Prince Edward Island, Canada

This past week we moved from Moncton, New Brunswick to Cavendish, Prince Edward Island.   Before I talk about our PEI experience let me finish up our stay in Moncton.  While in Moncton we took one last drive before we left.  This took us to Shediac, which calls itself the lobster capital of the world.  To honor that recognition they have a huge statue of a lobster at the entrance to the town.

Fran’s fun picture

and mine!

We had lunch in town and I had, of course, a lobster roll.

Now back to PEI.  They have built this 8 mile bridge linking the island to New Brunswick.  It is a toll bridge but they do not charge you until you leave, which will be close to $50 for our truck and RV.  They do warn you about the toll before you get on the bridge.

PEI is a beautiful place and Cavendish is the tourist center as it has the National Park and the famed Anne of Green Gables house and Avonlea village as well as the Cavendish Boardwalk, some water parks and other tourist attractions.  The entire island is fairly sizeable but only 140,000 people live on it, so it is mostly open country.  Big thing here is farming and they grow potato’s. 

They island is divided up into three sections with each having its own designated scenic drive.  To do all three would take a few days as it would be hundreds of miles.  We ended up doing portions of each to see the countryside and the small little towns.  On the first one we went as far north and east as St. Peters were we stopped for lunch.  In St. Peter’s there is a little restaurant, The Chowder Factory, that is famous for its seafood chowder.  I was not disappointed. 

Another drive took us to the western part of the island and we found this huge Catholic church out in the middle of nowhere.  It has been here since 1898 and is just gorgeous. 

We drove into Charlottetown, which is their biggest city to do some sightseeing.  The town has some very nice restored old buildings and homes.  We learned on our tour of the town that the government provides free grants each year to the owners of these homes to help them maintain them and keep the town looking nice.

Fran loves to take the duck tours whenever they are available in towns we visit.  In Charlottetown it is called a hippo tour but the bus/boat is about the same.

Because the island is famous for its potato’s it is logical that their french fries would be great.  Right next to the hippo tour is The Chip Shack owned by the Queen of Fries.  She sings and dances while she is making your order then comes out and gives each customer a hug.  The fries are good.  We did not try them the Canadian way which is called Poutine.  This is fries with gravy and cheese curds.

Next stop is Truro, Nova Scotia which is the tip of the Bay of Fundy.  We are there for just a few days then begin our drive over to Quebec.

Panoramic Pictures

Just after we started our Life on the Road we purchased a digital camera that has a nice feature to make panoramic pictures.  It directs you to take three successive pictures, moving the camera in an arc and it stitches them together.  I generally use this feature when we are viewing a vista from a high place.  Some of these pictures are in previous posts, but as I was organizing our pictures I thought it might be fun to put some of my favorites in one place.

Banff, Alberta, Canada

 

Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

 

Chattanooga, Tennessee

 

Pikes Peak, Colorado

 

Grand Canyon, Arizona

 

Gloucester, Massachusetts

 

Sedona, Arizona

 

Smoky Mountains, Tennessee

 

Stone Mountain, Georgia

 

Acadia National Park, Maine

Bay of Fundy

We moved from St. Andrews, New Brunswick to Moncton, New Brunswick this past week.  As I mentioned in my last post we are in the area surrounding the Bay of Fundy.  This bay is known for its huge tidal shifts in a short period of time.  It has something to do with the shape of the bay, being north and other stuff I have no idea about.  In this area, Moncton, there is a place called Hopewell Rocks.  Here the tide rises and falls about 35 feet twice a day.  The cliffs are made of sandstone so the water has eroded them into interesting shapes.  Twice a day, at low tide, you can walk the beach and see the towering rocks.  It is just amazing what nature can do. 

Here are some pictures of Hopewell Rocks

To give you some perspective of their size.  That is Fran standing in front.  At high tide the water will be just below the top of the rock.

Another natural phenomenon is a tidal bore.  These happen a few places in the world and are caused by the incoming high tide meeting up with an opposite flowing river.  Here in Moncton is one of those places and it happens twice a day when the high tide comes.  The river in town is flowing towards the Bay of Fundy but when the bay begins to rise the water flows upriver and causes a little wave and the river current to change direction.  In Moncton this tidal bore could be as high as 3 to 4 feet but due to construction of a bridge and the resulting silt in the river bed the bore is now only a few inches to a foot.  It can be higher at different times of the year depending on the gravitational pull of the moon.  It was interesting to see.  I made a video so you can see it arrive and pass by.

Moncton Tidal Bore

Now that I have told you about the tidal shifts, lets say you are a commercial fisherman and you park your boat at the dock in town.  But, the tide goes out twice each day so that there is no water in the harbor.  What do you do?  Well, we found out in a little town we passed called Alma.  They just let the boat sit on the ocean floor still tied to the dock.

Also in Moncton is another natural wonder they call Magnetic Hill.  It is a stretch of road where it appears you are going uphill but actually you are not.  You all have probably been in one of these tourist attractions called a “Mystery House” where water flows uphill, etc.  It is easy to see what is happening in those as it all has to do with perspective and what the eye perceives.  In this case it still is all about perspective but outdoors, on a road.  I am not sure if the pictures can show you properly but here they are.

This is what it looks like where you start.  Looks like you are about to drive downhill.  You drive to the white pole on the left, put your car in neutral and then take your foot off the brake.  Your vehicle then rolls back to where this picture was taken.

Here we are at the white pole looking back getting ready to go backwards.

It was fun.  You pay to do this and they let you do it twice, once forwards and once backwards.

This past week Passport America published another one of my articles in their weekly news blast.  Here is the link for the article http://www.multibriefs.com/briefs/exclusive/canadian_rockies_adventure.html#.Udg94m0UuSo

Oh, Canada!

Our east coast trek has now taken us into Canada.  We left Trenton, Maine and made our way up the coast entering Canada at St. Stephen.  We made our way to the town of St. Andrews which sits on the Passamaquoddy Bay which is an off shoot of the Bay of Fundy.  What is fascinating about this area, Bay of Fundy, and has brought us up here is the dramatic tidal changes.  These tidal changes are over a short period of time and are supposed to be very interesting to see.  On our next stop, Moncton, there are some interesting rock formations that the tide changes have created.  Here in St. Andrews our RV park is right on the ocean and we have been able to see how dramatic the tidal shift is.  In this area the tidal shifts are not as fast but they are dramatic.  Over the period of 12 hours the water can be rolling up against the rocks near the road then roll out so the shore is over 200 to 300 yards away.  The boats for the town have to be anchored way out in the middle of the bay as they would be on dry land at some point every day if they docked at the pier.

The town of St. Andrews is very quaint.  Many of the buildings date back to the 1800’s.  This includes the homes and the stores.  It was nice as we were able to walk from our RV park to the downtown area.  This came in really handy as we were here for Canada Day, July 1st.  For you non-Canadians this is a national holiday similar to our Independence day.  The town had a lot of activities planned including a nice old fashioned small town parade.  There is supposed to be fireworks but as I write this it is raining lightly so not sure they will be able to have the display.

Since we arrived the weather has been not very good.  It rained all day when we arrived on Friday and in the afternoon on Saturday. Sunday it was nicer in the afternoon and the fog actually lifted and we could see the bay.  Monday was nice until the evening. 

Here are some pictures.

When the tide is out.  When it is in the water would be right up to the rocks.

The fog lifted.  This is our view from the RV.

Fran’s usual fun picture!

The town on Canada Day.

We were just here for the weekend and will move on further up the bay.

Northern Maine

Last week we moved from Southern Maine (Old Orchard Beach) to Northern Maine (Trenton).  We are just a few miles from the entrance to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor.  For the past week we have explored the National Park and spent a day in Bar Harbor.

Acadia is a beautiful park located right on the ocean.  The park contains Cadillac Mountain, which is the highest point on the eastern seaboard of the United States.  With this being the highest point it is the first place to see a sunrise so that is the big attraction.  We got up at 3:15am to make the drive to the park and the mountain to be in place for a 4:47am sunrise.  It had rained a few hours before and clouds were still lingering but fortunately most moved away in time for the sunrise.  Here are some pictures.

Here is a panoramic picture I took right at sunrise.  Because of the clouds it took awhile for the sun to rise above them.

Another attraction in the park is a place called Thunder hole.  This is where the ocean has carved a tunnel into the rocks at a point on the shore so that during high tide it creates a huge splash and a thundering noise. The park has installed a walkway onto the rocks but, from what I have seen online, the water will splash all the way up to near the road.  Here is what it looks like at low tide.

As you can tell from the picture we were not there at the right time.  You can see videos of it if you go to You Tube and search on Acadia National Park .  I had to laugh, when we were at Thunder Hole a lady walks up to me and asks “what are we looking at?”.

We did a 7 mile bike ride around Eagle Lake then went over to Jordan Pond where they have a restaurant that is famous for their pop overs, so we had lunch there. 

The town of Bar Harbor is just a few miles from the park as is a nice town to walk around.  It is right on the water but has lost its “fishing village” feel that I am sure it had many years ago.  There is a lot of new development on the waterfront that includes a hotel, restaurants and shops.  They still do have many of the old buildings remaining that comprise the shopping district off the waterfront.  Here is picture of the street.

We had a nice lunch at a pub with a view of the harbor.

Our last stop was the the other part of the national park, it is called Schooding Point.  It is a 27 mile scenic drive to get to it but it does have some very nice views.  The shore is comprised of granite and was very spectacular when we went at low tide.

Schooding Point

The expanse of granite

Next stop is St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.

Old Orchard Beach, Maine

We have finished up our stay in Old Orchard Beach and have moved on to Trenton, Maine which is just a few miles from Acadia National Park.  With the move let me get you caught up on our activities of the previous week.

The theme, for me, continues to be eat as much seafood (lobsters and clams) as possible.  We started our visit with a trip to Sanford, Maine.  This is where my parents were born, met and married.  We came to pay tribute to my two aunts who passed away within the last two years.  From Sanford we drove back to the RV park via the coastal highway which took us through some very nice little towns, specifically Kennebunkport.  It was Saturday and very busy in the town so we decided to come back during the week (read on).

As a child I had always heard my parents and other relatives talk about Old Orchard Beach.  In fact here is an old picture of my uncle (one on the right) and my future stepfather at Old Orchard Beach.

Back in the time my understanding is that this was the place to go during the summer and it does not seem like much has changed.  The main draw is the beautiful beach a small amusement park on the beach plus the shops and restaurants.

The beach

The pier

Lunch was at a famous seafood market, Bayley’s, that serves to go food you can eat out on their small pier.  I had a lobster roll with a to go order (for dinner) of lobster mac-n-cheese.  Only non-seafood item was a salad for Fran.

Our next adventure took us up to Freeport, Maine home to L.L. Bean.  The town is quaint with a bunch of shops and restaurants.  The L.L. Bean stores are huge and dominate the town.  Since their stores bring in so many tourists many of the upscale chain stores have come in. 

Fran at the L.L. Bean store

Lunch for this visit was at Linda Dean’s restaurant.  She is the grand daughter of L.L. Bean.  I had a Lobster Cheesen sandwich (lobster grilled cheese) and Fran had hot dogs and was taken aback when they arrived as the color was not what she expected.

Our last outing was back to Kennebunkport.  Many of you may recognize the town name as this is where the first President Bush has his summer home.  It is very prominent on a point just outside of the main part of the town.

Small town that you can easily walk around and stop in the various shops.  The original plan was to have lunch at the famous “The Clam Shack”.  However “The Clam Shack” is just a take out place that has some picnic tables nearby.  The non-seafood menu is limited to chicken fingers. 

It was just before lunch so the line had not formed yet.  Generally in the afternoon there is always a line at both windows.

As it was such a nice day we found a nice restaurant, Tia’s, with an outside upper deck that overlooked the town.  We were glad we stopped, it was a great lunch with a nice view.

 

Lobster for lunch, of course ($13.95).

Father’s Day

We have moved from Littleton, MA to Old Orchard Beach, ME.  Just one more stop in Maine then it is into Canada for our 5 week tour.  We did a little driving around the area on Saturday and today, Father’s Day, is sit around day.  My beautiful wife actually got up when I did (and I get up early!) to make me breakfast and then tonight a great dinner is planned.  My three daughters tracked me down and had a package of gourmet cookies waiting for me when we checked in at our RV park.  All in all it looks to be a great day. 

Let me take a moment to reminisce on Father’s Day and tell you about my family. My father was taken way to young but I did have 16 great years with him and cherish those moments.  Here is a great picture of him with me.

For the last 35+ years I have been fortunate to have a great step-father. 

But what makes this day so special is my beautiful three daughters and my wife.

Happy Father’s Day!