JULY 21-27

Monday July 21^st - Moving day and rainy. We got an early start with a 294 mile drive to Laurie Provincial Park in Nova Scotia. The roads once again were narrow and winding. We were erroneously directed to a ferry but thankfully found a good turn-around spot. The RV Garmin must need an update or tune-up!!! We were so pleased when we arrived at the Laurie Provincial Park to see how it was so beautiful and wooded. However, our campsite did not have any services so we filled our tank with water and ran our generator during designated hours. The night was cool so the sleeping weather was great. We ate dinner, made plans for the next day and played Yatzhee before we turned in for the night.

Tuesday July 22^nd - We got an early start with a busy day planned. We stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast since we didn’t have any electric at our campsite and no fires were allowed. We drove into Halifax, the capital city of Nova Scotia. Our first stop there was at St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica. The original 1820 structure at the site evolved into the consecration of the current structure in 1899 that was currently being restored. It has been expanded and the original simplistic wooden ceiling fashioned like the hull of a ship (that’s all local craftsman knew how to do at the time) was later changed to stone Gothic Revival. It has the tallest granite spire in North America. Pope John Paul II visited the Cathedral in September 1984. Our next stop was at the Halifax Citadel. It was a wonderful living history experience that started with a Highlander guard at the gate in full Scottish regalia, followed by an entertaining tour guide of the fort guiding us through dark passages as he shared stories of battles, a Rifle Firing demonstration, Cannon Firing Demonstration, and last but not least the performance of the Pipes and Drums of the 78^th Highlanders. The entire experience was great but Dana especially LOVED the Pipes and Drums of the 78^th Highlanders. They were FABULOUS! Next we went to the Halifax Public Gardens originally established in 1841. The current 18 acres were beautiful with very mature trees, statuary, water features, and blooms. Ornate irons gates into the main entrance for the park were installed in 1890 with Halifax’s original coat of arms. They are only opened for very special occasions with the last time being when Princess Diana visited the park. We stopped for an ice cream “lunch” (YUM) before moving on to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. It was so interesting with exhibits on local large and small water craft, boat/ship tools, history/evolution of shipping industry in the region, and shipwrecks. The region is known for it’s treacherous waters and numerous shipwrecks. They had 2 particularly interesting exhibits; one on the Titanic with artifacts retrieved from the wreckage and another about a tragic explosion in the Halifax harbor in 1917. The Halifax harbor explosion was caused when 2 ships collided, one being a cargo ship carrying explosives, devastating a large region of the city of Halifax and killing and injuring thousands. The stained glass windows of St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica we visited earlier in the day were all shattered in the explosion embedding the shards of glass into the murals on the walls. This was just one example of a building impacted by the explosion with many other completely destroyed. We strolled down the boardwalk enjoying the beautiful day hoping to see the Elvis impersonator we had seen from the museum window earlier but he had “left the building”. Next we took a beautiful drive through several small seaside villages on our way to Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse. Peggy’s Cove lighthouse was gorgeous in a rugged setting atop huge granite rocks offering stunning view of the Atlantic Ocean. We could see why it’s one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world and it’s still a working lighthouse. The surrounding village was also charming with little shops and active fishing boats but we did not have time to eat dinner there or look around, needing to return to Yogi to start the generator. We drove back to Yogi, started the generator, ate dinner then took a walk around our lovely campground. We sat by the lake and watched the sunset before returning to Yogi. We started a game of Boogle but decided we didn’t enjoy it so switched to a different word game Wordalot then went to bed. A great day!

Wednesday July 23^rd - Moving day again. Gorgeous weather. We drove 140 miles to Lockeport, Nova Scotia to the Lockeport Campground and Cottages. As we’ve driven through the Canadian countryside we’ve noticed significantly more homes with huge stacks of wood for heating and clothes lines rigged in a circular pulley fashion from windows. It’s made us feel like we were stepping back into our own childhoods with fresh smelling sheets, stiff towels off the line and cozy fires from the wood-burning stoves. We arrived at our campground mid-day, set up, then headed out for “lunch” at the local ice cream shop. After our proper nutrition we were ready for a visit to the town of Shelburne, Nova Scotia. It was a charming seaside village!! We walked along the seashore enjoying the restored colorful buildings and stopped at the shop where they build “dories” (wooden, deep V-shaped flat-bottomed fishing boats with flaring sides). We were given a private fascinating tour of the building and the building process by a very knowledgeable man. Michael was especially excited about the equipment and building process and had many questions which made the tour guide even more talkative about the subject. We didn’t have time to visit the other 2 buildings on our ticket so we planned to return another day. We stopped at a barrel making shop before we left and had a pleasant talk with the craftsman there who had the relaxed attitude you would expect from someone whose shop is beside the ocean. On the way back to our campsite we stopped to see the Sandy Point Lighthouse built in 1873 to guide ships into Shelburne Harbor. It is no longer in use but now serves as a tourist attraction and community center. We returned to Yogi, worked on the blog, did laundry, ate dinner and relaxed for the remainder of the evening.