This includes New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island (PEI). We have a lot of great pictures from our trip which we can't share all of due to sheer magnitude but we will try to give you a glimpse of what we did and saw. And, luckily for you, you don't have to do all the driving we did.
New Brunswick
we began our vacation in New Brunswick. Many people fly through New Brunswick on their way to PEI and Nova Scotia but there were a couple of sites there that we were anxious to see.
New Brunswick is on the Bay of Fundy which is famous for having the lowest and highest tides in the world (although some folks in Uganda are contesting this - really). These tides leave for an interesting shore line that has literally been carved by the tides for thousands of years. There is a place called Hopewell Rocks which I like to refer to as "Stonehenge by the sea". At high tide you have to observe from a distance, or a platform, but at low tide you can actually walk on the ocean floor.
The picture below was taken while the tide was still relatively high. The picture taken below that was taken at low tide at the same basic location.
The picture below was taken from the ocean floor itself, if you look closely you can see the high tide mark on the rock in comparison to the people walking by the rock.
The platform below was there in case you got stuck walking around the beach when the tide came in quickly. It seemed humorous to us but I'm sure there were times when folks found it EXTREMELY useful to have around.
Luckily, we got off the beach on time on this nifty staircase build into the cliffs:
Of course, there were other interesting tidal sites as well. Take for example the local fishing village:
The other cool place we went to in New Brunswick was a point called "Cape Enrage". There were huge cliffs and the beach was littered with rocks that had fallen off the huge cliffs. It was a little bit of a scary place to be, but dramatically beautiful! Look at how small Gene looks in this picture compared to the cliffs!
One had to climb up and down this rather precarious staircase to get to the beach:
Prince Edward Island (aka The land of everything Anne)Our next stop on vacation was Prince Edward Island. Our main reason to go there was to make a pilgrimage to the Anne of Green Gables house and everything else Anne. Luckily, the day we arrived we stopped at the actual historic home that inspired these stories. It was the home to the real Aunt and Uncle of Lucy Maud Montgomery who was the author of the "Anne" stories. I say it was lucky because the next day we went to "Avonlea" which was the fictional town based on the fictional stories of Anne that is full of brightly colored, disney-fied buildings with entertainment every corner you turned. The kids loved "Avonlea" and might not have tolerated the "boring" historical sight had we scheduled our visits in reverse(I must admit that the parents had a great time at "Avonlea" as well, as you will see, and might not have tolerated the real "Green Gables" either). I'll post pictures below of both and I imagine you will be able to tell pretty quickly which is the real "Green Gables" and which is the manuactured "Avonlea"
Now let's play "Green Gables" or "Avonlea"
Picture 1:
Picture 2:
Picture 3:
Picture 4:
Picture 5:
Picture 6:
Picture 7:
Picture 8:
Picture 9:
Picture 10:
Picture 11:
Okay, for those of you keeping score, pictures 1, 3, and 5 are the real deal.
The rest are from "Avonlea - Anne of Green Gables meets Disney"
After, we were all Anne-d out we decided to explore what else the island had to offer. Turns out, it's a beautiful Island with some most delicious seafood. Sophie ate mussles until her eyes popped out (PEI is famous for it's mussels, in the same way that Maine is with Lobster)
The beaches were breathtaking with both white sandy beaches and gorgeous red cliffs that were great for climbing and collected treasures. In fact, the next two pictures, were taken from the same exact spot with a 180 degree swivel:
There was literally a dividing line on the beach where the red rocks and the sand met. It was much more dramatic in real life but I photographed it anyway:
Everyone had fun at the beach:
Nova Scotia:
Unfortunately, we had to leave PEI for a much anticipated visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
This was a pilgrimage of sorts for Deb because of both family history and growing up in Marblehead and watching the beginning of the Marblehead to Halifax sailing race every couple of years and never seeing the latter port. Halifax was a relatively large city and after a visit to such a tranquil, time forgotten land like PEI, it seemed a bit too much for all of us. But, it was worth the trip and we enjoyed the foggy Haliax coast thoroughly. We even went for a whale watch! As "luck" would have it we were there during a Busker festival which meant there was a lot of activity on the seaport. This made it both fun and chaotic, but mostly left us longing for the peace of PEI or maybe even home.
We went to maritime museum to investigate some family history. My great grandfather sailed out of Halifax on a cable laying ship. After conversations with my grandmother I believe the picture below is a picture of his actual ship, the Minia, aka the Western Union ship (maybe that's him on the beach :)) His ship helped pick up the people who didn't survive the sinking of the Titanic. A gruesome task for sure.
After the visit to the museum we visited the Titanic cemetary where the headstones were layed in the shape of a boat. We were told an interesting story that James Cameron visited Halifax before filming the Titanic and he went to the cemetary to gather information. He found a headstone bearing the name " J. Dawson" that was used for Leonardo DiCaprio's central character "Jack Dawson". Apparently after the movie, many teenage girls visited the cemetary and layed flowers on J. Dawson's grave. In fact, the area in front of the grave was bare of grass from so many visitors. These girls all envisioning poor Leonardo laying below them. It makes me wonder what the real J. Dawson was like and if he deserved such adoration.
As mentioned early, there was a lot of fun to be had on the seaport, as well as a whale watch!
After Halifax, we toured a bit more of Nova Scotia before we headed back towards New Brunswick. We stopped in the quaint town of Lunenberg and drove on the Nova Scotia side of the Bay of Fundy, very different coasts!
Lunenburg:
Mahone Bay (near Lunenberg):
Bay of Fundy:
Homeward Bound at last:
When we were finally completely exhausted we slowly headed home stopping for a night in New Brunswick (That's a long story itself!), and then crossing to Deer Island and Campobello Island by ferry and then from Campobello Island to Maine by bridge. The ride home was beautiful and we stopped just North of Acadia National Park for lunch and a gorgeous view of Frenchman's bay.
We crossed the Bay of Fundy by ferry and it was an extremely foggy morning. Suddenly, islands started emerging from the fog, it was both haunting and breathtaking at the same time.
As some of you may remember from 9th grade history class, Campobello was the summer retreat for FDR's family. It is also the only international park in the world, run by both Canada (the owners of the island) and the USA (the people with an interest in FDR). Personally, I don't know why the Roosevelt family gave it up it was quite an estate (sorry, I couldn't resist including the sign in the picture):
The following picture was taken from the dining room window of an estate that belonged to the Roosevelts friends, who were also neighbors and had a house in the park as well. This window was amazing, the picture does not do it justice, what a view!!!
Below is a picture of the Campobello dock. It is on the Bay of Fundy so the tides really range. You will notice the tall poles behind the dock. At high tide, the dock floats up alongside the poles. There was a lot of these docks on the island and at first we couldn't figure it out, then someone explained and we had a satisfying "Aha" moment.
Gene spent some time teaching Sophie how to skip rocks on this vacation.
As mentioned earlier we drove down the coast of Maine on our way home. We had a lovely lunch just north of Acadia National Park. The place had something called "tidal falls" which was a sort of waterfall created by the tides. I'm not sure I really get it but there was some really fast, really wavy water. The kids had fun climbing on the rocks and scaring their parents, who were thinking they were going to fall into the drink!!
At some point, Hannah took off her crocs to cross the river and one of the shoes went quickly floating towards the falls, it was Daddy to the rescue and a good laugh for Hannah!
If you look below you can see Gene chasing the croc!
Hannah thinks this is all great fun!
Daddy to the rescue!!
Sophie is amused by the whole thing!
Well, this picture of Sophie is literally the last picture on my memory card.The rest of the trip was pretty non-eventful as we drove down the coast of Maine towards home.
We gave the kids an option of spending the night in Maine to which they replied,
"No, We want to go home!"
We didn't argue.
