PEI, Canada and south to Massachusetts

Confederation Bridge between PEI & New Brunswick

On September 14 we said our final good-byes and the 4 of us headed out on our own back to St. John, Nova Scotia. We crossed the water on the longest bridge over a waterway in the world – 8 miles long. It crosses the Northumberland Straits. The day was again rainy and cold, but we had an uneventful drive back to the Timberland Acres RV Resort where we had begun our caravan adventure. We spent the afternoon kind of chilling out and getting organized for going over the border. I cooked up chicken and pork so it wouldn’t be confiscated as we went through customs.

The next day we drove back to the USA customs location and made it back into the USA with no problems. I did loose parts of a lemon and a lime and a few cherry tomatoes; and we had to open our outside storage bays for inspection -  but we had no other problems at all. We drove to Ellsworth so we could spend another day visiting Bar Harbor. The first thing we did after getting set up was to go grocery shopping. We had greatly reduced our refrigerator and freezer supplies so that we wouldn’t loose anything at the border. It was nice to be able to get fresh produce and some meat again.

September 16 we were thrilled to wake up to a beautiful sunny day. We headed into Bar Harbor and enjoyed shopping in all the little shops, even though two cruise ships were in the harbor and all their passengers were also in town. We also visited two breweries before heading the the Fish House Grill on the Bar Harbor pier for dinner to help Diann celebrate her birthday. And did we ever have a wonderful dinner!!! WOW. Three of us had fried scallops – 6 huge scallops with veggies and corn bread. Rich had a seafood combination that he felt was one of the best fish dishes he’d ever had. As we ate we enjoyed watching hundreds of cruise passengers loading launches to head back to the ships.

That night we had LOTS of rain and woke up in the morning to yet another cold wet day. UGH!! We left the park early (7:40AM) so that we could drive to Bangor so both rigs could get serviced (oil changes, etc). While the work was being done, we went to Dysarts for a wonderful breakfast. We were back on the road and heading south by noon. We drove to Saco, ME – just 15 miles south of Portland, Maine. We were assured the weather was supposed to improve by the next day.

waterway between Kennebunk & Kennebunkport

And Saturday the weather was beautiful!!! We spent some time in the town of Old Orchard Beach – lots of cute shops (most were closed because of Yom Kipper). The fellas enjoyed visiting a car show. Then we drove to Kennebunk and Kennebunkport – the towns are separated by a short bridge over an inlet, so we were able to stroll through both towns. The New England area is so quaint and beautiful – we are enjoying it. The trees are just starting to turn, but there isn’t a great flush of color yet. We ended our day at Jimmy the Greek’s Pizza restaurant where we enjoyed beer and way too much good pizza. It’s the first time we’ve had the crust choices of white, wheat, or multigrain.

Maine notes:

            One of their favorite terms is ‘wicked’ (ie. wicked good)

            There are 64 lighthouses in Maine (second to Michigan which has over 100)

            The state animal is the moose

Wicked good - commonly heard in Maine

The next day we headed to Portland, ME. It was another nice day and we decided to take the 90 minute trolley town tour. We were able to snag a tour as soon as we got into town and we had a very entertaining driver. We toured town and a couple of the beautiful neighborhoods and even visited Portland Lighthouse in Port Elizabeth – it is the second oldest lighthouse in the United States. The rocky shoreline there is spectacular.

Whoopie Pie

We strolled along the waterfront for a while and then went into Gilbert’s ‘Chowdah House’ where we had wonderful fish or clam chowder. We are getting really spoiled with all the great seafood here. Before leaving town, we purchased a Whoopie Pie. We have heard folks on TV mention them, but never knew what they were. The one we got was HUGE – two huge chocolate cookies with a mound of frosting in between – kind of looked like a huge double-stuff Oreo cookie. The thing was dessert for 4 of us.

Then we took off for a short drive to Freeport, ME where we visited the flagship LL Bean store – it is HUGE!!! It is open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. We found it was in an area of lots and lots of outlet stores, so we had fun shopping the bargains.

The next day was a free day for us. Diann and I found a local gal that had time to cut our hair. It had been almost 10 weeks for me and I was VERY shaggy. Now it's REALLY short. It was a nice day and we got odds and ends done – we are ready to head out again in the morning.

September 21, Tuesday, and we are off again. We were fortunate to have a relatively painless drive to Middleboro, MA. From there we will visit Boston and Cape Cod and wherever else we decide to go. The weather is improving and we should have nice weather for sightseeing.

Boston State House

September 22 – Lovely weather as we headed to Boston. We drove the 45 minutes to a subway parking garage and with the help of a very nice station attendant, we took ‘T’ (as it’s called here) into the center of Boston. From there we took the Old Town Trolley for a tour of the town. It was a hop-on hop-off deal, but we decided to ride it the full 90 minutes to get oriented and to see where we might want to visit. Boston has lots of historical buildings, lovely parks, and lots to do.

Fanueil Hall

After traveling the city once, we stopped at the waterfront where we grabbed a bite to eat and then boarded a boat for a 45 minute tour of the harbor. Then we were able to walk a couple of blocks to the famous Fanieul Hall and Quincy Market before heading back to the subway for our trip to the car and the drive back to the park.

Paul Revere House & cobblestone street

The next day we again took the 9:30 ‘T’ into Boston where we had picked out several places we wanted to visit. Fortunately the trolley tickets were good for two days. We first stopped at the North end where we walked the cobblestone streets and visited the Paul Revere House and across the street, one of the oldest churches in Boston. We were interested that Paul Revere was a highly trained silversmith, had 16 children (with two wives), and that he was politically quite active.

USS Constitution

From there we hopped onto the bus again and visited the National Park where the USS Constitution tall ship is on display and being refurbished. We toured this beautiful ship, the visitor’s center, and a nice maritime museum.

The original Cheers where TV series was filmed

We hopped on the trolley again and went to the original Cheers (TV show) bar/restaurant. We had to wait about 45 minutes, but we did have a beer and lunch there. We were quite pleased to find that unlike so many famous places, the staff was great and the food and prices were even better. Excellent experience and lots of photos later we headed back to the subway on our way back to the park.

Homes on Martha's Vineyard

Friday, Sept 24 we headed southeast to Woods Hole where we parked, then boarded a shuttle bus for the 10 mile ride to the ferry dock. In 45 minutes we arrived at Vineyard Haven on Martha’s Vineyard where we boarded another bus for a   2 ½-hour island tour. The towns were quaint an interesting, We had a half hour stop at the Aquinnah Cliffs and lighthouse – just time for a restroom break and a bite to eat – not even time to look for a little trinket. We enjoyed the tour, but most of the island is covered with trees and grapevines (hence the name Martha’s Vineyard). The lovely houses along the water are not visible from the road. And it was an overcast and misty day, so we weren’t as impressed as we thought we’d be. At the end of the tour, we boarded the ferry for the 45 minute trip back to the mainland, boarded a shuttle bus to our car, and drove the hour back to the park.

Cape Cod National Seashore

Saturday we drove the length of Cape Cod. It was a beautiful day. We spent some time driving around Hyannisport, enjoyed the Kennedy Memorial at Barnstable, then drove along the Cape Cod National Seashore. It happened to be National Lands Free day so there were lots of people out enjoying the beach and the park. 

Pilgrim Monument

The end of the road is at Provincetown – a wonderful quaint little town. It was bustling with people – there were lots of shops and restaurants. Also in town was the very tall Pilgrim Monument – this was the place the pilgrims landed before deciding to go on to Plymouth to create their settlement.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

We were lucky we went to Cape Cod Saturday because Sunday was overcast, windy, and cool. We headed to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in south Boston. The library sits facing the beautiful Boston Harbor – the perfect setting considering how much JFK loved sailing. The library is arranged so that you move through the exhibits easily. JFK was President only 2+ years, so there weren’t the extensive exhibits like we saw at the Reagan Library. But it was nicely done. There were lots of videos of news conferences and important issues during his presidency. As we completed the exhibits, we returned to the vast view of Boston Harbor where along the bike path in front of the library there was a bike ride with many riders.

Plymouth Rock

From there we drove south to the town of Plymouth where we saw the monument containing Plymouth Rock and the reconstructed Mayflower II. It was windy and cold so we didn’t stroll through the town like we would have liked. But we visited the oldest museum in the country (Pilgrim Hall Museum) where we learned more about the pilgrim’s story. 

'Faith' - notice Gordie standing at
bottom to see size

Our final stop of the day was the statue Faith – a gigantic statue that looks like the statue of liberty without the lamp in her hand. It is the largest free-standing granite statue in the world (216 X life size). We were told that it took 30 years to build. It is actually the statue that inspired the creation of the statue of Liberty. What made it especially fun was the fact that ospreys have built a nest on Faith’s head so that it looks like she’s wearing a crown. Also, lightening broke off the pointing finger, so when the finger was replaced it had the addition of a lightening rod.

The weather is wet and cool and is supposed to be this way for a few days. We are thankful for the many good days we've had. Now it's on to Mystic, CT; New York;  and Washington D.C.

Labrador to Prince Edward Islands

A-Red Bay, Labrador; B-St. Anthony, NF; C-Rocky Harbour, NF; D-Louisbourg; NS;
E-Pictou, NS; F-Charlottetown, PEI

We took the 3:45PM ferry back from Labrador to Newfoundland – we were supposed to spend a night in Labrador, but with hurricane Earl threatening, our Wagon Master decided that it would be best to be back at a somewhat protected campground in St. Anthony’s. So we had the next day to do whatever we wanted. It was actually quite a nice day and we got some odd jobs done, grocery shopped, and relaxed. But by evening the wind picked up and overnight it rained really hard and blew like mad.

The next morning we were up for a meeting at 7:30AM and took to the road before 8AM. It was SOOOOOOO windy – just awful. We spent 4 hours in the wind and felt quite relieved when we reached Rocky Harbour in one piece. A couple of the caravan RVs had some problems, but nothing really major. Apparently we were at the edge of the storm.

Western Brook Tours fjord explorer

We spent the next day in Rocky Harbour and most of us went on a 2-hour Fjord boat-ride. The interesting thing was that we had to walk about 1.5 miles in to the boat dock and 1.5 miles back out. They call the water Western Brook Pond. This pond is over 17 kilometers long (about 12 miles).  We found out that here in Newfoundland there are so many lakes that all but the very biggest are called ponds. In the states we would definitely call the body of water a lake – a BIG lake. Before going back to the park we visited The Arches Provincial Park. In the evening we had dinner in Rocky Harbour, then returned to the RVs and played cards.

Arches Provincial Park

Tuesday, August 7 – And we are off again – this time to Grand Codroy, NL. This is our last overnight stop in Newfoundland. It was a very rainy day with some wind, but we drove the 184 miles without incident. We did take time to return to Gros Morne Nat’l Park visitor center to view a half hour film on the park. It was excellent with wonderful overhead views of the lakes, trees, shore, and the rocky cliffs. We also had to make a stop in Corner Brook – one of the larger cities on the island – to do some grocery shopping and car fuses. We didn’t get much in the way of groceries, as we will be returning through customs to the US in a few days, and we don’t want to lose any of the big three – poultry (including eggs), pork, and produce. Though it was raining, it was mild (low 60s).

This evening was a pot luck and game night.

The next day we lined our RVs up in our number order to drive to the Newfoundland-Nova Scotia ferry from Port aux Basque (pronounced Port O Boss). This trip is only 6 ½ hours long, unlike the 15 hour trip to Argentia, NL a week ago. We are fortunate to have a smooth day for the crossing. (And YEA – we can turn our time pieces back half an hour). Though when we arrive in Nova Scotia, we drive through rain as we cover 38 miles to our RV park in Louisbourg. The rain lets up as we all get situated, then starts again.

Sept 8 – It’s raining and cold. But we load a bus in the morning for a trip to the Louisbourg, NS Fortress. (Interesting fact: A fort consists of soldiers only; A fortress consists of soldiers and their families) The fortress was originally built by the French because it was near a port that never froze over, so cod fish fishing and shipping could be done throughout the year. But when the people in the fortress got too prosperous, the English sent an overwhelming number of troops over, they attacked from the rear and overtook the fort, thereby sending the French home. The French returned again for a few years and were once again over-run by the English – the French never returned. Unfortunately, Hurricane Earl had caused power outages and we were able to see only a few of the many reconstructed fortress buildings.

Our afternoon was free to do as we wished (we did laundry!!). Then at 5:30 we attended a Beggar’s Feast held in a tent at the RV park. They put white head covers on the women and tri-corner hats on the men – normally they dress guests in full costume, but we were leaving early to attend an event, so they just did the hats. Dinner included salad, rolls, veggies, beans, cod, and a gingerbread. As with most of the meals in Eastern Canada, all the food is quite bland – no seasonings. It’s good – but not exciting.

This evening we were treated to ‘An evening in a Nova Scotia Kitchen’. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were delighted to be entertained by five excellent musicians who also performed skits. They played the local music – two guitarists, a percussionist (who was also a terrific actress), a keyboardist, and a great violinist/dancer. We hated to see the evening end.

Sept 9, Friday we headed out about 8:30AM and drove the almost 200 miles to Pictou, NS. The RV park got us close to the ferry that we will take to Prince Edward Island in the morning. The four of us get set up and then drive into town where we find a very nice knife shop and one of the better gift shops we’ve seen – and we’ve seen a LOT of them.

Sept 10 and we were up at 5:00AM for the 6:00AM drive to the ferry which was to head to Prince Edward Island (PEI) at 8AM. This is a small ferry that is ‘first come, first served’ – it is the size of the Washington ferries (not large) and 5 of us were left behind. So we had to sit and wait until 11:15AM for the ferry to return. It was cold and rainy and dreary and we were all tired, but eventually the ferry showed up and we made it to PEI and Charlottetown without further incident. We were treated to a Pizza and salad dinner that night at the campground.

Sept 11, Sunday, we had a full day bus trip on another cool and somewhat damp day. We toured the northwest area of PEI. It is so very different than all the other provinces we have visited on this trip. The island has a great deal of farming – not the heavily tree covered and desolate areas of the other Atlantic Canada provinces. There are no moose on PEI. The biggest animal is the red fox or coyote.

Anne of Green Gables house

The first place we visit is the Anne of Green Gables National Park. There is the house, barn, lover’s trail, and haunted woods that were so important in the books. And of course, an extensive gift shop!!!

From there we visited the north coast, but with the poor weather, it wasn’t very spectacular. Then it was on to New Rustico – a cute little village with yet another lighthouse and gift shop. Then it was time to tour some of the countryside, then head to Glasgow Hills Golf Club for lunch. Here we DID have a wonderful meal of fresh green salad, nicely prepared cod, and a yummy cake with strawberries.

North Rustico lighthouse

We then visited the Prince Edward Island Preserve Co – the owner, a Scotsman dressed in a kilt, greeted us and told us of developing the jams and jellies in his ‘gift shop’. Many are made with wonderful liquors. They also sell things made only in Scotland, England or PEI. He said that so many authentic industries are closing  because much cheaper products are made in China, Taiwan, etc.- too bad.

Province House

Our last stop was at Province House in Charlottetown. Here is where the idea of creating a Confederation (which eventually became Canada) was planned. 23 delegates from the British colonies of PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec didn’t wish to separate from England, as they were VERY loyal to Queen Victoria. But they felt that by joining together, they would be stronger against the largely successful country to their south – the USA. We then toured downtown Charlottetown before being dropped off at our RV park.

Victoria sand  castle

Sept 13, Monday, is our last day as a caravan. We are left to entertain ourselves as we wish until 4pm. The four of us spent the day exploring more of PEI. We drove west along the southwest coast thru the small village of Victoria. There had apparently been a beach celebration over the weekend and there was a relatively intact sand castle near the beach. There was evidence of serious erosion from hurricane Earl along the shore.

Confederation bridge - 8 miles long, between
PEI & New Brunswick

We then drove on west to view Confederation Bridge – an 8-mile long bridge that connects PEI to New Brunswick. Before the bridge was finished, the only way onto the island was by ferry. We took pictures of the bridge and the lighthouse nearby, then discovered some good deals at stores near the bridge. We drove on to Summerside, the only city on the island other than Charlottetown. We then returned to Charlottetown where we went to the Gahan Brewery where we sampled eight of their Microbrews. We found them to be like the food – relatively bland. But we had an order of nachos with them, so it wasn’t all bad.

This was the night of our farewell dinner. We were picked up from the RV park and taken to a dinner of Lobster, fish chowder, salad, and dessert – a really good dinner. Following dinner we were treated to a wonderful play – a comedy, drama, murder mystery. The play was excellent –  double meanings, English humor – WOW. There was a hotel clerk named Frieda Heights, and a police detective named Inspector Closley. What a way to end the 33-day trip of a lifetime!!!

We continue our journey down the east coast – next time.

St. John's, Newfoundland to Labrador and back to St. Anthony's, NL

A-Argentia, NL; B-St. John's, NL; C-Gander, NL; D-Springdale, NL;
E-Portland Creek, NL; F-St. Anthony, NL; G-Red Bay, Labrador

Cabot Tower on Signal Hill

The narrows into the harbour of St. John's, NL

Friday, August 27, we had a five-hour bus tour (in a city bus) around St. John’s. The entire day was misty, rainy, and/or windy. We went to Cabot Tower which is on Signal Hill. This hill high above St John’s was where in 1901 Marconi assembled his receiver at Signal Hill because it was North America’s closest point to Europe. We were able to see St. John’s from here when the fog would clear. There is a narrow passage of less than 600 feet across where the ships enter the harbor. Some time ago a huge ice-burg floated into the narrows and blocked the harbor for three months.

From there we went to Cape Spear and their new and old lighthouses. Then it was off to St. John’s Basilica built from 1841 to 1851. It is a very large and impressive building with beautiful stained glass windows. We were able to walk to the most eastern point in North America. The wind was howling, but we all had to have our pictures taken at the sign.

Our picture taking in the wind at the eastern-most land
in North America

We stopped at the little fishing village of Petty Harbour, then toured downtown St. Johns before heading back to the RV park. St. Johns is an old town and most of the older homes have common walls. There are steep hills all over town. These two facts made me feel like I was in San Francisco, CA.

Two short hours later we were again on a bus (a school bus this time) for a trip to the little town of Bay Bulls where we had an authentic Newfoundland dinner – Cod a ‘gratin, salad and veggies, and for dessert – Figgy Duff (a molasses and raisin cake covered with a carmel-like sauce). And this was our first chance to ‘enjoy’ Screech and Coke – Screech is a local rum.

Gander 9/11 display

And Saturday August 28 we were off again – this time our destination was Gander, NL. This was the easiest 215 miles of the trip – Trans Canada Highway 1 (TCH 1). Once in Gander we went to the local air museum where there was a nice display of the town’s roll during the 9/11 crisis. Gander is a spot all planes fly over when they fly Europe to US/Canada or visa-versa. So when 9/11 happened and all planes were grounded immediately, the planes flying to or from Europe from the US or Canada landed in Gander. There were 6700+ people on those planes and only 10,000 residents in Gander. But all the churches, schools, service groups, etc. opened their doors to folks. Stores like Walmart and other large stores offered needed supplies like sleeping bags, food, etc. In the museum there were notebooks filled with thank-you notes from folks that were stranded there. They were in town about four days before planes finally were able to take off again. I did not remember anything about Gander, and now I will never forget.

That evening we all carpooled to the local curling hall (yup – curling) where we were served a tasty stuffed cod (or chicken) dinner. We certainly are enjoying all the fresh fish.

One of the hundreds of lakes in Newfoundland

Sunday, August 29 and we were on the road to Springdale, NL – farther north still!! The scenery continues to be mostly trees with LOTS of lakes – lakes are absolutely everywhere. Gordie even spotted a real live moose in a pond, but the rest of us missed it. (He claimed it was a big one with large antlers, but he could tell us anything……). Most respectable moose (mooses….meese…whatever) only come out between dusk and dawn when we are not on the roads. This is probably a good thing, as many are hit every year (660 here last year) on the roads. Moose are not the brightest beasts in the woods, you know.

Sturdy dock by Newfoundland standards

We stayed at Springdale for two nights. After we arrived in town we took a bus tour through the town and saw the huge piles of firewood in most of the yards. The locals can save $1600 a year by using firewood to supplement oil or coal heating in the winter. The houses here are mostly simple square homes of two stories. Due to the cost of shipping all the materials for building, the homes are mostly $100,000 to over $300,000. The yards are neat with flowers and mowed small yards. There are private docks all along the water that look pretty rickety by our northwest standards, but they seem OK with them. We were taken to a couple of museums in town – our tour guide has lived here all her life and could talk about most of the historic people.

We had a lovely dinner in a large room in the basement of a hotel. The mayor welcomed us and we were entertained by some of the locals who told some jokes, sang, and played the accordion. It was a fun evening.

The next day we were taken to another town, Kingsport, where we enjoyed visiting a traditional Newfoundland store. What a place. There was everything you could imagine, but no prices listed, some of the stuff looked VERY old. There was a box of macaroni and cheese next to chain saw oil. The owner of the store knew every price – quite interesting. We also visited a whale center where an entire humpback whale skeleton was displayed. And we visited a pottery shop where the owner demonstrated pottery being made on a wheel.

That evening we had a potluck dinner. Then the local tourism director and some helpers showed a video on commercial growing of mussels in mussel farms– they are apparently quite a good money crop here. Then they treated us to a mussel boil – they boiled up a huge pot of muscles in salt water and beer. People seem to be of two minds about mussels – either you love them or you don’t. We belong in the latter group. We did eat a few, but they aren’t our meal of choice. The entertainment was provided by the local head of river fisheries.

Tuesday, Aug 1, we were off once again heading west, then north to the town of Portland Creek. (Diann and Rich had an engine problem and had to go south to Corner Brook. We were thrilled that the #1 valve could be repaired and they joined us before dark that evening.) One of the fellas that had entertained us in Springdale owns a restaurant that was on our way that day, so many of us stopped for breakfast. Well………..this is a very lightly populated area and when all of us showed up, we spent lots of time drinking coffee and talking. It was over an hour for us to get breakfast. But the food was hot and good and reasonably priced, so all was well.

Emerald butterflies from Costa Rica

Our first stop after breakfast was at an Insectarium – there was a live butterfly wing that was the best we’ve ever seen. I had on a yellow shirt and found that the butterflies LOVE yellow – I had them on my shirt and in my hair the whole time we were in that area.  The only other place we stopped on this day was Gros Morne Nat’l Park’s visitor center. We enjoyed watching a film on Labrador, then drove on into Portland Creek RV Park for the night. It was near a beautiful lake – very nice. This night we were treated to moose stew – moose meat, carrots, turnips (root crops is what they can grow here and they pretty much live on them).

Then Aug 2 we headed to St. Anthony’s at the northeast end of Newfoundland. This day and yesterday our driving was often right along the coast and we overlooked the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is very stark and beautiful. The small villages look so cold with almost nothing growing around the houses. The trees are very short because of two things – Newfoundland is a big rock, so roots can’t go very deep; and much of the soil above the ground is boggy. Our only stop this second day was at Port au Choix (pronounced Port au Schwa) Provincial Park. After visiting the visitor’s center we drove about a half mile to a light house. The day was beautiful and we could see far out to sea. We hoped to see whales, but no luck on that front. We stayed and enjoyed our lunch while watching the ocean. Then it was on the RV park.

This evening we were bused out on a moose watching trip – or that that was what it was supposed to be. We have yet to see a live moose, though some of our group have seen a few.

L'Anse aux Meadows Viking hut

The next morning – temps below 60 degrees and some rain - we were bused to L’Anse aux Meadows, Here it is believed after some archeological digs that Norsemen from Norway by way of Iceland and Greenland set up a colony. We were able to go through recreated houses, a boat shed with a Viking ship, etc. There was another recreated Viking village nearby that we also visited where there were several folks in costume explaining the customs of the Vikings who would have lived there.

That afternoon we visited the museum of Dr. Grenfell – an English physician who brought medical care to the eastern Canadian provinces – he changed the lives of the people here by not only doctoring to them, but teaching them how to grow good food, preaching to them, raising money to build clinics, and bringing other doctors to treat the people from villages in this vast area.

Viking Feast

That evening we were treated to a Viking feast in a sod building. We had cod tongue, stew, and other delights. We were also entertained by ‘Vikings’ who did mock trials and generally acted like Vikings.

Loading the Labrador Ferry

We didn’t get home until about 10PM and quickly hit the pillow because the next day we boarded a bus at 5:30AM to catch the 8:30 ferry to Labrador. Our Wagon Master has been carefully watching hurricane Earl, as it is possibly coming north as far as Labrador. We were to spend the night on Labrador, but instead, we had a 5- hour bus trip taking us over the entire 49 miles of paved roads to the farthest point – Red Bay. Then we were bused back and caught the 3:45PM ferry for the 1 ½ hour ride back to Newfoundland. The bus ride each was was 1 ½ hours also, so it ended up being a very long day.

Typical Labrador village

Labrador has a few small towns of 70-150 people. The road from the ferry took us from the SE corner of Quebec along the southern coast of Labrador. All these eastern Canada provinces used to rely on fishing for their livelihood, but the waters have been greatly overfished. Now many of the people fly to Alberta north of Calgary to work in the open pit oil fields where they make very good money. They have also discovered other resources in Labrador – hydro electric power, nickel – and gradually, the fish population is increasing again. A 400-kilometer dirt road has been built between Labrador’s south coast and the province of Quebec – this is the first time there has been a road connecting Labrador to the large Canadian provinces. In the past the ferry was the only means of reaching other provinces.

Red Bay lighthouse (we walked clear to the top)

While on Labrador we visited a lighthouse in Red Bay that is the  tallest lighthouse on the eastern coast of Canada. We also spent some time at a museum where displays included artifacts from ships that sank in the harbor of Red Bay centuries ago. The ships have been well preserved because of the cold water and being covered with sand and gravel from the ocean tides. The ships were mostly from the time in history when people from Europe came to Labrador to kill whales and melt the blubber into oil that was used to heat and light homes. The ships sunk due to bad weather, overloading, and bad luck.


Now we will see if the hurricane behaves itself and lets us continue our planned route!!

Halifax, NS to Saint John's, NL

A-Halifax, NS; B-Sherbrooke, NS; C-Bras d'Or, NS; D-N. Sydney, NS;
E-Argentia, NS; F-St. John's, NL

August 21 was a much appreciated free day for the RV caravan.  We were still in Peggy’s Cove so we visited some of the local stores to get our shopping done, then we returned to the park to prepare for a group potluck. The weather continues to be lovely, so we were able to eat outside and enjoy the view.

Gordie scratching a cat in the barn at Heritage Village

The next day we were off once again. We stopped at Heritage Village – a 1800s town reconstruction – lots of old farm implements, school house, living quarters, etc – not unlike the old villages you can visit in the USA. They served a nice lunch of baked beans, tomato-rice soup, sandwiches, and gingerbread with applesauce – very nice.

Sherbrooke Village - 1700s village

We arrived at our campground in ShereBrooke, NS, unhooked the car, then went back into town where we visited Sherebrooke Village. This was a large 1700s settlement reconstruction. We were really fortunate that it was their 40^th anniversary and we were able to get in free – you can’t beat that!!! Here there were folks dressed in period costume in many of the buildings. There was a potter that spun a pot while we watched, and a blacksmith who creates many of the old tooks and such for the village.

That night the Wagonmaster and Tailgunner couples fixed an Italian Extravaganza dinner (spaghetti and bread) and we brought all the extras. This was followed by karaoke and joke telling by those who were so inclined.

August 24 we were off again on our way to New Harris, NS (on the north end of Breton Island). On the way our GPS failed us by sending us into Antigonish, NS where the Walmart was supposed to be. Well….as we were driving these big RVs around downtown, a nice fellow flagged us over to see where we were trying to go, then led us to the Walmart (which was nowhere near where the GPS said it was) – really nice people all over Canada.

Alexander Graham Bell Museum

From there we drove without mishap to the town of Baddeck where we visited the Alexander Graham Bell museum. He was a US citizen, but lived much of his life in Baddeck, NS – a beautiful little town on Bras ‘de Ore Lake (pronounced Bradoor). We were amazed to find that he had invented MANY things besides the telephone. He developed the phonetic alphabet and worked extensively with the deaf. He was instrumental in the development of the hydrofoil boat and early flight. He loved his family (his wife was deaf) and especially children – unusual for a brilliant man.

Saint Andrew's Channel Bridge

We were then only a short distance from our RV park on Cape Breton Island where we parked with a view of the St. Andrew’s Channel Bridge – just beautiful.

Neil's Harbour

The following day we had a full day (7:45AM-6:30PM) bus trip around the Cabot Trail that goes all around Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada. Gordie and I drew the lucky straw and were able to sit in the front of the bus and thoroughly enjoyed the expanse of scenery all along the way. 

We visited a scarecrow ‘farm’, Flora’s very nice gift shop, the Catholic Church (very old) of Cheticamp on the west coast, then we had a very nice lunch also in Cheticamp.

Then it was on around the north end of the park to a small fishing village of Neil’s Harbour, and on to Ingonish where there is a world class golf course and lovely resort. All along the way we followed coasts of the Bay of St. Lawrence, the Atlantic Ocean, and Bras ‘de Or Lake – spectacular scenery. Our bird-watchers spotted a bald eagle, but we have yet to see a moose. We still have plenty of time for that. Our tour guide was wonderful – had us playing games, telling all the history and interesting facts of the areas we drove through, handing out candy and prizes – made for a most enjoyable day for everyone.

15 hour ferry ride from Cape Breton, NS to Argentia, NL

The next day we stayed in the campground and relaxed for the morning (doing fun things like laundry and washing the RVs and cars). Early afternoon we had a ‘Mexican’ hotdog feed and made plans for our evening loading of the ferry at North Sydney for our 15 hour trip to Newfoundland. What are Mexican hotdogs you ask? They are hot dogs served in a tortilla with all the trimmings – chili, beans, sauerkraut, cheese, mustard, onions, relish – you choose. They were good!!!

We left the RV park at 4:30PM and drove in numberical order the 15 miles to the ferry terminal where we were put in lines and waited to be loaded. Loading started at 8PM and finished after 9:30. The ferry was really a big one – kind of a low class cruise ship. Many of us were exhausted and went to our staterooms while others enjoyed the entertainment in the bar before turning in. Note: we were not allowed to sleep on the vehicle decks in our RVs, even though that would have been a lot more comfortable. The staterooms had two sets of bunk beds with very thin hard mattresses. But we did have our own bathrooms, so we survived AOK.

In the morning we had breakfast on the ferry and then passed the time until our docking at 1:30PM. The weather was perfect and the seas were calm, so we were able to go out onto the decks of the ferry without coats. I thought ocean air was always quite cold. Interesting fact – In Newfoundland/Labrador the time zone is 30 minutes ahead of the rest of Atlantic Canada – not an hour, half an hour. Isn’t that crazy??? So we are now 3 ½ or 4 ½ hours ahead of most of you who read this. At least this is the last time change until we start back and can gradually back up our watches and clocks.

We’d had to unhook the cars from the RVs and we were loaded onto separate decks, so it took a while for everyone to get hooked back up and on the way again. Eventually we all made it to our campground in Saint Johns, Newfoundland. (Remember when we first crossed into Canada we stayed in Saint John, New Brunswick.)

That night was our first taste of much cooler weather. We got together for an evening social hour, but didn’t  hang around long. We even got out the flannel sheets and electric blanket!!