Moncton to Fredericton

The colour's on the road from Shediac, past Moncton to Fredericton, New Brunswick, were lovely but not a lot of reds showing yet. We were just able to squeeze 'Dutchess' and 'Granny' into Bill's school friend, Ken's driveway.

Thoughts as we leave the Maritimes

Last night we battened down the hatches and had the spare anchor ready, preparing for hurricane 'Kyle'. We were getting warnings for about two days on both the radio and TV, as it is five years to the day since hurricane 'Juan' hit the Maritimes, and did so much damage. This is the third named storm in a month, 'Hanna', 'Ike', and now 'Kyle'. The clouds rolled in by mid afternoon and by 7 pm it had started to rain. By midnight we rolled in the slide-out as the wind was catching the awning over it, and felt as though someone was jumping on the slide-out. I did anchor watch and Bill slept though the whole thing. The storm moved further east than expected and southern Nova Scotia, Yarmouth to Halifax felt the worst of it. This morning was a lovely sunny day.

We have enjoyed the Maritimes;

The people, are so polite and friendly. You stop on the side of the road to check the motor home or tow car and someone will stop and ask if they can help you. As a pedestrian you look like you want to cross the road and the traffic, both ways, stops for you to cross. Even in the car, if waiting to enter from a side street or driveway, the traffic will stop and let you in. At the Parasol RV Campground here in Shediac, Bill was having trouble with the WiFi antenna, the owner bought over to 'Dutchess' a cable and modem box for getting up on high speed internet on the cable network. At the supermarket the check out person will greet you in either English or French and immediately switch to which ever language you answer in, as is common with everyone here you talk to.

The land, bays, coves and small cities and villages. Newfoundland was wild and desolate, a huge rock Island, and we never did see a moose this time. Nova Scotia with it's Celtic heritage and seaports and 'Bluenose II'. Prince Edward Island, the red and green island, the land of the Potato, the garden island and last but not least New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy and the 'Bore' with largest tides in the world.

The weather this year has not been the best but the last two weeks has certainly make up for it, and now with the fall colours on the trees, it is really beautiful. We heard today that a couple in Nova Scotia had won the contest for the largest pumpkin, a whooping 594 kgs. Made the large one that Peggy found in a yard in Nova Scotia, tiny in comparison.

And last but not least, The Local Seafood. We have enjoyed lobster, scallop's, prawns, shrimp, haddock and cod. You can buy here in the supermarket a 'seafood chowder mix' of all the above with lots of lobster, scallop's and prawns in the mix for $5.85 lb. Wish we had this combination on the west coast. We have enjoyed our own version, instead of chowder, a seafood pasta.

The other thing that has happened in the east and hope it gradually works it's way all over the continent. Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Quebec have passed a law that you can not use a cell phone while driving a vehicle, except handsfree. Each of these Provinces has a fine of over a $100.00. if caught.

Green Gables House

We set off for a drive around the north central coast from Harrington, through Rustico to Cavendish and the home of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of "Anne of Green Gables" and "Anne of Avonlea". The house and farm in her books were actually the home of cousins, the McNeil's, of her grandfather. Maud, was bought up from the age of 21 months by her maternal grandparents, after her mother died. She spent a lot of time with her cousins and hence the location for her books. The house is now a National Historic Site and has been furnished in late 19th century style, an out building had been restored to the Victorian period. The 'A' shaped building by the house is a cover over the well outside the kitchen.

On our trip today we headed north from outside of Charlottetown to the north coast of the island with the circle tour taking us through Summerside, P.E.I. second city. It was just like driving through a garden with the green fields sloping down to the ocean side. Never have we seen so many houses with with absolutely huge lawns beautifully manicured, often with the criss cross pattern seen on golf club greens.

The north coast centered in the Cavendish area is oriented towards a strong tourist area with many golf courses, sandy beaches, and wide selection of tourist cottages available for rent.

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

Province House National Historic Site. A lovely classic building that houses some of Canada's early history. This is the site of the 1864 meetings that led to Canada's Confederation in 1867. The Prince Edward Island Provincial Legislature still meets in the building. It is interesting that P.E.I. was not one of the 'original 4' that joined together in Confederation. Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario were the 1st 4 with P.E.I following in 1873.

One of the things we wanted to do while in Charlottetown was find the Elections Canada Office and arrange to be able to do an early vote for the Election called for October 14th. Once we found the office in the old Canada Post Building, we had to show a piece of photo identification with our Langley address on it. We were given the ballot voting slip of paper that was to be enclosed in three different envelops. It would be mailed to Ottawa once we had entered our choice, then from Ottawa the next envelop would be sent to the Langley Polling Station and then after the Polls closed on October 14th, the last envelop would be opened and our vote counted. It is quite a process of checks and rechecks, and once we had them in our hot little hands there is no way we or anyone else could turn up to vote for us in Langley.

The Confederation Chamber is a National Memorial with original furnishings.

The Clerk's office off the Confederation Chamber and a bronze plaque in comemeration of the event.

A view of one end of the library. Each large room has a fire place at both ends of the room, tells you how cold it gets here in the winter. Note; the apparatus on the mat in front of the fire place. An old fashioned mouse trap.

P.E.I.'s Legislature Chamber.

Prince Edward Island

The drive across Confederation Bridge is certainly an experience. The Bridge is 13.2 kms long and is the longest bridge in the world over open water. It crosses Northumberland Strait between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. The salt waters of the strait freeze during the winter. In the second photo, you can see the bridge turning to the left, back between the second and third pylon. The bridge was opened in 1998 and is a feat of engineering. Prior to the bridge being opened, the only access to P. E. I. was by ferry in the summer months.

Hopewell Rocks, NB

The last day of Summer today. Drove into Moncton from Shediac with "Granny' to take Highway 114 down the south side of the Petitcodiac River which reaches down to the Bay of Fundy from Moncton. We wanted to visit the Hopewell Rock formations at low tide. There is no tidal bore here as the river is too wide but the tide rises at a rate of 2 -3 meters per hour and we could see boulders dissapear within 10 minutes. The mud flats were wide for miles. You can see by the moss on the trees this is a very wet area.

After a fifteen minute walk through the forest we arrived at the top of the 95 stairs down to the mud and rock beach.

The rock cliffs are eroded over thousands of years by the tide into arches, tunnels and pillars.

On the way back to Moncton we stopped at a railway museum at Hillsborough, but unfortuately it was closed for the season.

Parlee Beach. When we were here at the end of July it was wall to wall people and you had to 'PAY' to get on the beach. Now in late September only a few brave soles well wrapped up against the wind. There are huge restaurants and concessions just off the beach that are seasonal all boarded up for the winter. Even at the RV Park they are taking campground docks out of the water. They put four beside 'Dutchess' in an empty site. You can just see in the bottom two photo's that the trees are just starting to turn for fall colours.

Shediac and Moncton

One of our plans was to return to the Moncton area to get a number of maintenance items attended to. Today 'Granny' was booked in for a regular service as well as a minor tune up. This was all successful as were most of the other things on our 'to do' list

Shediac and Monton

Today we were booked into Universal Truck for a service on the motor home as well as the replacement of the 2 engine starting batteries. The wireless was not working at the Etoile Camp ground, so after checking across the street, we packed up the 'wagon train' and moved across to the Parasol Camp Ground.

Anne Murray Centre

Anne Murray grew up in the small Nova Scotia coal mining town of Springhill. On the way from the Bay of Fundy area to Moncton we had a chance to visit her center and the story of her career and rise to fame. The centre traces her life from her early childhood at school, to university where she graduated as a Phys. Ed. teacher and on to her early sucess as a singer and entertainer. Her sucess continues with a long list of 'Gold Records'.

Tidal Bore on the Bay of Fundy

The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, up to 15 meters. On the upper reaches of the rivers leading into the bay, a tidal bore is created when the flood tide is moving up stream. The height of the bore varies with the size of the flood and the location on the river. One of the more interesting places to view the bore is on the Shubenacadie River, where there is a good viewing platform built on the old railway bridge.

The bores arrival cannot be predicted and on both days we were there it actually arrived about 30 minutes after the predicted time. The second day actually produced a larger leading wave.

A number of rafting companies run trips in their inflatables 'running the rapids'. The passengers are equipped with full wet weather gear and are provided with hot showers after their experience. The last photo shows the viewing platform out over the water.