Now we are in Moncton New Brunswick for 3 nights. We are here to see the tides. We're pretty excited about that. Hope you are all well, we are both doing fine.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Cape Breton - Adieu
Today, which is Tuesday, we bid farewell to Cape Breton. It is a beautiful place. Monday we had a fair amount of rain, but it was still beautiful.
Now we are in Moncton New Brunswick for 3 nights. We are here to see the tides. We're pretty excited about that. Hope you are all well, we are both doing fine.
Now we are in Moncton New Brunswick for 3 nights. We are here to see the tides. We're pretty excited about that. Hope you are all well, we are both doing fine.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Cape Breton - Sydney
Yesterday, Sunday, we went into Sydney. Sydney is the third largest city in Nova Scotia. Until 2000 it was a booming coal mining and steel manufacturing town. Then the industry tanked, and it was "good bye to all of that " (quote from the museum in the visitor's center). Since that economic disaster, they've tried to reinvent themselves as a tourist destination and high tech center.
This is the bridge over a narrow channel of the Bras d'Or lake. I don't think it's really a lake since it has outlets to the ocean, but that's what it's called.
The lake. It's huge.
A church on the way to Sydney.
The giant fiddle of Sydney. Australia has their opera house, they have an 8 ton steel fiddle. The fiddle is important to the local culture because so many of them came from Scotland in the late 1700s. Back when the English Crown was giving land in Scotland to favored nobles, who in turn ran the residents off the land where they had eked out an existence for generations, there was a mass migration to this area. Entire villages would move en masse to Cape Breton, bringing their language and music with them. The oral tradition of story telling, music and dance remained intact into the 1950's. Television did it in, with people choosing to huddle around the TV.
The KOA on Cape Breton. Quite the location, eh?
One thing Jim and I really enjoy is scoping out the local cuisine, things that you just can't find at home. Like this.
St. Joseph's in Sydney.
The mobile Chowder bus.
Today the laundry room has reopened and we are washing. The park spent yesterday fixing a large water pipe break. Tomorrow we're up early and off to Moncton New Brunswick. We'll be there for 3 nights. We'll be going to the Bay of Fundy to see the monster tides go in and out. Then it will be back into the States for us. We have secured lodging for Labor Day weekend in Memphis TN, which has relieved my stress about having to boondock in a Walmart parking lot. Holiday weekends can be difficult.
This is the bridge over a narrow channel of the Bras d'Or lake. I don't think it's really a lake since it has outlets to the ocean, but that's what it's called.
The lake. It's huge.
A church on the way to Sydney.
The giant fiddle of Sydney. Australia has their opera house, they have an 8 ton steel fiddle. The fiddle is important to the local culture because so many of them came from Scotland in the late 1700s. Back when the English Crown was giving land in Scotland to favored nobles, who in turn ran the residents off the land where they had eked out an existence for generations, there was a mass migration to this area. Entire villages would move en masse to Cape Breton, bringing their language and music with them. The oral tradition of story telling, music and dance remained intact into the 1950's. Television did it in, with people choosing to huddle around the TV.
The KOA on Cape Breton. Quite the location, eh?
One thing Jim and I really enjoy is scoping out the local cuisine, things that you just can't find at home. Like this.
St. Joseph's in Sydney.
The mobile Chowder bus.
Today the laundry room has reopened and we are washing. The park spent yesterday fixing a large water pipe break. Tomorrow we're up early and off to Moncton New Brunswick. We'll be there for 3 nights. We'll be going to the Bay of Fundy to see the monster tides go in and out. Then it will be back into the States for us. We have secured lodging for Labor Day weekend in Memphis TN, which has relieved my stress about having to boondock in a Walmart parking lot. Holiday weekends can be difficult.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Cape Breton
Greetings. The laundry room is inexplicably closed, so we're sitting outside in a frisky breeze on picnic tables, which are hard. So text will be limited in this posting.
The harbor at Baddeck.
Lake Bras d'Or.
A stunning switchback on the Cabot Trail. Brave people were towing on the road.
Over looks on the Cabot Trail, west side of the island.
The Cabot Trail takes you across the middle of the island, which gets pretty high up. There are double digit grades involved.
More Baddeck Harbor. They're having a race week, it was quite festive.
Love the chairs.
OK then, that's it for sitting on a picnic table bench for me. More later
The harbor at Baddeck.
Lake Bras d'Or.
A stunning switchback on the Cabot Trail. Brave people were towing on the road.
Over looks on the Cabot Trail, west side of the island.
The Cabot Trail takes you across the middle of the island, which gets pretty high up. There are double digit grades involved.
More Baddeck Harbor. They're having a race week, it was quite festive.
Love the chairs.
OK then, that's it for sitting on a picnic table bench for me. More later
Thursday, August 6, 2009
PEI - Buh buy
The Chevrolet dealer got the relay in yesterday that fixed the brake controller for the RV. For you non-RVers, it's the thingy in the dash of the truck that makes the trailer brakes work. And..... it was a warranty item. So, we bid adieu to the lovely island of PEI.
We drove east on the island to the Woods Island-Caribou ferry. It's a 75 minute crossing, it knocks off about 3 hours of driving. Cost for the ferry was not significantly higher than for the Confederation Bridge, so it was a good thing.
We are now on Cape Breton. I'm sitting in the laundry room because this is where the force of the internet resides. The aircard will not work in the RV, and the wifi is not detectable there, either. So, again, if we're not answering email, we're not ignoring you, we just didn't see it yet. Eventually there will be pictures of the area.
We drove east on the island to the Woods Island-Caribou ferry. It's a 75 minute crossing, it knocks off about 3 hours of driving. Cost for the ferry was not significantly higher than for the Confederation Bridge, so it was a good thing. We are now on Cape Breton. I'm sitting in the laundry room because this is where the force of the internet resides. The aircard will not work in the RV, and the wifi is not detectable there, either. So, again, if we're not answering email, we're not ignoring you, we just didn't see it yet. Eventually there will be pictures of the area.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
PEI - Tourism and mechanicals
Friday we drove the mountain bikes down to the local mall so we could park the truck somewhere. Parking for a large pickup in the old town area is just not part of the church of what's happening now. Between construction and a general lack of parking, a bicycle is a hot ticket for sight seeing. The Confederation Bike trail goes right by the mall, so we rode into downtown Charlottetown. It's just cuter than a bug. Here is the marina. Notice the short cute lighthouse in the center-ish of the picture.
St. Dunstan's Basilica. I'm not sure when they received basilica status. It's the main Catholic church for the province of PEI.
It's very pretty on the inside.
This is one of the oldest and best examples of Victorian architecture on the island. It's been completely restored. It looks directly out onto the water.
The gardens at Government house.
Government house was originally built as housing for the Lt. Governor, and still serves that purpose today. It also faces directly onto the water.
Saturday we set out for the Panmure Island, home of white sand dunes. PEI is big, stuff is far away. So we'd been driving for awhile, and it was necessary to find a restroom. McDo is always good for that. But really, how can you not stop at McDo when they've got this sign out? If it was dual signed in French, it would be McHomard.
This is the McLobster, it's sort of a lobster salad. The cup next to it is a McCafe single shot espresso. Neither was terrible, but it wouldn't qualify as destination dining.
Then it was back on the road. More scenic beauty.
An old Baptist church.
The attached cemetary. We liked the lobster on the head stone. See the Mackinnon name on the grave behind the lobster? That name is all over the island.
One of PEI's really cute light houses. This is one of the taller ones.
Sand dunes on Panmure Island.
This is Jim in the Atlantic, which was fairly chilly. Note the lack of shore breaking waves.
We drove up to Souris after Panmure. It's a very attractive part of the island. This is the Parish church of the Holy Trinity. It's not Catholic so I'm pretty sure it's Anglican. It dates back to 1837. We were walking back to the truck, and the ex-mayor of Souris stopped to talk for a bit, he said it's still in use, there are 4 parishoners left. The city would like to restore it, but title is held in England, and until title transfers to Souris, they can't work on it.
Even more scenic beauty. Look at the cloud layer that's running horizontally across the picture. That is Cape Breton way out in the distance.
Some of the red cliffs PEI is famous for. I took this at the ferry dock. We were considering taking the ferry to the Iles des Madelaine, but there aren't many sailings, and the timing is such that one would have to overnight on the Ile. I asked the kid selling ferry tickets what one did over there, he replied that since they have no trees and the wind blows all the time, it's either kite flying or sea kayaking. We decided to pass on the trip.
We had planned to go up to the NW part of the island tomorrow (note the use of the past tense), but with RVs it's always something. We started getting the "check trailer wiring" warning yesterday, which we often get after it rains. Today we are getting the "service trailer wiring" warning which translates to "you have no trailer brakes." So we'll be at the Chevy dealer early in the morning with no appointment to see if they can diagnose and fix. We think it's water related which is just stupendously annoying. Have not the designers of trailer wiring packages noticed that it rains on occasion? The bummer of it is that we have to be off our current site Tuesday morning, they can accommodate us elsewhere in the park, but I hate moving, particularly with no trailer brakes.
So, we're here, it's a beautiful place, and there you go.
St. Dunstan's Basilica. I'm not sure when they received basilica status. It's the main Catholic church for the province of PEI.
It's very pretty on the inside.
This is one of the oldest and best examples of Victorian architecture on the island. It's been completely restored. It looks directly out onto the water.
The gardens at Government house.
Government house was originally built as housing for the Lt. Governor, and still serves that purpose today. It also faces directly onto the water.
Saturday we set out for the Panmure Island, home of white sand dunes. PEI is big, stuff is far away. So we'd been driving for awhile, and it was necessary to find a restroom. McDo is always good for that. But really, how can you not stop at McDo when they've got this sign out? If it was dual signed in French, it would be McHomard.
This is the McLobster, it's sort of a lobster salad. The cup next to it is a McCafe single shot espresso. Neither was terrible, but it wouldn't qualify as destination dining.
Then it was back on the road. More scenic beauty.
An old Baptist church.
The attached cemetary. We liked the lobster on the head stone. See the Mackinnon name on the grave behind the lobster? That name is all over the island.
One of PEI's really cute light houses. This is one of the taller ones.
Sand dunes on Panmure Island.
This is Jim in the Atlantic, which was fairly chilly. Note the lack of shore breaking waves.
We drove up to Souris after Panmure. It's a very attractive part of the island. This is the Parish church of the Holy Trinity. It's not Catholic so I'm pretty sure it's Anglican. It dates back to 1837. We were walking back to the truck, and the ex-mayor of Souris stopped to talk for a bit, he said it's still in use, there are 4 parishoners left. The city would like to restore it, but title is held in England, and until title transfers to Souris, they can't work on it.
Even more scenic beauty. Look at the cloud layer that's running horizontally across the picture. That is Cape Breton way out in the distance.
Some of the red cliffs PEI is famous for. I took this at the ferry dock. We were considering taking the ferry to the Iles des Madelaine, but there aren't many sailings, and the timing is such that one would have to overnight on the Ile. I asked the kid selling ferry tickets what one did over there, he replied that since they have no trees and the wind blows all the time, it's either kite flying or sea kayaking. We decided to pass on the trip.
We had planned to go up to the NW part of the island tomorrow (note the use of the past tense), but with RVs it's always something. We started getting the "check trailer wiring" warning yesterday, which we often get after it rains. Today we are getting the "service trailer wiring" warning which translates to "you have no trailer brakes." So we'll be at the Chevy dealer early in the morning with no appointment to see if they can diagnose and fix. We think it's water related which is just stupendously annoying. Have not the designers of trailer wiring packages noticed that it rains on occasion? The bummer of it is that we have to be off our current site Tuesday morning, they can accommodate us elsewhere in the park, but I hate moving, particularly with no trailer brakes.
So, we're here, it's a beautiful place, and there you go.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
PEI - Interesting Article
One of the cool things about being out of the country is watching non-US media. It gives one a different point of view on things. Jim and I followed the Tour de France via Cyclingnews.com and Lance Armstrong's tweets. He tweeted something today, protesting the post-tour Spanish coverage of Alberto Contador. Reading translations of the Spanish coverage of Alberto Contador's comments, and how they were reported in the American press was fascinating. This is an article I found on the web on the subject. The article is really interesting, and worth a read. Click on the link and see what you think.
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