Lost in Time, the 1740’s

Sydney, NS – September 6 & 7, 2012 - Our Current Location

A problem many RV’ers experience is the lack of campgrounds in or near large cities.  Unfortunately Sidney is no exception. Oh there are several around 20 miles out of town, but that doesn’t make much sense for us as we need a central location for our excursions.  So once again we rely on Camp Walmart.

We try to keep a low profile by not putting out the slides until dark and while we’re gone during the day, it looks like we’re just parked there shopping like anyone else.  Or so the fantasy goes.

We’ve been hearing lots of good things about the Fortress of Louisbourg, with it's period actors and totally reconstructed buildings, so on Friday we go there to spend the day. The French Fortress, built in the 1720s, was completely destroyed by the British 1760. In 1960, the Canadian government decided to rebuild the fortress as it would have looked in 1740, which was the heyday of Louisbourg.

Over 750,000 documents and drawings were used to painstakingly recreate the fortress. Even though modern technology was used to meet current building codes, many items had to created by hand using black smiths. The early 1960s was also a time when many of the coal fields in Nova Scotia were closing.  Many who were losing their jobs were trained by the government to give them the skill sets necessary to build the fortress.

The fortress is now a National Park (got to use our passes again) and is staffed with knowledgeable people who are in-character for the time of 1740.  It was a pleasure talking to all of them from the guards at the entrance, the ladies in the kitchens, the fisherman and blacksmith and others.

The fort is only accessible to the public by park busses. You're dropped off at the main gate and warned that if you're English the French guards will let you in, but they may not let you out. Since the fort was destroyed by the British you can understand the possible animosity even if it is playacting.

Once past the gate, you are greeted by a very funny French fisherman in his house where he spins yarns and gives a brief overview of the rules of the Fortress.

From there we go to see the bakery, but all they had left were a few loaves of bread.

In the blacksmiths shop we watched him make nails.

Many houses were open and staffed by characters in costume and it was interesting to listen to their stories set in the 1740s. In one of the houses EJ was fascinated by one of the housekeepers making lace.

We also went into the church and the governors quarters which were a bit upscale from the locals, but still pretty rough living.

At an ale house we listened to a fiddler and a passerby who just happened to have his 10 string tiple with him. They played and we all joined in the merriment.

It was getting colder and windy so we found the eatery to get a cup of coffee and just had to try some fresh baked goodies.

Apparently the gate guards were in good spirits as they not only let us out, the let us take their pictures.

To top off the days adventure, we had supper at the Fortress View Restaurant where we had the best seafood chowder we ever tasted.

Then it was back to the RV to rest up for tomorrows adventure.

Cape Breton Island Arrival

Port Hawksbury, NS – September 5, 2012 Our Current Location

EJ tells me we're about 4 weeks behind on the blog. How in the heck did that happen? There's so much going on, the old blog just gets put on the back burner. No excuses, it just happens.  But still it’s good to hear from our readers when we slack off or any other time for that matter.

Naturally since I spent Monday detailing the RV and car it would rain today. That wouldn’t bother me if we were sitting still, but we had it fixed in our heads that it was time to go, and to heck with the weather.  That means all those nice shiny parts will get covered with a coat of grime.  Oh well, if it was easy everybody would be doing it, right?

After leaving Hammonds Plains our first stop was the Walmart in Truro. We fought the wind and rain for a whole 53 miles before we decided we needed a break. That and the fact that the windshield wipers decided to start acting up again. The drivers side works fine, the passenger side wiper seems to be possessed.

The whole situation turned out to be a little more stressful than we had anticipated so naps sounded like a good idea while we let the rain die down. We had briefly entertained spending the night here,  but there were “No Camping” signs all over the parking lot and we didn’t feel like risking the wrath of the parking lot police.

Refreshed, we pressed on into the rain tentatively  deciding on the Walmart in New Glasgow for our night camp. But when we got there we still felt pretty good and made the decision to drive on into Cape Breton Island.

We made it as far as Port Hawkesbury  where we wandered around in the dark and the rain looking for the local Camp Walmart. We finally found it and decided to call it a night. We were both pretty tired puppies from fighting the wind and rain all day.

It’s off to Sydney in the morning.

Goodbye Halifax

Hammonds Plains, NS – September 4, 2012 Our Current Location

We wrapped up our stay in the Halifax area by getting together with fellow RVers Russ and Sheri whom we met at the Winnebago Factory in Forest City, Iowa.

The story starts on June 23rd.  This fellow walks over and compliments us on what a fine looking RV we have.  Turns out, he’s parked a couple of sites away from us and has an Itasca Meridian, same model we have, in the same color scheme as ours.  No wonder he thought it was good looking.

We ended up having a lengthy impromptu happy hour where we exchanged a number of traveling tales.  This is when we each found out the other was planning on spending the summer in or around Nova Scotia. We made a promise to stay in touch and look each other up once we got there.

Once we crossed over into Nova Scotia on August 12, we sent them an email letting them know we’d made it. It turns out at the time, they were already in Labrador/Newfoundland where people, towns and internet connections are few and far between.

Once they got back within range, we exchanged emails and set up a date to meet.

So we traveled a whopping 16 miles today to Woodhaven RV Park to meet up with them.  This also puts us 16 miles closer to our next destination, Cape Breton.

It was good to see them again and swap another whole set of stories.  The ladies prepared snacks and Russ and I set up the chairs outside so we could enjoy the balmy evening temperatures.  Even though they enjoyed Newfoundland, their experiences convinced us that we didn’t need to go that far. Tomorrow we begin the end of our northeastern trek as we head towards Cape Breton.

There’s no map today as 16 miles wouldn’t even show up.

EJ’S B’DAY

Glen Margaret, NS – Sept 1, 2012

Had a great day. Started off with flowers, cards and a candle infused blueberry muffin from my guy. Enjoyed relaxing with coffee and cove views.

After two full days of Halifax touring with lots of walking and adventure, it was nice to just chill. Frank took me out for a nice brunch (Bloody Mary included). Afterward we toured several artists, galleries and craft places. Several of the studios were in the artists homes and we had a great time talking with them. Frank was a real trouper as this is not his favorite thing to do.

Had a lot of nice surprise e-mail greetings from family and friends. It turns out sneaky ole Frank let everyone know it was my birthday. It really brightened my day to hear from so many folks. Thanks to all for making my day more special. 

We came back to the RV, cooked out and enjoyed the evening. Topped it off  by sitting around a campfire, watching the stars and bright moon.

Getting older ain’t so bad.

I Think We’re Growing Roots

August 28 to September 3, 2012 – Glen Margaret, NS Our Current Location 

Oh my gosh, we’ve been in one place for 7 nights.  I better check and see if the tires have flat spots. Even the girls think it’s time to hit the road.

If you clicked on the “Location” above you can see that we found a great campground right on the water of St. Margaret's Bay.  And we have front row seats to see it all.

We arrived on Tuesday and got settled in and mapped out a plan for the next few days.

On Thursday we took off for Peggy’s Cove, a picturesque little community with, of course, a light house.  The lighthouse has outlived it’s purpose and now the Canadian and Nova Scotian governments are fighting over who has to maintain it and paint it.  The painters union got fed up with all the squabbling and told both governments to butt out, they’d do it for free.

Peggy’s Cove is also a very popular stop for the cruise lines that dock in Halifax.  They load everyone on a bus and drop them off at the lighthouse for 30 minutes before they load them all up and haul them off.  That’s a shame because even though it’s small, there is no way to experience all that Peggy’s Cove has to offer in 30 minutes.

Spending the afternoon in Halifax seems like a good idea so we head in that direction. We took the coast road so we could experience the seaside towns along the way. In Prospect Bay, we run into another movie production.

As we get closer to Halifax, the traffic really starts to pick up, something we haven’t had to deal with since Quebec. But we manage to find our way to the wharf where we park right next to the visitor center for $3 an hour. Fortunately you only have to pay until 6pm so it only cost us about $6.50.

We got a great city map and information of what is where. The wharf is full of sights and things to do so we walk it end to end. It’s late and things are closing, but we did manage to find a brewery to sample before calling it a day.

When we got back to the car there was an artist painting a mural on a wall in the parking lot. We were amazed that he was using spray paint to create such a detailed scene.

Since we didn’t see all we wanted to see on Thursday, we go back to Halifax on Friday. We accidently find some free parking and end up hiking all over the city. We check out the Farmer’s Market, the old burial ground and spent most of the day at the Citadel. Afterward, we found a spot for happy hour to rest our tired bodies.  Appropriately rejuvenated we hike the whole wharf again before heading home.

Saturday was EJ’s birthday and I think she wrote a separate blog entry about that.

We laid low the holiday weekend (yes, Canada celebrates Labor Day) and ended up staying one more night (pay for 6 get 7th free!). Tuesday we are going to catch up with a couple we  met in Forest City, Iowa. We want to get together with them and swap stories about our travels so far. Then it’s off to Cape Breton Island.