After Niagra Falls we headed to Acadia National Park in Maine with an overnight stop to visit the daughter (Larkin) of some of Mona's good friends, Dave and Janet, also from Bonner's Ferry Idaho. The Larkin is also a best friend of Lucy, Mona's daughter. We followed Google Maps to Larkin's house in Concord New Hampshire which was quite an adventure as it lead us on narrow , twisting highways, up, over and around the hills of New Hampshire. I was a nervous wreck by the time we reached Concord. It wouldn't have been bad at all if we weren't towing a 30 foot trailer at night
From Larkin's it was off to Acadia National Park. On our first night we decided to treat ourselves to a Maine lobster dinner. When they brought the lobsters out we both just looked at it and laughed. Neither of us had any idea of how to break the shells apart to get at the meat. Thanks to our hostess, who gave us a quick lesson, we managed things pretty well for a couple of amateurs.
Wouldn't you know, on our first day on the East Coast my back decided to go out as I bent over to dump the holding tanks on the trailer. So much for bicycling and kayaking for the next several weeks!. At least I could walk without a lot of pain.
Bar Harbor is in the National Park. It was crazy! There were people everywhere. The side walks were grid locked. There was no way we were going to be able to park so we just went straight to the park's visitor center. Taking their advice we drove the loop road around the main portion of the park.
Back to Dave and Janet. They had just flown east for a road trip to Nova Scotia and to visit Larkin in Concord. Since we were going to be in Nova Scotia the same time we had decided months ago to meet up. Turns out we both arrived in the area the same day. Why the Red Shoe Pub? Dave is a fan of the Canadian music group, The Rankin Family. The Rankin's own this pub in Mabou Nova Scotia. I also have a couple of their albums. It just worked out that we could be there within minutes of each other so that's where we met up. We spent the next several days touring around the northern part of the province with them.
After Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, he and his wife spent much of their time at their home in Baddeck Nova Scotia. The Canadian National Park service built a large museum there displaying many of his inventions and activities he did there. One was to have built and flown the first airplane to fly in Canada. He also was into hydrofoil boats, some examples of which are in the background. The museum was way more than what I had expected and is one of the few museums I would love to go back to.
About the northern quarter of Nova Scotia is an island called Cape Breton. Much of the northern part of the island is the Cape Breton National Park. We spent the better part of a day driving around the circumference of the park with Dave and Janet.
This is the northern most point of Nova Scotia, Meat Cove. Near the cape is a very rustic campground. We thought about camping there but decided against it since it would be a bit of an adventure towing the trailer there with possibility of not getting a camping spot or one that was was relatively level. In addition they were closing for the season in the next couple of days. We were at the end of the tourist season so facilities catering to tourists were either closed or closing in the next few days.
Mona really wanted to see the remote Campo Abbey, a Western Buddhist monastery in the Shambhala tradition. She has admired the writing of their principle teacher, Pema Chodron for years. I think she would have liked to have attended a retreat while we were in the area but unfortunately they just weren't equipped to handle people who just drop in. We were able to walk the grounds which are located on a bluff overlooking the ocean.
Two things the Cape Breton area is known for are the fall colors and it's unique style of music. After bidding farewell to Dave and Janet who departed to visit with their daughter, Mona and I stopped at one of the local pubs for some music. This fiddler was amazing. Notice that he is holding the fiddle in his right hand instead of the left and that the instrument is resting vertically on his right wrist. He would change strings by rotating the fiddle on his wrist instead of shifting the bow across the strings. Who knows why he learned to play this way but it certainly worked for him as he was very accomplished. I just kept watching him as I couldn't believe what I was seeing and hearing.
Cape Breton was settled by the Acadians. Their history in Canada is fascinating and yet sad at the same time. I won't go into it now but you can look it up on Google. There are a couple of museums in Nova Scotia dedicated to the Acadians. One of the things their woman did, and still do today, was make hook rugs. The picture is an example of one of more famous rug makers. It is so intricate that it's hard to believe it's a rug.
We seemed to come across lots of "Oldest" things in our travels in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. We had lunch here, Freize and Roy General Store, which I thing was the oldest general store in Canada. Later we also had dinner at the "Oldest" Tavern, The Fo'c'sle.
This is Burntcoat Head where the largest tides in the world occur. It is on the east coast of Nova Scotia along The Bay of Fundy. The tides here are over 50 feet at times. What I can't figure out is how this happens. The tides on the west side of Nova Scotia are much smaller, like 15' or so, which isn't that far away and also on the Atlantic Ocean. I'm sure there is a good explanation but when looking at a map of Nova Scotia it doesn't seem possible.
The tides are so large and strong that when the tide changes and starts coming in it starts with a wave, called a bore. It seems so weird to have a wave coming in and not going back out again, like at the ocean. Instead the tide comes in as this wave and then the water just keeps rushing in. In some of the inlets and rivers the water becomes very turbulent. At one bridge we watched as the water climbed up several feet in just a few minutes.
As we continued south along the west coast we stumbled upon Wolfville which was having their annual music festival that week called "Deep Roots". We arrived on a Saturday, the last night of the festival. We went to one of the venues we were told basically that we were too late to get tickets and it wasn't really worth our while to try to get some. When we mentioned that we were just passing through and happened upon the festival the staff just said "go on inside and enjoy the remainder of the show". It was awesome. The next morning we attended another show, this one was free. It was presented by these five groups of professional Canadian and Nova Scotia musicians pictured above. We decided if we ever came back we would time it so that we could take in more of the festival. It turns out Cape Breton was also going to have a music festival in a couple of weeks coinciding with the trees changing to their fall colors. We were kinda bummed since we had scheduled to be in Newfoundland then.
Since the tides are so large on the Bay of Fundy, why not use them to make electricity. This is the only power generating station in North America that harnesses the tide as it's power source. We camped across the street at and unofficial free camp spot.
This is Broad Cove, another place where we camped for free. Finding free campsites has turned into something like a hobby for us. There are several apps and websites that help you find them. Many of them are much better views and are more interesting than the commercial or government parks. We would usually be by ourselves or with one or two others. At Broad Cove we had the place to ourselves. We discovered later that there are lots of
coves named Broad Cove. We found this out while talking to a young
couple who also camped for free at Broad Cove, a different one it turned
out. If were traveling and just need a place to land for the evening Walmarts, Cabella's, Casinos and truck stops usually will do the trick.
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