New Brunswick tour 12 - 20 August 2005
Currently under development ...

One very early saturday morning (2:30 am) Daniela (still asleep), Mayte and I left a quiet Montreal for Saint John, New Brunswick. There we wanted to go see the whales of the bay of Fundy and visit the Fundy National Park. Our goal was to get as far as possible before Dany woke up. It has been proven rather difficult to keep a child quiet in a car for longer than 5 hours. With this in mind, Mayte drove the first 2 hours and I took over and drove, and drove, until 7:30 am when we stopped for gas half way to Saint John, just before Edmunston, and Dany woke up.
We had a small snack at the gas station but ended up having a full breakfast at a diner in Edmunston. This was a nice break from the long drive which recharged our batteries. Driving at daylight was less tense and more enjoyable. The rest of the trip was through the beautiful New Brunswick region. Ahh, speed limit was 110 km/h !!! Arrival time in Saint John was 1:30 pm, 11 hours after departing from Montreal. A merely 956 km road trip.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Our last day in Saint John

On our last day in Saint John we stumbeled across a country music concert. We had an early dinner in an outdoor cafe listening to great country music before we headed back to Montreal. I had run out of color film, so I played with the black and white film I still had in the camera, and was rewarded with a few good portraits.

Ernesto listening to country..."love got me in and love got me out"...

No meal is complete without an expresso at the end. Especially since we were getting ready to drive back to Montreal...

I love these Shirley Temples...

Ay! Que rica estuvo la comida!

Daniela gently lit by the afternoon sun.

Daniela posing for my camera.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Fundy National Park

On our last days we came back to Saint John. Thursday morning we went to Fundy National Park, north of Saint John. It was very easy to find our way there and took us about one hour to get to the park gate. The park is humongous and one could, should, spend days there!!!
Next time we are in that area, we should find accommodation IN the park.
There are numerous trails ranging from category 1 to 6 depending on the level of difficulty. We went to a wimpy category 1 trail in search of a water fall. Now, the walk was really nice and we were surrounded by huge trees and wild life (Dany for instance).
We had lunch in a small village, Alma, which seems to be the hot spot in the whole park. There are some lobster shops that had huge yummy lobsters.
And of course, we went to Hopewell Rocks where one can see one of the largest tides in the world. The water level changes by as much as 8 m from low to high tide.

On the way to Fundy National park we decided...OK I decided...that we should take a little "side trip". The purpose of this side trip was to go see a covered bridge. We took a dirt road composed of the loveliest red dirt I have ever seen. The road was bordered by tall trees as it curved, climbed, and dipped allond the back woods of New Brunswick, Canada. The sky was the prettiest blue with great fluffy white clouds floating in the distance. The "kissing bridge" we found was a most noble structure. The true nature of the uncovered material, wood, could be seen on it's unpainted weathered siding. And the interior showed the wood members cross bracing to form a most secure shelter.

This was after all a "road trip", so here are some parts of the road. Armed with good music, a little Bob Marley, Bon Jovi, U2, and lots of Cher the trip is all in the driving...

If you believe in life after love...Cher, Cher, and MORE Cher....

Fundy National Park

This is a field overlooking Fundy National Park.

As you will notice I really like rocks. These mossy ones were very beautiful. I very much like this particular shade of mossy green seen in the background.

More rocks...

OK... so we did not actually cross the stream over this log.

The trail to the waterfall we decided to take was very pretty, in the middle of our walk we got hungry, and decided to stop to eat some pears...this was our merienda bench.

A Fundy National Park waterfall in summer...we must really return in spring....

So this covered bridge we found by the side of the road on the way to Hopewell rocks. As you can clearly see this one is not a good loking as my favorite kissing bridge...

At Hopewell Rocks

Daniela, Mayte and her boots

Monday, August 29, 2005

Daniela and Ernesto on the ocean floor at Hopewell Rocks. The rocks behind us appear on every postcard of this place. The water level rises usually up to 8 m, about to my shoulders height, projected on the rocks in the background.

This rock formation at Hopewell makes me think that a giant should be sitting and resting his feet on this foot stool. Mayte.

Does anyone else see a face here???

Rock formations resting on each other. Mayte.

Looking up from the ocean floor. Mayte.

Walking along the rock formations.

While Daniela and Ernesto walked along the waters edge at Hopewell, I took the high ground and walked thru the flower pot formations. I had a new pair of hiking boots I was trying out, and it was easier to walk on the rocks, as the soil near the waters edge was wet, and soft, and I almost left the boots in the sand as I walked back and forth from one terrain to the other...It was lovely rick red soil, and I probably should have allowed my toes to experience sinking into it...
Mayte.

I found this beautiful frame of rocks for one of the flower pots.
Posted by Mayte.

The flower pot formations looking down into the cove. Posted by Mayte.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Grand Manan Island

There are lots of ways to see whales in Canada. You can do that on the east or the west coast. One can go to the Saint Lawrence river, New Foundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island or New Brunswick. One will probably find different kind of whales in those places. Minke whales and Humpback whales like to go to the mouth of the Saint Lawrence river. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick share the bay of Fundy, where the now rare right whales come to feed in the Summer. The last time a killer whale was spoted on the bay of Fundy was in 1985. Since then they haven't been seen there.
The island of Grand Manan lies kind of in the middle of the bay of Fundy and from there the “Elsie Menota” took us two hours into the high see. After this long journey we were rewarded with LOTS of right whales sightings. At some point, we had 6 whales around the boat.

The wharf during low tide. One can see to the right how high the water rises at high tide. The stair case is on a rail system to adjust the height.

Low tide at the wharf in Grand Manan.

A great pick nick spot

Deep Cove seen from above. At high tide, the water goes in as far as where the yellow raft is laying.

Mayte taking rock pictures at Deep Cove. She likes rocks!
Still waiting for those pics ... ;-)

At Deep Cove, Daniela was brave enough to go in the water. She is seen here with a playmate in the river.

We were sent to Deep Cove by a local, who said it would be an ideal pick-nick spot. She told us that it would be a little hidden away, and hard to find. Daniela snacks on watermelon in this picture as a mid day fog rowls into the cove.