Happy Fourth of July

Back home in time to celebrate Independence Day. Thank you all for sharing our adventure.

What Are The Chances?

Our first two nights (or one-and-a-half for Ginny) were in an airport hotel in room 304. This week, Wednesday and Thursdays nights were in Lunenburg at the Smuggler's Cove Inn--room 304. Tonight we checked into Inn at the Lake in Fall River--and were given room 304!! We have only stayed in six places. What are the chances that in the only three places with room numbers that went that high we would be in room 304? Weird!

Lots of laughter today, from the waiter at breakfast, to the seagull that eyed our lunch from the roof of the neighboring car (it was raining, so we ate in the car in the parking lot at Peggy's Cove instead of outside at one of the picnic tables), to the clerks at tonight's hotel when we checked in, we have laughed a lot. This morning at breakfast, Ginny asked the waiter if he ever did stand-up comedy. "I'm doing it right now," he replied, "and doing it here, I get tips!" Tonight when we checked in, one clerk asked the other if our room was preassigned. "We preassigned the important ones," he replied. "Oh, so we're not important," I immediately quipped. He turned bright red and began to explain how they had lots of "standard" rooms so they only preassigned the ones that were in limited suppy. I assured him I was only kidding him. But that gives you a taste of the hilarity that has run through the day. We are still laughing together after two weeks!

The seagull on the roof of the next car was just too wonderful not to share, so I asked Ginny to be sure to post it. Thanks for following our blog. Nova Scotia is well-worth a visit!

One last beach

We woke to thick fog and rain this morning. It seemed a fitting end to the trip, as we started with rain. Fortunately it cleared off by the time we got to Queensland beach. Of course we went to the beach. From there we drove to Peggy's Cove. Peggy's Cove is a lovely spot. It is a very picturesque fishing village and lighthouse that mostly caters to tourists. An aquaintence of mine who is from Nova Scotia says disgustedly: "They PAINT the fishing shacks! People don't paint fishing shacks." Nonetheless, it was worth the visit. The tourist season began July 1 and we saw ample evidence of that at Peggy's Cove. We saw no fewer than 8 tour busses on the road to and from there. We have been spoiled - sharing beaches with only a few other people, and whale watching with only five people in the boat -- including the guide. Of course, we're tourists too I guess. Anyway, it's time to go home. I miss Mervin and I miss my puppy boys (in that order, I might add). We have had a wonderful time. We highly recommend Nova Scotia as a vacation destination.

A Spot Of Sunshine

You may have noticed that there is very little sunshine in our photos, and we often are wearing coats. Those of you who know me understand that I am loving this weather. But the folks who live here keep apologizing to us for the "awful" weather. It hasn't slowed us down a bit--and it turns out that the black flies are worse if the sun is out, so who would wish for that?? This afternoon we were walking through a few of the shops in Lunenburg. One of my favorites was "Out Of Hand," a store that sells the handcrafted wares of local artisans. The owner has three cats--two mostly black with white trim, and one white with black trim. So, I've gotten to pet kitties here. We went on to another store in which the proprietor was telling us about some of the items for sale. The sun momentarily came out and shone in through the window. The proprietor pointed to the spot of sunshinne on the floor and said, "And THIS is what sunshine looks like in Nova Scotia." Apparently they have been having rain in Lunenburg for three weeks.

Watching the Bluenose II leave today, I was reminded of a quote from Richard Bach's book, Illusions: "Don't hate saying goodbye, for goodbyes are necessary before we can say hello again; and saying hello again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends." Tomorrow Gin and I will say goodbye, to one another and to all of you following this blog. But we will say hello again...

Life begins at the beach

That's what is written on my souvenir t-shirt, and it's pretty much true. In keeping with that philosophy we visited three more beaches today: Crescent, Sand Dollar, and Hirtle's. Crescent is a beautiful sand beach stretching for over a kilometer (.62137119 miles). Seagulls were having a meal while we were there. I observed one seagull eating a large clam: it flew up to about 20 feet and dropped the clam to break open the shell. Sand dollar beach is said to have sand dollars (imagine that!) and we were all set to find some -- until we got to the beach. It was high tide and there was little sand in sight. Poor timing! Instead we drove over to Hirtle's beach to watch - and listen to - the surf. In between beaches we visited the Lunenberg County Winery. They make wine with local fruits, including blueberries (the winery is located on a 100 acre blueberry farm). We did some tasting and I bought a couple of bottles to bring home. We returned to Lunenberg in time to watch the Bluenose II leave for Boston. She didn't put up her sails, but it was still impressive watching her leave the harbor. Tomorrow is our last day. We are headed back to Halifax by way of Peggy's Cove. I'm sure we'll find at least one more beach along the way.

A Day Of Surprises

The first surprise came when I tried to take a picture before we left Digby this morning, only to realize the battery in my camera was dead. I went back into the B&B we had just checked out of where the proprietor was kind enough to let me plug in the camera while we went to check out one of the stores downtown. The camera got enough of a charge that I was able to photograph deer at Kejimkujik National Park; alas, no moose... A second surprise was the phenomenal fungi on a tree stump (see the photo Ginny posted); it was incredibly beautiful! A third surprise was our hike around a lake in the park (3.2 kilometers--essentially 2 miles), the surprise being that I was able to do it without collapsing or having the voracious mosquitoes carry us off. The biggest surprise of the day, however, was "the rescue at sea" (see picture). Ginny was the first to spot the sailboat that was in trouble. Then we both told our harbor tour guide that the sailboat off our starboard side was seemed to have capsized. He immediately headed our craft toward them; two other sailboats also began to converge on the scene, one of which rescued the three fellows in the water (the big sailboat had a below decks space where they could warm up) and towed their craft back to the dock in the harbor. We fished a few of their floating belongings out of the water, and headed back ourselves. It's been an exciting day!

Happy Canada Day

Today is Indepen-

dence Day for Canada. We passed several community celebrations on our drive from Digby to Lunenburg. Lunenburg is not having fireworks tonight, though nearby Bridgewater will have a display. Before arriving in Lunenburg we stopped at Kejimkujik National Park and fed mosquitoes while we hiked near one of the many lakes. Lunenburg is home port to the Bluenose II, a sailing vessel. She sails tomorrow for Maine, then to Boston for Sail Boston 2009 (www.sailboston.com/confirmed_ships.html). She sails at 4 pm tomorrow; we hope to return from our sightseeing in time to see her sail. This evening we were able to board her, walk about the deck and talk with some of the crew. After supper we went on a harbor tour that turned into a little more of an adventure than intended.