We're back in Toronto now. The kids are with their mom, Kate, and I am at my mom's. Have I mentioned my mom is awesome? Well, she is. For those of you who know her you know I am understating how great my mom is when I say she is awesome - especially if you're thinking about the actual eptomology of that word. Actually, I just looked it up again, and we're okay.
Right, this was meant to be a shorter post.
Let's try again.
We're back. We got up the next day in Truro, hopped in the car and drove to Rockport Maine, spent the night, got up, drove to Montreal, spent the night, got up, wandered around Montreal, drove, got to Toronto, dropped the boys off at their mom's, came to mine, did lots of laundry, slept.
There. That was short.
But if I were to add a little flavour to that poorly constructed sentence...
From Truro we headed off to Rockport Maine. When first figuring out routes for the trip we had decided to travel through the US a bit to get back rather, than essentially retracing our steps, and while we didn't know much about Rockport, it had two qualities we felt important. 1) It was about the right distance for a day of travel, and 2) it had, or was near, good food. But I get ahead of myself.
The drive from Truro to Rockport had us travelling through New Brunswick and then into Maine. We could have taken the ferry from Nova Scotia to Maine, but honestly the cost and timing didn't seem worth it for us. It's great though that the ferry is back, as I understand that it had not run for a few years. Welcome back ferry. Maybe next time.
Sherri has, what I call anyway, "hunter eye". And that is hunTER eye, which is not to be confused with HuntLEY eye - that evangelical glint that has you picking up your phone and sending in the dollars. Late at night, driving along the road at some ridiculous speed, Sherri can spot a turtle along the roadside. Seriously. Hunter eye. Ask her to tell you the story some time. Anyway, for someone with that level of skill spotting a sign that read "Unesco World Heritage Site" while driving the merry roads of Nova Scotia is mere childs play, and fortunately for us, that is the sign that Sherri spotted.
Goodie, world heritage site! These are cool. Whatever they may be. These are the places on our planet that the United Nations has basically decided are part of our collective heritage and require preserving. They may be natural sites, like the one I'm about to show you pictures of, or they may be human built places of some significance. Parts of Quebec City are designated a Unesco World Heritage Site for example. So yay us for getting two in on this trip.
A quick aside.
When figuring out this coming year and thinking about places we would go and things we would like to see, amazingly enough, I spent alot of time online. Okay, spent is incorrect. The tense is all screwed up. I spend alot of time online, as I'm constantly researching whatever is coming up next.
Aside from Google and of course Google Maps, the sites that I use the most are:
Lonely Planet - It's great to get an overview and "Top 10" lists for practically anywhere medium to biggish
Trip Advisor - When you want to double check with anyone who has done it that what you're thinking of doing is actually a decent idea
Rome2Rio - A great way to figure out how to get from pretty much any Point A to any Point B
Atlas Obscura - Just check it out, this site is so cool. If you're looking for things that are fascinating but don't make it onto the typical Top 10 list, then this is for you. Abadoned theme parks, crypts, odd little museums, you name it.
Unesco World Heritage Site - for reasons already stated
I figure between that lot I've got my bases covered. Yes, the first two are pretty common, and common is good for some things. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Rome2Rio, but honestly, check it out if not. Just for the user experience if nothing else. The last two - these ones are I think the two sites that will introduce us to many of most interesting places we will go in the coming year.
Okay, that wasn't so quick I guess.
I had not actually been doing my homework, so although it is a Unesco designated place I had no idea that the Joggins Fossil Cliffs existed, or that we were near them. Again, let's hear it for Hunter Eye.
You should follow the link I so considerately provided, but if you haven't (yet) then the short version is that the Joggins Fossil Cliffs are a massive palaeontological site that host a gazillion fossils from the Carboniferous period or "Age of Coal" Dahm! Dahm! Dahahahahahahaahahahahammmmm! See, told you. Follow the link.
These should explain it better.
That's the view. The park extends around that point. As this coast is part of the Fundy basin (or so I have been told) the tide along here drops about 11 metres between low and high tide. We got there about 11am. A sign had said the beach was closed at 9am, and the next tour was at 1pm, so we assumed we were well into the tide going out, but not at the ideal time. Unfortunately we could not wait for the tour, so while we walked about for an hour or so the water continued its retreat. I'd like to think we intimidated it, but I think it may have something to do with the moon.
Anyway, what all this meant is that we couldn't walk as far as we could have later in the day, but we did get along a fair way. Note though that if I turned around and took another picture, you'd see it stretching off to another point that the park extends beyond. It's big. Go read about it.
This is one of the gazillion fossils on display. And by "on display" I mean: Imaginge yourself playing Where's Waldo in the Uffizi Gallery, or perhaps a game of hide and seek with all of the art in the Louvre. The fossils are everywhere, and I mean everywhere. You feel guilty walking as you know that each little crunch of rock beneath your feet may spell doom for something that has been dead for over 300 million years. Oh, the guilt. So ya, they're everywhere, but it's up to you to look for them.
That's a tree sticking out of the rock. People here are pretty excited about this tree as it was discovered a couple of days prior to our arrival. Remember Arthur? Well, folk at Joggins like hurricanes as they tend to uncover new stuff. This tree was one of the things that Arthur uncovered for us. I don't how much of a silver lining that is mind you, but it's something.
That? That's just pretty.
Having had our fill of fossils we got on our merry way to Rockport. Why merry you may ask? Well, remember the whole satellite radio thing? Turns out they have a Broadway station, so we were now travelling on the wings of musical theatre. You think the 80's was chipper? It ain't got nothin' on show tunes. Unless of course that show tune is from Sweeney Todd. Dark? Very much so. Fun? Absolutely!
We got to Rockport and checked into our motel, and then headed back to Camden, which we had just passed through, to go for dinner and a bit of a walk about. Note that I'm not sure about where the lines get drawn between what is Rockport and what is Camden. Also note that there is a Rockland Maine as well, and I am constantly flipping the names, so my apologies for any confusion. Booking.com tells me the motel is in Rockport, so that's where we slept. The sign outside the town five minutes away said Camden, so that's where we walked and ate. Simple enough.
This is a view of the beer I had before dinner.
Both are exquisite in their own right.
Dinner was incredible. There are a couple of pictures of it that Marc took. I don't have them yet. Yes, I said email me your pictures when you get home, but somehow I think he decided to go to bed instead. And who can blame him? I will refrain from answering that.
Dinner was a bit of a splurge. Sure, the five of us all like good food. It's primarily how we socialize. When the boys and I are at Marc's in Kitchener, Sherri is quite often over, and much of the time is spent either in the kitchen preparing food, at the table devouring food, or in the kitchen cleaning up the disaster that resulted in making food. It's a vicious, or perhaps virtuous, circle. You decide.
The Atlantica was good food. And yes, we ate seafood. Oysters, scallops, wild shrimp, clams, and of course lobster - the king bug of the sea. Yes, on the east coast in the 40's and prior, and even today in some parts, kids would rather have bologne for their school lunch then a lobster roll, but for the rest of us - bring on the sea bug! Chalk it up to supply and demand. Anyway, dinner was magnificent.
The next day saw us bidding farewell to Camden/Rockport/Rockdale, or wherever we actually were, and heading north, up through Maine, into New Hampshire, and on to Canada, la belle province, and Montreal.
Now, in this particular case I had done some homework via Atlas Obscura, and had come across the Musical Wonder House in Wiscasset, Maine. Sadly it was closed, and had been since March 2014, according to the paper taped to its door. Lesson Learned: While discovering the existence of new places through secondary sources online, it is best to check with the primary source directly before going there. It wasn't much of a detour for us though, so not a biggy froma travel time loss perspective, but disappointing as it had looked real neat.
Driving up through Maine and into New Hampshire had us driving through Grafton Notch park, which afforded us the opportunity, to get out, take a bit of a walk to marked places like Moose Cave, and generally enjoy a, beautiful neck of the woods, both literarly and figuratively speaking.
See?
See??
See!?!
We eventually got ourselves back in the car and off to Montreal.
Now, the five of us have all been to Montreal at one time or another, and the evening there, and the next morning, were spent primarily walking around the old city, which we all much enjoy. Dinner was at a favourite restaurant of mine, Modavie, and was, as always, wonderful. Especially as it meant I got to see my friend Catherine, who works there, for the first time in a couple of years.
The next morning saw us, as I have already noted on Facebook, playing with science that the Science Centre by the water in Montreal.
There are some cool shots with full body bubbles, but Marc needs to wake up and send those to me first. The centre is very interactive, as can be seen by Marc building an arch and showing the true value of the keystone. He built a couple more of these as the morning progressed. Marc likes science. A lot.
After having a great deal of fun without endangering the nearby little children we piled into the car to make our way home, and fuelled by sugar in its many wonderful forms, including might I add musical theatre, we safely arrived in Toronto, which brings us back to the end of the second full paragraph of this entry.
Second last word goes to the science centre - Stay tuned for:
See you in Reykjavik.
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