Playing Tourist and relocating

Wednesday morning turned out to be a bit overcast when we got up. By the time we were done with our morning routine and breakfast the sun was out and temps were predicted to be in the upper 20ths Celsius.  There is very little humidity here and the ocean breeze providing a cooling effect is just lovely, so we were planning another outing. 

We grabbed the dogs and we all piled into the truck to head out of the campground in direction of St. Andrews. The town of St. Andrews is only 10km/6miles from the campground. It is a national historic site of Canada with a lovely town center. It is also a seaside resort and flocked by tourists. At the city dock there are tourist boats tied up offering whale-sighting tours and while we were at the boardwalk, a busload of people was streaming down the pier towards the waiting boats.

 

I am sure the shop owners and restaurateurs are happy that tourists are allowed to come into the province again. Throughout the village we saw hand-sanitizing stations at street posts (never have seen this anywhere else) and there were provisions made for outside dining at bakeries and restaurants that did not have any before the Covid-19 situation started. Also a cute gesture was the dog station in front of one shop and we made quick use of it for the photo op. A section of the downtown was made into a one-way road. There were boutiques, unique gift shops, cafes and restaurants that lined the street. This town is truly a gem.

 

A bit further down was a city park next to the historic blockhouse with a couple of canons pointing towards the sea where we posed for more photos. Although my photos have a high resolution, by the time they are reduced to 800 pixels to make it into the blog, the sharpness has disappeared but I hope you can still see the beauty of the scenery.

 

In the afternoon we were able to relocate our travel trailer to a nicer spot further down the campground and away from the swimming pools ;-)

Thanks for dropping in again. Stay tuned for my next update…

 

Blacks Harbor and Saint John, New Brunswick

On the holiday Monday we decided to take it easy. A trip into the small village of St. Stephen, which is 20km from the campground to take a look what is there, and a hop into the Atlantic Superstore (Loblaw’s) to quickly compare their offerings, was all we did as an outing. On the way we enjoyed a snack of the usual fare from the local McDonalds restaurant. In the afternoon Benno and I took the dogs for a lovely walk on the rocky beach at low tide here at the Island View Campground, which is located between St. Stephen and St. Andrews in the Province of New Brunswick, Canada. The RV Park is built on a sloped property and walking down to the water’s shore is easy, but coming back up is a cardiac exercise I realized and then understood why so many RVers from the lower part opted to take their cars to drive up to the swimming pools and community buildings.

 

This photo shows 1/3rd of one of the roads leading down to the water

Tuesday was a great sunny and pleasant day, with temps around 25 deg. Celsius for sightseeing. Our goal was the city of Saint John, NB and the coastal town of Blacks Harbor, which is on the way to Saint John. I cannot rave enough about the scenery and the wonderful new 4-lane highway, the “Route 1” that winds through forests with views of the Bay of Fundy, rivers and brooks. The city of Saint John, NB is about a 100km from the RV Resort. We saw very few cars and only a handful of transport trucks on the road. The drive both ways was delightful.

 

Blacks Harbor is for sure picturesque with its fishing fleet in the foreground. A ferry runs from Blacks Harbor to Grand Manan, a 90-minute trip. The ferry has a closed up dedicated parking lot, but we were allowed to park there to take photos. It was low tide and I climbed over rocks and boulders to a little island a hundred yards off, but didn’t dare to go any further or my shoes would have been soaked.

 

Saint John, NB is probably a city just like any other, but it’s unique because it is the only city on the shore of the Bay of Fundy, which has the world’s highest tides. The streets we drove were quite sloped and we did a bit of sightseeing while driving. Down by the water’s edge, across from the Hilton Hotel is the Market Square. Inside is a shopping mall, a lower concourse walkway, a museum and other venues. I went in for a bit was not going to do any shopping. 

 

When I came back outside there was this group of women standing there.

We had a lovely day and back at the campground things were quiet with only a handful of kids in the pool.

Thanks for dropping in again, our trip continues tomorrow…

  

We took off, just like that

On the last Friday of July, just before the long weekend, we rolled out of our driveway with the RV in tow for a little vacation. In hindsight it was the worst day to be on the road or to be on the 401 Highway driving east that we had to take. The Hwy 401 is busy most of the time but that day the volume was ridiculous and driving speed came to a crawl again and again especially in the Toronto area as people were leaving town for cottage country and beyond and I’ve never seen so many RVs on the road. Ever.

Tired and a bit stressed 11 hours later from the drive we pulled into the Walmart Superstore parking lot in Brockville, Ontario to spend the night there. A dozen other RVs kept us company.

 

Ready to roll out just before 7 a.m.

At 6:55 a.m., refreshed and ready to get on our way on Saturday morning we pulled into the Mobil gas station that was situated next to the Walmart plaza to fill up with gasoline only to find that the pumps were not working. Frustrated we left to locate another gas station but not finding one after several miles decided to get onto the highway anyway and look for one further on the way. As we passed the Mobile gas station again we noticed cars filling up. What? Of course, they opened the pumps at 7 a.m. and we had been there just 5 minutes too early. 

 

Driving and vehicle volume on Saturday was better, but not by much. Benno did a wonderful job driving while I enjoyed the scenery. The “Enroute” Service stations along the highway were packed to capacity. Actually, we bypassed some because the cars were backed up even before the on-ramp on the highway to get in. We wanted to take breaks too although we could use our own facilities and I could feed us from our fridge, however we wanted to give the dogs some time to run and to do their business and I preferred to purchase some coffee to go and not make any in the RV. At McDonald at a rest area in Saint-Leonard d’Aston, Quebec, I avoided the long line of people spilling outside of the building waiting to place an order and went to the self-serve kiosk (which no one seemed to use) to order my two coffees. Thankfully these computers are bilingual (my French is unspeakable) and since I just wanted coffee, my order was processed quickly and I was out of there in a flash. 

 

Lots of these signs but the big fellow never made an appearance

That night we parked again at a Walmart parking lot. This one was in Edmundston, New Brunswick. There was a Rona building center (owned by Lowes) next to it but nothing else in the area. Several RVs came also to spend the night. A GM van with a older couple driving it parked behind us, they were from Pickering, a suburb of Toronto, Ont. on the way to Nova Scotia and they were going to spent the night in their van also. Unexpectedly the temps dropped to 8 deg. Celsius overnight and I felt sorry for the couple, as their van was not equipped for camping and had no extra heater, they must have been cold. Next morning their van would not start up and all attempts to get it going failed. The van battery was new and the starter motor turned too but the engine would not fire up. Hopefully they got some mechanics help on this long weekend.

I have to say the drive through Quebec and onto New Brunswick was so beautiful. The scenery from the TransCanada Highway along the St. Laurence River and down into New Brunswick is truly breathtaking, I tried my best to capture some of it pointing my camera through the windshield while Benno drove on. The speed limit on the highway in New Brunswick is 110km/hr.

 

So many nice views and I had to stop myself for not taking too many

We pulled into the only available spot suitable for our RV next to the swimming pools at the “Island View Campground” in St. Andrews, New Brunswick by midday and it being a hot and sunny long weekend, the place was packed to overflow. Actually, they had only three open RV parking spots left, but the other two meant a tricky maneuver of backing in on an uphill tight lot surrounded by trees and would be better suited for a shorter travel trailer. When I say packed, I mean every single spot was taken and where there would usually be open green space, now there were tents pitched everywhere. Laughing and screaming kids were splashing to their hearts contents while enjoying the two swimming pools. The noise level was exorbitant. You get the picture, I’m sure, so we retired inside to relax after all that driving. Things eventually quieted down later in the evening and next morning we woke to a light drizzle rain for a few hours, which resulted in a quiet campground until lunchtime when the sun came out.

 

After everyone pulled out we were by ourselves

Thanks for dropping by and please stay tuned for the continuation of our trip tomorrow…