Evangeline Trail Escapades

Since 3 out of 3 would amount to a 100% request rate for the "cannon (not musical canon) aimed at head" picture, I will consent to its publication, although it must be viewed in the purest historical sense possible. (Is there such a thing?) Rob offered to take another cannon picture today - perhaps with my head part way inside the cannon we passed by today - but I declined.

You will notice that I am also accumulating a few pictures of "Rob's deck/gazebo ideas". Perhaps I could try for a post growing out of his head next time, just to keep the score even.

We left Dartmouth around 8:00 this morning under grey skies, enjoying a pleasant temperature and not a breath of wind. Gradually it became more and more sunny and beautiful. We drove to the northern coast of Nova Scotia through Windsor – the birthplace of hockey, apparently AND the home of Howard Dill, giant pumpkin grower. (The pumpkins are giant, not Howard) They seemed to have equal emphasis in the town, with statues and museums and such. We proceeded through the Annapolis Valley region, which bears some similarities to the Okanagan Valley with many orchards on the hillsides, although instead of being near a large lake it is near the ocean. One of the pictures is taken from a “look off” as they are called here. Also in the region we stopped at a family run cheese factory, and at artist Stephen Kennard’s gallery. We were amazed and intrigued by his unique wood art, but since the prices were primarily in the $1000.00 - $4000.00 range we didn’t buy much.

Near the centre of the Annapolis Region in a town called Middleton (appropriately!) we stopped for a light lunch at a local restaurant/art gallery. When we walked in there were 3 out of 10 tables occupied but we were immediately asked if we had a reservation. I was tempted to say, “Here? Now?” A table was found and shortly after, signs went up on almost all the other tables. “Reserved for Margaret”, “Reserved for George”, etc. I suppose it must have been a popular local place! In the same town, we visited a local museum housed in the first consolidated school in Canada, which was operational from 1903 – 1979.

The next educational stop was in the town of Annapolis Royal, which all of you informed senior and not-senior history buffs know was the original capital of Nova Scotia. We toured a tidal power plant, which generates hydroelectric power from the Fundy tides – one of a kind in North America. (I know how to mix my Science tours with my Social Studies tours). In the same town, the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens combine the science of plants with the history of the community and do a good job of it! (I have never seen so many colors of roses blooming at one time in my life.)

We are now settled in a beautiful, century old house (bed and breakfast) right beside an inlet from the Bay of Fundy and near the town of Digby. A few hours ago we walked through the town and along the bay. Digby is apparently famous for its scallops, and there was no shortage of restaurants on the boardwalk offering daily specials. We ate our delicious scallop meal (yes, that rating is coming from me too) under a covered patio over looking the bay filled with boats of varying sizes. (see photo). There were 10 people on the patio at the time, and at one point I heard the word “Saskatchewan” so of course we started listening to a conversation one table group was having with another. It turned out that 8 out of the ten of us were from Saskatchewan, including one couple from Regina. Perhaps they should have called the meal “Scallop Special for Saskatchewanians”.

Tomorrow we are off for our whale watching cruise (apparently the whales are ‘in’) and then some touring on Briar Island and the Digby neck. I’ll report back how many people on our cruise are from Saskatchewan.