Updates

Rain through the night but we headed to Glace Bay and the Marconi NHS, had lunch at The Miners’ Museum, and made an appt. for oil change and tire rotation at the only GMC service in Cape Breton. It’s still cloudy as I write this; hoping for better weather as we head to the Fortress of Louisbourg in the morning.
07.04.10 Independence Day! Arrived at Arm of Gold CG, made ferry reservations for Newfoundland, and drove into Sydney for a look at old houses, churches, and – found a Cold Stone Creamery that had just opened in May, so we celebrated the 4th with great ice cream on a sunny, warm day.
07.03.10 A day of driving to Antigonish, shopping at Sobeys.
07.02.10 Our last day in Halifax we tried to visit the BOI again but all the tours were filled for the day. It was easy to spend five hours at The Citadel: two museums, bagpipes, changing of the guard, cannon and rifle exhibitions, and a fantastic view of the harbor and Halifax www.pc.gc.ca/halifaxcitadel
07.01.10 Canada Day! Found a parking area just west of the Citadel, watched some of the parade, walked around the Public Gardens, toured St. Paul’s Church (built in 1750 on the Grand Parade, oldest building in Halifax, survived the 1917 Halifax Explosion with a piece of wood embedded in an interior wall), had lunch at the Wooden Monkey, and then – thoroughly enjoyed a 3 ½ hour Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo in the Metro Centre www.nstatoo.ca
6.30.10 Province House (c. 1819), a National Historic Site, the seat of the Nova Scotia Government, Canada’s oldest provincial legislative assembly, and the original home of Britain’s first overseas self-government is a “gem of Georgian architecture” according to Charles Dickens. Just down the street is Government House where the Queen and Duke resided during their stay. After a walk around the Old Burying Ground, the first in Halifax on land granted in 1749, we drove around the Armdale Rotary to spend the rest of the day sailing with Rose and Bill. The grounds are historic with two hundred Americans buried on an island cemetery. Our trip along the waters took us past Sir Sanford Fleming Park (donated in 1908), Point Pleasant Park (rented from the British Govt.), and Fort McNab NHS. Fleming is known for his work on Standard Time Zones. Paul especially enjoyed the afternoon as Bill let him take the helm for several hours; much more sailing room than the intracoastal waterway.
6.29.10 The Quaker House (c. 1785) is one of the oldest buildings in Dartmouth; the Nantucket whalers were here until 1792. We headed to the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO), Canada’s leading marine research center but were turned back at the entrance because of the Queen’s visit and the Fleet Review which we could see clearly in the harbor just north of the MacKay Bridge. It was cloudy but we decided to drive the 40 miles to Peggy’s Cove for a view of the craggy coast, the huge granite boulders, and the often-pictured lighthouse; we walked to the sea on the rocks and up to the lighthouse, watched the waves crashing, and huddled against the raging winds – well, okay, 25 mph, isn’t raging but it is plenty cold, and bought souvenirs. It was still a nice day.
6.28.10 Well, no; the wifi was never stronger than 11Mbps and kept tripping off – or is that what electric does. In either case, I’ll keep a record here and hope someday to publish. I hope this doesn’t get annoying going backward. Sigh. I am rambling; could be that it started raining during the night and didn’t stop all day so we didn’t leave the campground. We did go to Sobeys in Lower/Middle Sackville and tried to call our moms but we couldn’t hear each other for more than intermittent spots. Good thing we brought games along, although Paul did download several TV shows when we had good wifi.
6.27.10 Just arrived at our campground for the week near Halifax and Dartmouth – and wifi. Hope our updates are more timely for a few days anyway. We have lots to see so we drove into Halifax (20 miles) and spent several hours at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, especially for the Titanic exhibit and the Halifax explosion; then we walked along the boardwalk to see the ships in for fleet week www.canadiannavy100.forces.gc.ca Another gorgeous day.
6.26.10 Another day of ships and waterfront historic sites; Lunenburg is World Heritage Site; see more at www.explorelunenburg.ca and www.fisheries.museum.gov.ns.ca We even got to see the Bluenose II, a replica of the Bluenose that is on the Canadian dimes, a schooner, a trawler, a wonderful aquarium, and much more. Walking down the streets of Old Town we saw colorful shops, 1830’s homes, St. John’s Anglican 1754 Church, and garden plots stretching down to the waterfront (the hills reminded us of San Francisco). Just six miles along Hwy #3 is Mahone Bay, famous for its three churches which have stood along the bay since the mid-1800’s – a wedding was in progress at one. We spent some time observing the melting, pouring, and polishing of items at Amos Pewter, one of the many art, craft and antique shops along the shoreline www.amospewter.com Another wondrous day in Nova Scotia!
6.25.10 Our miles have been few these days because we stop along the way. Today we drove into Liverpool, NS, along the Mersey River; the visitor center has all day parking right in front; good thing, too, because there’s not much space at the museums and the roads are not wide; it was an easy walk to the Rossignol Cultural Center www.rossignolculturalcentre.com a collection of five museums in a former brick school house; then a quick walk to the Sherman Hines Photography Museum www.shermanhinesphotographymuseum.com and lunch at a café in town. Also check out Fort Point Lighthouse Park at www.queens.ca Another thirty miles and we reached Lunenburg Board of Trade Campground at the visitor center on Blockhouse Hill at the end of town. It was dinnertime and we were weary so we relaxed with a game of Mexican dominoes.6.24.10 At the Dory Museum and the Muir-Cox Shipbuilding Centre the guides were excellent and male so Paul heard everything they said; we spent the entire day in these two Shelburne museums along Dock Street. We drove into town with Cruiser and found free parking at the Yacht Center; they had a sailing race at 6 pm when we left town for The Islands Provincial Park. We survived the night without water or electric; the generator worked great for Paul’s morning coffee; we watched the large white rabbits stretch out and the red fox bark at the dog in the spot next to us – the red fox never did move in very close and as soon as a human appeared around the corner he ran into the woods. Our campsite had a wonderful view of Dock Street across the bay; the office lodge even has wifi; it was a pleasant evening.