Farewell to Nova Scotia

Part of my heart and spirit will always remain here but this is our last day here for a while.

Since my last post, we journeyed from the Annapolis Valley to Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, Peggy's Cove, Hammond Plains, Sherbrooke and Mulgrave.  Along the way, seeing many wonderful Maritime sights.

View from our patio eatery at Lunenburg.  Our dogs, Ginger and Daisy got to join us on the patio in a special pet friendly area.  After our main dinner, we got to enjoy Nova Scotia blueberry cake (yum!).

This was a drive by Maritime view on our way to Lunenburg

This is the sunset from our camping spot in Lunenburg which is walking distance to the town.  Great place to stay if you are in the area.

View from Mahone Bay which is a great little village with craft shops, eateries (ice cream), and a quilt shop, and Amos Pewter shop where you can get a demo of their great workmanship.

Cleveland Beach - a beautiful, sandy beach

Another wonderful Maritime scene

Views of the lighthouse from Peggy's Cove. See the perspective of the "little people" beside the "large lighthouse".

You get to do a lot of rock climbing here too but stay off the "black rocks".  There is a lot of warning signs everywhere alerting tourists of the dangers of going too close to the waters edge but people are swept away each year by rogue waves.  Very sad!

Wonderful Maritime setting just down from the lighthouse.

If you are ever in the vicinity of Sherbrooke, NS, you really need to stop at Sherbrooke Village.  It's a wonderful village to go "back in time" with wonderful people.

This is the doctor's home but it is also where my cousin's family lived at one time.

A wonderful hooked wall hanging of the village.

There's a general store where you can purchase things that have been made in the village.

One of our last days in Nova Scotia was spent in Mulgrave with my Aunt and was an occasion for the Dunbar's to gather and spend time at Aunt Olie's beach to skip rocks (like we did as kids).

Looking for flat rocks to skip, sea glass, and other great finds.

Daisy thinks she should chase the rocks that skip.

This is my great, supportive family (on my dad's side) taken at the house where my dad grew up.  Aunt Olie is my dad's sister sitting on the front step (left), doing pretty good for almost 89.  My Uncle Don is behind Bruce (third row on the far right).  Great to have everyone gathered together.

Fishing boat passing by as we were on the beach.

Tomorrow we say farewell to Nova Scotia and we take another quick trip to PEI before we start our return trip back home.  So many wonderful memories.

Until next time ...

Maritime Roots

This trip has helped me to have a real appreciation for my Maritime roots.  I have been in Victoria for 38 years now so I've lived on the West Coast for longer than anywhere...but they say Maritimers will always be Maritimers.  It's true.  There is something deep down in your spirit that calls you home for "shore".  Love hearing the Maritime accent again.  I now know why I always say "shore" instead of "sure".  So many different saying too.

This photo was taken at a campsite called Whale Creek in Walton, Nova Scotia but it has everything that makes my heart sing.  The lighthouse on the left of the picture, and the sunset at the end of the day over the Bay of Funday.  We were only there for one night but would have loved to stay much longer.

This trip has also been about connecting with friends and family.  I feel very blessed to have the connections I have in my life.  I don't see these people very often, for some it's been many years but that doesn't matter because we are connected by blood line and by spirit.  

Our home base while we are in NB is just outside of Sussex at a place called Lower Millstream.  It is there that we had our family reunion and it was wonderful to visit with family that normally you don't get to see.  While in Nova Scotia our home base has been in Sherbrooke and Mulgrave, Nova Scotia. In between, we either visit friends (usually mine from high school days or FB friends) or take off on our own to visit sights like we are now in the Annapolis Valley.

When we started this Great Canadian Adventure, we made a point of keeping everything very loose as far as daily plans.  We didn't book any of our camping sites and often decided the day before where we're going.  So far, it's worked and for that I'm thankful.  Often too we will meet someone in our travels who will tell us about a place and so we go there.

This time, after we left NB again heading for NS, we met a couple who were boon docking like us in Amherst, NS at the Walmart parking lot.  They are from NS and were heading down to the states.  As we chatted they gave us some tips for visiting the Annapolis Valley and told us about The Look Off.

We climbed up and up until we came to these amazing sights of the valley.  The camping community is a great place to learn about where to stay.

We are just about finished our adventure in the Annapolis Valley now as we are in Annapolis Royal so tomorrow we will be heading towards Lunenburg and then Peggy's Cove before visiting another high school friend near Halifax and then back to visit family at Sherbrooke and Mulgrave again.  

I kind of feel like we spend a lot of time crisscrossing back and forth but we never know when we will get out here again or when we will see these people again so we want to make sure we get to see everyone again.  Time and making memories is so very important.

Until next time ...

Nova Scotia Part One

From PEI we took the Wood Islands ferry to NS.

We arrived on PEI by way of the Confederation Bridge but decided it would be good to leave by the ferry.  On PEI you just have to pay leaving the island so it was a little bit more expensive on the ferry but it was a good cruise to NS.  Our first stop in NS was in Sherbrooke where my uncle and aunt and several cousins live closeby.  Sherbrooke is a very small, quaint community.  Part of the community is called historical Sherbrooke village.  

It was great to see family again and enjoy time with everyone.  One of my uncle's loves is his motorboat so he and my cousin Rod took us out on the boat.  It was a beautiful day to be out in the boat.  We went as far as Liscombe Lodge.

Enjoying a beautiful day on the boat on the Atlantic Ocean.

View from Liscombe Lodge

We also got to celebrate Canada Day while we were in Sherbrooke and the parade went by the house and then the celebrations began in the village.  Great fun for everyone.

Local entertainment

and cake to celebrate plus hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream and lots of other choice and fun for the kids.

Great fireworks

Our next stop in Nova Scotia was a visit to see my aunt in Mulgrave, Nova Scotia.  Mulgrave is by the Canso Causeway and where my dad grew up.  It is also the place I remember going as a child so have a lot of memories.

This is the beach I learned to skip rocks and the beach where I would go on boat/fishing trips with my Grampa/dad/uncle.  Felt very good to be there again.  My aunt took us for a ride the next day to Guysborough and Canso.  Lots of nice sights.

Found this message on the beach

Lighthouse at Rook Island near Canso

Our next stop was Halifax to visit a high school friend.  It is great to reconnect with friends from long ago.  She has created a lovely garden and home for her family.

My friend also had two dogs who were great hosts for us with our two dogs. Everyone got along quite well.  It was a nice visit.  We were off again the next day ...

On the road again and back to New Brunswick.  There was a lot of wind gusts on the highway as we drove towards NB and as soon as we crossed the border there was a downpour (fortunately the wind subsided) but we could hardly see the road for the rain.

As we moved through NB and headed towards Moncton (Riverview), the skies cleared so we stopped in Riverview to pick up some groceries and make some lunch for ourselves.  There would be a family reunion the next day.  It was suppose to be a nice day by then.  We have been fortunate with all our special planned events and our family reunion was no exception.

Back to NB for now and another trip into NS before we begin our trek home again.

Until next time ...