The Long Drive Home

Well our ride home was pretty standard - although I will say that we finally saw a moose! Safely off to the side of the Highway in NB - kind of an odd time of day for moose I think (it was ~10:30am or so....) but he seemed a young dude - no rack!, so maybe he had an off-sense of time.
Anyway, I won't bore you will all the details of the drive home (you can see our post of the 2008 drive home here). But every trip we wonder - how far will we make it? Only to Drummondvile? or will we reach the Holy Grail, hitting a groove and making it all the way to Cornwall ON?

 June 2009 Hwy 20 in bckgrnd

When we drove home last year after my mother's service we got to stop at the Dino restaurant (if you've driven that strip you know what I'm talking about!) AND we got as far as Cornwall, still not sure how we did that!

Anyway, I digress...

This year - after having to make some extra pit stops (travelling with kids is soo much fun!) we figured that a good stop would be halfway between Drummondville and St. Hyacinth - our old favourite Days Inn in Ste Helen de Bagot. with a playground in walking distance to the hotel - and a Golden Arches next door.... And we were getting low on gas anyway.

Anyway, as we got within about 5 km to our exit, a fellow Jetta driver pulled up along side us and gave Brad the universal signal that our front tire was low. Great.

Well, as we needed gas, needed dinner and needed air for our tire - we figured the Universe was trying to tell us it was time to get off the road. When we pulled into the hotel - our tire was so low Brad didn't want to drive on it to the garage!(yikes!) - So he switched out for the spare, & got some air. Luckily we realized that the problem was the air valve with a special "low pressure" sensor (again with the Sensor being the problem!)

Anyway, the next day was reasonably uneventful - except for the Aloe vera plant we were bringing home falling over in the car (dirt everywhere!)  and some funky clouds on the way in to TO. But that's it - another East-Coast-a-rama come to an end. And every time we come back we have dreams of finding some way to get back East permanently.

is this a sign?

Last days

On our last two glorious days, we spent the mornings at the pool. The poor kids had enough of being near water that they couldn't comfortably swim in, so we brought them back to Dalhousie, but this time we went to the Recreaplex pool! It's a great pool, nice small kiddie pool, large shallow area, and the best part - a giant water slide! (woo! hoo!) The kids (and the grown-ups) had a great time - lots of swimming and back floats (Yay Ian & Maggie!) Ian has gained so much confidence in the water we love his Puddle Jumper! (and Aunties who used to teach swimming are helpful also!)

We also got to spend an afternoon doing a little more beach combing at the Junction. Collecting more rocks and skipping a few on the water.

On our second-last night we got to feast on local Clams (from Heron Island) and bacon wrapped scallops! Oh yeah baby! - excellent

Our very last day we spent with more swimming, some errands, and prepping for the trip back. We also got to enjoy a  a campfire and a lovely sunset, as we said goodbye to one of our favourite places. We've loved visiting The Junction these past  7 years (!)  but now we are looking forward to the next time we visit when will be exploring new places!

An aside - then and now

The first time we went to Inch Arran  Park & Beach, Ian was a baby. We loved it from the start. Great, safe playground, GREAT fish and chips (seriously), easy parking and a lovely little beach, that's not too crowed, sheltered from wind, With lots of sea glass.

Anyway as the kids were goofing around in the playground I was able to re-create a pic I took 4 years before....

Now (age 7 and 4)

Then (age 3.5 and  3mos)

Beach Day!

As we begin to wind down our vacation we are trying to squeeze in all the fun we can!
On this day, we combined a little business with pleasure! As I've mentioned my sister is in the middle of buying a new house, so we tagged along on inspection day so
that we could check out her (potential) new digs. (check out the view above!)
The kids (of course) weren't really interested in the "boring" stuff, so we checked out the shore and had a great time climbing on the rocks.
After that we headed out to another beach! (gotta love the coast! Beaches everywhere!)
With a pit stop at the fish & chip shack  to fortify ourselves (yes, I had to peel all the coating off the fish....), we set out to enjoy Inch Arran Park & Beach.

The water was a little too chilly for swimming for us, (now that we are acclimatized to Ontario lakes and pools), and the dreaded jelly fish were hanging about, so the kids were a little hesitant about really swimming in the water. I managed to at least dunk myself in the salt water (mostly), but I wasn't in a rush to dive-in either! So, the kids had fun playing at the water's edge & catching jellyfish - this time I got a wee video!

Top the afternoon off with some ice cream & it was another great day in Northern NB!

Continuing with the Vacay & Waiting for Daddy in Northern NB

So, we here we are, back in Northern NB again (minus Daddy) and up waaay earlier than we should be for people who got so little sleep! 

My sister was brokering land deals trying to buy a house, and we were without proper car seats - so we decided this was a hang-around-the-Junction Day!

The kids played in the camp, explored the forest, and begged Trigger (the cat) to play with them. A little later we went for a walk along the shore in the beautiful sunshine.  (Sunscreen and hats all around!) It was low tide, so we got to do lots of exploring in the little waterfall, and river (ok it's barely a brook), flowing into the Restigouche River. We collected rocks & mussel and clam shells, looked for sea glass, and threw rocks in the water looking for satisfying splashing sounds!  (OK, that was mostly Ian)

In the afternoon, we waited for word from Daddy on what was happening with the car and when he was going to be able to join us. (We missed you Daddy!) The kids (and Mommy) were very tired, and just a little cranky, and Mommy hoped that watching a movie would make them sleepy, but no such luck!  ~sigh~  So, we muddled through the rest of the day.

Maggie decided that since we won't let her have a pet, she was going to name all the sea-shells she found today. (Strange I know, but there's no shedding and no litter box.)  Later, after our great dinner with Auntie Claire, we were able to have another campfire! This time we got to have hot-dog spiders before we had our marshmallows! 

The sky was beautiful as it set on a day much better than the one before it. The only flaw was that Daddy wasn't there to share it with us... But at least he was on his way! :)

Our Least-favourite Day of this trip

You know, we've been so lucky. Over the years, we've driven to the East Coast many times (maybe 10?) and we've never really had any car trouble.... so I guess we were due....

We had a leisurely morning of packing up the car (not so much fun in the rain, but that's ok) and then just before departure we had a fantastic Pancake lunch (did I mention that my B-I-L John is a GREAT cook?).

After lunch we got on the road, and made a brief pit-stop in Amherst, before heading to NB.... As we crossed the border we were all a little sad to be leaving Nova Scotia, so perhaps the fates (or something) heard us. The car made a noise and dropped out of high gear (not a good thing on the highway), So we made a snap decision and headed back to NS, as we were a little too nervous to try to make it to Moncton, almost an hour away (assuming we could go top speed - and we couldn't). The other thing against us was that it was Sunday... so the chance of finding a repair place that could handle a Volkswagon was slim..

Anyway, we hightailed it back to Amherst, with the idea that we would try to get me and the kids on a train so we could at least get to Northern NB, unfortunately it didn't look like we could make the train from Amherst, (not enough time) but if we could drive to Moncton, we just might make it! That way we would be out of the way & getting to spend time with my sister, while Brad got the car looked at, and tried to get some work done. (Did I mention that Brad is so busy right now he had to bring work with him? yeah, bummer)

So we borrowed B-I-L Trev's car and raced to Moncton! 

Oh right, I forgot to mention, in all the racing....and grabbing bags to bring with us... It was raining... and I was wearing (slippery) flip flops.... and I slipped on the porch stairs, whacked my right wrist, and landed on my left leg, and got the worst bruises I have ever had in my life! It smarted something fierce, and I didn't really have time to stop and grab an icepack! Anyway, I was just so thankful that I didn't break anything! that I was able to enjoy the fun of watching my bruises change colour all week!

But I digress... We raced to Moncton, and again the fates, (or the damn highway around Moncton) seemed to be against us! We missed the  (#%^+$!!) turn-off. Our only hope was that VIA was running late (they usually are) - Finally! something in our favour! (phew) The train was over an hour late...(I don't even want to know if we might have been able to catch it in Amherst.)

So we managed to get on the train in Moncton, just after 6 pm, scheduled to reach Campbellton around 11:30pm... Wait a minute! I'm on my own with a 7 and 4 year old!  they'll be asleep (or monsters) by that time! hmm... Anyway, we had a lovely adventure, on the train, assembled the cool VIA cardboard trains (yes they still make those),  watched movies and a beautiful sunset, ate cookies, and the kids eventually fell asleep...after going to the bathroom about 5 times each.  When we arrived I was forced to wake poor Maggie, and a very nice lady helped me with my bags while I carried Ian off the train. We had to make do with available car seats, so Ian got to sit in a Big Boy Booster, and Maggie got to sit in a regular seat on the way home! (They woke sufficiently to be excited about that!) (psst.. don't tell anyone official okay? I won't do it again.)

Luckily Brad was able to get he car seen the next day at the Volkswagon dealership in Moncton, and as we suspected (hoped) it was only a sensor problem that we had been warned about before we left, and NOT the transmission. (ka-ching!) We love our Jetta, but Brad's big beef is that most of the repairs we've ever had to get are all to do with the SENSOR's not the actual mechanics of the vehicle.

So that was our least-favourite day of the trip..... In the end it wasn't so bad - but it was quite stressful at the time! (and at this point the blogging kinda dropped off the agenda - there was simply no time for it)

The big bruise on the back of my thigh.

Hanging in the Blueberry Capital of Canada.

Since our excursion to Pictou was shorter than anticipated, we were able to take a scenic drive along the coast on the Sunrise Trail, I kid you not: Nova Scotia is a beautiful province! You should go!

We arrived early enough in Oxford (The Blueberry Capital of Canada) to go swimming in the local lake. Maggie and Ian were great! they are really getting comfortable in the water! (It sure doesn't hurt that their Auntie used to be a swimming instructor)

A nice little extra for us, was that the cousins moved up their birthday party so that we could be there! They had a cool magician (Maggie got to be an "assistant") and an excellent Wheat-free cake! Abracadabra and Happy 6th boys! 

We planned to go the the beach the next day while the big boys went Tidal Bore Rafting in Shubenacadie... (see pic)

and although the weather forcast was iffy, we decided to brave the elements see if we could dip our toes in the ocean. Unfortunately, it was  low tide, which is not great for swimming, but it is fantastic for exploring! We got to see and hold jellyfish (Auntie Nicole knows the secret) and we found snails and hermit crabs too! So we had lots of creatures to check out up close! Unfortunately we both forgot our cameras & had to resort to disposables! We'll see how those pics turn out!

Well, as we didn't get to swim in the ocean, (which bummed-out the swimmers in the group) we decided to  go to the lake again for some more swim-swim-swimming in afternoon! OK, it was raining, hard, but everyone was already wet so it didn't really matter did it?
Mommy and Daddy got to go out for a Date that night (thanks J&N for babysitting!) We went to a great little restaurant in Amherst: The Old Germany Restaurant (self-made website alert) It was a great little place run by a wonderful family, and they are gluten-free friendly. (They have GF sausage!)

One last mention: Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!
Well, not really, but at the cousins house there are a lot of animals, they have a cool fish-tank, 3 cats, one of which is the most tolerant & cuddly cat in the world! (Hi Felix!) and they also have chickens out back (we won't talk about what they are for...), and horses across the street! Needless to say - my kids are now Begging me for pets at every opportunity!

Pictou: Exhibit SHUT? (Noooooooo!)

One of the things that I was looking forward to seeing in Nova Scotia was in the town of Pictou. The Hector was a ship that arrived in 1773 carrying the first boatload of Scottish Settlers to the new world. There is a really cool centre where you can go on a replica ship, see people in period dress, and check out a blacksmith shop etc. I had hoped to see it the last time we were in NS, but it just didn't work out. But this time, as we were staying near Pictou, I was sure it was going to happen - Alas - it was SHUT. The web site was pretty vague as to the reason, so we called the number given, and the lucky (and bored sounding) person fielding the calls from tourists said that we could see the boat from the shore, so we decided to drive into town, and see what we could see. We could see the ship from the dock, and it all looked amazing. Which kinda made me extra bummed that we couldn't actually get in! The nice lady at the gift store next door told me that the city had no money to open the museum this year, and that a lot of community businesses were trying to raise funds to help out. The lady mentioned that a phone call to the city office might be of help, so if you are so inclined, here's the number: 902-485-6057. 

Anyway, since we couldn't see the Hector, we went to the neat little Lobster fisheries info centre next door, and got to see lobsters in every stage of development, which was pretty neat, There also was a handy reference poster of the schedule of lobster season in Atlantic Canada, if you are into that sort of thing....

And really, who can resist one of those "stick your head in here" things? (Pirates say Arrgh!)

Camping (ish) near Pictou Nova Scotia

Next up: Camping!  

We headed to Nova Scotia to hang with our far-away family, and see Cousins! We rented a couple of (wee) cabins at a place just outside Pictou.  It was a nice little place - and more importantly the kids LOVED it.  Playground, Sandbox, and most importantly a POOL! Some of us were in the pool so long we got pruney - but by the end of it I had 2 kids that were pretty confident & having a great time in the water! And to top off a great day - another campfire & marshmallows! (ps-thanks for the wood Auntie Claire!) My girl wished we could have stayed longer..... but alas we were just there for 2 nights before heading back to stay at the cousins house! (which has a much nicer shower than the cabins and waaaay more room!) 

On the agenda for today - History!

Two-hundred and fifty years ago, there was a huge naval battle in the Baie des Chaleurs (or Chaleur Bay), know as the Battle of the Restigouche. They are having a big festival to mark the occasion so we are going to check it out.
Here's the web site: Restigouche1760.ca


I'll update later....


UPDATE

Well, it was rainy and chilly today (at one point it was only 13 degrees!)

So, while we hopefully drove down to the Campbellton Waterfront, we were well aware that event cancellation was possible.

First, we hit the local Tourist Information Centre, and the kids were able to play on the miniature train, so as far as they were concerned: WIN!

After that, we had fun checking out the local sites, bumping into Mommy's old friends, scoring some free cake & enjoying kids activities, and then we popped in on Auntie Claire at work which was also pretty cool. So, all in all, despite the cool rainy weather it was voted a great day. 

Next: off to NS for cottaging & visiting with family...

see ya on the flip side...

On the Road Again.... 2010 Adventures

We took off with more room than we've ever had on this long car trip! Thanks to our snazzy new mini trailer! Handy for long car trips and camping (we'll find that out later this summer hopefully)

We had a nice bonus: Since everyone bugged out earlier for the Canada Day long weekend traffic was light and "fluide" as they say in Québec.

But by-criminy as you drive eastbound on the 401.... all pit stops are SHUT (except for the last one near Morrisburg), which is a minor pain really, as gas is usually cheaper at the off-highway places anyway. However, what Ontario really needs is PICNIC stops along the highway! You know, a patch of grass, (hopefully) some plumbing, so that a person can eat a packed lunch, go the the loo, and not be forced to have your pit stops brought to you by MacDonalds. {end rant}

Anyway, we made good time and had well behaved kids & we were able to make it as far as Lévis an excellent halfway point!

Day 2 was just as good for driving and kids. In an unusual turn of evens we actually DID NOT get caught in a torrential downpour as we came through Eastern Quebec, I think that was a first for us. So, we got to stop at a great little picnic site near Le Bic,  have some yummy cheese curds, and stretch our legs at little...
They we got back on the road!

In the end we got here in good time, were able to have dinner on the deck, have a campfire, and toast the perfect Marshmallow!

Here be the Archives V

If you'd like to read more, our 2008 adventures are below.....