Fortress of Louisbourg

Photos

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Clay and I were up too early and went for a walk in the dark along the waterfront boardwalk. We bundled up as if for a cold rain, when it wasn’t raining. It turned out we were so hot that we both were stripping off layers and I changed from a sweater to a knit top when we got back. It was a long walk in the dark to get there and the boardwalk was only about a block and half or 2 blocks long. We hoped to see a sunrise, but got back to the hotel before it happened.

We stopped in Baddeck at the Highwheeler Café and bought cookies for our picnic lunch today. We have had some Oat Cakes here in the Canadian Maritimes. I had one as a cookie at Anglo Rustico on PEI. We had some triangles in a bread basket at Le Gabriel’s dinner in Cheticamp that Judy and I thought tasted similar to the Oat Cake cookies. (Mom & Clay hadn't chosen the Oat Cake that day.) Today in the Highwheeler we saw squares that looked the same (and tasted similar again) that were labeled Cape Breton Oat Cakes. We got a small bag of those and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I will let you Google this for your own recipe if interested. Frankly a disturbing number of the recipes contained shortening or lard, but many contained butter. Still they were probably much less heathy than they tasted and we all enjoyed a lot of them!

Breakfast was at 7:30am today. We had a menu to order from with full wait service! The menu had 4 choices. They were continental, petit (1 egg), pancakes, or grande (2 eggs). The last 3 came with bacon or sausage. We all had eggs, either petit or grande and we all got burnt toast. Oh well. It wasn’t a cold buffet!

The bus departed a few minutes late. We drove about an hour and a half to get to the Fortress of Louisbourg. It was reconstructed in the 1960’s and is set today at 1744. The morning started out windy and it started raining just after we reloaded the bus at 1:15pm, so that was lucky. We started with a park ranger and a talk and a guided walk. We saw a small herd of sheep in the fort eating grass first thing. Charming! All that had been missing from a lot of these landscapes were sheep. The rest was just all of us freely wandering the streets of the Fortress and entering the buildings that were open and interesting to us. We went into maybe half the buildings, but like our guide said about 4 or 5 of them were storehouses and if you only enter the stone one on the corner that she recommended as the best of them, you could skip the rest. It was interesting and each building was not necessarily a reproduction inside but many of them were museum displays on different aspects of life at the time with a scattering of archaeological artifacts from the site.

It was very windy and the sea was just roiling off shore with lots of sea spray flying high from the rolling breakers. It was a bleak scene. We saw lots of places to sit and eat but there was too much wind and blowing dirt. I picked a barn that was open air but not so the wind was coming through. It had nothing of interest to really see, so us sitting in there on the wooden platform didn’t impede other tourists. We all had a place to sit and we were out of the wind. It was fine. Then the long ride back. It poured rain. Just before we got back to Baddeck it started clearing.

We still took the bus all the way back to Gisele’s to drop our day bags before our 3.5 free hours in Baddeck. As the sunshine returned, we visited a number of shops, but I think only Judy made a purchase. Clay bought a 6-pack for himself and Judy and some crackers at the food Co-op. We took Mom & Judy to see the boardwalk and see the statue of Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel sitting on a bench across from their home. As we were walking along in daylight discussing if these Bras d’Or lakes were like Scottish lochs and could be freshwater or saltwater or both, we spotted crabs and blue starfish. Definitely saltwater or at least brackish.

We got back and had the crackers and beer before dinner. Dinner was in Gisele’s restaurant at 6:30pm. It began with salad. Mom & I had chicken supreme. It was good but weird. It was a very fruity tasting chicken breast. It had prunes stuffed inside and a fruit sauce with not only cranberries but some other berries.  I am sticking with they were huckleberries. I ate it.  Judy and Clay both had a sole roulade and they both said it was good and they ate it all. Overall, I would say that we all thought this was closer to the caliber of food and service we had expected in our Caravan dining experiences and it didn’t come until day 7. Dessert was weird too, but not bad. It was something chilled in a footed glass bowl with whipped cream and a pineapple slice atop it with a white creamy sauce and a red sauce both poured over it into the bowl. You couldn’t see what formed the base under all this. I asked the waitress as she was handing them out and she scowled at me and said "It’s bread pudding. It’s delicious. Eat it." We ate it and I don’t think anyone thought it was delicious or bread pudding, though clearly it was bread pudding under there. Just the raisins and the strawberry sauce competed with the pineapple slice and the cinnamon sprinkled over the whole thing didn’t help. It was just weird, but not really bad. We all went to our rooms after that because tomorrow is an early morning and long travel day again.

Breakfast is at 6:30am. Judy and I both plan to have pancakes. Bags out at 6:30am too. Bus departs at 7:30am and we were reminded how critical it is to leave on time. We should have a midmorning stop at Truro. I don’t know why but I do know this is one of the tidal bore spots on the Bay of Fundy. So, maybe. Nope, I just checked the Bore Arrival table I picked up in Halifax and on 10/9 it is at 3:32am and 3:50pm, so we’ll miss that. We’ll go to Peggy’s Cove in the afternoon. No idea what is happening at lunch time, so we’ll be prepared with leftover protein bars and random snacks. Just in case.

We spend the next 2 nights at the Marriott Harbourfront in Halifax. Marty warned us before we left the bus today that we would bid Barrie, our driver, farewell tomorrow upon our arrival in Halifax. The next time we’ll be driven is with some shuttle company to the airport. We will say our farewells to Marty the next night at our last included dinner in Halifax. Marty also warned us that we’d have a group photo made tomorrow at some point. Well, good night for now. Back tomorrow.

Photos

Cabot Trail drive to Baddeck

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Monday, October 7, 2013

Breakfast this morning was at 7am down at Laurie’s Restaurant and not a minute before. It was an exact repeat of yesterday’s buffet. It was fine. Certainly it was better than the cold buffets of the beginning of the tour at North Winds. It just seems like a lot of self-service meals from Caravan on this tour. Still Laurie's felt like a truck stop without a highway. Cheticamp is not the place I would have chosen for a 2 night stay on Cape Breton.



Bus left at 8am. The windows had not been cleaned. At least the one we got today was cleaner than yesterday’s. Mom said hers wasn't though. It really makes you appreciate when you have a good bus driver who takes pride in his bus. It's all the difference when they are proud and want their passengers to be able to sight see and photograph through the bus windows. Today was the closest we got to the front of the bus. We were in the seats behind Marty and she is right behind the driver. Mom & Judy were behind us, so tomorrow they should get the front row on the door side. (But they didn't. It worked out that they were in the 2nd row on the door side and us behind them that day. After that we just kept working our way to the back of the bus again.)

It was another long traveling day but it was our best one of the trip and finally felt like what we were thinking when we booked this trip. It was pretty sunny all day, the wind had died down and it wasn’t as cold. The water was perfectly calm with no white caps everywhere we could see it today and it would have been a perfect whale watching day. In fact the day we arrived in Cheticamp the people who operated the harbor cruise said they had seen 25 right whales. It is too bad that Caravan does not build any flexibility into providing that whale watching tour, especially since it is so weather dependent.

So, we did the Cabot Trail drive today through the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Marty handed out nice maps this morning on the bus. It was indeed a very scenic road. The leaves were in beautiful color. The sun shone and we made lots of photo stops today, for once. We started out by startling a big bull moose into jogging down the road in front of us as we headed up French Mountain. There was mountain on the right and a guard rail on the left and he had nowhere to go. He actually seemed pretty stressed by the time he got to the top and found a place to flee the road. Since we had the seats right behind Marty today, we could see out the front some and really got to see some things from the bus in addition to all the photo stops. The moose was great though. A big bull moose in sunshine with a big rack of antlers was what I had wished for yesterday and first thing this morning I got it. But wait, we drove on and just around the corner in French Lake, Clay spotted a moose and called out. There was a female moose wading and eating in French Lake and on the barren above her was another big bull moose, both out in the morning sunshine. That was it. That was all the wildlife we really saw. But, I finally got to see a live moose in Canada. Thrilling!

We stopped for photos again at the Wreck Cove Point overlook, at Cape North, at Aspy, at Lone Shieling, and we took the Coastal Loop. We stopped in the morning at Pleasant Bay at the Whale Interpretive Center on the east side and on the west side we took a little walk around a lighthouse and working harbor at Neil’s Harbor.

Caravan provided a complimentary lunch today of make-your-own cold sandwiches with hot soup and cookies, brownies and fruit with tea, coffee and water at the Keltic Lodge on Middle Head. They also gave us each a 10% discount coupon for the gift shop. Clay used his. That was a nice gesture because they know people have gotten a little unhappy with the trip. Unfortunately for me it just proved that there are nice places to stay out here on these islands, but that we aren't getting those places.

This afternoon Marty handed out papers and had us all put our name in the lower right corner, then she described part of the first moose we saw and asked us to draw them. The catch was that we had to pass the papers around so we each paper was a team effort. They were all ridiculous of course. Then she appointed 2 passengers to judge the drawings. Clay won 2^nd Place and his prize was a Cape Breton magnet. I don’t know what 1^st prize was.

When we arrived at Baddeck we went first to the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. It was self-guided. You could see as much or as little as you wanted but you were there for a hour and 20 minutes. Marty had shown us the 15 minute film they show there on the bus so we wouldn’t have to spend our time seeing it there. We still watched a few other films. The most fun part was the kite flying though. Evidently AGB was big on kites. He wanted a kite that could carry a man but never succeeded. So, they have a bunch of kites there that you can take outside and fly. I flew an eagle, badly.  It was built too top heavy. Another woman flew a seagull and it was so aerodynamic that I went inside to the gift shop to see about taking one home. It was $23 and would have fit in my suitcase, but it was made in Austin, TX!



We drove in the bus around Baddeck to get us oriented for our dinner tonight and our free time tomorrow. It is very small, but having a 4-way stop sign intersection automatically makes it bigger than Cheticamp was. We got to Gisele’s Country Inn about 5pm. It is the nicest place we have stayed yet on this tour. We are in room 203 and Mom & Judy are next door. The building we are in is weirdly sited and we have no views here overlooking Bras d’Or Lakes. We also have no refrigerators and no fitness center, there is no Gisele. There is a restaurant onsite. We will eat there in the mornings for breakfast and for an included dinner tomorrow night. We placed our orders in the bus already. Clay & Judy ordered a sole roulade, Mom & I ordered chicken supreme and they also had a vegetarian dish that was unknown.

Tonight we walked down to town and looked at 4 menus and no one was thrilled with any of them or wanted to make a decision, so we just went in Tom’s pizza and got 2 thin crust pizzas. They were fine. They were about $20 each for 12 inch pizzas and we finished them off. Over dinner I don’t know who said it first, but the consensus was that everyone was ready to go home now. None of us were willing to book another Caravan Tour's trip. I was willing to give another try to Panama, Costa Rica or Guatemala, but the others all said no. Mom said she would investigate other tour companies and suggested a trip to Branson, MO, Clay and I weren’t interested.  Clay and I proposed a road trip on our own or an American river boat cruise, but Mom & Judy didn’t seem too interested. It will be sad if even the best day of this tour can't save it from being our last.

Tomorrow we have breakfast at 7:30am. Bus departs at 8:30am. We will visit the Fortress of Louisbourg in the morning and be there for lunch. Marty described lunch as a trip back to the 1700’s. That when you enter the restaurant, they tie a big cloth around your neck and give you one pewter utensil to have something that might have been served then, like soup. It turns out they were serving either fish soup or pea soup on our visit. She said it was reasonably priced and the only restaurant. I know I will not eat there, Clay was not inclined to, Mom wanted to but said she wouldn’t when she realized we wouldn’t. I think we can pack snacks to carry us from breakfast to dinner. Anyway, I have been looking at my maps and brochures trying to figure out where this fortress is and it looks like it is a very long drive! One map I have says it is 114 km or 1 hour 45 minutes each way.

Our afternoon tomorrow is free in Baddeck. Our dinner tomorrow at Gisele’s is at 6:30pm. The weather forecast for tomorrow is 64 F and 80% chance of rain.

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Cheticamp, Cape Breton Island

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Sunday, October 6, 2013

Today we had rain. It was a cold blowing sideways rain. It felt colder but I think it was still in the mid-50s F this morning. The rain did clear up by afternoon but the wind was still vicious.

We went down the hill to breakfast about 7:30am and found Mom & Judy down there already at a big full table. We sat at a 2-top near them. Clay knew they had already gone because he heard them leave but he didn’t tell me. He is taking this trip's whole-you-don’t-need-to-know thing to new heights. I had Eggs Benedict and a bad cinnamon roll with coffee. I thought the Eggs Benedict was pretty good, if a bit over cooked for my taste. The French toast and waffles looked good. Clay had scrambled eggs and a variety of meat and toast. They also had oatmeal, cold cereal and hot beans. It was a good if very busy buffet. They have some kind of ATV road rally staying here with us at Laurie's Inn and there must be about 50 couples on ATV’s here. They came in from a full day of mudding right after we arrived last night. They were roaring by coming and going as we walked down to breakfast and a lot of them were at breakfast. They all seem very friendly, but their ATV's are very noisy and it made for a very busy place.

At 9am, I think everyone (all 46 of us on Caravan's tour) showed up for Marty’s optional surprise tour. We drove into the Cape Breton Highlands National Park on the Cabot Trail a little ways past the bog walk. We took the bog walk and found a smashed down place where a moose had slept and saw several pitcher plants, but otherwise the only thing we saw besides rain and landscape and tree colors was a partial rainbow on the way back to Cheticamp. We did have a couple of photos stops today, fortunately because today the windows were covered with rain.

In Cheticamp, we stopped at Les Trois Pignons (3 gables). It is a hooked rug museum and we used the restrooms and had a guided tour there. Apparently, Cheticamp is some kind of world capital of rug hooking. I enjoyed it but Mom felt we were there too long. A lot of people were buying a lot in the gift shop so I felt ok about the amount of time spent there.

For lunch, we ate snacks in the room. Clay & Judy decided they would go on the now harbor cruise as it was too windy to go out whale watching. Mom & I decided not to go and maybe nap. I rethought that and walked downstairs to ask about seeing inside St. Pierre church. It is an impressive stone edifice down the street from us in Cheticamp. I wanted to find out exactly how far away it was and if we would be allowed to visit it as tourists on a Sunday, if we could walk there. It turns out it is always open, it is 1.5 km one way and the woman at the desk suggested riding the bus to Quai Mathieu with the boat group and walk only about .25 km to get there and then just walk back. She also told me that Caravan always takes the boat group to visit the church after. We couldn’t get that information out of Marty, though! I dashed up to get Mom and suit up for the weather and we got on the bus and cleared our new plan with Marty. It worked out perfectly. Mom & I had quite the adventure visiting the 1^st priest and church builder/founder’s tomb under the church when I decided to avail myself of the toilets down there. (I still have to wonder if the toilets were already in the basement when they decided to encrypt Pere Fiset?) Thinking we were alone in the church and not realizing there was an outside door nearby, I didn’t lock the door. A man who never spoke to me opened the door on me as I was finishing up, so I had my pants up, but still. Embarassing! Mom was waiting by the crypt and not the toilets' doors and heard all the door slamming and knew it wasn't me making all that noise. She was laughing pretty hard imagining what must have happened when I returned red-faced. We watched the harbor cruise boat sail by the church as we were exiting it. Clay & Judy told us it didn’t take that long to get on life vests and load the little boat. They said they sailed the opposite way first and saw the crab processing factory and a small boat harbor before sailing on into the harbor. So, the church was quite impressive. It was surprising light and airy on the inside for appearing so substantial and imposing from the outside.

Mom and I meandered back along both sides of the street as well as on an over-water boardwalk with a lot of historic photos and descriptions of better times. We walked through an open pharmacy and went to Tim Hortons. We never heard English spoken except in response to us.   We shared a Canadian Maple from Tim Hortons as Mom’s reward for the effort of the walk. About 30 minutes after we got back to the room, the bus arrived back. We had seen Barrie leave Laurie’s Inn heading back to the boat dock to pick them before we reached Tim Hortons. Clay & Judy said they had entered the church through the same door my intruder used and went past the toilets and the tomb before going up the ramp to enter the church. Clay and Judy also went up in the choir loft and saw the organ, which we did not do. We had an extra Canadian Maple for them, but Judy didn't want any. Clay had assigned me to go to Tim Hortons to get a 10-pack of Timbits for tomorrow.

We visited for a while after they got back and about 5:15pm or so Mom & Judy knocked on our door and we all walked down to Le Gabriel for dinner. I had chicken fettuccine Alfredo with broccoli, Mom had shrimp and scallop skewers and Judy & Clay had whole lobsters for $25 each. It was all very good and Mom ordered a massive and delicious piece of coconut cream pie for the table for only $5. (I say delicious but I don't eat coconut so I am just repeating what I heard.) I think I was traumatized for life as Clay & Judy reenacted scenes from Alien with their sea bugs. Only in the movie when the Alien goo landed, it ate through everything because it was acid. So, OK, it was slightly less dramatic. It was evidently very amusing though as we all got a little slap happy after Clay shot a spray of lobster goo across my face and torso, even inside my eyeglasses. I think some got in my right eye and I still have it (the eye, not the goo!) so it was just lobster and not acid Alien blood. Still. We walked back to find the hall lights out at Laurie’s Inn, but we all made it back inside our rooms. Later, after Clay showered he found we were out of ice and sent me. I had to take a flashlight to find my way out of the hall and back and get the key in the door in the pitch dark. What is up with that? This is our last night here.

We have bags out and breakfast at 7am tomorrow. Bus leaves at 8am. Tomorrow we travel all day on the Cabot Trail to reach our next stop at Gisele’s Country Inn in Baddeck. We will be there for 2 nights. We are all hoping that it redeems Caravan for Laurie’s and even really North Winds. The only thing that is on our written itinerary is visiting the Alexander Graham Bell Museum. We are all hoping for nice weather tomorrow to help us appreciate and even view the scenery on the drive tomorrow. We were looking for moose today on the small part we drove and we’ll be out there earlier tomorrow so fingers crossed for another chance to finally see a moose. It will be a first for Clay & me if we do! Another first today was Judy having a whole lobster! That was a source of a lot of the laughter at dinner. Well, that and exploding lobster bits. Which is either gross and disgusting, or hilarious and perhaps a bit of both. Well, we have a pretty early start tomorrow so it is bedtime for me.

Photos

PEI to Cape Breton Island

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Saturday, October 5, 2013

Judy is better, but of course feels wiped out. She had lots of napping time on the bus today. We all got an early start and watched sunrise from the breakfast room today. When we boarded, the bus windows were filthy and smeared and streaked. What the heck? We have a full day of travel and sightseeing with few stops and no photo stops and you can’t even take photos out the windows because they are too dirty! We drove from 7:45am to 9:30am or so to get to the Northumberland Ferries Ltd. terminal at Wood Islands, PEI. Marty played loudly local music for almost the entire bus ride. Barrie paid $402 for the bus to leave PEI on the ferry. Driving round trip on the bridge would have cost $44 on departure from PEI. I guess Caravan does it this way to give some variety and a different experience, but I think we all would have been just as happy on the bridge roundtrip. People aren’t allowed to stay in their vehicles. You have to go upstairs. Marty told us to take the elevator from B to D and to make sure we came back the same way when they announced that we should return. The ferry landed at Caribou, Nova Scotia. It was about 75 minutes and it was a pretty smooth and comfortable ride. I was worried for nothing, but then I was taking a double dose of meclizine, a Relief Band and using MotionEaze, so it should have been fine! We arrived in Caribou at 10:45am and got back on the bus.  We drove off and headed toward Pictou. From there we drove by Antigonish and along St. Georges Bay on our way to the Canso Causeway to cross to Cape Breton Island. Marty played a lot of more local music too loudly before doing an interesting show & tell about tartans. We stopped at Port Hastings Visitor Center and used restrooms. I also went to the gift shop next door and found a locally made ear band in Nova Scotia tartan that I got to replace the black one we lost last year.

Marty told us that she had selected a special place for lunch and it was a surprise. It was. She did not tell us they would serve almost the same lunch as yesterday’s complimentary lunch for $12 and that it would include more local music loud and live. I saw the menu of soup and tuna or chicken salad and got up and asked Marty if those were really our only choices, she said yes or you can have a salad. I left. I went back to the bus and asked Barrie if I could go back onboard for a moment. He didn't like it but I got my water bottle and a protein bar and sat outside  in the smokers' section where I could still hear and feel the live music. Mom came out once and told me that 20 minutes later they only had a glass of water. I felt no pity. They all had the option of walking out whether anyone told them that or not. Barrie and Marty both were upset that I wouldn’t go to their performance lunch at the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre at Judique. I am not here to make them happy, as I am afraid Marty learned. The good news is that there was no more music loud or muted on the bus today. Mom came back out as soon as she finished eating. I had seen 3 girls walk across the lawn with Popsicles or ice cream cones and I got Mom to walk over to the convenience store next door with me after I used the restroom. I got a little Nestle Oreo sundae. It was good. I shared it with Clay when he came out and told me he ate rhubarb for dessert.

After lunch, we drove past a town Mabou that several people had inquired about because of the Rankin family and The Red Shoe Pub. Marty told us about it before we drove through the town and past the pub. We also drove past the Glenora Single Malt Distillery which Marty told us we would see but not stop at.

We did stop in the afternoon at Le Centre de la Mi-Careme which no one had heard about or asked about. Caravan must have paid our $5 pp entry and we had about a half hour here for restrooms and an Acadian cultural presentation. About ¼ of the people had walked up to the food co-op and waited for the bus instead because Marty told us we would need food for 2 nights in Cheticamp because everything would be closed on Sunday. She also told us to use the restrooms first and then to wait for the presentation. But a lot of people had left to go photograph an enormous bald eagle that was sitting on some rocks behind the building and others left then or after the restrooms to walk up to the food co-op. We waited with a dozen or so others and when nothing happened we all walked out and headed for the store instead of waiting for a bus ride there. But then Marty came out and rounded us up and told us to go back inside for the presentation. By, this time maybe half of us were there for the show. It was one Acadian man and he talked and showed us a short video. Then he went to open the mask gallery and greeted us costumed and masked. Marty cut him off during his mask making lesson because our time was up. Clay and I left and walked up to the food co-op. There were a bunch of our group standing out by the road shivering in the cold wind and one woman yelled at us to tell her what was taking so long. We told her they had put on a cultural presentation down there, but were loading the bus to move it up here now. Clay had finished shopping by the time the rest of the crew came in the store. People were shopping but Marty had not told us that Laurie’s Inn would have no refrigerators or a Laurie. When we arrived we met an Asian man named Gordon who owns Laurie’s now. It is spread over several buildings. We are in rooms 47 and 48 on the 2^nd floor of the main building. Maybe the other buildings are nicer. Ours is not nice.

The Cape Breton Visitor's Guide I picked up at Port Hastings says to allow up to 6 hours here if you are interested in hearing live Acadian music. We'd had enough of that and now we have 2 nights here.

Discussing this before dinner, we are all in agreement that if this had been our 1^st Caravan Tour, we would never have taken a 2^nd one. We are mystified and wonder what we are missing based on the uniform raves we heard on our past Caravan Tours from people who all told us this Caravan’s Maritimes Provinces tour was the best they had done. They all raved about how much better the guides were and how great the facilities and meals were. Something must have changed. The hotels and the meals must have been downgraded. While we were a bit disappointed with our guides on our past 2 Caravan trips, we continue to be. We had a fantastic bus driver last year, he kept that bus and the windows spotless and was always ready to pull over for photo opportunities, but not this year. We are all pretty disappointed so far and are hoping that things improve in Baddeck, but no one is feeling very positive. Marty told us the end of the tourism season is a holiday weekend with Canadian Thanksgiving on the 2^nd Monday in October. There is some feeling that this being the weekend before marking the end of the tourism high season in the region may have something to do with it, but I don’t think so. I mean they are just nearing peak leaf color here and I know that is a tourism draw too. Caravan does leave here after October 16^th though I think that is a tour start date. In any event, lots of businesses have already closed for the season. So, who knows? I fear though that this is the end of our little foursome’s Caravan Tours' trips. It is too bad that it has to end badly. 

We arrived in Cheticamp at 5pm or so. We were greeted at the bus by the owner and a front desk woman. Marty distributed a single key for each assigned room as they told us where things were and when. The restaurant is down the hill on the street along the waterfront. We were welcome to go there at our leisure for our included pre-ordered dinner. We had to tell Gordon what we had pre-ordered. Then, we could help ourselves to napkins and drinks and silverware and soup and salad as we waited for our pre-ordered main course to be delivered as well as any alcohol ordered. Clay and Judy ate all their fish so it must have been ok. The Acadian meat pie was just strange. It tasted just like American Thanksgiving of turkey and gravy, with the rare odd bite of pork thrown in. There was no unusual spicing or flavoring. It was even served with mashed potatoes and American-style jellied cranberry sauce. Was this because of thanksgiving approaching? Was it an Asian interpretation of an Acadian dish (since the proprietor and all the workers were Asian. Our waiter, not Gordon, was anxious to get home to Toronto!)? Dessert was also on the buffet. It was blueberry cake, gingerbread and chocolate brownies with a side of brown sugar sauce in a crockpot. We’ve decided that although no one has mentioned it that bell peppers must be in season here and in abundance, be inexpensive and locally easily obtainable. They just keep appearing at all meals. 

They were offering live music tonight there on the 2^nd floor as well. None of us would go even at gun point. Enough already. The Eastern Canadian music as Marty calls it is a combination of Scots and Irish with bluegrass and Cajun to my ear and understanding. We heard many of the exact same songs this spring in Scotland and Ireland, meanwhile the local songs are more bluegrass sounding which would be explained by the similarities with the Scots/Irish in the Appalachians and their music. It all has the same strong rhythms and twangy sound. While I don’t find it particularly unpleasant or at all unfamiliar, a little goes a long way for me and I have had more than my fill of it today.

There was some confusion with Marty telling us breakfast was at 6:45am and the locals telling us 7am. Marty also told us that our morning tomorrow is free with nothing scheduled until a whale watching cruise at 1pm or 1:30, weather depending or else a harbor cruise. She told us though that she was going to provide a surprise bonus drive to nowhere at 9am for those that were interested. Well, we’re not interested in sitting here all morning with nothing to see or do. There is not even a fitness room here, though plenty of people got excited about the laundry room. There are no TV channels besides the basics. While the village of Cheticamp is in walking distance of this hotel, there doesn’t appear to be anything to particularly see or do here and the physical locale itself is not particularly scenic or charming. So, we are inclined to take the optional morning bus tour, but honestly, enough with the surprises. Just tell us what is happening. She wouldn’t tell us what was for the optional lunch today either. She said it was a surprise and we’d be pleased. We weren’t, surprised or pleased. What the heck? So now she tells us tomorrow morning is another option but gives us no alternatives or even tells us what she has scheduled so we can make a determination how to spend our time here if we chose to opt out. A lot more useful information about our local choices and a lot fewer “secret surprises” would make us infinitely happier. But, right now we are all very disappointed in Caravan Tours and the Maritimes experience in fall that we had heard such raves about. Mind you the colors of fall are as expected and the weather is as expected, but nothing else about the experience is as expected. Expectations can be a tricky thing, but I think ours were realistic and they are not being met.

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Prince Edward Island

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Friday, October 4, 2013



Continental breakfast was at 7am over in the office building of North Winds. We were up early and watched the sunrise over the Gulf of St. Lawrence in the distance. (There was no one staying on the floor above us so we went up on their outdoor walkway and stood to see over the office building.) We went over to breakfast early when we saw others from our group going in and not coming out. I had oatmeal and an English muffin with peanut butter and hot chocolate mixed with coffee. Clay had Raisin Bran, a bagel, a cold hardboiled egg, orange juice and a muffin. There was a tip jar by the door even though our Caravan documents state that all tips for included meals are already paid. In addition, the entire thing was self-serve as well as self table clearing with the bins set out and clearly signed as to where we should put everything when we finished eating. We were out before Mom headed over alone because Judy told her she wasn’t having breakfast. Mom was mad we didn’t knock on her door to get her. I guess we can’t get clear on when to get each other for breakfast or not.

The bus departed at 8:30am and we had a local guide onboard, Astrid. She told us lots about Prince Edward Island. Potatoes are the main source of income, followed by tourism, followed by fishing. She taught us about blue mussel farming, eel fishing and lobster fishing as well as tuna fishing and lots more. We drove from Brackley Beach to Oyster Bed Bridge and then to North Rustico where our first stop was the harbor and a lesson about lobster traps and fishing. We saw a bald eagle there. Astrid had a little rubber lobster puppet to use for her tutorial. It was funny.

Then we went on to the Cavendish part of Prince Edward Island National Park where we walked out to see the sand dunes and red sandstone cliffs with some rough surf and stiff cool wind. We struggled out there and blew back to the bus. Sorry I don't have any good photos to post. There were some interesting red sandstone cliffs, but the angle of the sun was wrong both morning and afternoon.) We learned there is no naturally occurring rock on PEI except for red sandstone, all other rock has been imported.

Then we went to spend an hour at Green Gables. It was not enough time for me. I guess if you didn't know the novel, it was too long. But, we didn't have time to walk any one of the trails. This is the setting and inspiration for Anne of Green Gables, a novel (or series of novels). There is also of course a movie that we have only recently seen. The author Lucy Maud Montgomery is also buried nearby. This was a fun stop since we had just recently seen the movie. Astrid had an Anne hat that we could borrow for photos. She is funny.

Then we drove to Anglo Rustico which is an Acadian area. We visited a Catholic church, a farmer’s bank built of stone (on an island with no stone except sandstone) and the oldest house from 1790 or something like that. It was interesting. There were lots of people around and in the 3 buildings to answer questions, serve snacks in the bank building and play and sing music in there. Astrid sang a couple of songs on the bus and I would not say she has a singing voice. But what do I know. We only had about 20 minutes here and it felt very rushed. Somewhere I got a big folded map of PEI (maybe from Astrid) and here is the one section we toured this morning.

Then we drove back to North Winds, our hotel, where Caravan surprised us with a light lunch of vegetable soup and ham salad sandwiches with apple crumble for dessert. We were told that Caravan had also provided cookies and drinks at the farmer's bank in Anglo Rustico.



After lunch we drove into Charlottetown, one of only 2 cities in Prince Edward Island province. We drove around as things were pointed out to orient us and we were let off the bus behind Province House. We had to be back on the bus at 5:30pm. We had 3.5 hours to sightsee and eat dinner.  The main trick was that real restaurants didn’t open before 5pm. Barrie, our bus driver, lives in Charlottetown and he recommended both Olde Dublin Pub upstairs and Claddagh Oyster House which is downstairs on the ground floor. This worked out fine because Olde Dublin Pub had happy hour with cheap beer and $1 raw oysters from 4 to 5pm and they had a limited menu available from the restaurant downstairs.

Anyway, we started at Province House since we were there. We walked around front and in the front door after admiring the lone red maple in the back lawn. As soon as we walked in a guide told us they were getting ready to show a short film about Canadian Confederation taking place in Charlottetown at Province House. We were in. After we went upstairs to see their legislative chamber (since not in session) and the Confederation Chamber. While we were in there a couple of women, from our Caravan group who we had not previously met asked if they could join us. They were sisters and we told them what we planned to do and they were in. We walked out and down to St. Dunstan’s Basilica. It was quite pretty. We walked back up to Victoria Row and went through some shops. We made some purchases in the Anne of Green Gables giftshop which was charming. Then we walked down and into Anne of Green Gables Chocolates. We had to go in because they were making Cows’ Cow Chips in there. Cows is a famous PEI ice cream shop chain (think Ben & Jerry’s). It was an automated belt with ridged potato chips getting doused with chocolate and then traveling down the belt into a big pile on a cart and spilling off onto the floor. I wanted to run in there and institute the 5 second rule! Of course, we bought some and all decided they were surprisingly delicious. And a surprisingly delicious way to have some PEI potato chips!

Clay wanted Cows ice cream now and we had about an hour to kill before happy hour at the Olde Dublin Pub. We walked down to the water front and visited a couple more shops. We happily found the Red Dirt Shirt Co. which Mom had been searching for since the first time Marty mentioned it. We saw Red Mud shirts in a lot of places and I can't find a website for dirt-dyed shirts from PEI except for Red Mud, but we found the PEI Red Dirt Shirt on Peake's Wharf. The Red Mud shirt store was very close by, but Mom wanted the Red Dirt Shirt, since that was the one Marty kept saying. Mom was rapidly knocking out her Christmas shopping! Clay found Cows and had the smallest $5 bowl of ice cream ever. It was maple nut and it was good, but that’s crazy.  Clay disagreed that it could be Canada's best ice cream, but reckoned it must be the most expensive. No one else bought anything at Cows.

We continued on along the waterfront boardwalk from Great George St. to Queen St. and back to Sydney St. We used the restrooms before entering the upstairs Olde Dublin Pub and timed it to start ordering after 4pm. It turned out it didn't matter, because the waitress said those advertised prices were only good from 4pm to 5pm at the bar. That was were we thought we were. Anyway. We enjoyed our meals and had a good time talking and laughing. Clay ordered the PEI blue mussels for the table and it was a huge bowl that he wound up eating most of. He ordered a dozen Malpeque oysters on the half shell at $1 each for his meal. (That advertised happy hour price was honored but not the beer.) I ordered steak & Guinness pie with Island beef and potatoes and Clay finished it for me. It was very good and served in a little square cast iron skillet. The sisters shared a PEI seafood stuffed potato skin and salad. Mom had a Cork quesadilla and Judy ordered a lobster dish off the downstairs, Claddagh menu. The waitress first said that she couldn't order from that menu until the restaurant opened downstairs which would be too late for us. But, Judy asked her to double check on that and she came back and said OK. We declined dessert because we needed to get back to the bus. We were walking back as Barrie drove past us on the way to the meeting place on Richmond St. So, perfect timing. We finished off the chocolate covered potato chips for dessert.

We did not drive straight back to North Winds. We took a rather scenic route past the Red Shore Casino and harness racing track. We watched a horse and cart practicing. We drove past the Prince Edward Island Brewing Co. We drove past a 50 acre pumpkin patch that was ready for harvest. We drove through Stanhope and past Dalvay. We went to Brackley Beach in PEI National Park and got out and crossed the wind-swept dunes to see the ever rougher surf of the Gulf of St. Lawrence as the sun was setting.

Tomorrow we have a long traveling day. Breakfast and bags out at 6:45am. Bus leaves at 7:45am. We are to be on the ferry off PEI at either 9 or 9:30am. The coach drives on with us loaded and then we have to get off the bus and go upstairs for a 75 minute crossing of the Northumberland Strait. Marty says it is usually a calm crossing. Fingers crossed! Weather tomorrow should be similar to today. Sunny and cool and windy. It was about 45 F when we went out early this morning and the high temp in the afternoon was around 59 or 60F. It was pleasant except for the cool stiff wind. The wind was something! So, all day it felt colder than it actually was if you were in the wind. We will end the day tomorrow back in Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island in Cheticamp at Laurie’s Inn. Dinner is included tomorrow night. Marty told us we would have 3 or so choices and would place our orders now. We could have Acadian meat pie, described as turkey and pork pie seasoned with Acadian spices, halibut, chicken or vegetarian. Mom and I chose the meat pie and Clay and Judy chose fish. I have to confess I am leery about the morning ferry ride. I will take an extra dose of meclizine in the morning.

I am sorry to report that Judy has vomiting and nausea and fears she got food poisoning at dinner. That seems awfully quick to me from dinner to vomiting in 3 hours but her lobster meal is the only thing I can think of today that she ate that no one else ate. I offered the medicine I had with me including some expired generic prescription Phenergan and hope she’ll try it and it will help. Yuck! Fingers crossed that it is all over and she’ll feel better tomorrow.

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Bay of Fundy to Prince Edward Island

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Thursday, October 3, 2013

Breakfast buffet was fine. But, strangely we were like 2^nd class hotel guests. When we arrived, a waiter/host asked if we were with Caravan and then asked for our breakfast card. Then he walked us into last night’s meeting room and told us that we only got the buffet with our room and shut the door behind us. I am certain that on all our past Caravan trips, we got a full breakfast and we also got the same breakfast all the other hotel guests got. Weird. There were Keuring coffee machines in the room, but I didn’t use ours. I need to remember in the future to give my extra room coffee to Mom & Judy since they want 2 cups each in the morning. I would only have one and today I just waited for breakfast. Mom & Judy were already up and at breakfast before us today!

I had a strawberry yogurt, some scrambled eggs and 2 bacons and a piece of toast. I honestly don’t know what anyone else had.

The bus was fully loaded by 7:50am and arriving 10 minutes early we were the last to board. I guess everyone was trying to sit in the front of the bus before Marty starts assigning seat rotations. It turns out the front seat opposite the driver’s side is not as desirable as the other rows due to no leg room and nowhere to put your stuff. The regular seats have a footrest, an electrical plug and a cup holder. Not bad. The people who had the front seat of the bus jumped back to the last and vacant seats behind us in the afternoon and shared this analysis with us. Barrie, our driver, handed out cold bottles of water to everyone as we boarded. That was nice. A weird thing about this motor coach is that while we have lots of legroom on the door side of the bus, the driver's side across from us are a very tight fit and I have noticed that a few rows in the middle on our door side are also tight. Mom asked about it later and was told it was due to the wheels wells. That is weird because the wheel wells are identical on both sides. Whatever, it is what it is. We'll enjoy our space while we have it. The back of the bus really sways on the rough roads. Tomorrow we should move across the aisle and up a row or 2, so that will be even worse than today.

So we had a long driving day today. We drove for almost 2 hours just to get out of Nova Scotia! We stopped for our first morning break from 10 of 10am to 10:20am at Sackville, New Brunswick. There was a food co-op store, a convenience store, a Tim Horton’s across the street and a liquor/wine/beer package store that opened at 10am. There were restrooms available at almost all of these places. I think everyone was satisfied with snacks and supplies for lunch later if they hadn’t ordered through Marty. Everyone also had notice and warning to get their alcohol supply if they needed it for the next 2 nights at least.



Our goal for the day was Hopewell Rocks at high tide to see it going out and walk on the ocean floor. Today’s high tide was about 36 feet according to Fran, our ranger and guide for the visit. She said that was a bit less than average. It was still impressive. We drove past miles of viewing spots as the muddy water was churning upstream instead of flowing out to sea in order to get down to the Hopewell Cape. This phenomenon is called a tidal bore and here they call it a Chocolate River due to churned up sediment. We drove up to Moncton and then back down the other side of Petitcodiac River to get to a private park called Hopewell Rocks. (When we were there we believed that it was a state or national park what with the ranger outfits and we did not offer Fran a tip knowing that in the US those government employees cannot accept tips. Later when I looked through the maps and brochures I had picked up, I could not find anything that indicated it was a government owned and operated park.) Driving about 4 hours roundtrip to get to Hopewell Rocks was a mystery especially since on the way driving back past it all again, Marty pointed out the nice and luxury hotels along the way where people come just to watch the tidal bore. That is the water reversing direction as the tide changes. Anyway.

We ate our picnic lunch in a picnic shelter at Hopewell Rocks (I think it is a private park?) and tried to get some information from the visitor’s center about the place we were visiting as it looked like there were trails. But before we could set off sightseeing for an hour we needed to know where and how and the distances because we had to meet back with the group at 12:45pm. I guess Marty really wanted all 46 of us to stay together and actually eat lunch here at the restaurant as it turns out and not elsewhere. But, it is mysterious that knowing more than a few of us had opted out of ordering lunch that she would not share information on what we could do with a free hour or more.

We wound up using the restrooms and then got a map and hit the trails. We easily found the view to Daniels Flats and to Diamond Rock (great!). Then we started to Big Cove. The map said it was 15-20 minutes’ walk one way but the signs said it was about 500 yards. It was about 500 yards, but the last 75 feet were straight down and straight back up! So, it was more like 15 minutes round trip. Mom & Judy didn’t go because they didn’t think they could make it down and back that fast. Mom would not have liked or made the last hill to the viewpoint. Anyway, it was just the back side of the Diamond Rock, so they didn’t really miss anything.



Our guide/ranger Fran explained how the area was formed and about the world’s highest tides here and then we watched a few short videos and then back on the bus to go down to the Flower Pot Rocks and walk on the ocean’s floor. The tide was still going out but there was a sliver of gravel beach at the bottom of 99 stairs. It was cool. We were supposed to be back on the bus at 2pm. It was hot on the bus. We sat and sat and finally another passenger got off and came back on and told us the bus was broken and the driver, Barrie had his mechanic on the phone trying to figure out how to fix it. We finally left at 2:30pm. That meant we had some extra time to walk around, but not too far because no one knew how long we would be there. Barrie continued to hand out cold bottles of water to people as the day went on if they requested them as we reboarded the bus. Marty had lots of informational papers and maps that she handed out all day. Nice touches.

The rest of the day was spent driving to Prince Edward Island. Marty played a video about the building and design of the Confederation Bridge in the 1990’s. She also played part of the movie Clay and I had watched a couple of weeks ago, Anne of Green Gables. We had a short photo stop just after we crossed the bridge and then a short convenience stop at the PEI visitor’s information center where there were some restrooms and gift shops. They sold PEI potatoes there! They told us they were a best seller. Judy bought some PEI potato chips to share. They were pretty good. 

We arrived at North Winds at Brackley Beach about 10 of 6pm and at 6:10pm had to reboard the bus for dinner. We all just had time to use the restrooms, do one other thing and go. We were in the building across from the office building on the far end on the middle floor, which appeared to be the ground floor. Actually there was an indoor heated below on the lowest floor below us. Mom & Judy scored the end of the building with corner windows and we were next door. Sorry, I can't remember the numbers but I think Clay and I were in 110. 

We ate at Prince Edward Island Preserve Co. with live music by Mike Pendergast. They actually make fruit preserves there. Our first course was a biscuit with blueberry/raspberry/champagne preserves. I didn’t eat it, the others just said it was seedy. Next was tomato dill soup which was good. Clay had fish cakes. He thought they had a lot of potatoes in them. Other people commented that they just tasted like potato pancakes without fish in them. It turns out that PEI is some kind of massive potato growing empire! Who knew? Mom had the potato pie. I don’t think she thought much of it, but it seemed that if PEI potatoes were so special that Marty would have sold it better last night when we ordered.  Judy & I ordered the chicken and broccoli crepes. Neither of us found any crepe in our hot baked cheesy saucy ramekins though. It was alright. Dessert was a raspberry cream cheese pie that was pretty good and heavy. They served coffee or tea. Clay and Judy also ordered beers which were not included. This was the beginning of the bell peppers on this trip. It will be crazy! Not a one of us will have a meal (except perhaps breakfast) that does not have bell peppers. No one said a thing about them being locally grown, but man the way they were on every plate, they must have just finished the harvest.

I got a crazy expensive Dunoon English bone china coffee mug with puffins on it from the gift shop here. I don’t think we’ll see any puffins here but they have them in all the literature and signage where ever we’ve  gone and I saw one in Ireland in spring and plenty in Alaska last month, so 2013 seems like the year of the puffin to me. I love the cup!

We got back to North Winds about 9pm and Clay went to work out on the treadmill. He says the Fitness Center is very nice and it is open 24 hours a day. It is also nice to have a refrigerator in the room. Otherwise we aren't too impressed with our 2-night home. It is not within walking distance of anything, including the Brackley Beach. While they say it is about a $35 cab ride to Charlottetown, it took us an hour at least every time we drove anywhere from here. It is a mystery why they did not put us up in a Charlottetown hotel where there would be lots to see and do within walking distance or an inexpensive cab ride. It would not have made for any more time in the bus to sightsee on PEI. I can only guess that it was a financial decision. But, I don't have to like it. North Winds was certainly appropriately named. There was a vicious and relentless north wind blowing ashore during our entire stay. 

Tomorrow continental breakfast is served at the office building here. They don’t have a restaurant out here far from anything. Breakfast is at 7am. The bus leaves in the morning at 8:30am. We will have our first assigned seat rotation then. We also have to leave the bus in a specific order, one way in the morning and the opposite way after lunch. That is not going too well so far. Breakfast is the only meal included tomorrow. We visit the Anne of Green Gables house in the morning and Charlottetown in the afternoon. We are free from lunch time onward tomorrow. Marty says she will explain about lunch, dinner and shuttles tomorrow. I hope so because it sounded like she said we could shop for dinner to bring back to North Winds while in Charlottetown. But, our hotel guest information book clearly states we are not to bring food back to our rooms other than coffee and tea. But we do have small refrigerators and microwaves in our rooms, so it is a mixed message. We’ll find out tomorrow. We are here for 2 nights. The rooms are large and the beds are terribly squishy soft. Our rooms are directly over the indoor pool and Mom & Judy’s while otherwise nicer than ours with a corner window and big wall-mounted TV, stinks of chlorine. Our bathroom floor has some strangely hot spots and I assume that has something to do with the overheating going on down there at the heated indoor swimming pool. It is a little disconcerting after the deaths at the Boone Best Western in NC this year that sparked some hotel building safety code laws to be changed and enacted.

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Arrival in Halifax, Nova Scotia

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Wednesday, October 2, 2013


We booked this Caravan Tour, our 3rd with Mom & Judy, back in January after we had all discussed it and decided on it over Christmas last year. So, that seems like a very long time ago right now. Today we finally leave for that trip!

We were up at 3am to get to the airport for our pre-dawn direct Air Canada flight to Toronto this morning. I spent the first hour of the flight watching the most spectacularly vibrant sunrise over a cloudless east coast. We ran into clouds as we neared Toronto, but the show was over by then anyway. The plane was a small with 2x2 seats and nearly empty, more than half empty I am sure. It was a pleasant flight. We always prefer 2x2 planes and their gate checked luggage due to the smaller size. It seems that the seat space is always larger than on the larger jets as well.

In Toronto, the flight attendant told us we would go one way for domestic connections and another way for International. It should have meant avoiding baggage claim and not leaving the secure area and been in the same terminal building. But we walked for almost 45 minutes and through baggage claim, customs and immigration and back through security. We went up and up escalators, elevators, then down then up and just kept going. It was crazy! Finally through security, we fell on a Tim Horton’s! I had a Canadian Maple and Clay had an apple fritter. Clay was disappointed. We bought 2 small bags of gourmet popcorn, one white cheddar and one kettle for the next plane. They were a disappointment. This flight was a 3x3 and much more full. How is it possible that this flight was much longer than the 1.5 hours from RDU to Toronto? And there was an hour time difference.

We arrived to a warm and sunny day in Halifax on time. We got on a shuttle about 20 minutes later. There is one shuttle for the Hilton Garden Inn Halifax Airport and Holiday Inn Express. It comes by outside baggage claim on the hour and half-hour approximately 24 hours a day we were told. (People who arrived after midnight tonight will later dispute that!) We were able to check right in to our room 105 and learned that Judy and Mom would be nearby (in 104). Clay went to use the treadmill and I took a nap. I was up to greet the full shuttle that brought Mom and Judy about 3:30pm.

Dinner was on our own and at the hotel since there was nothing else in walking distance. It was fine. Clay and Judy had fish and chips they liked and Mom and I had chicken focaccia sandwiches. They were enormous. We could have shared. Clay and I shared a chocolate brownie sundae in a martini glass. It was good. It was hard to eat though it made for a dramatic presentation. Mom & Judy waited for the cookies we had passed at the reception desk. 

The Caravan welcome meeting was at 8pm. Clay and I had been told it would be in the basement so we looked there first to find all the meeting rooms otherwise occupied. Mom & Judy had been told it would be in the back room of the restaurant and it was there even though they had to run out some diners. Our guide is Marty Shannon. She is older than our last 2 Caravan guides and we have high hopes that her added experience will show.

Breakfast tomorrow is 6:30am in the same room with a buffet just for us. We have a card with our key cards for that. Bags out at 7am and depart at 8am. Tomorrow we go to the Bay of Fundy and Hopewell Rocks. I understood Marty to say there is a restaurant there but we are having lunch elsewhere. We had to order it (or not) right then at the meeting. We all opted to skip it for $13 and 3 courses since we also had to order our dinner for tomorrow night. Dinner choices were potato pie, chicken & broccoli crepes, fish cakes or salt cod. It all sounded kind of heavy. We have 2 nights at North Winds on Prince Edward Island.

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