The Great Adventure 2019: Peggy's Cove

We left the AirBnB behind and began to make our way to our next stay. We were headed to The Ovens Natural Park for a couple of nights of camping. But since we had plenty of time to get there, we made a slight detour and headed for Peggy's Cove. CH kept talking about how the landscape of the Canadian Maritimes looked like Ireland, but I told him it didn't...until we got to Peggy's Cove. This looked like the Ireland I saw:

I think most people go to Peggy's Cove for the lighthouse; we just enjoyed walking around and enjoyed the scenery.

Once we walked into the actual village, there was a boat tour. We thought, "why not?" and jumped on in. It was beautiful seeing the area from the water. The rocks that were formed that appear to be haphazardly were incredible.

No seals, but we did see these birds. 

East Dover is another fishing village next to Peggy's Cove that looked equally as charming.

Just as we made our way back in front of the lighthouse, a staff member obliged us by taking our picture as we went by:

There is one other point of interest that we saw while there: 

We almost missed the William E. deGarthe Memorial. It is right next to a house, so it appears to be part of the yard. This monument is in honor of  the fishermen of Nova Scotia. The sculpture depicts 32 fishermen, their wives and children, St. Elmo with wings spread, and the legendary Peggy of Peggy’s Cove. It was absolutely amazing. And, yes, it actually is in someone's yard...William E. deGarthe. At his death, the sculpture was about 80% completed. 

After leaving Peggy's Cove, we continued on toward our destination. We stopped to eat at a place called rhubarb. It had great atmosphere; we were able to sit at a table on an enclosed porch and have a nice lunch. As it happens, there was a group of people from around Atlanta at a table near us. The accents sounded like home!

Continuing on, at one point we went around a curve and were absolutely struck by this view:

Seriously, it was so unexpected that it just took our breath away. Seeing Mahone Bay turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Unfortunately, we didn't stop and walk through "downtown" to see what all this town has to offer. This is one place that we want to return to and spend a full day or two exploring. 

I read about a little town called Lunenburg. The "Old Town" is a UNESCO Heritage Site so I was intrigued. But, we ended up being a little disappointed. We walked along the waterfront but there really didn't appear to be much there. We just didn't think it lived up to the hype I read about. You can definitely tell there is German influence in the architecture.

Theresa E. Conner is a saltbanking schooner, designed to preserve the fish in saltwater. It was in service from 1938 to 1966 and is now a museum. It was the last saltbanking schooler to run out of Lunenburg.

(Information from Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.)

Memorial to Fishermen:

View from the park on top of a hill to the harbour:

St. John Anglican Church. The 2nd Church of England built in Nova Scotia (1753) and the 2nd oldest remaining Protestant Church in the country. The original congregation was comprised mostly of German Lutherans. The same foundry that made Big Ben and the Liberty Bell made the original bell.

When it was built, the wood came from King's Chapel in Boston, which was disassembled from the inside. The wood was carried through the window and shipped to Lunenburg.

The stars above the altar are said to be a mystery. Some believe the stars depict the sky the night that Jesus was born, as it looked in Lunenburg on that night.

Lunenburg Academy opened its doors in 1893 and is a National Historic Site. This building was built after a fire destroyed the current school. It served as a school until 2012 when concerns over the cost of maintenance caused the school board to turn it over to the town. Renovations began shortly after we visited. The building is used for a library and music school, as well as space rented out to businesses as offices.

If we knew at the beginning of the day what we knew at the end, we would have spent more time in Mahone Bay. But I think that just means we'll have to go back! 

Next stop: camping at The Ovens Natural Park.

The Great Adventure of 2019: Dartmouth

After a mostly full day in Halifax, we decided to just take a day to chill and see what there is in Dartmouth. This town reminded me a lot of Asheville, NC: an up-and-coming town in its own right that is artsy.  

We started our day at a crepe place just up the street from the above picture.  I didn't take a picture of the place or of what we had though. The owner was super nice (he's Canadian, so of course he's nice!) and the conversation was wonderful. 

A place of business in Downtown Dartmouth

Dartmouth boasted beautiful murals.

View of Halifax Harbour from Downtown Dartmouth

I think this was the entryway to a restaurant. I really liked all of the flowers and greenery in front.

We had a very relaxing day and geared up for slowly making our way to our next destination in this Province. 

The Great Adventure of 2019: More Ocean Floor Walking & PEI

After a couple of days in St. Martins, it was time for us to move on to Prince Edward Island (PEI). On our way, we had to stop at Hopewell Rocks for one more walk on the ocean floor. We timed it just about right at low tide. It was raining off and on when we got there; I put on my rain boots and it wasn't a problem at all. We actually arrived around 10:00 (I think it was!) so it wasn't very crowded. When we left, though, people were starting to come in.

Our first glimpse of the ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks.

Another selfie from the ocean floor

Parts are roped off due to erosion of the rocks

Every corner you turn you see something spectacular!

 

 The rocks in the next 2 pictures were pretty cool. It's amazing how the rocks just fell where they are due to the erosion.

"Flower Pots" everywhere!

We talked about stopping in Moncton to test out Magnetic Hill but then decided to just go on over the bridge to PEI. It sounds cool: when you put your car in neutral, it appears to travel up the hill. A novelty, for sure, but we didn't think it was worth our time to do it.

More empty promises!

We drove over a long bridge to Prince Edward Island. The crazy thing is that you don't have to pay anything to get to the Island, but you do have to pay to leave. 

Our first order of business was setting up camp. CH found the perfect campground for us. We were right across from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The only reason we weren't in a spot right on the Gulf was because of bank swallows nesting.

Camp was set up just in time...we had some sprinkles right after we finished.

Ready for some bank swallow pictures? They are a tad blurry because they are quick little birds! I basically just pointed my camera and held the button down. I checked the pictures later; I figured I'd get at least one in one of the shots! (You may have to click on the picture to really see it!)

So many nests and this wasn't even 1/3 of them!

The campground had a nice little beach area. I took a walk just at sunset. It was overcast but no beach trip is complete without a sunset picture!

I thought this shell was really cool...it looked like it had a snowflake etched into it.

The big attraction that I wanted to see: Anne of Green Gables House.

Anne!

It was so cool to walk through the Haunted Wood Trail and hear the little girls and their moms talk about the book while they were walking along. 

At the end of our time there we had a snack of Beaver Tails (which were delicious!) and Raspberry Cordial.

I read about PEI Dirt Shirts online and thought it would be cool to go by and see what the hype is all about.

 These shirts are actually washed in PEI red dirt! The owners' son was running the place when we were there.

On our way back to the campground we took a little drive and ended up seeing this:

Not quite Hopewell Rocks, but it was a nice surprise! I wish we had more time on PEI, but we had a reservation at an Airbnb to keep in Nova Scotia. We loaded up the next morning and headed toward the ferry for another Canadian Province.

 We weren't able to get another Beaver Tail on the ferry, but we did get some famous Cows Ice Cream! Almost the best ice cream I've ever had!