Driving down from PEI, it took us about 5 hours to reach our destination near Peggy’s Cove, just south of Halifax. The toll was $5.25 so I had to check out my loonies and toonies to see if I could make exact change. Canada has done away with the $1 bill, and in it’s place there is a “loonie”- a one dollar coin. A Toonie is a two dollar coin. (on the right). As you can see, I managed to make the correct change for the toll.
I remember hearing how beautiful Peggy’s Cove is, so without remembering details, I booked the nearest RV Park to the cove. We are at a place called Wayside RV Park. We arrived, set up, and Paul’s stress level immediately went UP. Every once in a while we get to an RV Park that has electrical issues. This is one of them.
With the temperature outside hovering at 95 degrees, we need the electrical system, and our air conditioners, to work correctly. The site we were given has low voltage. That means that although everything looks OK on the surface, our Power Management System, which we installed to protect our electronics from low voltage damage, saw that we had a problem, and routinely shut off our air conditioners, electric water heater, and even our refrigerator.After an hour of Paul trying to work around the problem, he talked to the manager about moving to the next site over, which has 50 amp service. Our RVer friends know that 50 amp service is much easier to deal with than 30 amp service. Once we switched sites ( only the second time we have EVER had to switch sites) everything worked perfectly and we could move on with our lives.
Being a glutton for punishment, Paul wanted to do more driving, so we drove down to Peggy’s Cove. It’s a tiny little community on the water and reminds me a lot of Rockport in Massachusetts. The nearby boulders looked very inviting but it was still too hot outside to do much, so we figured we’d come back when it’s cooler.
On the way to Peggy’s Cove we stopped to check out a memorial on the coast. It turns out that it’s a memorial for Swissair flight 111. In 1998 the airplane crashed 5 miles off the coast here, in St. Margaret's Bay.
At 9 pm the temperature was still a sultry 86 degrees, so we made the trek to Halifax Harbor to watch the delayed Canada Day fireworks. Watching the boats arrive as the sun was setting made me very homesick for the Boston Esplanade! For many years, Paul and I took our boat to the Esplanade for the July 4th fireworks. In fact, that’s how we met!
The harbor front in Halifax has a wide boardwalk, with many little shops and restaurants right on the waterfront. We hope to go back when it’s not crowded with a hundred thousand people!
The following day we packed up a picnic lunch and headed down the coast towards the small town of Lunenburg. The whole south coast region has a scenic loop, with lots of little small harbor towns, but would take 2 days to drive the whole thing, so we have opted instead to choose one or two places to check out.
Lunenburg is a small fishing village, established in the mid 1700s as one of the earliest English settlements in Nova Scotia. The houses and shops are brightly colored making it appear festive. We braved the high temperatures and strolled along the waterfront, in and out of the little shops for an hour or so before driving on.
Our plan was to drive just a bit further, to The Ovens natural park. It boasts hiking trails that lead to sea caves, which sounded pretty interesting to us, except for two things. It is a private park, and the entrance fee is $8 per person. This late in the day, it wasn’t worth paying. Secondly, it was so hot outside- mid 90s again, that we really didn’t want to hike anyway! I hadn’t realized it is more like a destination place for families, with a pool, small campground, and a beach.
Instead, we punched in the address for a restaurant in the small town of Chester, and headed there for dinner on the deck. The weather was perfect for sitting outside listening to music.
I am exhausted just writing about all the driving we did, and sure enough, Paul was tired of being behind the wheel.
With temperatures predicted to be in the mid 90s for one more day, and being surrounded by all this beautiful water, we elected to scrap our plans for Sunday and get the boat out on the water.
The weather was perfect, and so was the water temperature- cool enough to be refreshing, but warm enough to swim in.
PS, I had major issues editing this post. I don't know if Blogger is having a problem or it's my computer but I couldn't move the wording around the pictures correctly.
PS, I had major issues editing this post. I don't know if Blogger is having a problem or it's my computer but I couldn't move the wording around the pictures correctly.
Since we're planning a trip to the Northeast, I'm really enjoying your travels. Our Kitty looks like the twin sister of your Dozer.
ReplyDeleteMy Paul loves the UP. Before we began to travel, he would go with his "buddies" way up there and fish each summer. They went for 30+ years. He tells me how beautiful it is. We hope to take the 5th wheel up there one year.
ReplyDeleteSide note: how do you get all those points on your travel map? When I use Google maps, it only allows me to put a certain number of points and then deletes from the top each one I add. Very frustrating.
You can see why it's called the "loonie" as there is a picture of a loon on the back. The toonie? well no one knew what to call it so it is a derivative of "two loonies".
ReplyDeleteYou haven't mentioned the history of the explosion in Halifax harbour or did I miss it. Largest explosion until the atom bomb!
Ah, yes. Loonies and Toonies. I had forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI agree that in the water is the best place to be when it is hot. Other than inside in the A/C, of course. :)