July 13 = Perce Provincial Park, Quebec to Campbellton, New Brunswick

We had breakfast out on the main strip in Perce then we headed out together in the direction of New Brunswick.  We stopped in the town of  Bonaventure on Chaleur Bay and visited their Acadian Museum.  It was really interesting learning about the plight of the Acadians in the 1700’s in this area and through the Maritimes.  The first settlers of this town were Acadian refugees who avoided the expulsion of Acadians.  If you don’t know, “Acadians are the descendants of French Colonists who settled in Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries, some of whom are also descended from the Indigenous peoples of the region”.   Acadia, was basically a colony of New France that included Quebec, the Maritime Provinces, and a portion of Maine.  The Acadians faced much persecution and expulsion as the British and French and other European countries and their Native allies duked it out for territory in eastern Canada and beyond.

One observation we had while travelling along the coast was the propensity of the locals especially in the south part of the Gaspe Peninsula to use beautiful waterfront property to erect gas stations, industry and whatever else is needed right along the St. Lawrence.  We guess that there is so much waterfront here that there is  not yet the market needed to push the prices up high like on the Sunshine Coast.  We wonder too if the weather along the coast here is prohibitive in the winter.  The price of land and houses are so cheap here.  As we made our way down, we saw some old heritage houses for sale and googled the listings  to see what places were going for.  A three bedroom, two bathroom old timer was going for an unbelievable price of $140,000.00.

In the later part of the day, we said goodbye to the Gaspe Bay Peninsula as we drove over the bridge that was on one side still Quebec and mid-span turned to New Brunswick.  The interesting part here is that in the middle of the bridge, the time moved ahead by one hour.  A while before we hit the bridge and still in Quebec, I checked the time.  Then we went over the bridge, excited to be in the Maritimes,  and did some shopping before we set up at our campsite.  A little bit later I checked the time and a couple of hours had flown by.  I commented to Guy that this day was going really fast.  I didn’t know about the time change and our I phones had changed automatically when we went over into a new zone.

We got into our campsite at Campbelltown, ate dinner and then made our way over to hear some music at the campfire.  What a treat.  A duo from across the river Sammy and Nadine treated us to an evening of Acadian/Cajun music.

 

 

July 14 – Campbellton, New Brunswick to Richibutco, New Brunswick
I got up early and had an hour walk along the Restigouche River trail near our campsite.  Then Guy and I drove to the Miscou Lighthouse on the top North east end of New Brunswick.  On the way, we saw a moose on the side of the road.  That was exciting.  I fumbled to get the camera out in time and take a shot but missed it.

Miscou lighthouse was on a really interesting beach on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  We took artistic photos of lobster traps in the sand and interesting cloud formations.

 

After a quick picnic,  we made our way down the east coast of New Brunswick to our campsite in Richibutco.  After a simple dinner of beans on toast, I attempted to give Guy a haircut.  I pretended I was a hair stylist and we ended up having a good laugh.

Oops!!

 

July 15 – Richibutco, New Brunswick to Hopewell Rocks, Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick
In the morning we drove south to and through Moncton to the Bay of Fundy.  What a lovely pastoral area along the Bay.   We bee lined to Hopewell Rocks.  We wanted to see the tide change which was said to be spectacular.  We arrived when the tide was out and watched it come in filling the bay with water quite quickly.  The tidal range for this area was approximately 48ft between low tide and high tide.   They had people patrolling the beach who made sure everyone was out before the tide came in.  The Hopewell flowerpots as they call them were very much like the hoodoos in the badlands but on the water and made out of different material.  There were so many people there to see the rocks.  We decided we would come back in the morning and play on the flats before the tide came in including getting Guy set up for his next painting.

 

 

After Hopewell Rocks, we drove along the water up to Cape Enrage too see the lighthouse and then that evening, Guy finished his painting, “New Hat, Old City”.

It’s a painting of of me in Quebec City with my new hat on.  I like it.

 

July 16 – Hopewell Rocks, Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick to Halifax, Nova Scotia

We got up early that day to make our way back to Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy to beat the crowds.  Our other goal was to get Guy started on his painting “Muddy Fundy”.  They let us down to the rocks at 8am.  We were some of the first people there.  Then we hiked down with Guy’s easel, brushes and paints.  He set up his easel on the flats and started a painting of them with the actual mud from the Bay of Fundy.  My job was to shoot pictures of this and then he would choose a picture and paint from it later.

 

 

Guy and his sisters were born in a small town close to the Bay of Fundy called Middletown in Nova Scotia.  Guy’s parents, Anne and Hugh, came from England to Nova Scotia as Hugh was working for the Royal Canadian Air Force at Greenwood.  It was significant for Guy to come back to the region of his birth and to the area from his parents first started their family.

We spent the morning and early afternoon making our way to Halifax.  Our first stop that day was the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.  I wanted to see the Maud Lewis exhibition again and I knew Guy would enjoy it.  I visited the gallery 12 years ago but wanted to refamiliarize myself with her work after seeing the movie “Maudie”.  Maud Lewis was a Nova Scotian folk artist from the Digby area.  She had a tough life between losing her mother early and having to deal with tremendous physical difficulties herself.  What everyone notes about Maud’s art is that even through all the physical pain and heartache in her life, her paintings are colorful, playful and hopeful.  Art obviously transported her to another lovely world of birds, flowers, seashores, fishing boats, pastures and cozy farmhouses and churches in the snow.

 

Afterwards, we had a walk around Halifax and had a meal before we headed to our Bed and Breakfast.  This was our first night out of the camper in weeks since staying with our friends in Calgary.  Joan, our host, was amazing.  As soon as we arrived, she invited us into her living room for tea.  We chatted for a couple of hours with her.  She was a very interesting person.  The old heritage house she lived in and owned had be in her Irish family for over a hundred years.  Her mother had it in later years as a B and B and Joan has carried on the tradition of lovely hospitality.     She was also a painter so she and Guy had lots to talk about.

 

July 17 – Halifax, Nova Scotia

We woke up in the morning and were treated to a most incredible and fortifying breakfast and the best part, good coffee.  We chatted more with Joan and then off we went to see more of  Halifax before meeting family arriving later in the day.  We took a photo with Joan and promised we would come back if ever in Halifax.

Guy wanted to work on the painting “Muddy Fundy” and I hoped to work on the blog and catch up on some correspondence.  So we went to Halifax Municipal Gardens downtown and sat there for hours on a park bench near a pond and a fountain.  People kept stopping by to look at Guy’s work and soon realized he wasn’t painting pleine air of the scene in front of him but working on a painting from a photograph of the Bay of Fundy.

 

In the afternoon, we met family who had flew in to spend a couple of weeks with us in the Maritimes.  We were happy to see Guy’s youngest Brenden, his sister Caroline and brother in law Alex, and Alex’s brother Phil and wife Heather.  They were all exhausted from a long flight so we took Brenden with us and headed to our campsite in Dartmouth and set up camp, had dinner and an early night.

 

July 18 – Halifax, Nova Scotia

The next morning, we met up with the rellies who were staying in a B and B in Halifax.  We started our day out at Pier 21.  It was my second time there but fascinating to learn about the people that came through the port to start new lives in Canada from all parts of this big, big world.

Afterwards, we walked the Harbor to a pub near Alexander Keiths and lunched then spent the afternoon at the Maritime Museum learning about the Halifax Explosion and the Titanic Disaster. It was a great day hanging out with the family.

 

 

July 19 – Halifax, Nova Scotia – Daytrip to Peggys Cove,  Malone Bay and Lunenberg

We set off early to Halifax and made our way to Peggy’s Cove.  It is a major tourist stop and it was full of people when we got there.  But we still enjoyed walking the rocks around the lighthouse close to the Atlantic.  The ocean was a little wild that day but maybe that’s the way it always is???  We got some great family photos.

 

 

Afterwards, we drove along the coast a ways and stopped at a memorial for the Swiss Air disaster, flight 111.  It went down off of Peggy’s Cove on Sept 2nd, 1998 at 10:30 in the evening.  229 people died, including the crew, in the disaster.   People from Peggy’s Cove were involved in the recovery and support of family members who came to the site.  The memorial is beautiful.

Afterwards, we picnicked at Malone Bay, a small town near Lunenburg.   Then we saw around the seaside town of Lunenberg and headed back to the campsite for a swim and dinner.  It was a full day.

 

July 20 –  Halifax Nova Scotia – Daytrip to Middleton and Lawrenceton

We were up early for a trip down memory lane for Guy and his sister.  We headed up to the North coast of Nova Scotia in the direction of Middleton and Lawrenceton.  Enroute, we made a pit stop at CFB Greenwood to see where Guy and Caroline’s dad worked for 5 years as an aircraft technician.  They had a air force museum to look around and outside there were old planes that people could walk around.  One of the planes was similar to one Hugh worked on.  A highlight for us was a little plane with a flight simulator that you could play at landing the plane.  I crashed it!!!

We picnicked at the CFB Greenwood in one of their mess rooms.  Then we headed on to Middleton and visited the old Soldiers Memorial Hospital (that is now an apartment) where Guy was born.

 

When we were taking pictures of Guy outside the hospital (apartment), there were some women sitting outside smoking and keeping cool.  Guy chatted them up and it turned out one of the ladies was born the same year as Guy at that hospital and she now lives there in the apartment.

Then we went on and took a look at the newer hospital where Caroline and her younger sisters Diana and Christine were born.

Afterward we spent a long time trying to find the swimming hole at Trout Lake where Guy first swam and almost drowned.  We couldn’t find public beach access so we sadly gave up.  Then we followed the crew to Digby where we were all treated to a wonderful dinner by our friend Phil.  Then we made the long drive home back to the campsite.