August 8, 2007
North Sydney, NS
First off, I was able to format some pictures, so here are a couple of links.
Halifax:
http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/ScenesFromOurTimeInHalifax
Sydney:
http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/SomeRandomPicturesFromSydneyNS
The neat thing about plans is that they’re just always something you can change. Well, yesterday was just such a day. When we planned the day, everything was looking good for a Cabot Trail tour. Unfortunately, I woke up from a dead sleep right around 6 AM to the sound of rain. Thinking it had just started, I quickly headed outside to stow the lawn chairs (nothing worse than a wet you-know-what) that I’d neglected to put away the night before (because it was so nice out, of course). Well, there was already a ½” puddle in the chairs, so it had been raining for a while. I did a quick assessment and made an executive decision: off with the alarm and back to bed.
As the morning went on, the rain turned to showers and the dry spells got longer, so we decided to do a shorter drive, to the little town of Baddeck and then around part of the Bras d’Or Lake (the full lake tour is an all-day affair, so we took a shortened route). The lake is nice, but we’re glad we took the shorter path. We stopped in Baddeck for some pictures, but the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating. As we toured around the other side of the St. Patrick’s Channel, we happened to see what’s called a “C@P” site, which is a public Internet site where the community “rents out” bandwidth for a couple of loonies (C$1) an hour. Since we had the foresight to pack the laptops in the car, we dropped 4 bucks on an hour each of access to check email, update the blog and catch up on finances. It was a reasonably good deal, since we were just driving by and saw the sign.
After we completed the lake loop, we were back in North Sydney, so we “dined” at a local fast-food place called “Lick-a-Chick”. Other than the interesting name, there wasn’t anything else worth going there: the wait was too long and the food too unremarkable.
Back at home, we plowed through a backlog of email, and I formatted some pictures for posting, then we called it an early night.
Today was a whole different story. I could tell from the light as I woke up that it was brighter than I’d expected. Much to my surprise, it was pretty sunny outside. It probably shouldn’t have been a surprise, since changes in the weather are routine here. We were on the road by 7:30 AM (could be a new record for us!) and headed for the Cabot Trail. We stopped at Tim Horton’s for a breakfast sandwich, and started out on the Trail in a clockwise direction. From what we read, this is the “traditional” route, since you’re driving on the “inside” as opposed to along the cliffs. From Geri’s point-of-view, this was a good thing.
We made the whole loop in just about 9 hours, which is pretty good time. We made quite a few stops for photos and did three “side trips” off the trail, to “Meat Cove” (another superlative – the “northernmost town”) to Dingwall (a nice little harbour but not much else) and to White Point (a pretty drive along the coast, with several photo-ops).
We stopped for lunch at the Cabot Landing site (well, the estimated landing site, since they really don’t know for sure). It was a nice picnic site, shielded by trees from the strong wind that kicked up. What was interesting to learn is that Cabot’s real name was Giovanni Caboto, from Venice. Who knew?
We got back home just after 5 PM, which made for a good day trip. We managed to get the local TV stations using the antenna (how quaint!), but the pickings are pretty slim. There are 4 channels, one en Français. We did finally get the news on CTV, so we know that the weather will turn bad overnight and it’ll probably rain most of the day tomorrow. The good news is that Friday through Sunday is supposed to be nice. This is good, since Friday is “packing up” day and Saturday is a travel day. We also realized that local shows like “Corner Gas” are an acquired taste, which you can only acquire if you have a very dry sense of humor.
Tomorrow, we may visit the Alexander Graham Bell historical site (or we may just hang out at home). Friday morning, we may visit the Louisbourg historical site before we get things ready for Saturday’s departure. We’ll have to leave relatively early on Saturday, because I want to catch the 1 PM ferry to PEI and we need to get there by 11:30-ish to queue up. We’ll need to leave here by 8 AM, 8:30 at the latest, so we’ll want to be all packed up and dumped by Friday evening.
Here is a link to some of today’s photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/GeorgeandGeri/AlongTheCabotTrail
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Quieter Days
August 6, 2007
North Sydney, NS
First, let me apologize for the spotty posts for at least the rest of the week. We’re in a spot that gets no satellite signal (no Internet, no DirecTV), so we’re communication-challenged this week. We’ll compose offline and post when we can. I’m not sure if it’ll be any better on PEI next week, as we’ll be further north. The satellites associated with US services are just very low in the sky the further north you go, so the least little barrier (like trees, hills, etc.) causes an outage. It tried to manually point the dish, and the signal’s there but too weak to lock in. Oh, well; well survive…
Yesterday, we stayed close to home and didn’t try to do too much. Overnight (Saturday night/Sunday morning), we had severe thunderstorms. The lightning started after dinner, and soon it was accompanied by rumbles of thunder. The rain started before we went to bed, and continued all night long. The storm cells came through in waves. It would let up for a while, and then the next cell would pass through. It seemed like each one was stronger than the last. This went on until after dawn, and the last of the rain passed through around 8 AM. It was breezy and cloudy for most of the morning, which helped us decide that it was an “in” day. It cleared up some in the afternoon and by evening it was quite nice, but it cleared too late in the day to effectively do anything on the road.
This was fine, as we used the time effectively anyway. Geri did three loads of laundry in the coach and one big load at the campground’s machines. I made another loaf of bread in the new machine, and we did a little planning for what we want to see while we’re here. We defrosted some sauce from the freezer and had a nice pasta dinner with an unremarkable but pleasing Tuscan Sangiovese that I’d picked up in Halifax (Bedford).
Today was pretty nice, but we hadn’t gotten ourselves organized, so we did a short 3-hour excursion. We started off in downtown North Sydney, which is where the ferry to Newfoundland docks. We passed by as the ferry was pulling in, and we saw the large queue of vehicles standing by waiting to board. There were about 10 RVs, 10 tractor-trailers, and probably close to 40 cars waiting. These ferries are supposed to be the largest vehicle-carrying ships in North America (another superlative; there are many here). We’d toyed with the idea of extending our trip that way, but chose not to for several reasons (there’s nothing there; we’d have to leave the pups in the coach for the whole voyage; we want to get to Alabama by early-September).
We circled around the harbour to Sydney proper, stopping for a quick picture at the local EDS call centre (I had a chance to visit there several years ago). We found a McDonalds with “McLobster”, so we had to have lunch there. It wasn’t bad for C$5.99: I gave it a solid C: not a lot of meat but nicely dressed; too much iceberg lettuce; no toasting on the roll.
We toured downtown Sydney (only to confirm that there’s not much there) and then headed out along the coastal drive. We didn’t go too far because we wanted to get back around 2 PM to get tonight’s dinner (baby back ribs) cooking low-and-slow. It was a nice drive, and we got back as planned. The ribs came out quite well, and Geri made foil-wrapped sliced potatoes/onions/peppers and finished up the asparagus we had on hand, all on the grill. It worked out well; as I was only using one burner for the ribs (they go on the “cool” side). We sat outside for a bit but it was actually starting to get pretty cool, so we’re hoping for good sleeping weather.
Tomorrow’s plan is to do the full Cabot Trail (180+ km/110+ miles) by getting an early start and having dinner on the road. We’ve got the lunch made, the coffee’s programmed, and the car’s ready to go, so we’ll see how we do!
Oh, and Happy Birthday to Britt!
North Sydney, NS
First, let me apologize for the spotty posts for at least the rest of the week. We’re in a spot that gets no satellite signal (no Internet, no DirecTV), so we’re communication-challenged this week. We’ll compose offline and post when we can. I’m not sure if it’ll be any better on PEI next week, as we’ll be further north. The satellites associated with US services are just very low in the sky the further north you go, so the least little barrier (like trees, hills, etc.) causes an outage. It tried to manually point the dish, and the signal’s there but too weak to lock in. Oh, well; well survive…
Yesterday, we stayed close to home and didn’t try to do too much. Overnight (Saturday night/Sunday morning), we had severe thunderstorms. The lightning started after dinner, and soon it was accompanied by rumbles of thunder. The rain started before we went to bed, and continued all night long. The storm cells came through in waves. It would let up for a while, and then the next cell would pass through. It seemed like each one was stronger than the last. This went on until after dawn, and the last of the rain passed through around 8 AM. It was breezy and cloudy for most of the morning, which helped us decide that it was an “in” day. It cleared up some in the afternoon and by evening it was quite nice, but it cleared too late in the day to effectively do anything on the road.
This was fine, as we used the time effectively anyway. Geri did three loads of laundry in the coach and one big load at the campground’s machines. I made another loaf of bread in the new machine, and we did a little planning for what we want to see while we’re here. We defrosted some sauce from the freezer and had a nice pasta dinner with an unremarkable but pleasing Tuscan Sangiovese that I’d picked up in Halifax (Bedford).
Today was pretty nice, but we hadn’t gotten ourselves organized, so we did a short 3-hour excursion. We started off in downtown North Sydney, which is where the ferry to Newfoundland docks. We passed by as the ferry was pulling in, and we saw the large queue of vehicles standing by waiting to board. There were about 10 RVs, 10 tractor-trailers, and probably close to 40 cars waiting. These ferries are supposed to be the largest vehicle-carrying ships in North America (another superlative; there are many here). We’d toyed with the idea of extending our trip that way, but chose not to for several reasons (there’s nothing there; we’d have to leave the pups in the coach for the whole voyage; we want to get to Alabama by early-September).
We circled around the harbour to Sydney proper, stopping for a quick picture at the local EDS call centre (I had a chance to visit there several years ago). We found a McDonalds with “McLobster”, so we had to have lunch there. It wasn’t bad for C$5.99: I gave it a solid C: not a lot of meat but nicely dressed; too much iceberg lettuce; no toasting on the roll.
We toured downtown Sydney (only to confirm that there’s not much there) and then headed out along the coastal drive. We didn’t go too far because we wanted to get back around 2 PM to get tonight’s dinner (baby back ribs) cooking low-and-slow. It was a nice drive, and we got back as planned. The ribs came out quite well, and Geri made foil-wrapped sliced potatoes/onions/peppers and finished up the asparagus we had on hand, all on the grill. It worked out well; as I was only using one burner for the ribs (they go on the “cool” side). We sat outside for a bit but it was actually starting to get pretty cool, so we’re hoping for good sleeping weather.
Tomorrow’s plan is to do the full Cabot Trail (180+ km/110+ miles) by getting an early start and having dinner on the road. We’ve got the lunch made, the coffee’s programmed, and the car’s ready to go, so we’ll see how we do!
Oh, and Happy Birthday to Britt!
A few random observations
August 5, 2007
North Sydney, NS
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve made a mental note to mention a couple of things we’ve observed while in the Maritimes, but none of them have made it to blog entries. Since mental notes are easily lost (it seems to get easier to lose them every day!), here are a few random observations.
Clotheslines: You can tell when it’s “laundry day” in the Maritimes because clotheslines are used all over. We grew up with them of course, but we’re so used to living in places where HOAs – and campgrounds – prohibit their use that it was strange to see so many. We could just imagine how fresh the clothes would seem, especially near the ocean or Fundy coastlines.
Marshmallows: While driving through farmland, we came upon numerous farms, many of which store hay for their animals. I suspect than most people know that the traditional bale format is giving way to the larger rolled style. Here, we’ve encountered quite a few farms that are shrink-wrapping the large circular bales in heavy white plastic. When they’re stacked in the fields or near a barn, they look jut like giant marshmallows from a distance. I guess you had to be there…
Speed limits: Most people seem to drive at or below the speed limits here. Most of the towns have limits of 50-60 kilometers/hour (about 31-37 MPH), the main two-lane roads are 70-90 KPH (~44-56 MPH) and the controlled access roads are 100-110 KPH (~62-68 MPH) – similar to the US. We’ve generally kept to the limit ourselves, and have had very few situations where people have felt the need to pass us. Those that passed us have been about 50/50 Americans/Locals. People from MA, NY, NJ, FL, and the odd CA plate seem to be in a hurry, reinforcing another stereotype, I suppose.
Road patching: The road crews have this down to a science. We’ve been through sections where the roads have been patched three times (you can tell by the different degrees of fading in the color of the pavement, and they’ve been just as smooth as you’d want. In the US, patching (when done at all) seems to be done in a way that makes the road surface worse instead of better. The roads in the Maritimes have generally been very good. TC-105 from Port Hawkesbury to Sydney had some places where frost heaves caused rolling dips and mounds, but we’ve had very few places where the coach has been slammed around like we’ve experienced on US Interstates.
We even passed a road construction crew with a machine that I’ve felt that the US should have for a long time. Out front was one of those grinders that take the top 2-3” of road surface off in a lane-wide pass. Instead of going in a truck to be hauled away, the ground asphalt went into a hopper that fed another mill that created a gravel-like substance, which went by conveyor to a mixer that added hot tar, and finally they “new” asphalt was spread out on the roadbed. The whole thing was moving along at 1-2 MPH, flanked by guys with orange cones and followed by a series of rollers. At the tail end was a guy putting down reflective markers showing where the new paint lines would go. At the end of the day, they probably were able to resurface 15 km of a lane (maybe more since road crews seem to work from morning to dusk) with minimal traffic impact. You can tell I’m easily intrigued by a) efficient processes, b) good roads, and c) smooth traffic flows – put them all together and I’m a happy guy.
North Sydney, NS
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve made a mental note to mention a couple of things we’ve observed while in the Maritimes, but none of them have made it to blog entries. Since mental notes are easily lost (it seems to get easier to lose them every day!), here are a few random observations.
Clotheslines: You can tell when it’s “laundry day” in the Maritimes because clotheslines are used all over. We grew up with them of course, but we’re so used to living in places where HOAs – and campgrounds – prohibit their use that it was strange to see so many. We could just imagine how fresh the clothes would seem, especially near the ocean or Fundy coastlines.
Marshmallows: While driving through farmland, we came upon numerous farms, many of which store hay for their animals. I suspect than most people know that the traditional bale format is giving way to the larger rolled style. Here, we’ve encountered quite a few farms that are shrink-wrapping the large circular bales in heavy white plastic. When they’re stacked in the fields or near a barn, they look jut like giant marshmallows from a distance. I guess you had to be there…
Speed limits: Most people seem to drive at or below the speed limits here. Most of the towns have limits of 50-60 kilometers/hour (about 31-37 MPH), the main two-lane roads are 70-90 KPH (~44-56 MPH) and the controlled access roads are 100-110 KPH (~62-68 MPH) – similar to the US. We’ve generally kept to the limit ourselves, and have had very few situations where people have felt the need to pass us. Those that passed us have been about 50/50 Americans/Locals. People from MA, NY, NJ, FL, and the odd CA plate seem to be in a hurry, reinforcing another stereotype, I suppose.
Road patching: The road crews have this down to a science. We’ve been through sections where the roads have been patched three times (you can tell by the different degrees of fading in the color of the pavement, and they’ve been just as smooth as you’d want. In the US, patching (when done at all) seems to be done in a way that makes the road surface worse instead of better. The roads in the Maritimes have generally been very good. TC-105 from Port Hawkesbury to Sydney had some places where frost heaves caused rolling dips and mounds, but we’ve had very few places where the coach has been slammed around like we’ve experienced on US Interstates.
We even passed a road construction crew with a machine that I’ve felt that the US should have for a long time. Out front was one of those grinders that take the top 2-3” of road surface off in a lane-wide pass. Instead of going in a truck to be hauled away, the ground asphalt went into a hopper that fed another mill that created a gravel-like substance, which went by conveyor to a mixer that added hot tar, and finally they “new” asphalt was spread out on the roadbed. The whole thing was moving along at 1-2 MPH, flanked by guys with orange cones and followed by a series of rollers. At the tail end was a guy putting down reflective markers showing where the new paint lines would go. At the end of the day, they probably were able to resurface 15 km of a lane (maybe more since road crews seem to work from morning to dusk) with minimal traffic impact. You can tell I’m easily intrigued by a) efficient processes, b) good roads, and c) smooth traffic flows – put them all together and I’m a happy guy.
Travel Day to Cape Breton Island
August 4, 2007
North Sydney, Nova Scotia
Today was a travel day, as planned. We left the Halifax area a little later than planned, but made good time up to the other end of the province. We’d planned for a 10 AM departure, so we had plenty of time. It dawned on the cloudy/foggy/misty side, so it was a fabulous thing that we’d put all the outside stuff in travel mode yesterday!
We had coffee and breakfast (almost unheard of for us on a travel day) and took advantage of the departure preparations made the day before. One last email check, dish down, slides in, power and water disconnected: we’re ready to roll. First stop: the dump station. The site we were at was water and electric only, so we had a week’s worth of dumpage to do. No big deal, as we were in conservation mode and only around 50% “full”, and the dump station was only 100’ away, on the other side of the retention pond. I backed out of the site and pulled forward to dump, took care of business, and then pulled back toward the site to hook up the Range Rover.
One final walk around to check for completeness, and we were off – for about 75’. When we got to the end of the row, I realized that we couldn’t make the right turn needed to get on the road that exits the park. I’d already gone too far to go left, and one of the cardinal rules of towing a vehicle 4-wheels-down is “never back up”. So, even though I was partially blocking the exit road, I had no choice but to unhook the car. I backed it up into an empty space, pulled the coach forward to the left, reversed to the right, and pulled right out. I should have realized that the turn was going to be problematic, since we’d walked that way with the pups several times. Duh!
Anyway, I re-attached the Range Rover and we headed southeast on NS-101 and northeast on NS-102. We stopped in Enfield (our new “road game” isn’t license plate calling, but watching for place names familiar from New England) for the first fuel we put in the coach in Canada. At C$1.045/litre, it’s actually cheaper (exchange excluded) than we paid last year. When we left Dave and Sandy’s last year and took the northern route over Lakes Huron and Superior, we paid C$1.10-1.14/litre. Of course, the current exchange rates are close to $1:C$1, so it’s slightly more expensive in real terms, but nothing like the $5/gallon US equivalent I’d been led to expect from some of the Internet groups we follow.
Near Truro (not MA), we took TC (Trans-Canada)-104 to Port Hawkesbury on Cape Breton Island, then TC-105 toward Sydney. The route took us northeast through the center of the island, along several channels of the Bras d’Or Lake, a large salt-water lake that will likely be one of our scenic drives while we’re here. As we were driving along near an area called St. Patrick’s Channel, we saw a bald eagle circling over the edge of the water. We’re hoping to do quite a bit of wildlife viewing over the next week.
About halfway to Sydney on Cape Breton Island, we found the edge of the known universe. Well, at least the end of the world according to Navteq, the data provider for the GPS system in the coach. As we were driving along, the map space just turned into the blue screen background, creeping slowly across the screen as we traveled along. Eventually, we got to the edge of the unmapped space and, as we crossed, we got an error message and it zoomed all the way out. It’s amazing how much we rely on the GPS, even just to see where the road turns and roughly how far we are from the next town or landmark, even if we’re not using it for directions. The system in the Range Rover is working fine (good thing, since that’s what we use for touring), so I’ll have to check and see if there’s an updated set of disks for the coach.
Just before Sydney, we found our campground. It’s right before the Seal Island Bridge and on the site of what appears to be a quarry of some sort. The whole park is built into terraces under a bluff rising probably 300’ straight up. All along the entry drive are warning signs and cordons relating to the falling rock. Fortunately, we’re in the middle of the park, away from the cliffs, but we’ll have to get some photos tomorrow.
After arrival, we did a little bit of deployment, but decided to head to the grocery for a few things. It was either pasta or filet mignon for dinner, and the filet won. We got most of what we needed at Sobeys in North Sydney, and Geri was able to make us a nice salad while I deployed the stoves and grilled the steaks outside. We had a nice red with dinner, a 2005 Vin de Pays de l’Hérault from Moulin de Gassac in the south of France. It was one that I picked up yesterday at the wine shop in Bedford, and was a pretty good value.
We’re dish-free at this park (no TV, no Internet), so we’re gearing up for a technology-challenged week. I’m sure I’ll find a Wi-Fi hotspot once or twice during the week to connect, but blog posts will have to be composed offline and post when possible for a bit.
As we were driving into North Sydney to the grocery, we saw quite a few roadside signs that were memorable enough for us to go back for some photos, which I’ll post separately. I saw signs for the hotel and restaurant I visited several years ago, as we did due diligence on the operational side of the Towers Perrin-EDS deal. Geri forgot I was here (easy to do, given the number of places I traveled to for w*rk), and it’ll be interesting to cruise back that way as a tourist as opposed to business traveler sometime this coming week. As I’ve said many times, business travel and leisure travel are nothing alike; when you’re traveling on business, you see the inside of planes, airports, cabs, hotels, restaurants and offices.
This week, we’re planning excursions along the Lake, on the Cabot Trail and to Louisbourg. It should be fun, weather permitting. It’s supposed to be relatively nice, but it’s been clouding up this evening, so we’ll see. Here’s hoping it’s just a marine layer…
North Sydney, Nova Scotia
Today was a travel day, as planned. We left the Halifax area a little later than planned, but made good time up to the other end of the province. We’d planned for a 10 AM departure, so we had plenty of time. It dawned on the cloudy/foggy/misty side, so it was a fabulous thing that we’d put all the outside stuff in travel mode yesterday!
We had coffee and breakfast (almost unheard of for us on a travel day) and took advantage of the departure preparations made the day before. One last email check, dish down, slides in, power and water disconnected: we’re ready to roll. First stop: the dump station. The site we were at was water and electric only, so we had a week’s worth of dumpage to do. No big deal, as we were in conservation mode and only around 50% “full”, and the dump station was only 100’ away, on the other side of the retention pond. I backed out of the site and pulled forward to dump, took care of business, and then pulled back toward the site to hook up the Range Rover.
One final walk around to check for completeness, and we were off – for about 75’. When we got to the end of the row, I realized that we couldn’t make the right turn needed to get on the road that exits the park. I’d already gone too far to go left, and one of the cardinal rules of towing a vehicle 4-wheels-down is “never back up”. So, even though I was partially blocking the exit road, I had no choice but to unhook the car. I backed it up into an empty space, pulled the coach forward to the left, reversed to the right, and pulled right out. I should have realized that the turn was going to be problematic, since we’d walked that way with the pups several times. Duh!
Anyway, I re-attached the Range Rover and we headed southeast on NS-101 and northeast on NS-102. We stopped in Enfield (our new “road game” isn’t license plate calling, but watching for place names familiar from New England) for the first fuel we put in the coach in Canada. At C$1.045/litre, it’s actually cheaper (exchange excluded) than we paid last year. When we left Dave and Sandy’s last year and took the northern route over Lakes Huron and Superior, we paid C$1.10-1.14/litre. Of course, the current exchange rates are close to $1:C$1, so it’s slightly more expensive in real terms, but nothing like the $5/gallon US equivalent I’d been led to expect from some of the Internet groups we follow.
Near Truro (not MA), we took TC (Trans-Canada)-104 to Port Hawkesbury on Cape Breton Island, then TC-105 toward Sydney. The route took us northeast through the center of the island, along several channels of the Bras d’Or Lake, a large salt-water lake that will likely be one of our scenic drives while we’re here. As we were driving along near an area called St. Patrick’s Channel, we saw a bald eagle circling over the edge of the water. We’re hoping to do quite a bit of wildlife viewing over the next week.
About halfway to Sydney on Cape Breton Island, we found the edge of the known universe. Well, at least the end of the world according to Navteq, the data provider for the GPS system in the coach. As we were driving along, the map space just turned into the blue screen background, creeping slowly across the screen as we traveled along. Eventually, we got to the edge of the unmapped space and, as we crossed, we got an error message and it zoomed all the way out. It’s amazing how much we rely on the GPS, even just to see where the road turns and roughly how far we are from the next town or landmark, even if we’re not using it for directions. The system in the Range Rover is working fine (good thing, since that’s what we use for touring), so I’ll have to check and see if there’s an updated set of disks for the coach.
Just before Sydney, we found our campground. It’s right before the Seal Island Bridge and on the site of what appears to be a quarry of some sort. The whole park is built into terraces under a bluff rising probably 300’ straight up. All along the entry drive are warning signs and cordons relating to the falling rock. Fortunately, we’re in the middle of the park, away from the cliffs, but we’ll have to get some photos tomorrow.
After arrival, we did a little bit of deployment, but decided to head to the grocery for a few things. It was either pasta or filet mignon for dinner, and the filet won. We got most of what we needed at Sobeys in North Sydney, and Geri was able to make us a nice salad while I deployed the stoves and grilled the steaks outside. We had a nice red with dinner, a 2005 Vin de Pays de l’Hérault from Moulin de Gassac in the south of France. It was one that I picked up yesterday at the wine shop in Bedford, and was a pretty good value.
We’re dish-free at this park (no TV, no Internet), so we’re gearing up for a technology-challenged week. I’m sure I’ll find a Wi-Fi hotspot once or twice during the week to connect, but blog posts will have to be composed offline and post when possible for a bit.
As we were driving into North Sydney to the grocery, we saw quite a few roadside signs that were memorable enough for us to go back for some photos, which I’ll post separately. I saw signs for the hotel and restaurant I visited several years ago, as we did due diligence on the operational side of the Towers Perrin-EDS deal. Geri forgot I was here (easy to do, given the number of places I traveled to for w*rk), and it’ll be interesting to cruise back that way as a tourist as opposed to business traveler sometime this coming week. As I’ve said many times, business travel and leisure travel are nothing alike; when you’re traveling on business, you see the inside of planes, airports, cabs, hotels, restaurants and offices.
This week, we’re planning excursions along the Lake, on the Cabot Trail and to Louisbourg. It should be fun, weather permitting. It’s supposed to be relatively nice, but it’s been clouding up this evening, so we’ll see. Here’s hoping it’s just a marine layer…
Friday, August 3, 2007
A day off
August 3, 2007
Upper Sackville, NS
After two solid days of touring, we were ready for a day off. Geri especially, since her sciatic is worse than ever. She stayed home and tended to that while I ran a few errands. I dropped off another roll of film at Wal-Mart and then used the hour wait for processing to find a local wine store (not the provincial one, but rather one that focuses on value), pick up a few things at the grocery, and make an ATM stop. Once I got home, I spent an hour putting stuff away in anticipation of tomorrow's departure for the other end of the province. With the temperature in the low 80s and the humidity at least that high, it was a pretty steamy exercise but at least it won't need to be done tomorrow morning.
Tonight, we've accepted the invitation of the couple next door to go to a local fish and chips place. We've spoken with them a few times after meeting them first at the Harding's Point campground last week.
Tomorrow, we head for Cape Breton Island, which should be about a 5-hour drive.
Upper Sackville, NS
After two solid days of touring, we were ready for a day off. Geri especially, since her sciatic is worse than ever. She stayed home and tended to that while I ran a few errands. I dropped off another roll of film at Wal-Mart and then used the hour wait for processing to find a local wine store (not the provincial one, but rather one that focuses on value), pick up a few things at the grocery, and make an ATM stop. Once I got home, I spent an hour putting stuff away in anticipation of tomorrow's departure for the other end of the province. With the temperature in the low 80s and the humidity at least that high, it was a pretty steamy exercise but at least it won't need to be done tomorrow morning.
Tonight, we've accepted the invitation of the couple next door to go to a local fish and chips place. We've spoken with them a few times after meeting them first at the Harding's Point campground last week.
Tomorrow, we head for Cape Breton Island, which should be about a 5-hour drive.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Day trip up the "Annapolis Valley"
August 2, 2007
Upper Sackville, NS
Today was another day of touring, except that we got off to a later start than expected. This time it wasn’t a case of us sleeping in, but a minor medical situation that required a detour to the vet before we started out. As I was walking the pups, I noticed some tapeworm segments that Merlin had left behind. We’ve never seen these in a dog before, but we certainly had enough of them when we had cats years ago. So, off to the local vet we went and $42 later we were fully equipped to deal with the situation for Merlin – and Maya Lynn (the vet said, “If one has them the other probably does as well.”). A plus to the trip was that we were able to find their normal kibble, which is only distributed through vets in Canada.
Our day trip took us north along NS-1, along the eastern shore of the Avon River, and then northeast along the coastline of the Minas Basin. This is basically a bay off the Bay of Fundy, and an area where the narrow waterway compounds the tidal flow, resulting in exaggerated high-to-low tide variations, similar to what we saw in New Brunswick. We were traveling through right near low tide, so the mud flats were in view, sometimes stretching for quite a way out into the bay.
We stopped for lunch in Walton, at a public park surrounding the local lighthouse. We took a few pictures, and you can see the difference in the “before” and “after” lunch shots as the tide had risen quite a bit in that short time.
There were quite a few construction zones along the route to Walton, so we made our best guess for a shortcut return route. It was our best guess because the road wasn’t labeled on the map, but that was OK since it didn’t have any road signs either! We did some reckoning by the navigation system in the Range Rover, and seemed to be going in the right direction. It worked out perfectly, cutting at least ½ hour out of the return trip from Walton.
We stopped to take a picture of the center of Brooklyn, just for grins because it was nothing like the center of the Brooklyn we used to live in (NYC). All there was in this one was a combination service station and dollar store.
We then followed our route along the western side of the Avon River, through towns like Windsor and Falmouth (familiar New England names) before turning west toward Wolfville, a pretty little college town mentioned by Brian Mills. From there, we headed north toward Cape Split and Scots Bay, with a stop at a place called “The Lookoff”. From a distance, we could see that we were going to climb a ridge, but we didn’t realize until we were at the top what a view it would provide of the valley below and the bay/river off in the distance.
We continued west along the shore, stopping in Baxters Harbour (thinking there might be a picture there I could send to Peter – nothing but a ‘road closed’ sign), and then on to Halls Harbour. I’d seen an ad for the Halls Harbour Lobster Pound in the tourist guide, so I thought this might be a good place for an early dinner. It worked out pretty well, even though it was a tourist trap of sorts (I know, what did I expect from a place advertising in the official tourist guide?). You know you’re in a tourist trap when you have to order your lobster in the gift shop, not the restaurant. While we were waiting for the food, I took some digital and film shots. It’s a working harbour, and several fishing boats were just finishing the clean up process after offloading.
Geri had mussels (OK but not really equipped to beat the ones we’ve had in Brussels) and we each had a 2½ pound lobster. The lobsters were fresh (you get to pick them out of the tank yourself) and, before we got hooked on Brown’s, we’d have thought they were excellent. Now, they just rated a B+, as they were boiled (the salt water does help but steamed is better) and the melted butter can’t compare to clarified butter. We are so spoiled! We had a local wine, a Sauvignon Blanc from Grand Pré Winery, which went pretty well with the seafood.
After polishing off the mussels, Geri actually saved the body of her lobster to bring home (you know she’s not feeling up to snuff when that happens). Me, not so much; I was trained to be in the “clean plate club” as a kid.
After we ate, I went back for the camera and took a few more shots. The fishing boats were now empty and, since the tide was going out as we ate, had dropped 10-12’. They were just beginning to sit on the harbour floor. The gulls were having a feast on whatever they could reach by diving to the bottom in the few remaining feet of water. I’m not sure if it was something that was living there or leftover bait thrown/washed off the boats, but those gulls were sure ready for dinner!
I took the pups for a short walk on the beach, which is really on the rocks, especially with the tide out. Usually Merlin will go wading at least, but he stopped 10’ from the water line, did his business on the ocean floor, and headed for the car or “Mom” or both. They were ready to go and so were we, so we headed back to NS-1, and hopped over to the NS-101 expressway for the trip back. Once again, the return trip was a little over an hour and we were home in no time. We relaxed for a bit with an Al-tini before calling it an early night.
Upper Sackville, NS
Today was another day of touring, except that we got off to a later start than expected. This time it wasn’t a case of us sleeping in, but a minor medical situation that required a detour to the vet before we started out. As I was walking the pups, I noticed some tapeworm segments that Merlin had left behind. We’ve never seen these in a dog before, but we certainly had enough of them when we had cats years ago. So, off to the local vet we went and $42 later we were fully equipped to deal with the situation for Merlin – and Maya Lynn (the vet said, “If one has them the other probably does as well.”). A plus to the trip was that we were able to find their normal kibble, which is only distributed through vets in Canada.
Our day trip took us north along NS-1, along the eastern shore of the Avon River, and then northeast along the coastline of the Minas Basin. This is basically a bay off the Bay of Fundy, and an area where the narrow waterway compounds the tidal flow, resulting in exaggerated high-to-low tide variations, similar to what we saw in New Brunswick. We were traveling through right near low tide, so the mud flats were in view, sometimes stretching for quite a way out into the bay.
We stopped for lunch in Walton, at a public park surrounding the local lighthouse. We took a few pictures, and you can see the difference in the “before” and “after” lunch shots as the tide had risen quite a bit in that short time.
There were quite a few construction zones along the route to Walton, so we made our best guess for a shortcut return route. It was our best guess because the road wasn’t labeled on the map, but that was OK since it didn’t have any road signs either! We did some reckoning by the navigation system in the Range Rover, and seemed to be going in the right direction. It worked out perfectly, cutting at least ½ hour out of the return trip from Walton.
We stopped to take a picture of the center of Brooklyn, just for grins because it was nothing like the center of the Brooklyn we used to live in (NYC). All there was in this one was a combination service station and dollar store.
We then followed our route along the western side of the Avon River, through towns like Windsor and Falmouth (familiar New England names) before turning west toward Wolfville, a pretty little college town mentioned by Brian Mills. From there, we headed north toward Cape Split and Scots Bay, with a stop at a place called “The Lookoff”. From a distance, we could see that we were going to climb a ridge, but we didn’t realize until we were at the top what a view it would provide of the valley below and the bay/river off in the distance.
We continued west along the shore, stopping in Baxters Harbour (thinking there might be a picture there I could send to Peter – nothing but a ‘road closed’ sign), and then on to Halls Harbour. I’d seen an ad for the Halls Harbour Lobster Pound in the tourist guide, so I thought this might be a good place for an early dinner. It worked out pretty well, even though it was a tourist trap of sorts (I know, what did I expect from a place advertising in the official tourist guide?). You know you’re in a tourist trap when you have to order your lobster in the gift shop, not the restaurant. While we were waiting for the food, I took some digital and film shots. It’s a working harbour, and several fishing boats were just finishing the clean up process after offloading.
Geri had mussels (OK but not really equipped to beat the ones we’ve had in Brussels) and we each had a 2½ pound lobster. The lobsters were fresh (you get to pick them out of the tank yourself) and, before we got hooked on Brown’s, we’d have thought they were excellent. Now, they just rated a B+, as they were boiled (the salt water does help but steamed is better) and the melted butter can’t compare to clarified butter. We are so spoiled! We had a local wine, a Sauvignon Blanc from Grand Pré Winery, which went pretty well with the seafood.
After polishing off the mussels, Geri actually saved the body of her lobster to bring home (you know she’s not feeling up to snuff when that happens). Me, not so much; I was trained to be in the “clean plate club” as a kid.
After we ate, I went back for the camera and took a few more shots. The fishing boats were now empty and, since the tide was going out as we ate, had dropped 10-12’. They were just beginning to sit on the harbour floor. The gulls were having a feast on whatever they could reach by diving to the bottom in the few remaining feet of water. I’m not sure if it was something that was living there or leftover bait thrown/washed off the boats, but those gulls were sure ready for dinner!
I took the pups for a short walk on the beach, which is really on the rocks, especially with the tide out. Usually Merlin will go wading at least, but he stopped 10’ from the water line, did his business on the ocean floor, and headed for the car or “Mom” or both. They were ready to go and so were we, so we headed back to NS-1, and hopped over to the NS-101 expressway for the trip back. Once again, the return trip was a little over an hour and we were home in no time. We relaxed for a bit with an Al-tini before calling it an early night.
Back to the day trips
August 1, 2007
Upper Sackville, Nova Scotia
Holy crap, it's August already! July just seemed to sneak past us. Oh well, it's a nice day and off we go.
Today was the first completely clear day we’ve had (it’s supposed to be relatively clear through Friday) so we mapped out a day trip. We’ve started to get this down to a science, which is a good thing. We clear out the back of the Range Rover to be able to put the seats up; we pack a lunch, water, and dog treats in the 12v cooler; and we put the pups in the back seat (it’s too much to have them in the lap all day). We got an early-for-us start around 9:30.
Our route took us along the southern shoreline, west of Halifax. The tourist route is alternatively labeled the “Bluenose Coast” and the “Lighthouse Coast”. In general, our plan was to follow NS-3 to the west, but first we had to backtrack toward Halifax on NS-101, then south on NS-102 until we picked up NS-3.
The “scenic routes” here are well done. Each route has a stylized logo which is posted on directional signs (no words needed, just follow the arrows – and don’t miss any signposts). Here in the southwestern part of the province, NS-1 runs along the Fundy coast (north shore) and NS-3 along the Atlantic (south shore). The great news is that they’ve built limited access highways in parallel (NS-101 and NS-103, respectively), so you can poke along in one direction all day, and then take the express route back home. We’ve seen similar situations in the US, where Interstates many times parallel the old US Highway system, but not so specifically engineered. It’s quite effective here.
Anyways, we followed the tourist route to our first stop, Peggy’s Cove. This spot is advertised to contain the world’s (or at least the province’s) most photographer lighthouse. Who was I to argue? We stopped for pictures, of course. It’s also supposed to be the only lighthouse with a post office in it, or the only post office in a lighthouse, or – well, you get the idea – it’s special. It’s on a little spit of land, where the trees disappear and the rocks take over. Driving along, it was like entering an alpine region, where you climb so high you’re above the tree line. The only difference was that here, we were at sea level, moving horizontally.
After taking some pictures, using the loo, walking the pups, and picking up a couple of souvenirs cards, we hit the road again. We followed the route around St Margaret’s Bay, through Chester and Mahone Bay, to Lunenburg. We stopped at a beach-side picnic area near Blandford for lunch. By the time we got to Lunenburg, it was already after 3 PM. After touring a bit, we headed for home via NS-103. It took us 6 hours to get there and about 90 minutes to return. Not bad!
We’d taken a pork tenderloin from the freezer, so I thought I’d be clever and put it, still frozen, into the 12v cooler to a) thaw and b) help cool the other stuff. It worked like a charm. Dinner was a tag team effort, with Geri making excellent sautéed carrots in beef stock and polenta while I roasted the pork on the grill outside. It matched quite well with a 1997 Meridian Cabernet Sauvignon that we’d brought from home.
Given that my original thought was that we’d do the whole southern shore in one day, and we only got about 20-25% of the way to Yarmouth (at the western tip of the province), it looks like I’m going to have to adjust my expectations.
Geri’s been suffering over the last few days with her sciatic acting up, which causes a lot of pain, difficulty sleeping, and a hard time with steps (even the few steps into and out of the coach). These “driving day trips” are designed to reduce the amount of walking she has to do, but I’m concerned that sitting in the car for a long ride may be contributing to the flare up. These spells come and go, of course, but this one’s particularly bad. She’s hanging in there, though! We were talking to another couple staying here (they were actually staying at Harding’s Point in New Brunswick when we were there, and we’ll probably see them on PEI in a week and a half when we get there as well), and they recommended an over-the-counter muscle-relaxer/analgesic (I forget the name), and we traded them a bag of Coco’s Canine Cuisine (the dog food mix Geri uses) for a sample of the pills. She’ll try them overnight and we’ll see if it helps.
Upper Sackville, Nova Scotia
Holy crap, it's August already! July just seemed to sneak past us. Oh well, it's a nice day and off we go.
Today was the first completely clear day we’ve had (it’s supposed to be relatively clear through Friday) so we mapped out a day trip. We’ve started to get this down to a science, which is a good thing. We clear out the back of the Range Rover to be able to put the seats up; we pack a lunch, water, and dog treats in the 12v cooler; and we put the pups in the back seat (it’s too much to have them in the lap all day). We got an early-for-us start around 9:30.
Our route took us along the southern shoreline, west of Halifax. The tourist route is alternatively labeled the “Bluenose Coast” and the “Lighthouse Coast”. In general, our plan was to follow NS-3 to the west, but first we had to backtrack toward Halifax on NS-101, then south on NS-102 until we picked up NS-3.
The “scenic routes” here are well done. Each route has a stylized logo which is posted on directional signs (no words needed, just follow the arrows – and don’t miss any signposts). Here in the southwestern part of the province, NS-1 runs along the Fundy coast (north shore) and NS-3 along the Atlantic (south shore). The great news is that they’ve built limited access highways in parallel (NS-101 and NS-103, respectively), so you can poke along in one direction all day, and then take the express route back home. We’ve seen similar situations in the US, where Interstates many times parallel the old US Highway system, but not so specifically engineered. It’s quite effective here.
Anyways, we followed the tourist route to our first stop, Peggy’s Cove. This spot is advertised to contain the world’s (or at least the province’s) most photographer lighthouse. Who was I to argue? We stopped for pictures, of course. It’s also supposed to be the only lighthouse with a post office in it, or the only post office in a lighthouse, or – well, you get the idea – it’s special. It’s on a little spit of land, where the trees disappear and the rocks take over. Driving along, it was like entering an alpine region, where you climb so high you’re above the tree line. The only difference was that here, we were at sea level, moving horizontally.
After taking some pictures, using the loo, walking the pups, and picking up a couple of souvenirs cards, we hit the road again. We followed the route around St Margaret’s Bay, through Chester and Mahone Bay, to Lunenburg. We stopped at a beach-side picnic area near Blandford for lunch. By the time we got to Lunenburg, it was already after 3 PM. After touring a bit, we headed for home via NS-103. It took us 6 hours to get there and about 90 minutes to return. Not bad!
We’d taken a pork tenderloin from the freezer, so I thought I’d be clever and put it, still frozen, into the 12v cooler to a) thaw and b) help cool the other stuff. It worked like a charm. Dinner was a tag team effort, with Geri making excellent sautéed carrots in beef stock and polenta while I roasted the pork on the grill outside. It matched quite well with a 1997 Meridian Cabernet Sauvignon that we’d brought from home.
Given that my original thought was that we’d do the whole southern shore in one day, and we only got about 20-25% of the way to Yarmouth (at the western tip of the province), it looks like I’m going to have to adjust my expectations.
Geri’s been suffering over the last few days with her sciatic acting up, which causes a lot of pain, difficulty sleeping, and a hard time with steps (even the few steps into and out of the coach). These “driving day trips” are designed to reduce the amount of walking she has to do, but I’m concerned that sitting in the car for a long ride may be contributing to the flare up. These spells come and go, of course, but this one’s particularly bad. She’s hanging in there, though! We were talking to another couple staying here (they were actually staying at Harding’s Point in New Brunswick when we were there, and we’ll probably see them on PEI in a week and a half when we get there as well), and they recommended an over-the-counter muscle-relaxer/analgesic (I forget the name), and we traded them a bag of Coco’s Canine Cuisine (the dog food mix Geri uses) for a sample of the pills. She’ll try them overnight and we’ll see if it helps.
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