We crossed into Nova Scotia a little after two o'clock and continued on to the campground just north of Halifax.
At the entrance was this Doggie Daycare and sleepover place that also had an ice cream shop for dogs and their owners.
The first night we were in the back end of the campground and we had direct tv but the internet connection was terrible there so we moved up closer to the office so we had internet.
The trees interfered with the satellite so we did not have TV and only got our news from the computer.
We went to downtown Halifax Friday night and snapped a few pictures at the harbour like the amphibious "Harbour Hopper".
We waited in line a few minutes to get into Statner's Grill and Pub which we saw had music. There was a cover charge so we paid it and got a table to the left of the stage. They played classic jazz and it was not too bad. We had some dinner and drinks, listened for a while then left to walk around the wharf.
The city was alive with music and lots of people milling about. You could see the city lights from Dartmouth across the harbour.
Bill said the downtown area had changed a lot over the years as it was much nicer and cleaner than he remembered it.
This pub was very crowded and also wanted a cover charge but we decided to leave for now planning to return another day or evening.
There was a sign at this display of anchors to walk near them at your own risk
This was a pretty cool playground
The following day the weather was clear and cool as could be...a perfect day to take a drive so we headed to follow the Bluenose Coast Scenic travelway along the Lighthouse Route.
We stopped at this bakery for some coffee and pastries. Very tasty and the view was great from the picnic tables they provided.
We continued on our way along the South Shore's Lighthouse Route coming to this monument.
It was in memory of the people of the Swissair flight that went down here in 1998
It was a beautiful location for the memorial with the waves crashing on the rocks
We then went another mile or so and arrived at Peggy's Cove. This fishing village was a beautiful sight. The lighthouse was on the top of ancient rocks shaped by glaciers and the sea. Being Sunday it was quite busy but we found a place to park and took Ty with us up to the Lighthouse.
There was a bagpiper playing for tips to help with college expenses here at the lighthouse.
The waves were big that day and crashed on the rocks all around us. It was a perfect day for going here as we had been told by many people to make sure we go.
It was more than I expected and we spent quite a bit of time there walking along the top of the rocks and trying to get the best pictures of the waves crashing.
Besides this warning on the lighthouse wall I only saw one other warning about staying off the black rocks as the waves could suddenly wash over them without warning. There were no ropes, fences or anything in the whole area.
You could climb anywhere you wanted for a great view of the ocean
We then continued down South Shore and came to this small beach in St. Margaret's Bay to the right and stairs to the water to the left. The water was so blue and clear it looked very refreshing.
I stuck my hand in it and it was pretty cold. I don't know how people were swimming in it!
At the end of this ramp where the concrete was cracking was a portion of the ramp that had fallen in the water. Again...no signs of warning to stay away or keep off.
We drove down a road called Lighthouse drive expecting to see a lighthouse. Instead there were some unique looking houses and this one in particular had decorated the lawn across the street with driftwood including this Christmas Tree.
The whole drive along the water was beautiful and every stop was something different. This beach was the most crowded we had seen along the way.
We followed the route to New Harbour and just more beautiful views.
We stopped at this overlook and saw the Tancook Islands off in the distance.
Our next stop was Mahone Bay a town famous for its three churches visable as you approach the town.
It was a busy little town as well with lots of colorful stores and houses.
In the distance you could see an Island with a large home on it.
Lots of sailboats were out in Mahone Bay
Deciding to drive on to our final destination of the day we came to Lunenburg. It was a larger town with more colorful shops, restaurants, bed and breakfasts and restored Inns.
It was the home of the world famous Bluenose Schooner which was never defeated in any schooner races. The Bluenose Schooner II was docked there but was closed due to renovation.
You could take a horse a buggy ride around the town
More colorful buildings
We had lunch or I guess dinner since it was after 4:00 pm at the Dockside Restaurant and Inn. I had a fresh cesar salad and seafood chowder that was really good. Bill had Mussels and Calamari and we both had a beer. It was hot at that point and we sat outside overlooking the harbor.
After we ate we got in the car and drove around the town some more.
The churches here are very ornate.
This is the Lunenburg Academy sharing property with a very large graveyard
We came upon a Provencial campground that looked over the water which would have been nice to stay at for a night or two.
We then left the town and headed back Northeast to the campground which was over an hour away.
On Monday we decided to head up to the Fundy Shore area and do some of the Evangeline Trail.
As we drove on the scenic road we decided to go up to Cape Split which was the end of a peninsula that stuck out in the Bay of Fundy and was the highest point there. They had a few look offs along the way like the one in the picture above and across the street was a restaurant, campground, ice cream store and mini golfing all in one.
Here is a picture of our GPS taking us up to Cape Split.
We got up there but found that the hike would take several hours and we decided we were not prepared time wise for it. We walked a little just to see what it was like.
On our way back down we came across this Family Memorial that overlooked the Bay
It was amazing to see how far out the tide went at this end of the Bay of Fundy. We had seen it in New Brunswick but at low tide here it went so far out you had to walk quite a ways to get to the water as Bill was doing.
Once we got down the mountain we continued south on the Evangeline Trail which went along the shoreline of the Bay of Fundy. We came to a town called Halls Harbour which was not even in the Nova Scotia tourist guide book we were following.
It was a great little harbour where the boats were sitting on the bottom as well as docks waiting for the high tide before they could go out fishing or lobstering.
At this Lobster Pound you would order your food in the gift shop, pay for it and they would bring it to you outside or inside wherever you were sitting. Lobster was only $6.99 a pound and you would pick which one you wanted, they would put it in a bucket for you to take out to a window where someone was cooking them.
We had fish sandwiches and potato salad and when we were done and on our way to the car, someone ordered a five pound lobster. Bill took this picture of our waitress Stacy getting ready to serve it.
This fishing village had some great signs to explain it's history. One sign said that "in the old days" poor people ate lobster and the kids were ashamed to take it to school instead of bologna because it showed how poor they were since it was so abundant you could get it off the shore at low tide.
Here I took a picture of Bill from the floor of the harbour and he took one of me from up on the dock
We then got our water and took a hike on this trail up along the ridge above the village. Bill made mention of how they call it an Eco Trail but they had bolted ropes into the trees which will eventually kill them.
After the hike which was only about 1 and 1/2 miles long we continued driving along the trail. There were some more harbour towns, not as big as Hall's and there were some spots you could pull over to view the water and we saw people on the beach with campfires and chairs having picnic dinners.
This lighthouse was just off the beaten path and there was a house at the end of the street. One thing we never saw were private property or no trespassing signs anywhere.
Not far from the lighthouse was Harbourville, with a gift shop, restaurant and "cottage resort", a fish market and a few houses as well as fishing boats at the docks and this one off shore and that was about it.
Continuing on we drove up and down along the coast until we decided it was getting late and time to start heading back southeast towards the campground.
We drove through lots of farmland until we reached the town of Berwick where we stopped at a local grocery store.
We got back to the campground at dark and retired for the night.
The next morning we woke to rain and fog and for most of the day stayed in the RV on the computers. I walked Ty around a bit in the fog and as you can see nobody was outside and the pool was empty.
Bill decided to make some chili for dinner since the rain had stopped although it was still foggy.
We had about three days like this while in the Halifax area. I guess you just have to take the bad days with the good days. The tour book guide did mention things you could do on rainy days like museums and such but we just caught up on emails and blogging...
