We went to a mine Museum, in Springhill NS.  Nova Scotia has a deep history of coal mining.  At this mine, in 1956 and 1958, they had 2 disasters and lost 124 men.  Our guide, Russell was a young man then and one of the people who had to go down and try and locate survivors, or retrieve the bodies.  They had packs that weighed about 60 pounds and had to walk down the 2 miles to the cave in area.  Once there, they only had about 15-20 minutes to actually do work, due to the limited air supply that they could carry.  The mine was closed and the miners dug up every railroad track in the county, sold the metal and gave the proceeds to the families of the deceased.

So we dropped Christine off at the Moncton airport and off we went (She had a talk to give in Calgary at the same conference as the Dalai Lama).  When we crossed into Nova Scotia, we stopped at the Tourist Booth (a common occurrence).  I found a campsite in the pamphlet rack that looked interesting.  It also had GPS coordinates.  I thought to myself, great, let's go.  So, I input the coordinates and off we went.  Just FYI, it is a new GPS and I have not yet used coordinates to find a place (not that I should be using that as an excuse, but it is reality).  When we got to Truro, we started down a narrow dirt road.  The GPS said that we were 3.5 km from the destination.  I thought to myself, a nice remote campsite, with no traffic noise, should be good.  Well, the dirt road went down to a single lane and then the trees were brushing the truck on either side as we carried on down the road.  When we arrived at the campsite,  there was cute little cottage that said "office" and we were excited to see an old dog come out to greet us.  A nice place to relax while we waited for Christine to return.


The woman who came out of the office was a little surprised to see the rig out front, and even more so, when I asked for a campsite.  It took a minute or two to figure out that we were at the wrong place -- they had nice little guest cottages for rent, but no campsites.  A day later when playing with my GPS, I figured out the difference between 46N 53.15' and 46N 53'15"   When you add that randomness to both the latitude AND longitude, it is quite amazing that it lead me directly to another place that you could stay in the woods.  I now know that if I need a cottage, or a campsite in Truro, I can find one easily.

If it is possible to get sick of the seafood in Shediac, or you just want something different, you can check out Shediac Pizza.  Go on down to 537 East Main Street and you will find an extremely clean take out pizza joint.  It has been around for 36 years, and come next April, it will have been owned by Doris Noel for the last 33 of them.  The menu is simple, Pizza and Garlic Fingers.  We didn't try the garlic fingers, but I can tell you that they smelled incredible.  The waft of cooked garlic was coming out of the place as I walked into it.  I knew that I had found a good place to get some food.  The prices are reasonable, and the listed price is what you pay, taxes included.  They only take cash, no credit, no debit.  It is a nice clean way to do business, the price you pay is written on the wall, and you pay it in cash.


The pizza itself had the one thing that most of us overlook when we enjoy pizza, the sauce.  A good sauce can separate the mediocre from the extraordinary.  This pizza had a very nice, unique flavoured sauce.  The pizza, like the shop, menu, and business itself was clean, simple and very tasty.  The thin crust, not overloaded with cheese and the correct amount of each ingredient evenly distributed over each slice, made the experience enjoyable.  


What is the one question that you should ask any exiting customer from a restaurant? Simply, "Would you go back there again?"  I would answer that question about Shediac Pizza with one simple word: "Yes."

Our normal Sunday routine when were were settled in Ottawa was to stop our chores and eat lunch at noon.  We would listen to Stuart McLean's the Vinyl Cafe as we enjoyed our food.  On the road yesterday, we were quite happy to listen as we made our way to Shediac, New Brunswick.  We were also fortunate to be able to catch Stuart live when he recorded a couple of shows at the museum in June.  So we listened intently to see if it was a show that we had seen live, it wasn't.  He did comment however, that he went to Maine after he left Ottawa and spent some time talking about a wonderful Lobster roll that he managed to eat (ok, like his true self, he managed to eat a dozen of them) when he was in Maine.  Well, this, of course only made us drool as we were heading into Canada's Lobster Capital, Shediac.  Shediac, if you are unaware, has a 35 foot long lobster at the west entrance to the city, and it weighs 50 tonnes, it tool 3 years to build at a cost of over $180,000.  A fitting site to place where lobster has given a lot to the community.  And as we would have it, we eventually found a nice local place to grab a lobster roll.  It was buttery, creamy, and I would have taken a photo of it, but it went down far too quickly.  I can't imagine that the one the Stuart McLean had in Maine would be any better, but from his description, the Maine lobster roll will certainly be larger (don't you know, EVERYTHING IS bigger in the USA).  I will let you know, as we plan on visiting Stuart's shop and ordering the massive "Dr. Winn"

On the drive to Shediac, we stopped by the "Irivng Eco-Beach"  In the home town of Irving Oil founder, Bouctouche New Brunswick. It is a 2km long sand dune. On a clear day, you can see the windmills on Prince Edward Island. It was cold and windy, but we went for a nice walk along the boardwalk.

On the road, close by there was an old Nunnery and a cemetery overlooking the water. The Cemetery had more flowers on the headstones than I have ever seen anywhere.

We were fortunate enough to catch the last day of the season at the Acadian Village.  For those who know about Upper Canada Village, it is along the same idea, only with a much larger property.  It was nice to see the buildings and speak with the re-enactors.  We were there for over an hour before we saw any other tourists.  The tin-smith made tin whistles for ALL the boys (yes, me too).


The boys wanted their Mama to play the "damsel in distress."  Christine, played along and you can see the photo below of the boys waiting for the train to come.

The road to ACADIA was a lot of fun.  I found a route that even google maps didn't have on its maps.  That should have been a sign!!!  It did, however cut many tens of KM off of our trip.  It was hilly, narrow, bumpy and had no shoulder.  It made driving the big rig a little tough, but it was one of the prettiest drives I have ever been on.  I have a very visual memory and can recall things of importance in pictures in my mind.  I will have a memory of this drive forever etched into the cells of my brain.

Driving Chuck the truck takes quite a lot of concentration, and I usually don't spend much time looking at the scenery (trying to avoid going into the ditch).  However, as we came over one rise, I couldn't hep but let my eyes wander and saw a perfect fall sight.  The opposite hill was aflame with reds, yellows and oranges, dancing in harmony, spread as far as you could see in a splendid mosaic of fall colour.  Mesmerized, I let the rig drift a little over to the other side of the road, catching myself before we drove into the opposite ditch, I was relieved yet overwhelmed.  And I will have that sight of colour to recall at will for a very long time.

Once in Caraquet, we started to count Acadian flags, and lost count somewhere near 170 in the span of just a few minutes.  The Acadians are proud and had a wonderful celebration this year -- the Acadian World Congress.  

Our campsite was right on the water.  There were only 2 or 3 other campers there.  It was a great place for the boys to explore.  Campsites are getting more and more difficult to find as they close up for the winter.  Christine and I both underestimated the coolness of the weather.  I think that we both had it in mind that we were still leaving during the summer months, not fall -- oops. 

So we are settling into our new home, packing up, traveling and unpacking to set up again.  At Riviere-du-Loup we had a great campsite out on a point.  The weather was great and we went for an awesome bike ride.  The point is where the ferry leaves for the other side of the St. Lawrence.  From our campsite, we went down to the river and made our way along the shore towards the ferry.  It was filled with incredible cottages, houses and scenery.  At the ferry terminal, we had a little snack, beach-combed, played on the play structure and then made our way back to the campsite.

We made our way up to Riviere-du-Loup.  Along the way, we stopped in a nice little town for lunch.  All throughout the Eastern Townships, there are bike trails.  In the summer months these places are packed with tourists, and outdoor enthusiasts, enjoying the scenery and biking.  There are over 4,300 km of bike trails in Quebec.

Before we left Ottawa we took the boys to an indoor climbing wall a couple of times.  The boys loved it and now look for anywhere they can test out their new skills.  In the small town of Waterloo, we took a little stroll around the lake and found some nice rocks near the tennis courts.  When I can get the video to load, you can see how much fun it is just to play.....