New England Fall Trip - Oct 1 - 7, 2007

October 7 (Sunday) was a travel day (from Baddeck, NS to Calais, ME). We had intended to stop in St. John's, New Brunswick, but arrived early in the afternoon and decided to go on to Calais, ME. St. John's is on the Bay of Fundy, giving Jim one last chance to view the Bay and its' unique tides (both in and out). Once we got to the border, Jim and Jan,got through with little fanfare. I guess Ralph and I look like "drug dealers or other suspicious characters..." because we were met with not only the customs agent but also the agriculture inspection agent. After showing our passports and answering questions about how long we had been in Canada and what purchases we had made, the agriculture agent questioned us about food purchases, especially fruits and lunch meats. I had 2 bananas, 3 tomatoes and 2 apples that didn't interest her. She proceeded to go through the refrigerator and looked at the lunch meat we had (no interest); however, the hot dogs caught her eye. We had purchased them at a Wal-Mart in Canada and they did not have the US Inspected Seal on them. She said she would have to take them...I started to ask it she needed the buns, but caught myself after remembering our last experience when Ralph tried to be "cute" about his pocket knife weapon. Ralph is still "upset" about her taking his hot dogs!!! Tonight we're in a Wal-Mart... I guess the free boondocking makes up for the loss of the hot dogs.

October 6 (Saturday) was a sightseeing day (190 miles in the car). We started in Baddeck and drove the Cabot Trail ( named for Italian explorer John Cabot) and visited Cape Breton Highlands National Park of Canada. Lots of Irish and Scottish influence in this area. The scenery was beautiful...looks a lot like Alaska. We did not see any moose or eagles. This was a little disappointing. Had lunch in a local restaurant along the way... Poutine is a dish that we've found on all menus...french fries and cheese with gravy poured over the fries. At least Loran could find gravy here... (for you that do not know what I'm referring to...when we went to New York three years also, she ordered biscuits and gravy at the McDonald's in Manhattan and was flabbergasted that they didn't have any gravy.)

Our whale watching trip was put on hold because of weather (rough ocean and high winds). After we left the Canadian National Park, we were stopped in a RCMP road block. Jim had to show his driver's license, registration and proof of insurance. This is a holiday week-end for Canada...Thanksgiving. Monday is their Thanksgiving.

Ralph's having TV withdrawal... 3 stations and one of those is in French.

We leave tomorrow for St. John's, New Brunswick. We'll be back in the States on Monday...Bar Harbour and Acadia National Park. Acadia National Park is the second most visited park in the National Park system behind our own Great Smoky Mountains, which is number one!

October 5 (Friday) was a travel day (232 miles) from Glen Margaret to Baddeck on Cape Breton Island. We fueled up near Halifax and the gas station gave a 3.5 cents rebate per litre that could be used at a nearby grocery store. I had over $4.00 and Jan had over $7.00. We hated to lose this so we went in to spend it... when we came out we found Ralph and Jim talking to a man they had seen in the parking lot. It was our author friend, Ivan Frazier. He looks much different when he is out running errands compared to when he's at Peggy's Cove promoting and signing his books. He dresses like a fisherman with the big brimmed hat and boots when he's promoting books. We told him goodbye and were on our way. After stopping in new Glasgow for lunch at McDonalds, we went on to the KOA near Baddeck. This is a beautiful place, much like the scenery we saw in Alaska. Jan beat us all in a game of Mexican Train Dominoes. I started out strong but fell way behind. We getting up early in the morning for the Cabot Trail and maybe a whale watching trip. I called about one tonight and they are not running tomorrow from the West coast of Cape Breton Island because of bad weather (lots of wind); however, there are ones that depart from the East side of the island that we are going to try.

October 4 (Thursday) was a sightseeing day (230 miles in the car) for all... we drove from Glen Margaret (near Peggy's Cove) to Cape Split to see the low tide in the Bay of Fundy. It's amazing how far the tide goes out. We stopped at a couple of Winery on the way back and then drove back around Peggy's Cove from the opposite direction we had gone on Tuesday. I'm still looking for a lobster trap to put on our lot at Townsend. We found them on PEI but haven't seen them since for sale (I may have to get Ralph to make me one!).

October 3 (Wednesday) was a sightseeing day for Jim, Jan and I (about 180 miles in the car). Ralph chose to stay at the campground (he's about to "wind down"). We accused him of staying here because a couple of our neighbors are from Cape Cod. When we were at the Swiss Air 111 crash ( 9/2/98) memorial on Tuesday, he had on his Cape Cod jacket when these two guys stopped him and asked him if he was from Cape Cod. He then found out they were the guys that were camped next to us. Back to our sightseeing... we took the Lighthouse Trail today and were a little disappointed that we didn't see many lighthouses. We did see some pretty coast line and lots of pretty little villages. Had lunch today at "The Simple Moment Restaurant."

October 2 (Tuesday) was a travel day (233 miles driven today). We left the New Brunswick/Nova Scotia border around 8:30 a.m. with our destination being the middle part of the province. After arriving at the "planned campground" we decided to move on because the electricity was not sufficient. We came on to the Halifax area near Peggy Cove. After getting settled, we went to Peggy's Cove and I finally got my picture of Peggy's Cove Lighthouse to go with my St. Augustine and Tybee Island pictures. This lighthouse is the only lighthouse with a working post office in it and it's in a very pictureresque little fishing village. When we went into the cove, we saw a sign of an author being there at a book signing of the book "Peggy of the Cove." On our way back out, we stopped and met Ivan Frazier, the author, who is also an artist and photographer. Jan , Ralph and I all had our picture made with him... of course I bought his book. He's a very intereseting person and Jan had to go to his gallery to get her book as he was not equiped to take credit card at the Cove. He took us through his family farm house and told us the "Peggy story" which is very interesting. We had made 3 trips to his gallery to finally find him there and when Jan told him how many times we'd been there, he said "I love it when women chase me."

October 1 (Monday) was laundry day... after dealing with the laundromat taking "loonies" and quarters, we did get the laundry completed in time for another "adventure." Nova Scotia is made up of several different trails. The one we did today is the Glooscap Trail (160 miles in the car). This trail was named for the legendary "mighty Glooscap" who created five islands and controlled the great tides with his magic. Starting out on this trail our first stop was in Springhill, the home of Anne Murray. We went through the Anne Murray Centre, which you could compare with Dolly's museum at Dollywood. She was born in Springhill and went to college in Nova Scotia and after graduation, taught school for one year before her singing career was launched. We visited the Cape d'Or lighthouse. This required traveling over an unpaved road (very rough) for about 3-5 miles and hiking DOWN to the lighthouse. I knew I was in trouble when we started down.. you always have to come back UP. There's an Inn and Guest House at the lighthouse. We enjoyed chatting with the Inn keeper's father. This was the area where the Bay of Fundy (largest tides in the world) either begins or ends... depending on how you look at it. Still no sightings of a moose, but Ralph, Jim and Jan did see a deer. We're still at Loch Lomond tonight and will leave tomorrow and hopefully visit Peggy's Cove tomorrow.