Living The Early Life

July 21 – 28, 2014

 

Bras d’Or is a small town next to a huge lake on Cape Breton Island. This became our home base for the week. I am sure you can guess it made Izzy really happy especially since they had a nice path we could walk, a great place for her to chase her toys, and of course go swimming.

 

Our View For The Week Bras d'Or Lake

Sunset From Our Spot

A Church in View From Our Walk

We headed out one day to check out Cape Breton’s port city of Sydney. We happened to be there at the same time of a cruise ship. At the ship terminal there is a large sculpture of a violin and bow but next to the cruise ship doesn’t look too large.

 

Anchored at Sydney's Port

 

 

Steve wanted to find out about local fishing opportunities so we headed to the closest marina and peer. We ran into a few people that owned lobster boats and discovered lobster season had just ended and that some people will fish off the peer. Flounder might be hanging around right now. We might have to come down some time and fish.

 

Let's See What We Can Find

One of the things Cape Breton is known for is the Cabot Trail. This is a drive that takes you around the coast of the northern part of Cape Breton Island and through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. We headed out mid-week for this journey. The views were beautiful and diversity from the east side to the west side was wonderful. At the very top of the island the road dead-ends at a small harbor where we found a crab boat coming in to off-load their catch.

 

 

 

A Beach on the East Side of Cape Breton Highlands NP

 

Trail in the Park

Resting Spot

 

Rocky East Coast in the Park

Crab Boat

Sorting Their Catch

West Coast of Cape Breton Highlands NP

Steve went out one evening fishing with Gordon for mackerel. Gordon owns a lobster boat and they use mackerel as bait. Steve figured if he caught some we could use it for bait too. He was able to go in with Gordon on buying some fresh crab so Saturday evening we had a crab feast on the boat in the harbor. Izzy came too and she had a blast getting little tidbits.

Captain Gordon

You Want Me To Do What?

 

Earlier that day we took a step back in time to the 1800’s. We headed out for Louisbourg which is home to the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site. This place is known as being the largest reconstructed 18^th century French fortified town in North America. The Canadian Government provided funding to reconstruct just 1/5^th of the fortress and town as the British burned the original down when it captured it for the second time in the mid-1800’s.

The Fortress

Dauphin Gate

Entering

  

Sentry Box

Guard's Dining Room

Houses Within the Fortress

Back in Time

Protecting the Town Within

 

We happened to be there on the weekend where they have a group of re-enactors to help with Culture Fete. The crowd could observe firing of muskets, cannons, eat on-site freshly baked bread, learn about wood carving from the 1800’s, spinning wool, and what life was like as a soldier at the fortress. We enjoyed talking with the wood carvers and the bread was quite good!

A Big Bang

  

The King's Bastion Barracks

Fire

French Officer

 

Marching 

Storage

 

What Do You Suppose Is In Here?

The Hanging Spot

 

Life in the 1800's

Creating the Spindle Block

Working the Lathe

We ended our time on the island with some fishing. We headed out twice during our stay and I was successful in catching five flounders but we could only keep three. We enjoyed some fresh fish for dinner a couple of times. The second time we fished the flounder decided to not want to meet us, but we did manage to catch some small fish so we kept trying for flounder. I thought I had finally got one but when I pulled it out of the water it turned out to be a lobster. That was new for me and the lobster was returned to the sea.

 

My Flounder Catch

 

 Look What Tory Caught

 

 

 

Izzy always likes to go fishing with us and apparently when Steve cleans fish she enjoys that too. Well at least she supervises the process!

Supervisor Izzy

 

We headed off the island Monday, July 28^th to stop in Truro Nova Scotia is home to a tidal bore. So next time you hear from us we’ll be able to show you all about it, eh!

On The Border

July 18 – 20, 2014

We crossed from New Brunswick into Nova Scotia as our tour of eastern Canada continued.  We stopped in the town of Amherst for a few days which is on the border between the two Provinces.

We found a nice RV park with a lake so Izzy was happy since she could chase her floppy and swim. In addition there was a nice par 3 golf course just a couple of miles up the road.

 

Our View For a Few Days

Steve found a couple that live in Nova Scotia staying in the park and asked about the “must sees” in the area.  We took their advice and took a drive along the Chignetco Bay and into the Minas Basin. We stopped at Advocate Harbor for lunch and found out a bit about the tidal change there. It raises and lowers so much that the commercial fishermen definitely have to pay attention to the tide charts as you can see by the picture.

Advocate Harbor

 

Across the Road

  

Waiting for the Tide

We continued the drive and stopped at Port Greville. The Port Greville look-off has a sign that tells you about the shipyard that was once below this point and was a bustling place at the turn of the century. Eighty-four known sailing ships were built here and sailed out of the Bay of Fundy. In 1975, the “Ground Hog Day Storm” swept away the last functional parts of the Port Greville Shipyard, and with it ended a century-old tradition of shipbuilding in the Bay of Fundy.

Port Greville Look-Off

 

Look The Tides Out Let's Go

  

 

Amherst is no stranger to history either and the original Township of Amherst was established in 1764 two miles from its present location. The area started to grow and in 1850 Amherst is settled where it is located today. As you drive through the area you see many of the original homes as well as the Old Customs Office. This building was built from local sandstone in 1887 and the clock was added in 1910. Just up the street from the Customs Office you find the First Baptist church made from red sandstone. This church was built in 1895 and apparently is categorized as Queen Anne Revival style due to the towers and irregular masses.

 

1887 Customs House

 

1895 First Baptist Church

We found time to play golf on the par 3 course which was great exercise although it was quite warm and muggy. I think I only lost one golf ball and all I can say is my putting wasn’t bad! We won’t talk about the rest of the game, but Steve can claim victory for this round.

Practice

 

We left Amherst on July 21 to head for Cape Breton so more to come from Nova Scotia, eh.  

About Face

July 8 – 17, 2014

 

We left New Hampshire and spent a few days near Bangor Maine to prepare to cross into Canada. We stocked up on some groceries and dug out our passports and Izzy’s papers.

We travelled into New Brunswick on July 10^th and settled in for a week at Rockwood Park in Saint John New Brunswick. The park is situated on a ridge so on a sunny day you can see parts of the town. There is also a nice golf course located in the park.

Sunset at our camp

 

We discovered this is a pretty popular park for the locals as there is a nice lake which has a swimming beach. Hiking trails, a dog park with its own lake for our four legged friends to indulge, and a couple of other lakes. So, no shortage of places for Izzy to swim or for me to take nice long walks.

Izzy's Swimming Hole

 

Friends of Izzy

Saint John is known for the Reversing Falls which is where a daily phenomenon created by the collision of the Bay of Fundy and the St. John River occurs. They have a nice visitor center at the location, an observation deck, and another spot where you can be directly above the spot. We happened to be there when it was between the tides, but they say it raises 40 feet during high tide.

St. John River meets the Bay of Fundy

 

 

Reversing Falls

 

A Bit Muddy

 

A Memorial at the Falls

 

 

 

Saint John has an “Uptown” as compared to most cities having a “downtown” which makes it a bit unique. “Uptown” is down by the water with a nice boardwalk and a completely interior mall so during bad weather people can shop and even go to sporting events without having to step outside.

A Huge Model

We wandered around there a couple of times and at the top “Uptown” is King’s Square which is bordered by an old cemetery. It is quite pretty and has some beautiful old trees so it provides a nice place for people to sit and rest in the shade.

 

 

Along the Uptown Walk

 

St. John's Stone Church

 

Impressive

The Church's Faces

 

We took a drive out of town toward the other part of the Bay of Fundy and found the local park with the beach. We didn’t venture down to the beach as it appeared you might sink into the muddy beach, although it didn’t stop folks from swimming. The road to the park continues on for a while and dead-ends at an old lighthouse which is still working. The view from the lighthouse is gorgeous.

View of the Bay of Fundy from the Lighthouse

Nobody is Fishing Down There

I don't See Any Shells

 

We decided to go ahead and play golf and were paired with a couple of ladies who live in the area. They were great company and told us of places to see and where you might get the best seafood. We didn’t play too badly but what was great about these ladies is they both walked and were a bit older than us. We guessed one of them was probably mid-to-late seventies. Hope I do that well playing at that age!

 

The latter half of our stay in Saint John was wet as it rained hard pretty much non-stop for three days. We did discover a bit about the history of Saint John. On St. John the Baptist day, June 24, 1604, Samuel de Champlain sailed into the harbor and named the river St. John. Champlain was the first European on record to barter with the Indians for fur.

If you are keeping up with our adventure you will recall this is the same explorer that mapped out the area in Vermont where we spent a few days. Yap you guessed it Lake Champlain. Now you know the rest of the story!

Our next stop will be in Nova Scotia so stay tuned, eh!