MORE GOOD STUFF TO SEE IN NOVA SCOTIA

Nova Scotia has so much to see and do and so much going on that I've had to write about our NS experiences in two separate blogs. The first one, HOT SPOTS THAT GET YOU TO PEI - PART DEUX, took us to Digby, Hubbard Beach, Chester, Mahone Bay, Peggy's Cove, Lunenburg and other neat places. Because we have family in Nova Scotia, we are doubly fortunate to spend time there seeing the sights NS has to offer and seeing family. Here, then is part two of fun we've had in Nova Scotia that you may want to also check out while travelling through that beautiful Province.

HALIFAX AND AREA:  Just like Quebec City, Halifax has too much going on to try to capture in this little blog. It's a world class city with a wealth of maritime history, museums, art galleries, wonderful buildings, a top notch university and eateries and pubs galore. Link to Halifax Tourism Information. One interesting little tidbit is that Alexander Keith (famous brewery name) was once Mayor of Halifax so you know there will be many great pubs.
Erik's daughter lives, with her family, in The Hydrostone area of Halifax. Hydrostone is a funky and eclectic mix of houses, shops and restaurants located in the north end of the Halifax Peninsula. The Hydrostone was designed as a new neighbourhood to house victims of the Halifax explosion of 1917. All but one of the streets in the area are boulevards, wide with plenty of grassy park-like areas and back alleys, something not normally seen in the Maritimes. The Hydrostone is a designated National Historical Site of Canada and is a great little neighbourhood to visit as part of your Halifax experience.

Shops and restaurants in The Hydrostone.

My cousin lives in a gorgeous little area outside of Halifax, right on the water, called Ketch Harbour, a very pretty thirty minute drive that gets you into the city. Ketch Harbour was,  at one time, a fishing community, and has a tiny population just shy of 2,000. Most residents now commute to Halifax for work but there is still a small commercial fishing enterprise. Ketch Harbour (once known as Catch Harbour) was one of the first places people settled after the colonization of Halifax in 1749.

Cousin Catherine and me, Catherine

Catherine's home with her amazing garden. 

Walking on the marsh after dinner.

FIVE ISLAND OCEAN RESORT. Wow. This place was impressive. Located on the Bay of Fundy this RV Park offered us some of the most stunning views ever. Click here to see the Five Islands website and their photo gallery.

Nearby are restaurants, a fish market and many attractions like the Anne Murray Centre, Fundy Geological Museum, Age of Sail Heritage Museum, Ottawa House-By-the Sea, a golf course, a Fossil Museum, Mass Town Market and Cape d'Or Lighthouse. Underlining - we were there.

Sitting right on the ocean on the Bay of Fundy we were able to watch the tides go out so people were able to walk about 2.5 kms out on the ocean floor. When the tides come back in it happens so quickly that people often need to be rescued by boat as they climb on the rocks to await rescue.

The height of the tide difference ranges from 3.5 meters (11ft) along the southwest shore of Nova Scotia and steadily increases as the flood waters travel up the 280 km (174 miles) of shoreline to the head of the Bay where, in the Minas Basin, the height of the tide can reach an incredible 16 meters (53ft).

Tide is in.

Tide is in.

Tide starting to go out. This was from our RV site.

Tide is going out.

The tide is getting farther away.

As the tide comes in so quickly people get stranded on land out there.

Springhill:  We all know that Canada's songbird, Anne Murray, was born in Springhill but did you know while visiting Springhill you can visit the Anne Murray Centre and go down into a coal mine all in the same day?

The museum that bears Anne's name is situated right in the middle of Springhill, NS. Inside you will find every piece of memorabilia from Anne's life growing up in Springhill, her fledgling singing career, photographs of Anne with international stars, and all of her many, many awards exhibited alongside family photographs and wonderfully entertaining stories about Anne. The amount of awards she received is quite staggering. Click to see the Anne Murray Centre site.

You can't help but notice that Springhill is a town, like many other mining towns, that has fallen on hard times. In fact, in April of 2015, Springhill as a town was dissolved and became a community within Cumberland County. Should you want to go and see a coal mine there is one opened to tourists in Springhill. If you have no interest in going down into the mine (which I absolutely didn't) there is plenty in the museum to see and do while you wait for your husband to come up from the mine.

Erik getting geared up to go down in the mine.

The entrance to the mine. Men had to duck or be decapitated.

The carts where the coal was loaded.

Each man's clothing was hung from hooks on the ceiling. His mine clothing was hung up at the end of the day and his day time clothing brought down from the  hooks. The reason? Rats.

A coal clinker contains elements that are non-combustible.

Springhill was considered an affluent town when coal mining was its major source of income. However, the life of a miner was not all roses and money. The hours were long and arduous, black lung disease was rampant among the workers, mine disasters, while not common, were definitely a factor. The mine in Springhill had two disasters, 1956 and 1958, that killed many of the workers while underground. A sad but true fact; if a man died down in the mine a representative of the company knocked on the door of the rented home and gave his condolences to the widow and informed her she had twenty-four hours to vacate the rented home. If the widow was fortunate, she had a young boy who could go down into the mine, thus not losing her home. The companies 'owned' the workers and their families. The company store kept track of what was purchased and often it was more than the wages the worker was entitled to.

Another thing we learned: while in the mine miners fed the rats bits from their lunch pails. The reason? The rats were the first to detect deadly methane gas and if the rats scurried away or weren't around for the tidbits, there was danger.

Although I didn't go down into the mine, the  information to be found in the museum and the building where the miners changed was mind boggling. The experience of going into the mine was, in Erik's own words: Very sobering and thought provoking. The conditions the miners worked in, day in and day out, and the risks they took on a daily basis made one feel humbled.

Link to CBC news archives about the two disasters in Springhill, NS.

Ottawa House by the Sea: Originally constructed at around 1773, it was primarily an inn but was best known as the summer home of  the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles Tupper, a Premier of Nova Scotia, Father of Confederation and the sixth Prime Minister of Canada  He has the distinction of being the Prime Minister who held that post for the shortest amount of time - ten weeks. Ottawa House by the Sea is now a museum holding many artifacts of the area around Parrsboro with exhibits that focus on the storyline of the building and the site.

Ottawa House by the Sea, Parrsboro

The beach at Ottawa House by the Sea

Age of Sail Heritage Museum:  Just as the name implies, the museum is dedicated to the once thriving ship building industry. This is a wonderful museum with great exhibits, information, photos and artifacts. If you're in this area, set aside a couple of hours and enjoy.

The Age of Sail Museum near Parrsboro, NS.

A few of the many interesting artifacts located in the Age of Sail Heritage Museum.

Mass Town Market: Not just a market. Well, yeah, it is just a market, but what a market. It's at a cross roads not far from our RV park at Five Island Ocean Resort and sells everything you could possibly want with groceries, fresh produce, frozen foods, a restaurant, a deli, bakery and even some clothing and household items. But. it also houses an amazing fresh fish shop. In addition to the catch of the day and lobster and all the other wonderful sea food you get in Nova Scotia they sell home made fish and lobster pies that are out of this world. As an added service, they have set up dog kennels so your beloved pets don't have to sit in the hot car while you shop. What a great idea.

Click for Mass Town Market - the Lighthouse as their fish shop is called

ANTIGONISH AREA:  While staying in the Antigonish area we lucked out at a stunning RV Park called Cranberry Campground; a bit off the beaten track but well worth the bit of extra driving. The park was located in a great area for walking dogs with lots of wooded area and, of course, the beach. Sites were large and well spread apart, there was a beach and a little general store on site that sold the best ice cream ever. Every evening our ritual was dinner, walk down to the store for ice creams and try to sample as many flavours as possible.

Erik ordering our ice creams while I wait outside with the dogs.

The super, duper little ice cream shop.

A view of the park at dusk.

Another view of Cranberry Campground.

A couple who fell in love with our dogs befriended us and supplied us with vegetables and fresh fish. They lived about twenty minutes from the park and would go home to pick the produce from their garden and he to fish, arriving back at the campground with goodies to share. Such nice people.

While in the Antigonish area we took a trip to the town of Antigonish and had a peek around. Lovely, lovely town with a magnificent market that can take you a couple of hours to stroll around. Being home to St. Francis Xavier University gives the town a diverse and vibrant population with many cultural activities.

The University

Antigonish, NS

CAPE BRETON, NS  Considered by many to be one of the most beautiful areas of NS, Cape Breton Island has the extremely well known Cabot Trail. This trail is a roadway that circles the island and passes forests and very rugged coastline and amazing, breathtaking scenery. It also encircles Cape Breton Highlands National Park which overlooks the Gulf of St. Lawrence where you may see migratory whales.

Click here for Tourism Guide to Cape Breton

We did not take the Cabot Trail, instead chose to drive through the much smaller trail known as the Ceilidh Trail. The trail took us through Judique where we stopped at the Celtic Music Interpretative Centre for lunch and to listen to some music. Link to Celtic Music Centre. While there having lunch we saw a young girl, university aged, who was getting ready to do her set. She was with her mother; they had come from Ohio so she could play her music and she was hoping to be able to go to university in Canada.

Crossing the Causeway to Cape Breton Island.

This Interpretive Centre is a Restaurant as well as a place where local and out-of-area musicians can perform.

Having lunch outside so the dogs could be with us.

The scenery on Cape Breton is really beautiful; actually breathtaking at times. The Ceilidh Trail is a maze of twists and turns and with each turn your eye sees something more stunning than what took your breath a few moments ago.

Things you see on the Ceilidh  Trail.

Making your way down to PEI (hey, if you want to see us) can be as much fun as actually being in PEI. Quebec has so much culture to offer, New Brunswick is sparsely populated with lovely little towns and small cities, Nova Scotia is a destination unto itself and then, you get here, PEI. Just wonderful.

Next up - May flowers, Mother's Day and more.

WHAT HAVE WE BEEN UP TO, YOU ASK?

APRIL IN A NUTSHELL:

Discovered a wonderful hairstylist in Charlottetown. On 6th April, which also happens to be my birthday, I sat at the salon of my great new hair stylist and did this:

They serve wine as you sit and wait for your colour to process. How civilized is that?

Followed by this dinner at home:

We do love lobster, and look, we serve wine too.

10th April, there was an amazing moon that I attempted to take a picture of.

Sunset still but moon completely visible. 

Most of the snow is gone and Kaede keeps busy looking for moles.

11th April. Winter is gone. For good. Time to drive up to the rented house we had in Stanley Bridge and claim back our RV and bring it home to Pleasant Grove.

Getting ready to leave Bumblebee House.

Did I tell you part of our property borders on a farm that raises cattle? If you study these two photos closely you will detect the red of Kaede's collar and opposite that, on the other side of an electric fence that you cannot see, there is a cow. Kaede was mesmorised by this huge animal and stood staring it down for about thirty minutes.

April 25th started off like every other day here in Pleasant Grove, PEI. Sun was shining, snow was all gone and Kaede and Erik were outside on their usual morning ritual (the one that takes place after Kaede has her breakfast). Erik came running back in to get me outside to show me something. Under a leafless poplar was a black calf, curled up in a ball, its huge eyes blinking at us.

Erik drove over to the farmer's home and back they all came with the farmer's truck, a couple of syringes and some nasty ear piercing equipment. Seems the calf had only been born the day before and the farmer and his wife were afraid he had been taken by coyotes. The little guy did not want to get up and now I know why. The two syringes were full of his vaccines for immunities and the nasty ear piercing equipment was to, yup, pierce both ears with his number. After much grunting and groaning the farmer and his wife got the little guy to his feet, and as they were taking him to the fence his mother came running over mooing. Hearing that sound made him a bit more lively and off he went to join his mother. We've watched his progress from our side of the fence and he is growing like a weed.

28th April: The rains of April are upon us and we have little green shoots coming up in the flower beds at the front of our house. Exciting since we don't know what has been planted and also exciting because we don't actually garden. We will though, this year, promise. Even thinking about starting some vegetables in the back. We have an acre of land and it will be pretty easy to cordon off a patch and grow some tomatoes, some zucchini, some beans and lettuce. Since these pictures of green things were taken on April 28th, the green shoots have grown, some red something has poked its head through, as has something purple and the lawn has greened up beautifully.

On 29th April,  a lovely warm day, we all (me, Kaede, Erik) went to a fishing spot on the Winter River, only a ten minute drive from our house. While Erik fished Kaede and I went walking through the woods, just enjoying the beautiful scenery and being happy that spring had arrived.

The fisherman.

Kaede checking out the little frog in the water.

Part of the Winter River

Leaving Erik to his fishing Kaede and I took a walk along the unpaved and rarely travelled road that took us to the fishing spot. Our little adventure unearthed a dead fox and a few fields of potatoes that had not been harvested. I am unsure why this would be that the potatoes were not harvested in the fall, and efforts to find out on the internet gave me no clues. I resisted taking a photo of the dead fox.

There they are, the unharvested potatoes.

Erik only caught one trout that day, but being the determined fisherman he is, the next morning, bright and early, he went back to that spot and caught three more. Lunch that day was trout fried in butter and scrambled eggs. Quite lovely.


30th April, Charlottetown for the day. First, to the Confederation Centre to see what was being exhibited. Link to Confederation Centre - Press Here. One of the exhibits was Click here - This Is Really Amazing an in depth look at the PEI Ark that was built in the early seventies as a way to live in a completely self-contained environment with your own source of power, waste disposal and other necessities of life. Here is a link to a current article CBC news about The Ark in PEI about this amazing little piece of Canadian ingenuity.The Ark was used for ten years, then decommissioned and finally, demolished.

1976 Opening of the Ark with PM Trudeau and Premiere Campbell of PEI

The Ark in 1976

We strolled down to the Harbour and saw the first cruise ship in dock. Did a bit of research and found out that Charlottetown is expecting 83 cruise ships this summer, bringing about 100,000 tourists to the city and to our island. This is up from 2016 and is being attributed to the 150th Anniversary of Canada and Charlottetown being the Home of Confederation. Sounds like it could be a busy summer. The cruise ship Disney Magic, picture below, is due to arrive on 24th October 2017.

Harbour looking toward Stratford.

Ready to celebrate the 150th.

Ended up a nice day in Charlottetown by visiting a little wine bar/restaurant called Row House Lobster Co. where we sat at a beautiful long bar and had a glass of refreshing Rose wine and talked to the server. She had just returned from spending her winter backpacking across Thailand and Vietnam and told us of her many exciting adventures. After viewing some of the food being served customers, reading the menu and liking the ambience of this place, we will definitely be back for dinner.

I tried as hard as I could to get a picture of Erik and me sitting at the bar facing the mirrored shelves with their liquor displayed but just couldn't. Look closely and you will see us, barely.

Remember Burger Love? The 83 restaurants all over PEI vying for best burger and concocting some pretty amazing entries to this charity driven incentive that features PEI beef? We had another one. This time we were in the little town of Montague and stopped at their cute little pub called Main Street Pub. This one featured pesto sauce, pastrami, on a potato bun,  a fresh burger with all kinds of goodies inside. Good good good.

All in all, flowers blooming, healthy farm animals next door, snow all gone, good fun and good food, it's been a darned good month.

Erik played a gig for Easter at one of the local Senior's Homes where he is one of the regular entertainers and I continue to play tennis. Our drivers' licenses are now PEI and our truck sports a brand new PEI plate. It looks as though we're here to stay.