7/8/2018. Alma, New Brunswick Canada

We arrived at Fundy National Park.  Not a bad drive 1 1/2 hours from Saint John New Brunswick.  First thing we hit Kelly’s Bake Shop.  Sandy had read that they bake Sticky Buns that are a must have.  Yes, we walked out with 1/2 dozen and two did not make it out of the parking lot.  What Sandy had read was correct.  

Then we walked over to the Lobster shop (another recommended must do by TripAdvisor).  It is located behind Kelly’s Bake Shop.  If you like lobster, this is the place to go. 

We then walked over to the beach.  The tide was out.  I set my Apple Watch on Outdoor Walk and walked from the beginning of the beach to the beginning of the water.  The water had actually receded a 1/2 mile from the beach

I am attaching pictures of everything but the Sticky Buns simply because the Sticky Buns disappeared somehow before I could take a picture. :-)

Hopewell Rocks

7/9/2018. Today we drove North about 45 minutes to Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick.    It is the location where the delta between the Low and High Tides are at the highest (up to 46’).  We arrived at low tide and walked down on the Ocean floor.  I am attaching pictures of our adventure.  Across the Bay of Fundy at this point we could see the shoreline of Nova Scotia (where we will be in a couple of weeks) which is approximately 1 1/2 miles away by boat.  If you decide to make a trip to see this make sure you bring a coat as it is much colder and windier along the shoreline.  

The Girl with the Copper Tinge in her hair

We are in Fundy National Park today.  Our Campsite is a pull thru between a bunch of pine trees.  This morning we took our showers in the COW (Condo on Wheels).  After Sandy’s shower she announced that we are not drinking this water.  She could smell the minerals in the water while washing her hair.  

Granted I am carrying 3 gallons of store purchased water just for this occasion and I still have close to 50 Gallons of fresh water in the tank from home, but I have to laugh.  

First the water supplied by the National Park is drinkable, second, all the water that comes into the COW goes initially through a course water filter, and if we are to drink it is again filtered through a fine Carbon filter.

But is it worth trying to explain this all to her ;-0.  No I don’t think so.  I just explained to her that I noticed a coppery glow to her hair this morning (get it, minerals - Copper Tinge).  

PRETTY SMOOTH  AAA-Y.  We are in Canada so I’ve learned you end every sentence with AAA-Y. :)

Saint John New Brunswick wrap-up

Well, it is almost time to move on to our next location.

Interesting things about Saint John:

 - The city is known for the reversing falls.  The is the one place where twice per day the flow of water from the Saint John River reverses.  When the tide is out the water flows from the Saint John River into the Ocean.  When the tide is in the ocean pushes water up the river and up the falls (appx 4’).  There is a 20 minute window twice per day where the water is neutral flowing which allows boats to get in and out of the river.
 - Since the city lies in the Bay of Fundy, the fog rolls in and out of the city at all times during the day.  When it rolls in, it is damp and cold.  When it rolls out the sun is hot.  The nights are in the 50’s, low 60’s

 - One of the big family names is Irving.  The Irving family homestead is within walking distance of the campground.  Of course it is very nice.  The Irving family owns the local oil refinery and paper mill in town.

 - The campground we are staying in is called Rockwood Park which is a City Park Campground.  I would rate it a 5 out of 10 but it suits our purposes.

 - In general the Canadian people are very nice, but get them in a car watch out.  They drive fast and have the patience of many of us in the United States. :-)

  We have done many things in Saint John:

• Attended the week-end farmers market in downtown
• Attended the Canada Day celebration. Watched the fireworks from on top of a cliff in our campground overlooking the city.
• Hiked and camped in Rockwood Park
• Hiked Irving Park and saw a Porcupine that was bigger than some small dogs.  (Picture attached).
• Explored Sea Caves in Saint Martin, NB. Had to wait until the tide went out and emptied the caves of water before we could get in.
• Explored the southern part of Fundy National Park and its many overlooks
• Met new friends from South Carolina
• Met a couple traveling from California with two 16 month old twins
• Visited a dentist office as Sandy had a tooth infection
• Made an appointment at a local Winnebago RV dealer
• to get our Awning Problem (mysteriously opens up at 55 MPH) fixed which turned out to be water in the motor box shorting out the leads
• To get our water leak on the couch slide out fixed.  Turned out to be missing caulking where the slide out awning attaches to the side of the motor home
• Greased the leveling jacks for the first time and had 3 out of 4 grease fittings pull completely out of the hydraulic cylinder (Yippee).  Another thing I had to fix on the road.
• Had the Generator fail.  Called Cummins for troubleshooting help.  Factory Diagnostic test also failed so will be taking the unit to a Cummins dealer in Halifax Nova Scotia for analysis.  No big deal as we were heading to Halifax anyways in a couple of weeks.  The good thing is that they have an electric hook-up in their parking lot and said we can use it the night before our appointment.  This will save us one night of campground fees.  Hopefully the problem is under warranty.  My guess it is a loose electrical connection or it also has water in the electrical box after the down pour we drove through a week ago.

The next stop is the Northside of Fundy National Park in Alma New Brunswick Canada on Sunday 7/8

You’ve Got Mail

One month without the annoyance of mail.... specifically all the junk mail.  It’s been great.

But one may ask, how do you get your mail?  (The important mail at least)

For now, we have taken the easy approach and imposed on a great friend and neighbor.  But to make her life simpler, we have used the power of the postal service to help manage the work load.

First, we put our mail on “vacation hold” for a few weeks, and had a mass delivery that she collected and sorted through to find the important items.  She kindly texted us some photos of items that looked important which we had her either hold until our return or send, then shipped to us at a campground we would be at long enough for the mail to get here and not miss us.  Our first shipment of mail came while in Canada and around the holiday for Canada and the US, but we had an extended stay in this location.

Second,  we signed up for “Informed Delivery” via the USPS, which emails us each day of mail to be delivered that day.  This notifies us of first class mail (and some promotional mail that comes directly with our name on them), so we know of specific things we need to make sure we don’t miss.

Third, when our neighbor ships the mail, she sends us the tracking number, which we then sign up for tracking updates via text from the USPS, so we have a great idea where it is in the process of getting to us, and it also provides a text of when it has been delivered.  Today, the campground gate attendant delivered it directly to our campsite.  (We had informed the gate the mail was coming so they did not reject it when it arrived.)

Fourth, for anything possible (that we really wanted), we signed up for electronic delivery rather than mail delivery, so we get what we need even sooner than snail mail allows and it reduces the mail flow for our neighbor (and the cost to have it shipped to our remote locations).

So far, it’s working wonderfully.  We don’t miss the constant mail....at all.

Written by Sandy

One Month on the Road

As I write this it is the morning of July 2 (one day short of 1 month on the road) and I am sitting outside in the shade in St John’s New Brunswick Canada.  We have traveled appx 2000 miles and have had numerous adventures that hopefully if you are reading our blog you have also been able to participate in from afar.  

Yesterday was Canada Day (very similar to our 4th of July).  The Canadian people are very proud people.  I saw Canadian Flags on cars, campers, retail establishments, and homes.  It was a big celebration with events downtown, followed by fireworks at 10PM.  Our campground overlooks the city from a cliff so Sandy, I, and a lot of Canadian Campers watched the firework display.

Interesting that the local Canadian news are all over President Trump Tariff’s and are making a big deal about supporting Canadian Manufactures.  “Do not buy American”

Yesterday we took the toad (RV talk for tow behind car) and drove up to St Martins, New Brunswick to walk in the Sea caves along the Fundy shoreline.  These caves are only accessible during low tide.  During high tide they are covered in water.  The difference between high and low tide is 28’.  We also toured the Fundy Trail which is a UNESCO site.  The Fundy Trail overlooks were amazing and of course Sandy had to stop at every one of them :-).  From the overlooks you can see Nova Scotia in the distance which is a 3 hour ferry ride away.

I am attaching some pictures for you to see.

Enchanting Maine

Would we go back to Maine?  Absolutely!  Particularly the DownEast area, which includes Camden and Acadia.  The down east term is from sailors from the west sailing east and downwind to reach the area.

We chose to avoid the southern heavy traffic tourist areas of Portland, Kennebunkport, etc and concentrate our time in Camden and Acadia National Park.  Then we headed north on highway 1 to get to the town of Lubec (Loo-back), supposedly the first place to see the sun in the US each day.

Well, after the beauty of Camden and Acadia, and the awful roads in the north to Lubec, we aborted Lubec.  The highway 1 scenery north of Acadia is not worth the hype, as we were spoiled by the other 2 areas.  It was going to be a rainy few days anyways, so probably no sun to even see.

Camden was enchanting.  It was a town to wander through, among the retail, restaurants and fishing harbor, and we found many surprises in the town that I won’t mention so you can experience it yourself, but rest assured, we highly recommend it.  It was the place where we first experienced a sense of calm and contentment and Bill was content to spend more than his usual ‘maxiumum 15 minutes in one place then:  “ok, ready to go?”’.

One of the fun things about this type of travel is you can’t research EVERYTHING, otherwise you’d never see what was actually in front of you.  That is a big change for me, as I usually plan an action packed vacation calendar.  But, we’re retired and have no big plans in place and all the time in the world to accomplish it.  That has now turned out to be rather fun, because one way we decide to go places is based on the name itself.  We took a hike to Echo Lake in Acadia NP, I was excited thinking I’d be able to yell and hear an echo.  Never found that experience if it even existed but we did happen upon a beautiful beach and stopped to have a snack/picnic there.  It’s the surprises that make the day special.

Feet on the ground — The beauty of Acadia, especially the Schoodic Peninsula, will show itself if you just get out of the car or off the bike and hike further into any area and find those surprises.  The true beauty of an area cannot be found from the parking lot.

Recommendations: Be sure to see the shoreline at low tide, when the most rocks are exposed for those great Maine photos.

Bucket list accomplishments:  Walking on the ocean floor
                                                 The first of the national parks we hope to accomplish
                                                 Sandy’s first sailing adventure and Bill’s first schooner sail

Written by Sandy