Dishing it up in Cavendish

July 30, 2015 – Day 45

You may recognize Cavendish as the home of Anne of Green Gables!   The book was published in 1908, but I hadn’t read it until this trip.  What a great story, and very neat to think we are in the spot that inspired the author.   Last night we went to the musical in Charlottetown, which told the story about Anne of Green Gables.  It was a delightful production, part of the Charlottetown Festival.  Today, we toured Green Gables, a National Historic Site of Canada.  This house and grounds are the places described in the novel.  We were able to see Anne’s room, and took a walk down the trail that Anne loved—Lover’s Lane!

Cavendish is a small community of a few hundred people, but gets almost a million visitors each year!  Prince Edward Island National Park is located here, and has a beautiful red rock shoreline, dunes and beaches.

 

We had lunch at the PEI Preserve Company (raspberry cheesecake pie for dessert) and watched them make preserves.  We also visited a cheese factory with trays of gouda cheese!  You can see that food continues to carry a priority with this group!

The countryside is beautiful.  There are rolling green hills right up to the water’s edge, another scene that could be a jigsaw puzzle picture.  And, we spotted an osprey nest along the side of the road.

After returning to the campground we had our last “drivers meeting” to review the schedule for the next few days.  It will be strange to drive out on Sunday morning without a trip log to tell us which way to turn when we exit the campground!

The weather was so great we grilled out and ended the evening with a campfire.  This is one of the few times its been dry enough and warm enough to be outside!  Lovin it!

PEI and BWW

July 28-29, 2015 – Day 43-44

My voice is back but the wi-fi is gone.  I’ve been trying to adjust to both!  It’s been a busy few days, but we have made it to the final destination for the last segment of the tour.  Can’t believe how quickly the time has passed. 

We are on Prince Edward Island but nobody calls it Prince Edward Island—it is just PEI.   Even though there were ferries for transportation, for years they wanted to establish a link from the island to the mainland, and finally in 1998, they opened the Confederation Bridge.The Confederation Bridge is the the longest bridge in the world over ice-covered water…8 miles long, running from New Brunswick to PEI!  Quite impressive.  There were a number of traffic lights along the span of the bridge. (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a traffic light on a bridge!)  It cost a billion dollars to build the bridge.   There is no toll coming over, but they charge a toll when you leave…a hefty toll at that! Nonetheless, it was a beautiful entry into a beautiful island. 

PEI is called the Garden of the Gulf or the Emerald Isle, because of the beautiful colors and green landscape.  They say there are 27 different shades of green on the island. It is so different than the rest of the Maritimes, because it has few rocks, mostly sandstone, and red soil.  The red soil is due to the iron oxide in the water and the ground.  (It reminds me of the red clay in Talladega!) 

The island is 140 miles long, 38 miles wide at the widest point, and 2 miles wide at the narrowest point.

There are so many interesting things about this place.  One of the more interesting facts is that PEI is known for its potatoes.  In fact, Wendy’s french fries come from PEI—who would have thought?   Also, 80% of blue mussels consumed in the US come from PEI.

Charlottetown is the capital of PEI.  It is a town of about 60,000 people.  The downtown area is filled with restaurants, shops, and historical buildings. There were lots of people out walking, and musicians playing in the street. And, there were herons wading in the water by the park.

 

 

 

 

There have been a few more trip “incidents”.  On the way to PEI, one of our  travelers pulled over because his “service engine soon” light came on.  As it turns out, his alternator was going out.  He turned on his generator to keep the batteries charged, and we followed him to the next exit where there was a Canadian Tire Store.  The tailgunner arrived and was able to take charge of the situation and they found a truck repair shop at the next exit.  Long story short, they were able to find an alternator and get it replaced, and arrived at the campground about 5 hours later…very lucky that the part was available.   Then, at the campground, one of the 5th wheels had a jack break, and the camper fell onto the truck bed.  Someone was underneath the trailer checking the level, and was hit by the edge of the camper as it came down--very scary.  But, everything turned out ok, except for a few bruises, and the repairman was on site today to get him going again. 

We are staying at the Marco Polo campground in Cavendish, PEI.  The Marco Polo was a huge sailing vessel that was stranded in this area in the 1800’s during a storm.  The campers here are also stranded because the wi-fi doesn’t extend to the camping spots—you have to go to the office to get a signal.  So, I am BWW in PEI –that’s Blogging Without Wi-fi in PEI.   I’ve received two notes asking “where is the blog?”  I’ve finally found a spot that will work, so hopefully can catch up on missed days!

Cape Breton instead of the Brickyard

July 26-27, 2015 – Day 41-42

Brickyard Sunday is not normally a day we’d be travelling, and this is only the second time in the history of the Brickyard that we haven’t been at the race. We missed the Brickyard for the first time two years ago while we were in Alaska, and we missed it again this year, day 41 of our 48 day tour.  But, at least someone we knew was there! 

Instead, we were travelling the Cabot Trail which is one of the most scenic drives in North America.  It is 185 miles of twisty roads in a loop around the island of Cape Breton, which is the eastern tip of Nova Scotia.  We did the whole loop, up mountains and down the other side, taking in the views across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and then passing through Cape Breton National Park, to the other side of the island where the Atlantic Ocean greeted us with spectacular views.  We wished we could have hiked the Skyline Trail which runs along the top of French Mountain overlooking the Gulf.  (There are really people along the top of the ridge in this picture! )

We learned a lot about the area, which has relied on fishing, farming, forestry and tourism.  Fishing is mostly lobster and crab since the cod has been mostly fished out.  The fishermen are given a quota and can have no more than 275 lobster traps, for about a month-long period.  Farming is mostly root vegetables and sheep.  Forestry is the soft wood-spruce and fir for the paper mills, and birch and maple for hardwood floors.  They export 30 million Xmas trees each year!  There used to be mining in the area, but it is gone, so now, it’s mostly tourists, like us, getting to take in the beauty of these natural landscapes.  Moose hunting is allowed, but licenses are given by a lottery system.  200 licenses are issued for 1 week. It seems like it would be very difficult to make a good living here, but the payoff is the beauty and peacefulness of the area.

We stopped by St. Peter’s church…St. Peter is the the patron of fishermen, so it made sense this grand church was named after him!  you could see the spires from several viewpoints along the trail.  It was a beautiful church, and one of our group led a chorus of Amazing Grace so that we could hear the beautiful acoustics.  Jim finally made it inside the confessional—but no hope for him!

We also stopped by a museum which focuses on the work of Elizabeth LeFort, a ledgendary artist and rug maker from this area.  She did portraits in rugs and presented them to important world figures.  She hooked rugs until 6 months before she died at the age of 93.  There were some unbelievable rugs on display—including this amazing one featuring the presidents of the US.

The lighthouse was a big hit because there was an ice cream store inside!  We all were treated to an ice cream cone by the wagonmasters!

There is a large Gaelic population in the area (presumably from the days when miners and fishermen came over), and you can see the influence in the accent of the locals, the stores, hotels including The Keltic Lodge which had this welcome stone in the entryway. It says something about a hundred thousand welcomes!  Street signs had both english and gaelic names.  There is even a Gaelic college devoted to preserving the Gaelic language, arts and culture.

There were breathtaking views on both sides of the Cabot Trail.  The Gulf side featured sandy beaches, and sandstone rock while the ocean side had high cliffs of granite overlooking the sea.  …Just beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

We were able to watch the race when we got home, and realized we should have been there to bring the #24 team some good luck…darn, what a day.  But, it was a fun race to watch with friends, and we got to see Tom a few times on tv. 

We are beginning to wind up our last week of the tour.  Today is our last day in Nova Scotia…a “free day” until dinner this evening.   I’ve decided to take it easy to try to get my voice back.  I have noise today, but not much volume, so am going to be quiet (ha ha!)

The Fortress

July 25, 2015 – Day 40

The weather hasn’t improved much—still chilly, but no rain.  My voice hasn’t improved either…it is still gone.  But, the good news is, we have tv and internet!

We are in the eastern part of Nova Scotia, and today visited the Fortress of Louisbourg.  I found out the difference between a fort and fortress—a fort is a military installation, whereas a fortress is both military and a civilian community.  The Fortress of Louisbourg and its history is quite impressive.  It was a French walled, fortified town established in 1713 at the mouth of Louisbourg Harbour.  It was a base for cod fishing and an administrative capital, and a fort to protect the French interests in the harbor.  It’s hard to imagine why they would come here to fish and then ship it back across the ocean. But, we found out that they had over-fished the seas in Europe, so came here when they discovered the plentiful supply of cod.  Costumed guides were throughout the site, and stayed in character as they talked about life in the village.   We watched a military drill, complete with cannons that went BOOM! 

 

 

The fortress covered a large area, and included the Governor’s Apartments, a Military Chapel, the guardhouse, stables, a bakery, the engineers residence, etc. etc.  Jim finally tried to go to confession in the chapel, but the priest was not there.  It is interesting to think about how people lived during this period.  They grew and produced what they needed in their gardens. 

 

 

 

And, they raised animals on the property.  (We had turkey for lunch at the restaurant in the Fortress).

The story behind the fortress is quite interesting.  After a 47 day siege, the British captured the fortress in 1745.  It was returned to the French but captured again in 1758.  The British abandonded it in 1760, and burned it to keep the French from returning.  The fortress was reconstructed in the 1960’s with funding from the government, using the original foundation and historical records.  It is one of the largest historical reconstructions in Canadian history.  It’s impressive to see how they have preserved the culture of 300 years ago!

We travelled across the harbor to see the lighthouse which overlooked the harbor, lined with rocks and waves.  

 

 

 

 

 

We were able to go to church this evening and our hope for tomorrow is for better weather, and for getting back to the campground in time to watch the Brickyard!

Lost at Sea

July 23-24, 2015 – Day 38-39

When I woke up this morning, my voice was gone—lost at sea!  It started yesterday, with what I thought was a sinus infection, but then the voice went.  I wish I could say it was because of a big night of partying on the boat, but not the case…I think it’s just a cold that is being passed around our group.  At least writing a blog doesn’t require a voice! I took some cold medicine and a nap but my voice is still lost at sea. (Jim and Spot are cheering in the background!)

The Newfoundland weatherman was released from jail when the sun popped out yesterday and gave us a pleasant farewell.  It has been so long since we’ve seen blue skies, it just made everyone happy as we travelled from St. John’s to Argentia to take the ferry back to Nova Scotia.  The ferry trip was 280 nautical miles and took16 hours!  There was a stiff wind, but the ship was big enough that it was a fairly smooth ride.

We had to line up and be ready by 2pm, and they started loading at 3.  It took about 1 hour and 30 minutes to load the people and cars, and the ship was on its way by about 5pm.  Some of our group used their time to get a good game of cards going! 

We saw some beautiful scenery as we left the port. It was a really nice boat, and close to capacity.  There were over 200 cars, a slew of motorcycles, and quite a few rv’s.  There were two tour buses of people that boarded just before we did.  Each of us had a cabin, just like a cruise ship.  There were a bunch of people without cabins, and they laid around the lounges just like they were in an airport.  One guy brought his sleeping bag and slept on the floor; most people laying around had pillows and a blanket.  This morning, we got coffee and sat in the lounge to watch out the windows, and there was a big guy laying on the couch snoring so loud that we had to move!  I heard one of the “regulars” talking who said he was on a wait list for a cabin…they are sold out for 2 months!!  When you consider the only way to reach the island is by plane or by boat, it makes sense there is quite a demand for a ferry ride!

We enjoyed a nice buffet dinner last night (two trips to the dessert bar) and a guy played the guitar and sang in the lounge after dinner.   We were also entertained by a pretty sunset. There was a movie theater with reclining chairs, but it had been overtaken by those “camping” overnight.  There is a pet station on board, but pets must be in kennels and muzzled, so we opted to leave Spot in the motorhome in familiar surroundings. We had a long talk with him before the trip to let him know he was going to have to be a big boy.  We left him a “piddle pad” with some grass and greenery on it (just in case) since he was going to be cooped up for so long. He did great…he was really glad to see us this morning, and didn’t use his supplies. What a great traveler—he lasted over 16 hours!  I visited the pet area on board early this morning to see how they were coping, and one girl was sitting in a chair inside.  Her dog broke out of his kennel, so they required somebody to stay with him all night.  Her husband sat from 10pm-3am and she took over at 3—a long night for all of them.  I was glad Spot stayed where he did.

It was a very efficient exit from the ferry.  They released us about 9 am to walk down to the lower level for our vehicles and we were on the highway by 9:25!  We were the very last one loaded, so Jim was able to get a few pics of the area.  We thought we were going to be the last one off, but it didn’t work that way…they had a method to unloading quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

We are staying in North Sydney Nova Scotia for the next several days.  We had to change our clocks for the 30 minute difference in Newfoundland time…that still is a very weird thing to me.  We have the rest of the day to rest up for our next adventure!

Out on the Town-Still in fog

July 22, 2015 – Day 37

It was another overcast, foggy, chilly day, but we made the best of it by exploring the downtown area.  St. Johns is one of the oldest cities in Canada, and there are a lot of historical buildings and a lot of steep and winding streets. We took a self-guided walking tour, and by the time we found a place to park, we ended up having to do the tour backwards, so instead of going downhill most of the time, we were walking uphill.  Oh well, we got our steps in, and registered 38 flights of stairs!      There were several big ships sitting in the harbor which is right along the downtown streets. 

The Court House is a 19th century design, built with stone from the Signal Hill quarry.  It is a huge building sitting in the center of town at the top of one of the steep streets near the water.

We visited two beautiful churches…both named St. John the Baptist! (kind of odd to have two churches of different denominations with the same name within a few blocks of each other). One was St. John the Baptist Anglican Cathedral built in the mid 1800’s,  It had large striking stained glass windows and a huge pipe organ--it would have been nice to stay for a concert! 

We also visited the Catholic Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, built in 1855, which sat high on the hill overlooking the city.  It had a beautiful altar, and several side altars, and a massive seating area. I chuckled when I saw the collection baskets which are the ones I remember having back when we were kids! Again, there was not enough time for Jim to go to confession!  This too was built with stone from the Signal Hill quarry.

The old houses along the street were brightly-colored--they call them jelly bean row houses, kind of a signature of St. Johns. Even the mailboxes were painted like jelly bean row.

 You could tell how many fireplaces were in the house by the number of chimneys on the roof! Check out the one with about 12 chimneys! 

We were able to visit the Newfoundland Chocolate Factory and watch them make candy bars.  Of course we got a few samples, and had to buy some to take home.

The War Memorial reminded me of the Soldiers and Sailors monument in Indianapolis, but not nearly as tall.  It had a soldier, a sailor, and a fisherman representing the merchant marines.  Another very interesting and unusual landmark (and a little strange) was a periscope from a German U-boat that has been mounted on top of a building.  They say you can still look through the periscope and see outside! 

On the way back to the parking lot, we stopped at Tim Horton’s for lunch and a quick wi-fi fix.  Timmy was out of soup, chicken and turkey…I guess they do better with donuts and coffee than lunch! 

In the afternoon, we headed to the Johnson Geo-Centre, at the bottom of Signal Hill.  It is built mostly underground, with the reception area above ground tilted to give the impression of an iceberg on the side of a hill. It was full of education about geologic history and the geology of Newfoundland, with films, rock samples and exhibits.  One of the most fascinating things to see was one entire wall of natural rock…the building was embedded in this basin of rock that is millions of years old.  You could even see water seeping through the rock—just amazing.  Some of the rock formations in this area the oldest in the world. Now we have a much better appreciation for Newfoundland and Labrador’s “The Rock”.   I wish our friend Dave, (the geologist who had to leave this trip early) could have been here to enlighten us even more.  

We tried to drive up to Signal Hill, but the fog came in and shrouded the area so much that you could not even see the tower.  My little book on Newfoundland says that St. Johns is the foggiest city in Canada, with 124 fog days each year!

We didn’t get to visit the Fluvarium (I learned a new word). It closed before we got there.  It is a place where you can look directly into a stream via a glass wall that has been constructed butting up against the stream.  What an interesting way to illustrate freshwater ecology—I wonder if this began as a kid’s science experiment? 

Finally, I have to share our evening last night….we went to Tim Horton’s to get the blog posted, and each had a cup of coffee to make our visit legitimate.  After the post was published, I went to shut down my computer, and it started a software update— “do not turn off or shutdown—applying 1 of 16 updates”.  So, while I waited, Jim went exploring the strip mall.  He found a place a few doors down to get a haircut.  His haircut took about 5 minutes.  My software update took 35 minutes.  Also in the strip mall was a Weight Watchers meeting place—(they really ARE following me around!)   Luckily it was closed, so I didn’t have to feel so guilty when we went next door and ordered a pizza!  I’m afraid my lifetime WW membership status is going to be revoked! 

Other excitement—the police came to the campground this morning and took a lady from a small motorhome away in handcuffs.  We didn’t see it, but got a full report from one of the group –darn, they didn’t take a picture, and no more details.  Then, on tv this morning, they arrested the weatherman and charged him with giving bad weather reports!  It was pretty funny…they carted him off in the police car and said he’s in jail until the sun shines again.  These Newfoundlanders can find humor in just about anything!

We are winding up our tour of Newfoundland, and will be boarding a ferry tomorrow evening and spend the night on the ferry for the travel back to Nova Scotia which will take about 14 hours..will post an update on the ferry adventure as soon as I can!