When it's time to go home, go.

After leaving New Brunswick yesterday morning we traveled 600 miles, tried to get a campground in Mass. but it was fully booked.  Traveled on to Connecticut where we got a few hours of sleep in a rest stop and drove the remaing 400 miles to arrive home this afternoon.

The trip went smooth, the only problem we had was a kitchen faucet I installed had a valve fail, was forced to use the bathroom sink to wash dishes  The little diesel performed flawlessly, which is a good thing because I doubt if there were any Mercedes Sprinter folks in Newfoundland.

I have had a few comments from folks who have followed our blog.  If you have watched the blog and would like to critique it I would appreciate hearing from you.  Drop me an email, halsey6418@msn.com

The blog will go dormant till our next trip in November to Buenos Aires, no we won't be taking the motor home there.  Will leave you with a video of the Northern Gannets we took at Cape St Mary's on bird rock.

(PS, you can enlarge any picture in this blog to full size by clicking on it, then return to the blog by the back arrow)

Tomatoe sandwich, almost

We departed Moncton, New Brunswick yesterday morning and headed for the border crossing at Woodstock.  Picked up some nice tomatoes for lunch just before crossing.  The US customs asked us a bunch of questions about what we were carrying, told them wine, Baileys Irish Creme, no guns.  Then they decided to come on board for an inspection, ask me to sit down while they inspected.  The only thing they looked through was the refrigerator.  Of all the crap in there they said we couldn't bring tomatoes back and they took them.  They spotted some sliced up lemons on a packaged salad and said lemons were on the list also, however they decided to let the lemons go.  I just bet I know who had a tomato sandwich for lunch, wonder what they got from the other folks to go with it.

Lunenburg, NS

The Lunenburg old town area is a National Historic District and a World Heritage Site due to it's example of a British colonial settlement.  It was founded in 1753 and it has continued to conserve many of the original houses.  The fishing and shipbuilding industry brought prosperity to the town in the 19th century.  The Lunenburg Academy shown below was constructed during this prosperity and offered quality education to the children of the well to do.

A local stopped me when he saw the MD license plate and asked where I lived in MD.  It turns out he is also a Marylander and lives in Columbia, MD.  He bought one the old homes here and lives here for 2 months in the summer, his place was beautiful. 

Bluenose was a famous Canadian fishing and racing schooner built in Lunenburg in 1921.  It was later replaced by the replica Bluenose II in 1963.  Bluenose became an icon for Lunenburg and Canada, and an image of her is on the Canadian 10 cent coin.  The picture below is the Bluenose II in the Lunenburg dry dock, it has deteriorated and is being dismantled, a few pieces will be used for a new replica that has been funded by the Canadian government and scheduled for completion in several years.  The name bluenose originated as a nick-name for Nova Scotians from as early as the late 18th century.

Pics, Lunenburg harbor, Lunenburg Academy, pretty houses and dismantling of the Bluenose II

The Lighthouse Route

The ocean drive from the southern tip of NS to just below Halifax is called the lighthouse route.  One of the more spectacular spots on the route is Peggy's Cove and probably the most photographed spot in NS. It is a very small fishing and lobstering village. The landscape is massive granite boulders.  Peggy's Cove is reputedly named after the only survivor of a schooner that sank here in 1800.  A more recent disaster struck here on Sept 2, 1998 when Swiss Air flight 111 crashed just off shore and all 229 on board perished. Can't believer we are having such great weather, crystal clear, sunny and warm.

We stopped at a lobster pound on the way out of Peggy's Cove and bought a 4 pound live lobster, waited while they steamed it and took to our next stop for lunch, no need for dinner tonight.

Pics, light house at Peggy's cove, ditto, fish shacks, it takes big balls to be a fisherman at Peggy's Cove and lobster lunch.

Halifax, NS

We departed Louisbourg yesterday afternoon and stopped at Antigonish for the night.  This morning we drove several more hours to Halifax.  Had a nice sunny day to tour,  Halifax is a beautiful city on a harbor.  It is certainly not a laid back place, the traffic in the harbor area is almost grid locked with driving tourists and commercial trucks, parking is a challenge.  The town is geared to tourists with gift shops,souvenir shops, fast and slow food restaurants, hotels, etc.  It is a major cruise boat stop which unloads thousands of  folks to shop and tour each day.  We went around the Halifax Citadel, a historic fort, but didn't go in, think we are forted out. We thought about spending 2 days here but one is enough and we move on tomorrow to more laid back places. 

Pics, Halifax harbor light and sailing ship passing, sidewalk cafe/street scene, view of harbor from the Halifax Citadel with town clock on left.

Fortress of Louisbourg and 60 year celebration

Nova Scotia - The French came to Louisbourg in 1713 following territorial losses to the English in Newfoundland and Arcadia.  Based on a rich fishing industry and trade Louisbourg became France's most important stronghold and seaport.  By 1760 Louisbourg was taken over by the English and the fortress mostly destroyed.  A portion of the Fortress has been beautifully restored and is a Canadian National Historic Site.  Each summer costumed interpreters paint the picture of life as it was in 1744.  Three eating establishments serve food for the poor, middle class and upper class.  We spent 6 hours there visiting different building, homes, businesses, eating, watching cannon firing, and listening to the interpreters stories.

This day also turned out to be our 60th wedding anniversary.  To celebrate we had a great 3 course lunch at the upper class restaurant by the name of A L'Epee Royalle in the fortress.  Nice day and a great 60 years.

Pics, street scene 1774, Nita and the cannonier, homes and establishments, celebrating 60, A L'Epee Royalle eating establishment, backyard gardens, Governor's apartment on left end of building and King's Bastion Barracks to the right, firing the cannon.

Departing Newfoundland

We reserved some dormitory bunks to sleep for the long ferry voyage from Argentia to North Sydney, NS.  The cabins had all been booked by the time we made reservations. When we got on board we found we had two upper bunks.  I didn't want Nita going up and down a ladder, so after much hassle we got 2 lower bunks. I figured the bunks would be well furnished, what we got was a bare mattress, a pillow and one blanket and of course not much privacy, we slept in our clothes. Quite an experience, one guy was playing a western movie on his laptop sitting on his chest, I got tired of hearing the horses whinnying and asked him to turn it down, he apologised and turned it off, lots of snoring, including Nita and some pharts from unknown locations.

We got some sleep and it was better than sitting up all night in a seat as many did.  The 14 hour, 320 mile trip turned into a 17 hour ride as one of the 4 engines had problems.  We arrived in NS around 1:30 pm to a nice sunny 82 degree day, kinda warm compared to NL.

Pics, bunk partner, arriving in Nova Scotia and raising  bow to allow vechicles to depart.

Argentia/Placentia

There is a lot of interesting history in this area of the peninsula.  The US started the construction of a Naval base here in 1941 in preperation for the war, it was shut down in 1995. It has one of the largest airfields in NL but is no longer used.  We camped in a RV park in the old Navy base, the base is also the ferry terminal between Argentia and Nova Scotia.  We arrived Monday in the rv park for the ferry scheduled to depart at 8pm the next day.  They generously let us stay till ferry time. Next door to Agentia is Placentia.  The lucrative fishing in the area in the 1600's attracted Basque, French and British. Before cod was preserved by salting the Basque dried the cod on the large round stones on the beaches. The French established the town of Plaisance, when the British took it away they named it Placentia.  Actually Placentia was the British capital for awhile after the French took over St John's.  We visited an old fort on Castle Hill and watched some archaeologists uncover the a site on Placentia harbor where they are finding items from the Basque, French and British.

Before the ferry departed we took a drive up to Ship Harbor, it is just a site, no town or people around. This is a place were Roosevelt and Churchill met in secret on a ship to confer on the war.  Some of the pictures give the details.The drive to Ship Harbor was a little scary in the motor home as it was a long single lane gravel road with many steep hills and few options to turn around, but we made it.  The beach there consisted of large colorful round stone and the water is crystal clear.  We pick up some sea urchin shells that will make nice Xmas ornaments.

Pics, Placentia, archaeologists, gravel road to Ship Harbor, Ship Harbor commemorative site, site explanation's, rocky beach and sea urchin shells, and an anchor that held one end of a submarine net to keep out German uboats.

Cape St Mary's Ecological Reserve

We wanted to spend a few more days in St John's but Sunday morn we decided to take off to Cape St Mary's (CSM) to take advantage of nice weather for the next few days.  CSM lies on the SW tip of the Avalon Peninsula, washed on 3 sides by the Atlantic.  It is one of the most spectacular and most assessable sea bird colonies in North America.  It is the nesting grounds of 70,000 sea birds, Northern Gannets, Murres, Kittiwakes, Razorbills, Guillemots and Cormorants. a naturalist said the birds swirl past the cliff face like a blizzard of snow.

At this time of year the predominant bird is the Northern Gannet, estimated to be 11,000 nesting pairs, their wing span is about 6 feet.  The day was sunny with little wind, fog and high winds are the norm, in storms wave heights can reach 50 feet, it's hard to figure out how the chicks keep from being blown off the rocks in high winds since they are out in the open.  It was a mile hike to the cliffs, as we approached the nesting grounds the bird noise grew louder and the smell very pungent.  The timing for hatching the chicks each year occur during the caplin fish run which are caught by the adults and fed to the chicks.  When one parent returns from the sea, he or she clacks their beaks together skyward with their mate, kind of a kiss on return called railing.  The fuzzy ones are the chicks, quite large at this time, they fly out to sea in September.

I made several round trips to the cliffs to catch the birds in different light, one trip was enough for Nita.  In my opinion CSM is a must see site if you visit NL.

Pics, the white is Gannets on the cliffs, two birds clacking beaks on greeting, bird rock, bird watcher, cliffs looking back to lighthouse and visitor center, wild iris on the barrens above the cliffs, chicks almost as large as the adults. (you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them for more detail)

Signal Hill and Quidi Vidi Harbor

Saturday-Signal Hill is high above St John's with spectacular views all around.  It got it's name from the event in 1901 when Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal. From the mileage markers in the picture below you can see the coast of Ireland is only about 2000 miles away. Lot's of history here, battles, as the British displaced the French, the hill held a garrison of 500 US soldiers in WWII, etc.  We attended the Tattoo while there,  this weekend was the last Tattoo of the summer.  They marched, had a fife and drum performance and had a battle with the French.

We visited Quidi Vidi harbor which is picturesque plus has the Quidi Vidi Brewery where we sampled their famous product.  Quidi is pronounced kitty.  The area is very compact with narrow lanes for roads, difficult to find a spot to park a car and more so for an rv.  With the help from a guy driving a small tour van we finally got situated.  After the beer we walked along the harbor admiring the fishing shacks and the scenery.  A woman came up behind us and asked if we were the couple driving the motorhome with the MD license, said yes, she asked if we would like to visit their fishing shack and see the fish they just brought in.  So we went down and met the whole family and some friends and dogs.  A couple of the men were cleaning cod they just caught.  The shacks are for day use, they live nearby, but come down to fish, relax, visit, etc.  Their shack was one room and nicely equipped with sofas, kitchen, bar, decks, dock and fish cleaning tables.  Unfortunately the battery in my camera went dead so we didn't get any pictures of the folks or inside the shacks or fish. Got one picture of the back of their shack before the battery died, it's the white one with the red roof.  Was a treat to visit with them, when we left they gave us a bag of 5 cod filets.  Wanted us to stay for some drinks but figured I'd better stay sober to maneuver the MH out of there.

Pics, signal hill, view of St John's and harbor, mileage markers, tattoo, French invaders, British response, Quidi Vidi Brewery and fish shacks.