SUMMER 2015 Maritime Provinces Part 5

"THE WHOLE WORLD IS FULL OF HIS GLORY."

Isaiah 6:3

What amazing, beautiful, glorious places we have seen and people we have met along this journey, this adventure through this spectacular part of the world called the Maritime Provinces.

Please know that for every stunning landscape I captured on film there were dozens more I missed.

That for every charming village we visited, there were 100 more that we didn't get to see. 

That for every house I loved there were thousand more I didn't, couldn't take a photo of.

That basically, for every photo I took there were hundreds more I didn't get to take for whatever reason.  

Just know that these photos are just a taste of all the beauty and wonder this area holds. 

I wish I'd taken more videos as we were driving.  Some of the best sites were those we saw driving from one place to the other. And we didn't have time to go to some of the most beautiful, and recommended place either. But we are so grateful for the opportunity to see and experience all we did.

 Bottom line:  if you ever have the opportunity to visit the East Coast, New England, Eastern Canada- take it! 

On my last post, we had left St. John's and Newfoundland and were headed to the airport.

We took an early evening flight and arrived back in Halifax, Nova Scotia around 9 p.m.  We stayed overnight in an airport hotel and headed off towards Peggy's Cove first thing in the morning.

Nova Scotia's South Shore

Peggy's Cove

I had heard so many things about this place but none of it prepared me for its picture postcard, perfect picturesque-ness of it.  A photographers dream!  I was pleasantly surprised because I thought all along it was just a really nice lighthouse out on some rocks making a fantastic setting.  What I didn't realize was that there was an entire charming village that went along with it!

Prepare for photo overload!

This had the biggest crowds of any places we visited.  Buses full of tourists spilling out into the parking lot, coming and going.   Most of my photos of the lighthouse look like little ants are swarming over the rocks. 

I found a way to "get rid of the ants"... get a big rock to hide them!

The entire village.

Rocky shores!

Such great colors!

Colorful reflections.

Fisherman's Monument

I'll let these remarks from "lost-at'sea-memorials.com" tell you all about it.

Among the most beautiful places on earth are the Canadian Maritime Provinces. Their scenic beauty is equaled by the kindness and hospitality of their citizens.

The Maritimes possess a seafarer history matched by few other locations. Elegant and timeless ships have been designed and built in the shipyards of the Maritimes – such as the “Marco Polo” from New Brunswick, the “Bluenose” from Nova Scotia, and the rum runner “Ellie J. Banks” from Prince Edward Island. The fishing industry gave life to the Maritimes. One can only hope that the lobsters remain plentiful and that the cod will someday return in great numbers.

The Maritimes have also been the location of some of the great tragedies at sea. My next few posts will discuss some of these, but I’d like to begin these posts with a thing of beauty in Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia.

William Edward deGarthe was born in Helsinki, Finland. He emigrated to Canada in 1926, moved to Halifax in 1945, and eventually settled permanently in the beautiful village of Peggy’s Cove in 1955. He was a painter and sculptor, his artistic work devoted to maritime subjects after his move to Peggy’s Cove. His “Fisherman’s Monument” was sculpted out of a 100 foot granite face of rock below his home. It depicts thirty-two fishermen and their wives and children enveloped in the wings of a guardian angel. The sculpture and his home (now a museum to his work) were donated to the province of Nova Scotia after his death. It is a beautiful piece of art – I’m certain meant to honor both the living and those lost at sea.

As I am on "blogging overload" right now trying to catch up (I'm still 6-7 blogs behind), I am cheating a little and relying on tour brochures and wikipedia for quotes and descriptions because I'm too brain dead to come up with my own that would do these places justice.  

Three Churches, Mahone Bay

Following is a brochure's description :

"Mahone Bay is considered my many to be one of the most beautiful towns in Canada, and its crown jewel is the line of three elegant churches, St. John's Lutheran, St. James Anglican, and Trinity United- that grace the banks of the sheltered harbor.  The New York Times didn't call this view "pretty as a picture" for nothing!"

The cute little town.

I got a lovely pewter necklace of an acorn and maple leaf from a pewter factory/ store here.

Wait.  Is this Canada or the Caribbean?  I'm confused!

More gorgeous homes!

Lunenburg

Tour brochure description again...

"Lunenburg is one of Canada's top 10 destinations.  Scenic streets lined with a crayon box of colorful historic buildings, the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, and the world-famous schooner, Bluenose II, are all part of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. "

They weren't kidding about the crayon box!

Any takers?  There is a bay view on the other side.  

 One of the things I love most about New England and these Provinces is that businesses are located in cute little houses, not ugly strip malls.  

Like this pizza restaurant right here :)

Sorry! I never found the Mermaid.  :(

But aren't you glad I decided to take the photos of these fish on my phone so I could use the collage app and you didn't have to look at 8 separate photos?  :D

Ok.  Some of these scenes are just too perfect , right?  The colors, the placement of the little boats.  I'm pretty sure they leave them tied up like that - pretty yellow boats all in a row- just for the photo opportunity it provides.  Although I did see several people rowing those boats, and rowing hard! This town and a town in Maine have a yearly rowing completion that is fairly heated so they work hard all year to keep in shape for it. 

Sorry.  I kinda really like reflections!

Dinner with a View.

I ordered A Taste of Nova Scotia with a Twist:

Eel Lake Oyster, Seared Scallop drizzled with vanilla bean butter, butter poached lobster tail on arugula, salt cod fritter with rhubarb relish and caper aioli, and a salmon spring roll with sweet chili cocktail sauce. Yummy!  Yummy!

Dale had a recommended seafood chowder.

Good but not as creamy as the now in St.John's.

This was fun.

I watched this sailboat when it first entered the harbor.

As it drew closer to these two boats I wondered if the captain was going to go for it...go for the challenge of squeezing in between those two. 

Yep.  He went for it!

The best view of Lunenburg is from across the harbor looking back at the town.  We decided to do that on our drive out next morning.  We woke to a dense fog.

I still like it.  What's a visit to the coast without some fog?

CHARLOTTETOWN

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

We left Lunenburg and Nova Scotia and drove 41/2-5 hours to Prince Edward Island.

To get there we crossed over the Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge in the world over water that freezes.  Interesting detail, but there you have it. 

8 miles long.  

This is the bridge that was closed due to high winds that kept the missionaries from attending that first zone conference in Moncton, New Brunswick.

 Charlottetown is the capital of P.E.I. 

It still has kept its small town appeal and charm.

We loved it!

Very walkable. Made a big loop and saw the waterfront and much of the historical district.

Cows.  The "best" ice cream in Canada.

We tried these Chocolate Covered Potato Chips. 

Two of my favorite things combined!

How could it not be good?

Nothing quite like seeing a giant cruise ship going by the end of your street!

I adore groups of sail boats out together.  Such a happy sight!

Ate dinner at Fishbones and then walked across the street to watch a live theatre performance.

The cast of the Anne and Gilbert musical at The Guild put this on once a year. 

We were a little worried at first because we thought it might end up being similar to a church Road Show cast party but we loved it.  We saw quite a variety of phenomenal talent, from Broadway style singing and dancing, to Opera, to Rock, to Country Music/Irish fiddles and dancing, etc.  Very entertaining.  Good choice!

Sadly we are never very long in one place to do it justice and see it in any detail.  But as we figured we probably will never be back this way again, we would rather see more of everything than less in greater depth.  So, good-bye to this fun town and on to the next stop.

The clouds are parting again to give the lighthouse the center stage!

(notice my He-Man down there lifting that heavy lobster trap)

Our "Dances With Wolves" moment. 

(If you love the movie, you'll get it.)

Tranquility Cove in Georgetown

The Trinity Pageant was our one big cultural event that we took time for on this trip and

The "Giant Bar Calm Dig" was our adventure. (which was also very cultural as well)

This is a half day Adventure leaving the Historical Port of Georgetown, Monday through Saturday. The Giant Bar Clam Dig is a very unique experiential adventure. Including a beach cook-out on a deserted Island off the coast of Prince Edward Island, it does not get better than this. We provide all the swim gear (masks, snorkels, water socks, wetsuits and clam rake) to get you digging for these Giant Clams in waist to chest deep water. After we dig enough clams – to the beach we go to steam them up fresh in salt water. There will be enough time to beach comb and do a little exploring. Then it is off to PEI’s oldest wooden Lighthouse, Panmure Island, for a photo shoot. Not far from here we haul a lobster trap, rock crab pot and a mussel sock, giving a crash course on each fishery. To finish up we do a seal watch, then back to Port. This is an all inclusive Adventure with free hot coffee, cold soft drinks, energy bars and fresh fruit.

We did it!

We dug for clams off Prince Edward Island!

And we ate them!

Steamed fresh straight from the ocean.

I even took a couple of bites.  :)

I was too busy enjoying myself or didn't have my camera (while in the water) so I'm using a few photos from the internet as well as my own.

Our boat.

This photo shows how we were most of the time...in waist-deep water.

The photo of Dale was at the end when we were going in to cook them and turning in our rakes, but it was when I got my camera so sadly,  no pics of us out really working hard!

We both got about 6 clams each and I even caught a crab for good measure!

The method they taught us was to bend over with your face in the water looking for the little divots caused by the clams tongues when they suck in food.  Dale really got into it and even full on snorkeled.  I couldn't see very well so I tried my own version- dragging the rake behind me till I hit something hard.  It worked since my take was the same as his.  :)

They were big clams!

Back on board, we picked up crab traps, mussels traps (PEI mussels are world famous), and lobster traps.  Fun and educational.

Panmure Lighthouse

Clam dig.  Been there. Done that. Check.

Drove about 20 minutes to our B&B for the night St. Peter's Inn in St. Peter's by the Sea.

Lovely.

Peaceful.

Relaxing.

Perfect after all our driving, walking, and adventuring.

Dale had one of the best oyster dishes of his life at the Inn's restaurant so I had to include it here.

The freshness and the secret green herbal topping are what made it so tasty.

Cavendish

Prince Edward Island 

Anne of Green Gables Day!  Hooray!

We are both big fans so we had been looking forward to this day the entire trip. 

Dale watched the mini-series with Avalon and started it with London and wants to watch it with all his granddaughters at some point.  It is such a positive, hopeful story full of wonderful values.

The house and buildings here are not the home of Lucy Maud Montgomery but are the inspiration for the setting of the tale. In real life, this farm and house belonged to Montgomery's grandfather's cousins.  She never lived here but spent many a cherished time here and came to know the farm and the surrounding woods very well and these special places show up in her books by such names as The Haunted Woods and Lover's Lane.  

It is a lovely place where you can explore the house, farm and grounds to your heart's content. We practically had the place to ourselves.  This site is open year round but nearly everything else nearby closed down the week before. 

Anne's Room.

I  spy with my little eye...

an eye!  :)

(for my grandkids!)

After visiting this site we also saw the site of Lucy Maud's actual home growing up here.  

It was a delightful insight into her life and inspiration.

Lucy could walk this path to her grandfather's cousins' house and farm. 

I just love her.  As much as I love Anne.  I think we would have been kindred spirits indeed. 

If I were a writer I feel I would write in a style very much like her.  

After touring Lucy's homestead, we  briefly visited this cute remake of Avonlea.

It was all but deserted so we didn't stay long.

I collect sand from beaches we visit all over the world so I absolutely had to have some of the red sand from Anne's beach near her Shining Waters! 

We made a stop here .

It started pouring just as we left the beach.

We were scheduled to stay at The Kindred Spirits Inn that night but as we wouldn't be able do do or see anything in the rain and wind,  we decided to cancel it and start our long drive home. 

It was raining so hard you could barely see the road. 

 Speaking of rain...

I have to point this out.

Did you notice that it didn't rain on our parade one single day on this entire trip?   And we were in an area where it rains all the time. 

 It did rain a few times but it was while we were in a conference or while we were driving for hours in between places. 

It was cloudy and storms were always predicted and threatening but it didn't rain until we had seen the very last thing on our list.

Some will say coincidence but 

I say 'thank Thee' 

and count it a blessing.  :)