Day 49 of 49 and the rest of the story

Yesterday was our last day of the caravan to the Atlantic Provinces.  We woke up to pastry goodies and coffee.  We all said our good byes and headed for the border and the good olde USA.  Very glad to be back.  

Here is Don finally making it to the front of the line to pass the test to get back into our own country.  Unreal.  All RV's were searched.  We had to open our door let them in to look anywhere they wanted, some even had to open compartments.  Of all the cars that went through not one was searched the entire 30 minutes or more we waited for our turn.  Not right.   Took my tomatoes, apples (because they had a Chile sticker on them), and my tangerine (because we will not let any kind of citrus into the USA even if it was purchased in the USA)  All of these items were purchased in Walmarts.  They make no sense at all.  Well after giving them all my food we left to forage for more.  LOL  We had to travel 400 miles the first day because were given incorrect information on the location to the end of the caravan.  We do not usually travel more than 200 miles in a day.  We were on the road about 12 hours and got to Vermont around 7:30 in the dark.  Not good.

 Made it all the was through Maine and into New Hampshire.  All the way across New Hampshire and to the middle of Vermont our first day out.  

The New England states are beautiful

 

Our final state, now we have to get to the middle and our campsite.  We had reservations because this is the Labor Day Weekend and every campsite is taken.  We did not want to take any chances of not finding a spot so off we went for a marathon drive.  We did not enjoy it and hope we can plan better next time out.  But really we planned this time, but our information was not correct.  


   




The leaves are beginning to change big time in Vermont.

 
Farming is big in this area.  This guy is cutting the grass.

   

This guy is picking it up from the ground and putting it in the truck and off it goes.  They had filled one just as we approached and this guy just moved up to take his place. 
   We drove up the shores of Lake Champlain in Vermont and then down the shore in New York.  This is at the top of the USA as we went across the bridge we entered New York.

 
This was taken as we went across the bridge on the New York side.  There has got to be a very interesting story here.

 

You cross the border on the bridge, but they had a tiny sign there and I missed the shot so this is much more impressive anyway.

   

    Sights as we drove along in New York.  
 
This is the border crossing in New York.  This was how close we were to Canada on our travels today.  We stopped and got fuel and the guy next to us was Canadian and asked if we had just come through the crossing.  No.  Well it took him 2 hours to get through.  

Some thoughts on being home again.  Rog is glad to be back because he can buy lunch meats again.  He noted that Canadians must not eat lunch meats of any kind.  He loves his salami.  LOL  Also the price of beer in Canada is outrageous.  A case of beer no matter the brand costs $45 and they are only sold in province runned liquor stores.  For you that do not purchase beer in the states it would cost around $17 depending on the brand of beer.      

Day 48 of 49

Today we woke up and found our rig all decorated.  It is our 44th wedding aniversery!!!!  It was really nice of the caravan staff, Bettie and Jim our tail gunners, to get up early and do that for us.  

 


Saint John is the largest city in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, and the second largest in the maritime provinces. It is known as the Fundy City due to its location on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy at the mouth of the Saint John River, as well as being the only city on the bay. Saint John was the first incorporated city in Canada

  This is a city market place.  The building was constructed like a ship, but upside down.  Very colorful and lots of nice stuff.
 

    The columns are made for the masts of ships.  Many of the homes in St. John are made of ship parts or ballast materials in the ship.


On high looking at St John and the island in the distance is Canada's Ellis Island.  It is now a park



 
Some buildings in town.

 

  
A mental hospital use to be here now a park with wooden carved statues telling a story of the area. 

The St. John River itself flows into the Bay of Fundy through a narrow gorge several hundred feet wide at the centre of the city. It contains a unique phenomenon called the Reversing Falls where the diurnal tides of the bay reverse the water flow of the river for several kilometers. A series of underwater ledges at the narrowest point of this gorge also create a series of rapids.
The diurnal tides of the bay force the flow of water to reverse against the prevailing current at this location when the tide is high, although in the spring freshet, this is frequently surpassed by the downstream volume of water. The rapids, or "falls", are created by a series of underwater ledges which roil the water in either direction, causing a significant navigation hazard, despite the depth of water. As a result, vessels wishing to enter or exit from the river must wait for slack tide.  In Saint John the height difference from low to high tide is approximately 28 ft due to the funneling effect of the Bay of Fundy as it narrows. The Reversing Falls in Saint John, actually an area of strong rapids, provides one example of the power of these tides; at every high tide, ocean water is pushed through a narrow gorge in the middle of the city and forces the St. John River to reverse its flow for several hours. The tides changes 28 feet twice a day. The water is traveling at 35 mph upstream stopping for 10 min between the low and high tides. 

 
This is a pic of the river just at low tide.


This is the river about three hours later.  The tide is really going out now.  We were at a dinner and did not get back to see the reverse as the tide comes in and pushes the water up river. 

Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards.
They stand up to 40 feet high (with two floors) and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15–25 men. Their round structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them resistant to cannon fire, while their height made them an ideal platform for a single heavy artillery piece, mounted on the flat roof and able to traverse, and hence fire over, a complete 360° circle. A few towers had moats or other batteries and works attached for extra defense.
The Martello towers were used during the first half of the 19th century, but became obsolete with the introduction of powerful rifled artillery. Many have survived to the present day, often preserved as historic monuments.
In the later half of the 19th century, there was another spate of tower and fort building, during the premiership of Lord Palmerson. These fortifications are therefore correctly called the Palmerson Forts, although, because they are circular in design, some confuse them with Martello towers.
 







beautiful flower

This is our last full day with the caravan and so we had our farewell dinner at Lily's Cafe and it was very good.  We are getting up in the morning and have breakfast and then head to the USA!  It will be great to be in the States again.  Our next stop is Montpelier, Vt. and I know I will not have internet there. 

Day 45-Day 47 of 49

 This is a catch up day for me.  First is Day 45 then Days 47 and 48 were travel days.  We traveled from Louisbourg, Nova Scotia to Truro, Nova Scotia to our current location in St. John, New Brunswick.  Good internet here so will be able to tell you about the happenings tomorrow.

We came off the ferry and went 38 miles to Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. Of all the provinces we have been on this trip I like Nova Scotia the best.  That said, each one had their own special thing for us to experience.  



Today started out with Bob’s birthday.   Here’s to you Bob and have many more.  Bob was also having problems with his rig this morning.   We are sure hoping it is just something minor.  Update:  they called the Prevost people and they sent a guy to their rig and had it fixed in time for them to be at the park with us.  However John and Joyce who have problems with their rig are still in Newfoundland with no end in sight for a fix.  


  Our campground is located by the water’s edge.  It is very pretty here.  As I walked out on the boardwalk I was able to see a star fish, a crab, and some small fish feeding close to the edge of the dock.


 
A crab.  The brown spot on the bottom of the pic

star fish


Schools of fish all around the pier feeding. 


   Shark just hanging around.

There was much feasting and partying here over the weekend, of course before we got here, celebrating the birthday of some dead king who was ruler here many many years ago from across the pond.  One of the fun things they did was had a shark fishing contest.  And this guy was the only shark caught.  


 We then headed to the Fortress of Louisbourg.  It is a National Historic Site of Canada and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. We also learned the difference between a fort and a fortress.  Fort men only, Fortress where families lived within the walls.  The town was in the fort itself. 
 
The original settlement was made in 1713. Subsequently, the fishing port grew to become a major commercial port and a strongly defended fortress. The fortifications eventually surrounded the town. The walls were constructed mainly between 1720 and 1740. By the mid-1740s Louisbourg was one of the most extensive (and expensive) European fortifications constructed in North America.


 
 This is a pic taken of the Fortress of Louisbourg from afar.  I am wanting to show you just how big this reconstructed site is.  They did a great job. 
Fortress of Louisbourg stands proudly before us. It’s very scale gives us pause; no mere fort, our destination is a fortified town, alive with citizens and soldiers.





   This is a pic of a tavern/inn.  The white bag thing hanging out the upper window is a bed.  You would throw this on the floor along with many others and you would all sleep together, about 15 or more, with lots of bed bugs too. 

This is just one of the many gardens at the fortress.

It is a fascinating walk through history, with acting people playing citizens and soldiers from that time in history. We also found the self-guided tour of the ruins, with plaques explaining each building fascinating. This is a great place for a wonderful living history adventure.  
 

 

 
 
The fortress in Louisbourg is huge so make sure you are prepared for lots of walking and have plenty of time. Actors are very believable and really add to the information and understanding of what it would have been like.  The fortress is an interesting place to see and at the same time add to your knowledge of Canadian history. 
 

Governor's house

  Kitchen
    Enlisted quarters.  They slept three to a bed, two slept one on duty.  
   

In the evening we went to the Louisbourg Playhouse where  we were entertained by a group called,  Getting Dark Again, three guys and a girl.  They were wonderful. 

The building where they held the performance was built by Walt Disney Studios in 1993 for the movie, A Warrior’s Tail, that was filmed in Louisbourg.   The filming required the construction of a timber style theater that was modeled after Shakespeare’s original Globe Theater in London.  Disney donated the building to Louisbourg, but they had to move it out of the fortress because it did not belong in that time period or place in history.  It is a great building and the show was great too.  I will never forget the wonderful fiddle player.  She was so great and the energy was beyond anything I have ever seen.  

Day 44 of 49

We all got up and headed to the ferry, leaving Newfoundland and heading to Nova Scotia.  It was a beautiful day, sun shining and clear.  We were to all get hooked up and head out in a real convoy to the ferry.  It was amazing to see all of us on te\he road as were traveling through the hills and curves of the roads in Newfoundland.  It was RV's as far as the eye could see. 

We did have to leave one of our group behind because of RV troubles.  John could not get his RV started.  The wagon master had to leave him because he had to get 18 of us on the ferry by 9:30 in the morning.  Two of our crew stayed with John and his wife until they knew they had help coming.  Then they too had to leave to catch the ferry.  They make these reservation months if not years out.   It did not help that we are in a tiny village and it is Sunday too, but they did get help. We are hoping it is a small easy repair and they can get here tomorrow.

Well we all get on board.  Last ferry Rog and I were the last of our group to get on the ferry and all most the last moving thing to get on period.  And the last thing to get off.  This time we were the first of our group to go on and the first off.  There were three cars in front of us on our level to leave and then we went.  We only had 38 miles to this campground so easy trip.

We did spend 6 hours on the ferry.  boring.  I must admit the ferry is really nice and very roomy.   

    A couple of weeks back we were suppose to take an over night ferry to St Johns, Newfoundland, but there was a ferry dock mishap that left us and many other ferry travelers hanging high and dry because they had to take a ferry out of service.  And to get as many people across as possible they only ran the short ferry with one out broken.  The ferry put us 500 miles out of our way.  It took us 2 days to get back on track with our adventure.  I am telling you all this because the pic above is the damage to the dock from that mishap.  Interesting too, is that the ferry we were on today is that same ferry that hit that dock area.  

  Ferry terminal
  light house at the harbor there in Port Aux Basque, Newfoundland.
  The village.


This next group of pix are from the last stop in Codroy, Newfoundland.  It was a great campground and we enjoyed our stay there.

An ugly brown bird.

  The wide river traveling to the bay.

A church in one of the small villages near camp.

  Light house from afar.
   said light house close up.

  A couple brought their Newfoundland dogs for us to visit with.  My goodness are they big.  And as you can see in this pic they slob all over all of the time.

    
They are so pretty.