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!