Oh Canada!
We
have one day to spend in Nova Scotia so we decided on a couple of stops that
were directly connected to our ancestry.
My
favorite thing about Nova Scotia thus far is the amount and variety of wild
flowers! It is common place on our trips that we stop alongside the road to
snap pictures of flora and fauna. This trip is no different.
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| Daisies |
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| Hard at Work in Clementsville |
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| Wild Roses of some sort- they smell incredible! |
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| Lupines- everywhere- gorgeous |
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| At work again! |
We noticed the tide was very low and we were in the area at one of the low tides of the day (there are two sets of tides in the area every day). There were many spots were people were out in the flats looking for clams or mussels. they were digging in the sand with buckets.
The
Bay of Fundy is the body of water between North America and Nova Scotia. It is
known for it's extreme tides and unique ecosystem. The reason for the Nova
Scotia visit was ancestry but I was most excited about the tides. I remember
seeing a picture in the set of Compton Encyclopedia's that my parents had
purchased for us as kids. The picture showed a boat sitting on the sea bottom
with no water around while it was tied to a dock 30 feet above it. Obviously,
it stuck with me. (BTW, for those of you that might be too young to know what
an encyclopedia is, think Google in a book form... usually 24-ish volumes...)
Dean
was able to fly his drone over and area where the tides were low, in a small
community named Clementsport.
On
our way to our first destination we stopped at an area in Annapolis Royal that
you could visibly see the water pulling out. We walked down a paved walkway to
edge of the water and watched as you could see the tide lowering. We made
guesstimates as to where the water line was at high tide and it was about a
25-30 foot difference from the waters edge at this time in the morning. After
researching, I found that the time difference between high and low tides is on
average 6 hours and 13 minutes. We were going to be back this way after our
explorations so we decided we'd stop back to see how much the water had risen
as it would be moving towards high tide in the afternoon.
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| When we returned here four hours later this was all under water |
Our
first stop was Queen Anne's Fort in Annapolis Royal. Many of the canons have
been placed in their original locations as this site has been restored by Parks
Canada to be as close to the original as possible. Something that the Parks
system does that I think is so smart, they put red Adirondack chairs
every so often at parks. They are encouraging visitors to sit and take in not
only the history of the area but also the surrounding nature.
Upon
arrival at the Fort, Becky and I spotted the first two red chairs of the day.
They were perched at the end of a long land-wharf of sorts. We bee-lined it
there.
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| From a Distance |
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| Closer View of Our Red Chairs |
Time
for a flashback.... wish I could put some fuzzy wavy lines here, taking you
back in time....
We
took a trip with the Landry's to Whitefish, Montana back in 2016. While
visiting this beautiful area of our country we hiked in Glacier National Park.
We prided ourselves on having all of the right 'stuff'- hiking shoes (water
tight due to snow there), hiking sticks, pants, shirts, etc. If anything, we
looked the part! We got to Logan's Pass and decided to hike to Hidden Lake. It
was early July but everything was still covered in snow which added a challenge
to our Cajun legs and feet! Anyway, the four of us headed up the trail to get
to Hidden Lake. There were lots of people doing the same. And I might note that
not everyone looked the hiker part as we did- there were people in shorts,
sneakers, some in flip flops etc- however, they were all pretty much attempting
the hike. I worried about their ability to complete the hike through the snow
in their chosen attire, but we pushed on. After some time of trekking through
the snow we come to a part of the hike where it narrows down to a single lane
of traffic around the side of mountain. Basically, you had to face and hug the
mountainside and side step around the mountain. You could not see how far it
was that you'd be doing this, which added to my anxiety. The boys were ahead of
us as I tended to slow my roll the closer we got to this area. Becky was near
me, not with with guys. The closer I got to this pass, the more fretful I became.
I remember approaching and someone grabbing at my leg or something to help
stabilize themselves- I remember thinking, dude, not a smart move, I am so
freaked out right now I am going to kick you off of me and down the mountain
side in a second. I think I was next in line to go around the bend and I just
lost my nerve. I couldn't do it. I was frozen with fear. I apologized and back
out and carefully down the path from which we had come. Luckily, I found my
friend not far down the path as she couldn't keep the nerve to do it either. We
were so happy to see one another! We found a small mound of rocks in all of the
snow, deemed it the Island of Isolation and claimed it as our own as we waited
for the guys to return from Hidden Lake. As we sat we watched others go up and
around that precarious spot that beat us. Wait, was that a 70-ish woman in flip
flops going on the hike? Surely she won't be able to do it....fast forward 30
minutes, we see the same lady coming back from Hidden Lake.... we both agreed
that we wouldn't mention her to anyone else. Then we saw a mother with an
infant strapped to her chest do the hike... small children... yeah, obviously
we really chickened out. Lucky for us, we had the backpack with lunch in it!
Our new found spot at Fort Anne's very much reminded us of our Island of
Isolation... (more about this spot later)
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| The Original Island of Isolation - circa 2016 |
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| Realizing we have the sandwiches! |
Our
next stop was Port Royal. This is a village that has been reconstructed by
Parks Canada. In 1605 Sieur de Mons with explorer Samuel de Champlain landed here in an attempt to establish colonies here for France. Only men were here as skilled craftsmen to build the habitation. The site has since been completely restored by Parks Canada. There are many mentions of our cajun ancestors being from Port Royal but it is not this site. Port Royal of our cajun ancestry is actually present day Annapolis which we visited just before this stop.
Upon arrival we were greeted by a gentleman in period garb - he wore a linen shirt and wool trousers with wooden shoes. His name was Mr. Melancon. We stood and spoke to him for some time. He got excited when there was mention of Bobby Hebert visiting the site some years ago and then Dean mentioning that he and Bobby were in school together. He spoke about St. Martinville, and the connection to Nova Scotia. I recorded part of our conversation with him- his accent reminded me of our down the bayou friends and I love his pronunciations! And, football is a universally loved sport!
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| Mr. Melancon |
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| Us in the Common Room |
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| Foot Powered Spring Pole Lathe |
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| Red Chairs to Take In Nature |
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| The Infamous Wooden Shoes |
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| Head of the Table in Common Room |
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| Becky Signing the Guest Book |
We did find out that our ancestors were shipped out of Nova Scotia from Annapolis at the Queen's Wharf!!! The exact spot that Becky and I sat earlier in the red chairs!!!
It was past lunch time and we have been utilizing Yelp! to assist us in finding and enjoying local eateries. As it would turn out, there was a small seafood restaurant, Crows Nest, on the western coast of NS that we would try out. Very good late lunch!
It was past lunch time and we have been utilizing Yelp! to assist us in finding and enjoying local eateries. As it would turn out, there was a small seafood restaurant, Crows Nest, on the western coast of NS that we would try out. Very good late lunch!
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| Crows Nest |
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| Since We are Boat People Now.... |
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| Hot Lobster Sandwich & Homemade Fries |
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| Poutine - it's a Canadian thing- fries with gravy & mozzarella- pretty good! |
Once we began heading back to Yarmouth we saw large circular cages in the Atlantic that we later found out to be salmon farms. They could then sell the salmon as Atlantic salmon.
We ate dinner at a local restaurant called Rudders. Becky got here first lobster of the trip there. Dean and I shared famous Digby scallops wrapped in bacon and deep fried. Quite tasty. We also ate fried shrimp and haddock. We all enjoyed dessert with coffee.
I'm a little worried because as we site and enjoy our dinner, the fog is steady rolling in. Does that make for rough seas? Our ferry ride out is tomorrow morning at 8:30 am. Keeping my fingers crossed.
We've reached that part of the blog for audience participation! The results from the previous survey:
We would all take the ferry but Steven chose drive. BTW he did ride the ferry with us both ways!
For the poll today:
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