After a thorough cleaning and filling our tanks, our van was ready for the next couple of days of adventure.

We weren’t sure whether we would make it to Halifax today or whether we would be staying near one of the beaches to the northeast of Halifax. The roads were pretty good most of the time and we did not stop very often. One stop we did make came as a surprise. We found a ship breaking facility with several old rusting and rotting ships and boats. We spent quite some time photographing the ships and details of the cracking paint and rust, something Ruth loves to do.

We had a quick lunch break by a small park and chose to visit the Martinique Beach, one of several beaches in the area. When we got there the waves were huge and we knew we had to try them out. Swimming was not really possible in the area where the waves broke but it was a lot of fun to experience the power of the water and try and keep standing. Pretty exhausted we returned to our van with sand everywhere.

We were now fairly close to Halifax and decided to make that our destination for the day. We met our friend Steve for a Greek dinner, had great conversation, a lot about photography and ended up getting a tour of his studio and seeing some of the beautiful images for his next book. Tired, we parked the van on the studio parking lot where we will be staying.

The garbage truck came by at around 5am to empty the dumpster right next to our van at the studio. We fell asleep again and woke up to a pretty grey day which was perfect for having breakfast with Brent and Sarah and exploring the Halifax waterfront. Pepsi joined us for most of it and was the star with many children and adults wanting to pet her.

We visited the Amos Pewter shop where we got a demonstration of how pewter is cast. Pewter is melted in a pot at 500 degrees F and then poured into molds made of rubber that are spun in a centrifuge to ensure that the molten metal makes it all the way to the nooks of the mold.

A short way down the boardwalk was the NovaScotian Crystal company and here we saw how crystal is blown and then carved. They had a series of beautiful intense blue bowls and vases but they were pretty expensive.

We spent a lot more time on the boardwalk enjoying the music, eating scones, testing the hammocks and enjoying the sailboats on the water.

The Halifax water utility had an information booth where we learned about how the water quality in the harbour has improved dramatically over the last 10 years through better waste water treatment.

Pepsi was getting a bit tired so we dropped her off in the van and walked a little further to see some more shops. Of course we found a chocolate/ice cream shop and had to test the quality. Martin’s raspberry gelato was made with a hint of bear which gave it a unique flavour.

A nearby craft museum featured Lorraine Roy, a Dundas textile artist we know. While there, we met another artist who had an opening at a nearby gallery which we were invited to.

What a luxury having breakfast at Starbucks on gift cards. We made good use of their free WIFI as well.

We returned to the Halifax waterfront and visited Pier 21, the museum of immigration. A special exhibition on family and what creates and binds family captivated us. Families that immigrated often brought objects and memorabilia from their old countries that connected them to their heritage. The term family was also used in a broad way to connect sports team members, military, friends, pets and anyone you love dearly.

The main Pier 21 exhibits cover the stories and history of families that arrived via ship in Halifax to begin a new life in a new country. It talked about the ships, the journey and the hardships experienced during the journey, the landing and processing by Canadian officials and the help of many volunteers and church organizations who assisted newcomers.

A particularly sad story was that of the 900 Jewish passengers who fled Nazi Germany and were turned away first by Cuba (although they had initially approved their immigration), then by the USA and finally by Canada. They were forced to return to Europe where more than a quarter perished in the Holocaust.

The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic wasn’t much more uplifting as it covered the sinking of the Titanic and the devastating explosion in the Halifax harbour.

It was now time to leave and head to Peggy’s Cove for a late afternoon and evening photographic shoot. We had a lot of fun and took a great number of images to add to the collection of one of the world’s most photographed locations. Ruth just loved the wild waves and Martin tried to tame them with long exposures.

We enjoyed our sleep in our overnight spot and had a mostly peaceful night except for the 5am visit by someone doing donuts in the parking lot. The view out of our van window showed the beautiful morning light.

At the information center, a somewhat inexperienced agent suggested a beach with a nearby lake where we could have an ocean swim followed by a lake swim to wash out the salt. The ocean part turned out to be really great, especially in the fog, although the water temperature was only about 16 degs C. The lake part, turned out to be a duck pond and the maintenance staff cutting the grass suggested it might not be a good idea to swim in that water.

Mahone Bay is a picturesque little town with lots of tourists on this beautiful sunny day. We visited a couple of stores and liked a store that had objects made of reclaimed wood. The Amos pewter factory and store is here and offered a more detailed demonstration of the pewter manufacturing process than the waterfront location in Halifax did.

We were extremely lucky to get the last spot at the Lunenburg city campground, right next to the main stage of the Folk Harbour Festival which took place from Friday to Sunday. We only had a 5 minute walk to the Lunenburg downtown area and visited a number of stores and art galleries.

There are a number of shipbuilding shops at the waterfront and we met a Lunenburg store owner who, in his spare time for the last two years, has been working on rebuilding his boat. He is optimistic that he will be done this year. He and his wife bought a property in Paros, Greece where they spend their winters. So jealous!

In the evening, after dinner, we attended the music festival with about 800 people and enjoyed some amazing performances by musicians from Canada and the US. We especially liked Keith Mullins, Dala, and the Amanda Jackson Trio.

It was a late but very enjoyable evening.

Sunday morning was Gospel music time on the main stage and we enjoyed the music while we were packing up to leave. We decided to take to the scenic highways 332 and 331 and drove through many small towns and villages. One of these towns is LaHave and the bakery and bistro caught our eye. We parked right by Westcote Bell Artworks, the most amazing pottery store we’ve ever visited. The gallery displays the work of artists Jacqueline M. Cohen and Vaughan L. Smith who came from the UK and worked in the US before settling in Nova Scotia in 2011. Across the street from the gallery is their studio and shop for smaller, more affordable gifts.

Next door was another treasure. We met Monica O’Halloran-Schut, a metalsmith working with silver, bronze and copper to create sculptures and jewelry. She showed us the process by which she turns objects such as leaves, sand dollars and seaweed into silver ornaments using a process of painting a clay of reclaimed silver onto the item. After many coats, the item is fired in a kiln and the silver turns into its shiny metallic form. It was a true pleasure to meet this very fascinating artist.

We walked to the bakery which was packed with people buying breads, sweets and lunches. We bought a cheese and herb bread and a poppy seed and onion bread, both still slightly warm which we savoured with a bit of butter when we got back to the van. Yummy!

We continued our slow scenic route and made it to West Berlin. Not quite the city we know in Germany.

Cosby’s Garden Center in Liverpool was our next stop. We didn’t buy any plants for the van, although Ruth was tempted, but we did see the owner’s concrete sculptures. They are huge and sometimes mysteriously dark and frightening.

It was getting late and we still wanted to visit a museum complex in Shelburne so we took the faster but not as scenic highway 103. We arrived at the Dory museum with 45 minutes left to visit the three nearby museums. We spent most of the time at the dory boat building museum where we learned how these boats are constructed and about Sidney Mahaney, who built over 10,000 of them.

With only about 15 minutes left before closing, we headed across the street to the Shelburne County Museum where we saw Canada’s first fire pumper engine.

The third museum had already closed, so we walked through this historic section of Shelburne and then drove on to find a place to stay.

Blanche it was. We have a great spot by the water near a boat launch. Five kilometres further down is a sandy beach which looked beautiful but we decided to skip the swim because it was getting dark and cool.