On to Digby

The trees are starting to put on quite a show here in the Maritimes. We had frost a couple of times in Windsor and again in Digby. Mother Nature needs that spell of cold to really show off .
After leaving Gary and Pam, who escorted us to Kentville (maybe they wanted to make sure we really left? Just kidding guys, thanks again) we headed for Digby where the ferry leaves for Saint John. NB From Digby we will explore the Digby Neck, a peninsula that juts out of western Nova Scotia and Kejimkujik National Park.
The visitors welcome to Nova Scotia people here are great!!!! When we asked about open RV parks, they suggested we stay in their parking lot, plug into their power and water. We have the nicest site in town. The hills behind us are a blaze of colour, and we can watch the fishing boats head out every morning and come back in the evening.
Yesterday we toured Kejimkujik, Although a lot of the trails are closed (floating bridges have been put up for the winter) we got in a lot of walking. The dogs were able to run free as there were few people in the park. The day was sunny for the most part and the park beautiful.
Today the weather looks promising and we will explore the neck (A narrow slither of land named Digby Neck extends out from the mainland with joints of islands at it's tip, Briar and Long Islands, in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia ) It is about 70 km long and has 2 ferries to get to the islands at the end.

Back to Nova Scotia

October 22, 2010
Guess I have sort of slipped up on posting. After the Confederation Bridge episode my mind went blank, a senior thing I guess.
We are back in Nova Scotia, stopped at the Amherst “Welcome to Nova Scotia” place where we enquired about RV dumps and open RV sites. Nova Scotia has this silly law that prohibits overnight parking in anyplace but registered sites. Unfortunately by the first of October most of the RV places have had enough of tourists and closed their establishments. However the Welcome people assured us there were lots of places still open. I mean how welcome would we feel if they told us the truth? In case you haven’t figured it out, the Amherst people were not my favourites on this trip. I figure they were probably displaced Ontarioites. (Sorry Barb, there are some great people in Ontario )
The one RV place they said was closed, was sort of open, but no one around. We were able to get rid of the black water tho and headed into town. In spite of the “No overnight parking “signs we were able to park at Wal Mart overnight and then headed to Windsor the next morning.
In Windsor, we were invited to stay with friends we had met last winter in the desert. Pam and Gary are wonderful hosts and we were able to stay for about 10 – 12 days. Now I am a firm believer in the old saying “Fish and company are only fresh for 3 days” but, bless their hearts, they made us welcome for a lot longer. Thanks a lot guys.
While in Windsor we were able to take in the Maritime Fall Fair,and the Great Pumpkin Race, as well as explore some of the places familiar to me when I lived in Dartmouth in 1973-4.
The Pumpkin race had about 70 participants, in different formats, (The pumpkins were hollowed out, and became the boats that raced across 1/2mile of cold water) There were doubles (2 people to a pumpkin), singles, and motorized. I should mention that Windsor is famous for its huge pumpkins, we saw one at the fair that weighed 1109 lbs.
No visit to Nova Scotia would be complete without a visit to Peggy`s Cove. This is the spot featured in most of the post cards and tourist info. It is also the site of the Swissair disaster, It was a windy day but the scenery was great.
We also visited my cousin Rita, who has lived in Halifax for years. She and Garry have one of those fantastic old houses on Robie Street. It is 150 years old and they have done a magnificent job of renovating, keeping the old leaded windows and all. Should mention that Rita is an excellent cook and we had a great meal along with catching up on our families.

Cape Breton and PEI or How I conquered my fear of heights

October 5, 2010
Looks like I messed up on dates back therel Either that or slept through the entire month of Sept.
We are on PEI, After leaving the ferry at North Sydney we visited with the Queen (my ex sister in law Mary) in Sydney and then headed for Baddeck to tour part of Cape Breton Island.
Visited Louisbourg NS, a fort established in the 1700’s to protect the fishing industry from the British. I had visited this fort in 1973 and the changes were amazing. It is the largest reconstructed 18th century town in North America. The buildings have been reconstructed using the actual plans from the original dwellings. The workers in the fort are in period costumes and one has the feeling of wandering around an actual town in that time period.
The following day we decided to do the Cabot Trail a scenic drive around Cape Breton Island. It was raining again, so we missed some of the scenic views. It was a treat to have road signs in English and Gaelic rather than English and French. We made the best of the day by having a lobster dinner at Baddeck. Pricey but delicious.
A note about the campsite we stayed at: The manager advised us that she was definitely against overnight parking at Walmart and other sites. She actually uses some of her time off to scout out these places and inform the police that laws are being broken, and even goes so far as to drive around these RV’s playing music loudly in the middle of the night. Needless to say, we were not impressed and left the following day for Prince Edward Island.
We took the ferry from Caribou to PEI (it is free to visit the island, you pay when you leave) We had arranged to stay with friends of mine from the 70`s. It was so good to see them again, we had been communicating via the internet but hadn`t seen each other since 1979. They were great hosts, and we caught up sometimes with stories of my shenanigans back then, which I am sure Jerry didn`t know about. Ah well, we all have a past. The rain followed us again as we drove around the east cape but subsided when we visited the town I used to live in. I wandered down memory lane, while Jerry, bless his heart put up with my reminiscing. Found another lobster dinner at New Glasgow, much better than the NS dinner......unlimited steamed mussels, salads and dessert.
The fuel problems came back.....at the worst possible time..... We were just on to Confederation Bridge, a 13 km bridge over the gulf of St. Lawrence. Absolutely no stopping allowed. A two lane bridge that terrified me.....and the bus stalled. There is a 3 ft barrier on the side which we parked very close to and Jerry had to open one of the bays to blow out the obstruction. I had to get out and hold the bay door open. No time to check my blood pressure, believe me. It could have been a lot worse if it hadn’t been for Jerry knowing what to do. And we did actually get to walk on the bridge.
I was glad to get to the other side. I mentioned that it didn`t seem to be as long as I expected. Jerry said a couple of stops always seems to shorten the trip.