Back from Canada

I am finally getting back to the blog after what is certainly one of my longest absences. We have been back in Florida for over a week and fully engaged with getting settled in.  First on the agenda, was getting the house AC repaired, as it quit the day after our return.  I am just glad it did not fail while we were gone.  Then it was spending time with the grandkids and enjoying a visit from our daughter from Texas, who left for home yesterday.  A busy time and fun time.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip, visiting all the Maritime and Atlantic Provinces.  It was a total of over 7500 miles round trip from home.  We really had the chance to see many of the great features of the region.  One of the real highlights turned out to be the many local people we met along the way.  Nearly all of them were friendly, helpful and a real pleasure to spend time with.

After leaving New Brunswick for Nova Scotia, we started to experience some much less reliable Wi-Fi and even power issues at the campgrounds.  We have never experienced so many occasions where the surge protector shutdown the power for various reasons.  Low voltage being the biggest problem.  Power protection is a must in these provinces.  Trying to publish a blog post was very problematic.  At one campground, with no appliances running, we started the coffee maker and the voltage dropped to 99 and we lost power.

The plan now is to post some highlights of the many areas we enjoyed and a few things we did not.

After leaving Hopewell Cape, we headed to Parker's Cove on the north shore of Nova Scotia.  The historic village of Annapolis Royal is nearby and is one of the top attractions of Nova Scotia.  It turned out that the Cove Oceanfront Campground would be our worst campground experience of the trip.  It started right away upon arrival.  17 coaches arrived at the appointed time and found ourselves lined up at the entrance with those in the rear stranded on the small two lane road in front of the campground because the unpleasant owner decided she wanted to park several fifth wheels who were having a hard time getting into the tight spots.  We sat there for two and a half hours.

The campground has some spots with great views and half of us were lucky to get those.  Since the campground was full, they had to use the second row which is at the bottom of a steep incline and routinely floods during rainy periods.  That is most of the summer season.  It turned out that these spots require you to hookup to power while standing in three or four inches of water and if you use a surge protector you have to use an extension cord arrangement to keep the protector out of the water since the power posts are short.  It also turned out that the power itself was not reliable.  We did have a spot where we gathered for social time and enjoy a great view of the water.  If we ever go back here, we will find another campground.

                                     

Annapolis Royal is one of the top attractions in Nova Scotia and is filled with the early history of the colonization of North America.  The area was first settled in the early 1600's and was a center of conflict between the English and the French for nearly a hundred years. Here is also where I learned a great deal about the Acadian people who immigrated to this area from France.  They suffered greatly during the periods of English occupation and when the English finally took permanent control of the region, most of the Acadians were expelled. Many of them traveled south to French controlled areas, including those around New Orleans.  They were the beginnings of the culture we know as Cajun.

A must tour is the candlelight graveyard tour, where our guide covers the long history of the town and how that history is explained by the marked graves and the many more unmarked resting places.

Then a visit to the Fort Anne National Historic site and walking tour of the town provides an overview of the towns past and present. 

Finally, a tour of the Victorian and Governors gardens completes our visit.