Friday, July 4, 2014

Halifax Citadel and Grand-Pré

(Note: this post is a day late, due to weak Internet.)

We visited two National Historic Sites in the last two days. Here are some of my pictures. Be sure to take a look at Susie & Denny’s blog for more pictures and a description of the Citadel, so I won’t need to repeat it.

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Denny took a liking to this young woman, but she told him she was married to a young soldier (not really).

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Here are some views of the city from atop the Citadel.

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Today we visited Grand-Pré (French for great meadow), a site commemorating the Acadian settlement from 1682 to 1755, and the British deportation of the Acadians. Thousands of Acadians refused to sign an oath of allegiance to the British crown. The families were forced out of their homes and sent into exile, scattered to numerous locations, including several places in the U.S. as well as a return to France.

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The Acadians built dykes to hold back the high tides along the Minas Basin near the Bay of Fundy. They devised a clever way to drain water from the fields and prevent incoming salt water by using wooden valves in sluices.

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This hand-carved sluice was made from a hollowed-out white pine tree and dates from 1686.

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Their homes, churches and other structures were burned by the British to prevent their return. At this site there were about 150 houses and 150 barns and other buildings. Some have been reconstructed in locations determined by air photo analysis, geophysical surveys and excavations on the fields. Archaeologists have unearthed pottery and other artifacts from this period.

This statue of Evangeline, heroine of Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie,” was commissioned by the Dominion Atlantic Railway.

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This beautiful church is a reconstruction of one that might have stood here.

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The entire interior of the church is beautiful, but this stained glass window is my favorite part.

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The tour was very interesting and provides “the rest of the story” from what we learned about the Acadians from the Louisiana point of view, where many of these people ended up.

Later, Don had a yearning for another lobster. So we drove the short distance to Peggy’s Cove. Here are the Before pictures.

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And After.

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I even got a few bites to supplement my fish and chips. Yummy!

Here’s Peggy’s Point Lighthouse in the fog.

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On the way home we stopped to see the Swissair Flight 111 Memorial. It remembers the 229 men, women and children who died in the plane crash about 12 km off this point on September 2, 1998.

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It also recognizes those who provided assistance in the recovery operations and gave comfort to the families and friends.

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Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Exploring NS and Kayaking

Yesterday, we took a driving tour of part of Nova Scotia near where we’re staying on St. Margaret’s Bay. Here are some of the sights along the way.

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Maybe we need an owl for our yard art collection in Benson.

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How about a brass sailboat weathervane?

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We had a delightful lunch in perfect weather on the balcony of the Savvy Sailor in Lunenburg.

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Jerry Avis (in front of Don) is a very active 80-year-old who has been serving as our personal tour guide. He’s lived in Nova Scotia for most of his life, so he has a wealth of knowledge of the area.

Many buildings are painted bright colors. Red is very popular, as is blue. But we’ve seen bright green, many shades of yellow, orange, purple, etc.

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We want to return to visit the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic, seen below.

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In this view from the opposite side of the bay, our restaurant can be seen just to the left of the bright green building.

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Even the boats/ships are painted bright colors.

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Later, Jerry invited us over to meet his neighbors and we enjoyed a nice visit for happy hour on their deck.

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He has a nice deck and garden at his trailer next door. This is his home during the summers. He travels during winters, spending most of the time in Yuma, AZ.

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Jerry has traveled all over the world with his beautiful Honda Gold Wing, with over 300,000 miles on the odometer.

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Today, Don and I finally got the new Sea Eagle kayak in the water! I didn’t get any pictures of it, but here are a few pics of the area we paddled.

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We like the way the boat tracks straight, the seats are comfortable, and it was easy to get in and out of it in shallow water. It doesn’t seem as tippy as our hard-sided kayaks. We need more practice in packing it up, but we are overall very happy with the two-person kayak. And we’re looking forward to lots more kayaking in this beautiful area!

Be sure to look at Susie & Denny’s blog as she took different pictures and has a different perspective, plus coverage of today’s outing.

Finally, Happy Canada Day! We enjoy traveling in this beautiful country.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Welcome to Nova Scotia!

(Note: this is my second blog post today, since I couldn’t get it to upload yesterday.)

We had a good travel day, and it’s great to be entering another Canadian Province. I was barely able to get these first two shots through the windshield as we crossed the border from New Brunswick.

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The Provincial flags make a nice display at the border, as well as the great lighthouse and sign above.

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Although some of the scenery is similar to what we’ve seen in QC and NB, some of it is different. We look forward to exploring NS more, much more!

This is our first sighting of huge windmills in Canada like those that proliferate in the lower 48.

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We didn’t mind paying $5.25 at the toll booth (cheap at twice the price), especially because the road shows that they actually spend money on maintaining it, unlike some of the U.S. states we’ve been in lately and paid a lot more for tolls only to drive on rough, worn-out pavement.

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I took the second leg of the drive, and felt like I had drawn the short straw. Traffic got heavier, hills got steeper, and for the last 20 miles, the road got twisty and really narrow. But we made it safely to our destination at Wayside Campground, got parked and settled, and had a good visit with some fellow Escapees under shade trees with absolutely perfect temperatures.

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Hugs were shared as we got acquainted with new friends.

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Denny, Susie and I went to a local restaurant nearby, The Finer Diner, based on the local’s recommendation.

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It was a nice meal, but it will take me awhile to get used to paying $13-17 for a sandwich. But I found out that the British influence in NS means they know what malt vinegar is! Now I have to come back for fish ‘n chips.

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After dinner we took a short drive.

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Don & I are itching to put our kayak in these waters.

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And we’ll have to make time to visit this place.

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We’re planning to stay here for a week, maybe more, and I know there will be lots of adventures.