The last of Nova Scotia / actual date 10-3-14

As I was driving south before crossing the causeway (first picture below) that separates the main part of Nova Scotia from Cape Breton Island, I stopped at the tourist office.  They were very helpful with maps and suggestions of things to see.

They told me about the Alexander Graham Bell Museum in the city of Baddeck.  It is the place where Bell did a lot of his experiments, summered & is buried along with his wife.  He like the area since it reminded him of his native Scotland.  The museum is very extensive & has a lot of his actual prototypes that were donated by his family.  The family still keep a house nearby.  Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures inside, but did spend several hours there.

I then headed for Yarmouth on the southwestern tip on Nova Scotia.  That is where the ferry over to Portland, Maine leaves from & it turned out to be a 8+ hours sail.  It left at 10 A M but by the time I cleared Customs in Maine, it was after 9 P M.  It would have been interesting to look out (even though we were so far from land that you could not see it) but it was very foggy to the point of only being able to see about 100` to the side.

I landed (in the rain) & got a room in Freeport.  The reason for heading slightly north from Portland was to visit the LLBean main store.  It is a outdoor equipment icon that is over 100 years old which means it predates REI and all the others.  It is so big that it`s 8-10 buildings take up an entire city block.  Lots of stuff.....  I bought a pair of rain shoes, just in case it ever rains in Santa Barbara again!!

My next objective was a visit to my niece & family (yes, one of my two nieces who`s inheritance I am trying to spend as fast as I can) (see yellow decal below on the back of my camper).

She, her husband & two kids live in New Jersey.  It is an nice older part with great older houses.

This is for my friends Bob & Suzie in Miraposa - you might notice that I put a Canadian decal on the back of my camper for the trip across the country.  I thought it might endear me to people I met up there but it was not necessary.  They all treated my so nicely, as though I was their next door neighbor.

I will continue with that on the next blog - stay tuned.

On to Nova Scotia / actual date 10-2-14

Time to check out another land mass.  I caught the ferry from Woods Island, P. I. to Caribou, Nova Scotia which took about an hour & $74.00.  It sails from the southern tip of the island near the east end.
I headed up to the northeastern end which is actually an island (but still part of N. S.), it goes by the name Cape Breton Island.  My destination was Cape Breton Highlands National Park which takes up a great deal of the northern most tip of the province.  The tour books compare the drive around the coast to Big Sur drive south of San Francisco, Ca.  I agree with that but the Big Sur drive does not have moose.... no I still did not see any!
Here are a few pictures from my drive up the west side, across the top & down the east side.
The drive is know as the Cabot Trail.  This side going north borders the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

As you can see the land is a little "lumpy" & covered with forests.

I saw this old barn & could not resist a picture of it.  This was before I entered the Park.

It was suggested to me that there was a Cletic Music Center & lunch place that I might make the afternoon session.  I thought why not.  I was a great stop & good music (preformed by a piano & a fiddle).  I stayed about an hour, much fun.

I camped that night near the northern part of the park by a beautiful stream.

 

When I woke the temp. was 40 degrees (when it is 40 outside, it is only 41 inside) but I have several down layers, so sleeping was good.  I was now set to head down the east side of the park (the Alantic Ocean side).  The coast looks even more like Big Sur Coast in Calif.

Below is one of the markers for the Cabot Trail.

The ocean & clowds were really showing off this day as you see in this next picture.  It was overcast but that is better for taking photos.

That enough for now.  If you ever get the chance to see this park, don`t miss it.  It is a long way but........

Orwell Corner Historic Village, P. I. / actual date 10-1-14

I saw information about a historic village that was established on P. I. in 1861 & decided to check it out.

There are 14 buildings that are in their original place & have been kept as they were (complete with everything inside) last used in the mid 20 th century.  I toured: the one room school house; blacksmith shop; carriage house; machine shed & the shingle mill.  I will include a few pictures below.

There was a school group visiting at the time which added to the picture.

Above is a view of the top of one desk with all the markings from over the years.  Notice the hole for an ink well.

This last one is the shingle mill.  Very interesting & there was even a guy working in the blacksmith shop who made repairs to the equipment around the village.
Fun to see how life was 150 years ago in a remote part of the world.  I am glad it was them & not me.
See you on the flip side.......

Heading for P. E. I. / actual date 9-30-14

In case you are wondering what P. E. I. stands for, it is the province of Prince Edward Island.  If you Google or as I do, drag out a map of Canada, you have to look above Nova Scotia.  

I drove east over a long bridge just east of Moncton, N. B.  Everyone there just calls it P. I.

The fog was closing in as I was having lunch before crossing to the island.  I could not even see the island at all.

That evening I it was getting late and I was still trying to figure out where to stay.  While heading east toward Charlottetown along a highway, I began to see old logging roads going off into the forest.  I figured this one looked good & just turned off & drove into the forest about a mile.  It was overgrown some so it looked like no one had been up it for years, perfect.

I finally found a small side area where I could turn around & it went far enough off the logging road to be out of the way in case someone happened along.

 Home sweet home, for the night.  Nothing but the birds & smell of the forest to wake me in the morning.

I even made a collection of fall colors on my back door step in the morning.  I started to Charlottetown, the capitol of the province.  It a quaint little town with some interesting buildings & statues 

It even has a deep water port for some good size cruse ships.

Next time a little more of P. I.  I am done for now.

Another Blog hint - update

Before I said that to enlarge any picture on this Blog you just click the pictures twice.  That was not correct - you only have to click the picture ONCE to enlarge.
As you may or may not know I was having trouble with access to my blog for the last two weeks.  That is solved & hopefully stays that way.  As I now post new blogs I am dating them with the "actual" date they happened.
There may be lapses in the dates do to nothing much happening that day, your know a day off.  Of course being retired that is likely to happen more often.
I am staying with family in Virginia for a couple of weeks, so don`t expect to much being posted.

Enjoy!

Alma, N. B. / actual date 9-29-14

I spent a few days camping at Fundy N. P. and walking down to Alma, a small town just outside the park.  It is a fishing village with a post office, three places to eat & not much more.  The places to eat are important since I do not cook on the road or at home for that matter.  Below is a view of the village from the park which is up on a hill.

There are about 15 small fishing boat harbored here & as you will see in the next photos, when the tide goes out, the boats are high & dry.

I guess that they make sure to be back in the harbor before the tide starts to go out!

The boats all have a built in support running under the length of them & they lower these support stands on each side to keep the boat from falling over.  Also note the distance to the top of the pier in both pictures.
Another look at a maple tree that is doing fall colors proud.

Here is another look at the tidal differences, compare the two shots of the harbor.

Yes, that is the open water way out there with a shall creek draining out with the tide.
Enough of this, I need my beauty rest & before you think it, I know it will not help.......

Driving through New Brunswick / actual date 9-19-14

I have now started to turn south, down across New Brunswick (you know the Canadian province that is just north & east of Maine)(yes that one).  As I approach Edmundston, N. B.  I have moved into the Alantic standard time zone which is one hour ahead of Eastern standard time zone.  It is so exciting but I do not know why.
Enough of that, on to travel and pictures!  Still the fall colors have not reached their peak, as you can see in this shots.  Still nice though.

Upon reaching the southern coast of New Brunswick, I headed for Fundy National Park which amazingly enough is on the Bay of Fundy (go figure).  This is the place where the tidal differences are the greatest.  The next picture is the flags at the park.  On the right is the flag of New Brunswick.  It shows a old wooden sailing ship with a square sail.

The next series is about the largest "critter" in the Canadian woods, yes the moose!

All along the highways are tall fences to keep the moose from running out onto the roads, especially at night as you can see above.  Moose are so big and tall that if you hit one in your vehicle it will roll over and come crashing through the windshield (not a good thing).  Below are the gates built into the fences so if a moose get over a fence, it has a "one way" gate to return to the forest.

You can see the "fingers" that will let the moose push through only one way.  They are spring loaded.

They are installed about every 5 miles and seemed to work because I did not see any moose on the road........

As you can see most of the signs are (thankfully) in both English & French.  I actually stopped a little farther north to get directions at a small store and the 20 somethings working there were having a hard time with English.
Break time for this blogger.