You're going to have to wait for pictures on this one because I'm a little bit behind, but I'm sure you can handle the wait ;)
The Cabot trail felt a lot like Newfoundland, but more developed. There are more coffee shops and what-not in between, and the houses seem to be much further apart. It's the same rocky highlands, and ruggedness, just more art shops (some really impressive ones!) and a different kind of community feel. We decided to go to the northernmost community, meat cove, which is off the Cabot trail, and quite nice. It's a small community, and it isn't super touristy. There's a small beach and really stiff cliffs. Actually, a day after we left, we heard that someone had fallen off a cliff and wasn't found until a few days later. There's camping there, but it's right on the cliffs, and there isn't much protection from the wind! It would be absolutely beautiful though- terrific view of the ocean, 5 minutes from the little beach and close to the community hall/restaurant/information centre/ all-in-one-everything-for-the-community place. The restaurant wasn't particularly professional, but it has a nice, relaxed feel and Sam enjoyed the fish! We even ate our meal with a squirrel that stole my toast and a tater!
I couldn't believe how many artisans there were! We only stopped at a few- a glass blowing shop and a wood shop, with specific things in mind for gifts and we found some! The glass blowing place was really impressive, and the pieces we so beautiful. If I had heaps of money, I would have gotten a few more things, but what's life with things anyway.
We only stopped for one trail because we pretty much only had one day to do the whole trail, but on that trail, we saw a moose! She was drinking some water, and she saw us, but didn't seem bothered one bit by us, so we got to take a closer look. At this time, the moose are pretty tame, but they are much more aggressive in the fall, I hear. (As are many wild animals, like deer, which Sam (and hopefully me too some time!) will be hunting this fall!)
Next time, I'd like to go Whale watching in Cheticamp or pleasant Bay. We wanted to this time, but it just didn't work out so maybe we'll do something else because we actually have enough money!
Monday, August 27, 2012
More pictures of PEI...
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| My first cast, the only fish of the night! It's a mackerel! And it appeared to be having a seizure or something so it was quickly released back into the water! |
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| The unlucky fisherman on the steeles at the wharf in wood islands! |
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| Emily and her beautiful children :) We stayed with them for a few days. |
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| A beach near Borden-Carlton where we camped out. Lori lent me her bike so I could go with Bram and take pictures :) |
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| My photobuddy with a hermit crab! |
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| Mussels! I thought this would make a nice background. |
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| PEI red sand and red dirt with PEI green house and a PEI sky reflection. |
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| Apple crisp made with apples we found on the confederation trail! Kudos to Sam for accomplishing such a great dessert with a camp stove! |
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| My rock and shell collection holder |
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| Sea shells! I didn't sell them on the sea shore though :P |
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| Crab! |
Pictures of PEI
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| The "Home again" reunion for the back to the landers of the 70's This is a Tipee one of the back to the landers' kids made. |
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| This is where I had my first lobster! :) Crabby's! I had a sandwich, reasonably priced, on locally made bread and perfectly seasoned! |
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| Wood Islands beach :) |
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| I'm finally going underwater in the OCEAN! |
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| Sand dunes of Brackley beach on the north shore of PEI |
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| I take a nice picture and Sam sneaks a yellow glove in... it's still nice. If anyone has heard his story about the grad picture where he tried to bring an extra hand in, they would know this is quite typical. |
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| Charlottetown! We were there for an hour and we happened to come across live music :) |
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| Stinky birds at a beach (there were so many I can't remember which now!) |
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| Play structures at Wood Islands wharf |
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| A lighthouse at Wood Islands wharf. Yes, I do need some stereotypical lighthouse PEI pictures! |
Thursday, August 23, 2012
I Love Nova Scotia
"There's just so much of Nova Scotia to explore, we'll never see it all," said I, "There's so much of the world to explore," Sam replied.
Canada is just the beginning. Next time: South America, I've been thinking. First, I need to settle down for a little while. So smaller trips closer to home until then will do.
I still haven't posted PEI pictures... but I'd like to write a bit about our recent travels while they're still recent! We've been to Martinique Beach, Ovens park, Hirtle beach (in an attempt to find Gaff Point) Cape Split, Kejimkujik seaside National Park and Cape Sable Island (We got to take a Nova Scotian with us for that one! Yay Michelle! :) ) I guess we have done a bunch in the past couple days, and honestly, as much as I love hitch hiking, having a car has made everything so much easier, less tiring and so much more accessible. We've been staying in Halifax and making a few day trips, and as much as we don't generally like to stay in the same place when traveling, that has been really nice too. But no matter how many places we go or sights we see, there will always be so more more to discover. Speaking of which, I really haven't seen much of Manitoba or Ontario, my home provinces.
I had a dream last night that a reporter wanted to interview a few hitch hikers to demonstrate a different perspective on hitch hiking to the public. The first think I wanted to say was that hitch hiking saves relationships, thus helping your love life. You learn a lot about yourself and the people around you in a really short time span. You learn to trust yourself, your hitchhiking companion, and whoever is driving you. You learn to be more tolerant of many different perspectives. It makes you learn to get along with all kinds of different people. As for trusting your hitch hiking companion, not that I've ever not trusted mine, but he's the navigator, which is the most important thing. When driving, I try to navigate and it usually ends with an "I don't know which way!" and Sam would say, "well you have the map!" I have a tendency to question directions too much and get confused easily, so even with a map I would still get lost. So it's really best, or easiest when Sam knows where he's going, but it's good that I learn too.
Since I'm sure you would love to know about each place, I'll make it a bit shorter:
Martinique Beach: lovely wavy beach, but there were quite a few people, even when it wasn't blistering hot!
Ovens park: The sea caves were so beautiful, and there's quite a lot of infrastructure that allows the tourist to see things from under the caves, above and all around. But, it was much more expensive than we wanted to pay. But I was tired, wanted to get out of the car and walk around and we couldn't find Gaff point (which we got directions to after we paid :/)
Hirtle beach (in an attempt to find Gaff Point): Nice beach, really close to Lunenburg, lots of people, and great sand! Apparently you can walk to Gaff Point from there, but we didn't have enough time.
Cape Split: One of my personal favourites of the east coast! It was a total 3-hour hike and on the way, we found some good wild edibles, and the view from the tip was incredible. It made me feel so small because there was such a massive drop-off, and the powerful currents we could see below just reminded me of how powerful the sea could be. It's not a well known spot, not overly busy or monitored, and just so breathtakingly beautiful. It was something we would have expected to find in Newfoundland.
Kejimkujik seaside National Park: We took a short walking trail and found it reasonably priced and rather lovely. Sandy beach, cool, clean water, healthy environment with piping plovers, frogs and more, and there are seals there, though we didn't see any. But the rocks in the sand were really interesting too. Oh and the sand was a mix of white, black and pink in some places!
Cape Sable Island: foggy! But the fog came and went so quickly, making it feel so mystical. Like Kejimkujik, there was a nice mix of sand and rocks, even some singing sand! Looking out to see there is really looking out to sea because it's the southernmost tip of Nova Scotia and anything else is pretty far. There's an underground forest there, somewhere, but the tide wasn't low enough so we didn't see it.
Canada is just the beginning. Next time: South America, I've been thinking. First, I need to settle down for a little while. So smaller trips closer to home until then will do.
I still haven't posted PEI pictures... but I'd like to write a bit about our recent travels while they're still recent! We've been to Martinique Beach, Ovens park, Hirtle beach (in an attempt to find Gaff Point) Cape Split, Kejimkujik seaside National Park and Cape Sable Island (We got to take a Nova Scotian with us for that one! Yay Michelle! :) ) I guess we have done a bunch in the past couple days, and honestly, as much as I love hitch hiking, having a car has made everything so much easier, less tiring and so much more accessible. We've been staying in Halifax and making a few day trips, and as much as we don't generally like to stay in the same place when traveling, that has been really nice too. But no matter how many places we go or sights we see, there will always be so more more to discover. Speaking of which, I really haven't seen much of Manitoba or Ontario, my home provinces.
I had a dream last night that a reporter wanted to interview a few hitch hikers to demonstrate a different perspective on hitch hiking to the public. The first think I wanted to say was that hitch hiking saves relationships, thus helping your love life. You learn a lot about yourself and the people around you in a really short time span. You learn to trust yourself, your hitchhiking companion, and whoever is driving you. You learn to be more tolerant of many different perspectives. It makes you learn to get along with all kinds of different people. As for trusting your hitch hiking companion, not that I've ever not trusted mine, but he's the navigator, which is the most important thing. When driving, I try to navigate and it usually ends with an "I don't know which way!" and Sam would say, "well you have the map!" I have a tendency to question directions too much and get confused easily, so even with a map I would still get lost. So it's really best, or easiest when Sam knows where he's going, but it's good that I learn too.
Since I'm sure you would love to know about each place, I'll make it a bit shorter:
Martinique Beach: lovely wavy beach, but there were quite a few people, even when it wasn't blistering hot!
Ovens park: The sea caves were so beautiful, and there's quite a lot of infrastructure that allows the tourist to see things from under the caves, above and all around. But, it was much more expensive than we wanted to pay. But I was tired, wanted to get out of the car and walk around and we couldn't find Gaff point (which we got directions to after we paid :/)
Hirtle beach (in an attempt to find Gaff Point): Nice beach, really close to Lunenburg, lots of people, and great sand! Apparently you can walk to Gaff Point from there, but we didn't have enough time.
Cape Split: One of my personal favourites of the east coast! It was a total 3-hour hike and on the way, we found some good wild edibles, and the view from the tip was incredible. It made me feel so small because there was such a massive drop-off, and the powerful currents we could see below just reminded me of how powerful the sea could be. It's not a well known spot, not overly busy or monitored, and just so breathtakingly beautiful. It was something we would have expected to find in Newfoundland.
Kejimkujik seaside National Park: We took a short walking trail and found it reasonably priced and rather lovely. Sandy beach, cool, clean water, healthy environment with piping plovers, frogs and more, and there are seals there, though we didn't see any. But the rocks in the sand were really interesting too. Oh and the sand was a mix of white, black and pink in some places!
Cape Sable Island: foggy! But the fog came and went so quickly, making it feel so mystical. Like Kejimkujik, there was a nice mix of sand and rocks, even some singing sand! Looking out to see there is really looking out to sea because it's the southernmost tip of Nova Scotia and anything else is pretty far. There's an underground forest there, somewhere, but the tide wasn't low enough so we didn't see it.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Pictures from Halifax Day trips
I guess I forgot to mention a few things in the last post, which is why I always like to take pictures...
We went near Laurencetown beach (er, well, a sandy part before the beach, where few were) and then to Dyke road, which was a rocky beach, one day we went to Long Lake with Sam's uncle and cousins and another, we went to Chocolate Lake which is right in town with my project leader from Katimavik- JEANNNNN! :) and We got to enjoy awesome fireworks on the bridge with Sam's grandparents on the top of their apartment which was an awesome view!
We went near Laurencetown beach (er, well, a sandy part before the beach, where few were) and then to Dyke road, which was a rocky beach, one day we went to Long Lake with Sam's uncle and cousins and another, we went to Chocolate Lake which is right in town with my project leader from Katimavik- JEANNNNN! :) and We got to enjoy awesome fireworks on the bridge with Sam's grandparents on the top of their apartment which was an awesome view!
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| Just me and my lover :) I lost one of those blue earrings that day though... |
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| hopping little waves at Laurencetown beach |
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| Long Lake with the cousins :) |
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| The lovely view of Halifax from the apartment. |
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| Sorry I didn't capture a better one- I used up the batteries. But, you can see the amazing show on the bridge! |
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| The many colours of the rocks on Dyke Road |
Friday, August 17, 2012
PEI and everything since Newfoundland!
When we came back from Newfoundland, we spent a few days just living the easy life in Halifax, really feeling like we were on vacation. "It's like having a hotel, but better," I said to Sam's grandma. We spent some of our time being lazy, but we also went out a few times to some FREE music venues, the buskerfest (too bad I forgot my camera both days...) and we went to the old Triangle (a bar) for some live music that looked like it was awesome until 5 minutes after we got there and they finished. :( Sam and I really enjoy Irish folk music, so we came across kitchen party Thursday at the Casino which was free, awesome and rather entertaining even though most of the crowd was older than our grandparents. What I liked about it was that they handed out instruments- ugly sticks, tambourines and bells- for the audience to play along. They also had a couple Irish dancers, a pipe band and a mixed band of middle-aged men from Cape Breton and the Halifax area. It was a really neat cultural experience!
Another day, we got to borrow the car and we took it to Lawrencetown and later, we drove around, finding a road that was Dyke road further east and we wound up finding some nice seashells there!
After a week of chillaxin' in Halifax again, Sam's grandparents happily took us to the Pictou ferry to Prince Edward Island! We couldn't believe how easy it was to get on compared to the Newfoundland ferry! It's one of the ferries you only pay one way so from Pictou you can just walk on if you're a foot passenger.
On the Wood Islands side, we met up with Sam's friend Don, who knew we were coming some time this summer. The woman that picked us up when we hitch hiked off the ferry just happened to have met him the day prior and said "Why don't I just take you to the festival?" We came the weekend they were having a reunion for all the back to the landers 30 years ago. It was called "Home Again." So sure enough, we found ourselves among the same kind of crowd we were used to back home on the farm. Unfortunately, most people were busy catching up with old friends and we didn't have much to say, so some people thought we looked tired, but we were honestly just a bit bored for a bit! That is, until we hung out in the teepee!
There's something really spectacular about Teepees, or sitting in circles that just make it impossible to ignore anyone. Feeling included is so important to me, sometimes I lose all sense of self esteem if I somehow don't feel that way. Truth is, we just weren't being very social! In the tent, we got to talk to some of the younger people, heard some old nostalgic stories and talked about a few different things. At some point, I decided to get out and wiggle a bit and ended up making a few friends doing so! The rest of the night was a great time because finally, I let loose, and eventually so did Sam :)
We stayed at Don's place for a week. One day we borrowed the car to take Don's brother and his wife to the airport, then exploring Brackley beach for a bit. (My oh my was it expensive - 7.50 each for a beach!) Then, we went to Charlottetown for an hour, listened to some live music, and to Montague to pick Don up from work. The day after we walked to Murray River and then to a beach, hitch hiking the whole way and only getting a ride from one of Don's friends. When someone mentioned that it was 4:00 I couldn't believe that at that point, we'd been walking for 3 hours since we had lunch, and probably 2 hours or more before then.
The day after, Don offered to let us borrow the car again, this time exploring more of the east coast. We went to 4 beaches that day, but our favourite was the famous singing sands beach. A less developed portion, of course. I'll have to try to download a video on this thing, but the reason they call it "singing" sands is because when it rubs together, it squeaks. The sand is also really soft and the beach was really nice! Plus, we found a pretty quiet spot. Apparently the reason why it squeaks is because there's round shapes of quartz that squeak when they rub together. Sam and I had fun trying to use the noise to make some sort of beat. We're certainly not musicians, but I'm sure someone could make music of it! Later that night, we went to the steeles on the dock in Wood Islands to try for some mackerel. I caught one the first time I casted, but nothing after that.
After a week in Iris, we figured we'd explore another region, so off to my friend Emily's place we went, even though she hadn't responded to my texts. She changed her number, of course. We walked for a few hours to an address that I honestly figured was her mom's, but she happened to be walking towards us with her two kids when we saw her. It was so nice to catch up with her, find out a little about Chisasibi since I left and realize that it's all behind me.
I'm sure I've written about it before, but I did all I could when I was there and by golly, teaching was a stressful job for me. I wanted to give these kids what they needed, but I just didn't agree with the whole messed up system. Not just up north, but school. We talked a lot about it until finally I just said "so how have your summers been?" Talking about how the system doesn't work doesn't make it better. Neither does talking about your summer, but at least that makes you feel a bit better.
Sam and I helped Emily unpack for a while, later visiting Charlottetown just to walk around in the almost-not-quite-raining weather. We looked at a map to look around for a nice cafe with good coffee and some lady stopped and said "do you need help looking for somewhere?" She told us a bunch about Charlottetown, talking endlessly and eventually taking us right to the cafe she was talking about. Beanz. It's a good spot. There, we ended up talking to a man for over an hour about some pretty deep things. "You have a gift," he said. We had been talking about television and how, by consumerism, Hollywood and many other things, our actions, beliefs and such are controlled. I had mentioned that I hated being sucked into the TV growing up, eventually realizing that my life felt much more enriched without it. Which is why he said that we have a gift. Realizing what's good for us, I suppose.
I think what many lack and what may be the key to happiness is just self awareness. Realizing what is good for you and what isn't. I suppose that might have been what he was talking about in his interesting rants about Hollywood and how it really does control our behaviour. (Particularly horror movies, as Sam has mentioned many times.)
That night, Emily, Sam and I talked over some wine and just had a blast laughing about who knows what, discussing some heavy stuff and lighter ones too, of course. Emily was always one of my favourite people from Chisasibi, and I know she'll really be missed, but I'm so proud of her for having the courage to take things into her own hands.
I was happy to take her little ones to the park the next day, but for some reason Sam was exhausted. While I pushed the kids on the swings, Sam had a nap.
Just to interrupt all this, I'm listening to Corb Lund (the brand new CD- Cabin Fever) and I love this song. Cows around, it's called. It's about how people don't really make much money off cows, but they still raise them, because "everything is better with some cows around." "It's so true," Sam said. It makes me miss the farm a bit, but I also really appreciated PEI because so much of it is rural. "It's like the prairies with ocean all around," Sam said.
Back on the subject of PEI...
Emily took us to the a campsite near the confederation bridge in Borden-Carlton. I really think we lucked out because we expected another crummy RV park, but we got a nice spot with trees, right by the confederation trail and we even made new friends! It was great enough to make us decide to stay for 2 nights! Our friends Lori and Bram are cyclists who were touring the island from Winnipeg. The weird thing is, they live on our street in Winnipeg! Also, a bonus for me, Bram teaches photography, so Lori let me borrow her bike and go with him to take pictures one day.
Our next stop was in New Brunswick. It was about a 45 minute wait for a ride across the bridge, but that ride saved us about $40 since we didn't have to pay to get across the island at all. Plus, our ride thoughtfully bought us cinnamon buns at the gas station :) Sometimes people we get rides with do funny things like texting and driving, pulling over in the lane (even though we always make sure there's lots of shoulder) speeding, smoking, ect. but it's important that the person is comfortable in their own vehicle, so we really have to learn to relax. This, I think is the real challenge of hitch hiking. Not creeps. They exist, but there are many many more bad drivers.
We stopped at Port Elgin, New Brunswick and ended up sleeping at the Fort Gaspareaux historic site. The locals were really friendly, giving us their life stories - "I have twins names Stacey and Sam!"
and "I used to fight a long time ago but I'm too old for that anymore" The men we met were really helpful and quite open too, which I appreciated. Often I feel like I talk more about myself when we talk to people in their cars because they have so many questions to ask. "where have you been, where are you from, what do you do" ect ect. Sometimes we forget to ask the same questions. I think my favourite question was from a quirky woman from Cornwall, near Charlottetown, which was "What are your hopes and dreams?" I might have gone on forever if I answered it properly. Instead I just talked about what I hope to do and such, assuming that's the most broad answer. That's a hard one to really put in a nutshell for a stranger though.
Then we got to Halifax, only missing Sam's grandparents by a couple hours. We weren't sure if they'd left or not until Sam saw the flight departure. Later, Sam's grandfather called and, as it turns out, they're still here after all. Things didn't change to much as a result of this though because luckily, they've still decided to be so generous and let us borrow their car after all!
So tomorrow, to Cabot Trail in Cape Breton!
Another day, we got to borrow the car and we took it to Lawrencetown and later, we drove around, finding a road that was Dyke road further east and we wound up finding some nice seashells there!
After a week of chillaxin' in Halifax again, Sam's grandparents happily took us to the Pictou ferry to Prince Edward Island! We couldn't believe how easy it was to get on compared to the Newfoundland ferry! It's one of the ferries you only pay one way so from Pictou you can just walk on if you're a foot passenger.
On the Wood Islands side, we met up with Sam's friend Don, who knew we were coming some time this summer. The woman that picked us up when we hitch hiked off the ferry just happened to have met him the day prior and said "Why don't I just take you to the festival?" We came the weekend they were having a reunion for all the back to the landers 30 years ago. It was called "Home Again." So sure enough, we found ourselves among the same kind of crowd we were used to back home on the farm. Unfortunately, most people were busy catching up with old friends and we didn't have much to say, so some people thought we looked tired, but we were honestly just a bit bored for a bit! That is, until we hung out in the teepee!
There's something really spectacular about Teepees, or sitting in circles that just make it impossible to ignore anyone. Feeling included is so important to me, sometimes I lose all sense of self esteem if I somehow don't feel that way. Truth is, we just weren't being very social! In the tent, we got to talk to some of the younger people, heard some old nostalgic stories and talked about a few different things. At some point, I decided to get out and wiggle a bit and ended up making a few friends doing so! The rest of the night was a great time because finally, I let loose, and eventually so did Sam :)
We stayed at Don's place for a week. One day we borrowed the car to take Don's brother and his wife to the airport, then exploring Brackley beach for a bit. (My oh my was it expensive - 7.50 each for a beach!) Then, we went to Charlottetown for an hour, listened to some live music, and to Montague to pick Don up from work. The day after we walked to Murray River and then to a beach, hitch hiking the whole way and only getting a ride from one of Don's friends. When someone mentioned that it was 4:00 I couldn't believe that at that point, we'd been walking for 3 hours since we had lunch, and probably 2 hours or more before then.
The day after, Don offered to let us borrow the car again, this time exploring more of the east coast. We went to 4 beaches that day, but our favourite was the famous singing sands beach. A less developed portion, of course. I'll have to try to download a video on this thing, but the reason they call it "singing" sands is because when it rubs together, it squeaks. The sand is also really soft and the beach was really nice! Plus, we found a pretty quiet spot. Apparently the reason why it squeaks is because there's round shapes of quartz that squeak when they rub together. Sam and I had fun trying to use the noise to make some sort of beat. We're certainly not musicians, but I'm sure someone could make music of it! Later that night, we went to the steeles on the dock in Wood Islands to try for some mackerel. I caught one the first time I casted, but nothing after that.
After a week in Iris, we figured we'd explore another region, so off to my friend Emily's place we went, even though she hadn't responded to my texts. She changed her number, of course. We walked for a few hours to an address that I honestly figured was her mom's, but she happened to be walking towards us with her two kids when we saw her. It was so nice to catch up with her, find out a little about Chisasibi since I left and realize that it's all behind me.
I'm sure I've written about it before, but I did all I could when I was there and by golly, teaching was a stressful job for me. I wanted to give these kids what they needed, but I just didn't agree with the whole messed up system. Not just up north, but school. We talked a lot about it until finally I just said "so how have your summers been?" Talking about how the system doesn't work doesn't make it better. Neither does talking about your summer, but at least that makes you feel a bit better.
Sam and I helped Emily unpack for a while, later visiting Charlottetown just to walk around in the almost-not-quite-raining weather. We looked at a map to look around for a nice cafe with good coffee and some lady stopped and said "do you need help looking for somewhere?" She told us a bunch about Charlottetown, talking endlessly and eventually taking us right to the cafe she was talking about. Beanz. It's a good spot. There, we ended up talking to a man for over an hour about some pretty deep things. "You have a gift," he said. We had been talking about television and how, by consumerism, Hollywood and many other things, our actions, beliefs and such are controlled. I had mentioned that I hated being sucked into the TV growing up, eventually realizing that my life felt much more enriched without it. Which is why he said that we have a gift. Realizing what's good for us, I suppose.
I think what many lack and what may be the key to happiness is just self awareness. Realizing what is good for you and what isn't. I suppose that might have been what he was talking about in his interesting rants about Hollywood and how it really does control our behaviour. (Particularly horror movies, as Sam has mentioned many times.)
That night, Emily, Sam and I talked over some wine and just had a blast laughing about who knows what, discussing some heavy stuff and lighter ones too, of course. Emily was always one of my favourite people from Chisasibi, and I know she'll really be missed, but I'm so proud of her for having the courage to take things into her own hands.
I was happy to take her little ones to the park the next day, but for some reason Sam was exhausted. While I pushed the kids on the swings, Sam had a nap.
Just to interrupt all this, I'm listening to Corb Lund (the brand new CD- Cabin Fever) and I love this song. Cows around, it's called. It's about how people don't really make much money off cows, but they still raise them, because "everything is better with some cows around." "It's so true," Sam said. It makes me miss the farm a bit, but I also really appreciated PEI because so much of it is rural. "It's like the prairies with ocean all around," Sam said.
Back on the subject of PEI...
Emily took us to the a campsite near the confederation bridge in Borden-Carlton. I really think we lucked out because we expected another crummy RV park, but we got a nice spot with trees, right by the confederation trail and we even made new friends! It was great enough to make us decide to stay for 2 nights! Our friends Lori and Bram are cyclists who were touring the island from Winnipeg. The weird thing is, they live on our street in Winnipeg! Also, a bonus for me, Bram teaches photography, so Lori let me borrow her bike and go with him to take pictures one day.
Our next stop was in New Brunswick. It was about a 45 minute wait for a ride across the bridge, but that ride saved us about $40 since we didn't have to pay to get across the island at all. Plus, our ride thoughtfully bought us cinnamon buns at the gas station :) Sometimes people we get rides with do funny things like texting and driving, pulling over in the lane (even though we always make sure there's lots of shoulder) speeding, smoking, ect. but it's important that the person is comfortable in their own vehicle, so we really have to learn to relax. This, I think is the real challenge of hitch hiking. Not creeps. They exist, but there are many many more bad drivers.
We stopped at Port Elgin, New Brunswick and ended up sleeping at the Fort Gaspareaux historic site. The locals were really friendly, giving us their life stories - "I have twins names Stacey and Sam!"
and "I used to fight a long time ago but I'm too old for that anymore" The men we met were really helpful and quite open too, which I appreciated. Often I feel like I talk more about myself when we talk to people in their cars because they have so many questions to ask. "where have you been, where are you from, what do you do" ect ect. Sometimes we forget to ask the same questions. I think my favourite question was from a quirky woman from Cornwall, near Charlottetown, which was "What are your hopes and dreams?" I might have gone on forever if I answered it properly. Instead I just talked about what I hope to do and such, assuming that's the most broad answer. That's a hard one to really put in a nutshell for a stranger though.
Then we got to Halifax, only missing Sam's grandparents by a couple hours. We weren't sure if they'd left or not until Sam saw the flight departure. Later, Sam's grandfather called and, as it turns out, they're still here after all. Things didn't change to much as a result of this though because luckily, they've still decided to be so generous and let us borrow their car after all!
So tomorrow, to Cabot Trail in Cape Breton!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Last post of pics from Newfoundland
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| Sam's rock hoppin' to where he could fish! |
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| Me! |
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| Beautiful speckled trout Sam caught |
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| Gros Morne from the trail |
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| Pond from the Gros Morne trail. Not drinkable water... |
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| Rainforest feel to the trail :) |
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| Hostel in Norris Point |
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| View from Hostel |
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| Sam left me alone again... |
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| Cornerbrook on the way back |
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| Makin' dinner in the parking lot |
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| Our kind of eats: Tomato paste rather than Mayo, spinach, fried onion, sausage (we ate lots of sausage because Sam loves it and it keeps well.) |
Pictures...
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| Tablelands from our campsite |
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| THe campsite we <3 in Woody Point |
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| Gros Morne from the bottom of the Tablelands |
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| Tablelands trail |
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| Add caption |
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| Gros Morne from the Tablelands |
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| Steepness in the tablelands! We got pretty high! |
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| Lil' ol' me in the Tlands |
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| Cloud cover in Woody Point from Galiott studios |
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| Our site at Gros Morne trail |
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