Halifax area

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The Maritimes / The Atlantic Provinces of Canada Experiences: Part II

Nova Scotia

May 6, 2013- We headed the MoHo out on the road again this morning, after a very nice stay in Shediac, N.B.  We drove to Nova Scotia and were in camp by early afternoon. The weather was nice so we took a drive to a lighthouse on Peggy’s Cove – a picturesque fishing village.  At the gift shop Karen made one of her favorite purchases of the trip so far: hand-knit Lobster Mittens – OMG just too cute!

lobster mittens and wine from Nova Scotia

May 7, 2013 – Halifax was our destination today; we spent the most of the day seeing many of the sights in this beautiful city. We took a nice walking tour of the Citadel – a fort on the top of a hill in the center of the city. The high light of this tour was the “noon-gun” – the firing of the cannon at noon, this has occurred everyday since 1856 (with the exception of Christmas Day).  We enjoyed watching the pipers and drummers, and seeing the 360-degree view of Halifax.  We strolled the boardwalk down on the harbor, most of the shops were not open yet, no harbor tours available, but we had an excellent lunch at the Alexander Keith Brewery – good beer, great burger and fantastic “Dark & Stormy” (ginger beer and dark rum) drink!  We returned to camp to enjoy a nice sunny afternoon – sat and soaked up a few rays.

piper tuning up

noon-time cannon firing

May 8, 2013 – Sun glorious sun! We set out to explore more of the St. Margaret’s Bay Area – this is a very curvy coastal area with many inlets to explore. There are many expensive looking homes in the area - $$$, along with some places that makes one wonder how they withstand the winter snows? The 4 of us enjoyed a nice beach walk and worked up an appetite for lunch back at camp. The afternoon was very relaxing, enjoying the sun and our cove view. Took another drive back to the light house and got some good sunset pictures.

Peggy's Cove

May 9, 2013 – We finally lost our perfect weather – rain drops were falling on our heads, but the temps are still pretty moderate, so this wasn’t too big of a deal.  We drove south to the Bridgewater and Mahoney Bay area. More picturesque coastal views: there was so much color, most of the homes and business were brightly painted, maybe this is to help counter the long dark cold winters? Our lunch was a delicious feast of fish chowder and an order of mussels – YUMMY!  Our evening’s activities included some wine tasting – we are trying to pick out some good Canadian wines to take home for our wine tasting group.

May 10, 2013 – Weather report: rainy, foggy: We re-visited the Peggy’s Cove Light House this morning. The views were pretty gray and misty, but the coast is pretty in all of her climates.  On the way we stopped at the Swiss Air Flight 111 Crash Sight Memorial, the plane crashed in September1998 just off the coast of Nova Scotia, no survivors, the Peggy’s Cove area played host to many of the families and friends of the victims who came to pay tribute to their loved ones.  In the afternoon we spent a bit of time doing some souvenir shopping, enjoyed the Acadian Maple Company, excellent maple syrup! We think that tourist season must be approaching, we saw several tour buses and there were a few more shops open today.

Peggy's Bay Lighthouse and fog

May 11, 2013 – Last visit to Halifax today. We enjoyed a nice visit to the Maritime Museum of Nova Scotia – they have an excellent display of various ocean craft.  There were some amazing models of ships from very early schooners to recent military and commercial crafts. Part of the museum was dedicated to the Titanic sinking.  Halifax was where many of the victims were brought for burial.  We watched a launching of the restored Dorthea sailing ship of the Nova Scotia Sea School. This boat was restored by many of the students during the winter. There are several summer camps that will take kids out to sea (5. 10 or 14 day adventures), to learn sailing, teamwork and many other important skills. We walked the boardwalk again, doing a bit of window shopping and enjoying another delicious lunch (got to stop eating so well J).

Theodore Too a working tug boat