Another day in Nova Scotia

Today was our last full day in Nova Scotia. Tomorrow morning we head to North Sydney to catch the midnight ferry to Port Aux Basque, Newfoundland.

Today we met our friends Lorna and Chris, and went to lunch at a quaint little winery called Bent Ridge. This winery has only 3 things, but they are 3 of my favourite things. Wine, Beer and Pizza.

This winery has been open for all of 5 days. They asked us if we had any ideas for improvement of the winery restaurant. Lorna and Bonnie had a number of suggestions that the owner thanked them for their ideas.

This picture is the winery and restaurant from the front.

The washrooms at the winery were quite interesting. There were 3 of them all colourfully decorated.
I tried to get pictures of them all, but the folks in 2 of them didn't think too much of that idea. Oh well, one was vacant.

As noted above we go to North Sydney tomorrow to board the ferry.

Nova Scotia

We left Dieppe, New Brunswick on our way to Windsor, Nova Scotia. Traffic again was non existent.
Spent about an hour trying to get a map of Nova Scotia. You probably wondered why we didn't bring one with us. Well, we were wondering that ourselves at that time.

We did make it to Windsor just before noon and met my cousin Mike Smith and his wife Gail for lunch at the Spitfire Arms. I think it was about 40 odd years since we last connected. It was really good to see them after so long, and lunch at the Spitfire Arms was quite good.

We had 2 pictures taken, and I picked this one because my eyes were closed in the other picture even more than this one.

After lunch, we went to visit our friends Lorna and Chris Jones who live in Windsor.
Last fall Lorna and Chris bought a new house and this was our first glimpse of the new digs.
Very nice place. We were very impressed.

We went out to lunch at the Surf restaurant in Hantsport. Another good meal.

This is us after lunch.

On the way back Chris took us to one of the many historical sites in Windsor.
The Stannus Arena.
This arena is the oldest surviving indoor ice hockey venue in the world. It is also the oldest surviving venue where the Stanley Cup was contested in 1904.
Do we have a picture of it. Of course we do.

I think Chris took us there because he played one of the 1st games at the arena back in the early 1900's
It is hard to see in this picture but the building, no longer used for hockey, is for sale.
What an opportunity!

You probably wonder if we have some interesting facts about Nova Scotia. Well, yes we do.

I am sure y'all know that Springhill Nova Scotia is the home of Anne Murray.
But did you know that in Nova Scotia, prostitution is legal.
Also Nova Scotia is the 2nd smallest province in Canada and was one of the 4 founding provinces to join confederation in 1867.

Also, there is no point in Nova Scotia that is more than 60 KM from the sea.
I am sure you didn't know that.

New Glasgow, in Nova Scotia was recently voted the worst city to live in within the entire country.
We will not be going there.

The Nova Scotia flower is the Mayflower, the tree is the red spruce and the bird is the Osprey.

That's enough of that stuff for today.

Tomorrow we stay in Nova Scotia and prepare for our assault on Newfoundland.

New Brunswick

We were up early this morning, and left St Jean-Port-Joli around 7:30 AM on our way to New Brunswick.
Traffic was non existent until we ran into a hilly stretch in New Brunswick. As you can see from the picture it was "total gridlock"

Not a car on the road.

I am not sure how much y'all know about New Brunswick, but I am full of non essential information.

New Brunswick is the only bilingual province in Canada. Canada, as a country is bilingual, but not the provinces. Quebec is unilingual and the other provinces are undeclared. Manitoba was originally bilingual at its creation, then became officially Anglophone only, but this was later reversed by the courts. Manitoba is not currently bilingual.
Good on New Brunswick

Also New Brunswick has the highest tides in the world in the Bay of Fundy, the largest covered bridge in the world in Hartland, the magnetic hill in Moncton as well as the reversing falls on the St John River.

Y'all may have known those facts, but did you know the worlds largest axe is in Nackawic, New Brunswick. And here it is.

You probably also know the Moosehead Brewery in St John is the oldest brewer in Canada.

Below is a picture of Squaw Cap Look Off at the Bay of Fundy. Beautiful.

We checked into the Best Western in Dieppe, New Brunswick, cocktails and dinner at St Louis Bar and Grill, back to our room, and tomorrow we will arrive in Windsor, Nova Scotia.

Off to the East Coast

Well, we were up at the crack of dawn, and started off around 5:30.
The traffic was wonderful. Hardly a car on the road.
As we headed along the 403, we were amazed at the sunrise.

This picture was taken around 5:45 AM on the 403/QEW when y'all were probably still in bed.
In fact we posted this picture because it may be the only opportunity for some of you folks to see a sunrise in the summer.

The trip to Quebec was fast, no traffic, and quite uneventful.

We decided to get off the freeway at Montmagny. (about 60 miles past Quebec City).
The picture below is the St Lawrence River at low tide.

Looks like a lot of mud.

We went to the information centre and despite the language barrier, (our french is not so good) we managed to secure a room in a town 35 minutes east.
The town was called St Jean-Port-Joli and is on highway 132 and right on the St Lawrence River.
Terrific charming room and the young lady checking us in was very helpful.
After the long drive we were ready for an evening cocktail.
She directed us to "Bistro Des Poinners" (whatever that means).
Very nice place under a gigantic tree for shade. (reminds me of the Banyon tree in Barbados all those years ago)
Great spot and the beer and wine were excellent.

This is Bonnie at the bar with her Pino Grigio.

The Bar from the St Lawrence River.

Looking east along the St Lawrence River from the town of St Jean-Port-Joli.

Tomorrow we head for New Brunswick and hopefully the weather will co-operate and we will again have a wonderful time.

Leaving the Soo and the Agawa Canyon

We left our motel early this morning for our return home.
A quick trip to Timmies for coffee, a bagel and a muffin and we are off.

We set the GPS for home and started to drive. The next thing we know we are on the bridge to the USA. I think maybe "The Donald" wanted to have a word with us. Probably to see how we enjoyed the Agawa Canyon.
A quick turn around, a reset of the GPS and we were on our way.

Our friends Bob and Sharon Briscoe had mentioned a spot just east of Blind River that they often visit and called it "their place"
After a lot of interesting searching, we think we found it. Well, maybe.

We did take some photos that we will send them to see if this is the spot

We left Blind River and through numerous road closures, finally arrived home around 6:00 PM.
All in all, a wonderful 3 days.

The Agawa Canyon Train Ride

We left our motel room early in the morning and headed for the Agawa Canyon Train Tour.

The tour is an unending mix of forests of the Canadian Shield.
It skirts the shores of northern lakes and rivers, crosses towering trestles and looks on the same rugged landscapes and majestic views that inspired the Group of Seven to create some of Canada's most notable works of art.

The bedrock underlying this area, formed 2.5 billion years ago, is among the oldest rock in the world.
The ice sheets in that area created the present terraced surface above the Agawa River and below the Canyon walls.

The train ride is 114 miles to the Canyon and hopefully the same on the return.

Why is it miles you may say, we are Canadians and we are metric.
Well, the mile markers were established prior to Canada going metric, and have remained ever since.

Enough of that history. Where are the pictures?

The 1st group show the fall colours as we headed towards the Agawa Canyon.

We probably need to add a few waterfall pictures as there are numerous waterfalls throughout the Canyon Tour.

We will show more waterfalls when we reach the Canyon.

Earlier we noted that the ride was 114 miles. It takes just over 4 hours to reach the canyon, so we arrived just after noon.

The stop at the Canyon is 90 minutes, and there are various hikes that you can take while you are there. Of course we opted for a couple of walking tours.
The 1st one was to the Black Beaver Falls. How to get to the top of the falls?
Your fearless adventurers were up for the challenge.
These pictures are Bonnie and I after we climbed down from the top of the falls. Unfortunately no photographs are allowed during the ascent or descent as it is too dangerous.

We do need a picture of our train that took us on the tour. There are 16 cars on the train.

I think a few more pictures of the fall colours on the tour are in order. (since I took so many).

The last photo was quite difficult to take as the train was crossing a trestle but the Engineer was willing to wait at the top for me after I took the picture. Quite civil of him I thought. He was Italian of course, so a very nice fellow.

Tomorrow morning we head for home, and tomorrow nights blog will be the last one of our Agawa Canyon Adventure.

Off to the Soo

We left early this morning for our drive to Sault Ste Marie.
As y'all know, the Agawa Canyon Train leaves from Sault Ste Marie.

The trip up was quite easy as there was little traffic on the roads on a Sunday morning.
We got to Sudbury in the later morning and headed west in Hwy 17.

We were looking for signs of the fall colours and did find some.

The 2 pictures below were taken around Spanish, Ontario.

This picture was near the town of Massey.

The 2 pictures below were taken of the fall colours around the serpent river.

Next we were off to meet our friends Bob and Sue for lunch at Blind River.
Bob and Sue drove down from Elliot Lake and we were meeting them at the 17 restaurant.
Lucky for us we saw a sign on the side of the road and knew we had arrived in Blind River.

Not sure what the sign said but we figured it wasn't "go home", so we looked for the restaurant.

Not sure who these folk are but they wanted their picture taken, so we obliged.

A couple of pictures of your fearless adventurers, and then Bob and Sue headed home and Bonnie and I headed for "The Soo"

On our way out of Blind River, Bonnie said to "flip a Uie" and turn right on to 17 to get to The Soo.

However, we were on a one way street and are now heading the wrong way approaching a paramedic van who was going the correct way. Oh well, we needed a bit of excitement today and that was it.

We arrived at our motel (The Catalina), around 4:30, checked in, and we are ready for tomorrow's train ride. Hopefully the fall colours will be good. 

Stay tuned.