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On the road again
Sep. 25th, 2016 10:30 amTwo weeks of vacation have zipped by and we had a great week this past week on the road. Topped it off with a belated wedding reception last night for my cousin and his new wife, married three weeks ago in a small, private ceremony. Had a great time, lots of family and old friends attending. I even danced a few times and, miracle, Graham was on the dance floor a few times though he says that's because he was tricked! A couple of people dragged him out and he's too polite to leave them standing there but he's not a person comfortable on the dance floor at all. I did insist he dance with me, though, one slow one and a faster once seeing as he'd danced with a few others. Dance with your wife! :) We had fun. These kinds of things are not easy for him as his hearing is bad and all the noise, music and people make it difficult when you have a hearing aid.
The DJ was, I would guess, in his 60s with long, grey hair. Graham: He looks like Robert Plant's granddad. Me: Have you seen Robert Plant lately? Graham: good point.
Road trip:
We had four days on the road, three of them with cloudy skies and some thick fog. One of the days cleared up and then we had one beautiful, sunny day. That was the day that really counted. That was the day we were out on the Bay of Fundy in a boat whale watching. We saw about a half dozen of the magnificent hump back animals, several of which came right up to the boat, floated around, surfacing and diving around. A bit later, we saw two together, a mother and calf. They didn't come that close but still they were close enough to see them very well. The calf was showing off and even waved it's flippers up out of the water a few times. Really spectacular. The captain of the boat would cut the engine when he got close enough for us to see and they then let the whales do what they want. Sometimes they're not interested and swim away but we were lucky with the few, one at a time that is, that came up to check us out. I think technically they aren't really supposed to go that close to the animals but when you are sitting there on the water, no engines and they come up to you, it's out of your control. They wouldn't start up the engines with the whales that close, they always waited until the animal was further away to leave and take us to another spot to try to see more. We were out over three hours and it was a lovely day. Not even that chilly on the water like I thought it might be and it wasn't too choppy. Definitely the highlight. Photos of Brier Island and the whales here.
Backtracking, the first day we went to the historic town of Shelburne, founded in about 1783 by British Loyalists fleeing the American War of Independence. They still have quite a number of old buildings that were used in the 90s for the filming of The Scarlet Letter, starring Demi Moore. They left a lot of what they did and the buildings have been fixed up and contain shops and restaurants and museums now. We mainly just walked along the waterfront Dock Street to look in the shops and marina and have lunch. The main streets of the town are also quite nice with old homes on the fringes of the "high street" area. Photos here.
Leaving there, we drove through very thick fog around the south shore of the province to a village called Shag Harbour and before you start to snicker, a 'shag' is a type of seabird, similar to a cormorant. Shag Harbour is a fishing village but it's claim to fame is a UFO sighting in 1967. You may scoff but there was definitely something, though it's never been confirmed *or denied* by the Canadian or American governments that it was or was not extra-terrestrial. Read about it here and check out the links at the end of the Wiki. We spoke to a man who was a witness to the lights when he was a teenage boy and it was fascinating getting to talk to someone that experienced it. They have an up to date book on the findings, the technology, the "conspiracies" and the efforts to get information out of the governments. The thick, thick fog made it even more eerie. They have a little museum there that has a lot of photos of people and newspaper articles over the years. There's one photo that may or may not be the lights, it's difficult to tell.
We arrived in the town of Yarmouth near the tail end of the province to stay for the night. We were supposed to go out into the rural area to go star gazing but the fog put the boots to that and we were disappointed about it. We found a restaurant for our meal and relaxed in the hotel room and in the morning went out to the point to see the lighthouse at Cape Forchu. There's been a lighthouse here since 1840 though the current structure was built in 1962. The first "light" was a circle of 10 oil lamps and was later changed to a kerosene light. The light was not electrified until 1940. The current structure is distinctive in that the red and white stripes are vertical, which you don't see too often and it's shape is known as "apple core". It was foggy though showing signs of clearing up but our pictures are full of mist. Off along the north shore of the province, heading to a long peninsula on the north of the province called Digby Neck. That leads to Long Island which then leads to Brier Island out on the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. There are whale watching and nature tours all along this stretch, with the ones on Brier being the most well known. We stayed at a lodge and took advantage of a package that included whale watching tour tickets for the next day. By the time we got to the ferries the sun was out and it looked good for the tour.
There are a few photos from the journey to Yarmouth and through to the ferries, and including the lighthouse here on this page.
And indeed it was, as I've already said. It was a first for both of us and unforgettable. Now every where I think I want to travel to I look and see if there's whale watching available! I want to go again! In Newfoundland, there is one company located near the Viking settlement site that takes you out near the icebergs in the late spring in addition to the whales and birds you might see. That would be pretty neat I think.
We drove to a B&B at Granville Ferry which is across the river from Annapolis Royal. Graham and I tried to visit there on his first time in Canada but my father was ill and we had to drive right back so he didn't get to see much other than the old fort there. This time, we went to Port Royal Habitation, a reconstruction of the first French settlement in North America (1605). They've done a good job of it though apparently it needs a lot of work. Mom and I visited here a few years ago and Graham and I spent about an hour and a half looking through the various displays and rooms. While it's a reconstruction, there are period pieces and you can see a lot of the construction is still in the original methods where possible, including metal lightening rods on the roofs and pegs to join pieces of wood together. Now, I don't know if there's nails underneath that, probably is, but it's not apparent when you look at it. Photos (including some from the first time I visited with Mom) here.
The DJ was, I would guess, in his 60s with long, grey hair. Graham: He looks like Robert Plant's granddad. Me: Have you seen Robert Plant lately? Graham: good point.
Road trip:
We had four days on the road, three of them with cloudy skies and some thick fog. One of the days cleared up and then we had one beautiful, sunny day. That was the day that really counted. That was the day we were out on the Bay of Fundy in a boat whale watching. We saw about a half dozen of the magnificent hump back animals, several of which came right up to the boat, floated around, surfacing and diving around. A bit later, we saw two together, a mother and calf. They didn't come that close but still they were close enough to see them very well. The calf was showing off and even waved it's flippers up out of the water a few times. Really spectacular. The captain of the boat would cut the engine when he got close enough for us to see and they then let the whales do what they want. Sometimes they're not interested and swim away but we were lucky with the few, one at a time that is, that came up to check us out. I think technically they aren't really supposed to go that close to the animals but when you are sitting there on the water, no engines and they come up to you, it's out of your control. They wouldn't start up the engines with the whales that close, they always waited until the animal was further away to leave and take us to another spot to try to see more. We were out over three hours and it was a lovely day. Not even that chilly on the water like I thought it might be and it wasn't too choppy. Definitely the highlight. Photos of Brier Island and the whales here.
Backtracking, the first day we went to the historic town of Shelburne, founded in about 1783 by British Loyalists fleeing the American War of Independence. They still have quite a number of old buildings that were used in the 90s for the filming of The Scarlet Letter, starring Demi Moore. They left a lot of what they did and the buildings have been fixed up and contain shops and restaurants and museums now. We mainly just walked along the waterfront Dock Street to look in the shops and marina and have lunch. The main streets of the town are also quite nice with old homes on the fringes of the "high street" area. Photos here.
Leaving there, we drove through very thick fog around the south shore of the province to a village called Shag Harbour and before you start to snicker, a 'shag' is a type of seabird, similar to a cormorant. Shag Harbour is a fishing village but it's claim to fame is a UFO sighting in 1967. You may scoff but there was definitely something, though it's never been confirmed *or denied* by the Canadian or American governments that it was or was not extra-terrestrial. Read about it here and check out the links at the end of the Wiki. We spoke to a man who was a witness to the lights when he was a teenage boy and it was fascinating getting to talk to someone that experienced it. They have an up to date book on the findings, the technology, the "conspiracies" and the efforts to get information out of the governments. The thick, thick fog made it even more eerie. They have a little museum there that has a lot of photos of people and newspaper articles over the years. There's one photo that may or may not be the lights, it's difficult to tell.
We arrived in the town of Yarmouth near the tail end of the province to stay for the night. We were supposed to go out into the rural area to go star gazing but the fog put the boots to that and we were disappointed about it. We found a restaurant for our meal and relaxed in the hotel room and in the morning went out to the point to see the lighthouse at Cape Forchu. There's been a lighthouse here since 1840 though the current structure was built in 1962. The first "light" was a circle of 10 oil lamps and was later changed to a kerosene light. The light was not electrified until 1940. The current structure is distinctive in that the red and white stripes are vertical, which you don't see too often and it's shape is known as "apple core". It was foggy though showing signs of clearing up but our pictures are full of mist. Off along the north shore of the province, heading to a long peninsula on the north of the province called Digby Neck. That leads to Long Island which then leads to Brier Island out on the mouth of the Bay of Fundy. There are whale watching and nature tours all along this stretch, with the ones on Brier being the most well known. We stayed at a lodge and took advantage of a package that included whale watching tour tickets for the next day. By the time we got to the ferries the sun was out and it looked good for the tour.
There are a few photos from the journey to Yarmouth and through to the ferries, and including the lighthouse here on this page.
And indeed it was, as I've already said. It was a first for both of us and unforgettable. Now every where I think I want to travel to I look and see if there's whale watching available! I want to go again! In Newfoundland, there is one company located near the Viking settlement site that takes you out near the icebergs in the late spring in addition to the whales and birds you might see. That would be pretty neat I think.
We drove to a B&B at Granville Ferry which is across the river from Annapolis Royal. Graham and I tried to visit there on his first time in Canada but my father was ill and we had to drive right back so he didn't get to see much other than the old fort there. This time, we went to Port Royal Habitation, a reconstruction of the first French settlement in North America (1605). They've done a good job of it though apparently it needs a lot of work. Mom and I visited here a few years ago and Graham and I spent about an hour and a half looking through the various displays and rooms. While it's a reconstruction, there are period pieces and you can see a lot of the construction is still in the original methods where possible, including metal lightening rods on the roofs and pegs to join pieces of wood together. Now, I don't know if there's nails underneath that, probably is, but it's not apparent when you look at it. Photos (including some from the first time I visited with Mom) here.
