Merry Times in the Maritimes

Day 5

I am going to start listing the day # of our trip, because we are now forgetting what day it is.  (The only thing I’m sure of is that every day is Saturday!)  We know that we’ve been gone from home for two weeks because it’s time to reload the weekly pill minders. Sad, but true, that’s how we keep track of time!

So--this is Day 5 of our 48 day trip through the Maritimes.  I remember when we signed up for this trip two years ago, I had to look up the Maritimes to figure out where it is.   I found out today that there are 4 Maritime provinces—New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island.  When you add in Labrador,  they are called the Atlantic provinces.  These provinces are on Atlantic Standard time which is an hour earlier than Eastern Standard time.  EXCEPT, Newfoundland is on Newfoundland Standard time which is 1.5 hours ahead of EST.  I can’t figure this out, and my brain hurts when I try, so I’ll just take their word for it!  (With that 1/2 hour difference, I bet it’s hard to sync up the tv guide in their households!)   This marker in Rockwood Park is made up of 12 different granite pieces representing each of Canada’s provinces in the country.

We travelled a short distance today to St. John, New Brunswick, and will be staying at the Rockwood Park Campground in the middle of Rockwood Park.  What a contrast from the nice quiet coastal town of St. Andrews by the Sea to this bustling industrial town, which has obviously experienced some economic distress.  The city is at the mouth of the St. John River, and was named because it was St. John’s feast day on the day of discovery. 

We took a tour of the city, and stopped at the City Market which is in the center of downtown.  It is an indoor marketplace, that illustrates the use of unemployed ship builders.  The roof of the building looks like the inside hull of an upside down boat!

We saw some beautiful old homes around the city.

On the way to the campground, we stopped at a Walmart to replenish our lemons, and Jim took the opportunity to wash the RV. (Most camgrounds don’t look kindly on washing the rigs in the campground due to water use, etc.)  The Lundcruiser looks nice and shiny, except for the mark left by the bird that hit us less than 1/2 mile after we took off!  Oh well…..