BACK TO CANADA

We leave Maine and head back into Canada crossing into New Brunswick for the next destination of Fundy National Park.Fundy National Park.  This is the first National Park we've stayed in and like the Provincial Parks, it's very well maintained, except for some of the roads which suffer each winter.  This is true on many of the secondary roads in Canada.  I am told that Canada has two seasons, summer and road construction.

Fundy park is obviously on the Bay of Fundy were tides of 24 feet are the average.  Here's a picture of Cathie at low tide so you can get an idea of what a real low tide looks like. That's seaweed on the rocks and you may notice that the water is some way off.

We made a visit to Hopewell Rocks where at low tide you can walk among some pretty impressive rock formations.  At high tide you and paddle your kayak around them.  Check out the time lapse video on the link.

You may have noticed that the water is a reddish brown.  The fast moving tides picks up the mud from the bottom of the bay changing the color of the water.

LOW TIDE EXPOSING MILES OF MUD FLATS

Next day we opted for a hike out the Matthew's Head, named after a family that homesteaded the area in the 1800's.  A portion of the trail follows an old wagon road leading to the family's homestead where you can still  see the rock foundations of some of the buildings.  The trail traverses through thick forest before reaching Matthew's Head.  It then goes along the top of the cliff above the Bay of Fundy before looping back to the trailhead.

THE PARK SERVICE HAS PLACED ADIRONDACK CHAIRS AT

VARIOUS VIEW POINTS THROUGHOUT THE PARK 

Moving right along, after 3 nights we pulled up stakes and headed into Nova Scotia and it's capital, Halifax. Nova Scotia is Latin for New Scotland and many of today's residents claim to be of Scottish heritage.  It is Canada's second smallest province in area after Prince Edward Island.  Called Canada's ocean playground, the Nova Scotia peninsula is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and nowhere in the province is more than 42 miles from the sea.  Besides it's numerous bays and estuaries there are over 3800 coastal islands.

We took a walk along the harbor boardwalk, busy with family out on a beautiful Sunday. With a storm forecast for the evening we and they were taking advantage of the warm weather.

 GETTING READY FOR THE RUBBER DUCK RACE

HMCS SACKVILLE

The HMCS Sackville was one of more than 120 corvette class ships built in Canada during WWII. Corvettes some became the workhorses of the North Atlantic, escorting merchant convoys to Europe and attacking U-boats.  The Canadian Navy escorted over 25,000 merchant vessels across the Atlantic.  In August of 1942 the Sackville encountered a U-boat on the surface.  At a range of less than a quarter mile, Sackville fired on the sub. The U-boat dived, the Sackville accelerated steaming into the swirl of water left by the sub and fired depth charges.  The blast forced the sub to the surface.  She then slipped back down below the surface and disappeared.  The Sackville was credited with the kill.

 YOUNG STREET PERFORMER

THEODORE THE TUG

Here's a brilliant idea.  Take a tug boat, paint a face on it and give it a hat.  Name it Theodore and offer rides to kids.  Every child is going to want to go and most parents will have to oblige.  What a way to make money.

About the storm that was approaching.  It arrive right on schedule, at about 7 pm a lasted for 12 hours.  4 to 5 inches of rain in the Halifax area and winds gusting to 60 MPH.  Our RV park lost some trees, but luckily none fell on us.  The trailer was rocking and a rolling.

Poutine is a Canadian staple which consists of french fries, smothered with gravy and topped with cheese curds.  That is the basic recipe, but you can add all sorts of things to it.  There is sea food poutine, poutine with bacon added, and as shown in the picture, pulled pork poutine.  There is even McPoutine at McDonalds.  We so far  have avoided sampling it.