July 16 to August 4

Friday July 16 Day 1
Queensway
Adventure Tour to the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland
Still hot and humid during the day. We drove through a couple of showers. This morning we were up at 5 am as we were on our way on our bus tour to the Maritime Provinces. The bus didn't actually pick us up until 7:15 which means we were at their pick up point a hour early. They forgot to tell us about the change. We headed east on highway 417 through Montreal and took highway 40 along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River all the way to Quebec City. We stopped near the Chateau Frontenac and were dropped off to have lunch and have a quick look around.
We took lots of pictures and ate lunch at La Creperie. Then we were off on a driving tour of Quebec City and then across the Pierre Laporte bridge and onto highway 20. This took us to Riviere de Loup where we headed south into New Brunswick. We had break stops of course. We stopped at the Clarion Hotel in Edmundston, New Brunswick for the night. Nice rooms. We were not very hungry so stopped by a Subway for supper. We took a quick walk outside in the vicinity of the hotel to get some exercise. Walked 6.6 km.

Saturday July 17 Day 2
Foggy first thing this morning in Edmundston, NB. Sun and cloud during the day with sun on PEI, abt 32 C. Up at 6:30 and breakfast at 7. We headed off across New Brunswick. Our first stop was at Hartland, NB to see the world's longest covered bridge at 1282 feet. We walked across. We then travelled towards Woodstock and stopped at a Tim Horton's for mid morning break. Lunch was at an Irving's Big Stop near Salisbury, NB. This was a great place for lunch. The three of us each had a
lobster roll. The afternoon was taken up with travelling towards the Confederation Bridge linking New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. There is a small viewing park at the west end of the bridge so we stopped and had a good view of the bridge. It is about 13 km long. Being on a tour bus also gave us an excellent view of the Northumberland Straight because the bus windows are above the side walls of the bridge. At the PEI end of the bridge we stopped at the gateway village for a break and to allow people to shop. After that we headed off to Summerside, PEI for the night. The Quality Inn was very nice. They had an outdoor pool so we all went swimming. After that we went to the Two Brothers for supper. Then we went for a three km walk downtown and along a seaside boardwalk on Summerside Harbour. That was it for the day. Walked 7.9 km.

Sunday July 18 Day 3
This morning in Summerside PEI was a bit cool. The rest of the day was sunny and hot abt 32 C, with a hint of a shower at Cavendish Beach late in the afternoon. Up at 6:30 am and breakfast at 7. We headed of to Charlottetown by 7:45 to pick up a tour guide and do a bus tour of Charlottetown sights. This is the Provincial Capital of PEI. After the tour we stopped at Province House which is the location of the Provincial Legislature. Here we had a look at the room where the first meetings
concerning Canadian Confederation took place in 1864. We also saw the current legislative room. After that we walked around the building outside and looked at all of the historic plaques. We then took a walk down to the waterfront in the approximate location where Regis and Kelly had their show three days last week. Apparently it was quite a success! We also visited a local farm market where we shopped a bit and had some excellent ice cream about mid morning! They also have some climbing goats on hand to entertain us. After that we headed off to the small town of New Glasgow and the Island Preserve Co. for lunch. They also had a huge garden area for gardeners to view. Nice! After that we headed east toward Cavendish where we visited the grave site of Lucy Maude Montgomery and the Anne of Green Gables National Historic site. We had seen this before but it was nice to see it again. Very hot! The next stop was Cavendish National Park, which is a seashore park. Lots of sand dunes and sandy beach area. There were jelly fish in the water today. We just waded. After a drive along the cliffs of PEI we headed off to North Rustico and the Fisherman's Wharf where we had a huge supper. They had a 60 foot salad bar plus we had lobster and strawberry shortcake. Were we full! As always I took lots of digital pictures. Walked 11.5 km.

Monday July 19 Day 4
Another warm day today. It seemed abt 30 C. Up at 6:30 am, breakfast at 7. We headed off from Summerside, PEI this morning about 7:45 am and head towards the Confederation Bridge to go back to New Brunswick. We then turned east into Nova Scotia. We stopped at the NS Visitors centre where we saw a monument to "Beaubassin." When we stopped near New Glasgow this morning for coffee at Tim
Horton's where we had a surprise. We were standing outside drinking coffee when a car drove up and I heard someone say twice it's the Kipps. Well I did not recognize them until they said Lorena and Tom. It was the Sherwood's of course. They have a summer home near Pictou and had come into town for the day to access the internet and make phone calls. Tom was minister at Orleans United Church for a number of years. We had a short 10 min. chat. After that we kept driving East towards Cape Breton. Lots of trees as in New Brunswick. After crossing the Canso Causeway we stopped at Port Hastings for lunch at the Skye Motel. We were then on Cape Breton and passed through many small towns and stopped about mid afternoon at Rita's Tea House (Rita MacNeil) at Big Pond. By then we had been following along the Bras d'Or Lake for a while. Arrived in North Sydney, NS about 4:30 pm. After checking into the North Star Motel we read our e-mail. We were right above the Ferry Terminal and could see the habour from our window. We walked downhill to the harbour and then through the ferry terminal yard with a security person. We visited a local park in North Sydney and had a close look at the ferry. We then stopped at a Subway for
supper. Then back up the hill to the motel. Walked 6.8 km.

Tuesday July 20 Day 5
Up at 6:30 am. breakfast at 7:15. At 8:30 we were off down the hill to the ferry terminal. We waited around the bus and the ferry terminal for about 3 hours. We finally left about 11:30 am or noon NFLD time. The ferry trip on Marine Atlantic ship S.S. Caribou was uneventful. There was a slight swell and the wind was strong. We had lunch on the ship and then either sat and read or dozed or went for walks around the ship or spent time on deck in the wind. We arrived in Port au Basque just before 6 pm and disembarked and were on the road by 6. The drive to Corner Brook took about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The weather was clear and foggy with some sun. The Glynmill Inn was really nice. To bad we didn't arrive early. Supper was very late ending about 10 pm. There was then time to read e-mail, copy photos, charge batteries and write a trip summary. The landscape here in NFLD has lots of trees
and water. It is sort of like Scotland but with green trees etc. Walked 3.4 km.

Wednesday July 21 Day 6
The weather today was a bit cooler as we headed north from Corner Brook. The Inn was quite nice with excellent breakfast choices. The first thing we did after heading off at 8 am was to visit the Capt James Cook historic site at Corner Brook. It was at the top of one of their highest hills. Excellent views of the river and town. Nice pulp and paper plant! We then headed out onto the Tans-Canada Highway heading north. We passed through Pasadena and along Deer Lake, through Deer Lake and then NE
onto the Viking Trail. We passed through Wiltondale, passed Lomond, Glenburnie, Birchy Head, Shoal Brook, and then stopped Woody Point where we turned off the road and headed into the Tablelands area of Gros Morne National Park. We had never visited this area before and the mountains here were very barren. Much like Scotland! We made a number of picture stops. The whole area is trees mountains
and water. Very picturesque. After a coffee break at one of the Parks interpretation centres we headed towards Rocky Harbour where we had lunch at the Ocean View Hotel. Nice light lunch of sandwich and chowder. On the remainder of the trip we passed many small villages such as Sally's Cove, St. Pauls, Cow Head and Parson's Pond before stopping at The Arches Provincial Park where there are rock formations
shaped into arches by the waves. After that we kept going through Portland Creek, Daniels Harbour, Bellburns and Hawk's Bay before stopping at the Sea Echo Motel in Port aux Choix for the night. A nice clean basic Motel with excellent internet access. We had supper in the restaurant. Fishcakes, Cod Burgers, Cod tongues, salad and desert. We went out for a walk in the wind and watched the waves dashing into the harbour from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The wind was very strong. Walked 8.2 km.

Thursday July 22 Day 7
Off about 8:30 am from Port Au Choix this morning. We headed over to see the local lighthouse which was interesting. While there we walked down to the edge of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We saw fossils in the rocks and walked on spongy ground (Tundra?). The plaque at the lighthouse was for The French Shore. After that we visited the Port Au Choix National Historic Park where they told us about the various peoples who have lived in the area over the past 10,000 years. While here we say miniature
plants and trees that would normally grow bigger but because of the cold winds and winters and the salt in the air from the sea they are stunted. This was the Limestone Barrens. While here we saw a Caribou. The interpreter said that 10,000 seals had appeared in their harbour earlier in the spring. We stopped at the Plum Point for lunch. We then continued north on highway 430 past St. Barbe and ended up in St. Anthony, NFLD to visit the Sir William Grenfell museum. We also looked out onto the Atlantic and discovered that this would be a good place to see icebergs earlier in the year. After a stop at Tim Hortons and the local grocery store we headed off to Roddickton for the night at the Mayflower Inn & Cottages. Basic - we had a cabin. Nice thing is they had internet access. Dinner was really slowwwww. Walked 8.1 km.

Friday July 23 Day 8
The day started off a bit damp and foggy at Roddickton, NFLD. As we headed north towards L'Anse aux Meadows it looked like the fog was going to descend and it was going to rain. When we got to L'Anse Aux Meadows, the weather was a bit grey but no rain. We spent about an hour walking through the meadow and viewing the reconstruction of a Viking sod house and storehouses. This was a really desolate place. It was interesting to see how some of my Viking ancestors may have lived! We then headed back towards the Northern Delight Restaurant for an early lunch. I had fish chowder and roll with part of an egg salad sandwich. We then had a two hour drive back to St. Barbe, NFLD to catch the Labrador Marine ferry to Blanc Sablon, Quebec at 3:30 pm. They were a half hour late leaving so we did not arrive in Blanc Sablon until 5:30 pm. During the boat ride on the Apollo mother and Margaret stood out on deck the whole time. I spent some time out. We saw whale blow spouts in the distance and whales breaching the waves. After leaving the ferry we headed a few km up the road to L'Anse aux Claire which is in Labrador. The hotel was very nice and even had internet access which we did not expect. We left our luggage at the hotel and headed off up the road again to see the Point Amour Lighthouse, which is supposed to be the tallest lighthouse in NFLD/Labrador. Here we had a real surprise. We saw whale blowing and breaching the waves very close to shore. Very exciting! Back at the hotel we had a very nice supper. Margaret and I had Caribou and mother had chicken. The dessert was a partridge berry parfait. I don't think I mentioned before that the local desserts and preserves are either blueberry, partridgeberry or bake apple. Your mother wore her new black dress and looked very nice! We attempted to go for a walk after supper but we were chased in by black flies. First time on the trip! By the way our hotel room looked out onto the L'Anse aux Claire bay and the Strait of Belle Isle. We could see blow spouts from there. We could also see the moon reflecting on the water. Walked 7 km.

Saturday July 24 Day 9
Forgot to mention that Friday was a good day for seeing moose. We must have seen about 10 on our travels. This morning there was a bit of fog at L'Anse aux Claire, Labrador. As I said we could see the bay from our room. Up at 6:30 as usual, breakfast at 7. The breakfast was buffet style and quite good. Eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, toast, oatmeal, fishcakes with partridge berry and bake apple preserves plus commercial jam. Juice and coffee. We were off at 8:30 for the ferry. We left on time at 10:30 and remained on deck watching for whales. We finally saw a few spouting and breaching the waves. A nice display before we went into the huge fog bank sitting over the Strait of Belle Isle. Arrived at St. Barbe, NFLD about noon and stopped along the way for lunch at Plum Point Motel. We then drove down the peninsula towards Gros Morne Park to stay the night at Fisherman's Landing Inn at Rocky Harbour for the night. The weather was very nice all day with mostly sun in NFLD. We discovered that there was a walking path from the Inn to the centre part of town and the harbour so we got some exercise. Nice walk beside a rushing brook and a small waterfall. We ate at a restaurant in town across from the harbour. Nice meal with ice cream for dessert. Walked 8.1 km.

Sunday July 25 Day 10
The morning started off sunny but then clouded in. We left Fisherman's Landing Inn about 8:30 am and about 20 minutes later had to implement Plan B. The tour director had forgotten her handbag, so we turned around and went back. This cost us about 40 minutes. We made a couple of picture stops on the edge of Gros Morne Park. Our coffee stop on the Trans Canada Highway was at an Irvings Big Stop at Deer Lake. We bought coffee and drinks and bananas. We had lunch at Grand Falls. We all went to a Subway and and had meatball subs and then took a walk up the street to a Dominion store for more bananas and yogurt etc. Here we visited the Grand Falls Fishway where they study Salmon. Then we headed further east to Gander, NFLD. Here we visited the North Atlantic Aviation Museum where we saw many artifacts and a moving video about 911. Just down the road we visited a Commonwealth Graves Commission site to an air crash that happened in 1985 and involved America soldiers returning home from a peace keeping mission. Our hotel for the night was Sinbad's Hotel and Suites at Gander. Your mother and I did some Tae Bo this morning. Margaret and I went to Macdonalds for a burger tonight and we stopped at Subway for a lobster roll for mom. We did laundry tonight. Walked 8 km.

Monday July 26 Day 11
It rained overnight and was still wet this morning. We had our continental breakfast of fruit, juice, toast and coffee. We had time so your mother and I did the Tae Bo workout this morning. My back is feeling better because of the exercise. We headed off towards Twillingate about 9 am. As we drove along the weather got better. It remained cloudy most of the day with a brief sprinkle. Our first stop was at a small wharf in Turrell where a guy showed us his local museum. He likes to talk to people. We then moved on to visit a church after a stop at the liquor store to buy some Screech. We stopped for lunch at Anchor Inn Motel where we had excellent fish chowder and fishcakes. Margaret had shrimp. Fish in Newfoundland refers to Cod.
After lunch we visited a high lookout at the very north end of North Twillingate Island past Crow Head, where we could look out onto the Atlantic. No icebergs this year! A great view! We then went through Twillingate again to the other side where we stopped at a place called Prime Berth where we had a talk about the fishing industry and a guy showed us how they used to fillet and preserve Cod fish. He also had a complete whale skeleton on display. Interesting! We walked over to the local Dominion store where we bought the fixings for supper. Walked 4.8 km.

Tuesday July 27 Day 12
There was rain this morning. We headed off from Gander towards St. John's about 7:45. Our first stop was Gambo to view a statue to Joey Smallwood, who was the Premier of Newfoundland when Newfoundland entered Canadian Confederation in 1949. We then drove on and stopped at Terra Nova National Park where we viewed an interesting video about the park and also touched some sea creatures in their small aquarium tank. Off again in the cloudy and wet weather we stopped at a place called Whitbourne at Monty's Place for lunch. Then onward to St. John's to stay at the
Delta Hotel. We had a 2 hour guided tour of St. John's with an excellent tour guide called Mike. We then took a drive out to see Cape Spear and the lighthouse. This is the most easterly piece of land in North America. We saw more whales here. We could also see Signal Hill in the distance. Back to the hotel to settle in we found we had a corner room on the 4th floor which overlooked the harbour. Very nice! We went out for supper to a pub called Bridie Malloy's on Water Street. Your mother had Newfoundland Jig, I had Irish Stew and Margaret had a burger. I needed to get away from fish for a day. I also had a pint of 1892 which is made by Quidi Vidi Brewery. We used the hotel exercise room tonight. Nice equipment. Walked 7 km.

Wednesday July 28 Day 13
Today started off cloudy. It looked like rain but it didn't and the weather was sunny this afternoon. we headed off to Bay Bull this morning at 7:45 am. Bay Bull is south of St. John's along the coast and is the place where a lot of whale and bird watching trips start. We went out on a catamaran with a company called Gatherall. We toured out into Witless Bay (Atlantic Ocean) where we passed very close to an island full of birds such as gulls, mures and puffins etc. The guys on the boat were quite entertaining and a couple of them sang us Newfoundland songs. As we passed the bird island they were telling us that they had spotted whales in the distance. We eventually saw the spouts above the water. When we got there we appeared to be in the middle of a whole pod of Humpback whales, perhaps 20 or so. We were back at the
hotel about 11 am and we took a break before heading off to see a museum called the GeoCentre which was all about rocks and the geology of Newfoundland and Labrador. We walked back to the hotel along the harbour. After a rest at the hotel we went across the street to the K Cafe where we had dinner. Chicken Alfredo, strip loin steak and shrimp. Walked 8 km.

Thursday July 29 Day 14
Today started off cloudy in St. John's. We had a later start this morning with a group picture before we left. We headed out onto the Trans Canada Highway at 10 am. The driving was OK with a patch of rain and the wind was with us all day. We stopped at St. Jude's Motel for a light lunch and then at Grand Falls for afternoon coffee break where we had McFlurries. This is a long drive with lots of trees, rocks ,water and traffic. We arrived at the Glynmill Inn in Corner Brook about 5:45 pm. Margaret and I used the exercise room for a short time then we went down for a light supper. Tomorrow we head back to the mainland. We are supposed to be up at 4:15 am and ready and on the bus by 5 am. They are sending us off with a boxed breakfast. We have a 2 hour plus drive to Port aux Basques and we need to be there an hour and a half in advance of sailing time. The ferry will probably be late leaving! No pictures today
since we did not stop anywhere of interest. Walked 8 km.

Friday July 30 Day 15
Well this morning was interesting. We had a wakeup call at 4:15 am, got our stuff ready and headed downstairs to pick up a box breakfast and coffee. We were away by 5 am. We had a two hour drive to get to Port aux Basques, NFLD to catch the Marine Atlantic ferry, Atlantic Vision, back to the mainland. We had to be there an hour and a half ahead. Scheduled leaving time was 8:30 but we did not leave until 9:30. Long wait, but it doesn't seem to matter to them. We had breakfast on board. We also had a front window and saw dolphines a couple of times. We also had live entertainment on the boat, Bugs and Debbie Green from Newfoundland. They were good. We also had watched one of their videos on the coach. We arrived back in North Sydney, NS about 1:30 and it took about a half hour to unload. We then went to our motel, the North Star Inn. We were all tired, so we took an hour or so to relax before doing anything else. We went for walk down to the harbour and discovered a beach area where we walked along the water for a while. Your mother and Margaret went for a swim in the motel pool. We then went for supper. 5 more days to go! Walked 8 km.

Saturday July 31 Day 16
This morning we left North Sydney, Cape Breton about 7:40 am. We travelled along highway 105 which took us past Sydney Mines and around the St. Andrews Channel towards the Cape Breton Highlands. We finally came to the bridge that goes across one arm of the channel out to the ocean and then stopped part way up Kelly's Mountain to take some photos of the area. We then travelled part of the Cape Breton Trail until we came to Baddeck. We then passed through places such as Whycocomagh, Kingsville and Queensville. and then Port Hastings where we crossed the Canso Causeway and then stopped at a dingy Irvings Big Stop for coffee. After that we were in Nova Scotia proper where we passsed through Antigonish and then to New Glasgow. We stopped at Truro for lunch at a Swiss Chalet. Then it was about an hour to Halifax where we are staying at the Delta Halifax. We had a three hour guided tour of Halifax which was very good. We stopped at Point Pleasant Park which was destroyed by a hurricane a few years ago. It is recovering. We also walked through the Public Gardens which was excellent. We also stopped in a cemetery to view a memorial to the Titanic victims. We stopped briefly at the Halifax Citadel to see the changing of the guard. Back at the hotel we took a brief break to open our suitcases and then headed out to the streets. We were close to the harbour looking for a restaurant and found Murphy's where we had fish and chips. After that we walked along the harbour front along with several thousand tourists and Haligonans. This weekend is a celebration of Natal Day on Halifax. Sort of like Col. By Day in Ottawa. We were lucky in our rooms again as we were able to watch their fireworks display from our hotel room. We walked for over two hours looking at things. They have Dolpin statues here sort of like the Moose in Toronto and the Cows in Boston. etc. Mother and Maragret went swimming in the hotel pool. Walked about 11 Km.

Sunday August 1 Day 17
A bit cloudy this morning, however it is supposed to be a good day and warm. We left the hotel about 8:30 for a drive to Peggy's Cove. This is one of the scenic places that every Canadian must visit? It definitely was scenic with the small harbour, fishing boats, lighthouse and the rocks. We had lunch there as well and bought a few things to bring home. I have been buying mostly music CDs of the Maritime Provinces. We returned to Halifax about 1:45 and were dropped off at Pier 21 where many immigrants to Canada entered the country between 1928 and 1971. We watched an
interesting video and then took a look around the museum. We then did a long walk back to the Halifax Citadel passing by a few historic places along the way. We spent about 2 hours at the Citidel and again bought a few things. The Citadel is probably the largest of the historic forts in Canada. We then headed back to the hotel for a brief rest before supper. Walked 11.8 km.

Monday August 2 Day 18
The morning started off a bit foggy in Halifax. We left about 8:30 am. We passed by Siewiake, NS which is on the 45th parallel. Truro, NS was next which is where one of my newly found ancestors lived at a place called Onslow which is near Bible Hill! Our first stop of the day was Springhill, NS. This is the site of several coal mining disasters and also the home town of Anne Murray, well know Canadian singer. This was also our coffee break and a chance to buy a few groceries, like bananas. After that we headed into New Brunswick and stopped for lunch at a nice roadside restaurant called Fred's, which is located past Shediac at Cap-Pele. We then headed back into Shediac, NB to view the giant Lobster statue. That was something! After that we went to Magnetic Hill near Moncton, NB to astound everyone and buy a few items to bring home. Our hotel was part of the Future chain at Moncton. Nice place.
We used the exercise room as we all have been overeating. Supper about 8. We had two seafood platters and a spinach salad which we shared. We also had a glass of wine each. Walked 6.4 km.

Tuesday August 3 Day 19
Today was a driving day. We left Moncton about 8 am and travelled along the Trans Canada highway. We stopped at a the Riverside Pub & Grill in Woodstock, NB for lunch. Mom and I had Chili. Margaret had a Salmon burger. We then did a drive by at Grand Falls, NB to see the Falls? Not so interesting, so we did a picture stop at the Falls in Riviere du Loup. Much nicer!. We stopped at the Hotel Universal in Riviere du Loup for the night. We drove through a rain shower during the day. We also changed from Atlantic time to Eastern time at the New Brunswick-Quebec boarder.
Walked 5.3 km.

Wednesday August 4 Day 20
Final day! We left Riviere du Loup about 8 am driving along the Trans Canada Highway. We passed by Quebec City and then stoppped for a coffee break. We then headed on to Montreal. We stopped West of Montreal at Pointe Claire for lunch at a place called Chenoyes. They serve great smoked meat sandwiches. After passing through a couple of very heavy rain storms we arrived back in Ottawa about 3:30 pm where we encountered another thunder storm. Our son-in-law picked us up and took us home. Nice trip but we were happy to be home! The one thing we don't like about long trips in general is too much eating and not enough exercise! Walked 5.2 km.