Monday July 4, 2016 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Today we celebrate the declared freedom and actual freedom that we in this country were born into.  On the other hand we mourn those freedoms lost and deteriorating under the current regime.

We slept later than usual and had our coffee before embarking on today's adventures to Peggy's Cove and environs.  My first destination was set for the White Sail Bakery. but we drove on by and Gerri's eye was caught by a picturesque small cove off St Margaret's Bay with many old and new style lobster traps.

We stopped at the Swiss Air Flight 111 Memorial. http://www.novascotia.com/see-do/attractions/swissair-memorial-site-peggys-cove/1636.

Before we headed on to Peggy's Cove we back tracked a little to a house that has a Peggy of the Cove museum and a colorful display outside.  I found a cache here.

The geocache is in the yellow box

Peggy's Cove was as beautiful as I remembered.  We think it was greener than when we we here last fall.  There certainly were more people.  Peggy's Cove is a small fishing village with a lighthouse, an old church and now a few shops and restaurants catering to tourists.

On the drive we noticed two very large RV Parks, one, The King Neptune had sites overlooking the ocean. http://www.kingneptunecampground.ca/

On the way back to the RV park we stopped at the White Sails Bakery and had a late lunch.  We shared a Montreal Meat sandwich, a root beer and order of classic style Poutine.  The Poutine was french fries topped with cheese curds and brown gravy.  The Montreal Meat sandwich was a very juicy smoked brisket.  I found a cache only 85' from our table.






Back at the park we rested for awhile and caught up on computer chores and family news on the internet.  Before dinner I left the park and found three nearby caches.

Dinner was at 6.  The hall was decorated for the 4th of July.  Dinner was whole lobster catered by the RV Park staff.  Messy eating but very good,  Gerri and I have to be pardoned for eating only the tail and claws and the meat from the larger part of the legs.  Whatever that stuff in the body is doesn't seem appetizing to us, like sucking crawdad heads only on a larger scale.

Following the dinner we were treated to music by the Birds, Valerie and Herb, and vocalizations by Dale Christie.

We all sang along to some patriotic songs.  It was a very stirring celebration of our countries birth.

We read some and watched some TV before retiring.

We are in no hurry to start traveling in the morning.  We only have 52 miles to drive to Lunenburg, although we are told there is a lot to see there in the way of historic sites.

Sunday July 3, 2014 Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Our activities today didn't start until 9:30.  We drank most of our coffee before meeting up with the group.  We drove back to downtown Halifax to the Scotiabank Centre.  http://www.scotiabank-centre.com/en/home/default.aspx.  Where we were scheduled to attend a performance of the Royal Nova Scotia Tattoo later in the day.  http://www.nstattoo.ca/.

Our first activity was a backstage tour of the center.  Our guide gave us information on the center.  It is mainly an ice hockey stadium and used for several other events during the year.  We got to stand on the world's largest indoor stage.  We also saw the areas where the performers got ready for their part of the show.

Orchestra practice

On stage

We went the Auction House Restaurant for lunch.  Gerri took some pictures in the restaurant and used one in our Facebook Check In.  Later when we got pack to the RV we found that the restaurant had shared the photo on their Facebook page, a first for us.

This one went on the restaurant's Facebook page

The Tattoo performance started at 2.  We had excellent seats at the end of the stadium near where dignitaries sit.  We had a great view of the arena, and stage at the far end.  The performance itself was stimulating to both eyes and ears performed by over 1,000 performers.  At times it was emotion evoking.  The action was fast paced and consisted of performances by various military groups and civilian acts.  One of the best was an exhibition by the USAF Honor Guard Precision Drill Team.  Even though there was a rule against it Gerri took a some of pictures toward the end of the show.

The Citadel

On the way back to the car I looked for a cache but didn't find it.  We drove to the Halifax Citadel and took pictures of the city skyline and harbor.

A Duck in the harbor

The Provence House

An interesting address.

Back at the RV Park there was an impromptu gathering of most of the group with lobster provided by another rv group leaving and gifting to Dale and Lydia Christie.  The rest of us brought some fast side dishes.   Dale had also bought ice cream as treat.

We were in bed by 10:45 after watching some TV and reading.  We have one more day to enjoy the Halifax area.

Saturday July 2, 2016 Halifax, NS, Canada

After a relatively late night we got up at 7, so we could be ready to leave for the Museum of the Atlantic in downtown Halifax.

We were at the museum before it opened at 9.  The museum was quite large and featured sails to steam, with a ship's chandler shop replica and an entire floor devoted to Nova Scotia's involvement with the Titanic disaster.  It also had an outside dock area with several ships and boats on display.

After the museum we had lunch at Murphy's.  http://www.mtcw.ca/#!restaurant/c21lg. I had a local dish, seafood poutine, Gerri had fish and chips and we shared a bowl of seafood chowder.  Being a sheltered hillbilly and then transplanted to the south west, I had never heard of poutine until now, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine.  While we were eating the fog rolled in.

Our next stop was a tour of the Alexander Keith Brewery.  It was established 1820.  The building was one of the few that survived the Halifax blowup in 1917.  The explosion of an an ammo carrier leveled 1/3 of the city and killed over 9000 people.  Alexander Kieth was a prominent figure in the history of Nova Scotia.  He was mayor of Halifax twice and quite a philanthropist, supporting several charitable organizations.  The tour featured a replica pub with entertainment.  At one time there was an extensive tunnel system under the city.  We saw a section of what remains that is still in use.

We got back to the RV Park at about 4:30.  It had rained, so I knocked yesterdays bugs off the windshield.  We were inside just in time for more rain.  It rained off and on for the rest of the early evening.

Gerri did very well today considering last night's injury and treatment.  She had some throbbing around the cut but no other ill effects.

Friday July 1, 2016 Halifax, Nova Scotia.

We were ready to travel by 9 with our coffee in hand.  Some other members of the caravan came over and asked about my slide room problems of last week.  Another member of our party couldn't get a slide to come in.  I described my problem and solution.  The problem was different and they had already tried what solved my problem.

There were more capable people giving Herb and Valerie help and advice, so we left the park at about 10:30.  We only had about 190 miles to travel.  The first town and route change we came to had roads blocked for an event.  Today was a holiday, Canada Day.  I stopped for fuel after about 25 miles. When fuel is sold by the liter they really go by fast.  The price was $105.6 per liter.  Of course a few miles down the road it was $ 0.979, that is Canadian.  Knowing we had a toll road later I found an ATM machine and got some Canadian money.

We passed into Nova Scotia and stopped for pictures at a visitors center, centre to Canadians.












 










We stopped in Springhill, NS to visit the Anne Murray Centre. http://www.annemurraycentre.com/.  Springhill is Anne Murray's birthplace.  The exhibits at the center follow her life and career from birth until now.  For so many large RVs parking would have been a problem had it not been a holiday and nearby businesses closed.  A grocery store lot accommodated us.

Much of the rest of the  drive was on a toll road and was pretty smooth going.  The terrain was rolling and heavily wooded.  We arrived at Woodhaven RV Park of Halifax at about 4 and were set up pretty quickly.  The park is in a community called Hammond Plains.

One of several muddy rivers we crossed

A clear lake along the way

We were invited for a get together before dinner at Dale and Lydia Christy's site.  I went there while Gerri went to get our chairs from the jeep.  Herb came and got me, telling me Gerri had gotten hurt.  She had been hit in the head by the tailgate lift window.  She had forgotten that the window wouldn't stay up.  She had about a 3/4 cut on her scalp which bled a lot.  She cleaned up and we went to the Wagon Masters Dinner.

During dinner Gerri was convinced that she should see a doctor.  We drove to a town about 7 miles away.  We went to the Cobequid Community Health Centre,  http://www.cdha.nshealth.ca/about-us/cobequid-community-health-centre, in a town just west of the RV park.  We were there about 2 1/2 hours and left with 3 stitches in Gerri's scalp.

Back at the RV park we weren't up very long.  There are activities planned for tomorrow starting at 8:30.  We will see if we are up to them.

Thursday June 30, 2016 Hopewell Cape, NB, Canada

We got up too late to go see the high tide at the Hopewell Rocks.  We had our coffee and went to see the light house at Cape Enrage.  It was too foggy to get a good picture.  We did hear the fog alarm.  We then went to the town of Alma.  It was still foggy but we saw the boats sitting on the bottom by the dock.

Drift wood on the beach

That should say ALMA, Home of the Highest Tides in the World

Mind your step from the dock to the deck

We did see another covered bridge but there was no information sign.

Part of the campground

By the time we got back to the RV park it was pretty clear.  I did a cache called The Picnic Table Graveyard that was actually in the RV park.  I drove around the part of the park that overlooks the bay.  The water was very red in the shallows but the color didn't show very well in the pictures.  I couldn't find higher ground to get a better picture.

Dinner was a group pot luck, Gerri made her now world famous chicken enchiladas.  Now we have more left overs.  After dinner we had our briefing for the next travel day and activities in Halifax.

Back at the coach we read and listened to the radio until bedtime.  All in all a very good day.  Tomorrow we travel less than 200 miles to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Halifax was one of the stops on our cruise last year from NYC to Quebec.