Tag: new brunswick

Day 17: Maine and the Big Boot

August 22, 2012
PEI2012

With only a few days remaining on the PEI2012 road trip, we were finishing up in the Maritimes and heading to the US. Before we hit the road this morning we visited Magnetic Hill. The entire area has changed from 36 years ago when I went there as a kid.

The place is like an attraction park.

Nearby is the Magnetic Hill Concert Site, they were setting up for the Bruce Springsteen concert being held there this Sunday with Tom Cochrane and Red Ryder. There were still tickets available, as well as hotel rooms.

We crossed the border around 11:00 am, and had about a 20 minute wait. Here is Angela posing with a barrel. Read the sign, it says “For your Good Health Barrel Picking is Prohibited”.

We stopped in Bangor, Maine for gas and drove by Stephen King’s house.

Our stop for the evening is Freeport, Maine. The two bellhops taking our bags to the room.

Freeport is the home of L.L. Bean, the main downtown is like a L.L. Bean Campus. There is the flagship store, a bike & boat store, hunting & fishing store and a home store. We only went into the flagship store and we were getting lost. Outside the store is a big “Bean” boot.

Inside there are animals and other displays.

They have a fish tank near the front with trout in the tank. There is an observation bubble for little kids.

And not so little kids.

Here is Claudia and Angela getting stepped on by the boot.

Gillian and Susan watching us stage the photo.

Once again we had a great day of weather.

For dinner we headed down to the marina in South Freeport.

It was time for lobster again, so I googled “lobster dinner in Freeport” and the Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster came back as one of the Top 10 Lobster Shacks in Maine from TravelandLeisure.com.

To order lobster follow the signs on the ground.

Order at the window on the right, pick it up at the window on the left.

But first decide on what to have. Susan and I went for the Lobster Delight, a 1 lb lobster, a corn on the cob and 12 steamed clams for $22.95. The girls had fried shrimp and scallop baskets. They don’t serve alcohol, but if you wanted, you can bring your own bottle of wine or beer.

Here is the lobster delight. It was delicious.

A couple of more photos of the marina.

Our drive took us from Moncton, NB to Freeport, ME, it took about 7.5 hours with stops.

Freeport, Maine.

Day 16: Fundy Coastal Drive

August 21, 2012
PEI2012

Today we were doing the Fundy Coastal Drive, with stops at Hopewell Rocks, Alma, Cape Enrage and finally Hopewell Rocks again. Angela where are we going today?

Low tide was at 9:32 am this morning, so we were able to walk on the ocean floor. The people closest to the bottom of the photo are the girls.

Looking over the mudflats.

Going early meant less people around.

Gillian taking a picture of Angela.

An older couple asked me to take a photo of her and her husband, afterwards she offered to take one of us, so here we are at Hopewell Rocks.

The flowerpots are just like I remembered them as a kid.

They have most of the caves roped off for safety.

The mud is smooth and sticky, just ask the girls.

Not knowing that they had hoses at the top to wash off your feet, the girls were trying to clean their feet on the seas sacs.

Under the piles of seas acs are rocks.

Note Angela’s muddy feet.

Washing off the mud. We would have to come back in a few hours to view the Hopewell Rocks at high tide.

From Hopewell Rocks we headed to the town of Alma. The tide was out and it gave a good example of the vertical tides as well. I was looking forward to seeing these.

The Salmon River.

We had lunch at the Harbourview Restaurant, when we came out we took a walk back to the wharf and the tide was starting to come back in. We didn’t have time to stay long enough to see the tide come right up.

From the Village of Alma we drove to Cape Enrage to see one of the oldest lighthouses in New Brunswick. This one was built in 1870, it replaced the original built in 1840.

Claudia put a loonie in to take in the view.

You could walk down to the beach, but there wasn’t much time as the tide was coming in.

The inukshuk Gillian built.

Skipping stones at Barn Marsh Island beach.

Gillian sitting atop the shingle bar beach.

We got back to Hopewell Rocks for the peak of high tide at 3:22 pm. The tide was 44 feet today, it was rising at a rate of 12″ every 7 minutes.

Low Tide…

High tide…

The girls taking a break.

The girls at the bottom of the stairs, note the closed sign strung across behind them.

We thought we saw Uncle Danny at the Hopewell Rocks listening to one of the guides.

This one is Diamond Rock.

Day 15: Halifax and Giant Lobster

August 20, 2012
PEI2012

Day 15 and we were headed to Halifax before ending the day in Moncton. We parked at the ferry terminal in Dartmouth and took the passenger ferry across the harbour. It was cloudy and overcast, but no rain. A view of the Angus MacDonald bridge.

Claudia and Gillian on the ferry. The ferry is part of the Metro Halifax Transit system.

Pulling into Halifax.

We walked the Historic Properties.

They are saving the building facades on this building, so all that is standing is the walls while they work around it.

There has been some discussion in the news about how much the federal government has spent on the War of 1812 anniversary hype. Especially in light of all the recent cuts at Parks Canada.

The skies were still a little gloomy.

Angela and a buddy.

Gillian and her friend.

We did the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. In honour of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titantic, there were extra Titanic focused exhibits. Most notably was how the Cable Ships of Halifax helped in the body recovery in the days afterwards.

A pair of shoes from one of the young victims. Most items were burned to avoid people trying to scavenge souvenirs, but the one police officer couldn’t bear to throw these in the fire, so he kept them in his desk drawer until he retired and then it got passed down through the family, eventually ending up at the museum.

There was a Swan on board the RMS Titanic who did not survive.

An interesting piece, Ideal the board game company released a game called The Sinking of the Titanic, you had to move around the board picking up survivors. After some outcry, the board game was removed from store shelves, and re-released as Abandon Ship. You can still pick up the original on eBay for $10.00 + shipping.

Angela getting attacked by an octopus.

Part of the admission fee allowed you to go on the CSS Acadia that is docked.

Thomas the tugboat out in the harbour.

The CSS Acadia bell.

The girls steering the ship.

You could climb up and down the decks.

Angela relaxing on board the Titanic.

He she is in the grand foyer.

Taking the MacDonald bridge up to the 102 and Moncton.

We headed to Shediac for dinner, not lobster dinner, but we would see the world’s largest lobster.

The girls with the lobster fisherman.

Claudia helping Angela and Gillian escape from the giant claw.

Some of the tourist shops at the lobster.

Lobsterheads.

Day 3: Entering Atlantic Canada

August 8, 2012
PEI2012

Day 3 took us from Lévis, Quebec to Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Our first stop of the day was at the New Brunswick Visitor Centre on Highway 2. There was no sign that said New Brunswick, but there was a replica of the ship on their licence plates.

We stopped in Grand Falls, NB for lunch at the information centre in town next to the falls. Here is Angela photo bombing Claudia’s picture with the big indian.

The falls weren’t living up to their name, they had most of the water blocked off as they were working on the raised dam. It did provide a good view of the gorge below.

Along highway 2 heading towards Fredericton. Again we had another great day for driving.

After dinner we headed to the Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge. The bridge consists of 9 spans crossing a distance of 581 metres (1,906 ft) over the Saint John River and was constructed in 1936. The final freight train crossed the bridge in March 1996.

It is a shared bridge, so you have to watch for bikes.

Looking towards the Princess Margaret Bridge.

The girls all standing on different levels and angles.

Looking up at one of the spans.

It was a lot busier than this photos shows.

On the way back we were able to catch the sunset over Fredericton.

Today was a 570 km drive and 7 hours with stops. We also lost an hour with the time zone change. Tomorrow it is off to Sydney, Nova Scotia on Cape Breton island. We’ll be back to explore New Brunswick on the way back.