3 weeks R&R

Hi, for those of you who have been giving me a hard time about not posting in my blog, even though you have been seeing me face to face and know what I have been doing  (you know who you are); here goes.  We spent 3 nights in New Brunswick after leaving Nova Scotia.  And even though we met some fabulous people and saw some interesting sites, , we were getting weary of travelling, weary of the weather and weary of disgusting bathrooms and mediocre campgrounds so we made the decision to push through to Welland and spend some time with family. We arrived in Welland, Thursday, Sept 5th and spent 3 weeks at Gerry's mother.  We arrived in time to celebrate her 90th birthday so Gerry saw lots of family and friends he hadn't seen for years.  I'm not sure how many people were at the house but it was packed.  After the party we just visited with family, on both sides,  and friends,  one on one and that was nice, but time just flew by.  We were able to help Gerry's Mom get settled in an assisted living apartment as well.  The day before we were supposed to leave I.e. yesterday,  we went to drive the van to say our goodbyes and it wouldn't start.  A friend came over and gave Gerry a boost and we ran the van.  That night we slept in the van as we wanted to wash the sheets in Gerry's Mom's place and get an early start.  The alarm to warn us the battery was low would go off every 2 hours or so. (It is not a noise you can ignore) so Gerry would have to get up and start the van and run it for a few minutes.  Needless to say,  neither of us slept well. We got up today and after breakfast with Gerry's family, we took it to a  service centre and got a new battery.  So, we got a later start than anticipated and only made it to Toledo. The guy at the border was a total jerk - clearly loves his job. Ralph, we stopped at the second stop sign, and waited for him to wave us forward and he just stated at us, so Gerry finally went forward.  We are camped at a KOA, sipping wine and deciding what to do about dinner. Wine is much cheaper here.  In Canada a 4 litre box costs around $45. Here is was only $14 for 5 litres. So I asked the girl if what we had bought was a good brand or gut rot.  She just laughed and said it was a popular brand.  So far I don't mind it.
I hope everybody is happy now.

Nova Scotia - where will we sleep tonight?

We landed in Nova Scotia with van troubles on our mind.  But God is good.  We made an appointment with the mechanic who had changed our oil and rotated our tires a month ago.  We found him quite by accident but felt good about him.  This feeling was confirmed when he fixed our van, and changed our oil for $300 in 2 hours.  So we were on the road again.  Can't say I am in love with Nova Scotia. Loved Cape Breton but the South and Eastern coasts not so much.  But reading back over this, Gerry reminded me that we have done some nice little hikes along this coast.  Along one, we saw several sea caves, some we could actually go right in to.  Another was along the coast, and it started off foggy, but cleared and we saw seals and birds and beautiful beaches.  So I guess it was worth while to see it.   But we are also  having so much trouble getting campgrounds. After leaving the ferry we took the southern route, heading for Halifax. The road was rough, and windy and not very scenic.  The speed limit was 80 but Gerry rarely got the van over 60.  I kept looking for a road to take us back up to highway 1, but once we were on this road it seems we were committed.  Then suddenly the road ended and there was this little ferry we had to take. The ferryman was really friendly and since we were the only ones on the boat he talked to us for the ride over.  He assured us the road would get better about 10 km's up the road.  And it did.  But he made us feel  better about things, and he was just laughing about everything  we had been experiencing (I guess we were ranting a bit); definitely changed our attitudes for the better. We stopped just outside of Haliax as there were some biking trails that we wanted to do.   I had phoned ahead about a campsite and they had none, but she thought there might be a cancellation so if we came through we could stop and probably camp for the night.  And that worked out so we had a site for Friday night. But for the next night, Saturday, there was nothing.   Phoned to Halifax to see if I could get something for Saturday and Sunday and I could for Sunday , but not Saturday.  So I went back to the office and asked if we could go on a wait list.  Sure enough we were able to get a spot for Saturday at the same campground, but had to move spots.  We did a nice little bike and walking hike the next day. It was an old railway line. It felt good to be on our bikes again.  But the little hike we took where we parked our bikes turned put to be a bit more strenuous than we thought.  We hiked for 2 hours and it was tough. I fell, right when we met this really cute guy on the trail and then he was kind of suggesting this trail wasn't for me as it got more technical a little farther up.  How embarassing, plus I got 2 huge bruises on my hip and knee. But yes, we continued the hike and I did not fall again.  We enjoyed Halifax, but did it in one day. We started with a bus tour to get a feel for the city and then returned to some of the spots that really interested us. Plus I got my first Starbucks coffee since Quebec City.  I  tell you, if you have money to invest, buy Tim  Horton's stock.  It is huge in Canada, and busy everywhere we go.  Our next stop was KejimKujik National park where we spent 2 days hiking and biking.  It is a beautiful spot in central Nova Scotia, but it is fairly flat and so you don't get the views.  Most of the hikes we did were along rivers and through forests.  Peaceful. But not that exciting.  We had booked our ferry from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick for Saturday morning, after calculating what we wanted to see and estimating the time line.  It was the long weekend and we started on Monday trying to find campsites for Thursday and Friday night without success.  We were just debating whether to change our ferry and I phoned one last campground that I hadn't been able to contact.  They had a spot we could have for Thursday but not Friday.  Apparantly there is a big motorcycle rally in Digby every Labor Day long weekend. When I explained we were travelling and couldn't plan ahead that far and needed to catch the ferry Saturday she said that if nothing became free, through cancellations, we could dry camp in their parking lot for Friday night.  We did manage to get a nice spot for both nights so it all worked out.  All in all the campgrounds in Nova Scotia haven't been too bad.  Maybe that is why so many people camp here.  I am having trouble with my wine glass though. It doesn't want to stay in my armrest and keeps spilling all over me and my chair.  We have our own designated chairs as mine is wine stained now and Gerry doesn't want anything to do with it (plus he wants to protect his chair). It's a good thing I drink white wine and not red! I also have anew favourite drink;  Bailey's with Maple syrup. We could only find it in Quebec and Nova Scotia, so I bought 2 bottles on our last day in NS.  It is so nice to sip while sitting around the fire.  We enjoyed exploring the Digby neck, which is a thin Pennisula, about 60 km long, with 2 islands, that you take little ferries  to.  We hiked and enjoyed the views of the Bay of Fundy.  Did one little hike with 233 stairs up and down!  Can't forget those stairs! We are now on the ferry headed for New Brunswick so I will post this and say good bye to Nova Scotia.



ferry to New Brunswick.  But it is rainy and miserable out and the forecast for the next few days does not look promising,  so I am curbing my enthusiasm for now.