The Fundy National Park turned out to be a lot farther away that I thought. It's a lot closer to Moncton than Saint John, so we decided to skip that.
Instead, we got up early to go see the Reversing Falls at high tide (just after, actually), when the river was being forced back upstream at maximum speed.
It was incredibly foggy, probably helped a bit by the Irving paper/pulp mill across the river, so we couldn't see much. There were harbor seals and cormorants fishing in the incoming saltwater, and doing their best to not get swept upstream.
The jetboats were going out around noon, but it was a bit steep at $37 + tax, per person, for a 20 minute ride. Also, the guide book indicated that, despite the yellow rain suits that were provided, we would have gotten completely soaked. We told the guide woman that we'd be back (not really), and went back to the hotel for some breakfast.
The breakfast at the Château Saint John was quite good, for a continental breakfast, but was interrupted by some guy having a stroke a few tables away. April offered to help, being a nurse and all that, but they said everything was fine and that they already had an ambulance on the way. It was a bit odd to be eating breakfast while paramedics were shocking a man on a stretcher 20 feet away, but we got through it and he seemed to be doing fairly well, all things considered.
After checking out of the hotel around noon or so, we made a plan to head west, along the coast, and to stop in some tiny harbor towns along the way. But first, we returned to the Reversing Falls again, this time only a few hours before low tide.
This time, the river was actually flowing towards the ocean, and the rapids were ferocious. We opted to watch the jetboat tours, instead of taking one, and were finally able to see the paper mill and the bridge, as the fog had lifted slightly.
On the way out of Saint John, we crossed the bridge over the falls and headed towards the Bay of Fundy coast. Along the way, we stopped a few times in random little towns at the top of (what I'm going to call) small sub-bays and walked around.
Since it was approaching low tide, and the tides change by nearly 30 feet here, the water was quite far from shore and I was able to walk around essentially on the bottom of the harbor.
Our next destination was St Andrews. On the way into town, Matt and I spontaneously decided to visit Minister's Island, which you can drive to at low tide. Since Sabrina and April were sleeping, there were no objections, and we drove out onto the "sand bar" that goes to the island. Sabrina and I had been here before, 4 years ago, but were unable to drive to the island because it was high tide at the time.
The map that we got at the entry point has some "guidelines" on the back that are so unusual, in my opinion, that they merit repeating:
1. Check the Tide Schedule and plan accordingly
2. Carry a watch
3. Sing in/out at the Gate House
4. Carry a whistle
5. Bring a cell phone
6. If you are caught on the Island during high tide, NEVER attempt to swim to the mainland
The island was owned/developed by an eccentric millionaire (are there any that aren't?) who was some high-up guy in the Pacific Canadian Railroad. The main attraction is the mansion that was their summer home (winter one was in Montreal).
We took a tour of this 50-room behemoth, including a few outbuildings and the "bathhouse" down by the water.
There was also a 50-foot square pool hewn out of the sandstone that would apparently fill at high tide and get heated by the sun for a few hours. It was filled in, but the outline was still clear in the rock.
On the way out, we stopped briefly at the "barn complex" to see some animals and such. April really connected with the pigs.
After driving back to the mainland, we went down into "downtown" St Andrews to grab some sandwiches for lunch. Just like last time Sabrina and I were here, we passed on the Kingsbrae Garden, which, if you believe the guidebook, is one of the main attractions of St Andrews. Pffff.
Continuing along the coast, our next stop was in St. Stephen. Specifically, it was at the Chocolate Museum.
Despite the fact that I've never heard of them, Ganong chocolates is apparently a big player in the international fine chocolates market, and claim to have invented the chocolate bar.
The museum includes all-you-can-eat chocolates while you're wandering around. They literally have platters of assorted chocolates just laying around.
I've been writing this in the car ride through Maine, and my battery is running out. Also, I have web access via my iPhone, but I can't upload the pictures yet. I'll try to get them posted at some point tonight. We're headed to my parents' house again, for the night, before returning to Pennsylvania tomorrow.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Halifax
Our luck with the weather finally ran out today.
After a mediocre-but-free breakfast at the hotel, we headed across the bridge into downtown Halifax.
First, we took a drive around the citadel at the top of the hill (Fort George) overlooking the city. Since it was raining, we opted not to actually go in and walk around. I didn't get any pictures, but Google has plenty.
Next, we stopped at the Halifax Museum of Natural History to learn a bit about the history of Nova Scotia, including the local indigenous people, the Mi'kmaq. Once again, I don't think I took any pictures. (Maybe I didn't have the camera?)
By the time we left the museum, the rain was letting up, so we went down to the waterfront. I insisted on stopping at the Alexander Keith's brewery to get another shirt (my old one is getting worn out), but we opted not to take the tour.
For lunch, we headed to the Waterfront Warehouse(well, really Tug's Pub) right on the boardwalk, which turned out to be more of a seafood restaurant than a pub.
Following lunch, it was a short trip down the boardwalk to the Maritime Museum.
We spent the afternoon learning about the Titanic wreck, various other shipwrecks, and the Halifax Explosion (fascinating story; I have an entire book on it, somewhere, if anyone's interested).
The rain was starting up again, so we decided to move along back to New Brunswick, and headed to Saint John.
April and Sabrina did what they usually do: sleep while Matt and I drive/navigate.
We hit quite a bit of fog in the middle of Nova Scotia. It looked like dusk for quite a few kilometers there, but we eventually got through it. At one point, a toll booth materialized out of nowhere, and I got it on video. I'll post it later.
It was time for dinner by the time we got back into New Brunswick, so we stopped at an italian restaurant in Moncton. Sabrina and April picked it out of the guide book, and it was, coincidentally, right next to the Pump House Brewery that we ate at last week, on the way through Moncton the first time.
Dinner was good, and we took our time eating. As a result, it was almost 11:30 by the time we got to the hotel in Saint John. We're staying at the Château Saint John, which bears an eerie resemblance to the Château Moncton that Sabrina and I stayed at last time we were up here.
A random hotel employee in the hallways informs me that it is not only the same chain as the one in Moncton, but it is also the same owner.
Tomorrow, we're planning to see the Reversing Falls, and maybe the Fundy National Park just east of here. Then, it's back to Boxford, MA for a night.
After a mediocre-but-free breakfast at the hotel, we headed across the bridge into downtown Halifax.
First, we took a drive around the citadel at the top of the hill (Fort George) overlooking the city. Since it was raining, we opted not to actually go in and walk around. I didn't get any pictures, but Google has plenty.
Next, we stopped at the Halifax Museum of Natural History to learn a bit about the history of Nova Scotia, including the local indigenous people, the Mi'kmaq. Once again, I don't think I took any pictures. (Maybe I didn't have the camera?)
By the time we left the museum, the rain was letting up, so we went down to the waterfront. I insisted on stopping at the Alexander Keith's brewery to get another shirt (my old one is getting worn out), but we opted not to take the tour.
For lunch, we headed to the Waterfront Warehouse(well, really Tug's Pub) right on the boardwalk, which turned out to be more of a seafood restaurant than a pub.
Following lunch, it was a short trip down the boardwalk to the Maritime Museum.
We spent the afternoon learning about the Titanic wreck, various other shipwrecks, and the Halifax Explosion (fascinating story; I have an entire book on it, somewhere, if anyone's interested).
The rain was starting up again, so we decided to move along back to New Brunswick, and headed to Saint John.
April and Sabrina did what they usually do: sleep while Matt and I drive/navigate.
We hit quite a bit of fog in the middle of Nova Scotia. It looked like dusk for quite a few kilometers there, but we eventually got through it. At one point, a toll booth materialized out of nowhere, and I got it on video. I'll post it later.
It was time for dinner by the time we got back into New Brunswick, so we stopped at an italian restaurant in Moncton. Sabrina and April picked it out of the guide book, and it was, coincidentally, right next to the Pump House Brewery that we ate at last week, on the way through Moncton the first time.
Dinner was good, and we took our time eating. As a result, it was almost 11:30 by the time we got to the hotel in Saint John. We're staying at the Château Saint John, which bears an eerie resemblance to the Château Moncton that Sabrina and I stayed at last time we were up here.
A random hotel employee in the hallways informs me that it is not only the same chain as the one in Moncton, but it is also the same owner.
Tomorrow, we're planning to see the Reversing Falls, and maybe the Fundy National Park just east of here. Then, it's back to Boxford, MA for a night.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Back to civilization (sort of)
After cleaning the condo a bit and making sure that all of our recycling/compost was properly sorted, we headed out to the eastern end of the island. On the way, we drove on PEI routes 1, 2, 3, and 4. It was mostly more of the same view: fields of potatoes, hay, etc.
These are the "main" highways on the island, meaning that they're 2-lane roads, often passing zones, and anywhere from 55 to 70 mph speed limits. They're often under construction, in poor shape, or severely patched and lumpy. In some places, it seems that they ran out of (imported) asphalt/gravel, and the side roads aren't even paved.
An hour or so into the scenic coastal drive, we stopped at another random scenic overlook (and lighthouse).
It seems that the parks department hasn't quite gotten to this site yet, or perhaps the guardrails have just fallen over the edge as a few more victims of erosion. Either way, the only attempt made at keeping people from plunging to their deaths is this sporadic deployment of signs that depict cars in various states of freefall over the cliff.
An hour or so down the road from the lighthouse, we stopped at the Rossignol Winery. They weren't offering any tours, but they did let all four of us taste about 10 different wines and liqueurs. I insisted on buying a bottle of the maple wine, even though nobody else really liked it.
Just past the winery, we stopped at another lighthouse at the southernmost point of the island, right next to the ferry terminal.
After walking around for a bit and taking a hurried tour of the lighthouse, we mosied over to the ferry for a ride to Nova Scotia.
Upon landing in Picou, NS, we had a relatively uneventful ride down to Halifax (well, Dartmouth really). We stopped briefly in Truro to get a map at the visitor center and such. It's hard to believe that we didn't have a GPS the last time we were up here. I don't specifically recall getting lost a lot, but that certainly doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
We went down to the Dartmouth waterfront for dinner, at the Celtic Corner. It feels a bit odd to be back in a "real" city, with buildings taller than 10 stories, and more than a few thousand people scattered here and there. On the ride here from the NS side of the ferry, it was odd to not see any potato fields for the first time in nearly a week. Words cannot convey how empty and deserted almost all of PEI feels. According to Wikipedia, there are just about as many people in Halifax as on the entire Prince Edward Island.
Tomorrow, we'll tour around Halifax for most of the day, then head back to New Brunsick at some point (to St. John for a night).
I don't have all of the pictures offloaded from cameras yet, so they'll probably go up tomorrow.
These are the "main" highways on the island, meaning that they're 2-lane roads, often passing zones, and anywhere from 55 to 70 mph speed limits. They're often under construction, in poor shape, or severely patched and lumpy. In some places, it seems that they ran out of (imported) asphalt/gravel, and the side roads aren't even paved.
An hour or so into the scenic coastal drive, we stopped at another random scenic overlook (and lighthouse).
It seems that the parks department hasn't quite gotten to this site yet, or perhaps the guardrails have just fallen over the edge as a few more victims of erosion. Either way, the only attempt made at keeping people from plunging to their deaths is this sporadic deployment of signs that depict cars in various states of freefall over the cliff.
An hour or so down the road from the lighthouse, we stopped at the Rossignol Winery. They weren't offering any tours, but they did let all four of us taste about 10 different wines and liqueurs. I insisted on buying a bottle of the maple wine, even though nobody else really liked it.
Just past the winery, we stopped at another lighthouse at the southernmost point of the island, right next to the ferry terminal.
After walking around for a bit and taking a hurried tour of the lighthouse, we mosied over to the ferry for a ride to Nova Scotia.
Upon landing in Picou, NS, we had a relatively uneventful ride down to Halifax (well, Dartmouth really). We stopped briefly in Truro to get a map at the visitor center and such. It's hard to believe that we didn't have a GPS the last time we were up here. I don't specifically recall getting lost a lot, but that certainly doesn't mean that it didn't happen.
We went down to the Dartmouth waterfront for dinner, at the Celtic Corner. It feels a bit odd to be back in a "real" city, with buildings taller than 10 stories, and more than a few thousand people scattered here and there. On the ride here from the NS side of the ferry, it was odd to not see any potato fields for the first time in nearly a week. Words cannot convey how empty and deserted almost all of PEI feels. According to Wikipedia, there are just about as many people in Halifax as on the entire Prince Edward Island.
Tomorrow, we'll tour around Halifax for most of the day, then head back to New Brunsick at some point (to St. John for a night).
I don't have all of the pictures offloaded from cameras yet, so they'll probably go up tomorrow.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Beaches, eh?
Our first stop today was the Myriad View Distillery. It is one of several distilleries on the island, apparently, all of which seem to be on the eastern third of the island.
The woman who gave the (very brief: it's just that one room) tour started out by saying "We've basically legalized moonshine." They just opened a few years ago, and it didn't look like they do a lot of volume.
We tasted a few of their products, bought a few bottles to take home, and moved along.
Our next stop was the Basin Head beach. It was recommended by the guide book and also by the guy we're renting the condo from. The beach is at the head of a river, and the bridge over this river seemed to be a very popular spot.
Despite the signs forbidding jumping from the wharf or bridge.... people were lined up on both sides, waiting to jump.
The beach itself was beautiful, and stretched on for miles and miles. The "singing sand" lived up to its name, making a sort of squealing sound when you walk on it.
According to the guide book, the high silica content of the sand causes this phenomenon when the sand is rubbed together. I took a video of everyone rubbing their feet in the sand, to the annoyance of anyone nearby, and posted it on YouTube.
While there were quite a few people clustered around the head of the river, walking 1/4 of a mile up the beach yielded us a large expanse of sand to ourselves.
After a quick swim, I walked a few miles up the beach and back. I only saw a few people, all doing the same thing I was doing. There were probably 10 miles of beach there without a single human being in sight.
When I got back, we went back to the bridge/wharf and got some ice cream. and Matt and I decided to try out the local wharf-jumping craze.
The current under the bridge was quite strong, and the ladders were slimy and slippery. After jumping from the wharf, I had to try jumping from the bridge, too.
After leaving Basin Head, we continued along the eastern shore of the island toward Greenwich Beach (and provincial park). Along the way, we stopped at a random lighthouse, just a bit off the road.
According to the GPS, we were a good ways into the ocean. I guess they were counting on more erosion when they made those maps.
By the time we got to Greenwich Beach, it was just after 6 PM. Everyone was hungry and had had enough time at the beach already today, so we didn't stay long.
When we got back to the condo, we grilled a few burgers on the (electric...?) grill, and then headed out for a few drinks in town.
The woman who gave the (very brief: it's just that one room) tour started out by saying "We've basically legalized moonshine." They just opened a few years ago, and it didn't look like they do a lot of volume.
We tasted a few of their products, bought a few bottles to take home, and moved along.
Our next stop was the Basin Head beach. It was recommended by the guide book and also by the guy we're renting the condo from. The beach is at the head of a river, and the bridge over this river seemed to be a very popular spot.
Despite the signs forbidding jumping from the wharf or bridge.... people were lined up on both sides, waiting to jump.
The beach itself was beautiful, and stretched on for miles and miles. The "singing sand" lived up to its name, making a sort of squealing sound when you walk on it.
According to the guide book, the high silica content of the sand causes this phenomenon when the sand is rubbed together. I took a video of everyone rubbing their feet in the sand, to the annoyance of anyone nearby, and posted it on YouTube.
While there were quite a few people clustered around the head of the river, walking 1/4 of a mile up the beach yielded us a large expanse of sand to ourselves.
After a quick swim, I walked a few miles up the beach and back. I only saw a few people, all doing the same thing I was doing. There were probably 10 miles of beach there without a single human being in sight.
When I got back, we went back to the bridge/wharf and got some ice cream. and Matt and I decided to try out the local wharf-jumping craze.
The current under the bridge was quite strong, and the ladders were slimy and slippery. After jumping from the wharf, I had to try jumping from the bridge, too.
After leaving Basin Head, we continued along the eastern shore of the island toward Greenwich Beach (and provincial park). Along the way, we stopped at a random lighthouse, just a bit off the road.
According to the GPS, we were a good ways into the ocean. I guess they were counting on more erosion when they made those maps.
By the time we got to Greenwich Beach, it was just after 6 PM. Everyone was hungry and had had enough time at the beach already today, so we didn't stay long.
When we got back to the condo, we grilled a few burgers on the (electric...?) grill, and then headed out for a few drinks in town.
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