again enjoying the foliage, the packed our bags and headed for our last nights stay in a b&b just a few miles away.
We caught our flight the next day and got as far as Toronto. We had to get to a different terminal AND go through immigration in less than an hour which caused us to missed our flight by a matter of mere minutes! Seriously, they had just barely closed the doors. We were bummed at the thought of not getting home that night but luckily there was a Marriott just down the road and a shuttle to take us there. We didn't have our bags but we were able to get some sleep and then catch an early morning flight back home. Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow and not get too upset by the way things turn out.
Anyhow, our trip to the Canadian Maritimes was great! We checked this off of our bucket list and got to see some beautiful sights. A win-win!
