Nova Scotia

The last few days of my birthday trip were spent in Nova Scotia. We hadn't realized how large these three Provinces are and how much time we were going to spend driving!

Mark wanted to play disc golf in New Brunswick before heading into Nova Scotia so we packed up and headed to a nearby disc golf course. We then drove into Nova Scotia to another disc golf course. That took up most of the day!

We arrived at our cabin late that afternoon. It's in a little town called Mavillette.

We had time for dinner and a short walk to the beach before it got dark.

One big chair!!

The tide is in.

The next day we headed down to Yarmouth to spend the day. Our first stop was the Laurence Sweeney Fisheries Museum. Normally the entry fee is $3 but for some reason, nobody seemed to know why, all museums were free today.

The museum houses a collection of artifacts from companies owned by the late W. Laurence Sweeney. The museum tells the history of Yarmouth's fishing industry. It's a great museum with five reproduced buildings and a 100 foot wharf.

We had been seeing lots of advertisements for the Living Wharves. Their advertisement stated:

"Experience a demonstration on a working lobster boat docked at various wharves around the Yarmouth area. Set a trap, hold and band a lobster, and splice some rope to help with the next day’s catch. Finish your day at our Savour the Sea experience, and enjoy some of our region’s freshest seafood with a beach side lobster boil."

We headed down to the Wedgeport fishing peer where the Living Wharves was supposed to be set up for the day.

We came across another museum, this one very small, called the Wedgeport Tuna Fishing Museum. This was a nice museum but there wasn't a lot to see.

We then started looking for the Living Wharves set up. You've heard the saying "advertising pays"? Well, it sure fooled us. This is what we found.

Though not exactly (or at all) as advertised, it did turn out to be interesting. The gentleman in the above picture was not very informative but it didn't take long before a woman showed up. She was very entertaining and had lots of great stories to tell as she showed us the various items they had brought. Mark and I were the only people there.

This lethal looking object is used to splice rope.

It looked like very hard work.

Mark got to find out first hand what it feels like to be a lobster.

 How to band a lobster claw.

We spent the day having lunch, visiting various beaches and sightseeing. By the time we got back to the cabin that evening it was low tide. Hundreds of yards of sandy beach are exposed every 12 hours.

View back towards our cabin

Of course we picked up a few rocks to take back home with us!

I always have to get a sand writing picture.

I did find a few magnets to purchase.

Next time:  A really fun ride to the border.

Prince Edward Island

We spent the night at the Amsterdam Inn & Suites in Moncton, New Brunswick.

The next morning we got an early start to Prince Edward Island.  Known as PEI, the locals say it stands for "potholes every inch." That is a very good description of the roads!

The island is connected to New Brunswick by the Confederation Bridge. At 8 miles, it is the longest bridge in the world crossing ice-covered water.

After four years of construction the bridge opened to traffic on May 31, 1997. At its highest point the bridge is 197 feet above sea level.

Engineers incorporated a number of safety features into the bridge design including curves to reduce the potential for accidents that experts believe happen more often on straight highways or bridges.

After crossing the bridge we headed to the only disc golf course on the island and the top course in Canada. After Mark played 18 holes on this beautiful course, we then headed to the Cows Creamery where they advertised factory tours.

This is an extremely small facility. In fact, the gift shop was probably larger than the rest of the factory. We were surprised to see a large t-shirt production facility.

 First t-shirt design.

 Numerous t-shirt designs.

 There are a lot of steps to making a multi-color t-shirt.

 These ladies are folding the t-shirts.

Printing the t-shirts.

Unfortunately they were not making ice cream at the time we were there. And only one of the rooms had the lights turned on. We wonder if they make more money off of t-shirts than ice cream!

Our next stop was the Canadian Potato Museum.

We knew we would be able to eat lunch at the museum so that is the first place we headed. I had a loaded baked potato.

Fully loaded baked potato with potato chips as a side.

Mark had poutine.  Poutine is a dish that originated in Quebec. It consists of hand cut fries topped with homemade gravy and cheese curds.  It's actually very good!

Poutine

Our lunch was very good! After lunch we paid our entry fee ($10) and headed into the museum.

This is a typical museum with lots of antique farm equipment.

Single furrow plow

1920's International Harvester

Rubber tires didn't start to become common until the mid 1900's.

We were seeing many fields of potatoes while driving around this area. Prince Edward Island claims to have the highest per capita potato production in the world. Lots of potatoes and not that many people!

Production of commercial potatoes in Canada.

Spaniards were the 1st to bring potatoes to Europe from Peru in about 1550.

There was a large exhibit of potato pests, tastefully displayed as potatoes in little coffins...

White grub

More than 260 known viruses, bacteria and fungi infect potatoes.

 Bug picker

I did purchase a magnet.

There wasn't a fee to get on the island but there was a $47 fee to get off the island.

Toll booth leaving the island.

We headed back to our hotel in Moncton, New Brunswick.

Next time: Nova Scotia