We woke up to grey skies with clouds that might pour rain and the mosquitos loved Ruth dearly. She did not respond in kind.
We continued on the Acadian Coastal Drive hoping to find something interesting to see or do, but alas, today we didn’t find anything.
We stopped in Miramichi for lunch at Boston Pizza for their $15 lunch special comprised of an entree, salad and drink.
Some of the roads were in pretty bad condition and then the rain started. Our idea of staying at the Kouchibouguac National Park didn’t seem to make sense given the volume of rain.
We decided to head to Moncton where we got our Costco fix including gas and then headed to Walmart to join the rest of the camper vans.
Today we drove to the end of Hwy 113 where the Miscou Lighthouse is located. What a wonderful spot to have a chocolate croissant, latte macchiato and a smoothie, sitting on a terrace overlooking the Gulf of Lawrence in full sunshine. Even better when there’s a dog on the terrace.
Freshly energized, it was time to climb up the lighthouse, learning about the history of not only the lighthouse, but the various churches in the area and even about the emergency landing of a Russian aircraft in 1939 on the first non-stop flight attempt from Moscow to New York.
The Miscou lighthouse (48.00928N, 64.49293W) itself was built in 1856 and is one of the oldest in the Gulf of St. Lawrence region.
We walked along the beach, collected stones and watched the fishermen, some of whom were having pretty good luck.
On our way down from we stopped at the Miscou Island Interpretive Peat Bog Boardwalk (47.96393N, 64.52968W) where we learned about bogs and the plants that live in this acidic environment.
Fascinating were the carnivorous plants. We saw a whole moose get eaten… not really, but the bugs do succumb. Seems fair since the bugs ate us too.
The Saint-Cécile church (47.87130N, 64.63664W) hosts a baroque music festival each year which we missed by a few days. We were able to see the inside of this rather unique church.
We decided to go to Camping Lameque (47.814657N, 64.691869W), a paid campground, tonight to do laundry and some cleaning.
After spending almost two weeks in Quebec, it was time to move onto the next province – New Brunswick in our case. On our 2019 trip we had discovered the Fromagerie Les Blancs d’Acadie (47.77444N, 64.99578W) and enjoyed their fresh cheese curds. They were so fresh that we saw them come out of the basin and they were still warm! This time was no different and we got to sample them again.
We picked up a big bag of fresh curds and some other types of cheese that we were able to sample.
A short drive further is Le Carrefour de la Mer which is a recreational and cultural centre right by the marina. It has a performing arts centre, a couple of restaurants, artist run shops and walking paths along the bay. One of the artists made woodcut prints on paper he had made himself.
We enjoyed a nice beer on the patio and walked along the boardwalk at sunset, ending the day with a chocolate dipped ice cream.
Our campground was not only cute, but had the best, biggest (8’x8’), nicely tiled, individual free shower we’ve had on our trip.
Our goal was to make it to Quebec today but did want to have a stop in the Edmundston area before leaving New Brunswick. The city of Edmunston has a pretty area around city hall with an amphitheater and even a hotel for insects.
Many of the stores and restaurants seem to be struggling. The main employer appears to be the large paper mill in the city.
We visited the former C.P.R. station and learned about the success and decline of the railway lines that came through Edmunston as part of the St. John and North West network.
In keeping with the rail theme, we visited the Du Reel au Miniature Railroad Interpretation Center. Joel, our guide, walked us through a small museum with artifacts of railway construction, signalling, security and life while asking us what we though certain objects were used for.
After watching a short video about the owner and his collection we saw the miniature railway layout of part of New Brunswick.
We skipped the 2km ride on a small train.
We left the railway system but stayed on the transportation theme and after a long and tedious search because of lack of signs, arrived at the Antique Automobile Museum. We took the guided tour and had an outstanding high school student who shared her knowledge of these old cars and their history in the area.
Among the artifacts were old licence plates, including old medallions which were originally used to register cars and simply had the registration number. If you had 26, it meant your car was the 26th registered in the province.
One of the highlights was a 1974 Bricklin which was manufactured in New Brunswick during the short life of the Bricklin company.
The large collection of antique cars were donated by a businessman who lived in the area. Among them is a 1910 Detroit Electric Car, an ancient ancestor of a Tesla. This car had a range of about 40 miles and was often driven by women because it was easy to drive. An interesting curiosity of this car was that it lacked a steering wheel and had tillers instead to control direction.
A 1939 Nash Lafayette Sedan featured seats that could be folded into a bed and suicide doors where the rear doors opened into the wind and were thus hard to close.
We made it to the Quebec border and were soon greeted by a cheese factory where we stocked up on curds. A detour took us to the Alibaba Gelato shop where we had the most expensive ice cream ever. We aren’t sure whether the detour was worth it.
It was a bit sad to leave Mt. Carlton Provincial Park with its beautiful lake but Grand Falls was waiting. The roads were pretty good and we arrived around lunchtime at the impressive information center. Here we learned of the formation of Appalachians and in particular, the change in flow of the St. John’s River over the last 20,000 years.
The gorge is quite wide, but the water flow is fairly small because of a nearby hydroelectric plant. The tree line along the gorge shows how high the water gets in the spring.
We walked a trail along the gorge but skipped the 401 step decent down to the water because of the humidity and chance of rain. The trail had several lookout points including some in the city campground. We looked at this cute campground with mature trees and enquired whether there was still a site available for the evening. Again we were lucky and got the last one with hookup. As we were doing laundry we saw a number of trailers and campers show up looking for space and they were offered overflow spots without services.
Today was a rainy day but we liked the park so much that we extended our stay for another day and spent the time reading, napping and going for short walks during the sunny periods between the rain showers.
The night sky was clear with lots of stars and Ruth got to see her first meteor!
At the campground we met a couple with a newly acquired Roadtrek who told us about a campground in Mount Carlton Provincial Park. Mount Carlton is part of the Appalachians and is the highest peak in New Brunswick at 820 meters. Although the weather forecast wasn’t that promising we decided take this excursion.
Along the way we saw signs for the longest covered bridge in the world and had to pay a visit. The Hartland Covered Bridge was built in 1921 and is 390.75 meters (1282 feet) long. There are a number shorter bridges like this in this area and they were covered to prevent the truss joints from rotting.
The next stop before getting back on the highway was the Covered Bridge Potato Chip factory where we did a self guided tour and saw how kettle chips are produced. We read a lot about potato farming in the area and how this family owned business branched out into making chips. The potatoes come in and are washed, sliced, cooked in oil while being stirred, dried, seasoned and then packaged for sale. We got a small bag of chips at the end of the tour and were able to season these with the 30+ flavours they had.
We continued towards Mount Carlton, driving through valleys and fields and slowly climbed into forested areas until we reached the park at a height of around 300 meters. We walked to the beautiful lake with a beach and ended the evening with a campfire and marshmallows.
The morning started with a trip to the veterinarian for Pepsi. She was in desperate need of new dog food and the food she is on is only available at veterinarians. The first one we tried had what we needed and Pepsi now has enough food for the next couple of months.
Martin was driving and Ruth was busy looking not only for things to do and see in Fredericton, but also whether there were swimming opportunities in the area. We arrived at the visitor center in Fredericton where we found out that out-of-province tourists can get a free day of parking once every year.
Fredericton gives the impression of a bigger city than its 60,000 inhabitants would suggest. It has attractive architecture for its City Hall and at a nearby historic garrison we saw the quarters of where the soldiers keeping watch could rest. The garrison was always English and there was never a war between the French and English here according to the interpreters who were available for questions, dressed in period costumes. The beds of the soldiers were rather short, not because the soldiers on duty were short, but rather because they were required to keep their feet on the floor at all times during their 24 hour shift, even while resting.
The officer’s quarter had lots of books and ledgers. He was in charge of all correspondence as most of the soldiers where not literate. He kept the fire buckets that were made of leather and insulated with tar which ironically was combustable.
During our walk through the historic downtown area we saw many little shops, pubs and restaurants with international cuisine. We also found Canada’s oldest bike shop.
We did not stay for the free guided city tour walk but left for Mactaquac Provincial Park where we have a site on small hill next to a large open area. A nearby beach at the river had signs that it was likely safe to swim but that one should be careful with blue-green algae which can be harmful. We did not swim but had dinner outside and planned our next steps.
A small green insect kept us company and tried to climb up our tray at the slowest possible speed.
We left Annapolis Royale at 9:30am but didn’t make it very far before we saw a sign for the visitor’s centre at the tidal power generation station. We watched a short video on the construction of this facility and then Henry, who was involved in the consulting and preparation process during the construction, shared lots of information on how the plant works and its environmental impact or lack thereof.
For lunch we cashed in our Subway coupons from yesterday and enjoyed a free meal.
We drove on for quite a while until Wolfville where there are a number of vineyards. We visited the Lightfoot and Wolfville Vinery and were impressed by the elegant building and terrace and the view in the distance. We sampled four white wines and settled for the one we liked best.
Both of us were kind of tired and not particularly motivated to see another winery, museum, wharf, or heritage site so we decided to say goodbye to Nova Scotia and head back to New Brunswick.
We made to it Moncton where we will be spending the night before continuing on to Fredericton tomorrow.
Today was an early rise, a quick muffin and no coffee (a dangerous situation) or tea. We drove back to Moncton to visit the Farmer’s Market before leaving for Nova Scotia. Martin found a great parking spot right next to the market and the first thing we bought at the market was a 20oz dark roast coffee with milk for Ruth. The world was safe and sane again.
The market had a lot of food stands, crafts and produce and we had a great time strolling through the aisles.
Our eyes caught a berry stand that sold Haskap berries and the stall owner told us all about this super fruit and let us try some. The berries are tart and refreshing and have an almost bean shape and blueberry color. We bought a jar of the jam and are looking forward to trying it with some yoghurt.
We bought some sausages and eggs from a small local farmer who has his animals running free on his farm.
In a corner stand we met Serge Martin, a potter who also does amazing photography with a special focus on street people. His images attracted us and we must have talked to him for at least half and hour. He told us the stories of the street people he had photographed and how he shares 20% of the proceeds of sales of their images with them.
Next stop was Sackville where we visited the Boultenhouse Heritage Centre, home of the most prolific shipbuilder in the area in the mid-19th century. The house overlooked his shipyard on the river. The effects of erosion, however, has changed the course of the river and there is no longer any water or shipyard.
Adjacent to his house is an octagonal house, originally belonging to George Anderson, a mariner, and learned of sea-faring families.
From there we drove to the George Campbell Carriage and Wagon builders historic site and learned about how wagon wheels and carriages where built. Many of the old tools and some old carriages are on display.
Now it was on to Nova Scotia with a stop at the Welcome Centre to stock up on information materials, get suggestions for routing and fill our water bottles. It was a very positive experience!
Amherst is right at the border and we had a quick stop at the Deanne Fitzpatrick Studio where we had a demonstration on rug hooking, got to try it ourselves and bought a small beginner’s project to try our newly acquired skills out on.
