July 27

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Woke up and went to the Fredericton Farmer’s Market which turned out to be

hands down the best we’ve seen.  Rows of interesting foods, vegetables and crafts.

We spent a couple of hours exploring and eating. I had a falafel wrap, while kids had

home-made crossoints, grilled pizza, freshly squeezed orange juice, and ponchiki,

ridiculously similar to the ones from my childhood.

As we walked back to the car, we noticed the Science East museum, which we were

waivering about. We stopped by, and got stuck for another couple of hours—the

museum was excellent.  Lots of different experiments for kids, everything hands on

and very interesting; plus it is free for Museum of Science members.  If you visit the

museum first, King’s Landing village admission is half price—good to know in the

future—but we did not want to go to King’s Landing because it was raining pretty

hard.

Completely unexpectedly, we loved Fredericton.  Really would love to return here.

And now we are on our way home.

End of the trip odometer: 2,423 miles

July 26

Friday, July 26, 2013

Had an interesting breakfast with a couple from Halifax and a couple from

Newfoundland at the B&B.  The guy from Halifax was actually from Britain

originally, so we had a real British breakfast conversation.  We discussed the Queen

and her dominion (including Canada), baby prince and etc.

Afterwards, we went to the Fundy Geological museum; it was really not that great,

very small and with only one tour (which starts at 10, so we were late for that).

From the museum, we made a dash to the Joggins Unesco fossil site (45 min drive).

We had to be there before the high tide precludes the access to the fossils.  The tour

of the fossil cliffs was really interesting; we saw lots of fossils, and kids actually

found a bunch.  We also found sea glass and other interesting things.

Afterwards, we started our long drive home.  Our first long drive was to Fredericton,

where we are stopping for the night.  We lucked out as they had Highland Games

in Fredericton, so after a very nice dinner at the Snotty Fox restaurant we went to

listen to more Scottish music.  It was raining really hard the whole day and by the

time we got there it was one continuous downpour.  They let us in for free, since

there were too few takers; but the music was great.  Unfortunately, the last band

was the bagpipe band, and it was so loud that we had to cover our ears.

We returned to our hotel around ten, exhausted.  Kids are ready to go home.  It is a

seven hour drive according to Google.

July 25

Thursday, July 25, 2013

We woke up in a seedy hotel in Truro (“The Tidal Bore”), and ate at the worst

breakfast place ever, recommended by the concierge of the seedy hotel.  The

waitress actually ran away from us to give menus to local guys in the middle of

taking our order.  And it was impossible to eat the food. Truro, never again.

We then drove to the actual tidal bore rafting site, and although the original plan

was for Nick and I to take the boats, the captain (Shubenacadie River Adventures)

agreed to take Sasha on, so we could go with the whole family.  What a unique

experience.  You basically ride on a zodiac motor boat with the gushing tide of the

Bay of Fundy, while it is smashing into the waves of the river that flows against

the tide, creating huge waves.  We were drenched in water.  The highest wave we

passed was 14 ft.  Sasha was really brave, and cried only once.  Nick was sitting

in the front of the boat and got really drenched with water, so he was shivering

during the second half of the trip. Another highlight was mud-sliding—going down

the muddy shore of the Bay into the river.  I thought it was really dangerous, but

Nick loved it.  The mud colored all our clothes red, and it stained everything white

permanently.  Overall, a very exhilarating experience.

In the evening we drove to Parrsboro, and got into a really neat Vitorian B&B.  The

owner is an opera singer in Toronto, and a former set designer.  The house is really

beautiful, and we sat with her for a long time over wine and watermelon discussing

various cultural topics.  She has two kids who played well with Nick and Sasha.

We are off to bed right now, Anna is really mad and tired since she did not sleep

at the Tidal Bore at all—it was too smelly and dirty to her.  Howard Johnson at

Fredricton tomorrow after the geological museum, at least that’s the plan.

July 24

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

We woke up in B&B and ate breakfast with Terry the owner.  His breakfast was

rather simple (scrambled eggs), but his homemade jam was delicious.  He was

also a huge hit with kids, since he listened to all of their jokes.  It was a lengthy

breakfast, since after the meal he wanted to talk to us, too, and told us his entire

life story and views of the world.  Finally, at around 10, I had to get up to call B&B’s

for the upcoming night.  We decided on staying another night in a hotel since it was

raining pretty hard outside. When we finally got packed, it was 11 already; but then

Terry asked us to sign his guestbook, and then Sasha noticed a woman driving up

to his house.  The woman turned out to be Terry’s girlfriend, also very nice—Sasha

proceeded to ask her multiple questions, such as how long she’s known Terry and

what will they do together when we leave. Nicolas was sad to leave Terry’s house, he

really liked the guy and his food (this was the first time he tried scrambled eggs).

We were in Louisbourg fortress at 11:30, just in time to hear the canon firing. I

had no idea what to expect, but it turned out to be one of the most memorable

experiences of the trip.  Louisbourg is a large Park Canada Historical Site,

completely re-built from 18

dresses, and they stage multiple theatrical performances throughout the day.  We

started with the musket firing, then Anna and Nick went on a tour while Sasha

and I watched the punishment of the maidservant accused of stealing (fun!).  Then

they had a great fairy tale performance, which included Nicolas in the role of

the lumberjack who saves the red riding hood. Then we went to the lunch at the

working class café; the food was authentic and very healthy: rye bread, haddock, red

potatoes, boiled carrots and fish soup.  We had to eat with spoons only, since that’s

what they did back then.  Afterwards, we went to the upper class dance, and Nick

and Sasha participated in the round of Lilibolero. Then it started to rain really hard,

and we watched the end of the day discharge of the cannon while getting completely

soaked.

At around 5:15, we were on the road to tidal bores, with no hotel or camping

reservation.  I drove through the winding roads around Brass D’Or for two hours,

periodically slowing down to a crawl because of low visibility.  We then stopped at

Tim Hortons, and I worked on finding the hotel near the tidal bores. Nicolas pooped

at Tim H’s, now he is a real Canadian.

It is roughly a five hour drive across Nova Scotia to Truro, where we’ll stay for the

night.  It was sad to say goodbye to Cape Bretton Island.  Love you Cape Bretton, as

Sasha would say.

Nick’s favorite part of the day: the tavern and being the lumberjack.

Sasha’s:  Terry and fairy tales.

Both: the entire day!

July 23

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Another long, long day. Anna and I woke up at 5:00 am to see the sunrise above the

Meat Cove campground.  We took the sleeping bags out and stayed in our camping

chairs; needless to say, the sunrise was spectacular.  It was interesting to note how

the bird calls increased as the sun went up.  The whole bay was filled with pinkish

sunlight.  The cliffs were majestic; I don’t think I’ve see a more beautiful place in my

life.

Then we went back to bed, but Sasha woke up at 7 am, asking me to clip her nails.

I had to get up with her, to let Anna, Nick, and the rest of the camp sleep.  We went

on the short hike down the beach and clipped the nails.  At around 9 am the heat

from the sun became intolerable, and Anna got out of the tent saying that we have

to leave now.  We quickly got everything in the car, and were ready to set out. We

did everything in such a hurry that we did not eat breakfast—so we rode down the

Cabot trail to the Main Street Bakery in Ingonish (about 1 hour drive) before we

actually ate.  The breakfast was really good, albeit expensive.  We decided to skip

lunch since it was so pricey and filling.

After the breakfast, we took a short hike up the mountain in Ingonish to see the

beautiful Cabot Trail for one last time.  Nick and Sasha fought over the seat at the

ledges, just as usual.  They fight quite a bit.

Then we commenced on our 2 hour journey to the Lake D’Or area.  Halfway there,

Anna saw an add for the puffin watching tour, and said she wanted to go.  We took

a “ferry”  (really a moving bridge for which they charge 5.50Can), and boarded the

puffin boat.  The tour was pretty awesome.  We saw puffins, bald eagles, seals, and

etc.  It took about three hours, but the wildlife sightings were plentiful and exciting.

Afterwards, we drove another hour to the Miner’s Museum.  I really wanted to see it

since I just read “Gerinal: by Emile Zola.  It was a pretty cool experience, since they

have an underground mine in the museum, and the collier takes you down below

the ocea to show how it all worked. We all loved it.

When we got out of the museum, it started to rain, and we were seriously doubting

our desire to go camping.  I called B&B’s and they were all booked. Finally, I found a

B&B for 200$ about 30 minutes away.  It was really expensive, but we did not want

to take the tent out in the rain.  It turned out to be a really cool place to stay (On

The Mira B&B); just a small house with a guy renting out his downstairs space.  The

bonus was that the guy offered me to drive up the road to his friend and get some

crab.  The friends decided not to charge me, so we had a crab dinner with local wine

before going to bed.

Tomorrow, we are off to Louisbourg fortress, and then tidal bores on Thursday.

July 22

Monday, July 22, 2013

An eventful day exploring the Cabot trail.

We woke up pretty early and had those delicious cinnamon buns again.  Nicolas ate

the largest breakfast ever. He likes breakfast food more than any other type.  We

then set out for the Cabot trail, passing though Mabou and Inverness, places we

liked so much.  The drive was rather promising, with sweeping ocean and mountain

vistas; kids were not screaming at each other the whole time, which is always a

bonus.  Nicolas found a poster with Dan the ranger on it in the Cabot trail info

center—everyone was excited. The Cabot trail itself lived up to the expectations;

similar to Acadia, but longer and with steeper hills.  Hope my car will make it

through.  Some of the mountains I had to traverse on the first gear.  At least I did not

have to run in front of the car.

Our first stop was the Skyline trail, about 5 milometers.  The ranger at the entrance

had an exhibition devoted to moose, I took a bunch of pictures with antlers.  Sasha

loved the moose poop made out of plastic; the ranger showed her the real moose

poop, too—it was laying nearby, since they have so many moose in the park.  The

trail was very beautiful, culminating with a boardwalk leading to the ledges above

the ocean cliffs.  On the way back, I walked with Sasha as usual, and made up a great

story to her about a girl named Bunny who had two long front teeth.  As we went

along, we saw a huge grasshopper; Sasha taught it to jump very high (she stepped

on it and it freaked out).  Then we bumped into Anna and Nick who were standing

on the trail, all excited.  A huge moose was right next to them.   At one point, it went

right past Nicolas, maybe two feet away.  Then I noticed another moose, with huge

antlers.  Definitely lots of fun.

From Skyline, we drove to Pleasant Bay and bought tickets for the Zodiak boat  to

see the whales.  What a crazy experience! The Zodiak went 27 knots per whatever,

bouncing through the waves really fast—kids liked the ride more than whales.  We

were the only people on the tour, so it was easy to see what we wanted.   At one

point, the whales surrounded us and one guy started swimming upside down and

splashing the water with his tails.  It was really funny.  We then rode towards the

seal and saw the beautiful coastline.

From there, we drove to the Meat Cove Campground, which had rave reviews from

campers.  It took us forever to get there, but it was totally worth it.  We pitched

the tent on the slope leading down to the cliff, with a beautiful bay below us.  The

scenery was simply amazing.  At some point, a pod of whales swam in a distance,

and we could watch them right from our campsite, while drinking local wine. Out of

this world experience.

End of the day odometer: 1243.3

July 21

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Woke up to the delicious cinnamon buns straight out of the oven—a great breakfast

at this B&B. I managed to run for half an hour before breakfast, so I was able to eat

several items from the B&B’s bakery.  It is a great place to stay.   Anna was looking

at a broken machine in gym in the morning, and wanted to say to Nicolas, “ there

is a piece missing here,” but said instead “there is a miss pissing here.”  Nick was

laughing about it all day.

After breakfast, we went to the Glenmore Distillery.  It was surprisingly

interesting—the tour guide gave an extensive description of the Scotch making

process, and even the kids liked the gorgeous grounds (probably the best garden

I’ve seen anywhere).  The Scotch itself was a bit overpriced ($80 for 10 yr. old

whisky).  I ended up not buying it.  Will have to manage with straight moonshine

bought in PEI instead.

Afterwards, we went to the Iverness beach which is famous for its sea glass.  The

waves were too high though, so we did not find any.  Sasha got a couple as presents

from passing women.  The beach itself is very beautiful, with a golf course next to it,

and a lovely boardwalk.  We spent over an hour just walking the beach and looking

at stones.

We then went to the Mabou farmers’ market.  Sasha got some pink flower earrings,

Nick a blueberry soda that turned his tongue purple, I ate a dozen local mussels.

We got lunch at the travelling organic lunch cart, it was phenominal except for the

bread, which was gluten free (GF is a big thing here, and most restaurants have GF

menus).

Then we walked to the famous Red Shoe Pub, which featured a performance by

Chrissy Crawley.  Gaelic music is so unique, and her fiddling was really great.  She

was nice looking, too.  We stayed only for about an hour, since kids got really bored

by the music (it is hard for the untrained ear to distinguish between the songs).

Then we walked to the grocery store and bought ourselves some dinner.  Ate at the

B&B again, ourselves, and off to the Celidih concert we went.

The concert was something:  local talents played and performed Celtic music.  Irish

dancing, fiddling, step dancing, singing, bag-pipe music, etc.  It was all at a very high

level and very heartfelt.  The people in the audience were mostly local, and it was

great to see both young and old enjoying and making this music.  A totally awesome

experience which vindicated my decision to stay in Mabou for two nights (which

some people doubted).  Even Nicolas liked the concert (I think).  Sasha was more

philosophical about it and asked Anna how do mermaids pee.

Kids are asleep now, and we are ready for the unplanned part of our journey.

Tomorrow is the first night when we don’t have any reservation for the night.  Nor

do we have a firm plan beyond a desire to see the Cabot trail.